Modern Cottage Creations

  I have been working on finishing some quilt tops that have been sitting folded up in my sewing room for far too long.  In the last couple weeks I was able to wrap up these two beautiful wall hangings that I made using Moda Chocolote Bars (2.5" x 5" rectangles).  I love precuts, and I had to try these delectable fabric bites!   I love this nontraditional setting of the half rectangles pieces.  Instead of setting them into diamonds, I set them into this fun kite formation.    I quilted the hanging with a meander and added small floral details along the meandering path.   I love to see quilts outdoors! Fall is creeping into my backyard though!   I created a low volume pieced backing for this little hanging. The second wall hanging measures about the same as the first, but keeps the Chocolate Bars whole.  I pieced them into a coin style quilt and used the simple bordering to set these beautiful fabric...

I have been working on half square triangles with my quilting group.  I finished mine HST quilt today and will be giving it to my sister next weekend for her birthday. I absolutely love the way it turned out.  It is perfect for her and I know she's going to love it!  I am also working on making a couple pillowcases to go with it in order to use up a few of my scraps from the project.  I squared up all of my blocks and I am so glad that I did.  I am an impatient quilter and I just want to get to the final glorious product.  I know that this step is important but, it's long and boring.  However, the giant pile of trimmings from all of my blocks is all the evidence one should need in order to see the true importance of making sure your blocks are square.  I might have had a wonky quilt if I hadn't trimmed.  I pretty much had to rearrange my living room in order to find enough floor space to lay this baby out.  It was defi...

My brother in law's older sister asked me to do a special project for her a couple of weeks ago.  Her daughter has been in dance for a long time and she never knew what to do with the expensive costumes once that recital was over.  So this time when her daughter had a costume she really liked, she decided to give the costume new life!   I started with this fun and bright costume!   And I started cutting...   I utilized a cardboard template for the circular sides of the purse.   Cutting the dangling glitter fabric was actually not as challenging as I thought it was going to be.   I got all my pieces layed out.     And my floor was covered in glitter shrapnel!   Here's the completed exterior.   And the completed interior.  Gotta have pockets! The completed project.   Love the dangling sequins!   Sits perfectly at the hip.   I gav...

My sister is a great sounding board when I want to talk about what to make at craft shows.  She's not a sewist herself, but she has great fashion and style and loves to shop at craft shows! So she suggested a bit ago that I should make some cross body bags that are a little smaller than the regular size ones I already make.  So I took her advice!  The first cross body bag that I made ever was for myself a few years ago. I still use it for my daily use purse. The pattern that I used was the Mail Sack Bag from Pink Chalk Studio.  After making that one, I started designing a bag that was more me, and would be cute to sell at craft shows.  When I decided to make some bags in a new size I went right back to that pattern and got started.  They are a great pattern company and luckily are happy if people are interested in making their bag to sell in small quantities at craft shows.  So this week I whipped up four new bags.  ...

Last week I was so furiously sewing table runners that I never had time to blog about them!  I was bound and determined to start focusing on my fall inventory, so I pulled out the stash of charm packs that I had and got to work.  Here's a quick look at the seven sets of Autumn and Christmas themed runners I put together.  I didn't have enough batting on hand to finish them, but I'm just suprised that in two days I got all of these tops done! Here is each set of tops:     When you stack all the runners together, it sure looks like a lot of work.  Which is good, because it was!  And I have to remind myself that they are done yet...     I think they all turned out very cute.  They should make some very nice items for my fall inventory.  Now, to buy the batting needed for all of these...