Sewing

Her Name Was Nancy Wolfe

26 Comments / June 28, 2014 June 28, 2014 / Sewing

I took MeMum to an antique store for a few minutes yesterday. I was worried about our trip — MeMum was grumpy and didn’t want to play. Isn’t it funny how shopping is a lot more fun if you find something that interests you? Just when I was giving up hope that she would enjoy our little outing, we saw a few things that caught our eye. One of them was this train case that used to belong to Nancy Wolfe.

It looks a little bunged up in this next picture, but it’s really in great shape. I knew immediately how I could use this cute little train case.

The makeup tray is perfect for sewing tools and little squares of fabric.

And the section below the makeup tray is perfect for my growing quilt. My little buddy case is tucked under there too, for times when I don’t want to take the whole case with me — I’ll grab the buddy case, quilt top, and go.

I think it was $15 well spent. I tried to get The Scruffster to show a little interest but he wasn’t having it. He’s not an outdoor cat, so actually being outside was more than he could take. He’s too rotund to run away from me, so I don’t worry about having him out there for a minute or two.

I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend. We’re having a pretty downpour as we speak. A perfect day to sew!

XOXO,
Anna

C’mon Get Happy

24 Comments / June 19, 2014 June 19, 2014 / Sewing, Store

I’ve had that goofy song by Pharrell Williams running through my head all week. The Happy Song — it’s so, … um … happy haha. (Did you know they call that an earworm when a song gets stuck in your head like that?) Google the Happy Song if you need an earworm too — it’s fun!

Anyway, the reason for all this Happy is the arrival of Surprise!, the fun line of fabric from Riley Blake. I ordered it way back in February and I was really excited to see it at spring quilt market. And now it’s here and I’ve been having fun playing and making some gifts — because a fabric that says Happy Birthday on it is perfect for gifts.

I started with pillow cases. Sooo easy! And I included a little Happy Birthday Tag-It in the seamline. Next up, I want to make You Go Girl’s cute crochet-edged pillowcases with the pink Happy Birthday print.

Then, I decided I wanted to make some little giftbags. (I might be a little obsessed. Like many of you, I love fabrics with words on them and the colors in these prints sent me over the edge LOL.)

Each gift bag took a basically a fat quarter (split between a cute print and the Happy Birthday print) for the bag and a fat quarter for the lining, with a scrap for the binding.

I threw in a little Happy Birthday Tag-it on the gift bag too (’cause they’re like Lay’s potato chips — you can’t stop!).

Anyway, it’s been fun playing and I have a ton of other ideas for this fabric too. Wouldn’t a pincushion or sewing accessories for your sewing buddies be cute on their birthday? You’ve probably already guessed that I have fat quarter packs and some yardage in my little shop. You can make a LOT of those gift bags with a fat quarter pack (free pdf pattern comes with the fat quarter pack).

(And speaking of the shop, if you missed the first order of the little Better Buddy Sewing Cases, they’re restocked and lime green is even an option now too.)

Ok, off to fondle happy fabric. Have a great weekend — it’s almost here!
XOXO,
Anna

Peace. Love. Yoga.

37 Comments / January 15, 2014 February 15, 2014 / Sewing, Store

Hello boys and girls! It’s time to show you the super secret Christmas sewing project that was the most time consuming. Here’s a little hint:

Any guesses?

Ok, I’ll tell you. All the ladies in the ThimbleannaLand family are planning a little yoga vacation this summer so I thought it would be fun if we all had matching yoga mat bags. Altogether, I made 6 bags and it took me several full weekends to complete them.

I think the girls really liked them. CuteNiece2 (who is becoming a certified yoga instructor and will be our own personal instructor on our trip) told me this was her favorite gift, so that was pretty exciting!

