Mug Rug

I belong to a tea of the month club (Plum Deluxe Tea - check them out) and it's awesome. I get two 1 oz packages of tea a month for less than 3 Starbucks visits and they've been fantastic. Honestly, I love them and look forward to my purple package every month.

This month, we're doing a Secret Santa. It's a fun idea & I can't wait to see what my person thinks of her gift. I got her a fun infuser & made a mug rug for her. I've been seeing mug rugs around & was looking for an excuse to make one. Perfect!

First thing I did was find an easy to follow tutorial. Sometimes this takes longer than the project itself! I decided to follow the one on Simply Notable. The next thing I did was sort through my fabric scraps. This seemed like the perfect project for scraps - and it was! They're kind of mini quilts, complete with binding.

 

Darleane's Quilt - Flutter Quilt

My sister in law, Darleane, asked for a quilt in grays, blues, and yellows. I ran two choices of fabrics from Hawthorne Threads by her and she said either would do. So, I had to figure out which I thought would do best. Pressure!

I really had no clue which one I was going to pick. I love the second set, but felt like there's too much pink in it for a quilt that the person didn't request pink. So, I picked the first set. I love the geometric shapes in it.

Next up was to pick the pattern for the quilt. I have 18 fat quarters to play with, so I figured I'd just start looking. The following are patterns from two different books I picked up. I liked each of them for different reasons.

Obviously, hers wouldn't be so... floral...

I ended up picking the first one, Flutter.

Now I just needed to pick the fat quarters I needed for the lap size and then to figure out coordinating fabrics with that. Here's what I decided on:

Some of the cuts done!

I dug into my stash for the top fabric. That will be the rows of squares. The next thing I needed to do was figure out the background, backing, and binding (the three b's).

A gray in my stash just to see what I thought about the idea of gray.

I decided I like the gray as a background color with these fabrics, but it needs to be darker than what I had. I didn't have enough of that gray anyhow, so off to Joann's I went. The background is the dark gray, the binding is the bright yellow & dark gray, and the backing is the teal-ish color.

Everything cut & ready to go

Blocks ready to be cut

Blocks cut & ready to be put together

Starting to get the smaller rows together

Getting the bigger rows together

Wendy thinks every quilt is hers

Done!

I did stitch in a ditch quilting on this one, but only along the longer seams.

(Note: She seemed to love it! I hope she gets great use out of it!)

Boxy Dress Tunic

I found this pattern on Hawthorne Threads' website a few months ago. I really loved the collection of fabrics that the fabrics came from - Paradise by Alisse Courter. I decided on the more purple color for the main fabric and one of the coordinating smaller flower prints instead of the larger print shown on the pattern.

The only thing I didn't love about the pattern is the directions are one size fits "most". My hips are *almost* too big for the pattern as written.

Boxy Dress Pattern Cover

Fabrics I decided on

I had to bring up the length quite a bit since I wanted it tunic length & not dress length. If I were still in my 20s, I'd consider wearing this without pants. But, I'm not, so I won't.

Finished product

Pretty Pockets Apron

One of October's "Just for You" options was an apron around the waist. I had a bundle of fat quarters that seemed like they'd be perfect for it. I left off the applique since the fabrics were already pretty busy. It'll be perfect for the camper!

Pretty Pockets Apron from "Just For You"

Fabrics from the fat quarter bundle

Finished project.

Wear Everywhere Dress

What do you do when you need a dress for an event and don't have one that will work? You make it. And because you're on a time crunch, you find a super easy pattern.

I've had my eye on this pattern for a while and was going to make it before we go on vacation later this fall. I've even had the fabric for a couple of months! This event coming up just sped up the timeline a bit.

This was my first time working with facing on a garment. It was a bit of a different technique for me. I like learning all of these new things!

When it came time to try the dress on, I noticed (pretty quickly), that the neckline was gaping. Sigh. I should've made a muslin version. Ah well, lesson learned. I googled to figure out my options and the one I like the best is adding elastic to the neckline to "fix" it.

I like the gathered neckline. I wasn't thrilled with how the hem line turned out - turns out I just needed to iron it. It's hanging a lot better after an iron passed over it.

<need to put in a picture of the finished dress>

Pacifier bibs - Haven't Made

I haven't made these, but they're so cute that I needed to save the picture of them (and it's not available on pinterest). Maybe for the next family member who has a baby!

Bathroom Curtains

In the new apartment, we have a rather large (for a bathroom) window in the master bathroom that faces a relatively busy street. More specifically, it faces a street light & traffic light. Even with the blinds closed, there's some light that gets in. The window is an unconventional size, so I was having trouble finding a curtain that would be appropriately sized for it.

What does one do in this situation? She makes a set of curtains.

I used this blog post/tutorial as inspiration: http://www.twotwentyone.net/make-blackout-curtains/. They hang a little stiff for my liking, but they work!

Cardigan wrap

Because I don't have enough on my to-do list, I picked up this pattern a couple of trips to Joann's ago. I figured it'd be nice to have a comfy wrap/cardigan type thing going in to the fall. Especially on our upcoming anniversary trip. 

The fact that there were some knits on sale doesn't hurt either, so I picked up a solid purple & a subtle white with white stripe. If you're going to make one, you might as well make two... right?!

Excuse the horrible lighting!

The pattern is pretty easy to cut out - really just a rectangle with a couple of holes for the main part & then the sleeves. I cut a couple too many sleeves (I cut 2 with the fabric still folded, so ended up with four).

I was also a quick sew - a few hem lines & attaching the sleeves.

The sides are a little long on my short self (I'm about 5'3") and I feel like the back could be just a little longer, but otherwise, I like it! I have some white knit fabric to make a second one, so maybe I'll try to make some adjustments (or I'll try a different pattern, we'll see).

Sister's Market Bag

I did the same market bag as in a recent post. This time, I used a waterproof elephant fabric that's super cute!

The main difference this time was that this fabric doesn't iron well, so I had to pin all of the hem lines before sewing. It took a little more time, but I love this bag. Well worth the time. I have enough scraps left over to play, so maybe I'll do a couple of sandwich type bags (since this fabric is food safe).

Handles!

Getting closer to being done

Still working on the bag

Finished bag, side 1

Finished bag, side 2

Envelope Pillow Cases

I've been meaning to make small throw pillows for the trailer. We're both straining our neck a little reading in bed, so I picked up two small pillows (12x16) on my last trip to Joann's. I figured I'd use some of the leftover outdoor fabric I've redone the trailer in, so that wasn't an issue. Now to find a pattern. I decided on this one: https://www.fairfieldworld.com/project/simple-envelope-pillow-cover/.

This was such an EASY sew. Seriously, simple. Basically, cut, hem one side of each "flap" sew all three pieces together, turn right side out, stuff, and done!

The front

The back

Market Bag - Take 1

My sister asked me to make her a bag for her dirty cloth diapers. I found this tutorial and decided to give it a try with some fabric I had lying around. It turns out, it matches the fabrics for my SIL's quilt perfectly! Guess who's getting this bag as a gift bag?!

Fabrics for SIL's quilt. Not sure which of this set I'll use for it yet.

I got everything cut & started on the handles. I apparently read this part of the directions wrong. So, I'll do that different next time.

Everything else went pretty smoothly, just a bit time consuming because of all of the ironing. I'm happy with the finished result! Jon asked if I made it because it looked too good. I say that's a compliment!

Side A

Side B

Now, to give it a try with the water proof fabric for my sister!