Sister's Choice Quilts

Cushions and More Cushions

My son-in-law asked me to make 16 cushions for the outside area of his wine tasting room. He bought the fabric ages ago, and I used some of it to recover the cushions on his own home patio. I have been putting off making the tasting room cushions because the weather has been too lousy for anyone to sit outside. But it is March now and I need to get this project done.

Like many projects that I don't do often there is a learning curve to get up to speed. I needed to figure out how to cut two-inch foam pads the size needed. I needed to refresh my memory on how to calculate the size of the gusset/box corners. And I needed to figure out how to do a zipper that wraps around the top two corners of the cushion covers for easy removal. 

I spent half the day watching YouTube videos. Most of the instructions for making your own box cushions were horrible. One woman had her long hair hanging over the pieces she was demonstrating, so what she was doing was completely obscured. Not too useful. A couple of professional upholsterers recommended basting your seam allowance closed and sewing your zipper over it. Then removing your basting stitches, revealing the zipper, but leaving a gazillion little threads to pick off. No thanks, that sounds like extra work. 

The most useful and easy to follow YouTube video was Steh Hiesher's DIY Easy One Piece Box Cushion Cover Tutorial. I highly recommend it if you have any cushion covers to make. Her method of making the boxed corners and the wrap around zipper were both great. 

How about that zipper? It is a nice feature to have it wrap around the sides of the cushion. It makes it a lot less of a struggle to get the foam pad in and out for laundering. 

Now this might surprise you. The foam cushions I am working with are two inches thick. My good Gingher scissors weren't right for the job, and the rotary cutter wouldn't work at all. After watching a couple of YouTube videos, the item that was recommended most often for cutting foam was an electric knife. My dad used to have one he used for carving the Thanksgiving turkey. I didn't want to touch it for fear of cutting off my fingers, but my husband is experienced with using one and he cut the first cushion for me. 

One down and 15 to go! I tell you after making four cushion covers I am done for. Ryan has 16 seats he needs cushions for, so that is what I will be working on for the foreseeable future. I've got a system going now, so my pace should pick up!

Christmas Craft Projects and Dinner Shortcuts

Who can resist this face? Archie seems kind of chilly since his haircut Monday, so we put a sweater on him. At first, he wanted to eat it but has thankfully given up that notion. I laugh every time I look at him with those fuzzy floppy ears. He is adorable. You can probably tell he is wishing I'd let him in the house.

Eva's ornament gifts have turned out super cute. All I did was glue the felt backing on each one, and frankly, I made kind of a mess of it. My glue gun is absolutely worthless and is going in the trash as soon as it cools down. The glue doesn't even feed through it. I have to push the glue stick through with a spare finger while also pressing the trigger and guiding it around what I am trying to glue. It is so frustrating to use it.

Seriously, that is just a mess. There was no control at all. Does anyone have a link or the name of a glue gun that actually works reliably? I'd love to know.

My Instant Pot and cookbooks by Jeffrey Eisner are keeping me sane these days. If you use your Instant Pot regularly, you must try his cookbooks. Aside from a tendency to put a package of Boursin cheese in every dish (optional), his recipes are delicious. The Boursin is good in some of them too, you just need to use your judgment. I'm writing this on Tuesday afternoon and plan to make his Tortellini Soup for dinner. With no Boursin.

In other news, I am on a new diet. It is called the Chardonnay and Christmas Cookie Diet. Every time I pass by the tin of cookies my sister Kate gave me I have one. Or two. We shall see how that serves me.

January Mug Rugs

Since I was excited about the idea of the Mug Rug of the Month Club, I got cracking on the January offering. I had a tub full of Primitive Gatherings Snowman Gatherings fabrics that are perfect for that month. I had a couple of false starts, but ended up with four mug rugs that are acceptable. 

I have to say, I am done with this octagonal shape. I find it impossible to have them turn out symmetrical and even, no matter how careful I am to sew and trim. And sewing on the binding is a colossal pain.  After this month, I am going back to rectangular designs.

If anyone has a great idea for cute patterns for mug rugs, let me know.

We are gearing up for our son to arrive from Ireland on Friday. I cannot express how excited we all are. We have been decorating, and baking, and cleaning the house to get ready for his visit. I know we are going to be busy over the next couple of weeks, but I'll sure try to post as often as I can!

Christmas Mug Rug

I managed to get two little holiday mug rugs made. One for my daughter Sara, and one for me. The one I kept came out kind of funny. All the colorful mittens ended up on one side of the piece! The one I gave to Sara has the print more uniformly distributed. 

That is something to keep in mind if you are working with patterned strips of fabric. Even though mine isn't very symmetrical looking, I am enjoying it. 

I have a friend who works from home, who really enjoys having a seasonal mug rug next to her computer to put her coffee or tea on. I need to steal an hour or so and see if I can make just one more!

The Christmas shopping is all in hand. Most of it has arrived, but there are still quite a few items we are waiting for delivery on. My husband and I even put a dent in the stocking stuffer situation today.  There is a cute shop near us that sells all kinds of spices, soup mixes, local honey etc. They are always a great resource for little somethings to tuck in adult children's stockings.

