Gingercake

Simple HST Quilt in Solids

 

 

Last month my oldest turned 10.  TEN!  Hard to believe ten years have passed since she was a little tiny sweet baby.  She is a great girl and into style and trends and all things bright and beautiful (like most 10 year olds!).  I made this Half Square Triangle quilt for her gift and it is a big hit.  It is similar to this picnic blanket I made last year.

I used this technique to cut my HSTs and I used bella solds from Bloomerie fabrics.  The fabric was wonderful and the colors were so bright and bold.  It was exactly what I wanted.  The fabric colors I used were zen grey, amelia orange, peacock, peony, purple and buttercup.   I ordered a 1/2 a yard of each of the six fabrics and then cut the 1/2 yards into 18'' squares that were cut down into the 8 HSTs.  I used the extra 6'' strips to make squares to mix in and fill empty spots.

Although I shopped and shopped online for the backing and binding, I ended up just going to Joann fabrics so that I could make sure that the colors matched.  I knew that I wanted something with a bold print for the backing and this cute peacock fabric worked great.  Also, the polkadot orange for the binding was fine.  I would have preferred a stripe but I just couldn't find one I liked at Joann's so this had to work!  

Below is my poor attempt at the classic outdoor photo of the quilt floating in the air~

The colors are wierd and the photo quality is poor since my fancy new camera still baffles me sometimes.  But at least you can see how all the squares fit together.  Although it was my intention to put it together randomly, I still paid attention to mixing colors and letting some triangles and squares block together.  I really liked how modern it felt in the end.

Quilts are a challenge!  The biggest challenge for me is how time consuming they are and also the actaully quilting. It's a pain to wrangle all that fabric on my machine.  But this half square triangle type is a simple and fun construction and a twin size is not too hard on your regular home machine.  Making a quilt always makes me admire quilters who create complicated tops and the even more complicated quilting patterns!  

Leather Accent Fold Over Pouch for the Sew Fab Sale

More sew fab bundle sewing over here!  This one is actually for my mom for mother's day so I made it last week to get it in the mail in time.  I think it will be a really useful gift for her.  Have you checked out all the patterns in the sew fab bundle?  It really is a great collection at an amazing value.

This pattern is the Leather Accent Fold Over Pouch by Vanessa of LBG studio.  It's a great staple to have in your collection since it is both sylish and super simple.  Love that!  The pattern is easy to follow and well done.  I like that she includes pattern pieces to print out but also has the measurements in case you don't want to print them out.  

I used Dear Stella fabric from the Piper line.  I love all the fabrics in that collection!  For the lining I just used a fairly heavy cream duck cloth/ canvas.  The leather accents are from a hand me down pair of suede maternity pants that I have had for years.  Yes- I once wore some suede maternity pants because I am cool like that!  

It's a nice size too- not too small or too big.  Just right for your wallet, phone and some lip gloss.  Perfect!  You can easily make this as a gift or to match a special outfit in about an hour and 1/2.

Have you bought your bundle yet???  Head over to my original blog post for all the details and to enter the awesome sew fab giveaway!  Or click below to get your bundle now.

 

holiday Gifts Sewing Series: The Southern Institute (daughter!) sews a Penguin

I am so please about my guest sewer today!  Jenny from the Southern Institute is one inspirational lady.  She is a go getter with a big heart and her creativity is limitless.  Today on her blog she shows off her daughter's version of Annie's Penguin.  YES!  Her 10 year old daughter sewed this and it was her first complete sewing project on her own.  Head over to Jenny's blog to hear about this experience and leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of the Annie's penguin pattern.

Holiday Gifts Sewing Series: Welcome to Mouse House sews up some Lolas

Today, Hayely from Welcome to the Mouse House sewed up some extrememly cute Lola Owl Pillows.  Seriously, I never get sick of different versions of Lola and these are so so adorable.  Hayley is a super talented lady with so much happening over on her blog.  She is a blogging star for sure!  And her sewing and crafting talent is amazing too!  Head over to her blog to see all the beautiful photos and leave a comment to win your own copy of Lola Owl Pillow Sewing pattern!

Holiday Gifts Sewing Series: Endlessly inspired sews a Waste Free Tote!

