Weeping Willow in Black and White, a mini quilt

Another quilt I never posted…

This mini quilt is from 2019! I made it for a the Curated Quilts mini challenge for the Black and White issue.

I have a mild obsession with improv quarter circles. For this one, I wanted to see how small I could go to piece improv quarter circles by machine and I ended up with 1″ finished squares. As I was laying this one out, by using the positive and negative space of the black and white improv quarters, the image of the flickering leaves of a Weeping Willow was the image I couldn’t stop seeing. Do you see it?

And it made the cut to be featured in the Mini Quilt Gallery! I really love making and submitting mini quilts for these challenges!

I mirrored the quarter circles with a wavy quilting. I also felt like it gave it a little windy feeling, like the leaves flickering in the wind.

What do you think about these pictures? Usually, I edit my pictures to get the colors as close to real life as possible. For these, I am in love with the sunset on the red rocks of Utah. And I love the sunset reflected in the white of the quilt. A little bit different!

This little guy finished at 16 inches.

I have so many quilts and things that I’ve made and not shown you. I’m hoping to get better at posting! I used to post 3 times a week. I don’t know how I did that! I don’t have the mental capacity to go back to that, but I’m so excited to show you everything I’ve made! Including more quilts and some fun Christmas present ideas!

Halloween Pot Holders

I had much grander plans for the Halloween sewing this year, but alas, with work, the new Quiltcon Submission deadline and life, this is the only Halloween Sewing that happened!

All three are Foundation Paper Piecing patterns. Two are my own patterns that can be found in my etsy shop.

The Bat Block and the Ghost Block are my own patterns.

The Spiderweb is a lovely pattern by During Quiet Play and it’s for sale in her etsy shop.

I usually use Insul-bright for pot holders, but this time I didn’t have any. Instead, I used a quilted heat resistant fabric from Joann’s instead because it’s what I had. I also usually use one piece of heat resistance fabric and one piece of plain batting. My husband always complains that his hands get hot, so I went with two pieces of the insulated this time. Seems to help.

For the spiderweb, I quilted the spider web! This one was really easy to piece and quilt. It’s probably even easier with non-directional fabric! ha!

The bat and ghost I just quilted with wavy lines. I was a bit harder to quilt through all the layers, but my machine made it through!

For the backs, I used all the leftovers from the front! Through them together improv style and I really like the combo of the precise paper pieceing on the front and the improv on the back.

I also like to had a hanger, like I did on the last ones I made. This time I decided not to add the hanger so that they can also be hot pads.

Did you get all your Halloween sewing done this year????

A Piebald Pouch for the Kiddo

I made the kiddo a toiletry bag years ago. Well, I actually made it for my husband, but the kiddo took it over. But it’s too big for what he needs.

I’m a sucker for the Sew Sweetness Minikins patterns. When I saw the patterns in the Minikens Season 3 and saw the Piebald Pouch, I knew it was perfect for a smaller toiletry bag for the kiddo!

The pattern comes in three sizes, but the only problem was that they weren’t tall enough to hold his toothbrush. I guess it wasn’t really a problem, necessarily! I just added a couple of inches to the bottom.

For the inside I used the same cleanable fabric I used in the last toiletry. I honestly don’t remember what it is, but I do not recommend it for this pattern! Ha! It frays really easily and there were a few tricky spots with sewing this together that I didn’t know if I’d make it through without it completely fraying apart… I made it, but by the skin of my teeth and a few bad words!

I love that it opens out! And look, tall enough for the toothbrush.

It is all made from my stash! I had been holding onto the great bunny fabric for YEARS! And he picked it out. Of course, I had the matching solid fabric. I had the interior fabric and the zipper. And I also just happened to have all the interfacing required by the pattern (even though it didn’t work great with my lining fabric….) Perfect! I love it when a project comes together like that!

The detail of the hook on the back is really nice as well. If you do make the bag taller, don’t forget to make this piece taller too. I made the size M, but made it 2″ taller. This meant the hook needed to be 4″ inches longer than the pattern called for.

I just happened to have this fun blue leather that matched perfectly for a little leather pull detail!

And it works! We took it camping and it worked! He takes it on sleepovers. Perfect!