Monday, February 10, 2025

Knit Bunny, Quilt with a Bunny Appliqué & Matching Bag

A dear friend of mine has been going through a lot these past few months. Long story, but her husband passed away and it took nearly 2 months from when things first started with him until he passed. To say her life has been an emotional roller coaster is an understatement. My heart goes out to her, her daughter, her granddaughter and son-in-law. I have kept in touch, but I know it is still hard for her to deal with. I am sure it has been so surreal.

I felt that I could do nothing to help my friend during this sad time, but I thought about her and her family a lot. I was feeling anxious and restless myself, so I decided that sewing something for her little granddaughter, who will have a birthday in April, was one way to take my mind off it all and make a little something that might be helpful for this sweet little girl, although she won't be receiving it until April. I decided to make a mini tote bag with a matching quilt and I would give her a little knit bunny I had already made.

The mini tote is a pattern from Geta Grama, called Danielle. Danielle is a tote that comes in a few sizes, including this mini size. I thought that would be a sweet size for a little girl to carry her treasures in. I don't know if she has any favorite color, but this print with the butterflies seemed sweet and girly and had lots of colors and the colors were just right for Spring. I chose the purple accent and a pink floral for the lining. I used the same fabric for a quick little quilt that I added a bunny appliqué on. She can wrap her bunny in the quilt and put it inside the bag and carry it wherever she goes. Plus, there is a full front and back pocket to put other things inside as well. No closure was need for such a small bag and no pockets needed inside the bag either.

The mini Danielle Bag measures 8 1/2" wide at the bottom, 7 1/2" wide at the top x 8 1/2" high x 2 1/2" deep. I purchased the Bag Pattern Bundle which includes 5 bag designs in Small-Large sizes, plus mini sizes too.

Danielle Mini Tote, with matching quilt with an appliqué bunny and a knit bunny. This is a perfect gift for a little girl's April birthday as well as for Easter.

closeup of quilt with bunny appliqué
Quilt has butterflies and ladybugs, along with the appliqué bunny.

closer look at bunny appliqué
Closer look at appliqué bunny.

bag showing bottom
Bottom of bag.

a peek down into the outside slip pocket
Looking into the outside slip pocket, which is on both front and back sides.

inside lining with a label saying, "Made with Love by Daryl"
Lining in bag with my label.

knit bunny on top of quilt
Knit bunny on quilt with bunny appliqué.

back of quilt is flannel with serpentine stitches
The back is a soft flannel and I quilted it in a serpentine stitch.

knit bunny  sitting on flannel side of quilt
The knit bunny sitting on the quilted back flannel side of the quilt. The quilt can be reversable if she wants it to be.

knit bunny wrapped up inside the quilt
Snug as a Bunny in a Quilt. Bunny all wrapped up in quilt. This can slide into the tote bag like this.
I hope she will love this gift as much as I loved making it for her. 

I enjoyed making this bag and have plans to make a few more bags in larger sizes from the pattern bundle I bought a few years ago. The patterns are also sold separately too. 
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Saturday, February 8, 2025

Sew Powerful Purses #14-16 (2025)

My friend, Susan, gave me a book several years ago for my birthday, called Folded Log Cabin Quilts by Sarah Kaufman. Susan lives in Oregon and the author was a local author who signed the book too. I thought there were many lovely folded log cabin quilts shown in the book and I especially liked the interesting ways that Sarah, the author, hung the quilts. 

I made 3 folded log cabin quilt blocks out of some scraps I had, but didn't really have any idea what I would do with the blocks. I thought about a few pot holders or a runner, but just put them away until an idea might come to me. I was looking through a box of UFO quilt blocks and orphan blocks recently and came across these blocks. Since I sew purses to donate to Sew Powerful (for girls in Zambia to hold their monthly hygiene items the girls are also given), I thought why not make 3 purses out of these blocks and use them for a good cause, so that's what I did.

I placed them on point and sewed scraps of denim, canvas or or other material around the log cabins. They were quite thick when I topstitched, but I was able to topstitch most of it easily, except in a couple of really thick spots, which was very thick. I am happy I was able to at last put these blocks to good use.

