Finishing up for the Holidays

Nearly done for Christmas break...

The tote bags I made for the kids - Kallie and her adorable little friends (I made 6 but there are only 3 that weren't wrapped by the time I thought to snap a shot...) but I still need to put goodies in them for delivery.

And the gorgeous tree quilt!! After making the whole quilt once before (turned 90 such that the tree ran horizontally across the bed... ARRRGGHHH!!!!) I completed the second one just in time... And they are both beautiful, though the first would make a better wall hanging.


Not to worry, I will still be sewing on vacation. My mom has purchased a brand new Bernina 630 for me to use while I visit. What a mom!

Snowy Sneak Peeks

In light of the fact that it is snowing outside, in Houston (I know, highly unusual weather) I thought I'd take the extra indoor time today to post some nearly done projects that will be making it to the shop soon. Just as soon as I go buy materials and get the fabric orders to finish these... waiting and waiting for online orders to arrive is very frustrating!

this is a custom ordered quilt that will be a queen sized tree quilt... this is just the background that the tree will be appliqued onto...

This is the Authentic by Sweetwater for Moda quilt that I have been taking my sweet time about finishing...

And since I'm without materials for these and it's snowing... I had to make some of these... Oh, darn the bad luck. ;o)

Happy snow day!

gloomy, rainy, cold, awful day. with happy quilting.

What a gloomy, rainy, cold, awful day and still no banner border... grr... a few new fun things did get finished instead. I had to distract myself from the dismal outdoors. Already posted too!

Baby quilt in femine florals! Fabric is Nouveau by Sentimental Studios for Moda.

Baby Quilt in surfer colors... also Nouveau by Sentimental Studios for Moda.

And a runner in Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey for Moda. Simply delicious... maybe I shouldn't post this one. Eventually I should decorate my own house too. HA!

Update

Update: the coasters are done and have been added to the shop, the banner must wait another day. I just think these little fabric coasters make fabulous hostess gifts, stocking stuffers, etc. And they are a great little creative outlet for me to try something on a small scale. Make that a very small scale. The husband was watching me do the piecing on these coasters and kept asking, how are you going to do anything with those tiny little pieces? I just kept telling him to wait until I finished at least before asking questions. We all know that will never happen. :o)

A little sneak peek of the Christmas banner... maybe I'll finish it tomorrow, but I might get side tracked by a coaster set in the interim as I need to go buy some fabric for the binding/ties. Here's to some happy holiday shopping!

A new project swimming in my head...

Do you ever have the creative bug just get you and make you want to stop whatever you are doing just so you can make the idea floating around in your head? It seriously has me tonight. I'm trying to finish up some Christmas presents for the family but my head is screaming to make a Christmas banner. Unfortunately I'm a "finisher" and hate to see quilts go unbound for weeks so I must get these presents done first. Back to the serger... but hopefully I'll have something new to show you in a day or so...

QUILT SALE!!

So in honor of the holiday shopping sales, I've decided to have one myself! Stop by my shop to enjoy some great savings on all my quilts! Stock up for Christmas gifts or your own stuggle stash. This week holds lots of big sewing plans... I'll update later. Thanks for reading and happy shopping!

Note: Sale ends Sunday Nov 22 so hurry on over!

new projects about to hit the floor... or the ceiling.

Swing by the shop if you want to see the finished products of the last two weeks of furious sewing... and if you just can't live without these well, you can have them too... also, a pattern for this quilt (in Panache by Sanae for Moda) is currently in the works.

Tablerunner Project with Tutorial

Mary Englebreit Friends and Flowers for Moda fabrics have (finally) made there way across the sewing table, and I LOVE them! So vintage looking and cheerful! In the works from this fabric line so far: a baby blanket and tablerunner.

Pics of the oober deliciousness.

To make both: 1 jelly roll and the usual "sashing/backing/binding" fabric

Cut 5" segments (needed 72 for the runner, 144 for the baby blanket)

Sew together into long strips of 8 mixing the fabrics at random

Mix the strips until you like the arrangement offset for a layered brick look.

Cut 2 1/2" pieces off of every other row and stitch to the other side of the strip.

Sew strips together (9 total) and square runner with a rotary cutter.

Cut backing fabric to size, baste, quilt, and enjoy!

Approximate finished size: 18" x 36"

Stacked coin baby quilt instructions can be found at the:

Moda Bake Shop

My baby quilt will be posted later this week! Happy quilting!

Minkee Heaven with an almost Tutorial

The materials for this blanket are just absolutely edible. Trying to keep my two year old from playing with it WHILE I was making it was definitely a challenge - and she has two minkee blankets of her own already! So if you have a bunch of different colored minkee scraps this would be the perfect project to use them effectively. Dimensions for the quilt blocks using a 1/2 inch seam allowance:

48 - 4" x 4" blocks in various colors (sewn into 12 block strips and added like sashing)

3 - 3" strips x width of fabric for sashing (trim them to size after sewing)

1 - 27" x 33" front minkee

1 - 37" x 43" backing minkee

3 - 2 1/2" x width of fabric for binding strips (sewn together)

If you have any questions... ask!

-F.N.

For Sale

So, a blurb on my etsy shop just in case you see something you need.

Almost all the items on this blog are going to be for sale on Etsy. So, if you like what you see you can have it! You can find it at:

http://www.frivolousnecessity.etsy.com

It's great for all of the many things I make that I just can't keep. I would be drowning in my projects already. And who wants to slow down in the creative department just because the house is getting a bit full? So hop on over to my shop and see if there's anything that you just can't live without! Thanks!

My First Post

A crafty blog all my own! Yay! I love reading everyone else's so I figure that just maybe there's someone out there who will enjoy something that I post. You just... never know. So I'm off to the races with my current project: Double-sided minkee patchwork blanket! My little girl has a love affair with this material. It's deliciously fabulous! She can hardly contain herself with me pinning and sewing minkee! She LOVES it. Possibly more than she loves me... let's hope not! But here's some pics along the way:

First there's the cutting... I love how deliciously the fabric looks when its just piled up and ready to go!

Then the insane pinning of the minkee. If it moves even an eigth of an inch my OCD can't handle it!

And then the sewn blanket top. Now for the quilting and binding. It's a good thing it's nap time for the little one so I can have fun too! And I'm sure I'll get the final product posted very soon...

-F.N.