DrawString Bag

Part of my quest to use up Dr Seuss scraps was to make a drawstring bag.  I will be giving a quilt as a present to an expecting mother in a few weeks and I thought this would be a way to wrap up the quilt along with a few extras that I was going to put into the package.

This was easy peasy to do do and a good way to wrap up presents for a baby shower.

More Dr. Seuss Scraps

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I had a pile of scraps from Dr Seuss that I am trying to get rid of.  I made bags, three quilts and now two placemats. The recipe for these came from the Fat Quarter Gang for Art Gallery Fabrics. They are very simple, 2.5” strips cut at different lengths with black ends added and sewn all together. 

Since I did not have big enough pieces to make a backing, I plan to use a solid red cotton and bind the whole works together with a bit of black solid.  As the project is a small one, I will reacquainting myself with stippling.  Many of my quilts, even runners I take to the long armer because she has gotten it down to an art, drawing a pattern with thread. Me not so much.  Yes practice would help in some areas but that only goes so far. 

Still having scraps of Dr Seuss left over I decided to tackle them once and for all. 

 I already used a good chunk in making a baby quilt.  I believe that that is number three for baby quilts featuring this iconic line. I will be giving the most recent baby quilt as a gift and thought I would make a gift bag to put it into.  Maybe if I have enough left after this I could do up a bib to toss in with the quilt. 

Ta da, a drawstring bag to hold all sorts of goodies.

What to do with Leftovers

I struggle with what to do with my left over scraps of fabric.  The small pieces are easy, I just toss them with no remorse.  But the chunks that are bigger, I have been trying to use them up.  Often I will make a pieced back. If that doesn't take care of it then some little item like a pillow.  Unfortunately I had a big pile of scraps from various Dr Seuss quilts.

I made one baby quilt, I made a drawstring bag, and two place mats. Sadly I still have some left to get rid of.  Inspired by A Bright Corner's blog, I decided to make a bag.

 Andy did a cute cross pattern on her bag which I totally loved and thought I would look great with my scraps of Dr. Seuss.  The over all bag pattern has come from the Jedi Craft Girl and it comes together beautifully. 

 I used a striped fabric for the lining with the left over black from another project to make a pocket.  To make it a little special on the inside I added a fussy cut square of the Cat in the Hat.

The unfortunate thing is I still have some Dr. Seuss fabric left.  One of the ladies who teaches Sunday School told me that she was having a party for her daughter using that theme.  I wish I would have known, I could have made key chains or something as a gift!

Dr Seuss is back again

pattern from Happy Hour by Atkinson Designs

I have pulled out some scraps of Dr Seuss once more in hopes of using them all up. This time since I had a limited amount, I used a pattern from the book called Happy Hour by Atkinson designs.  This is the third time I have used a pattern out of this book and I am still pleased with how it turns out. 

While the making of these blocks is not hard at all, in fact I had them done in a Saturday afternoon watching James Bond Marathon, this type of block is a good way to use up your stash of scraps or fabric that is lying around.  I find i have to have a few projects on the go, one that is simple piecing and others that are more involved so that when I get bored or frustrated I can jump to something else.

I think I will be using flannel on the back of this quilt and I am kicking myself for not having it with me when I went to the fabric store today, as flannel was $2.88/ meter.  Great deal.  I bought 7 meters of backing that will go wonderfully with my pack of fat quarters from Basic Grey that will be my next project!

Dr. Seuss Remix

I was able to put the binding on this little baby quilt made from Dr. Seuss prints.  I had some left overs from another quilt made last fall that I wanted to use up and decided to try out some improv.  Its not so random when you look at it, but baby steps I think will be my way to embrace this new technique. Each block is essentially the same, only different fabric in different places except for the red dot and black and white stripe.  I must spend some more time challenging myself with improv. I saw something in a magazine that made me want to use it as a stepping off point to try something new.

