Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday - Is it a Quilt or a Purse?

Remember this quilt? 

Well I had lots of scraps leftover and I made two little table toppers OR  two square baby quilts  OR  Two quilted squares!  Well what was I going to do with them?  On one quilt I had placed the squares at an angle.  I quilted one with meandering and swirly leaves and the other one I quilted with ribbon quilting.  They were pretty, but not very useful.

This was one of the Quilted Squares!
It was about 39" by 39".
It covered the top of a card table!


Wasn't very useful to me...


So I cut them up and turned them into purses....

This purse has a velcro closure and the other one is just an open purse. One is mine and I sold the other one. I love my quilted purse, but I did not love my quilted square. 


Have you ever made a small quilt that just didn't have a use?  You can cut it up and make it into a quilted purse or bag!


I did it with this one too! This one is for sale at http://www.craftysewing.com
It was made from the mini rectangular quilt below.

I am working on another quilted purse made from a small quilt.  Anyone recognize the fabric?  It was from the 2010 Hoffman Challenge.  Nope!  I never entered it in the challenge. I hope to finish the quilted purse this weekend! If I finish it, I will post it next week on Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday. 


Thanks again for following along.  Leave a comment if you have ever made a purse out of quilt or would you like to do this in May? 


Don't forget the vote for Project Quilting - link on the side bar.

What's May for Me?

May for Me is a promotion to get YOU to take time for yourself.  Tonya and I are asking you to set aside the month of May for you.  We along with other blogger participants will share our ideas about how to do things more efficiently so you have time to sew.  I have also coined the term Minutes for Me as part of the promotion.  This promotion started with some email conversations between Tonya and I and we said let's do it -  let's make May for Me!  For you!

• Finish things you have put aside, but never take the time to finish.  
• Do other tasks faster, so you have time to sew and quilt.  
• Learn how to relax when you are "crazy busy" - Minutes for Me!

Promotions for April and May:
I will be doing some quilting prize giveaways!

• $20.00 Gift Certificates off machine quilting services
• $10.00 Gift Certificates off Extra Wide Fabrics
• And more prize giveaways... to be announced in April and May
• Free Entry in the Online Quilting Show starting July 8, 2011, featuring quilt projects you completed in May!  The online quilt show will run from July 8th til the end of 2011.  More details to follow..

If you would like to do May for Me, here is how to do it: 
Follow My Blog - Crafty Sewing and Quilting  and  Tonya's Blog - Hillbilly Handiworks.  

If you would like to be listed with your link as a participant...
Grab the May for Me Link and photo in the sidebar and put it on your blog or website --->
Please leave a comment on the bottom of this post or the May for Me Page to let me know you grabbed it and I will list you and your link on the May for Me page.


Please email me any blog posts you do about May for Me, so I can link to that too!


Let's make May for Me! For you!

Spinning Spiral Flower Bag and Quilted Reflection Bag - Project Quilting - Challenge Six

I made one large bag and one small bag.  I did the mosaic so you can see both sides of the bag.  Top Left - close up of the large spinning spiral flower.  Bottom Left  - one side of the bag with the three flowers and the quilted reflection bag.  Top Right - the large spinning flower and the refection bag.  Bottom Right  - view of the bottom of the bag, so you can see the connection of the stem from one side of the bag to the other side of the bag.

For challenge six, I used two large scale print fabrics (more than 1/8th of a yard of each one) and some stripes and plaids.  I cut them all up into skinny strips and made the four spinning spiral flowers - a large flower on one side and three smaller flowers on the other side.      So I took a large scale print fabric and cut it up and then turned it back into a large scale print fabric by raw edge appliqueing the flowers on the yellow fabric. Then I quilted it with swirls and wiggle lines and constructed a HUGE Bag from the quilted fabric. I also quilted some extra yellow fabric and made a "quilted reflection" of the large bag.  

I put two regular size pillows in the bag and took the photos and then I took a picture with only one pillow in the bag.  It is a HUGE Bag!

There are no raw edges on the inside of the bag.  I bound the seams with the yellow binding too.




Here's Gabby with the huge bag.  Makes her look small.

Spinning into Spring with Spiral Flowers - NOT done yet!

 Just some photos - Work in progress.

Project Quilting Challenge 6

The yellow fabric is a 108" Wide Quilter's Blenders Backing Fabric.

Work in Progress - Large Scale Print Fabric and stripes or plaids!

I chose two large scale print fabrics and choose stripes and plaids - just to make it more interesting!  I put an X through the two fabrics I didn't use, once I got started sewing.


I decided to cut my fabric into skinny strips (1 inch to 1 1/2 inches) and sewed them back together.  The next pictures show my progress.  At this point I am making three large spiral  flowers.  I have two ideas about what to do with the flowers, but I can't say yet as it is a work in progress.  I may change my mind all together.  I think that is what makes this so much fun, as even I don't know what it is yet!  See the link on the side of my Blog to Project Quilting if you would like to take the quilt challenges too!

New Spring Fabrics just arrived - Extra Wide Fabrics

NEW Blue and Brown Floral Butterfly Print 108" Wide fabric. 

Perfect for the backing of a quilt.  

Also great for quilt top piecing too!

Extra Wide Fabrics

Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday - Embroidery Stitched Greeting Cards

Update:  This tutorial is now available in as a PDF Downloadable Tutorial
Click Here is the link to all of my patterns

Before I made the photo quilt note cards, I made embroidery stitched greeting cards.  


Perfect item for Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday - Shows you stuff I used to do, before I quilted full time.


I didn't sell the cards.  I just taught classes on how to make them.  I made them for friends and family.  I still make them for my Mom. 
  
I found the photos under Quilts from 2004 and 2005. When I made them back then, I stitched right onto the folded card and it showed on the inside.  I now stitch onto a smaller card stock and attached it with double stick tape to the folded card.  Then you don't see all the stitching.  Looks much neater.  I would make them for all occasions, but I would always make one with scraps from a quilt that was a gift.  I think that made it more personal.  


Try them - They are fun to make! This would be a great project to do during "May for Me".  


You can click on the photos to make them larger.  See more photos at the link above.

I added a few of these pictures to my Flicker Group.  Please feel free to add quilts and quilted projects of your own designs to the group.  You are invited to upload your photos at Crafty Sewing Hodgepodge Patchwork.

Sewing with my Mom!

My Mom and I are making a Passage Quilt for Rainbow Hospice.  We finished the center of the quilt top this weekend.  I will add 2 borders and quilt it.  Our sewing days go like this...I cut and sew and Mom presses.  My Mom is great with colors, so she makes the colors choices.  We make a pretty good team!


We also worked on making Comfort Pillows for Rainbow Hospice this weekend.  We make the long stuffed pillows for Hospice to use to comfort and pad a person in bed.  We started making these back in 1996 when my Dad had cancer and Hospice Care. We made some to help comfort Dad. Then we started to make them as a family with me sewing and my Mom and Jewels and BJ stuffing the pillows and then back to me to stitch them closed. Even my brother and his son have helped on occasion. Here's some pictures from our weekend of sewing.  My Mom's dog, Toby fell asleep while we sewing.

Oh, yes!  We make a pretty good sewing team!


Enjoy your day!




Marcia




Here is the link to the post of the completed Passage Quilt. and the post about how to make the comfort pillows.