I feel that things are under control and that now it's time to sit back and enjoy the decorations! I do have a newly quilted Christmas runner that I am loving. I will share pics and details of that tomorrow. Hope your week got off to a terrific start!

If You're Not Convinced Yet...

If you're not convinced that you need to make the Centerpiece Table Topper Mug Rug, maybe this one will convince you. I swear it turned out so darn cute. I have a friend who is a little bit "witchy" (she would be the first to say so) who will love this. 

Sewing the rounds around the center hexagon is a bit fussy, but I hope/think I am getting better at it. My trimming is more accurate for sure. This time, when it came time to attach the binding I decided to cut the strips 2.5 inches wide, which is wider than what I usually do (2.25 inches). I pressed it as per the instructions given by Lella Boutique, but omitted the glue step. On each of the mitered angles, I just used a straight pin to hold things in place. 

And I stitched that puppy down with the machine. I used a 3.0 stitch length setting and went slowly in the ditch. The top looked perfect and the underside was ok. It wasn't right on the edge, but all the binding was  caught in the stitches and was pretty even at least. For a mug rug, I was totally satisfied. It took just a minute instead of 20 (by hand) and really looked quite nice. My conclusion is for mug rugs, machine stitching the binding is the way to go.

I am so overwhelmed with work this week and am dying to make more of these little mug rugs, but it just is not meant to be. Hope your week is going well! Happy first day of fall!

Quick Home Made Gift Idea- Microwave Bowl Cozies

This, for those of you who might not know, is a Bowl Cozy.  Specifically, a padded bowl surround that can be used in the microwave while heating up leftovers in a bowl.  You know how when you heat up your soup in a bowl in the microwave, it is too hot to handle when you take it out?  Well, this little item solves that problem.  Everyone loves them.

To make them, all you need is two 10 inch layer cake squares and two 10 inch squares of batting.  Be sure to use only 100% cotton fabric, batting and thread.  I have done a tutorial on how I make mine, and therein have linked to another tutorial I think is really good.  

I have been in full production mode, and made eight of them in a couple of hours earlier this week.  They make great teacher gifts, gifts for work buddies, and are quite perfect for your grown nieces and nephews who are setting up first apartments or dorm rooms.  You know they eat something from the microwave every day, so these are just what they need.  For couples, I like to give two in matching or coordinating fabrics.

They are a great way to use up those layer cake squares you have sitting around.  These cost me nothing, as I made them with materials I had on hand. I bet you have the makings for a slew of them too.  I like to choose fabric combinations that suit the individual.  The guys on my list are getting grey and black ones and the girls are getting girlier prints.  They are completely washable, so when you slop your soup over the side, it's no problem to wash it off.

So what are you waiting for?  You know someone who needs these.

 

 

Another Fiber Art

Every year or so, I get the urge to knit something.  My knitting skills are basic, at best, but I love to crank out a scarf or two every now and then.  I am someone who would really benefit from taking a knitting class, or joining an informal knitting group.  I can knit and purl and make scarves, but my abilities pretty much end there.  How fun it would be for me to make little caps or baby sweaters or socks!

There is a little knitting shop not too far from me, and I wandered in over the weekend and was inspired by the projects the shop had all about the place.  It is so smart of quilt shops or yarn shops to display finished projects so customers can see what they might accomplish given the right materials and instruction.

So this happened.  I purchased a $40 ball of varigated yarn and some circular needles.  The shop attendant promised me I could make a triangular shawl with no trouble at all.  I told her I might be back tomorrow for help and left the shop with my wallet considerably lighter.  I watched forty five minutes of YouTube videos on how to increase knitted stitches, and after some false starts and additional practice, am on my way.  It's still a scarf, but a little trickier than a rectangular one.  Wish me luck!  Hopefully there will be socks and caps in my future.  Maybe even a cable stitch.  I can dream, right?

Fabric Baskets

This past weekend I was experimenting with various designs of fabric storage baskets.  I have seen so many cute ones lately on Instagram, by people who are participating in 2017 Triangle Gatherings Sew Along, or the Moda BlockHeads Sew Along.  They use the baskets to hold the fat quarters they are using for their sew along projects.  So cute.  Some folks actually used yardage of the collection they were sewing with to make their baskets.  So cute and coordinated.

The first basket I made was from a tutorial on the blog St Louis Folk Victorian.  I used four different fabrics from my stash and some fusible quilt batting.  The result was not quite structured enough for me, and the basket seemed kind of floppy.  The fabric packed inside helped hold its shape, but I would have liked a firmer interfacing.

The second basket was so stiff I could hardly work with it.  I more or less used this tutorial from Birch Fabrics.  I used an ultra firm interfacing called PelTex, which I bought at JoAnns.  Oh my gosh, this stuff was so stiff!  It was like what you would use to make a hat or something.  It was so stiff I couldn't really sew it, but just kind of formed it inside the outer fabric and lining.  It was impossible to top stitch, and I ended up gluing the lining fabric in place rather than sewing it (where it overlaps at the top).  It was a proper little box, super stiff sided, but really hard to work with.  The final size was a bit smaller than I wanted as well.

