Quilted Containers

After last week's craft "retreat" that Mom and I had, we had some great completed projects:

Our first project, a coaster that now lives on my sewing table.

Our second project, a butterfly coaster. We made twelve of them and Mom is sewing them together into a table centerpiece.

Our third project, a cute fabric box.

After diving into these we started thinking about the possibility of selling them. We really want to open an Etsy account and start selling some of our crafting wares, and these would be a great addition. We went out and bought a bunch of fat quarters and a bolt of the heavy duty stabilizer that goes between each piece and I started cutting and basting! Last week I cut out the fabric for nine different containers, including cubes like the one above, smaller cubes, and rectangle boxes. Today I basted them all to the stabilizer (using stitch witchery) and I now have them packed in a nice tin to go to Mom so she can sew them by hand (the technique is called English paper piecing). When we have more done, I'll be sure to show you pictures!

I've also completed a couple other crafting projects this month, but I'll save pictures for the monthly wrap-up. :-) Let's just say that I finished the plastic-canvas needlepoint, a woven basket, and I made a corkboard frame that I distressed and then glued on bits of crochet and tatting. It's very neat.

I've also purchased a couple of cross-stitch projects, a bunch of yarn for an afghan, and a book called Loom Knitting for Mommy and Me purely because it had a sock monkey pillow in it. Expect to see some lovely loom knitting projects in the future.

Oh my goodness!

I somehow convinced myself that I had updated this mid-month last month, and apparently I didn't! Here's what you missed:

Better pics of June's finished project:

And the monthly wrap-up of July:

I finished this neat crewel embroidery-

I finished this embroidered picture-

I made this fantastic card for a friend's wedding-

And I finished my cardigan!!-

I'm currently working on a plastic-canvas-needlepoint project that I've been working on off-and-on for years, the hand-quilting project that I've chronicled on here a bit in the past, and the machine-quilting project that I've mentioned before.

My mother is currently visiting, and today we went to JoAnn's and bought a bunch of materials for some sewing projects. I bought the batting and backing for my finished jelly roll quilt top (the green batik one in past posts), plus the materials to make three purses from a pattern I purchased last spring. My mother bought the materials to make a t-shirt quilt and to make some projects from the book Contain It!

When we returned from shopping this afternoon she and I went down to the craft room and set to work on the first project in Contain It!- hexagon coasters. We cranked out five of them, and we love it! Mom and I cut the pieces, she put in the stabilizer, and I did the stitching. So much fun! I'll share pics soon.

Yesterday she and I spent time looking at two new acquisitions of mine:

A friend picked these up FOR FREE!! The Louet S10 spinning wheel is in near-perfect condition, just needing a couple parts. The four-shaft table loom needed a bit of repair, but I think I fixed everything yesterday. Now to start exploring with it and trying some new projects!

I also purchased two new crafting books on Tuesday. Both of them have some projects I am absolutely dying to make! They are Woven Scarves and Stitched Gifts. Some of you are in for some great Christmas presents! :-)

So, it's been a busy crafting week, and hopefully it will continue to be. I'll take pictures of the fun things my mom and I are working on this week and get them up for your entertainment soon.

Happy crafting!