Embroidered Denim Purses - Completed!

The purses are completed and I'm very happy with them. The embroidery/appliqué nicely complements the interior fabric, although it's rather hard to see that in these pictures. The buttons are great, too. They were yet another gift from my grandmother's stash.

Once again, I want to keep these for myself although I hardly ever use purses and have no need for another one. They are just so cheery. I especially like the one with the appliqué. But, I will most likely make them available for purchase since I can't think of anyone whom I could give one to as a gift.

I'm currently working on two more small embroidery projects and should have them completed before the end of the week. Hopefully, you will be able to see my embroidery improve as I make more crafts. That's the idea, anyway. I'm also working on a lap quilt for a custom order, which is taking a lot of my time. It's monotonous and not nearly as satisfying as a quick project like these, but will be way more satisfying in the end.

WIP Friday - Embroidery

I love hand embroidery. I love the way it looks. There's just something very homey about it. It says, "somebody put a lot of love into me." That being said, I'm still working on some of those little denim purses only now I've decided to add some hand embroidery into the mix. This little pink flower represents my first attempt at an iron-on transfer and my first split stitch. I must say, the split stitch is a lot easier than the stem stitch. My stem stitch always looks a little wonky. This may be my new favorite stitch.

I also decided to try my hand at a blanket stitch. I know, that looks suspiciously like raw-edge applique and I have previously declared my extreme dislike of raw-edge applique. For some reason I though it might not be such a bad idea for a little purse and, I must say, I'm not super happy with how it is turning out so far. I don't know if that's because I don't like the raw-edge applique or because my blanket stitch is not yet very stellar. Anyway, I'll just have to wait for the finished product to make my final judgment.

In other news, my mother-in-law has been cleaning out her sewing supplies and gifted me with a bag full of fabric and other assorted goodies. It seems that everyone I know is taking advantage of my fabric addiction by dumping all of their unwanted fabric on me. I know, poor me! Anyway, I was digging through the various boring calico and kitschy prints only to find this fabulous treasure on the bottom of the pile.


Isn't it awesome? It's like looking at a train wreck, or an acid trip. Maybe an acid trip of a train wreck? I've decided to call it, "vintage psychedelic birthday party." I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I know that I love it. Those children have purple hair! And avocado green clothing!! It doesn't get much better than that.

More Christmas Crafting

I made these bags for some little girls I know, and then I had so much fabric leftover that I made two more. They are very simple: no interior pockets or zippers. Just two little bags from pretty fabrics. I'm starting to feel like I'm making progress on the holiday gift situation. Hooray!

Two Little Pouches

My new stash management plan involves taking the leftovers from the latest project and immediately making them into something, rather than just tossing all that fabric on the pile. It's a fun way of challenging myself. Here's a small amount of coordinating fabric: make it into something fabulous!

These cosmetic pouches were made from the scraps leftover from My Zig Zag Quilt. I had eight flying geese leftover and a few strips of fabric. The pouches just kind of came into being from that. My original plan was to make two small purses, but I like these better. They're nice and sturdy and very functional. Too bad I almost never wear make-up or I might steal one of these for myself. Seriously, my blush is over five years old and looks like it's never been used.

Feeling Overwhelmed

Earlier this week I was feeling very overwhelmed. The housework was stacking up, Simon had decided that napping was no longer for him, and I was starting to have some serious doubts about my ability to find the time needed to make this whole business venture successful. And then I got sick and spent most of the next three days in bed. As you can imagine, I'm a little bit stressed out right now.

I don't want this post to be one big rant about how I'm discouraged and how I'm struggling to find more hours in the day and not be constantly exhausted, so I won't dwell on it. I'll just put it out there because that's how I feel right now, and those are some valid feelings.

On a brighter note, I have new quilting to post about. After over a week of no posting, that isn't terribly amazing. I actually had this wall hanging finished over a week ago except for the binding. We went away this past weekend for a friend's wedding and I was able to sew the binding on by hand while in the car. Then it sat for a few days until I was able to sew on the label and take some pictures.

This wall hanging was made entirely out of fabric from the stash. You can't tell from looking at the front, but you sure can tell from the back: it's a mish mash of all different fabrics that almost match the front. The perfectionist in me wanted to go out and buy fabric specifically for the backing, but the sensible me won out. I mean, ideally, no one will ever really see the back of a wall hanging - it's against the wall!

