Cookie Cutter Christmas Ornament

This is a miniature, monochromatic version of the cookie cutter ornament my sister made me in 2007.

Birds for the Kitchen

After I made my mom two bird pot holders back in May, I told her I'd make her another square one since she liked that one better so she'd have a set. I meant to have it ready when I saw her in July...then in September...but I just didn't sew much this summer.

I decided to use a different, brighter color scheme for this one, so hopefully she doesn't mind that they are not a matching pair.

I really love this brown fabric. It doesn't match the birds at all, but the binding ties them together nicely. For some reason the binding looks so much brighter on the back, even though I took the pictures in the exact same spot right after each other.

In my effort to use up craft supplies that have just been sitting around, I busted out my rusty crochet skills and also made this dish cloth since I thought I recalled that she liked ones like this. The colors are somewhat complimentary to the birds.

Piggly Wiggly Bag

I love reusable shopping bags. On my trip to North Carolina and DC this summer, I added 5 new ones to my collection, each particularly special because I couldn't get them at home, but the red Piggly Wiggly quickly became my favorite. I didn't shop at Piggly Wiggly when I lived in NC because there wasn't one by my house. (I looked for a bag at Food Lion but they didn't have them. I did get a Tar Heel one from Harris Teeter.) We made a special stop at Piggly Wiggly just because I thought they might have amusing bags. They did. I was not a fan of the "Piggly" side, but I loved the "Wiggly" side.

And then it got ripped by a cashier at Target:

Horrors! I've never had a bag rip before, and I was mad at myself because I had been particularly careful to only use this one for non-grocery shopping trips so it would stay in better shape, and I had forgotten when I handed over my bags on this trip. I was horrified and traumatized. Once I calmed down, it occurred to me to recycle the "Wiggly" part since I'm not that fond of the "Piggly" side anyway. Fortunately I was able to stop by Michael's while traveling for work, and they again had the orange and black reusable Halloween bags I used to make my Clemson bag last year. It was a bit tricky to sew on a bag that was already assembled, but now I have a lovely "Wiggly" bag again.

Orange Crazy Nine Patch

Well, at long last, the orange crazy nine patch is complete! I started two sets of these blocks in January of 2010. I finished the blue crazy nine patch in December of 2010. This will be only my third completed quilt for 2011...quite a drop-off from the last two years.

I like how the quilting turned out, except that the smaller blocks are obviously more heavily quilted. I really liked the way the quilting looked on the larger blocks, and I struggled to find a cohesive pattern for the smaller blocks. I didn't want to do any more quilting on the larger blocks.

It is off to live with Tyco and Cleo!

Finished size: 39" x 51"

August Birthdays

I made these cards for my August birthdays, my dad and Zack's grandpa.

Map Bunting

I keep seeing bunting tutorials all over the place. It seems a bit excessive for something so simple, and I never thought I'd have a use for bunting. However, there is a lot of empty wall space in my office and it occurred to me that bunting would be a good space filler. Most tutorials are for fabric bunting, but I decided that I didn't want to bother with fabric for work. So I pulled out my Mod Podge and my abundant stack of maps, raided the recycling bin for cereal boxes, and got to work.

I needed to cover a 10' wall so it's too long to get a picture of the whole thing. I used 5 flags for every 2'.

I put buttons on the ends:

My favorite:

I'm glad Traverse City didn't end up upside down. You can even see Glen Arbor and Leelanau! The eyelet covered up the Homestead. However, the eyelets make a huge difference. They look so much more polished.

Each flag is 3" across the top and 3.75" high. I got 12 flags from the front and back of each cereal box. I used maps of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Virginia, but I didn't need that many so Virginia got dropped because it did not quite match the other two. Since I Mod Podged the maps and then cut the flags apart to save time instead of doing them individually, some of the maps ended up upside down, but the writing is pretty small on most of them so you can't really tell from a distance.

Pretty Paper Balls

I saw this polyhedron tutorial and thought these would be another ideal decoration for my office. The balls are connected by embroidery floss and will hang from the light fixtures in my office. The larger one is made from 3" circles and is approximately 5.5" in diameter. The smaller one is made from 2" circles and about 3.5" in diameter. I used 2 sheets of 12"x12" scrapbook paper and connected them with mounting squares. Cutting out circles is tedious, but they didn't take very long to put together. I absolutely love this paper! However, the tutorial does say to use lightweight cardboard. I probably should have at least used card stock, but that wouldn't have been nearly as pretty. I do hope they don't fall apart.

Flag Cards

These are the cards I made for the grandparents for the Fourth of July. Happy 4th!

