Sew-along for Pregnancy Care Centres

My friend Fenna is hosting a two-month sew-along for pregnancy care/crisis centres. We have one here in Edmonton, so she's accepting donations of clothes, hats, quilts to give to our local centre, or people can donate to one in their own city. She kicked it off with a giveaway for Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day, and is planning to host more giveaways over the next months. Annette from Leila & Ben has offered to send a  free pattern of your choice to anyone who wishes to join in! I have sewn many dresses from their Sweet Little Dress pattern and their Tie for your little Guy pattern, and they have some other super cute ones!


Join us! You can grab Fenna's button (right-hand top of her blog here) and there's a Flickr group set up to show off what you make!

Wonky Stars Finished!

I put the very last stitches in my Wonky Stars quilt Monday night! This has been a long time coming... I had some real trouble quilting inside the stars - my machine seems to have problems with cotton threads that have a low twist, so the random blues and greens I was using caused many tension issues.

But I love it! This is what got me started quilting finally, even though it's not my first finish. I saw Jenny's gorgeous Wonky Stars via Pinterest several months ago and fell in love.

Details:
I used the wonky star tutorial by The Silly BooDilly in two sizes, 12" blocks and 6" blocks. The fabrics are all quilting cottons from Fabricland. Some are designer (didn't save the selvedges...) Low-loft Hobbs heirloom cotton batting. Scrappy binding from the remnants of the stars. I hand-quilted around each star with variegated twisted embroidery threads, equivalent to a full 6 strands of embroidery floss. Then I machine quilted around that, about 1.5" echoes. I also quilted inside each star with matching or coordinating thread. Dimensions after washing: 48" x 57". The label is a small white wonky star on the backing fabric (which is actually teal - it turns out dusk photos aren't quite true colours!).

Lined Zipper Pouch tutorial (& winners!)

We have two winners for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaways!  First of all, THANK YOU all for participating in my very first giveaways! Thanks also for the great list of sewing/crafting books I now have lined up to peruse, and for the birthday tradition ideas!

Giveaway #1 Embroidered zipper pouch and supplies

Born4TravelMay 6, 2013 at 3:17 PM    

I am new to quilting so my favorite book is currently How to Hand quilt in a day.

Giveaway #2 Reusable snack bags

SIMPLESEWMay 7, 2013 at 8:21 AM

My Bday is 11/1 so Halloween I decorate and dress up and my gandbabies trick or treat me and I also celebrate the whole mo of Nov because with Grown Kids, my bday isnt over until I have seen them all.. LOL 







Now on to the lined zipper pouch tutorial I promised!

Details: This tutorial does not include dimensions. You can make this pouch any size you want, with the width being determined by the length of your zipper. For both these pouches I used a 7" zipper. The gray twill one is approximately 6" wide by 6.5" and the flowered one is approximately 6.5" wide by 9" long. You can use a longer zip too, and just trim it to the width of your pouch. You can use cotton, home decor, twill - pretty much anything for this pouch and its lining.

Supplies:
Outer fabric
Lining fabric
Zipper
zipper foot

One year + Giveaway Day!

*** Giveaway now closed ***

Hello! Welcome if this is your first visit to my blog. I'm Laura, and I've been blogging here for the past year, which makes this my blogiversary! This week is also Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway "Day" - perfect timing!  So in honour of both occasions I'm hosting two giveaways.
Happy Bloggy Day to Crafty Hour, and good luck in all the wonderful giveaways out there.

Giveaway #1

A collection of variegated embroidery threads, vintage buttons, and assorted "handmade" tags, all inside a pretty handmade zipper pouch.

Friday afternoon I had an idea floating around in my head, but no amount of Googling lead me to just the right thing. I did find this tutorial, the same idea of a flat pouch with a zipper partway down instead of at the top. Only thing was, it's not lined. A little experimenting and this pouch happened. I hope to do a tutorial for the lined pouch in the next week, so be sure to come back and have a look!
The outer is charcoal twill, embroidered to coordinate with the inner, which is a Chinese satin brocade. I have Aneela Hoey's book Little Stitches from the library, so I got to practice some of the different stitches she outlines. (I love this book! So many sweet embroidery designs and projects, plus good photos and technique descriptions.)

To enter to win this giveaway, please just leave a comment, telling me about your favourite sewing book. I love to pore through sewing and crafting books!  For a bonus entry you can become a follower or subscribe and comment again telling me you have, but it's not required.

This giveaway will be open until Friday, May 10 at 5pm PST.  I will choose a winner using the random number generator and announce the winner here. Giveaway open world-wide.

(be sure to check out my other giveaway here!)

Giveaway # 2

*** Giveaway now closed ***

Here's my second giveaway for SewMamaSew's Giveaway Day!

Good luck in all the wonderful giveaways out there - I'm off to go see some new blogs, hopefully find new favourites, and possibly win something!




Giveaway # 2
Set of reusable snack bags. These are made with good quality cotton outers and lined with PUL (poly-urethane laminate), the waterproof fabric that diaper covers are made of. There are two sizes: approximately 5"x6" and 4"x4". These are perfect to replace ziploc bags for snacks to school or work.

To enter to win this giveaway, please just leave a comment, telling me about your favourite birthday tradition. We have three summer birthdays coming up! For a bonus entry you can become a follower or subscribe and comment again telling me you have, but it's not required.

This giveaway will be open until Friday, May 10 at 5pm PST.  I will choose a winner using the random number generator and announce the winner here. Giveaway open world-wide.

(be sure to check out my other giveaway here!)