Finish Along 2014: Q1 list

Finally I have put my list together. The first half is made up by fairly new projects which are always more exciting than those we get on to later on.
1. Color wheel - I made the fabric choice and my freezer paper template is ready. I'm using this pattern with my own little twist.

  2. Log cabin SAL - since I never made log cabin I joined the It's a New Year SAL @ Sew Can She. We are currently at the week3.

3. 2014 Pantone quilt challenge - I like challenges and I do like the color of the year. Enough said.

4. 241 Tote pattern - I want to make this tote for ages. This is where I'm at. 

5. Summertime Sadness - aka Broken Herringbone quilt. It's currently being quilted by pro. Once it's back all I need to do is bind it.

We are moving on to the drawer. Let's dust off those projects. 

6. Ballerinas - there are 7 houses waiting patiently for my attention. Any progress would be good since my girl will turn 8 in September and I have no fabrics for house No.8 :-)

7. Skill Builder BoM blocks - there are also fabrics I wanted to use for Skill Builder BoM blocks. Oh well, the excitement is gone and I have no longer intention to make the entire quilt. Anyway I would love to find a use for those two blocks.

8. Boyish quilt - at the very bottom there is boyish quilt I have started long time ago. We'll see about that.

9. House pouches - I precut these four houses probably a year ago. 

10. Animal blocks - those blocks were made for a certain project but I didn't read the instructions carefully and had to use cotton only. So I made another two blocks and these were left behind. I would like to turn them into fabric basket or a tote. Anything really.

I have some paper piecing patterns printed and couple more plans but I guess I better stop right here. My one word for 2014 would be BALANCE. I hope I'll find it even though it looks like sci-fi considering what I have just written. Should I change it into MADNESS? That is exactly how my year is going to look like so sit back and enjoy the bumpy ride.
Linking up with: 

January goal

You might have noticed by now that I like linky parties. Last year I tried the Lovely year of finishes but I was not successful at all. So this time I'm setting up a doable goal for myself. No quilt tops.

These are girlie bags to become. Pattern by Ayumi = here. My goal is to sew up two of those in January. As you can see I only fussy cut the Hello Kitty but it's not properly ironed so it doesn't look very pretty at this stage. Back in summer I made one for my girl but you can imagine there is a demand.

Previously made.

More projects are in the dreaming/planning stage. I need to replace the Cherry Christmas lone star wall hanging and I have my mind set to some color wheel. I even made few sketches in painting. I don't have any other program to play with.

I pulled out some fabrics but ran out of daylight. As you can see there is not enough contrast to create the first or third option. So we might be down to the middle one.

I also pulled out some Essex linen I won last year but there is no purple and I don't like this rather blue and green combo but it got me side tracked to totally different project. You'll have to wait and see if I proceed any time soon.

Plus there is the Panton Quilt Challenge which got my head buzzing. Am I going to use these? Probably not.

There is also new linky around. I missed it last week but I sure don't want to miss this time around. You might want to check the details over @ Sew Fresh Quilts. I do consider myself quite social within the sewing community so I see you there!

Plus it all fits into WiP

Sunday Stash

You might have heard that the Sunday Stash originally hosted by Fiona @ Finding fifth moved over to Molli Sparkles. There is new sparkly button too:

I'm not a big fabric hoarder but if that's your thing Sunday Stash is the place to be.

I mostly buy my fabrics locally. They are a bit heavier (135 g/m²) and I'm having some trouble to iron them well once I prewash. New iron might be in order. Here's my latest addition.

Linen kind of print and Newspaper print.

Some solids. 

Plus we should all start the New Year with fresh blade. I got two just in case. Some baby snap buttons and Living Large 2. I'm going to live large this year for sure!

I'm also taking this opportunity to share the news that I got my tut out at Leanne's place. Do you want to learn how to make these pretty zipper pulls? Hop over there. Thank you Leanne for having me ;-)

No resolutions

I wanted to start the New Year with resolutions, lists, plans and goals but I realized I'm not really a goal keeper. The reason why I like to get involved in challenges is there is certain due date. I work the best with time pressure and due date. Otherwise it doesn't work :-) I also feel kind of obligated to do those things on list and that is not attractive at all.

So I just keep on doing what I'm doing and you'll have to wait and see what I come up with. I sure do have "plans" but I'm not willing to share as they are changing all the time.

I'm starting the year with action. I put together tutorial on those vinyl pouches. I hope you'll like it. It is a bit long and not really exact measurement. I was also thinking if I should ask someone to edit my English but I didn't want to bother anyone. So it's just the negligent way.

I used number of free tutorials out there and I felt like I should contribute to community as well. We'll see on the feedback if it's any good. You can find my tut HERE.

Since it's Friday allready I'm linking up with TGIFF and Crazy mom quilts.


and

Tutorial: Scrappy vinyl pouches

If you never worked with vinyl I suggest you check this tut for tips and tricks. That is where I started as well.

Start with picking up zippers and fabric scraps (strips). The strips I used are 8-10cm wide. As you can see I prefer to leave a room for trimming so I make my strips longer than the zipper. Use smaller strip (16x8cm) to create handle.

Option one: Simply iron the fabric in half then fold and iron the edges toward the center. Or fold the edges only 1/2 inch toward the center. Depends on the size of your scrap. Place on top of your zipper. Sew in place by topstitching. I usually do two lines.
Option two: Place the zipper between two stripes of fabric. Right sides facing each other. Sew. Fold over. Press. Toptstich. The usual way of attaching zipper. Press the edges toward center as well.

Insert piece of vinyl (mine is 13cm wide) in between two layers of fabrics. Sew in place. I use zipper foot.

Also topstich your handle You can alter with ribbon. Your piece should look like on the pic above. Zipper attached to a piece of vinyl. Time for the scotch tape magic.

I used my zipper foot to make the entire pouch. So I only put the tape on that one. Plus two pieces on the machine just to play it safe.

Place larger piece (mine is 19cm wide) of vinyl on top of your zipper. See the pin. Sew in place (red mark). Fold over and toptstich.

Time to trim. Line up your zipper with the grid on your cutting mat (red arrow). Check the bottom line and trim if needed.

Trim the sides to fit the zipper. Do not cut the zipper ends. You might need to open up the zipper for trimming the left side. You should end up with perfect rectangle. Smaller piece of vinyl at the bottom. Larger on top.

Sew the handle in place where the zipper starts. To prevent opening I run few hand stitches to keep the pieces together first.

Keep the zipper OPEN!! Don't forget this step! Fold the larger piece of vinyl over the top of zipper. In other words the right side should be inside. No need to use pins as the vinyl will stick together. Sew the three sides together. I usually start at the top where the end of zipper is so the side with handle is the last one I sew on. As I said I use zipper foot for this job as well.

Trim the corners. Little bit at the top and little bit more at the bottom. Turn right side out. Carefully push the corners out and you are done!

Try different sizes, colors. Width. Or make them all the same. Up to you.

First I wanted to hang the pouches on hooks but I didn't like the look so I placed baby snap button on back side of the handle. That way it is wrapped around and it looks much better but I can still hang it anywhere else.

Have fun! If you have any questions let me know.