Under my needle

I am longarming a fantastic quilt for a favorite customer of mine. She does exquisite work! Look at the hand stitching! And the quilt lays completely flat.

8 Fun Mini-pincushions

I found a book called Pin Pals by Carrie Nelson and had to have it!  It has patterns for 40 mini pincushions and they are adorable!  The first pin cushion I ever made was over 30 years ago.  It was lopsided but I was proud of it.  I stuffed it with poly-fil.

This book helped me hone my cushion making skills I will say!

        

I decided to use Civil War theme fabrics on the first one. It went together quickly and I'm happy with it!

The second one took 4 hours to sew all the tiny half square triangles.  Each was 1-1/4 in.

Filling for all the pincushions is crushed walnut shells.  TIP:  Buy walnut lizard or bird litter at the pet store instead of the walnut shells sold at fabric stores.  It's much cheaper that way!  This 5 lb. bag was only $8.00!  

I placed all of the pin cushions in a basket and they sit on my desk.

A True Story with 12 Million views

 I put this post on the blog in 2016.  It is a true story that is so good I had to repeat it!

My granddaughter Agatha

 Agatha, 18 months old, is my third grandchild. I am babysitting Agatha 

and Sammy, 3 yrs old. I have never disciplined Agatha 

before, until today. I told her no yelling and this is the face she gave me.

"What's wrong with Grandma?"

Bernina L890 Serger review

My birthday is today!! I turned 66 and I've been sewing for 53 years! I bought this machine as a birthday present to myself.  I bought the Bernina L860 serger a year ago and regretted not buying the L890 almost immediately. I didn't think I would use the coverstitch feature though so I went with the L860. But I sew for my toddler grandchildren and I really want that coverstitch now. So I traded up and I'm so happy I did.

This is what a coverstitch is... 

My goodness is this machine awesome! Right away I was stitching away on my first pair of toddler pajamas. All due to the on board touch screen and the features called "Expert Mode" & "Guided Mode". I learned how to use these features on the L860 but I need the help of the new machine's Guided Mode to learn how to set up the machine for coverstitch. This is a dream feature! A video right on the screen to show me what to do.

12 inch Treasures

 I started a new project over the weekend.  It's a pattern called 12 inch Treasures - Dresden Pattern I found at ConnectingThreads.com.  The pattern is from Bloom Creek.  

It uses 2-1/2" squares so I bought a charm pack and cut it down to that size.  It worked out great doing it that way. Here's what I have finished so far...

Cute Fabric Box Tutorial

I found the cutest tutorial online for these handy little fabric boxes.  They can be used next to your sewing machine as a thread catcher, a holder for wonderclips or maybe even in the bathroom to hold cotton balls. All it takes is squares from a layer cake and an 11" square of batting!  Pull 2 fabrics from the package, choose 1 for the lining and 1 for the outside. You can follow along with the tutorial found here.  The author is a wonderful gal whom I had the privilege of meeting 3 years ago at our local quilt guild.  She was the speaker for the evening.

It is possible to get into the tight fit to sew down the flaps on the outside.

 Tutorial by Tina Craig of Seaside Stitches.  She lives on the coast of Rhode Island

Celebrate National Serger Month part 2

 Learn how to make this Clever Coverstitch Bag–designed by Pam Mahshie–completely with an Overlock/Coverstitch Combo Serger! Stitch this beautiful bag while learning serger settings. Note: If you don't have a coverstitch feature on your serger you can use decorative stitches on your sewing machine instead.

The Stitch It Sisters show you how to make the bag in this video!!

You can buy the fabric kit, which includes everything you need 

to make this bag, by click the link below!

Exclusive Clever Coverstitch Bag Daisies on Black Bundle Box - 506288