S is for some more stuff for school

I'm apparently on a run with making the zipper bags from Noodlehead. I started in the summer with trying to make them as little totes for my girls going to school, and the first one BOMBED. Badly.

Because we're supposed to post the failures, as well as the successes, so everyone knows it's not all perfect in Sewing Land, here you go. The little pouch wasn't too bad when it was open - very wide, as planned.

But.  It was SO wide open that when I zipped it closed, it went completely flat because I'd cut the box corners WAY too far into the bag.

I was annoyed but tried again. My second bag was MUCH better! I used a stiffer interfacing and didn't screw up the box corners. Look at how nice and tall it stands up!

So with making the failure, then the good one!, that gave me the optimism to keep going. I had one started for JE that I came across when I was cleaning my sewing room to finish the Woven Star quilt, and it occurred to me to make them for the girls' teachers. I did the 2 for the school teachers, 1 for book club, finished JE's, and did another for RG so she wasn't stuck with the failure. So I'm up to 7.

The Pearl Bracelets fabric one and the botched one were the Small size on the pattern. All the rest were Medium. And check out the fun red fabric! Jane Austen silhouettes! RG's favorite color is red, and I bought the Ardently Austen fabric for her book quilt (which is still just a pile of fabric - not even a Work In Progress yet).

I have orders in for 2 more for my littlest girls - they want "treasure bags" too! My sister-in-law wants one for her birthday for traveling, and her girls are all about accessories as well as having birthdays soon too, so that puts my total at 12. We'll see if I'm sick of this pattern after the next 5, and if I ever make it again.

I've made only a couple of other patterns this many times - the Playtime Tunic into about 10 nightgowns, I have no idea how many pairs of Kid Shorts, and the Bento bag 7 times (one for each daughter for their dance bags, and 2 gifts). So this is kind of weird for me to keep going with the same pattern. Admittedly, I did get a package of 40 zippers from Amazon during my Christmas shopping ... I need to make some elongated pencil bags too - my girls are all about their markers and colored pencils. Artists, the lot of them. 

Zig-Zag Rag

I'm usually a read-one-book-at-a-time sort of a person, so I'm surprised at how many sewing projects I've got going on at the same time.  This flannel blanket has sat, unfinished, longer than any other project.  I initially cut out the squares at the end of 2016, and put it together in April 2017.  

It stayed pretty much like this for MONTHS, until I pulled out my snippers and clipped all those edges (during book group!).  It didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would, but it is just a little baby blanket.

And finally, over Christmas weekend, I got it washed and properly frayed.

The back mimics the same zig-zag pattern as the front.

All cuddly soft and ready for a baby.

I'm thinking of donating this quilt, but I don't know how/where.

Any suggestions?

2017 Finish-A-Long Quarter 4

Y is for Yellow

When I found some super soft yellow and pink fleece at a garage sale, 

I knew I needed to make a Fluttershy costume for Snowflake.

See?  Perfect match!

It is a simplified Abbey Jacket, a tweaked hood from the Michelle Jacket,

plus a whole bunch of making-it-up-as-I-go-along for details.

The pants were just lengthened Basic Shorts. Much easier.

 

I even went so far as to hand-stitch some wings onto the back.

Even though it was for Halloween, it can keep her warm all winter!

The whole My Little Pony family:

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy and Discord.

2017 Finish-A-Long Quarter 4 

Juggling Balls

These fun little juggling balls are from the Oliver + S book Little Things to Sew.  I wanted a small project to do between bigger ones, and this one fit the bill.  Of course I spent more time agonizing over what fabric to use than actually sewing them.  Once I decided on the My Little Pony theme, it went a little faster.  

I only used scraps from my stash.  Thankfully I had recently stolen a few pieces from Trina, or AppleJack's ball would not have happened, and Rainbow Dash got a turtle!  I stuffed them all with unusably-small scraps, so some are firmer than others (fleece makes good stuffing, cotton is a little lumpy unless chopped up super small).  And I finally learned a proper ladder stitch so the openings just disappear into the seams.  

Although I had them done in plenty of time for Christmas, I decided to save them for Snowflake's first birthday, which is in just three weeks!  Where did the time go??

2017 Finish-A-Long Quarter 4

S is for school

We've homeschooled from the beginning, but this past summer, for a lengthy list of reasons, it was time to register our girls for the local public schools. SM went straight into middle school, RG and JE are at the elementary school, and TA and JK are still little and home. They'll join their sisters at school in a couple more years - the current plan is to put them in late, like at 2nd or 3rd grade. (Although with the way they keep fighting, they may go into 1st and K next fall just so they don't kill each other. But that's another discussion.)

So that meant that for Christmas, I entered the obligatory world of Teacher Gifts. I don't like feeling obligated (and I do), but at the same time, I really do appreciate the teachers our girls have - they've made our transition from home to public school SO smooth! The girls aren't just tolerating it, they're thriving. RG is getting a ton of therapy that we couldn't find in private practice, particularly physical and occupational therapies. (Why is no one willing to treat special needs kids? The demand is massive!!) So big huge thank yous to the new members of Team Caudle! Presents all around! I seriously had to make a list of all of "my staff" to give gifts to, and I still didn't get to them all. Need to finish the list at Valentine's Day, I suppose.

Since I have far more time than money, I made:

- Zipper bags from Noodlehead for the 4th and 2nd grade teachers. They really are amazing. This was entirely from my fabric stash, and Mindy had given me a few zippers forever ago. I got more zippers in bulk from Amazon so I can make more for all the therapists for an end-of-the-school-year thank you. (If I get to it. That's the idea, anyway.)

2nd grade teacher - the inside was a blue with an abstract of the phases of the moon

4th grade teacher. I need to make this one exactly as-is again because my sister-in-law loved it, and her birthday is coming up.

