crazy'boutquilts

Svetlana at s.o.t.a.k. handmade  designed a new tote bag that I was

lucky enough to pattern test for her.  It is called the 'Megan Foldover Tote'

and is a super fun and easy pattern!

I had been looking for just such a pattern to play with my roll of Kraft-Tex.  This is a product made by C&T publishing that mimics leather, but is actually a type of cardboard. Think of the leathery-like label on the back of men's jeans... same type product.

Well, as I said~ this pattern was perfect! And I love my new spring tote!

It has 2 sets of d-rings so that you can have a long tote, or fold it over for a smaller size.

The Kraft-Tex will get softer as I use it. ;-)

Be sure to see all the other tester bags on Svetlana's blog~  Meghan Foldover Tote

And check out her link at the bottom of her post~ she is having a 48 hr sale on the pattern! ;)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

I have been doing a bit of this and that lately.  A little machine embroidery, quilting etc.

I put this cougar from Urban Threads on a jacket for DS. I did change it up a bit, eliminating some leaves etc around the cougar.  The mascot from his alma mater is the cougar. ;-)

I hope he likes it!

Next I quilted a quilt (that I can't show you yet) and yesterday I worked on the binding.

The binding needed to be this color and wouldn't you know, I ran out with 5 inches to go!

That's the oops!  :-o

 

 Oh no!!!

I only had a few little scraps of the fabric left that were 1 7/8th's inches. 

So I tried a little magic~

I think it will work out ok.

I am trying to decide if I should add in a little piece of muslin or something to fill in, or just fold

 and stitch it down.

What would you do?

Today I am working on a gift and then I will get back to my BOM's

and stuff. LOL

I hope you have time for a few stitches today!

Happy Quilting!

In my last post we talked about sewing mini projects and how to avoid having your sewing machine 'eat' your little pieces.  Here are a few more thoughts...

Instead of marking the line on squares if you are making mini flying geese, use a sheet of fine sand paper under your squares, or~

 

I like to use a nail file. I use the straight edge to draw a line.  The file holds down the little piece, and keeps it from distorting.  This works especially well when you just need a couple pieces with lines.

Generally though, I don't draw any lines. :-)  I put a piece of painters tape straight out from my needle on my sewing machine bed and use it to line up the diagonal corners.  Yes, you can purchase all sorts of plastic templates to tape to your machine, but because of where my bobbin is located, I'd have to remove those every time I change a bobbin~ no thanks! ;-)

When you feed the little piece into your machine, start sewing from the largest edge~ in this case it is the straight edge of the flying goose rectangle.  Try to avoid feeding things in from the pointed corner if at all possible~ that is when your machine is most likely to 'eat' the corner.  If you must feed the corner in, doing HST's or something similar, then chain-piecing is your best bet.  Even running a little scrap of fabric ahead of the corner helps to keep things going through smoothly.  Above I am chain piecing the flying geese with the largest part of the white rectangle leading in first. Kind of hard to see that rectangle. :-/

I made these little mug coasters using the above techniques, and the flying geese came out perfect. My machine didn't get a single 'bite'! ;-)  The pattern is from The Patchsmith. 

Do you have any mini tips to share? I'd love to hear them!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Do you drag your feet to work on mini projects because your sewing machine 'eats' the tiny blocks?  Pushing the fabric down into the throat plate?  Whenever I begin a mini project the first thing I do is change my needle~ a dull needle will feed your sewing machine! ;-)

Another tip is to look at how you sew the pieces together... try to sew from the 'straight' edge.

When sewing these triangles together for my Circa 2016 blocks, the leading edge is the straight edge, not the pointed edge.  (I'll explain why my machine is taped together in my next post.) ;-)

Here are my two pinwheel blocks for the next part of the Circa 2016 Sew Along by Temecula quilts. 

I have a few more tips which I need to take pix of and then I'll do another post.

Until then~

Happy stitchin'!

I love sew-days!  

Yesterday afternoon I took a little time to catch up on my March BOM with my Groupbox friends.  We are doing 10 inch blocks this year~ you can see my previous blocks and center medallion a few posts back. ;-) 

 

 

 This block is called Broken Dishes Variation from Quilters Cache.  I strayed from the group a bit as the chosen block for March is Broken Arrows. I kept with the 'broken' theme, but chose another block this time. ;-)

I also got my Temecula Quilt Co Circa 2016 mini blocks all caught up~

These little guys are just fun! They finish at 3 inches and we are doing 2/week.  I only had to do last week's yesterday, but realized I hadn't taken photos of the previous weeks.  This is a great way to use up tiny bits and pieces!

Today I am going to work on a bag for a pattern test.  It looks pretty easy and I'm anxious to play with it~

Until next time!

Happy stitchin'!!