Blue Crazy Nine Patch

This was my last quilt of 2010. I finished it on New Year's Eve. I made two sets of crazy nine patch blocks in January of 2010 and have only finished one quilt so far. This one is a surprise birthday present for my aunt.

This is one of my favorite quilt backs so far because of how nice the quilting looks.

Finished size: 39" x 54"

Travel Pouch

After visiting my sister for Thanksgiving, my mom requested a bag she could use to keep track of her phone charger and camera cord while traveling. She wanted something bright she could spot easily in her larger bag. This is what I made her:

I love the colors. She chose the floral fabric from my stash, and I also had the orange for the liner. I was going to get an orange zipper, but they didn't have one in the right length, and I'm really glad I ended up with the blue instead.

I happened to have the ribbons, felt, button, and beads already. I couldn't believe how many coordinating accents I had on hand.

It's about 8" x 10" x 2" on the bottom.

Sparkly Star Yo-Yo Ornament

I tried to replicate the yo-yo ornaments using a star leftover from my ribbon tree instead of a rhinestone. The yo-yo is made from the sparkly fabric I used for the pink star quilt. While I love the sparkly star, I don't think the non-round shape in the center works quite as well. I probably should have tried to make a star-shaped yo-yo, but that did not occur to me. Or maybe it's the odd number of ribbon loops that throws it off.


Yo-Yo Ornament Tutorial

Snowman Gift Tags

These snowman scraps were too small for the cathedral window ornaments, so I glued them to little cardboard circles for gift tags.

Christmas Stars

I've made felt versions of these stars, but this is the actual method suggested in the tutorial. I used fabric leftover from my tree skirt, which I also used for ornaments in 2008.

Felt Christmas Stars

More felt stars! These are just so cute and easy! I modified this tutorial. I am sending a couple to a friend for her son and daughter and I embellished them further by adding their names in gold glitter glue.

3D Ribbon Tree

This is by far my favorite ornament this year. It doesn't hang though, so I suppose it's more of a decoration than an ornament, but it's still adorable. I am very pleased with how it turned out. My original plan was to use a styrofoam cone as the base, and just pin the ribbons on. However, when I went to the store to buy one, I discovered that the styrofoam cones were flat on top instead of pointy. I could have worked with this if the cones were smaller, but they weren't narrow enough. So on to plan B. The base of this tree is felt. I stitched a little tree form and stuffed it. Then I took folded 2" lengths of ribbon and stitched them around the base of the tree, working my way up. I used a soda can to create the base of the tree topper.  It is 4.75" with the star.

Woven Ribbon Tree

Oddly enough, I got the idea for this ornament from a belt. The back is felt. I sewed the vertical green ribbons to the felt at the base of the tree and then sewed up the sides once I'd woven the horizontal ribbons through. The ribbon along the edge is hot glued down.

Cathedral Window Snowmen

I made six of these little cathedral window snowmen.

Make some for your tree with the Cathedral Window Ornament Tutorial.

Ribbon Wreath

A slight variation on the ribbon and rhinestone ornaments.

Learn how to bunch ribbon with this tutorial.

Ribbon Snowflakes

I decided to make some Carolina blue ornaments for Amanda and myself. Conveniently, Carolina blue has a nice snowy feel about it when combined with silver. I added mirrors to the backs of these ornaments to stabilize them and used sparkly puffy paint to add a snowflake.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Similar ornaments:
Ribbon and Rhinstone
Yo-Yo Ornament

Ribbons and Rhinestones

It quickly became apparent that this year my theme for Amanda's ornaments would be ribbon.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Similar ornaments:
Ribbon Snowflakes
Yo-Yo Ornament

Thanksgiving Cards

Happy Thanksgiving! I was thrilled when I found these stickers back in October. They have foam backings so they are slightly raised. The top two cards are my favorites. I like these a lot, but my leaf design from 2008 is still my favorite.

Peppermint Yo-Yos

It's Thanksgiving week, so I'm kicking off the 2010 Christmas Ornament Showcase with one of my favorite designs this year! These ornaments were rather impromptu creations. I was toying with the idea of yo-yos for a different design when I was inspired to use ribbon and rhinestones instead. I love the way they turned out! I would happily mass-produce these, except I can't find packs of only red rhinestones in this size.

Try making one yourself with this tutorial.

Similar ornaments:
Ribbon and Rhinestone
Ribbon Snowflakes

Envelope Art

I cut these images out of a magazine, figuring I could use them for cards. I decided to put the taxi on a road when I was inspired to add the security envelope, which just happened to have arrived that day. After that inspiration, I decided to incorporate security envelope designs with the other images as well. I had the second design on hand as well, but the blue I had to wait on till later in the week.

My favorite:

Water Bottle Tote

I made a tote so my water bottle would be easier to carry. I decided to construct it out of a canvas bag I'd purchased before the reusable shopping bag trend but never used because its shape made it less than ideal as a shopping tote. The best part was I just cut the bag straight down the seam and I didn't even have to detach the handles - when I formed the tube they were perfectly placed. I lined it with the pink fabric left over from the bento box and pink and orange quilts.

Pen Pal Card

I write to Amanda pretty much every week. I try to send interesting cards or stationery, but they don't always end up being as cute as this:

Jelly Roll Quilt

This quilt was an experiment in washing. I always pre-wash my fabric. However, in this case, I ran into a problem. Some of the fabric had already been pre-washed, but I wasn't about to wash the jelly roll strips. I also don't wash quilts before giving them away, but I thought it would be wise in this case since I wasn't sure how the final product would come out of the wash. Overall, I am pleased with the results.

Before Washing

After Washing

Before Washing

After Washing

This quilt went to my dad. It's not really dad-sized, but it's a nice guy color theme. Plus, I sent one to my mom and made one for her cat, so I figured he deserved one too!

The pattern is a Moda's Avignon Picnic.

The quilt top
Jelly roll post #2
Jelly roll post #1

Finished size: 39"x58"

Owl Key Chain Holder

I saw this project on Craft Passion (where I also found the turtle). Since Amanda enjoyed making the owl so much when she was here, I wanted to make one of these for her birthday. It's as close to Carolina blue as I could get.

Hello Kitty Bag

This Hello Kitty bag is made from recycled underwear. Yes, underwear. I couldn't pass it up, but it was not a style I really liked, and as a TJ Maxx purchase, there weren't many size choices - plus, I'm not the greatest at estimating the size of my butt when it comes to unknown brands of underwear - so they didn't fit very well. I had the ribbon on hand and the lining fabric was from my stash, so it ended up being a very economical project since I had a 50% off coupon for the black fabric.

I added the Sanrio tag to the lining of the bag:

Finished size: 7" x 8.5" x 3"