A Lovely Year of Finishes

I received an invitation the other day to join Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts' 2013 challenge, "A Lovely Year of Finishes".  I need all the motivation I can get to finish things that I start sewing and I love joining in so I thought 'why not'!  Here's how it works (copied from their blogs):

Each month pick one project, anything you like (it can even be an entirely new project, so long as you can finish it in the current month) and tell yourself, “I Will Finish It.” Then write a blog post about the project and link it up to our Goal Setting linky party. Spend the rest of the month working on your finish. We will have a mid-month check, and though you are not required to link up to that post, it would be fun to see your progress! Finally, after you have finished your project, write a second (or third) post showing us your Lovely Finish and link it up to our “Finishes Party.”

So for January, my goal is to finally finish my Scrappy Wonky Star quilt which has been basted for well over two weeks now.  I MUST get it done in January because I told myself I had to finish a WiP before I could start something else -- and I have a dozen things I want to start!!

Wish me luck with my first goal and to finishing!!!  Linking to Freshly Pieced.

4th Quarter Finish-A-long Recap

The fourth quarter of 2012 is over.  I joined in with the Quilter in the Gap's 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter Finish A Long parties in 2012 and I was perhaps a bit over ambitious at each one though I always finished something.  They do say it is better to "aim for the moon and if you fall short you will land amongst the stars"... or something along those lines anyways!! 

I listed nine - yes 9 - things on my 4th quarter list.  How many did I get done?  THREE, with two more VERY VERY close to being finished.  In fact, if I stopped blogging about what I didn't get done I would have had more things done!  Hahaha - I love a catch 22!! 

Ok - so did I complete?  I finished a tote bag for Di along with a mini clutch/coin purse for our very own 'Mouthy Stitches' that we named 'Paramouthy Stitches':

I also finished my Vintage Holiday quilt (sorry if you are sick of looking at it - here it is again!!):

And the last thing I achieved off my 4th quarter list was my Pretty Pleats tote - and I love this bag!!!  I didn't have enough of the Flea Market Fancy so I improvised and gave the bag a Kona black bottom section so when it is in reverse, it still looks like a pretty cool bag!

So there you have it - my three finishes in the 4th quarter.  In 2013, Leanne from She Can Quilt will be the host!  I will be linking up again for sure!  Thank you Rhonda/Quilter in the Gap for the motivation to get some projects finished!

2012 Year in Review - post 1 of 2

Happy New Year!!! 

I've had a busy day today sewing but sadly it did not produce any more finishes for 2012.  With less than half an hour before the clock strikes 12:00, I shall call it a day year! 

So, in pictures, here is my first post of two of my 2012 Year in Review:

Completed quilts - fronts and backs shown.  I only completed five quilts in 2012 but have ten quilts-in-progress so those will get their own mosaic 'of shame'!


Left to right:  A Frayed Frog (shaggy quilt), Vintage Holiday quilt, Siblings Together
charity quilt, Scrappy Log Cabin quilt and Green-Grey-Teal-Turquoise quilt.

 Mini quilts - here are the eight mini quilts that I completed in 2012.  My favourites were the spool for Brit Quilt Swap 3 and the ticker tape wall hanging for a scrappy swap.


Some really bad rainy day/no sun pictures sorry! 
Left to right top row:  Brit Quilt 3 Swap, Tag quilt, wonky Star shoulder quilt, Figgy Pudding table topper.
Left to right bottom row:  Ticker Tape wall hanging, Queen of Diamonds mini quilt, Green Squares mini quilt, Doll quilt. 


Quilts in progress - yes, there are ten quilts in progress here!  One is basted and waiting for my attention, another is about to be basted (my least favourite part of quilting) and the rest are a long way away from completion. 

Tutorials - I managed three tutorials this year! 
-A Frayed Frog
-Christmas Card Gift Box and Gift Tags
-Jam jar Pin Cushion

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What a year it was.  I started 2012 by joining the London Modern Quilt Guild, starting my blog and joining Flickr!  I soon opened an Etsy shop, went to Fat Quartery retreat and joined in many a blog-hop and swap and four bees!  I participated in lots and lots of giveaways (and amazingly won a few) and had five giveaways of my own.  I managed to entice 340+ followers to follow my crazy little blog and I am so happy that you follow me in my adventures in this sewing/crafting/quilting/baking/gardening journey of mine!

2012 was also a year full of sewn 'schtuff' for me, all of which I hope to share with you in mosaic form in post number two!  So, until then - here is wishing you and yours a VERY Happy New Year.  May it be filled with good health and much happiness. 

Amy x
Happy New Year!

