Pink (Recycled) Quilted Market Bag

I didn’t get any sewing in over the weekend, so I decided to cut out another Market Bag, and I ended up just sewing it all together tonight while Louie and his friend played pool.

The outside quilted fabric used to be a homemade pillow sham that someone made. Well, actually, I had to cut into the second pillow sham to have enough fabric.

The inside fabric was from one homemade curtain panel. The fabric is a very nice, quilt shop quality fabric.

There is a single layer, double pocket on the inside, and a double layer, double pocket on the front of the bag, with a magnetic snap closure.

Side view….

Back view.

I love that I used previously used items to make this bag. I think, with the magnetic snap, I have less than $5 invested in the whole bag, and about 3 hours of cutting and sewing. The mess is still downstairs waiting to be cleaned up. It’s not going anywhere.

 

Micki, from The Urban Recyclist has been making bags too.  Micki has a new blog, and loves vintage sewing machines too.

Large ‘Tiny Treasures’-Isabel Bloom

Last Saturday, while Louie and I were junkin’, I found this Isabel Bloom sculpture, which measures 16”. It is in perfect condition! If you click on the photos below, they will take you to the page from the Isabel Bloom catalog describing each sculpture. The one I found was plain, like this first photo.

Here is the Multi-Colored version in the catalog.

I wanted mine Mulit-Colored, so Louie got out his acrylic paint kit and started mixing colors, then he carefully painted the frog and flower for me.

What do you think? I love it!

Inspirational message included with sculpture:
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Singer 6412

Have I told you how much I love the Quilting Ministry from the Park View Lutheran Church? Yes, I suppose I have….several times! Well, today, I found a nice sewing machine to donate to their ministry. Their group keeps growing, and sometimes, they need machines for those who don’t have any, or can’t bring their own. When I saw this one, I took a chance that it would be ok, I tested it out when we got home, and all the stitches work!

Tomorrow I am meeting my friend Kay so she can deliver it to the group on Tuesday, and we are going to even visit a little bit too! That will be the most fun!

Birthday Bag

Last weekend, I made another quilted market bag.  It was for my new friend Kay for her birthday, which is tomorrow.

Louie delivered it to her tonight on his way to school. She loved it and even sent me a picture of her with it, with a beautiful ‘Thank you’ email. She is the one who told me about, and let me horn in on their church quilting ministry. I am not able to attend regularly, but I have gone to quilt with them a couple times now, and they also let me work on quilt kits at home for them. It is very gratifying to help, and know they appreciate what little I can do. Everyone is so nice and caring. They prayed for me when I had surgery, and thanked God for taking such good care of me. I really wish I could sew with them each time they meet, but I just have to appreciate the times when I can, now and then.

I don’t have much family, but when I lost mine, God replaced family with so many friends, and I am so grateful! Thank you Kay, for your friendship, and Happy Birthday!

Quilt Tops for PVQM

I sewed these two quilt tops yesterday and today for the Park View Quilting Ministry. I sewed them on my $6.38 Janome 344 Pink Limited Edition machine I found a few weeks ago. I hope to get the quilt tops to them soon.

Even though I cannot join them and sew with them every week, my thoughts are with them, and I am thankful that I am able to bring home kits so I can help them when I find time to sew on my own time.

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ps. I also made the last pin cushion/thread catcher bag I wanted to sew for the PVQM girls today.

I picked everything up, put it away, and vacuumed the basement. Now it’s time to ask hubby, ‘What’s for supper?’

Have a wonderful week!

September Quilting and Star Gazing Blocks

Today was our first day of quilting since our summer break. We have 9 girls in our group, and we meet for 9 months, so I chose the first month to pick a block for the group to sew, and also the choice of color and theme of a fat quarter for everyone to exchange.

The name of the quilt is Star Gazing by The Pattern Basket. I had all the pieces pre-cut and ready to sew. I sewed 4 of them last week, and the eight girls that were here today, each sewed one for me. This will be my quilt when it is finished. There will be sashing strips that go between the blocks, and between the rows, and a border of the same background fabric all the way around the blocks. There will be another border of a different color as soon as I decide what to use. I thought I had bought a fabric to match the deep purple star on the far bottom left, but it did not match when I received it, so that is out. The blocks right now measure about 15 1/4”, which is a little shy of what the pattern says they should be. We also experienced a little problem with the pieced strip being a bit too short. We really needed to ‘stretch and pin’ to get it to fit. One of my gals suggested that maybe the pattern was wrong. I just asked a gal who also made these blocks if she had the same problem, and she said she did. She thought maybe she had cut wrong, but since we had the same problem, she did think the pattern could be wrong.

We had a fabric exchange, and I chose ‘fun’ fabrics. Here are the FQ’s we exchanged today. Since I picked, I got two of each one!

It was a day full of fun, food and laughter. We celebrated two birthdays, and I sewed blocks together for the Park View Quilting Ministry, but I didn’t get a top done. Maybe tomorrow.

Hope your day was fun too!

More Thread Catchers and Quilting!

Last weekend, I made this thread catcher for my friend Louise….

…and I made this one for my friend Amy, out of vintage sheets. They both loved their bags!

Tonight I made this one for a friend’s mom…

…and this one for another friend.

I thought this one was for someone else, and was my last one to make, but I love pink, black and purple, so I don’t think I can part with this one. I guess I’ll be cutting out another one!

Our quilt group gets back together tomorrow! I can’t wait! So now, I need to go to bed.

Have a great weekend!

Quilting With The Park View Lutheran Ladies II

I say II because this was the second time I got to sew with the Park View ladies.

Last Thursday, August 29th, I had my gallbladder removed, so I had some time off work this week to recuperate. On Tuesday, while I was off, I drove down to Park View to sew with the Lutheran Quilting Ministry. While I was there, I delivered the thread catchers I have been making. Not everyone was there, but the ones who were there got their bags. My ‘picture snapping friend’ Kay, who is standing to the right of me had the church secretary snap our picture. (I’ll forgive her…. someday. Oh how I hate photos of myself.) Oh, and when we were picking things up and putting things away, we did not have to even run the vacuum cleaner because the thread catchers pretty much had all the threads taken care of.

Singer 301A LBOW & Extension Bed Cover

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to finally get this machine out and clean it up. Louie and I found this LBOW (Light Beige/Oyster White) Singer 301A several months ago while junkin’. I spotted the suitcase and rushed to rescue off the bottom shelf before someone else tried to save it. I was so pleased when I found what was inside. I have wanted a two tone 301 for a long time, but just couldn’t make myself pay the price. When I was willing to pay the price, I feared that it wouldn’t arrive in the same shape I bought it, so I just drooled over machines that were for sale and dreamed.

These first pictures show it all cleaned up, and but there are many more in the state that I found it. That’s half the fun for me….cleaning them up and seeing the difference.

My Singer Story dates this machine to 1956. It’s older than I am!

More Pin Cushion/Thread Catcher Bags

I sewed today making the last of the pin cushion/thread catchers that I wanted to make for some special ladies in Park View.

And they are all made for the Park View Quilting Ministry! I will take them when I get to go down and sew with them on Tuesday!