A Few Random Projects on a Thursday

This post is to document a few of the projects I've done lately, but none really require an entire blog post.

 I've been diligently cutting up my scraps into usuable pieces.  Squares mostly. 

Sometimes I do it just to do some cutting, pulling things from my bin, but usually its after pulls for projects, I'm trying to clean up as I go.

 Has anyone else tried the thread from Hobby Lobby?  I picked up these to try because they were 50% off, and as much as I love my Aurifil, I also like a good deal.

 I did some heat transger vinyl projects for our school secretary (and E's volleyball coach).  She asked for the Avenger in Training to announce her pregnancy.  It was pretty cute.  I made the other ones just for fun as an early (first) gift. Their family are huge Marvel fans.

 I mentioned that I had a bunch of buffalo plaid flannel.  I also had some fleece remnant from Joann. I made the middle three pillows for the girl's room and E made the other two from kits from our trip to Iowa. last spring.

 I also whipped up a pair of sleep shorts for E.

This is a piece of vinyl on Mini's brush.  She has the same one as her sister, but her sister refuses to share, especially after an incident of lice last year.  They are Wet Brushes.  They work very well on my girls thick and wavy hair. 

Bags and Pillows

I've been doing a bunch of bag sewing and pillow sewing.

 These were the first tote bags that I started with .  Top and bottom, three of each.  They are both from IKEA canvas that I've had sitting around forever, with the purpose of making bags. 

 Then I decided, hey, I've always wanted to open an Etsy shop.  So I did.  I have the totes up there for sale and a few pieces of fabric.  Also a couple of photographs taken by my husband.  End of advertisement.

 I also had to make a bigger rainbow tote for Mini - so I got that done very quickly. 

And I had to sew Christmas presents for my dad.  You see, he does wood stuff.  He turns wood, mostly into bowls, some pens, and other various items.  He's got his own webpage here.

I had this great fabric (also from IKEA) and I thought that since now he's president of his wood turner's guild and he also does some shows, he might need some Wood Totebags!!

I actually made three - but they all look the same.  The third is just a little smaller. 

I also made him two pillows.

So then, once I was on the pillow kick - I made four for us!

Actually they are just covers. 

Check out that invisible zip!  And I even managed to keep all the fabric in the right directions.

 I have one more to finish, but I had to go get another zipper.  I can't believe how much new pillow covers make me happy!

Two Quilted Couch Pillows: Using Batting Scraps as Stuffing

I had a couple of small quilt tops that were finished with no particular project in mind for either one, so I decided that I would make them into pillows.  In general, couch pillows drive me crazy, because they always end up on the floor.  On the other hand, I guess that means they're being used.

Here are the two pillows.  I took them outside on a gloomy day for pictures.  We've mostly been having gloomy days, it seems.

The lighthouse pillow is about 27" square, the pink patchwork pillow is about 21" square. 

They've both got enveloped backs.  The fronts and backs are lightly quilted.  This was deliberate, because I knew that I was making pillow forms with batting scraps.

I know you are wondering about stuffing with batting scraps.  I'll share how I did it. 

Here is a shot of some of my scraps.  I would say I've been saving them up for 5 or six years, based on some of the fabric that was mixed in with them.  I've gathered all types, cotton and poly, of various weights.

I laid them out on the cutting mat, no more than two layers thick and ran my 60mm rotary cutter over them, making squares roughly 1" square.  Very roughly.

Then I gathered them all up and used them to stuff the pillow forms.  Easy as pie.  I made the pillow forms with fabric that is "extra".  You know the kind that you've had forever and for some reason you have 30 yards of it...

The main question is: Are they lumpy.  The answer is: Yes.   The one on the left is much more full than the one on the right, so not as noticeable.  I washed and dried them in a warm wash and dry after stuffing them in an attempt to fluff up the batting.  It did work but they are still lumpy, but not bad lumpy.  That is exactly why I quilted the pillow cases, to counter act the lumpiness. 

If you don't like lumpy, buy pillow forms.

 Or, if you prefer, use them to make pet beds. 

 They've already gotten quite a bit of use.

 In fact one is being slept on right now after a night of fun by one of my boys.

 If you try this out for yourself, I'd love to know what you think.

Duvet Covers Finish!

 Sometime last year (I know it was before Christmas) and friend and I were talking about how she wanted to decorate her girls' room.  She told me she still had all the crib accessories and still really liked the material and motifs.  I suggested a quilt, she thought maybe duvet covers, since the girls were already using pink comforters on the bed.

 Forward to January when I was given all the fabric and we discussed what to do.  And there it sat, until I finally felt guilty enough to do something about it!

 So now four pillows and two matching, yet different duvet covers have been created for the girls.  The fronts of the pillows are completely from the original crib set.  Including the ruffles!  I did have to do a bit of supplementing for the backs.  It wasn't hard to find pinks from my stash, though.

 And the covers.  I started with the large motifs, but there was still way too much white, so I scattered in the flowers here and there.  The tops are large pieces from the crib bumper.  The pink is a corduroy, and all the other fabrics and ruffle were part of it, I just sewed it along the top.  This will also help the white stay a bit cleaner.

 As I mentioned, the girls' comforters are pink, so they actually give a nice pink hue through the white of the covers, and looks great!

 The large motifs were satin stitched for stability and to match the originals.  When I got to the smaller flowers, there was no way I wanted to turn the covers and try to be so careful with the satin stitch, so I free-motioned the edges with a straight stitch.  They are 'wonder-undered' but as they wash, there should be  a nice fluffy edge texture going on.

 I think the snails are my favorite.