My third effort was kind of a combination of the previous patterns and materials, and was a bit closer to what I wanted in terms of size, but since I was still trying to use the PelTex interfacing, it was really hard to work with.  I pretty much bent the heck out of the sides trying to wrestle it into shape.

So, do any of you know of an interfacing somewhere in between PelTex (which is more like cardboard) and the floppier fusible quilt batting we all know and love?  I was so mystified when I was shopping at JoAnns.  They had a ton of stuff in their interfacing section, but I had no idea really of what I was looking at.  There was a numbering system that was incomprehensible to me:  71F, 70, 72F etc.  Turns out the F stands for Fusible, which actually may have been useful, but who knows?  There sure wasn't any store personnel available to advise me.

I can still use these little baskets, but they weren't exactly what I was aiming for in terms of structure/sturdiness.  I'd love some recommendations from any of you who have made this type of fabric basket/bin.

By the way,  I discovered a YouTube instructional video on making these little baskets. Here is the link for any of you who enjoy a real visual instruction.



 

 

DIY Fabric Boxes

I can't tell you what my inspiration was for these little fabric boxes, but I got a notion that I wanted to make some storage boxes out of fabric, and started playing around on Pinterest.  Hours later, I had a list of tutorials and was totally jazzed to get started making something.

The first one I tried was a tutorial from a site called Seaside Stitches:  link below--

http://seaside-stitches.blogspot.com/2013/03/fabric-box-tutorial.html

This is a tiny little fabric box, and is perfect for so many uses, as well as a wonderful gift idea.  This may be my Christmas gift for 2017.  You can make it with two 10 inch layer cake squares, a ten inch square of batting and four buttons.  Seriously, that is it.  Who doesn't have a drawer full of layer cakes gathering dust that could be used for this adorable project?

The tutorial is excellent, and I jumped right in and made a number of these little boxes in various sizes and designs.  The one in the photo above is perfect for sewing notions.  There are little flaps that you tack down on the inside of the basket that are great for holding scissors, pens, and other small notions.

Or, you can scale the basket larger and make the little flaps on the outside of the container, and use them for your notions.

 I have a colleague who is expecting a baby, and I plan to make a larger version of this and fill it with pacifiers, diaper rash ointment,  a thermometer, baby wipes, a baby rattle,  and who knows what all else.  Isn't that a good idea for a new mom?

How cute would these be for the gals in your sewing circle?  You could add little items such as tiny scissors, packs of needles, seam rippers etc.

Your friends don't sew?  No problem, fill the little basket with tea bags or seasonal candy and you have an adorable gift for anyone.

This is possibly my favorite.  For your daughter or daughter in law---fill it with an assortment of fun beauty projects, either drugstore or high end.  Don't forget to add in the Sephora gift card!  You have an adorable container for organizing things on the vanity.  Now that would be a nice gift!

After you make the first one and you "get it", you can turn one out in 30 minutes.  Make a couple a month and you will have all the people on your holiday gift list covered.

 

 

Microwave Bowl Cozy

How clever is this?  Don't you hate it when you microwave your leftovers and the bowl is too hot to handle when you take it out of the microwave?  Me too.  I found two tutorials on how to make these clever little bowl cozys just before Christmas.  Too late for me to make for gifts this year, but I tell you, next year everyone is getting them.  Here are the tutorials I used:  Syzygy of Me and Been a Very Busy Crafting Bee.  The tutorials are handy because they each make cozys that are different sizes and of course you get the perspective of different photos of the process if you are confused.

Here are some photos of my experience, but do check out the tutorials, they are much better than mine in both description and photos.

 

I started with two layer cake squares (10" square) and two pieces of cotton batting (10" square).  I marked an X corner to corner on both fabric pieces with a sewing chalk pen.  I put a piece of batting and a layer cake square together and stitched on my X lines on both pieces.

Here is where I ran into trouble.  You are supposed to mark and sew darts on both pieces and I screwed up  my first attempt.  

Fold your fabric in half RST to make a rectangle.  Mark your dart 1" out and 2 1/4" down.  Mark and sew darts on the two folds, then open and refold the square to make two more darts on the opposite folds.  You will make four darts on each piece.  Here is the key:  mark the dart on the FOLD (as shown), not the raw edge.  If you mark and sew on the RAW EDGE this is what you get---

Something that looks like a fitted diaper.  No, that is not what you want.  Darn.  That was cute fabric too.  It should look like this---

Yes.  Can you see this coming together?  See the four darts?  Do the same with both pieces and fit them RST (right sides together).  Pin and stitch all around the raw edge with a 1/2" seam allowance, leaving two or three inches unstitched so you can turn it right side out. Trim excess fabric from darts.  Clip the corners and the points.

Ta da.  Turn right side out and you are nearly done.

Press and machine stitch all around the outside edges.  I used a decorative stitch I call the Wiggle Stitch.  You don't have to hand sew the place where you left the seam open to turn it because the decorative stitch catches the edges.

Cute, huh?  And practical too.