This one was for a gift exchange at a book club - I nailed it on the fabric/zipper contrast.

- Pocket handwarmers for the principal and vice principal. They are not sit-in-the-office guys, I always see them out and about, including outside at all the recess times. These were all flannel scraps. I added some lemon essential oil to them, and Mr. T loved the scent. Mr. K raved about how nice they are because it's a SUPER cold winter this year!

- Peppermint foot soak - you have to scroll down in the link to get to the foot soak. I didn't just give little tiny one-time "servings." I put it in pint jars and labeled them to use 2 tablespoons at a time. This went to the special ed teachers, 3 therapists, and their extra-curricular dance class. I saw one of the special ed teachers in the hall after I'd left it in the office, and she said it smelled so fresh! She was excited to use it! I made 7 of these. Seven pint jars out of my house! Hooray! (We have a crazy amount of pint jars and we don't do THAT much canning, so I specifically looked for things to make that would be put in jars.)

- Cookie jars - particularly to get rid of the millions of Snickers bars that I stashed away at Halloween. We had SO MANY Snickers bars! And we have an obscene number of canning jars in the basement. So all I had to buy was the cake mixes, and those are a buck each. Here's something silly for you: I saw Walmart had cookie jars for sale for $5 each. Ha! I'll make it myself, thanks! We made five jars. These didn't end up going to school - we gave them to people around the neighborhood.

- 3 minute fudge - this is my secret weapon for the holidays. My alternate is to make it with the Ghiradelli peppermint chips and white chocolate. We took a bunch to the public library for the librarians on the children's floor, because THEY are part of our teaching staff as well!

R is for ribbon border

Mindy and I are working on our first long-distance joint project! The woven star doesn't count for long distance, because we did it while she was visiting me at my house, and I just finished it after she left. This time, we're sending stuff back and forth in the mail. She's doing the main part of the quilt and I took the border.

We went with this tutorial by Ivy Arts for a "ribbon border". I started by figuring out what I needed for my squares. If you have 2.5 inch strips (like a jelly roll pre-cut), 4 strips will make an 8-inch square. So 2.5x8 for individual cuts. If you have 2-inch strips, like I was cutting out of scraps, 4 strips will make a SIX-inch square. Quite a difference.

The more types of fabric you have, the better. We used leftover fabric from other projects, scraps, and any coordinating red Mindy could round up. So I did a lot of trimming of fabric to 2x6 inch strips.

Once you have your squares, cut them diagonally, half in each direction. If you cut them all the same direction, the ribbon effect is lost when putting them into the border lengths.

 BAD - you don't want the strips all in continuation, you want them alternating.

GOOD - each straight side is touched by the end slice, giving it a "braided" effect.

When it was done, my 6-inch squares made a border that was 4 inches across.

Keep adding triangles until you get what you need! Mindy requested four border strips - two at 60-inches long and the other two at 48. I also sent her some extra triangles if she needs to add anything for corners, or if we miscalculated anything. And now we all wait for her to get the strips and a few extra triangles in the mail, and to put it all together to show us the final quilt!

R is for runner

Entry: 2017 4th quarter finish-along - my original entry post
Final link up: 2017 4th quarter finish-along

I don't have many decorations for my house for any season/holiday except Christmas (and even there, I don't have nearly as many as I'd like). When the weather started to turn cool for fall, I got a bug for some kind of autumn something-or-other to spice up my house, and I went with a table runner.

The strips were cut to 2 1/2 x 12 inches, and the whole thing is 88 inches long. I have a really long kitchen table. There are only 2 fabrics in the whole thing that were cut from yardage - the green with silver hearts, and the red silhouette. It's Jane Austen from the Ardently Austen line - I'm on an Austen kick right now with audio books while sewing, so I needed that one. I'm sure you understand about needing a certain piece of fabric.

Anyway, the rest of the fabric was all scraps.

I quilted it with straight line X's every 6 strips. The back and the binding were separate pieces, but the same fabric.

Done just in time for Thanksgiving! 

Because I had some extra strips, I made reversible placemats for my parents for their Christmas present. Thanksgiving on one side and Christmas on the other.

White Discovery Quilt

As I was experimenting with the layout for the original I Spy Quilt, someone made the suggestion to pull out the white squares.  And boy, what a difference it made for that rainbow-colored quilt.  But I was left with a bunch of novelty squares - so another quilt, of course!  

I got the top put together during my crafting-time in Connecticut this summer. I kept the quilting simple (a chevron pattern to mimic the backing) and got that done in an afternoon.  And then it waited while I got other projects done.  Trimmed and bound, it is a fun little quilt for baby Snowflake's first Christmas.

Joint Projects

After several years of sewing, we finally got to do some together!

I spent the month of July in Connecticut with Trina and we made a quilt.

Our Woven Star in progress.

I did a majority of the cutting, pressing and sewing, to get the top done.

And Trina is doing the quilting and binding.

Three squares I made for Trina's Night Sky. 

Only three small squares out of... lots, but it was fun to contribute.

And my Jelly Dot baby quilt using my first jelly roll.

It was so nice to have Trina there to play with patterns and ideas.

She also did a LOT of sewing and cutting for the first half of the squares.

One thing I learned: small squares = lots of seams

(If you have the choice of 6" or 10" blocks, do 10.)

 

I love that I have someone to be excited about sewing with.  We share links and brainstorm ideas and I desperately wish we lived closer!  Looking forward to more shared projects in the future.

Ironing Board

My home is not big enough for a full size ironing board, so I've been using a wooden TV tray with a towel on it for a long time.  I finally upgraded!  A pretty cover that doesn't slip around or bunch up.  And it's detachable (Velcro!) so the tray can be used for other things.