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Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Sew Sampler Sewing ~ March Box 2020



It was another rainy sewing day today.

We have snow in the forecast for tonight as the temperature dips.

I also washed floors and cleaned house today as I do every Monday.
I also started my spring closet reorganization,
putting away the warm fleece and taking out the t-shirts and capris.

These days, though, I seem more obsessive about sanitizing door knobs 
and locks and outside handles.


The pretty fabrics and colors soothed my quilty soul.
This one was sew lovely to work with.
The colors seem to glow on the background,
which appears gray but may have a touch of blue.
The photo does not do this fabric justice.

Nor does the one in the shops ...


This is 
available at in the link at Fat Quarter Shop 
and other fine fabric shops. 
It is a big seller and keeps going in and out of stock. 


This was in the 

All the box goodies in the link above.


This was a fun box to open.
I also bought the finishing kit this month.
Usually I do not but the finishing kits but I am glad I did because it had this
seed sprinkled fabric goodness in the finishing kit.


My quity kitties and I have been having fun with this one.

I have been a Sew Sampler box subscriber for three years 
and I love receiving this surprise package each month,
but April may be my last box.
I have so many of these kits that I have yet to sew
that I need to catch up and maybe sell or give away some of them.
Spring is a time to weed so new growth may occur.

Tonight is still a warm fleecey, quilty night, though.

May you be warm and safe and well in your own quilty place.



Monday, March 30, 2020

Sunday Scrappy Sewing


Sunday was a scrappy sort of day here in The Scrapatch.
While the rain dripped outside, I played inside with the pretty fabric.


Today these pretty new fabrics called to me.

These pretties are



I cut all the fabrics for a new quilt.


The I decided to do some improv sewing with some of the smallest scraps.


Soon I had this mini quilt made from the scraps from the box.


The I picked out some more scraps and sewed some more.


An hour later I had a finished an improv mini quilt.


I found a scrap piece of batting and some of my older Tula Pink scraps
for the back and binding.


This mini quilt is Quilty Kitty Approved! 

What have you been sewing this weekend?

May you and yours be well and safe <3 

Sunday, March 29, 2020

One Monthly Goal For March ~ Finished!






This was the fabric pull for a very fun to design and make pillow.



This pillow cover was designed by my daughter 
and sewn by me an together we created this
 Free-For-Personal-Use-Only-Pattern ... 

from  

I have also posted a series of 


Thanks to all who have followed along on my Star Wars quilty journey.

Thanks to 
for helping me with my goal setting this year. 

May your quilty place be your refuge
 and may you and yours be well. 

<3 

Saturday, March 28, 2020

My DrEAMi Moment for March





The squirrels outside have been enjoying an early spring here 
and have been chasing each other up and down and all around
the trees in our backyard.
My indoor quilty kitties have spent hours watching
squirrel-vision out the windows. 

The quilty ideas have been squirreling around with my quilty muse.

I know you have seen a lot of this little guy on my blog this month,
but he is getting a few more posts.

On review, I realized he was very much my
  "Drop Everything and Make it" project of the month.


sitting on my cutting table 
with a squirrel running around in my head to 
make them into a pillow to send to My Girl.

It feels like a long time since I visited her last December and
have been feeling far away from my daughter
who is feeling far away from family
while my SIL is serving his country overseas
and wanted to do something with her. 


Somehow this lead to our writing a quilt block pattern together and

was created.



I see porgs and droids and yoda in that basket but no squirrels,
There are no squirrels in Star Wars, I guess.
Star Wars needs a squirrel critter ... maybe next series? 


I have squirreled off topic.

This is a Free-For-Personal-Use-Only-Pattern


I have also posted a series of 


~ ~ ~ 

I am also giving my February DrEAMi! Moment another smile... 

Life in the Scrapatch made this Sweet Lily Cushion


Thank you, 
for hosting and posting.

I hope to see you joining us in the Linky Part this month.

Be well and safe <3 

Friday, March 27, 2020

Some Things to Smile About


This patch of crocus in my backyard has lifted their blooms to the sun. 


I am making progress on my sunflower sewing.


Mr Scrapatch, Bounty Hunter,
brought home the bounty.
(We are not hoarders; we really needed these
and we shared with our neighbor. )


I made cupcakes to celebrate.
They are (l-r)
Mango Tango,
Chocolate Pudding Cups,
Vanilla Sprinkles,
and Rum Butter Pecan.


I had Mango Tango.
filled and topped with some jam from a jar of organic goodness.

Yum!

May you and yours be well and safe
and enjoying the little joys of life. 

<3 

Thursday, March 26, 2020

I Like Thursday # 48 ~ These Days


These days, 
the pretty fabrics flowing through my fingers are needed more than ever to 
help make me feel calm and happy.

When I typed "these days"
this lyric popped unbidden into my head ... 

"Well, I'll keep on movin', movin' on
Things are bound to be improving these days
One of these days"

Want to play name that song? 

This is not a happy upbeat song,
written by a singer/songwriter when he was 16,
 who was not always a happy man. 

But it holds on to a seed of better times in the future.

I am planting and watering that seed and hoping it will grow.

It is "I Like Thursday."


where we bloggers celebrate the good in our lives,
things that have made us smile,
our pets,
our gardens,
our creative efforts,
all the small things that bring us joy.

I have much in my life that brings me joy
and for this I am very thankful.

It is more difficult these days to celebrate them when so many are suffering.