Dr Seuss Remix

 I was looking at a Valerie Wells book today and had to marvel at how she has been able to embrace new techniques and make quilts well over 30 years now.  Often its easy to get stuck in one color way, pattern or style.  When I think about the quilts I have done I have to admit that I haven`t found my style yet.  And maybe that is a good thing cause I am willing to play with new options rather than making the same thing.

Christmas Preparations

Well Christmas is drawing closer and I am in a slow frenzy finishing up some things for year end at work and cleaning the house in preparation for company during the Christmastide. Unfortunately I haven't got a lot of time in quilting land, but come the 28th I am putting the pedal to the medal and working on finishing up some projects that I have had on the go way too long.  Yeah like since 2000.  

I hate to admit how long some of these projects have been sitting.  I either lost interest or the reason for making the quilt initially has changed, not to mention my style preference has really changed as well.  I am sure that a lot of crafters have projects like this.  And  you hate to throw them out, wasting fabric and the time you spent making them.  In the past I was lucky to be involved in some great guilds so I could bring it there to them and donate it as a comfort quilt and someone would take over finishing and quilting it.  Great deal all around I think. 

 I was able to get the quilted coins top done.  This was a great tutorial by Don't call me Betsy that is perfect for showing off all the fabrics from the Dr. Seuss line.  Arlene did the quilting on it, a simple double stipple that is fairly large in yellow thread.  I just love how it looks. 

One plan for the new year is do a big purge of fabrics and craft supplies.  I need to whittle things down to a manageable size, which means making up a lot of little projects to use up bits and pieces.  Right now I am loving the zip bags.  I have so far made two in different sizes and colors. I see a lot more just to use up some fat quarters and a big box of zippers that is threatening to spill over its container.

My Haul - Catch of the Day

This morning I had a parade at work to remember the torpedoing of HMCS Esquimalt by a German U boat, April 16, 1945.  Only one member of the crew that survived is still around to tell the tales of waiting 6 plus hours to be rescued in the cold North Atlantic waters, just miles off shore.  It was a brief ceremony at Esquimalt City Hall, as the ship was named after the city to foster links between ship,crew and community.  More folks attended than I had expected including news crews.  So we will see if I make it into the local news hour at supper. 
Anyhow this set my real plans for the day back a little so I didn't get to the fabric store or the garden center as early as I had hoped.  Needless to say I got a good haul at the fabric store for a lot cheaper than I thought.  One of the projects on my list is to make some outdoor cushions and pillows and some curtains for our upper deck.  I had seen some fabric that was just gorgeous in rust, black and beige, but when I went back a few weeks later, it was all gone.  So I had to do some altering of my color scheme for the one patio area.  I hope that having two different color schemes on an upper and lower patio, doesn't look too odd.  I guess we will see. 

outdoor fabrics and a few dots

my batting haul

I also found some wonderful cottons that will make some nice bindings, all very bright and cheery dots, one will be perfect with my SuperNova quilt.  But the deal of the day, was finding batting, Warm and Natural, 9.3 meters of it for $9.10.  Normally it is, $26/m so i was a steal.  Too bad that I couldn't find more.  I would have taken a full roll and been in hog heaven for about a year.   

The Dr. is In

At Christmas I received a lovely pile of Dr. Seuss fabric from my parents.  Being a person who loves the Grinch and Cat in the Hat, I really wanted to work with these fabrics and make something neat.  After some reflection and looking at pattern options I decided on three things to make. 

 First the sliced coin quilt a long by Don't call me Betsy.

Sliced Coins Quilt a long

Second, my take on a Block Party block called " Born in the USA."  I modified the corner to contain a fussy cut print of Seuss characters. These blocks I have made in to a baby quilt. 

baby quilt using block from Block Party

large placemats

Lastly to use up those scraps, I decided to follow Red Pepper Quilts lead and made some placemats from the Seuss fabrics.  Over all fun, fun fun!