Table Runner

When my parents came for a visit in April, my mom and I had a fun time working on crafty projects.  She went digging through my scrap bin and made this super cute table runner. 

Usually when my mom comes to visit she helps me do the hand sewing on my quilt bindings.  When I was at their house I found the table runner she had made and all that was left to do was the binding.  I hadn't brought any projects with me and I was having a bit of crafty withdrawl so I was happy to sew down the edges.  It was also nice to be able to return the binding favor to my mom for once.

The runner looks so fun in her dining room.  Yay!

Scrappy Table Topper

I made this little project just for fun.  A few people have said to me, "How do you have time to sew with a baby?"  The answer is, "I don't really."  I think about sewing all day long, and I constantly wish I was downstairs in my craft room but there are many, many days when it just doesn't happen.  However, my husband has been taking the baby with him every time he goes to the store and I have a little free time.  Glorious free time!  I literally ignore everything else in the house and run downstairs to sew.   I really do feel like it's a mental health break and I always feel refreshed after I've had a little time to sew and be creative.

This project was really fun because I just used scraps from my overflowing scrap bin.  The original pink piece that you see on the back was some fabric that my friend Katie had been using to practice free motion quilting.  I literally just sewed pieces of fabric on to her quilted piece.  It was so fun.  I like that my scrappy little table topper has a little Katie love tucked inside of it. 

And it is just plain cheery and makes me happy.

P.S. Mr. Paws is a photo bomber.  And he loves quilts as much as I do.

Michael's Office Quilt

Way back in the day when Michael was attending Concordia Seminary, I took a little class called Ecclesiastical Embroidery.  The idea was that you would learn how to do these fancy, hand-embroidered church symbols and then make a stole for your husband to wear when he was leading church services.  I showed up every week and enjoyed meeting with the other ladies. I also remember that I had no desire to actually make a stole.  That seemed like a lot of complicated sewing to me.   I remember asking the teacher, "What are we going to do with these squares when they're finished?" She said, "Nothing, they're just practice samples."  What!?  They were way too nice (in my opinion) to do nothing with them, not to mention the amount of work that it took to make them.

I remember one of the previous students came in with a simple banner that she had made with her samples squares.  It was to hang in her husband's office.  I was in awe.  I asked her how she knew how to make the banner and she said, "I just made it up."  What?!  I was blown away.  I had no idea that you could "just make up" a little banner, which was actually a miniature quilt.  I wanted to be her.  I wanted to have that skill.  I don't have a picture of her banner, but it looked something like this:

Dear lady who made the banner, I'm sorry I don't know your name, and I'm sorry that this little drawing does not give your little quilt the justice and credit it deserves.  It has been inspiring me for years.

Oh, how I longed to be quilter who just makes stuff up.

Fast forward 10 years later.  I was organizing my craft room and I unpacked those almost-finished squares.  Michael had just started his current job at our church and I knew that the time had come.  It was time to fulfill the quilty longing I felt when I was a newly married wife with zero sewing skills.

 Ta-da! I know how to quilt now.  Yay!

Here are my hand-embroidered "practice squares."

 

This phoenix is machine embroidered.  Michael has always loved the phoenix since its a symbol for resurrection. He always wanted a white stole with a phoenix on it to wear on Easter, but since he doesn't wear stoles for his current job, I thought I'd work it into the quilt instead.  (I'm still really happy that I never had to sew a stole.)

I also included some left over fabric from when Michael and I made some Advent paraments for our church in Saratoga.  (Now, before you guys are all like, "What!? Karen has the best husband ever! He does sewing projects with her."  This was our only joint sewing project, ever, and it was fun, but we don't sit around sewing together all the time.  However, I do have an awesome husband, just not a sewing one, which is okay.  I digress.)  Here are the paraments we made:

Here are the leftovers:

I also love this little leafy piece that I pilfered from my best friend Meghan's scrap bin.  It looks good with the little tree.

So that is the little quilt I made for Michael.  I think it really brightened up his office wall.

P.S.  For a baby who hasn't officially started crawling yet, she sure moved lickety-split across the floor to steal my drawing and photo-bomb my picture.  It was quite impressive, actually.

Save the Selvages!

Okay, so I've been pretty good about posting crafty things (and by that I mean once).  "What about the thrifty?" you ask.  Well, here ya go.  I attended a crafty night at Mama Said Sew, an awesome little fabric store in Old Town in Fort Collins.  The theme for the night was using selvages. 

For those not familiar with the fabric-y term, here is how Merriam-Webster defines the word:

a : the edge on either side of a woven or flat-knitted fabric so finished as to prevent raveling; specifically : a narrow border often of different or heavier threads than the fabric and sometimes in a different weave

b : an edge (as of fabric or paper) meant to be cut off and discarded

Definition a : I totally agree. 

Definition b : No way Jose!

We took all the saved selvage strips and sewed them onto muslin.  Basically you use the next piece of selvage to cover the raw edge of the previous piece.  I turned mine into a pillow. 

Here is the back. 

I even found a piece with my maiden name on it.  Sweet!

Now I'm hooked on the selvage saving fun.  My next endeavor is to make a whole quilt out of them. It's a bonus for me that I work at a sewing store with access to selvagey goodness. Give it a try yourself, you'll never look at a selvage the same way again.