Tag: sewing

A Carry-Some

Leave a comment

I’ve created a long list of projects for myself recently. In order to get everything done in a reasonable amount of time, I’ve started carrying some socks I’m working on with me nearly everywhere. Seriously. I was knitting and walking around downtown Burbank the other day wasting time before I had to go back to work.

Anyway, there is no room in my purse to continuously shove the socks, needles, stitch markers, and information card I need to work on the socks at any spare moment. So I needed a way to contain everything and attach it to my bag (or carry it on its own). Luckily, I had a free workshop on Craftsy to make a small drawstring bag. I also had the remnants of some “fat quarters” (a half-yard of fabric cut along the fold) lying around.

The bag came out just the perfect size for all the things I needed to carry to work on the socks I’m currently making.

Plus, the drawstrings let me either tie it to the strap of my big bag or carry it on its own. I even tied it to my belt loop the other day while I was walking.

Soft Kitty

1 Comment

I made this little guy as a parting gift for one of the boys I had been babysitting. The time had come for me to move on to the next job, and so I wanted to give him a little gift. He loves stuffed animals (What three-year-old doesn’t?) and has a couple of cats, so I decided to make him a stuffed kitty.

This cat is made from the “Mao” pattern by Angela Tong, found here. It’s knit from the ears down in one piece, with the i-cord tail picked up in the back at the end, so there is no real sewing involved aside from the face.

The bottom is flat, so he stands up very nicely. It was the first stuffy I had made, at least in a long time and the only one for a child instead of an animal.

What kind of gifts do you like to make for kids? Anyone have an interesting stuffy pattern you have used recently?

My First Quilt: Project Linus Blanket 1

1 Comment

I worked at a quilt shop for a few months this spring, and one of the first things my boss had me do was take a simple Friday night class. Using Eleanor Burns’ “Whirligig” pattern from her Quilt-in-a-Day series, the three-hour class gave each participant the pieces to make the large quilt and the smallest quilt in the pattern. I chose to make the smaller blanket for my first quilt because it would give me some practice.

I hand-dyed the fabric for the background, binding, and backing and assembled the blanket top using my Kenmore sewing machine. I quilted all three layers in a simple checkerboard pattern, keeping it simple for my first project.

This blanket will go to Project Linus, a non-profit organization that gives blankets to children in crisis. Recipients range in age from newborn to 17-years-old. They are delivered locally to ill or traumatized children.

To find out more about Project Linus or find your local chapter, visit their website at projectlinus.org.