Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Halloween Treat Bags

I wanted to make something fun to send to Crafted to help people get in the Halloween spirit.  I picked up a bunch of fun fabrics at one of my local shops and sat down to figure out what to do with them.  Since I had only gotten a 1/4 yard of each print I was somewhat limited on what I could make.  I decided on two different styles of little trick or treat bags.
One is smaller and one continuous print but it has box corners to give it depth. 


The other is slightly larger with two different prints on the exterior.


I wasn't able to finish any of them last night.  I have the exteriors and the linings constructed and ready to sew together as soon as I get ribbon to use for the handles. 

Then its on to the Halloween quilt that I've been wanting to make for over a year :)

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Quilt Along Love

I love all sew-a-long related.  I hadn't had much luck finding any this year.  The one I was participating in last year was put on hold due to a pregnancy and just started up again (which I am thrilled about!).  But one per month just wasn't going to cut it for me.  After looking around on some  of the blogs I follow I discovered quilt-a-longs...  I am now participating in the following:

Vintage Quilt-A-Long with Fabric Mutt
Zakka Sew-A-Long with LRStitched
Amy Butler Style Stitches Sew-A-Long with Bree @ My Crafty Crap
Super Penguin Quilt-A-Long with Pink Penguin

I'm definitely looking to make this list longer so let me know of any interesting ones that you come across! 

I have to admit that the Super Penguin Block 1 almost got the best of me. I have only done two quilts in the past and they were just 5 inch squares sewed together. I had no idea what I was doing at the time (and still don't). So when I came across the Super Penguin Quilt-A-Long and decided I HAD to participate, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. After trying to figure it out on my own, wasting a lot of time, and much frustration, I was left with a slightly off kilter but okay looking section for my first block. After another false start, I decided to swallow my pride and Google how to use a pieced pattern. That helped a little and I managed to make yet another so-so looking section. Then came UTube...the next, and hardest, piece came off without a hitch, and now I'm hooked.


They still need a little bit of work and I wish I had chosen a more contrasting set of fabrics for the one on the right, but all in all I'm pretty pleased with how I have done on this so far.  There is one more section to block one that I hope to have made tonight so I can put the entire thing together.  I'm trying to use up some of my stash of scrap fabric so this will be a very colorful quilt by the time I'm done :)



I'm having some technical difficulties this morning (sounds better than I just can't figure it out, right?) so these pictures are not right side up.  They are the first two blocks for my Vintage Holiday Quilt.  I decided to go with traditional holiday fabrics.  They recommended using a light colored solid for the background but I couldn't resist this reindeer fabric when I saw it.  After looking at the flicker group photos and seeing other people's quilts, I may have to make another one using non-traditional Christmas fabrics. 


On a side note, I found these on Zulily the other day and decided I must try to make something similar!  I may even have to make a pair for myself...