Sew Powerful Purse #181 (2023)

I made this purse several months ago, but apparently it got lost when posting, so here it is now.

A panel that I added strips around to make flap larger.

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Fabric Case Holders for Circular Knitting Needles

I made a couple of circular knitting needle holder cases several months ago. I wanted to try the pattern out and then make more for all my circular needles. I recently made more (but haven't photographed them yet) and I sewed a label on the back of the new ones with the needle size, so it makes it easier to identify them. I could get a few of the same size circs in one case, but a couple of sizes I do have several needles, so make have to make a few more. I will share those as soon as I get photos taken.

Circular knitting needle cases. These are great to make to use up small amounts of fabric too.

With the circular needles inside.

I used this pattern that I bought on Etsy.

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Sew Powerful Purse #180 for 2023

I finished another Sew Powerful purse. I made this flap using the tiniest scrap pieces and quilted and added embellishments on the flap. The main body pieces was a donated piece that was already quilted, so I just had to sew the purse together after making the flap and cutting out the rest of the pieces for the purse. I wanted to try some decorative stitches on the webbing strap and liked how it came out, so I did different stitches and different thread colors on a few more straps.

Scrappy Quilted Flap using tiny pieces for fabrics. I added embellishments like buttons, mesh, vinyl scraps, yarn that I couched and bits of organza ribbon scraps.

Mostly batik scraps were used.

Back of purse showing the quilted fabric and the full flap.

I added decorative stitching on the webbing strap with a variegated thread. Turned out nice! I stitched other straps in different stitches and different colored threads and webbing to use for other purses too.

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Myrtle the Turtle Quilt & Lovey, Leo the Lion Lovey, Ellie the Elephant & George the Giraffe Lovey Teethers

Lisa, from Around the Bobbin has designed 2 NEW patterns for baby gift giving. Myrtle & Leo is a pattern that comes with a turtle (Myrtle) and a Lion (Leo) applique that you can add to the simple baby quilt, PLUS, you can also make what Lisa calls, Lovies, which are a bit of flannel or Minky fabric that attaches to a silicone safe teething ring, to go with the quilt. Each pattern comes with 2 silicone rings, but you can certainly buy more of just the silicone rings too.

The second pattern is Ellie & George. Ellie is an elephant and George is a giraffe. These are lovies in the shape of each animal, rather than appliqué. Can be made using flannel or Minky for a soft cuddly feeling for baby.

I tested all of the lovies and the quilt too.

Don't forget to use the coupon code OHBABY for a 10% discount off all silicone baby patterns now through Sunday, Nov 19, 2023 (midnight CST), as well as a free silicone ring refill (includes 2 rings) for every silicone baby pattern purchased!

I chose to add Myrtle the Turtle to the quilt that I tested. I made my quilt and turtle using flannel fabric that I already had on hand. I am on a mission to use up what I already have. So I used more than the 2 fabrics that were called for in the pattern. I had just enough of the plaid print, so I went with the yellow, purple and pink that are in the plaid print to create the quilt. Then used a lavender flannel for the binding.

Myrtle the turtle is so cute! I can see using this appliqué on other quilts too that I make.

This is the Myrtle lovey. How sweet is that scalloped edge? The silicone ring is looped through elastic, so you can wash the lovey or the silicone ring.

The back of the quilt I used polar fleece and quilted it with a variegated thread. This was the first time using a polar fleece as a backing. I didn't use any batting as it was thick enough. It turned out nicely. I wouldn't back anything larger than a baby quilt to quilt using my domestic machine, since I don't have a longarm machine.

This is Leo the Lion lovey, again I used flannel that I already had.

You can add Leo or Myrtle to the quilt and both are included in the pattern.

Ellie the Elephant is a lovey in the elephant shape. The ear has a crinkle paper you can add to it if you want a texture for baby. And the tail is supposed to be made with narrow braided elastic, but I didn't have enough elastic, so I used some yarn that I braided instead.

George the Giraffe is another lovey that comes in the pattern along with Ellie. The main is made of ribbons and the tail I used a ribbon yarn that I braided instead of the elastic.

Ellie & George make such cute lovies. I may also use them for appliqué on another quilt. I will get more mileage out of these 2 patterns that way, lol!

These are all quick projects to make for that baby in your life. I made the quilt in one day. Lisa's instructions are always spot on too! So grab your discount while these are on sale (scroll up to top for code).

Head over to Lisa's blog to see all the tester's versions too. Only myself and one other tester made the quilt, but there were lots of lovies made. And you can see how some of the testers and Lisa used Minky on these lovies too.

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Flannel Quilt Donation for Project Linus

Many years ago I sewed squares of flannel together into squares. The idea I had was to make a Twister quilt using the leftover scraps of flannel I had from making pajamas for myself, my daughter and my grandson. Well top sat for years and a few months ago I decided to take it to my Project Linus (PL) group and have Barbara, our longarm quilter, quilt this so I could donate it to PL. It was extra big, since I had planned on cutting the squares into Twister squares and resewing them to create the twister quilt. Well, since PL always needs the larger quilts, I thought this would be a good one to donate. 

Barbara quilts to a Minky backing and folds the backing of the Minky fabric to the front as a faux binding. It works well and can all be done by machine that way. I had to place a part of the quilt onto the cutting table at the PL group to photograph this. The lower right corner is the printed floral Minky backing.