3 purses made with Folded Log Cabin quilt block technique.

flaps up
The plaid is a sturdy fabric for the purses.

backs with pockets
I added back pockets to all.

I haven't been able to do much sewing lately due to tripping and falling onto a speed bump 2 weeks ago. Luckily nothing broke or was dislocated, but my poor knees still took quite a beating, especially my right knee. I have been resting a lot. I did finish sewing these purses in a couple of days, but I must have sewn too long as the next day my right knee was swollen again and really hurt, so no more sewing for a while again. I was even using my left foot to sew most of the time so I didn't think I was bothering the right knee, but apparently I was.🙁Best to let my knee heal and not sew for now. The knee brace is helping a lot now that I have it. Meanwhile, the ideas for purse flaps and quilts are filling up in my head, so I hope I heal completely soon!!!😉
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Friday, February 7, 2025

Seaweed Knit Scarf (2)

This is one of my favorite scarves to knit and to wear. It's a free pattern called, Seaweed Scarf (or stole). It is not only an easy to knit scarf, but it's also a quick pattern to memorize as you knit each of the 4 rows. 

I have been trying to use up some miscellaneous yarns I have on hand when I am am knitting things now. I wasn't sure if the 5 different yarns that I used in this scarf would run out as I knit or not? Well I made it rather long and I still ended up with some leftover yarn. Normally you would choose one yarn in the yarn weight indicated on the pattern and knit this, whether you chose a variegated yarn or solid color, but I wanted to use up yarn and I chose 5 different yarns and changed the yarns as I knit back and forth. I had one worsted weight gray yarn with silver metallic thread running through the yarn and that yarn was knit singly on one row, then I switched to two thinner yarns held together and knit a row of that and then another 2 thinner yarns held together and knit a row of that. So I had 3 rows of different yarns that I alternated between to create this scarf. I used 3 solid yarns in total and 2 variegated yarns, which as you can see changed the coloring as I knit. 

The scarf is very thick and warm. Hard to get a good photo of it as I don't have a model and it's long and wide, so I took a few photos, which don't really do it justice as in is prettier in person.


This chevron knit scarf is not only fun to knit, but practical to wear and pretty too!

close up of knit stitches
Can you see the bits of silver metallic thread in the gray yarn?

stretched out long
Stretched out long.

closer look
I love how the ends of the scarf have a wavy curve.

Happy Knitting!
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Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Tonia Mini Moto Cross Body Bag

This is such a sweet bag. It's the Tonia Mini Moto Bag by Swoon Patterns. I wanted to make a small bag for myself and decided on making this one, but as a cross body bag instead of a clip on hip bag. I also wanted to do a decorative machine stitched flap too with added embellishments. I added a back zipper pocket with a zipper overlay instead of the back slip pocket. I added the slip pocket inside the bag and shortened it and I also added the inside zipper pocket too. So my bag has 3 pockets instead of 2. I also made a few more changes I will point out in the photos.

The bag measures 6" wide x 6" high x 2" deep. It's a nice size if you just carry a few items, which I am doing these days more and more. I always have the option of enlarging this bag if I do want a larger size, but I think I will be using this size and see if I need any more space or not.


I had fun making this bag!

I had a fabric that had some of the same colors as the fabric in the body, so I used it to stitch the decorative stitches on so they would show up. I added rickrack, buttons, crystals, French knots by hand, along with the machine decorative stitches. It makes this a one-of-a-kind bag for sure!

side view showing the riveted straps
I tried something new that I saw on a bag a few years ago and that is to add vinyl across the top and bottom of the strap connectors to cover the raw edge at the bottom of the connector and anchor the connector in place at top and bottom with stitching and rivets. Got a rivet a bit off center there 😁😜! Well this bag is mine, so I can live with that, 😆. The strap, D-rings and adjustable slider are 1/2" wide, which is narrower that I usually make my straps, but I wanted a narrow strap on this bag.

bag bottom
For a small bag the depth of the gusset is nice and ample. I love bags with gussets!!!

flap up to show lining and snap closure
I used a magnetic snap closure as my other closures were too large for this small bag. I also riveted a Handmade tag onto a scrap of the rainbow vinyl.

inside bag showing pockets
Inside is a larger slip pocket with a pen pocket and a plastic snap to close the larger pocket. Zipper pocket is across as you can see the zipper pull on the right.

another inside view
Hard to get a good photo inside when the bag is small. Inside the bag showing the slip pocket. I divided for a pen pocket and then added a plastic snap closure for the larger pocket section. Zipper pocket is across from this pocket. The lining even has a gusset too.

back of bag with zipper overlay
Back zipper pocket with a rainbow vinyl overlay.

back zipper pocket unzipped
Unzipped pocket.