Money Magnets

Now if they would only actually attract money! I have a couple handfuls of foreign coins from countries I have never visited. They have been sitting in my jewelry box, and now they are spread out on my dresser as I brainstorm and solicit ideas for what to do with them. My sister suggested magnets, which is a great idea since I love magnets and some of the coins are already magnetic. However, I already have far too many magnets so I still have a lot of coins to repurpose.

Mini Rainbow

It's so cute and tiny! These are scraps from my radial rainbow mini quilt. I was going to use them for the back of the quilt, but when I came up with a better idea, I still wanted to use them.

Finished size: 8" x 3"

Butterfly Wall Art

Another decoration for my office. I decided I needed something more colorful to complement the owls. This one also has a bit of sparkle. I added some gold glitter glue to coordinate with the butterfly. It's only 9.5" square, so I still have quite a bit of wall space to fill.

Camera Case

I decided I wanted a less bulky camera case for my travels this summer. Since it's for traveling, I thought this airplane fabric was appropriate, and colorful! This is the first padded pouch I've made. Each side has two layers of cotton batting, so it was a bit difficult to turn, but it should cushion the camera nicely.

It's considerably slimmer than the other case:

Radial Rainbow Mini Quilt

I got the image for this quilt in my head while working on rainbow mini quilts #1 and #2.

I am amazed at how well it turned out. I was very afraid the intersections wouldn't line up at all. It turned out exactly like I imagined it:

It wasn't until after I had finished it that it occurred to me to add some color to the corners, but by then I was nearly out of these scraps anyway. I considered cutting it into an octagon instead of a square but decided not to.

I finished the front but then could not decide what to do on the back that would be suitably match the front. Three weeks later, the solution popped into my head:

I would have liked a nice scrappy and colorful border, but I used up the very last of the purple on the back. The purple square is actually pieced from a longer, narrower scrap.That's the risk of working with scraps.

It was so pretty I just had to take some in progress pictures:

How I assembled it:

Ta da!

Mod Podge Book Art

Our new library director created a new department, so we've been moving offices at work. I am part of the new department, and as it turns out, the new department is going to be located in my current office. My old department is moving down a floor, and they took all the decorations with them! The walls were completely bare. Based on their current offices, I didn't think my new office mates would have much to contribute in the way of wall decorations. Fortunately, while recently decluttering the apartment, I had come across two 8.5 x 16" metal posters I had stashed in the back of a bookshelf. I was going to donate them but decided they would be recycled into office decorations. Conveniently, we are also weeding quite a few books to make room for the relocation of my old department, so I grabbed one from the recycling pile.

I decided an owl would be a cute and appropriately bookish graphic to complement the book pages. I had never used Mod Podge before except for the small bottle of Puzzle Saver I used for my scissor holder because I happened to have it on hand. I ended up using half an 8 oz. jar. First I watched the tutorial videos at Mod Podge Rocks, which were very helpful. I used matte Mod Podge and am very pleased with the results.

Tea Cards

Mother's Day and my mom's birthday are both in May. These are the cards I made for her this year using a cute little tea pot graphic I cut out of a bookmark and some coordinating stickers:

Shamrock Rainbow Mini Quilt

This was the first of two scrap fabric rainbow projects I started over Easter weekend. I couldn't decide how to quilt this one, so the second project got finished first. A couple weeks ago I had run across this shamrock fabric remnant while organizing my fabric scraps. It was originally used for a St. Patrick's Day ornament for my grandma, and it lends itself well to rainbows. The back is just plain green and it's only quilted along the top and bottom of the rainbow strip.

Close up of the sparkly shamrock button:

Finished size: 10.25" square

Bird Pot Holders

When I made pot holders for Julie, I decided to use up the batting to make some for my mom too. I used the same fabrics that I used for her mug rug.

Rainbow Mini Quilt

This is actually the second scrap fabric rainbow project I started over Easter weekend.

I kind of like the back more. It's not as busy.

Finished size: 6.5" square

Sewing Accessories

Whenever I am quilting, my scissors always end up on the floor, so I've been wanting to make a holder for my scissors for the side of my sewing machine table for a while now. When Amanda sent my birthday present wrapped in a little metal candy tin, I immediately knew it would be my repurposed scissor holder. I used Mod Podge Puzzler Saver, which I conveniently had on hand though I've never used it, to cover it in a scrap of fabric and then glued on the ribbon to finish the edges. It then occurred to me that I could avoid the same problem with my pin cushion by making a flatter one to attach to the side of the sewing machine table. Fortunately I had a conveniently shaped tin on hand for such a project, along with coordinating ribbon and fabric!

They don't stick out very far:

Shark Quilt

My third baby boy quilt! I have been wanting to use this quilt design for awhile, but I'd had difficulty finding fabric to make it work. I was thrilled to find this cute shark print. Black seems a bit unconventional for a baby quilt, but I really like the color combination.

Finished size: 39" x 51"