Here is a closer look at the Minky backing.

You can see a bit of the quilting pattern used here.

One more Pl donation finished!

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5 Scalloped Fabric Bowls (Reversible)

I wanted to make a fabric bowl to put my sewing clips or other small things in, so I made a scalloped edge fabric bowl. I wasn't making these for the microwave at all, so I used polyester thread and InsulBright and whatever scraps of cotton or cotton blend batting that I had. The bowls are reversible and I quilted one fabric to InsulBright and the other fabric to the batting. I wanted a sturdy bowl. Those microwave all cotton bowls just aren't sturdy feeling enough for me.

The first bowl came out really nice and so I made 4 more bowls. Another one for myself and I gave one to a friend for her birthday (a few months ago) and I made 2 more bowls to give to the leader of the Project Linus (PL) group I belong to and the longarm quilter who quilts PL quilts for anyone who needs them quilted.

All the bowls measure 7 1/2" across and 2 1/2" high.

Here they are~

This is my bowl for me. I used fabric that I had made a couple different bags out of before. I love all the colors and the floral print of this fabric.

I quilted it in a grid.

This is a batik bowl I made for myself. Light batik on one side and dark batik on the other side.

Oops this got out of order. This is the outside of the first colorful floral print bowl. I can of course reverse it so that the blue could be the inside and the floral the outside. It is shown here bottom side up.

Looking down into the light batik bowl here.

Flipped over so the dark batik is bottom up.

I made this bowl for our PL group leader. Linda is always so complementary about the quilts we make to donate to PL, so I thought I would use this cheerleader fabric print I had, since she is such a cheerleader for us. I told her and the others it is not microwave safe and use it for sewing notions, etc. She said she would use it for a dish of ice cream. Well that works too, lol!

The other side was girls with sports, which went well with the cheerleader print. Not sure if Linda likes sports? It's a colorful bowl, so if she has a favorite color, it should be on both of those prints most likely.

This is a blue print and brown with blue print for the other side. I gave this one to Barbara our PL longarm quilter. I didn't know if she had any favorite colors? 

Looking down inside the bowl.

Bottom up to see the other side. Can be reversed of course.

I made this for a friend's birthday. We were sewing together every Monday for a few months. I wasn't sure what colors or prints she might like so I brought this one and the one I gave to Barbara and had her choose (before I gave Barbara a bowl). When she chose this one, then I gave the other to Barbara later. Julie said she put her pincushion inside the bowl and it fit perfectly.

I like the colorful print of this fabric.

Bottom up to show the lighter print. I think Julie turned it so this lighter print was the inside of the bowl. Either way looks great and with all these bowls, it's like having 2 bowls in one.

These obviously make nice gifts and can be made with 100% cotton fabric, thread and batting if you want to use them for a microwave bowl. I used a template to make these. Great for using up batting scraps and partial fat quarters or larger scraps.

Happy Sewing!

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Iron Caddy Jr. in Batik

After I sold the first Iron Caddy Jr. bag for holding a small travel size iron, I made myself one in batik fabrics. The pattern is from Sisters Common Thread and they also sell the original Iron Caddy size pattern too, which holds most regular size irons and was the very first one that I made many years ago. I really LOVE this small junior size. It's so cute! But so functional as well. It is designed to fit 6"-8 1/4" travel irons. You can also do a Google search for the pattern as many places do sell the pattern as well. (Not an affiliate, but I do love this iron bag)!

Love how the batik fabric worked for making this bag.

Open the bag and it reveals the little travel iron I put inside. It can hold larger travel irons up to 8 1/4" as you can see by the extra space here.

Fully open reveals the HRM (heat resistant material, which comes with a piece of this HRM with the pattern.

The batik side fully opened.

Next to my Big Giant Buddha Head in the garden.

This is also a large Buddha. You can see the scale of the Iron Caddy Jr. here too.

Happy Pressing!

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Lucky Stars Lap Quilt

I recently finished this quilt, called "Lucky Stars" (Atkinson Designs pattern). I had long admired this quilt pattern as I loved the bright colors and the stars. 

Since I have triangle die cuts, I thought I would just make things easier and cut the triangles with die cuts for the Sawtooth Stars. So that's what I did. I sewed one block first and then was going to add the rectangle blocks around the star and that's when I saw something wasn't right! The rectangle blocks were too large! Hmmm... so I looked closer at the pattern and I discovered that the background fabric was larger than a Sawtooth Star Block. See my quilt below (my star points touch the rectangles) and then see the cover photo on the pattern cover below and how much more background fabric there is and the star points don't touch, but look more suspended on the background fabric. Pays to READ the directions!

Photo from Atkinson Designs

So, since I cut all those triangles with my die cuts, I just cut my rectangle strips smaller to fit my version of the quilt. My quilt ended up a bit smaller than the lap size of 60" x 75" as the pattern says a lap quilt is supposed to be. Well trying to save myself some time and make it easier, I ended up with a slightly different quilt, but I like it anyhow. It's such a slight variation, that no one would have even noticed if I hadn't mentioned it.

Quilted the quilt with a variegated thread, using a serpentine stitch.

The backing is a flannel with a piece of orange Fossil Fern flannel added to make it wide enough.

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