Quick Table Runner

I found myself with really nothing to do on Good Friday, which is rare for me on a day off. I have been wanting to make a table runner for my coffee table since I got it 4 months ago. It just seems to be a dust collector. I clean it and 10 mins later I feel there is a layer of dust on it already.

I didn't really have a plan for it. I knew I wanted to use the rest of my Belle Scraps and I had some leftover linen fabrics. I sat down and started sewing random pieces together to make blocks. I ended up with three blocks all slightly different sizes. I added linen borders and used linen for the back. I did my favourite quilting on it. I use different sizes of masking tape and tape random lines on the diagonal and sew on both sides of the tape with my walking foot. I really love how the quilting looks on the linen. I also remembered how much I love linen and really don't like sewing with it. Thankfully, It wasn't so bad since it was a smaller piece to quilt.

I also finished my 3x6 Bee blocks which I will post and get sent hopefully this weekend.

Baby Quilt #1

I know it may seems like I haven't been doing a lot but I actually have. I have so many projects on the go right now that I don't even think I can remember all of them.

I finished this baby quilt a few weeks ago for my best friend who is the proud daddy of baby Rory. It was made using scraps, again, in pink and Kona Snow which is still my all time favourite. The quilt is from Elizabeth Hartman which I purchased here. I did altered the size a little. For some reason I don't like square quilts so I eliminated a side row and it's still a good baby size. I quilted it in a crosshatch design which you can't see very well as I took some very quick pictures indoors. It seems like we waited forever for her to come.

I am also currently making a quilt from this tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts. I have made all the border squares and am now at a standstill waiting for some more Kona Snow. I really hate our lack of good quilting shops in Canada. I also purchased this pattern and finished the quilt top in Amy Butler Lotus fabric to match the pillow I made my mother for Christmas.

I am also working in some random sized wonky star blocks which I'm thinking will eventually become a quilt for my bed in the summer. It has been a lot of fun to do these and not have any time restrictions on getting it down.

See, I have been busy, I just need to start taking more pictures of my WIP's.

Birthday Pillows

My brother's girlfriends' birthday was yesterday. I had no idea what to get her. When I asked my brother what he thought I should get, he said "oh.....you're buying something? That's weird..." I instantly felt bad about it. Michelle is one of the people in my life who loves everything I make...even the stuff I hate. After thinking about it for a couple of days, I decided to make pillows since I had two 18" pillow forms that I had just bought on sale. I have made pillows before but not a lot of them. I have been into stars lately so I decided to make little star blocks that measured 4.5" unfinished. I have to say sewing so many little pieces was a challenge but I really loved making them. I was going to do the whole pilllow in these little stars but I was under a deadline. I decided to make four small ones for the corners and a larger center block. the second pillow was a much simpler one and came together in a couple of hours. I made it with some uneven strips and stacked them. the quilting is some simple crosshatching which I always love. I used a lot of the same fabrics in both pillows as I wanted them to go together but not be matchy, matchy. I really love how these pillows turned out. I really want to keep them even thought they don't match anything in my house. If I can't keep them, I'm glad they're going to a good home where my work is always loved and appreciated.



Now, if any of you follow the Stitched In Color blog, which I creep daily, you will know the Bloggers Pillow Party has been going on for a few months. I love looking at the pillows everyone has made. I have decided to enter my Star pillow. This is difficult for me as I am my own worst critic but I think this one may be worthy. If you haven't already, go on over and check out everyone's beautiful pillows.

Shop Changes

So I have been thinking a lot lately of my little shop on Etsy. I have been selling bags and accessories online for about five years but about 8 years in total. I've been feeling a little burnt out lately. I work a 40 hr a week job and easily put in another 30 a week sewing. I have decided to focus mainly on wallets and smaller accessories as they are my biggest sellers. I will be putting my bags on sale and won't be listing any more anytime soon. I feel it's better for me to focus on the more popular items and give myself a little break. I'm not saying I won't be making bags again but I need to focus on something else for a little while.

I have been quilting a lot lately and making pillows and placemats, a lot more home items. This is something I'm going to consider adding to my shop or opening up a shop later in the spring for home items. We'll see where it takes me. In the meantime, my wallets and pouches and smaller wristlet bags will still be available in the shop and I hope to have more variety soon.

My bags will be put on sale to clear out starting today, so check it out if you are looking for a new bag.

Modern Solid Quilt

I finished the Kona solid quilt and I love it! It came together very quickly since I didn't have any blocks to put together, just my very rough diagram to follow. this is really my kind of quilting. I really love clean solid lines. I quilted it in 3 inch squares. I originally did some straight line quilting across the width but decided it needed more and added some the across the length. I pieced the back with leftovers and I like it almost as much as the front. I really love the look of the solids. I think I will be making more in some girly colours. I'm thinking pink and orange...my favourite combo!