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Stay at Home Round Robin 2025 (SAHRR) Round 3: Stars

This is the 3rd prompt for the SAHRR, which was given by Gail of Quilting Gail and the prompt is Stars. 
🤩🌟⭐✯✵✴✭.

I like all kinds of star quilt blocks, but I chose to make this star and sew them only to the two sides. I really love this star, which has a few names, so not sure what name I should call it? 


closeup of stars
Closeup of a couple of the stars.

I am really loving making this so far and it's my first round robin! 3 more prompts to go until the quilt is done...well unitl the top is done as who knows how long it will take me to quilt it? 

Click on the logo to be taken to Gail's Blog.
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Thursday, January 30, 2025

Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) Round 2

 The second round prompt for the SAHRR is from Anja Quilt's and the prompt is Half Square Triangles.

The half square triangles was a perfect choice as I was hoping to take this quilt from being on point to squaring it up and so I added 4 corner triangles, one in each corner to now have a square top. I chose this pale green solid fabric, but I also knew I wanted to add more appliqué to keep the tea/teacup theme going as well. I used my Crafter's Edge Teapot, teacup and saucer die cuts and fused them onto the corners and then blanket stitched around them.

Here are the half square triangles sewn to each corner.

added appliqué teapots and teacups with saucers
I added appliqué teapots and teacups and saucers to keep the tea theme going too. I might later quilt some tea going into the cup from the teapot spout.

closeup of teapot and cup and saucer appliqué
I used batik fabric for the teapots and teacups and saucers and made 2 like this and two the opposite like in the photo below.

another closeup teapot and cup and saucer
Two were made like this and 2 like the photos above. Blanket stitching was stitched around each appliqué piece. 

Click on the link like this one above, on the sidebar of my blog to go to Gail's Blog to read all about SAHRR 2025.
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Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Dust Cover for Iron

Last month in December, I made a dust cover for my iron. No, I am not talking about golf irons, in case any golfers are reading this. This cover is for my iron to press fabric and clothing with. 

For some reason, my iron gets dusty very easily. Maybe it's because it is mostly metal and more noticeable? Or because of where it sits? I have no idea? I never had dust appear so frequently with other irons before, or at least it wasn't as noticeable. Anyhow, I decided I needed to keep a cover on it, especially when it was not being used, so to keep the dust from accumulating so quickly. So a dust cover was made using this pretty sewing theme fabric print. I didn't have a pattern, so I designed this myself to fit my medium size iron.

Here is the top view. I added a handle to the top for easily taking the cover off and putting it back on later.

Side view. The bottom all around in the dark pink is the binding.

The back side view.

It is helping to keep the dust down and it looks pretty too, so a win-win for me! 😁

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Saturday, January 25, 2025

SAHRR My First Round: Dancing Daisies

The first round prompt is from Kathleen McMusing and she said to make a block with the letter "K", for her first name, which she chose King's Crown for her block. Or we could choose a block starting with the first letter of our own name, so mine is "D", and for that I chose what I decided to call Dancing Daisies. It's my quilt and I could name my rounds as I please, right? 😉

Below I am showing the background strips that I sewed together in the first photo, and then the Dancing Daisy flowers I fused in place and finally I showed the flowers after I stitched them all down.

Border stitched around
I chose 2 fabric borders to stitch together first as my background for my Dancing Daisies appliqué.

Fused flowers
Flowers all fused in place awaiting stitching.

applique flowers stitched in place
Flowers all stitched down in place.

closeup of applique flowers stitched
Closeup of stitched flowers.

Click on the link that looks like this one on the sidebar to take you to Quilting Gail's Blog to learn all about this Round Robin and how to join or just follow those of us who have joined this SAHRR 2025.


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