Moto Pouch from SewSweetness

When Sarah (SewSweetness) posted the September Minikins challenge as the Moto Pouch, I knew it would be perfect to make for my brother for his birthday. I thought this navy blue fabric mixed with cork would be a lovely manly bag. The inside is lined with a solid medium gray.

I also made him a sweet fennel cork wallet... but forgot to take pictures 😭

I think he really liked them both. He emptied out his old wallet into the new one while we were at dinner!

The Elam House: Curated Quilts Mini-Quilts Call for Entries

When I first saw Curated Quilts call for entries with the color scheme of pear green, peacoat blue, poppy red, ocean spray, clay brown, and light gray with a theme of houses I knew IMMEDIATELY I had to do something with Frank Lloyd Wright. The colors where perfect! I love his style of homes and scoured Google to find the perfect image to work from. I fell in love with the angles of this house: The Elam House. Which I learned you can rent and stay in!!!

I turned this into a quilt! Photo from TheElamHouse.com

I began drafting a pattern to foundation paper piece the house. I like foundation paper piecing, especially when going from a picture to a pattern. I don't have to measure anything this way! The entries have to be square, so I took the opportunity to fill in the spaces with Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass patterns. I got the idea from the tiny spot in the image on the lower left between the garage and the house. I think that part is probably a metal door, but it made me think of stained glass 😁

The pattern I drew and lightly colored.

I had read about applique paper that you print on, sew over, and then it dissolves when you wash it. So I gave that a try for this project. The paper has a fusible side and I actually printed on that side instead because I didn't want to scan my pattern in to the computer and reverse it before printing. It didn't fold into crisp lines like I like unless I used a piece of cardstock to fold the papers.

The piecing went together quicker than I thought it would. There were only a few spots that had weird (non-straight sewing) seams, but I knew that when I drew it out. I had thought about sewing tiny pieces of the navy in between to look like the solder lines of stained glass, but didn't have a good way of making it even (and because it's "due" today!!), so I decided not to do that part. I still think it looks cool with all the gray pieces sewn back together.

I think the thick applique papers caused some of my pieces too large causing some pieces to not fit perfectly... BUT I'm super happy with how this turned out! I'm cutting it real close to the deadline (TODAY!)... I hope I get in this time...

Tumbling Blocks Santorini Tote with Cork Bottom and Straps

At the Modern Stitching Affair this spring, we got to learn weaving from the amazing Tara Curtis of Wefty Needle. I did not follow direction for the pattern and instead created a very random looking weave. BUT was in awe of people who were using the confetti ombre dots fabric and knew I had to create a weave out of it sometime. I picked out a ton of fabric; this green and neutrals for my mom and some different ones for myself.

After signing up for SewHungryHippie's newsletter and following her on Instagram, I knew I had to make the Santorini Tote WITH a cork bottom. I wove two panels to sew onto the cork. In hindsight, maybe I should have just wove one panel and cut it in half... next time!

I quilted around all the green hexies.

 

It's for my mom! She's sort of been watching me make it, but didn't know it's for her. Now to decide what to make with my colors...

Curated Quilts Triangle Call for Entries

It's that time again! Curated Quilts put out their call for entries at the beginning of March: triangles!! Yahoo!
I spent quite a bit of time creating a color plan and then a triangle pattern plan.

I tried not to make too many repeats of patterns, and the fabrics will make each one different anyway.
Making all the little triangles took forever! I paper pieced each one, then sewed rows together as I created them, and pulled out all the paper at the very end.
To quilt, I sewed around the edge - right sides together - and turned it out, stitched around the edge, then quilted each triangle according to it's pattern.

The colors remind of me a creamsicle... and I love it!!
The back is pretty awesome as well...

To match my other Curated Quilts entries, it finishes at 15" x 15" square.

Wolf Abstractions by Violet Craft

I was so lucky to be able to pattern test a new quilt pattern, Wolf Abstractions from Violet Craft.
I quilted straight parallel lines across the whole quilt. I really loved how it looked a few of the quilts that Violet has done and wanted to try it. I used painters tape to get the lines straight and reused pieces until I couldn't anymore.

Here's the finished quilt, ready to cuddle!

How I Foundation Paper Piece

Disclaimer: I have read and watched a ton of different ways to foundation paper piece and this is probably a conglomerate of a little bit of everything!

I recently got to pattern test for Violet Craft. I always oogle over her patterns, so this was a great opportunity to stitch up a brand new one and help out one of my favorite designers!

I like coloring and planning, so of course I colored in the Wolf Abstractions coloring sheet. The colors aren't exactly what I picked out, but pretty close. 

Here's my fabric pull (let's be real, purchase, thank's Christmas gift cards!).

Now the long part... cutting out all the paper pieces. I make it double hard on myself because I cut out one set to all the smallest pieces and one set to just the paper templates. Then I use the small piece set to rough cut my fabric pieces.

So I end up with a pile like this with pieces that mostly match the shapes I need, but a little bit larger. For any piece that doesn't get sewn to a template, I cut it out perfect size. I use a glue stick to lay those pieces out before cutting to size.


Ok, so here's how I piece them all together. I have these two pieces that are rough cut:

And need to get sewn together like this template:

I use an index card to get a perfectly straight fold where the two pieces join.

I take the first piece and line it up under the folded template.

Then, I take the second piece and line it up underneath everything, using the template to know where to place it. Check to make sure all edges have a little overlap (that's why I rough cut them) and that the seam allowance has enough fabric to sew.

Keeping the fabric pieces lined up, unfold the template and pin within the overlap, but not on the seam line.

Sew across the seam line. (Yes, I used teal thread for this entire project even when teal wasn't being stitched together! Weird, I know)

The, I use this add-a-quarter ruler to trim the seam. It's extra easy to refold because it was folded and now it's stitched as well. The add-a-quarter ruler has the neat lip on the underside that catches on the folded paper and allows you to trim a perfect 1/4" seam allowance.

Flip over and iron the second piece flat.

The back should have a little bit of overhang from each piece of fabric. Use a ruler to trim the fabric according to the template. (You do NOT need the add-a-quarter ruler for this. It's just what I had near me at the moment.)

Your piece should look like this. The paper is still on the back. You need that to sort out all the pieces to sew together.

Ugh! I wish I had taken a few more shots in-between, but there's a few of the larger pieces put together.

And here's the completed quilt top!

Triangles Marching - Curated Quilt Minimalism Call for Entries

Curated Quilts put out their call for entries for their third magazine. It was a topic that I love, so of course I had to create a mini quilt again. I wanted to highlight one of the colors and one neutral so keep a minimal color palette, so choose this triangle printed green and medium gray from my LQS.
First, I cut the strips of gray in the heights I wanted and triangles plus 1/4" seam allowance. Next, I cut the gray strips to fit the triangles. Then, I sewed the triangles into the strips and sewed the strips together - adding a few 1/4" pieces in between to give some triangles more space. The back is the same gray color as the background and I even added little triangle pockets in the back to hang it up!
It finishes 15" x 15" to match the size of my previous Curated Quilts finish: Crow Catcher