Quilt Front


Quilt back

Modern Improv

I think I mentioned in my previous post that my BF wanted his own quilt since I wasn't so good about sharing mine. He wanted black and white. I thought about different patterns for a while but nothing was really exciting me. All I knew was that I wanted it to be all solids and in different shades of grey with a little black. I was bored at the end of my shift last Friday night so I drew up a really rough plan and some measurements. I was a little afraid of ruining a whole lot of my much loved Kona solids. If any of you live in Canada, you know it's very hard to get designer fabrics here without paying double the price. I refuse to do that so all my fabric is ordered online. Because of this I try to make sure I have everything I need before starting a project. It's very frustrating to wait 2 weeks for more fabric if you have to order mid project. Anyway, I picked all Kona cottons. The colours are pepper, charcoal, medium grey, slate and ash. So far it's turning out well and I see a lot of solid quilts in my future.

Kitchen Window Quilt

I know it seems like I haven't been doing much, but I have been...really. I finished this quilt at the beginning of January but just haven't got around to taking pictures, as usual. I am still struggling at taking pictures of quilts. They just never turn out very well. Oh well, I have never claimed to be a photographer.

Anyway, I have been planning this quilt since I bought Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. I knew right away I wanted to make one out of my very limited scraps (a freezer bag) of my favourite Amy Butler Belle fabrics. That's what I love about this pattern, it really doesn't take much fabric and makes a good size lap quilt. This was super easy and quick to make. The cutting took me a few hours as I was not using yardage but very odd and different sized scraps. I just love how it turned out despite my problem with the actual quilting. For some reason my sewing machine was just not agreeing with me that day. I definitely recommend this quilt to anyone, especially if you have limited supply of a favourite fabric. You will be seeing probably a few more of these from me. I have one planned out for my mom and my bf has decided he wants his own quilt for the couch since we've been fighting over this one. His is going to be done in Kona solids which I think will look great in this quilt and still be masculine.

Thank you Elizabeth for this book. I can honestly say, it is the best quilting book I have ever bought (and I have a lot)!

16" Lotus Pillows

16" Lotus Pillows
Originally uploaded by AmieJ Designs

These were made for my mom for Christmas. These were made from my scraps of Amy Butler's Lotus fabric. I was going to make my mom a quilt as well but I ran out of time. I'm will still make it, it will just have to be a" just because your my mom" present. I modified the block from Elizabeth Hartman's book A Practical Guide to Patchwork. If you do not have this book, you must go get it right now. Her quilts are stunning and the directions are so thorough and easy to follow. I will be getting a lot of use out of this book.

Another Quilt

I finished my sisters string quilt 2 days before Christmas. I was really under the wire with this one. I love how it turned out. I split the blocks up with sashing to make it a little less busy and binded it with orange and red dots from Amy Butler's Lotus fabric. I quilted it with some straight line quilting with my brand new walking foot. I don't know how I lived without this. I couldn't believe how easy it was and how smooth the back of the quilt was. I pieced the quilt back with 4 extra blocks I had and more Kona Snow and some Kona Medium Gray.

I think I really have the quilting bug right now. I am finishing up 2 pillows for my mom for this weekend and already have 2 more scrap quilts I'm dying to start. My BF also asked me to make him one in solids. I have been wanting to do a solid one for a while but don't really know how I want to go about this one.



I also have a few bags to list in my shop whenever I find a good chunck of time to take pictures. I really hate that part of it. My photography skills suck but I keep working at it.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

One Down....

It's been a long time since I have posted any new projects. I have been really busy sewing. There's a ton of new wallets and pouches in the shop now with new bags to come as soon as I find time to take the pictures.

I have finished my brother's girlfriends quilt. I posted the quilt top a while back. It has been just waiting for me to make the back and quilt it. I finished it in about 6 hours. I really like it. I messed up when I was measuring the back so there is a lot of random piecing but I really like it. I am getting a lot better at free motion quilting too, but can still use some practice. She really likes pink so I made a simple coin quilt with all my pink scraps. I hope she likes it because it may be really hard for me to give it away.

I still have to quilt my sister's which I'm hoping to start tonight. I just got my walking foot in the mail and am excited to do some straight line quilting. I really like the look of it but I have no idea how I'm going to do it on the scrappy string quilt.




BTW...If anyone has any tips on how to photograph quilts, I could really use them.

3X6 Bee Blocks

My creation
Originally uploaded by AmieJ Designs

I have finished my blocks for the 3X6 mini bee on Flickr. I'm kind of sad about it. They were a lot of fun to do and the next round doesn't start until January. I should be glad they're done, I have a lot of work to do. I am just finishing up my bag for the bag swap, have my xmas present quilts to quilt and am thinking of doing a craft show in December so I need to make stock. Here are the blocks that I made for my group.

