Road 15 Zippy Pouch

Cute zippy pouch from the Road 15 fabrics which were still out.
Doing a Bag It series with Elm Street Quilts this month.

Check it out. Great inspiration & great prizes.

 This little cutie patootie is only 6" x 4". I had my scraps out still from making my autumn table runner and decided to use some of the blacks in this line.

Evidently, I was not done with  matchstick quilting.
Although this little bag is so tiny, it went super fast with no insanity breaks needed.

 This is my jade plant. I married into it. Poor, sad, excuse for a house plant, I stuck it outside on the back porch intending it to move on to composting pastures. Every time,  Daisy, our new golden retriever puppy, brushed her tail against it as she gamboled around in the way new puppies do, another branch would come off.

A weird thing happened, as in you should prune your houseplants! -- new growth popped up all over.

I've had this jade plant now for 25 years. It started blooming a few years after it's metamorphosis when I brought it inside for the winter and I've nearly killed it once as you want to leave them out until the first frost (Willamette Valley banana zone - late october/early november). But it came back. You should prune your jade plants. Amazing things happen.

The blooms last 3 -4 months and are star white with a hint of pink. Tiny little things and all the more surprising because people don't expect it.

Autumn Table Runner

 I survived matchstick quilting.

 Surfing the internet, I stumbled across Cynthia Frenette's blog and she had a free pattern for a table runner. She used matchstick quilting - that's just quilting lines about a 1/4" apart, mostly parallel with a curvy twist at the end of the table runner.

It was very pretty.
It seemed simple enough....

 It only took all day Sunday.

After about 30 parallel lines, I was ready to free motion quilt (FMQ) this piece. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's how FMQ got started. Some dorky sewist trying to think she can quilt, realizing very quick she hates quilting repetitious lines that never end. She veered off the 'pattern' and started free-wheeling that sewing machine like nobody's business.

I used scraps and stash for this table runner. Most of the low-volume background is from Sweetwater's Road 15 fabrics. See? A tiny bit of quilting and I start spouting out quilting lingo: Low volume!

For this table runner to work, the background colors are all low-key, light, neutral. The berries and the leaves are almost primary loud colors.

 This measures up about 40" long x 10" wide.

The background colors are all pieced together with the berries and leaves ironed on top with wonder-under (fusible web). The matchstick quilting is helping to keep those small pieces attached. Cynthia had you start with parallel lines of quilting and then veer off in a curve towards the end - following the lovely stem curve. The entire table runner is bound with bias tape ( I cut mine straight).


Even though this took all day to sew - with many breaks to keep my sanity - this was an easy sew.   A very pretty sew for Autumn.

 I can now tick matchstick quilting off my bucket list.

{ I  dislike quilting.}

Star Quilting

I don't do much quilting.

The exactness required is really exacting (excruciating) on my 'just sew it already' personality.
I saw this pattern on the SewMamaSew website and it grabbed me enough to derail some other sewing plans.
I used my Road 15 'layer cake' - my first ever quilting fabric pre-cut. A layer cake is 10" squares.
2 1/2" strips (jelly rolls) or squares (charms) scare me in their tinyiness and perceived lack of usefulness.


Involved were numerous 2 1/2" blocks - squares and HST's (half-square triangles).
Almost  90 in all - for a 18" square. It was 9 blocks across and down but you need to fill in those edges - just so - requiring a few extra.

These Road 15 fabrics really appealed to me as well. The fabrics are made up of real street addresses. street maps, neighborhood views. Not to mention the color palette of turquoises and wine red.

The turquoise reign seems to be over in favor of the 2014 pantone color of the year - Radiant Orchid.
Not sure how that's gonna work for me - although it may curtail buying way too much fabric which is always a noble goal.


I was *so done* trimming my 2 1/2" squares around number 45.
I had to suck it up and keep going.
It's like making 45 hotpads - another thing I am not good at (quantity sewing).


I had to search my stash for wine red crochet thread. Thank heavens - the nearest fabric store that carries this thicker ply thread is half-an-hour away in a direction I don't need in my busy life. Another reason to keep too much stash.

Notice on the black star "Oregon trail".

Stuck for now. I'm not a fan of endless quilted wallhangings. Most of the quilting blogs seem to be making new wallhangings each week. What do they do with them all? Do they gift them, like me & my sewing projects?

I do like this finished make, a lot!
However it doesn't quite go with my couches so I am re-thinking the pillow idea.

I ran out of enough of  my grey to make it into a pillow (Ha! another excuse to go to the fabric store). Debating whether to make this an envelope back pillow case, utilizing the extra blocks as a small design feature on the back. . .
Or, backing and binding to hang on my sewing room wall. . .This is my top choice because then the back doesn't matter as much. I could use another grey in my stash.
Thinking. . .

I'm doing some training at work so my hours have temporarily increased. Just luv that 8 minute commute because even with working more hours, the free time is still mind boggling.

Here's one of my three orchids - Radiant orchid -haha - reblooming.

Marimekko Pattern

I've had this red & white striped Marimekko make-up bag forever.
I've only had the bicycle oilcloth for a few years.

I've been wanting to make this zipped bag with gussets for a while. My last bag gave me an idea to fuse the lining to the outer fabric.
With this small gusseted bag, you finish the raw edges with twill tape/bias tape/whatever tape.
I made a pattern off my marimekko - basically a large rectangle and a tiny rectangle x2 for the gussets.
I used adhesive spray to bond the lining to the outer fabric and I love that it stays put.








This was a fairly easy zipped pouch to make. It opens wide enough to dig around - I usually travel with my Marimekko filled with toiletries. It would be easier with two bags.

The narrow gussets created several moments of hand-sewing which involved a thimble to get my needle through the oilcloth easier.

A sneak peak at some HST (half-square-triangles) that I am sewing.
Have 45 out of 81 done. (What was I thinking?)

I'm using a layer cake of Road 15 by Sweetwater that I bought with last years Christmas gift card to Fabric Depot.  I usually buy yardage to make my little doodads - this is my first foray into quilty-type fabric buying. Maybe I'll get some charm squares next time....

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I have exciting news - the Lucky Lindy quilt I found at an estate sale yesterday for $65 - which I didn't have?  My Creative Friend went back today and it was still there!!! She talked them down to $50!!!

She's the best friend ever.
Then she brought me some RetroClean and the whole quilt is soaking in my bathtub right now!