Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

Fun With Fabric and Food

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Calli at Make it Do inspired this great idea for a last-minute Holiday Gift: 

 

Fabric and Food 001

Fabric and Food 002

Here is the recipe:

        Oatmeal Cookies in a Jar

  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Using a 1 quart jar, layer in the ingredients in the order given.  *IMPORTANT:  Pack down the jar after each addition.  Put the lid on, and cover with a 6-inch square of fabric.  (You could make a circle.  I cut the corners off my square so they didn’t stick out so much).  Secure the fabric over the lid using a rubber band, then cover the rubber band by tying a nice piece of ribbon around the lid.  Attach a label to the jar with the following instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 cup of softened butter, with 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Add the entire contents of the jar, and mix by hand until combined.  Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.  Makes 2 dozen cookies.

I made some labels for you, which you can access and print by clicking on this link:  Cookies for Santa Labels.psd 

 

Another idea:  Cut a 10-inch square from your favorite Christmas fabric and wrap up some candy, tie with a ribbon, and you have a great party favor!  I wrapped Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark in this candy cane fabric:

 

Fabric and Food 003

 

You can also wrap a charm square around your favorite candy bar and tie with a ribbon.  Attach to a wrapped package instead of a bow. 

Fabric and Food

 

Another fun idea is to make a drawstring bag and put gingerbread cookie mix inside.  Tie some cookie cutters to the bag.  Don’t forget to include instructions for making the cookies on a gift tag.

Drawstring Bag

Santa’s Treasure Sack

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Loving this finished project!  It went together much easier than I anticipated.   It seems like it took longer to cut out all the pieces than it did to actually sew the project.  The pattern calls for stitched Santa’s, etc. where I have the brown floral panels.  While I think they are amazingly cute, I decided to be realistic–I would NEVER finish the project if I did them!  So I opted for the brown floral instead, and I’m quite pleased with the result.  All you ladies who are making this project–I’d love to see yours when they are finished!

SantaTreasureSack

Fanciful Flowers

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

As promised (many weeks ago), a picture of my Fanciful Flowers quilt from the book Material Obsession.  I love the way it turned out.

FancifulFlowers

I still need to stitch the seeds onto the flowers, but decided to wait until after it is quilted–I made tiny yo-yos rather than applique pieces–love the dimension it will give the quilt when it’s all done!

Fanciful Flowers Detail

I think I’ve decided to hand-quilt this baby.  I went back and forth between hand and machine quilting–but in the end, I decided I loved the way it looks in the book–hand quilted!  I haven’t hand quilted anything for a long time, but I love to do it.  Looking forward to the challenge!

Can’t Get This One Out of My Mind

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Just a little project I’ve been obsessing about.  My inspiration came from this picture and a paper pieced stocking pattern from Jillily Studio.  Check back in a few days for the unveiling of the finished project.

Christmas Trees

Cold Hands, Warm Hearts

Friday, October 30th, 2009

 

 

 

Our Quilt for the Holiday Shop Hop 2009

“Cold Hands, Warm Hearts”

Cold Hands Warm Hearts Photo  

For those of you who received the pattern and need fabric requirements, here they are:

1/4 yard each of:

4 reds 
4 greens
4 blues
4 creams

3/8 yard inner border
1/2 yard binding

This was enough fabric for all the blocks and borders–obviously I pieced together my leftover fabric after making the blocks to make the outer border.  This quilt is 50″ x 50″

Have you Seen This Book?

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

We are loving the new book Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke.  Apparently many of our customers are, too.  It has been flying off the shelf.  We’ll be receiving more this week.  The subtitle of the book is “Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots” and these quilts are so fun!  They range in difficulty from Easy to Advanced, and if you are into happy quilts (which I currently am) this book is for you!  I was going to list which quilts I really love, but there are too many (23 projects are included in this book).  I am currently working on one called Fanciful Flowers–pictures coming soon!  The other thing that I love about this book is that it has a section on quilting basics in the back.  What can I say?  It’s a must-have for every quilter.  Price is $24.95, and the bonus is, all books and patterns are 15% off now through July 11th.  Get your copy soon!

Material Obsession

The Schlep Bag

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Several people have come into the store to buy fabric for the Schlep Bag.  This is a fun, big bag that goes together really quickly.  It is an online pattern that you can find here.  Be aware though,  that there are a few glitches in the pattern.  I have detailed them on our Free Pattern Page, and included photos to help your creative process go smoothly.  We’ve seen these made from 8″ squares like the pattern calls for, 6″ squares, and charm squares.  For a really great BIG tote try 10″ squares!

schlep-bag

Apron Winner

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Congratulations to Stephanie Tripp and her daughter who won our apron drawing. They chose this very cute black and white half apron to share. What a fun way to end our month of Aprons in April!

apron-winner

We Would Love to Share Your Blogs

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

We are excited to share in celebrating your creativity!  If you would like your sewing or quilting blog to be included on our blogroll, email your blog address to alice@justsew.com.

An Apron to Adore

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

One of my favorite aprons from A is for Apron.  This was so quick and easy–and yes, another fabric flower for embellishment.  Tutorial here.

apron