Friday Finish - Rainbow Scrappy Happiness

Another wee Friday Finish! I've been working away at filling this basket with my own little rainbow!

DT are growing like weeds and one of their favourite things is to eat at the big table. And they love to mess with Mommy and Daddy's placemats. Time for their own!

Into the scrap bin I went. Sometimes I wonder why I bother buying more fabric. It seems like all I ever manage to use are scraps! 2½ inch squares are my go-to. For a simple bit of patchwork, a 25 patch seemed  right. I even worked in some fussy cuts... I think I might be addicted to fussy cutting. And there's no 12 step plan for that.

I added a 3 inch strip down the side to bring the placemats up to the size I wanted. 9½ by 12 inches is just right for little plates and little hands!

The quilting isn't fancy - diagonal straight lines. If I were to do it over again, I might consider spacing the stitching a little further apart. Once washed, things got very crinkly!

 The kiddos first colour requests were green for BT and purple for GT

On the second round, GT asked for pink. BT for blue. So much for raising them with attention to gender stereotyping!

Round 3 features an orange placemat that Anja @ Anja Quilts thinks is for her to use when she visits. I don't think GT will give it up that easily! I still owe BT a red mat. I've had to mooch some squares to make it happen. So little red in my stash. Dena @ No Frickin' Blog Yet would be horrified.

  BT's not exactly a wee lad. Here's hoping he doesn't outgrow these mats too soon!

I love having little things that I have sewn as part of our lives. I just don't get it when people say that handmade items are too good to use. If they're not used, all that extra love that's sewn in just languishes on a shelf.  Use it, wear it out. We'll make more!

This sunshine-y basket makes me want to make one in every possible colour! Or maybe I'll use my time a little more wisely and get to sewing those Easter projects I have in mind!

I'm linking up today with Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts, as well as TGIFF @ The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts. Pop on over and check out some inspirational finishes!

J

Scr-alphabet!

Oh... Pinterest. So damned many ideas. So very little time! This edition of nap time sewing features another Pinterest find - scrappy fabric letters!
Nope. That's not meant to spell anything. Most of the time DT aren't too accurate in their spelling either. At least not yet!

This project is a great way to use up scraps of fabric and batting. A 5 inch square will pretty much work for the top and backing. I figured I didn't need to re-invent the wheel, so I used letter templates from Sugar Bee Crafts. One less thing to take up valuable sewing time!


And when the batting scraps got too small, I made some Franken-batting! Gotta love that zigzag stitch and using up nearly unusable bits!

I decided to stick to prints that were predominately one colour. It would be cool to use a charm pack or a treasured stash collection to make a custom (and coordinated) alphabet.

All stacked up and ready to sew. One wee caveat if you decide to copy my method. Take care to only pull one letter stack (paper, print, batting, backing) off the pile at a time!
Instead of all that pesky cutting out of templates and tracing described in the tutorial, I decided to sew right through the paper. One dull needle is worth that saved time!


It took a little digging to unearth these beauties... my Mom's pinking shears. I can almost hear her scolding me for cutting paper with them. All those fancy scrapbooking scissors weren't around when I was a kiddo!

I can hardly wait to whip up another batch! You can't spell much with just one set of letters! BT and GT can't even spell their names at the same time!

I'm linking up with Monday Making @ Love Laugh Quilt and  Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts. Pop on over and see what others have been cooking up!

J

Friday Finish - Hexie Madness!

Happy Friday all!!! I'm more than a little excited that we've reached the end of the week! Sometimes one just NEEDS a week-end. The project I'm sharing with you this week combines a whole lot of fussy techniques. But isn't it cute?
Way back in the summer, I went a little crazy making woodland themed paper-pieced hexies from Tiny Toffee Designs.  Given that they were hexies, some EPP was most definitely required to get them into a finished project.

I don't know why, but these little Carolyn Friedlander Crosshatch zipper caps make me smile. If you've never used a cap when installing a zipper, I highly recommend it. I like that it just looks a little more finished (and it gives you a margin for error with your zipper length!)

And because those zipper caps couldn't be alone, I used that same CF print for the inside. The pouch isn't lined... it's more like a quilt backing. And I should probably do something about finishing those seams. Sometimes finished is better than perfect!

I'm linking up today with TGIFF @ Celtic Thistle Stitches as well as Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. Amanda made some cute zipper pouches this week too! Why not head over for some inspiration?

J