More Miscellaneous Projects


On this page:

'Nina's Quilt
Tea Cozies
Placemats
Fabric Origami Cushion
Sweatshirt Jackets
Scrapbag
Tote bag
Sewing kits
Origami Bag
Waterlily Cushion
Loopy Bag
Cell phone cases


I have so many things that don't fit onto the other pages now that I've had to separate them into two pages! Here are the things that don't quite qualify as  bed or wall quilts.

'Nina's "Quilt"

I was lucky enough to be able to buy a new Bernina 1260QPE in May, 1997. I had had my previous machine for over 23 years! Anyway, I thought that a new machine deserved a new cover, so I designed the block for the front of this one in QuiltPro. The whole thing is completely machine made--my first attempt at machine quilting, even if it is just straight-line quilting. If you'd like to make something like it, a QuiltPro pattern for the block is available to download here (if you don't have QuiltPro, use this .jpg file instead), and the instructions for the cover are here.
 
 

















Tea Cozies

      These two photos show a pair of tea cozies I made for my twin sister and me. Hers was a gift to go with the teapot I took her on my last visit. The teapot is just like the one in the first photo. We both love tea, so it seemed a good idea! I machine appliquéed the colorful background squares and teacups onto the cozies and machine quilted each cozy. I've shown the back, too, as I think the fabric is just perfect for my sister, who lives in France!
 

This is a photo of a tea cozy I made for my mother-in-law. She has redecorated her kitchen in blue and yellow (I love that combination!), and she's also discovered that she likes good tea. She needed a way to keep her tea warm in her new teapot, so here it is. Since the fabric was so busy, I didn't appliqué anything on this one, but I did machine quilt diagonal rows of stitching on each side of the cozy.


Placemats

This is a placemat I made for our little grandson so that he would get something when his little brother was born. He adores Elmo, so he enjoys using this. The quilted writing (almost impossible to see in this photo!) around Elmo's head says Elmo loves Benjamin. The placemat is completely machine made: machine appliquéed, machine pieced, and machine quilted. The pattern for the appliqué came from the book, Quilting with the Muppets.


And this is a placemat I made for another grandson for when his little brother is born. He loves Dora the Explorer, so I used a coloring page image, edited it a bit and enlarged it for machine appliqué with satin stitch. This one is also entirely machine-made, with a couple of quilted stars in the white background near Dora's head.  This was done in May, 2004.
 




Fabric Origami Cushion

This cushion is the result of a class in December, 2001, with Sandra Sims, who uses many of Jennie Rayment's techniques. Very little of the work is quilted, but there is a small piece that is stippled, so I guess it fits here. The techniques are really fun! They vary from pin-tucking to dimensional flying geese, to origami twists, to a starburst square (top right).
 
 




Sweatshirt Jackets

In January, 2002, a member of the quilt circle I attend gave us a lesson on how to turn a sweatshirt into a jacket. Mine is a little different from hers, but I had fun deciding what to do. Since I love LeMoyne Stars so much, I used two of them as pockets on the front. Then I figured out how to make the same pattern in a smaller size so I could add yet another star to the top as a decorative element. I've since made a similar one for my mother-in-law, using a slate-gray sweatshirt and red and black fabrics for the pockets.


part 2

In October, 2003, our local quilt circle again decided to make sweatshirt jackets. These were quite different from the ones we'd previously done, however. From the outside, you can't even see that it's based on a sweatshirt! We cut the shirts apart, removing the ribbing and all of the seams; and then we covered everything with blocks (log cabin for the fronts and back, squares for the sleeves). After we'd quilted each jacket piece to hold everything together, we put the pieces back together and bound them to finish the jacket. I chose oriental fabrics for mine; I already had a selection of them and had to add only a few more.

Scrapbag

The quilt circle I attend had two separate lessons to reach this conclusion in May, 2002. First, we made chicken pincushions, like those Doreen Speckmann did. Then, a couple of months later, we made scrapbags to keep near our sewing machines or hand work. However, instead of a "plain" pincushion for the scrapbag, many of us used hook and loop tape to attach our chicken pincushions to the bag for a slightly different look. My pincushion and scrapbag will live in my Featherweight case so they're ready to go at a moment's notice. I think the chicken looks really cute sitting on the base of the bag! I've since made a couple more of these to give away.


 
 



Tote bag

This tote bag is an adaptation of Simplicity pattern 7098. I needed a large bag -- large enough to carry a quilt around when necessary -- and I really liked the possibilities offered by this pattern. I just "happened" to have several yards of a provençal-type striped print, so I decided to use that for the bag. With all of the stripes in the fabric, I also omitted the bands at the top and bottom that were illustrated in the pattern. However, I added an outer and an inner pocket so as to have a bit more versatility in using the bag. I love the color combination in this fabric -- it's cheerful!

As I said, the bag is big -- approximately 21 1/2" x 19". It has a box-type bottom, too, making it nicer for stuffing full of quilts! I machine quilted the fabric to its backing and batting, using straight-line quilting to make diamond patterns everywhere except on the pocket, which is done in horizontal lines instead. It was finished in October, 2002, just in time to take to the Houston Quilt Festival.




Sewing kits

I found the pattern for these sewing kits while I was in Houston at the Quilt Festival; the pattern is by Carol Henry. The kits were really cute and handy, and I decided I'd make a few as gifts. I ended up making eight! (And, yes, I did keep one. <g>) Here are some of them:

The one on the left here was a gift at a Christmas party for my local quilt group in 2002. The one on the right went to my secret sister in France.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This one was for a good friend of mine here in Las Vegas.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

These two went to friends in England!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is a view of the inside of one of them.
 
 






















Origami Bag

This was a project at our local quilt group. There are ways to make it in varied forms, but this was my version. I added a ready-made handle and some butterfly appliqués to hide the magnetic clasps closing the pocket sections. I finished it in May, 2006, and it measures about 12" x 9".





Waterlily Cushion

My local quilt group got together to make these pretty cushions one day in May, 2007. They're not really quilted, but the petals and leaves are stuffed and then sewn -- so I guess that sort of counts. ;) This one measures about 22" in diameter and is to be a gift for my mother-in-law.






Loopy Bag

This little bag was machine embroidered by Sharon Schamber as part of a class kit to teach how to make the loopy corded binding she's used on several of her award-winning, drop-dead gorgeous quilts. I made and applied the binding in her class at Quilt Camp in July, 2007.






Cell phone cases

I picked up a cute pattern for cell phone cases in Flagstaff when I was there for camp this year. Here are the three I've made today -- they're so fast! They'll make great gifts.



They're easy to snap onto the handle of a bag or a belt, and they fit just about any cell phone. I made these in August, 2007.

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