Monday's Marvel: The qClutch: Refreshed

You may remember a while back that I introduced the clutch-style wallet that I'd just finished designing and was about to launch in the shop. Well, I didn't launch the new design back then, but, after a few improvements, I'm ready to launch it now! Oh how I love these wallets and really love the improvements, too! These are fun to make, but they do take quite some time due to the measuring, folding, and pressing of the interior card pockets. It's worth it though! These wallets just have it all!

Monday's Marvel: Did I Do Anything This Weekend?

Some Mondays I look back on the weekend and feel like I wasn't very productive at all. This is one of those Mondays. I don't feel like I was productive because I didn't actually MAKE anything this weekend (though I did create and test a new design - more on that on Wednesday). These seemingly unproductive weekends are all part of my process. Especially when I am preparing for a show, I pick one or two designs and spend the weekend choosing all the fabrics and cutting all the pieces for however many of those designs I want to have for that show (or for the shop.) That's what I did this weekend.

So, this weekend I:

• Coordinated, measured, and cut 36 sets of fabric for Gettin' Down to Business Card Wallets
• Coordinated, measured, and cut 28 sets of fabric for a surprise new design (number three to be launched at MayDay) which I will show you on Wednesday
• Measured and cut 64 pieces of batting
• Made 64 labels
• Cut 36 1" pieces of velcro

By the end of the weekend I wanted to throw my rotary cutter out the window! But now I have everything cut for these two designs and can just lose myself in the sewing and quilting. My process may start out with all the tedium of cutting, cutting, cutting, but it ends with the glory of the sewing, so I can't complain.

I love nice, neat rows of fabric all cut and ready to sew. Thrilling!

Monday's Marvel: Upcycled Denim Bookmarks: A Tutorial

Boy, did I have fun making these this weekend! These earth-friendly marvels are for MayDay swag bags - the first fifty attendees at MayDay get a free bag of goodies! They are SO easy to make. If you 1. can't make it to MayDay, 2. don't make it to MayDay soon enough to get a swag bag, or 3. want bunches more for your loved ones, here's how to make your own:

1. Get some used, but clean, denim. Use old jeans, pre-spandex if you can find them so the fabric doesn't stretch a lot. Utility fabric or home decor fabric would work just as well. Your piece of denim should be between 6 and 8 inches in height and 2" by however many bookmarks you want. In other words, if you want five 6" high bookmarks, you need a piece of denim 6" by 10" (2" x 5 bookmarks = 10").

Step 1: Old jeans

2. Cut a piece of cotton fabric and a piece of batting the same size as the denim.

Steps 1 and 2: Denim, cotton, and batting cut to size

3. Adhere fusible webbing to the wrong side of both the cotton fabric and the denim.

Step 3: I like to use Heat n Bond fusible webbing, but any kind will work.

Step 3: Follow the webbing manufacturer's directions
to fuse webbing to fabric.

4. Make a quilt sandwich: cotton backing fabric (with fusible side up) + batting + denim (with fusible side down.

Step 4: Quilt sandwich

5. Using an iron, fuse all three together - you will probably have to iron on both sides of the sandwich the be sure that both the cotton fabric and the denim are fused to the batting.

6. Quilt away! You could skip this step if you wanted to. It doesn't alter the function, it just add beauty.

Step 6: Random all-over quilting stitches

Step 6: Completed quilting

7. Measure and cut at every 2 inches to make your individual bookmarks.

Step 7: Cutting individual bookmarks

8. Finish the edges with a zig zag or other decorative stitch.

Step 8: Zigzagged edges on finished bookmarks

To make a no-sew version, make sure to use ultrahold fusible webbing in step 3 and skip steps 6 and 8. Have fun!

Monday's Marvel: Spring Flowers

Happy first day of spring! I thought it was perfectly appropriate that the weekend before the first day of spring I was working on creating quilted flower pins.

These are for a collaboration with Karen of Duncan Creative. Karen makes amazing hats upon which these pins will rest. We're launching our collaborative line at the MayDay Underground Art + Crafts show here in Rochester on April 30th - if you're in town, it's a show you won't want to miss!

These flowers are so much fun to make! I loved picking out just the right combination of fabrics, finding a fun button, and deciding on the flower shape. I settled on three different shapes, each with it's particular center. Each flower takes longer than I had originally thought it would - I think due to the quilting, cutting and layering - but I definitely think the extra time and effort is worth it! Just looking at them makes me happy and I hope they make you happy too!

Monday's Marvel: Fussy Cut Applique Patches

This weekend I had fun working on a custom bag for a client and friend. I'll show you the rest of the project in my Wednesday on the Worktable post, but today I wanted to share something a little new and a little different that I made for this project: fussy cut applique patches. Now, I've done fussy cutting before - cutting out a particular motif on fabric, rather than cutting yardage as normal. And I've done applique and made patches. I've just never combined all three in this way.

Mermaid applique patches - fun fun!

The little mermaids on Michael Miller's Sea Beauties fabric were just perfect for this project. The little patches will be the perfect addition to this bag - adding just the right amount of fun and funky! If you know how to cut and applique, you can make fun patches for your projects, too. I can see these being great added to the front of a journal, bag, purse, or apparel item. They'd be incredibly cool on quilted works of art too!

Michael Miller's Sea Beauties fabric
is perfect for this kind of project!

Hmmm, I'm giving myself ideas! I created a dolphin landscape mini quilt last year. Maybe it's time to add a few sea beauties to those waves!

I think it's time to create a second sea landscape quilt with a
couple sea beauties surfing the waves!

Monday's Marvel: Prize Winners

Now, if you follow on Facebook, you know that I promised if we reached 150 entries then I would draw two winners and yippee!! Random.org has picked two winners of my Gettin' Down to Business Card Wallets: #14, Birgit, and #128, Asuka! Congratulations!!