National Sewing Month

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I didn’t know that September is National Sewing Month until a promotional email from Jo-Ann’s Fabric hit my inbox several days ago. According to the holiday’s official website it “began in 1982 with a proclamation from President Ronald Reagan declaring September as National Sewing Month ‘In recognition of the importance of home sewing to our Nation.'”

How exciting! A quick Google search revealed numerous websites hosting National Sewing Month projects with free templates and instructions.

Also, several websites are hosting huge giveaways. I am most interested in this giveaway, hosted by Jo-Ann’s and Martha Stewart. You can enter the drawing daily and there are some really great prizes! I’d love to win a Rowenta iron or a gift card or even a new sewing machine!

In honor of National Sewing Month, I’m going to make a commitment to finishing my grandfather’s quilt top. Once that is complete, I’ll try to also finish the quilt top that I need to return to the church. And if there is extra time after that (HA!) I’ll make the cloth napkins I’ve already purchased fabric for.

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Cloth Napkins

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A few months ago, I made a set of pillowcases for my brother. I bought the fabric years ago but never sat down to make the pillowcases. This fabric is a bit loud but my brother was seriously into chili pepper decorations at the time I bought it. Finally I decided it was time. Thankfully he still really likes the fabric.

My mom had expressed an interest in this print. She collects fancy bottles of olive oil and mentioned that this chili pepper fabric would make great cloth napkins as a theme with the olive oil. I promised her that if I had enough fabric left from the pillowcases, I would make her a set of napkins. Unfortunately, I ran out of the fabric.

Hubby and I took a trip to Joann’s and perused their fabric selection. I didn’t find the same fabric, but I did find something similar.

I wish I would have known how much fabric is required for napkins because I would have bought twice as much. I ran out of time and ended up making only four napkins.

I really like how they came out! The tutorial was really easy to follow. I suggested to my hubby that we make a set of 8 napkins for us. We want to find some type of Asian print, something in a deep red and black. I think that would look really classy.

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Pursuing creativity

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What a wonderful day! I was productive and even took some time to be creative!

The original Scrabble tile bag is quickly wearing out. Instead of taping up the seams, I decided to sew a new bag.

I used a fat quarter I had on hand. All I did was measure the size of our old Scrabble bag, cut the fat quarter down to size, and sewed it together. I think it took half an hour, from the cutting to ironing to pinning to sewing. I’m happy with how it turned out!

On Sunday morning, my mother came over for a few hours. We started working on Hazel’s mystery quilt. It took awhile for us to get into a groove as I’m super cautious with cutting and this is my mom’s first quilt. We spent way too much time trying to figure out which fabric was for binding vs. blocks. It might have been a good idea to label everything when we picked it out in December!

We finished 10 days of instructions and sewed together the first section of the first block. I am really eager to see how everything looks once it is put together. As this is a mystery quilt, I have no idea what the finished project will look like. Here is the first part of the first block:

I can’t wait to get back together with my mom so that we can continue our quilt!

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Pillowcases complete!

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I am so excited. Finally, after much delay and a bit of procrastination, I have finished my first set of pillowcases (used this pattern). The first one was completed several weeks ago, but I procrastinated on finishing the second pillowcase and then took an emergency trip to Texas.


The picture is the pillowcase I finished this afternoon. They’re matching, so I saw no need to set up the other and take a picture. 😉

I bought this fabric years ago, I think while I was still in high school. My plan was to sew two pillowcases for my brother, as he was obsessed with using chili peppers to decorate his bedroom. I don’t know why I waited so long to start these, but hopefully he still likes them. If not, he will at least appreciate the humor in his old decorating taste.

If I have the time tomorrow, I’m going to hand wash the fabric for my grandpa’s quilt. Then I can start cutting out all the squares I will be sewing together.

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Sewing – fat quarter bag

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This is my first completed sewing project. The bag only required a fat quarter of fabric and several hours of work. The hardest part was sewing the handles on correctly but I figured it out eventually.

I had hoped to use the bag for taking my Bible and Sabbath school lesson to church but it’s not quite the right size. My original plan was to sew several of these for Christmas presents but I’m not sure the intended recipients would have any use for them. I guess that means I can keep the unused fat quarters for some other project!

Instructions – Part 1
Part 2

Here is hubby modeling the bag for me.

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Fabric!

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The hazards of learning to quilt with the church’s fabric is that you soon want to buy fabric and make your own quilt. I’ve decided to make a quilt for my grandfather and grandmother. They live in Wyoming and I think they’d appreciate having something homemade and warm to cuddle up with. My grandfather’s favorite color is green and my grandmother loves red. Hopefully I can incorporate those colors without making the quilt look too Christmassy.

I haven’t yet finished up the quilt for Bags of Love but I’ll be adding the border this week and the top will be complete. Then I have to wait three more weeks before we meet again so I can receive instruction on finishing the quilt. I can’t wait that long to start another quilt!

Hubby and I made a run to Jo-Ann Fabrics this evening and we purchased most of what I need to start on this quilt. I will be using all cotton fabrics as I don’t yet feel confident enough to branch out into chenille or flannel. I picked out the fabric shown above. The store was almost completely sold out of fat quarters so we’re going to stop by another Jo-Ann’s store tomorrow night to buy those. Once I have the fat quarters, I can start cutting out the squares to piece the top. I’m really excited to start my own quilt, though I won’t be keeping it. Maybe once this quilt is complete, I can make one for myself.

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Thursday – Master Bedroom

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Today was all about the master bedroom and bathroom. My weekly chores include:

  • Wash sheets
  • Sweep bathroom floor
  • Wipe down sink/counter top
  • Clean toilet
  • Straighten closet

General tidying is done daily, as is the vacuuming.

This afternoon, I also spent some time sewing my test project. I’m doing a trial run of one of the Christmas presents I’m making. I’ve never attempted this project before and wanted to see how it would it turn out before making the official gifts. I’m still trying to decide if I want to post about the sewing and put up a picture of the gift. The gift recipients don’t usually read my blog but they do have the website address…

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