Sunday, March 12, 2017

A Little Sewing Time

Hi!  I finished a special order Pirate Shirt this week, but forgot to take a photo before it was shipped. This photo is of a previous one.  I need to count how many I've made, but I'm sure it's over 25 by now.  I like hearing who will be wearing it.  This one was for a dancer in a competition, but others were for Renn Faires, including the Groom's shirt for a wedding.

I also made 2 check book covers and 2 sunglass cases.  I had given a previously made case to my mom, to protect her sunglasses, and needed to make another, but just hadn't taken time.  Do you do that?  Make for others, and push off something for yourself, that will take less than an hour to do?  I think we all need to give ourselves permission to do something for us.  It's not selfish, especially when it's saving money over purchasing the ones from the big-box sellers.  And using up some scraps.

 The first case, on the right, was too small for my sunglasses, but will work for my readers.  I had forgotten it would get smaller with binding and that my sunglasses were more curved when closed.  This was fast and easy, I just quilted some @IslandBatik fabric strips, about 3 1/2" wide by 12" long, curved one end, and folded it in half and added binding around the 3 sides.  The first one was a 2 1/2" strip.  I used Aurifil 50wt thread and Warm & Natural batting scraps.

 I also needed 2 checkbook covers.  Mine is the pieced one, and the other is for the checks for my mom's account.  Again, some sweet Island Batik fabrics, and Aurifil thread.  These have Pellon Shirtailor fusible interfacing in the pockets, and the pieced one has fusible fleece for the quilting.  The other is more interfacing, to give the cover support, and durability.  Aren't my checks cute?  I found a Quilt design through BJ's Wholesale Club's check company.
 I'm so happy I took time to make these.  The older checkbook cover I had made was actually too small, and didn't have interfacing.  I'm going to enjoy using these and finding them easily in my purse.
In other news, I finally have the backsplash done in my kitchen.  Charley from Allbright Construction had the light colored tiles, but not enough for the whole thing. After looking for additional 3 by 6 pieces to create a "scrappy quilt" look, I opted for a Mosaic from Home Depot called Amalfi Cafe for the center, with the 3 by 6 top and bottom. We had done something similar in Mom's kitchen, only with white marble and white and silver glass mosaics.  It was easy to cut and install, in my case, very cost effective. I'm happy with the results, and enjoy using this kitchen now.  I still need to replace the flooring and paint the walls, but this is good progress after living with the broken cabinets and ruined top, and leaking sink for so long.  The upper cabinets are the original ones, and the base and granite countertop was installed in November.  I'm still unpacking after my move 14 months ago.  I'm just happy there's progress.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Please be on the watch for the Island Batik Ambassadors March Mini Madness posts.  Mine will be coming soon.  I have 3 ideas, and I'm not sure which I want to do, but all 3 will probably get done at one point, lol.  With the blizzard coming on Tuesday, I'm planning some Sew days!

Maryellen


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