A Day of Making Pillowcases

On Wednesday my granddaughter and I met my friends Marilyn and Rob for a little shopping and then lunch. They were looking for Amy Butler fabric and I wasn't looking for a darn thing. Well you guessed it, I think I was the one that bought the most fabric. We went to Tall Mouse, a local craft store similar to Michael's. Unlike Michael's they carry a large selection of quilting fabric that rivals many of the local quilt shops. They especially have a nice selection of novelty fabrics. My granddaughter and I decided we needed new pillowcases for our beds so yesterday we made pillowcases using the fabric (and some from my stash) to make a few.

This is my pillowcase. Can you tell I love Mexican food? Check out the tortilla chips to go with the enchiladas, burritos and chimichungas.

My husband John is a huge coffee lover so of course his pillow case if made from coffee bean fabric.

While we were on a roll, Emily made a cute pillowcase for her friend Stephanie.

Last but certainly not least is Emily's pillowcase. She is a soccer player as well as a cross country runner. We found this perfect fabric for her new pillowcase.

If you'd like to make your own pillowcases, here's the instructions for my version:

Wacky Pillowcase

Main Piece 27” x WOF (3/4 Yard)
Border Piece 9” x WOF (1/4 Yard)
Accent Strip 3” x WOF (1/8 Yard)

1. Lay 9” border piece face up on table.
2. Press the 3” trim piece in half the long way and lay folded piece on top of the border piece.
3. Lay main piece of pillowcase face down – lined up with border piece. All the raw edges all three pieces should line up on the top edge.
4. Roll the main fabric from the bottom up and then fold the border piece up to the top (creating a tube) then pin all the raw edges together.
5. Stitch along the edge then turn inside out. You have a finished edge with all the stitching on the inside.

Finish the side with either a French seam or surge the edges together.

Congratulations, you have a beautifully finished pillowcase.

Enjoy,

Guild Workshop

Yesterday was my guild's workshop with Shelley Swanland where we made table runners based on her "Machine Stitched Cathedral Windows" technique. It was fun and quite easy. By the time I left the workshop my table runner was pieced, quilted and had the binding sewn on. Now I just have to finish hand sewing the binding down on the back and it will be ready to go on my dining room table.

The blocks are very similar Mary Ellen Hopkin's Loose Goose, a 3-D flying geese block. You then roll the edges and top stitch them in place to give get the curved look.

Grocery Tote Bag

While at the retreat in Cambria, CA we went to a quilt shop in Morro Bay The Cotton Ball and they had oil cloth pre-cut in half yard pieces. I couldn't resist making a tote bag to use when grocery shopping. Isn't it cute? I bought several more pieces so that I can make additional bags for myself as well as for gifts.

Fruits and Veggies

I was recently in Las Vegas at a Mary Ellen Hopkins seminar with my sister. I brought us each a tower of fruit and vegetable fat quarters and my sister brought us each a few yard of basket weave fabric. We combined our fabric and our ideas to make the blocks for this quilt.

I just got back from a Two Wacky Women Retreat in Cambria, CA. We had a small group which gave me plenty of time to put my blocks together and complete my quilt top. I love how it came out.

I'm Back

Life has been very hectic lately but I'm back and will try to once again update on a regular basis.





My best friend Marilyn and I just finished vending at the new International Quilt Show in Long Beach, California and it was a huge success. This was our first really big show so we didn't have anything to compare it to but we were busy, busy, busy both Friday and Saturday. Sunday was a slow day which seems to be typical for many of local quilt shows.

Here is a picture of our booth. We had a great location and hopefully we'll be able to get the same one again next year.

I have been busy working on many old and new projects. Over the next few day's I'll post some pictures of what I've been doing.

For now........Enjoy!

So Now I'm Making Bowls

So now I've started making bowls. These are clothesline bowls made using the book "It's a Wrap". I'm really having a great time and will now be starting my next one. They are very easy, just a little time consuming to wrap the fabric around the clothesline. I finally figured out that it's a lot easier and less boring to sit in front of the TV and wrap a whole bunch of clothesline before sitting down at the sewing machine. The sewing part goes really fast. I loaned my book to someone so I couldn't remember exactly how to end it but it's ended in any event.

Retreat Gifties

Two Wacky Women is hosting another retreat in just a few weeks. Marilyn (the other Wacky Women) and I got together and made these for all of our guests. We managed to find the zippers at a swap meet for very few $'s so the trick was finding fabric that matched or at least coordinated with them. I lucked out when I found this cute Robert Kaufman fabric that has thimbles all over it. We added the lavender for contrast and Wa La, cute little coordinating sets.



The pattern for the notebook cover is still available on the Two Wacky Women website. They are very easy and make a great gift.