New Exciting Books

I bought two new books today.
One is Amy Butler's Style Stitches, 12 easy ways to 26 wonderful bags. I have been waiting for my local bookstore to get this since it was released. Today was finally the day. I only had a chance to glance through it briefly before going to work. I'm very excited about this. Why? I don't really know because I normally hate bag patterns and always design my own. I think it's the pink cover. I just signed up for the bag swap at Sew Mama Sew, so I'm thinking I'll try one of these great bags for my swap pattern.
The Second one is Dare To Be Square Quiting by Boo Davis. Again, I have only briefly flipped through this book but already love it. I don't think I've made it a secret that I love straight lines and a clean modern look. I still have to make my moms Christmas gift quilt so maybe I'll try one of these.
Does anyone else have any new or old favourite sewing books they'd like to share?

Cupcakes

I realized I write mostly about sewing but I do a lot of other things as well. Baking is one of them. I love to bake and I do it quite often. I just made 4 dozen cupcakes for my nieces 3rd birthday party. This was a lot of fun. I sure love pink frosting!

Messenger Bag....And This One's Mine!

Messenger Bag
Originally uploaded by AmieJ Designs

This is my new favourite bag and I'm keeping this one. I rarely keep any that I make. It's not that I don't want to, but usually someone else wants them more. This one is made with 15oz Organic canvas and lined in one of my favourite Erin McMorris prints from Park Slope. I am still debating about making these for the shop. The organic fabric is really expensive but it feels really great and durable.

String Quilt

I have finished the top and back of my first quilt. I have moved on to my sister's quilt. I wanted to make it really scrappy and a little crazy, which suits my sister. I used this tutorial from Film In The Fridges' blog, which I read daily. I am addicted. This is so much fun. I am doing 5 1/2" blocks then sewing 4 together to make a large block. These sew together very quickly but I still have quite a few left to make. I am going to put sashing around each large block instead of sewing all the blocks together. I wanted to break up the pattern a little bit. I can't wait to see the finished top on this one. This is not going to help my scrap hoarding though. Instead of throwing out the little strips like I used to, I now realize you can use even the smallest pieces for these blocks.


I have also decided to redo the block I showed in my last post. It is going to be a pillow and I have decided the blocks not matching up really bother me a lot. I will show the pillow and hopefully the finished quilt top when I can get a decent picture of it.

Sewing through the heat wave

It is sooooo hot. I am not a summer person. Anyone who knows me, knows this. I like cool weather and I even like snow. So it probably goes without saying, I am not doing very well in this humidity.

I decided to try sewing this quilt square the other night when I couldn't sleep. The tutorial is from Little Miss Shabby and it's the stash buster block. I actually really liked that it was a lot of 1.5" squares. It let me use my very small pieces of fabric that I couldn't throw out. My first attempt was a little wonky. I think I may have had a few squares that weren't cut exactly the right size so they don't line up as they should. I still like it though. I am going to make this square into a pillow to go with the pink coin quilt I am currently working on for an xmas present. Although it is a little time consuming, I am thinking of using this block to make my sisters quilt which will be a true scrap quilt.
(If you look at the corners, you can see where the squares didn't line up)

Planning Ahead

So I might be a little ambitious. I have decided to make 4 different quilts for xmas presents this year. Not only that, I am going to try to make them out of my very large collection of scraps. I have already started one for my brother's girlfriend. By start I mean I have cut out (for hours) pieces for a coin quilt. I have also cut a couple hundred 1.5" squares to do a matching pillow. Her favourite colour is pink and I have a lot of pink so that's why I started with this one. I'm just waiting for my solid colour which I had to order. The only other one which is somewhat planned in my head is my sister's which I think is going to be a true scrap quilt with a little bit of everything.

I have learned a couple of things from my quilting in the last couple of years. One is that I really like really simple designs and I also prefer straight line quilting. I still am going to practice some more free motion quilting but I think my stuff is nicer when I do what I like to do.

Here are my scraps cut up and ready to go for quilt one.

Park Slope Wristlets

I mentioned these briefly in my last post. These were for a 13 yr old's birthday party. The birthday party was at a spa where the bday girl and 2 friends got manicures, pedicures and age appropriate makeup. How fun! These were used for the loot bags. I used a good chunk of my Erin McMorris Park Slope fabric. I was happy with how these turned out. So bright and cheerful and of course I can't do a wristlet without a removable yo-yo pin.

Custom Orders

I have been working on some custom orders lately so I have been a little to busy to do much of anything else. Here is one I just finished for bridesmaids gifts. They are double pleat totes with Amy Butlers Optic Blossom Linen. I really love this fabric. It's also the colours of the wedding. How pretty and clean is that?

I'm also working on some wristlet/cosmetic bags for a preteen birthday party. These are almost done and quite cute.

New Bags

I have been making some new bags but as usual, I am very slow in posting them. I wonder if this is because I secretly want to keep them for myself. This is the everyday messenger bag. It's a little smaller than most of my bags but big enough to fit all of the daily essentials. I love the simplicity and the pleated corners that give it depth. I only have one in the shop right now but there will be more coming.......eventually.