The sewing inspiration continues!   Jennifer Young of Endlessly Inspired brought her sewing machine out of the closet and sewed up an adorable Waste Free Lunch Bag for her 2 year old.  Jenn's blog is more about crafting and parenting than sewing, but we may make her into a convert after this adorable creation!  She can do it all!  Head over to Endlessly Inspired to see more of her cute bag and leave a comment for a chance to win the Waste Free Lunch Bag pattern for you!

Holiday Gifts Sewing Series: Lots of Pink Here Takes on the Art Caddy!

Today we have Amy Dunn of Lots of Pink Here.  Amy is a great friend and very creative sewer.  Her choices in fabric are always amazing!  In fact, Amy has her own adorable fabric shop called Pinked Fabrics that I love!  Amy took on the Art Caddy Sewing Pattern which makes a wonderful gift.  Head over to her blog to see how she made sewing the Art Caddy Easier AND leave a comment for your chance to win the pattern for yourself!

Holiday Gifts Sewing Series: Lego Lunch Box from Girl Like the Sea

I am having so much fun with this sewing series!  Today we have Tara Fauls from Girl Like the Sea.  Her blog is fresh, natural, a little bit funky.  I have really enjoyed looking at all her sewing lately!  Tara is crazy talented.   She made the coolest lego Love Your Lunch Box pattern for her husband.  Go over to her blog and check it out!  Leave a comment for a chance to win your own copy of the the Love Your Lunch Box pattern!

Holiday Gifts Sewing Series: If Only They Would Nap sews her boy a Penguin

You may not even know that I have a boy in my house with all the girly things I show here on my blog.  But today's sewing guest is all about boys and she does a beautiful job.  Jess of If Only they would nap has FOUR boys and she is all about stitching up fun and unique things for her little guys.  She chose to make an Annie's Penguin for her lower middle (I can say that because I have a lower middle too!).  Go check it out over at her blog!

Holiday Gifts Series: Messy Jesse sews a Bunny!

Have you ever visited Messy Jesse?  I love her blog so much.  Her quilts are bright and sweet and simply beautiful.  She also has a fantastic fabric shop called QuiltandSew which has lots of unique and high quality fabrics.  Go check it out!

For the gifts series, Jessie sewed up a modern Folksy Bunny.  Here is a sneak peak!  

So great!  Do you see that adorable bunny fabric?  Guess what?  That fabric is in Jessie's fabric shop and she is offering a coupon along with the giveaway of my Bunny Pattern.  All this is happening this week over at MessyJesse!

How Bunny got a Pocket

Since I am having the bunny sale this week, I was trying to think of a way to make more versions of the pattern.  In the past I made the bunny smaller by printing it at 65%.  You can read about those here.  Very cute!  I have gotten lots of emails by sewers saying they are excited to use the pattern to make bunnies for the easter basket.  I thought, why not make Bunny the easter basket?!

This was surprisingly easy and fun.  I thought it would be perfect for the baby this easter too since she is obviously not going to be eating chocolate or jelly beans!  I am thinking the easter bunny can fill the pocket with baby toys and onsies.

To make the pocket in the bunny, you have to just make a couple adjustments.  First, give yourself some extra width so the pillow will stand on its own.   Add about an inch to the base and backside when you are cutting out your pattern.  Like in this fuzzy camera picture below!

Follow the pattern instructions with interfacing, sewing the darts, making the ears, and all that other stuff.  Next cut out a rounded piece of fabric for the pocket.  I didn't take measurements here but from the picture below you can get the general idea of size...

Before you sew the 2 bunny sides together, attach the pocket pieces to each side of the bunny like in the photo above.  Then, flip up the pocket piece and layer the 2 bunny sides together and sew all the way around the bunny edges and, instead of going straight down the bunny back, sew your seam around the pocket edges.  Trim your seams and clip the corners around the pocket.

Turn it right sides out and push the pocket inside.  See?  works!  I then used a funnel and added about an inch layer of rice to the base before I stuffed the bunny with polyfil.  This gave it a nice weighted bottom so it stands up easily.

Stuffing the polyfil was a little extra work since you need to keep your hand in the pocket but it doesn't have to be perfect since the bow hides folds in the neck area and when you stuff your items in the pocket it fixes problems there too!

I stuffed it with the super simple bibs I made a couple weeks ago.  I went to a baby shower over the weekend and I thought this would have been a perfect gift!  The kids are loving trying to figure out what they can stuff into the pocket.  It would be fun to make one for a big kid that has velcro and is like a secret pocket, huh??