Looking Back at 2013 and SOME of my Favorite Projects

Looking back at 2013 and comparing it to 2012 when I started quilting, my quilting and sewing skills have improved immensely.  I learned so many free motion quilting designs, I got a lot more confident and I allowed myself to explore with what I could do.  I have created a few collages of some or rather MOST of the projects I have made this past year.  Most are completed and some are still a work in progress, but mostly I am surprised at the amount I got done.  I am not going to go into too much detail of each of them, but I have included links to the blog posts if you'd like to read more about them.  Some did not make its way here, but I hope you enjoy seeing a few of my favorites.  I've grouped them into quilts, bags, crochet projects, mini quilts and fabric postcards...oh and some of my handmade Christmas gifts too.

Karli's Quilt   *   Gone Golfing, Back Maybe   *   Disappearing Four Patch Baby Quilt     *     Re-purposed Flannel Baby Quilt   *   Asymmetrical Half Square Triangle Quilt

Quilted Tote Bag   *   African Flower Crochet Bag (Small)   *   African Flower Crochet Bag (Large)   *   Charlotte Bag   *   Re-purposed Denim Bag   *   Tote Bag

Crochet Head Band   *   Clamshell Crochet Blanket WIP   *   Pansy Doily   *   Sunburst Granny Square   *  Doilies   *   Chevron Crochet WIP

Quilted Cushions   *   Mini Valentines Quilt   *   Feather Mini Quilts   *   Bright Quilted Cushions   *   Dresden Mini Quilt

Fabric Postcards as part of a world wide swap on Facebook.

Handmade Christmas gifts, the book cover tutorial can be found here.

This past year I enrolled to quite a few BOM's, and quilt alongs, but for some reason I was just not as committed I thought would be, I quickly lost interest and strangely it was not as much fun as I thought it would be.  Sure I would still like to finish what I've started, but I decided to not take it too seriously.  

As for 2014, I will go with the flow.  I have only one goal set out, and that is to design and write my own quilt patterns.  If I only do ONE for the year, I will be happy.  The idea is to have fun with it , so we'll see...

Thanks to each and everyone of you for following along this past year, I hope you will visit regularly.  It is going to be a great one, I know it!

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A little reminder, my anything goes mondays linky party will resume on Monday 6 January 2014.  Hope to see you then.  Happy new year!!!

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Fabric Book Cover Tutorial

I decided that I am going to include quite a few handmade gifts for Christmas this year, so I have been very busy sewing cute and fun items.  Because most of my family live 100's to 1000's of kilometers away, and because we wont be seeing them, I wanted to get it done as soon as possible to make sure it gets to their destination in time.

My oldest Son, (almost 18) asked if I could make his girlfriend a little something too.  So together we decided a pencil bag together with a fabric book cover would be great.  So today I thought of showing you exactly how I made the fabric book cover.

You'll need the following:  (The fabric requirements are for an A5 book)

1 Book to cover - in this case a A5 hard cover

2 x Fat quarters of your choice (I decided to piece the front using two different prints, but a FQ will do)

Fusible batting/fleece

Small piece of fusible applique

Matching thread and general sewing supplies

You'll start by measuring your book.  Measure from the back edge to the front edge, and from top to bottom.  ADD 8 inches (4 each side) for the edges that will fold over to the inside of the book and 1 inch  (½ top and ½ bottom) for seam allowances.  

In this case the measurements are as follows: 20 x 9¼.  

12 inches + 8 inches = 20 inches (side to side)

8¼ inches + 1 inch = 9¼ (top to bottom)

You'll need the same sizes for both the front, back and fusible batting.

The next step is to use a pressing cloth and iron on the fusible batting to the WRONG side of the piece of fabric you want to use as the face of your book.  Then place the lining fabric on top, right sides together and sew the SIDES, leaving both the top and bottom edges open.

Turn the cover right sides out and place the book inside the cover, fold the edges over the book.  Pin each edge as markers, use a hot iron and press, the crease will help you to match up the edges when you need to sew it down.  Turn the cover wrong side out again and fold the sides inwards, matching up the pressed creases of the lining and front fabric.

Sew the top and bottom leaving a opening big enough to turn it right side out.  I marked the opening with a water soluble pen to ensure I don't sew right through.

You can then hand sew the opening closed with a blind stitch.  I am NOT good at those, so what I did was cut a small piece of fusible applique, placed it inside the opening and fused the opening shut.

All that is left to do now, is give the book cover a good press and cover a book with with your finished fabric book cover.

This makes for a quick, easy and fun little project, great for gifts or to give a bit of flare to books you might already have.

Thanks for stopping by.

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