Jolly July stitching

It's Christmas in July and I've started up cross stitching again, after a break of several years.  I made my daughter some Christmas ornaments, a pillow for my mantle and am now working on a piece that has 4 seasons I'll display in my kitchen.

I'm longarming now, after a 2 week shut down due to repair needed on my machine.  The covid delays made it longer than it would have been if times were normal.  But I did get a lot of cross stitch done during that 2 weeks.






I'm working on a customer quilt this weekend and have 3 more customer quilts waiting for me.  After they are finished I need to get busy on the 6 Quilt of Valor tops I've had waiting for me.  I hope your summer is going beautifully and you get in a lot of fun stitching time!

Professional Tote or Diaper Bag

I took a break from quilting to make my daughter and grandson a diaper bag.  I used a pattern called the Professional Tote by Laura Martell from the Creative Thimble.  I'm impressed with the quality of this bag!  It is durable and will last for years to come.  If you are looking to make a tote bag this one is high quality and feels just like a piece of luggage.  The pattern is written very well, it was easy to understand and follow. 

Note:  I didn't use decor bond as the pattern suggests.  Decor Bond didn't 'bond' and shrank when I tried using it.  I used Shape-Flex fusible woven interfacing (Pellon SF101) and it worked much better.  

Ruler work on a baby quilt

I made a baby quilt last summer called Color Therapy and I'm doing ruler work on it today.  Since it will be washed often I'm only doing a simple design on it.  It's a quilt for a baby girl.  I made it when I first heard my daughter was pregnant, not knowing if it was a boy or girl yet.  Wouldn't you know, she had a boy!  So this one is being put in my hope chest when it's finished.

Pocket Prayer Quilts

I found a sweet project tutorial that I had to pass along!  I hope you enjoy watching this tutorial and I hope you make a few for your friends!

I bought the cross charms and pins at Etsy online. I printed out the card on my computer!

Click here to download the prayer print out!

Here are 4 of the 12 I've made so far, they are easy to sew!

True Story

Fun in my Sewing Room today

I had a visitor today who kept me pretty busy.

Ode to Sewing Machines #27

Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!

No one in their right minds would continue reading, but who says quilters are in their right minds, so here's installment #27...

This seller actually misspelled the word twice in this ad

May they rest in peace:

Make a small tote bag

I found a free tote bag pattern and thought I'd mention it so you could download the pattern.  The pattern is a free download, on the ByAnnie website. You have to log into the website in order to download the pattern.  It's found in a download called ByAnnie Basics.

 The pattern uses 3 fat quarters.  There are videos to help as you sew each step.  The pattern calls for a stable interfacing to help stiffen the fabric.  I bought sew in Pellon Thermalam from JoAnn and it works well. One of the fat quarters is used to make bias tape to cover the raw edges on the inside.

The first step has you quilting the outer fabric, Thermalam and the lining fabric together.  I used 505 temporary spray adhesive to hold my pieces together.  I used a walking foot to do the sewing and the quilted fabric turned out perfect.



The pattern was very easy to follow, I hope you'll try making one!  I needed something to carry my sewing supplies when I travel with my machine.










I had so much fun making the first one I made a second one, and I fussy cut the fabrics for that one.