Jam jar pin cushion tutorial

The London Modern Quilt Guild is having a pin cushion swap at the January 2013 meeting.  It will be our ONE YEAR Anniversary - can you believe it!?  Being a part of this guild has been the most fun I've had and I have met the most amazing {and talented} people!  We are a varied group of ages, nationalities and interests and we all have so much fun when we meet! 

I decided that I would make a jam jar pin cushion for the swap - and here is a little tutorial for you too!  

Jam Jar Pin cushion

Materials

~Jam jar with a two-part lid -- I will call these parts the ring (which is the screw lid part) and the lid (which is the flat lid part wit the seal on it)

~Charm square (or any fabric about 5 inches square)

~Needle and thread

~Cardboard (cereal box or tissue box cardboard works perfectly)

~Glue

~Pencil

~Polyfil

~Ribbon (optional)

Instructions

1.  Trace the lid onto cardboard and cut out, set aside.

2.  Take your 5" charm square.  With a needle and long piece of strong thread, make a loose running stitch all the way around in a circle.  Keep the needle threaded for later.  Gently pull on the thread to gather the charm square like this:

3.  Place the gathered charm square onto the ring and start adding polyfil into the cupped shape.  Some of the charm square will be through the ring now creating your pin cushion!  Optional: add a bead of glue to the inside rim of the ring before you put the charm in.

4.  Take the lid and place on top of the polyfil and take some time to poke all the stuffing in under the lid so the lid can be pushed down into the ring, with the pin cushion puffed out the other side.  Tweak the charm square so there are no folds are creases (not shown).

     
5.  Using the thread and needle, pull on the gathered stitch again but just enough so you can still run a bead of glue between the lid and fabric. 

6.  Finish gathering the thread on the charm square until it is a circle and sew the charm square from side to side to hold it in place.  Knot your thread.  Be sure the lid (now with charm square and polyfil added to it) is pushed flat against the ring in lid and set aside.  If you put the optional bead of glue in the ring, this step will ensure that the lid makes contact to the glue in the ring.

You can trim some of the excess charm square off if you want.

Sew from side to side - not a pretty way to do it but it works - to
secure the charm in place and to be taught against the glue.

7.  Place glue on the cereal box cardboard you cut earlier.

8.  Place this cardboard over the [quite messy] exposed charm square edges that you have sewn from side to side.  This cardboard becomes the bottom of the inside of the lid - a nice place to write a little sewing message for your recipient once it is dry!

9.  Take your new pin cushion lid and quickly screw it back onto the jam jar so the cardboard is held in place against the lid while it all dries.  Screwing it on holds the lid flush against the ring so the cardboard, glue and charm square become a secure unit.  Please note that using this glue means it takes a couple of days to become less whiffy.  After a few hours, I unscrewed the lid to let the inside of the lid have air.  Hot glue could probably be used but I have not tried it!

10.  Glue the ribbon along the edge of the lid if desired. 

11.  Once the lid and ribbon trim are dry and not so whiffy (!!!!), your jam jar pin cushion is ready to be used!

These jam jar pin cushions would make a wonderful little gift for a son or daughter on their way to college or university!  Just add some mini scissors, a seam ripper, safety pins, a needle and thread and a few buttons and presto - a jam jar pin cushion sewing kit! 

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I hope you have fun making a jam jar pin cushion!  They are great because the glass jar gives the pincushion some weight so it stays in place on the sewing table while you pin, and the jam jar lid prevents the pins from disappearing into the pin cushion!  Once finished using the pins, remove them and store them away inside the jar - perfect!  The other great thing is that I am re-using jam jars that I already had here in the house!  Another great way to re-cycle, re-use, re-purpose and re-gift!

Have a great weekend! 

• Linking to Finish it up Friday with Crazy Mom Quilts
• and Can I get a Whoop whoop with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

P.S.  I used two squares from my Sew Stitchy charm pack (Aneela Hoey) for my pin cushions. 


Linked





100 Day Hustle recap

One hundred days have come and gone.  Wow - where did those precious days go? 

My 100 Day Hustle list had 25 things listed on it.  I managed to complete 11 things plus work on two others = 13 from the list.  Some of these were WiP's and some were things I had hoped to make before the end of 2012.  I am pleased that I got about half my list completed because I now have 11+2 things less to worry about when I step into 2013.  That's some logic huh??

My original list can be found by clicking on this link here.

Here is what I hustled to get done:

2.  Finish Vintage Holiday quilt - woohoo it was finished!

4.  Make Paramouthy Stitches Tote bag for Di - ahhh, done!  And a coin purse too!

9.  Complete Pretty Pleats Bag #2 - PHEW - done!  This is my current handbag - I love it!

A reversible bag.  I love the sign language print!

