Scrappy Quilt Top Is Finished

    I started this quilt top in 2020 during the pandemic when I was working from home.  I got it 1/3 done and I put it away to finish later.  I worked on it for two days last week and I finally got it to lap quilt size.  Its about 53 inches by 72 inches.  I'm trying to decide on my backing fabric and I'll get it quilted in the next few weeks.  I'll be doing a simple cross hatch quilting on it.

   I'll post the finished quilt with correct dimensions after I finish it.

   I'm currently working on making some magnetic threaders for cross stitch project bags as well as for hand sewing/hand embroidery projects.  I found these threaders and saw where some folks were glueing magnets to one side and charms on the top to use them as threaders and needle minders for cross stitch/hand sewing/hand embroidery projects.   I bought a bunch of the threaders on Amazon and had a bunch of magnets and charms.  Took some E6000 tonight and had some fun making about 25 to put in various spots for my use.

More Tilda Bunnies And Techniques To Make Them Quicker

 I decided to make two more Tilda Easter Bunnies.  I had done some additional research on how to make them quicker and easier.   The first thing I want to say is that I used a blue pen to trace my pattern pieces on the first bunny.  That was a mistake.  The blue color did show through on my fabric.  Darn it.  For the second and third bunnies I used a Pigma Mircon Pen in a brown color.  It worked well and wasn't visible after I sewed my pieces.  This is a picture of the pieces traced and sewn with 1.5mm stitch.  

   Another technique that made these bunnies easier to make was that I cut out these pieces with my pinking shears with a narrow seam allowance.  This eliminated the need for clipping curves.  The pieces turned easily and had nice curves doing this.  

 

    I had some trouble turning my pieces the first time I made this bunny and after doing some additional research I figured out how to do it easier.  I have some 1/4"  round 12 inch long dowel sticks and I thought I could use these dowel sticks to turn these small pieces.   Here are some pictures of that process.  I put one stick on the inside of the piece to turn and one stick on the outside of the piece to turn.  Lining them up  at each end.  Pull on the fabric over the stick on the outside and using both sticks you can maneuver the fabric to be right side out.  It worked really well and was a quick way to turn my pieces.  It worked for the ears, arms, legs and body.  And that process did not take as long as it did last time I made this pattern.

   Here is a picture of the pieces stuffed and pinned to the body.

  After hand sewing the pieces to the bodies I made them each a funky long dress and finished them.

I Made A Tilda Bunny

     I have been wanting to make a Tilda doll for a while.  The skinny arms and legs make me swoon.  I just love the look of the Tilda dolls.  I found a free bunny pattern on her website.  The link to the page where you can find the pattern is here.   Scroll down the page to the Easter bunny pattern, it's at the bottom.  Click on the Easter bunny pattern and it will open a .pdf page you can print and save.  Then I found a video tutorial on how to make the same Easter bunny on youtube, that link is here.

   All the material for this bunny came from my stash.  I even had the embroidery floss for the nose and the black acrylic paint for the eyes.

   This project took me about 5 hours.  It took me a long time to turn the long thin tubes for the ears, arms and legs.  It was fun to make.  I'm giving this little bunny to my daughter for Easter.  I will probably make one for me next week.

   I made a couple of changes.  I made a long dress to cover the legs.  The first dress I made was much too short, so I made her a long maxie dress with a ruffle on the bottom.   To make the maxie dress I doubled the length of the dress and added a two inch piece of ruffle on the bottom.  I also made her eyes a little larger.  I used the end of a small paint brush to make my eyes.  I like the larger eyes.  I did not put any blush on my bunny because I did not have anything I could use for the blush. 

    

Knitted Ear Warmer Finished.

    I finished knitting the ear warmer with the Caron Simply Soft in black.  It knitted up very quickly and it's ready to give to my daughter.  These are a picture of the tube at 7 inches before bind off and the tube sewn up and made into a double thick ear warmer.   I'm in the process of knitting one of these with gray yarn for me.

   

     I found another small project I want to make and I just printed the free pattern for it.  I'll share it next week when it's finished.  I have also pulled out my half finished quilt top to get more blocks added to it.  I surprised myself and found three more rows of four patches to add to the top that were already made in the fabric box.  I just need to make another three rows to finish the top.  I might have that done by the end of next week.

Sun Hat To Support My Favorite Baseball Team

    I grew up in New Jersey and I was NY Mets fans.   My NY cousin told me about the team and I was hooked until I moved away.  I haven't followed baseball much since moving away but I'll always be a NY Mets fan.  Last year I started following the games more and talking baseball with my brother, who is a NY Yankees fan.  

   I love a good sun hat.  I use them in the yard and at the beach.  And they are super easy to make.  I started thinking about making myself a sun hat with Mets fabric and I got it made in January of this year.   The hardest part about making this hat was finding fabric.  

  

  I can't remember what pattern I used.  There was a free bucket hat pattern on the Mood Fabrics website that I printed off and I also bought a pattern from etsy that I printed off.  There are a lot of bucket hat patterns out there.  there are three pattern pieces and they are they are super easy to make.  I bought two yards of fabric for this and I used almost every last inch. I added the chin strap to mine for windy days at the beach.  This took me about 5 hours to make from cutting it out to finishing it.

Another Crochet Finish

    I know its spring and it winter is supposed to be officially over but I got the crochet bug and had to make this neck warmer.  I just love the shape of this thing and its going to be perfect for those few cold days we get in winter, next year.  It's hard to see the ribbing detail in this picture, but the ribbing is there and the texture is wonderful.

     I finished this in black red heart super saver yarn because I had it leftover from the ear warmers I crocheted earlier.  Its a little stiff.  I'm going to wash it next week to see if it softens up some.  It fits well and the pattern was spot on.  I made a few more than 71 rows because I was trying to use up a skein of black yarn and it still fits good.  This took me a little while to finish because of the black yarn.  It was hard to see.  I had to have a bright light right next to my chair to work on this.  I think it took me about 9 hours to finish.  My daughter does not want one.  She hates turtleneck anything so this was a no go for her.  I did offer to make her one in a softer yarn but she said she wouldn't wear it. 

    My daughter did ask for another black ear warmer so I bought some Caron Simply Soft and I'm making her ear warmer with the knit hat pattern I converted to an ear warmer.  I cast on 100 stitches on size 7, 16 inch circular needles, join in the round, knit 3, purl 2, around until the piece measures at least 7 inches.  I bind off and fold it in half and sew the two ends together with a whip stitch. It's an easy double layered ear warmer and I know she will use it because she has used the others I have made for her.

   I also finished doing some sewing.  I made the hanger for my hats and its in the closet.  Love that I can get to my hats easily for those dirty hair days or when I'm going to be out in the sun.  I made a hair bows, some hair bow ties, and quilted zipper pouches for a friend that I will see in May to celebrate her future trip to Disney.  I used black and white polka dot cotton and red and white polka dot cotton fabric on all of those projects, I had most of that in my stash.

   I have my unfished scrappy quilt top ready to finish.  I just haven't started sewing on it yet.  I also have fabric for another quilt top that I haven't even cut yet.  I have to go through the projects box I created for all the other things I have materials for and haven't even started.  Then I can update my project list and get it in order.  I won't follow the list by number, but I may get a few things off of it this year.  

    Right now I'm just having fun.  Making what I want, when I want to.