I really like how this turned out. The blocks and sashing are very traditional, but the color scheme and brightness give it more of a modern feel. The quilting is plain old stitch-in-the-ditch, except for x's on the sashing squares. I was able to use the blocks to practice my accuracy with points. In the past I have been somewhat leery of points, and I want to improve so that I can avoid that leeriness. I was able to use some quick-piecing techniques for these blocks, yet still remain fairly accurate. So, yay for points and yay for progress!

Funky Fabric Belt

My grandmother gave me a box full of supplies, which included some really unique ribbon. Well, unique to this decade, anyway. At first, I was hesitant to take it, because I had no idea what I would do with it. Then a thought came to me: it would make an awesome belt. More specifically, a belt for my sister who likes funky things and has a teeny tiny waist. I mentioned this thought to my grandmother and she immediately brought out a very large belt buckle. Is there anything she doesn't have?

I took the ribbon, ironed on some fusible interfacing, and then sewed it all onto some black backing fabric (making sure to hem in sides and all that jazz, of course). Now came the tricky part: adding the buckle and the holes. I had no idea how I would go about doing this, but my ever-resourceful grandma had the answer: buttonholes! I just used the buttonhole function on my sewing machine and make them really small. Grandma is a genius, because it totally worked.

We are now approaching the time of year when I start making gifts for Christmas. I love handmade things and love giving them as gifts. I just hope my family enjoys receiving them year after year. It's frustrating, though, having this blog and not being able to post things I make for fear that the recipients will see them before I have a chance to give them away. My sister has no internet access and it is highly unlikely that she will see this post. Still, it is a risk.

Last month's Whiplash category was hats and I broke the rules by posting a headband tutorial. This ended up backfiring completely because this month's category is accessories - a category that headbands would fit into perfectly! Nevertheless, the belt works and I'm entering it in the skill category. Behold my mad skills!

Open For Business!

After much planning and much sewing, KCQuilts is finally open for business! There is now a navigation bar at the top of the page that you can use to browse around the site, so please do.

I had been struggling for the past year to figure out a way I could continue to remain a stay at home mom, knowing how expensive it is to live in the area that I live in. I knew I wanted to make money somehow, but I didn't want to work full time and, if possible, I didn't want to work outside of my home. Tutoring was a possibility, since I am a certified teacher, but didn't really appeal to me. Several people suggested that I should try selling quilts, since I like quilting so much, and I immediately dismissed the idea. Didn't they know how long it takes to make a quilt and, therefore, how much I would have to charge to make it worthwhile?

But, as I thought about it, I began to imagine just how I would handle a quilting business if I actually had one. And the idea began to seem possible and appealing. I mentioned it to my husband, who was nothing but supportive, and then began researching. And researching. And sewing. And blogging.

And, now, here we are. Only time will tell if I'm actually successful at this, but so far it has been fun. Hopefully, in the future, it will be fun and profitable.

New Quilt!

I previously had declared September the month of the quilt, and then I only completed one quilt. However, I just completed another and have a third (commissioned!) in the works - hopefully to be completed by the end of this week. That's almost in the month of the quilt. I'll take it, in any case.

This is a picture of my favorite blanket. It was made by my great-grandmother and it is super, super soft. She was always crocheting blankets and, as a result, everyone in my family is lucky enough to have several that she created. Simon has a beautiful white blanket we used during his baptism. One of Great-Grandma's favorite stitches was this zig-zag pattern. At least, it was one she used often. My parents have one made in alternating shades of blue. These two blankets were the inspiration for my latest baby quilt.



I mimicked the zig-zags with flying geese blocks and added panels of fabric of varying widths to create different sized stripes. The quilting is evenly spaced and shadows the zig-zags in the fabric. Oh, how I love my walking foot!

If this were crocheted, it would be an excellent way to use up spare bits of yarn. However, it doesn't really work as a scrap quilt. There is too much planning involved and too much fabric needed. My scraps tend to be 6" or smaller. Those of you who buy fabric by the yard (or bolt!) probably could make this as a stash buster, but not me. I'm convinced that the stash will never be depleted unless I give it away, and I love it too much to do that.