I took a sip of my coffee and put on my fleece and went out in my yard
to look for blooms.

I got this photo of the buds on my forsythia ready to burst open
with the morning sun just starting to shine over my neighbor's fence.
It is still a bit misty in the morning dew.
I was surprised I caught the sun's rays and the colors in the mist.

It lit my heart.

I have hope.

May you be well and touched by hope today.

The song is


which reminds me not to forget to tell all the people in my life 
that I love them everyday.

~ ~ ~ 

Update:
I did not know this when I posted his song this morning.

Jackson Browne, 71, pre-released a new song today ...

"A Little Too Soon to Say" by Jackson Browne

... recorded before he tested positive for Covoid-19.

"I want to know if you're okay.
I want to think it's going to be alright.
It's just a little soon to say." 

... Jackson Browne, "A Little Too Soon to Say"

I am hopeful. 

<3 


Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Rowing Along In 2020


Here is the start of my Sunflowers Row by Row Quilt.

I am sewing this as a new bed quilt with these beautiful ... 


 Clothworks Sunflowers fabrics from my stash.
This fabric line is circa 2012 and is out of print.
The yellow on the left is a Kaufmann Fusion tonal which is also out of print.



There are three rows up.

If you want this pattern,
download these free patterns now as they will be removed later to
make room for the newer rows as the years goes on.

As you can see, I am getting a late start,
but a new row is posted every other week so I have plenty of time to catch up soon.

I have more yardage than what is called for to make the quilt, 
but I want to make a larger quilt widthwise
so I am hoping to have enough
to finish the quilt.



These are all end of bolts bought when this fabric went into the clearance section
of my favorite local quilt shop.

I am saving the green and brown in the upper right for the binding. 


I am making this bed quilt to match this wall quilt,
which was made from a kit in 2012 ...


... and this table runner which I designed and made from the cutaways from the wall quilt. 


I am really enjoying sewing these pretty fabrics again
and am working on row 2.

More photos soon!

May you be well and safe in your happy sewing place.

<3 

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Bone Broth for the Little One ~ Part 5 ~ The Finish!


Time to bind and complete the pillow!

Bone Broth For the Little One ~ Part 5 ~ 
Binding and Finishing The Pillow Cover


This is the last part of he series on how to make the
Bone Broth For the Little One Block and sew it into a Pillow Cover. 

Here are links to the other parts of this tutorial: 



At the end of Part 4 the front and back pillow panels were completed.

This panels need to squared and trimmed with your ruler to 18.5" square.
They must be the exact same size to place one on top of the other 
and bound together to be bound.
They need to be sandwiched with fusible fleece facing the inside
and the front and back of the block facing outward.

Here is a good video showing one way to bind a quilted pillow: 


Please watch this video if you have never bound a quilt before
as I will refer to it later for specific details of the process. 

My personal method is somewhat different.
As I have said, find what works best for you in your sewing place. 

This method machine stitches the strips to the front of the pillow 
and hand stitches the binding closed on the back.


I auditioned several binding fabrics and decided on this gray metallic print.
Al that was left in my stash were these two pieces.


The larger one, which was less than a fat quarter yielded enough strips
for my pillow binding.
I cut my binding strips 2.5" wide.

I sewed these five strips into one continuous strip
and pressed in half leaving a 1/4" inch single layer on the edge I will sew to my pillow,
leaving about a six inch strip of fabric at the beginning and ending.
Watch the video to de-mystify this process.


In this photo I have drawn a line to show this quarter inch and my stitching line. 
I find this reduces the bulk in the binding a little and makes it easier to fold to the back.


When I reach a corner I stop 1/4" from the edge and backstitch off the top edge.
Then I turn the corner and fold the fabric to form the corner and reposition the needle
and continue on the next side.
The video link above is very helpful in showing this step. 


This is how I close my binding.
I do not sew diagonal seams when binding.
I fold my opening and closing ends back and finger press a 1/2" seam where they meet.


I pin straight across.


Then I stitch the ends closed.


Then I stitch the opening closed and turn my binding to the back of the pillow
and prepare to hand stitch.


I use plastic binding clips  to secure this fold before stitching.
quilty kitties think binding clips are a fun toy.


Here is the front of my pillow clipped.


Here is the back, starting to hand stitch the binding.


My new favorite kind of binding needles are
Tulip Short Sashiko Needles
These are very strong and feel comfortable in my hand. 
I used to sometimes bend regular sewing needles while binding.
These do not bend. 


This is a close up.
This is called a "blind hem stitch." 


Here is a handy chart showing different kinds of hand stitches.


I use a


to tuck in my corners to make them neat.


This is another fun quilty kitty toy.
My quilty kitties and I had fun with this project.


I actually love to hand stitch a binding closed.
One of my favorite moments in quilting is taking that last small stitch, knotting off,
and turning my quilted project over to see the front of my ...


 ... new finish!  Sew exciting!

If you would prefer to machine bind your pillow,
there are many tutorials and videos on the quilty net to show you how to do so.

I have a tutorial for adding a two color machine binding ...



Two Fabric Flanged Machine Binding Tutorial
This is my personal favorite machine binding method.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial series for making this quilted pillow cover.

Please let me know is you have questions or feedback to
scrapatches @ gmail.com


May you soon have a cute "Bone Broth for the Little One" pillow in your Star Wars corner.

If you make  this project, me and My Girl would love to see it!