Blog / birthday gift
half-square triangle placemats
Before I moved down here to North Carolina (which I'm loving so far, by the way!), one of the projects I managed to finish, and gift, was a set of four quilted placemats.
Each one was made up of half square triangles, which I made from green and turquoise scraps in my stash, and backed with a coincidentally complementary print by Kathy Davis (also used on the back of this project and this one).
I've been experimenting a lot with half-square triangles lately--the layout possibilities are endless!--so I'll try and post some of my other projects in the coming weeks.
sewing project: fern-stitch napkins + train tote
For my sister-in-law's June birthday, I sent her a package filled with cupcake-making supplies and some handmade goodies, including a set of four hand-embroidered napkins with a fern-stitch border. (I sold a teal pair in my shop not too long ago.)
I wrapped everything up in a little tote I made a few years ago from some amazing train fabric found in my mom's stash.
The tote was lined with pink polka dot fabric, which was also used for the handles, and I sewed coordinating green buttons at the base of each of the handles.
sparrow embroidery
For a dear friend's birthday last week, I stitched up one of Jenny Hart's bluebirds (the transfer is available in Embroidered Effects). The pattern reminded me a lot of the sparrow necklace that my friend often wears, so I knew it was the perfect motif for her gift.
Inspired by my friend's living room, which is filled with yellow accents, I used gray embroidery floss and a vintage yellow napkin that my mom sent to me after cleaning out one of her linen drawers. I used a chain stitch for the entire piece.
birthday goodies
For my birthday last Wednesday, my fabulous family and friends showered me with lots of fabric and crafty goodies.
I received more super cute fabric from Japan...
...a pack of coordinated fat quarters from CityCraft, my favorite fabric store in Dallas...
...pretty fabric, vintage buttons, and darling straight pins...
...a rotary cutter and mat...
...and a patchwork pin cushion and sewing tool holder to drape over the sofa armrest (made by my mom!).
All in all, it was an excellent birthday. Thank you, everyone, for the thoughtful gifts!
lexi's quilt
My husband's cousin recently gave birth to a baby girl--Lexi--so I decided to make her a quilt.
I used scrap materials I had in my sewing room to make the top, and purchased the yellow-polka-dot backing and lavender binding.
To make the quilt, I used a combination of three different tutorials. The top came from here, the directions on how to make a quilt sandwich and machine quilt came from Modern Day Pioneers, and steps on how to do binding came from here. The binding is hand-sewn on the back and the finished quilt is about 28" x 28".
I also made a rather clumsy attempt to embroider the quilt with Lexi's name, my name, and the date. I'll have to work on improving my embroidery skills...
