This & That

Have you been checking out the Canada 150 - It's in the Bag Tour, that I posted about yesterday? The participating quilters are doing a magnificent job on their bags.

I have a few more links for you to check:

• How to Frame a Mini Quilt    
• Stitchers Challenge from Pintangle   (This is a long term project)
• Paper Pieced Logo for Canada's 150th to use in the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild Project
• My post on projects for Canada's Birthday   
• Canada 150 Mosaic  scroll down and check out some of the finished ones

   

Canada 150 - It's In The Bag Tour

I missed the start of the Canada 150 - It's In The Bag Tour but that's not a big deal. Don't forget to check out any tutorials, patterns, etc. that the various links might provide.

Have fun!

Spring in Nova Scotia

It was another beautiful spring day here in Nova Scotia. I spent the morning in Dartmouth, the afternoon in Bridgewater and the evening in Brooklyn (near Windsor). Not looking forward to the cooler temperatures home at the end of the week.

I hope your projects for Mother's Day are well underway.

To my non-facebook friends, here are a few links I found from Facebook Posts:

• 14 Quick-Sew Gifts for any Occasion  
• Sewing Instructions for Quick (and less quick) Fabric Baskets 
• Embroidery Tutorials 
• Bernina Zippered Rulerwork Bags 
• Round Robin Collection - Free Quilt Patterns 

Crossing the McKay Bridge after lunch, I managed to take this photo of a very large container ship heading into Halifax Harbour.

    

Fabric Bins & Stuff

One of my favorite containers in the studio is this fabric bucket that I made a couple of years ago. It is also perfect for holding embroidery projects. I will often put it in a tote to take with me to stitching.

Some more containers:

• 12 Creative DIY Fabric Bins  
• I like these Clear Vinyl Bags too
• Round Cosmetic Organizer (would make a great sewing kit too)
• Boxy Travel Pouch 
• Zipper Bag Patterns  

Enjoy!!!      

Happy New Year!!

It's 1C, sunny and windy outside but warm and toasty in my room! At the moment my studio resembles a space that has been neglected with things on every surface. That's what happens when I'm in clean up mode. I want a fresh, clean space but that means getting rid of 'stuff' and most of my 'stuff' is useful. Whenever I give something away or just toss it, the next week or so I find a use for it. This time, my basement will receive a few more things.

I'm looking forward to 2013. One of my goals is to spend more time with family (especially those in Chicago) and with my friends. Workwise - to experiment with new techniques and apply them to my art and to work on larger pieces.

In the meantime, check these out!

Paper Piecing Freebies
Fat Quarter Handbag Tutorial
Tiny Kitten in a Box
Free Embroidery Patterns
Fabric Tray

Enjoy!

Snap Tape Bag

At Cabot Quilt Guild Tuesday evening, the program committee had a power point presentation on making snap tape bags. This method for presentation works well for a large group as everyone was able to see the photos on making the bag. After the presentation, everyone had a chance to see and handle the sample bags that were on display (see photo below for three of them). The neat thing about these bags is the use of the dollar store metal measuring tapes for the snap closure. The tape measure is cut to length for each side. The ends are rounded and then inserted in the casing. It is suggested to tape the metal ends to prevent them from cutting the material. As well, the numbers should face the inside of the bag on both sides. Voila! A neat, inexpensive snap closure for your bag! Of course, all that is in the free pattern tutorial.

• Check out this Snap Bag Pattern Tutorial Video 
• The Tattered Garden Quilting also has a tutorial for this bag

I also came across Purse Patterns, a site that has all kinds of free patterns. Better get a cup of tea before you start searching through the links listed there!

Freebies to Explore

Part of today was spent exploring the web. Here's some of the stuff I found.

Fat Quarter Friday Tutorials at 2 Little Hoogligans (lots of stuff for children)
Fabric Pears from Dacia Ray
Diy Bags (lots of patterns)
Winter Embroidery Patterns from Homeberries
Free stuff from Lazy Girl
Liselotte's Embroidery Patterns
Tutorials Galore from Meika's Little Treasures
Hand Embroidery Patterns from Needle 'n Thread
Free Embroidery Patterns from Primitive Blessings
Transfers for Embroidery
Totally Tutorials
Golden Thimble's Crafty Links - lots of links to explore!

Freebies
enjoy

Show & Tell at the Embroidery Guild

The St. John's Guild of Embroiderers meets the last Tuesday of the month. Here are some of the items shown last month. Firefox is playing games again (at least on my computer) - not all the photos are shown on their screen.

Sewing Box

Cross Stitch Pillow

Needle Point Landscapes

Sashiko Bags

Freebies on the Web!

As I was searching the web for 'stuff', I came across Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara. I thought that her Design Wall Monday might be of interest. There are lots links there from quilters who signed up to show what was on their own design walls. Judy also has free quilt patterns.

Sew, Mama, Sew! has free patterns as well. The Blossom Bag shown on the home page is a down loadable PDF pattern. It's worth a look! Check out the blog too. 

Anja Rieger Design has interesting machine and hand embroidery designs.The project/gallery page is inspiring and may give you some ideas. Her blog is here.

Pins and Needles has some free stitching tutorials and patterns. This is well worth a look.

Have fun!

Tutorials and more. . .

As you know, I am always looking for different 'stuff' on the web. Well, this one came to me with very little effort. Totally Tutorials is a directory of craft tutorials, how to's, patterns, recipes and more. There is a lot of stuff there and you will have to search through to find what interests you. Abigail's Craft's How To is another site to visit. Youtube has lots of tutorials! Just put quilt tutorials in your browser, and voila! Lots of stuff to watch. They are just short clips but generally helpful.

If you are interested in Electric Quilt, computer program for quilters who want to design their own quilts or just want to print out or resize traditional ones, check out the free tutorials here. I believe there is a new copy of the latest version waiting for me at home! I'm not into making quilts but Electric Quilt 7 has a lot more to offer that I might find useful. I'll let you know when I start using it.

Geta's Quilting Studio offers a free, easy to make quilt tutorial as well as lots of other free patterns.
Have a look at the free patterns listed on 3 Dudes Quilting.

These placemats caught my eye. There is no pattern but I think they are pretty easy to figure out. What a way to use some leftover pieces for a completely modern look.

Cluck Cluck Sew has lots of tutorials.
Friendship Bag Tutorial with lots more listed on the page.
The clip art at the top is free but credit goes here.
Enjoy searching through these!

Mother's Day Ideas

My mother is 88 years old. At her stage in life, she is trying to get rid of things. For presents, she wants only 'stuff' she can wear or eat!. Well, a number of years ago, I was at my wits end as to what to get her. I had been making small fabric fish for my art work and it suddenly dawned on me that she has collected small pins to wear on her clothes for years. That sudden inspiration lead to a line of wearable art pins(scroll down).  I make some images by stitching them by free motion on my sewing machine. Others have been designed and converted to stitch for my embroidery machine. Needless to say, my mother usually gets # 1 of each new design. Here's a few samples of my pins:

Here's some other ideas for gifts to make for mom (or yourself):

• checkbook cover
• eyeglass case
• pot holder
• cell phone case
• purses & bags
• bed caddy
• patio chair pad 

Connecting Threads

I just came across this free pattern for making gift bags from Connecting Threads. It's fat quarter friendly! I can see doing these in a variery of different fabrics to suit the season or special occassion.  For those who enjoy crazy quilting, this pattern could certainly be used for that purpose. In fact, this very simple pattern has lots of potential.