I couldn’t find a yoga mat bag pattern that I liked, so I just sort of made one up by looking at commercially available yoga mat bags. Each bag has one long zipper for the mat compartment in the middle and a smaller zipper on one side that opens into a pocket for wallet, keys, etc. There is also an outside mesh pocket for a water bottle or towel or whatever. Here’s a shot of what each side of the bags looks like:

If you look closely, you can see that I personalized each person’s bag with their name. The top bag in the picture above just happens to be mine! ;-D There’s a big long shoulder strap that runs from the top of the bag to the bottom of the bag. It’s sewn down on the bottom of the bag, but on the top it’s left open so that it could be used as a carrying handle if someone wanted to carry their bag in an upright position but not on their shoulder. There are also grommets in the bottom to provide ventilation for the mats. Here’s a shot of the top and bottom of the bags:

You can see that I used Sweetwater’s Make Life print on the ends of the bag. I also used it for the bag linings. It’s one of my very favorite prints ever and I’ve been hoarding a lot of it for a long time. I think the little sayings in the print are perfect for a yoga bag. Like the pencil rolls, I used the Robert Kaufman Essex Linen in Sand for most of the outside of the bags and then chose some scrap fabrics to match the Make Life fabric.

The machine embroidery is a design from embroidery library. We had a lot of peace signs this Christmas ;-D. (They also have a cute Peace. Love. Knit. design that I think would be fun on a knitting bag.)

And just to prove that I really did make six of them, here they are all stacked together. This was really a fun project to sew!

So, that’s the big project and the medium project posted. ;-D There’s still one other little project that I’ll save for next time. I hope you’re having a good week!
XOXO,
Anna

Ooooh, P.S. I forgot to tell you that I got my shipment of Linen Mochi Dots by MoMo from Moda. I LOVE this fabric and if it had been available before Christmas, these yoga bags would have had a very different look! You can find them HERE, in my little etsy store.

Pencil Rolls

40 Comments / January 11, 2014 February 15, 2014 / Sewing

Well, apparently time doesn’t pass any more slowly in the New Year. I was really hoping things would slow down, but this past week sure whizzed by. Maybe we were just busy trying to stay warm LOL.

I’ve debated in what order I should show you the super secret Christmas sewing. (Just so you know, there weren’t any quilts — don’t want you to be dissapointed LOL.) Easiest first? Save the best for last? There were three projects and, in my mind, I can put them in a definite order. I’ve finally decided on a random order show-and-tell, so, this is the “middle” project.

Both of my cute nieces are very artistic, so I made them each a colored pencil roll. I was sewing these at the last minute on Christmas Eve, so we try not to look too closely at the stitching!

I didn’t follow a pattern. I just bought 24 packs of colored pencils, chose 24 matching fabrics, cut those little colored strips 1 1/2″ wide, and then sewed them together in a long line. If I could make them over, I’d probably like to put a binding around the edges, rather than do the right-sides-together-and-turn finishing method. On the outside, I machine embroidered a peace signs and flowers design from Embroidery Library.

Then, I stitched a “made for you” tag on an inside corner, just for fun. (Just how many yellow pencils does one 24-pack need, anyway?)

The linen is essex linen in the sand colorway from Robert Kaufman and it’s wonderful for sewing.

They were a quick, fun little project. Next time I’ll start earlier so I can do a better job! (Famous last words!)

Ok, next time, the biggest project. As in, the one that took several weekends and a lot of time in the dungeon.

XOXO,
Anna

30 Comments / July 24, 2013 August 25, 2013 / Sewing

Thanks for all the quilt love on my last post. You guys are pretty funny. Most of you made me feel better about that 90’s green and wine. Barb’s buddy No-blog Jill even took a peek into the future to suggest tomorrow’s red and green. (Hint: they’re spelled r.e.d. and a.q.u.a. LOL.)

Not much quilting going on around here this week, but I have managed a little sewing. Do you remember my toaster pillowcases? I’ve been busy making more of them.

Thought I’d stock up the gift pile.

I threw in a few Dr. Suess pillowcases. Can you guess the recipient’s name LOL?

I also caught up on some WAY overdue wedding gifts. A bride and groom cookbook and Mr. and Mrs. aprons.

So, no progress on my summer list. I’ll be working on #10 in a few days though — it’s almost time to visit The World’s Greatest Aunt while TheManoftheHouse holds down the fort (and tends kitties!), poor guy. While I’m gone I might be glued to Instagram though — I discovered #campthepigeon today and I’m in love. It’s going to be very sad if the story doesn’t end happily.

Be good while I’m gone!
XOXO,
Anna