14.  Make feather Mug Rug friend at work - got this done but kept it so made her a blue one instead!
 

I gave her this one and she loved it!


15.  Make Open Wide zippy pouch for a friend at work - but I almost kept it for myself!!  This is a terrific pattern by Noodlehead - I will be making more!!
  


19.  Make a frame coin purse for UR Priceless Blog Hop - done and love it!

20.  Make Christmas decoration/ornament for secret partner in LMQG swap - she loved it!  I actually made seven of these quirky birds.

21.  Make a wine gift bag - finished and posted to Canada for my sister.  I put a vase I made at pottery class inside for her Christmas pressie. 

22.  Make Christmas pot holders for pressies - done and one given, one kept!

24.  Make a few Christmas gift wrap bags or drawstring bags - yay I made two mini ones and a candy cane drawstring bag!

25.  Make Christmas hanging dish towels - I sure did!  I kept one and the rest were sold or gifted.  I use mine all the time and plan to make more.

16.  Finish Wonky Stars lap quilt -- soooo close - it is almost done!!!  All the blocks have been sewn together, a white border added plus a scrappy border and it is basted and on the table beside Mr Toyota for quilting then binding.  I think I will quilt it this weekend.  Fingers crossed I can get it done before midnight on the 31st!

1.  Finish Mod Sampler Quilt - almost!  I made a pieced back so all I have to do is baste, quilt and bind and it will be finished!  Yay - so close!

The back is done - yay!  No excuses now!

All the seams pressed and threads clipped - ready to baste!

I shall now hustle over to Kelsey Sews to link up and celebrate getting this many things done in 100 days!  I got lots and lots of other things done in the last 100 days too so I am a happy girl!  Thanks for the fun motivation Kelsy and I hope you all managed to get some things completed too!

Happy finishing!

 

Christmas Card Gift Box and Gift Tag tutorial

Do you have 15 minutes?  Yes?  Then go and grab your Christmas cards and make some recycled gift tags and Christmas-card gift boxes with me!

Here are two easy projects that are great 'mom I'm bored' activities for the kids [and adults!!].  Don't throw away your cards - reuse them!  All you need are a few basic tools and materials.

Recycled Christmas Card Gift Box and Tags 

Materials/tools
-Scissors
-Ruler
-Pencil
-Glue stick
-Used Christmas cards (or the good ones orphaned with no envelope!)
-Tag punch (optional) - just cut plain rectangles for tags if you want!
-Hole punch (optional)



Instructions
To make the tags use your tag punch to punch out tags from your used Christmas cards.  Place the punch on the card in different ways to find the best image for the tag, making sure that the back does not have writing on it already!  Trim the card before punching if necessary to get the best image on the tag, as seen below.

Punch when you are ready then create the hole on the tag using a hole punch).  From this particular card shown, only one tag could be made because of the printing on the inside cover. 

Continue punching and trimming and presto - you will soon have a stack of fun tags!

Any bits of card not big enough for the punch can be cut into usable rectangles and/or squares for tags as well!  Punch holes if desired. 

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To make the recycled Christmas Card gift box to hold your tags, take one of your larger cards.  Cut along the fold so you have two equal parts - one will become the lid and the other the base.  The inside of the box will have the writing in it! 

I have made a mosaic because Blogger is not uploading pictures properly.  So, from left to right, here are the steps:

Top row of images:

Cut card in half along fold, mark out 2.5cm and 4cm, draw the lines, score along lines with the tip of the scissors but do not cut through.

Second row: 

Cut the 4cm lines at each corner to create the tabs that fold inwards, fold up each side and bend the tabs inwards, NOTE that the 1.5cm extra needs to be scored (not shown in images) on the two ends of of the lid plus the two ends of the base so they can bend over the tabs to hold the walls of the box (closeup image), the folded ends over the tabs. 

Third row:

Folded ends and tabs are glued in place using glue stick, punched Christmas card gift tags are placed into the base/bottom of the box, lid put on top of base and job done - now go make a second one!

Images showing the completed box and the underside of the box - a nice snug fit.

These boxes can also be used as ornaments and as decorations to hang on your tree or used as advent boxes filled with treats!  They even make great little boxes to give jewellery in.  Use your imagination and recycle, reuse and re-purpose all of those Christmas cards! 




Happy creating!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!

 
If Blogger starts behaving itself, I may be able to add some more pictures.  In the meantime, feel free to contact me with any questions!

P.S.  Here is a bigger photo showing the drawn lines which are cut to create the tabs and the ends.  This is a 4cm line drawn at 2.5cm away from the edge on each corner.