I Love Fabric!

I love fabric!  

Have I told you that lately?

I absolutely love fabric!

I love to iron it, I love to work with it, I love to smell it, I love to fondle it.

I was just ironing these fabrics the other day.  Aren't they beautiful!  It was such a joy to iron the wrinkles out of them and make them oh, so smooth.

You can just imagine how smooth this batik fabric is--almost like glass!

And the delicate little print of this fabric.  Oh, delightful!!

Isnn't fabric wonderful!!??

Scrappy Strip-Pieced Star Quilt (Part 2)

Part 1 of this post can be found here. 

After getting the squares all sewn together in (hopefully) the right direction (!), I thought about what I could use for a border.

After auditioning several fabrics, I chose a light green grunge fabric for the borders.  At this point my quilt top measured about 76" square. 

Then, as I searched through my stash for some fabric for the back, I came across this yummy piece of Kaffe Fassett.  It was not quite wide enough for this quilt back.  But it was long enough so I decided to start with the KF fabric, and add to it.

More strip-piecing came to the rescue!!  I knew that I needed to add about 15" on each side of the KF fabric to make it wide enough for the backing.  I found some unbleached muslin that was just the right size for a foundation, so I started some more stripping!

Adding strips to the muslin fabric, and then pressing each strip down.

This is one of the long strips that I sewed to add to the backing fabric.  I made two of these strips, one for each side of the quilt back.

As I'm sewing along on this project of scraps, it's really interesting to "travel along memory lane" as I come to fabrics that I have used in the past for other projects.  Some are real favorites.  Here are a few.

This is some wonderful "bread fabric" that I found and used for aprons at TwoFish Baking Company.

The pretty blue floral here was the main fabric for my President's Quilt.

The green print in the center is some of HarmonyArt's organic cotton.  Along with a favorite 

orange-ish gingko leaf batik.

And here you can see a glimpse of the green fabric that I used to make "potholders" for Christmas gifts last year!

The beautiful green floral in the center is a lovely fabric, a smooth and silky cotton, reminiscent of a Liberty of London fabric.

Below is another pretty pink HarmonyArt fabric, alongside some Winnie The Pooh fabric that I used to make a quilt for GranddaughterStitches quite a few years ago. 

The purple grape fabric is from some table napkins that I made a long time ago, and the green pea fabric is from a baby quilt that I made for BabyStitches just three years ago.

Looking through your fabrics can be a walk down Memory Lane!

Phone Carrying Case

For a while I have been wanting a carrying case for my iPhone.  I want it just for use at home, to wear over my shoulder so I can keep my phone handy when the clothes I'm wearing don't have a pocket.  I saw a woman one day on the street who had a regular-looking phone case, except that it had a long strap connected to it, and she was wearing it over her shoulder.

So I looked around for one to buy.  Amazon to the rescue!  I found only one, and it said that it fit my phone model.  I wondered about that, because the opening on the back of the phone case for the camera lens didn't look just like mine.  But they said it fit, so I bought it.  Yes, my phone did fit, and it didn't seem to matter about the lens opening.  However!  I was wearing it one day and all of a sudden a siren started going off from my phone! A really LOUD siren.  I've never heard a sound like that coming from my phone!  I turned it off, and went about my business, and the siren went off again!  So that case was a "no-go" for me.

Back to Amazon, looking for phone cases again.  I found another one, and it said it fits my phone, and the camera opening looks right.  I ordered it.  Lo and behold, it's about a quarter of an inch too long for my phone!  Man!  This shouldn't be so hard!  I was really frustrated.

So then I decided to do something that I should have tried in the first place.  I looked on line for a pattern to make a phone case.  And I found one.  This is the link to the site I found on Pinterest.  The name of the website is "SewCanShe," (cute name).  I used these directions as a guide, but deviated somewhat.  I measured my phone and read what size phone this fits, and made mine a little tiny bit wider.  It called for a zippered pocket on the back, but I skipped that part.  In the name of simplicity and speed.  I don't need this for going shopping or anywhere outside, I just want it for indoor use.

Another change I made was not using rotating hardware to clip to the sides.  I didn't have any!  (And in quarantine I can't just run to the store and get some!)  I simply tied a fat knot in my cord that goes around my neck.  

I chose two contrasting blue batiks from my stash, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I wear it most days at home.  It keeps my phone right by my side.

Thank you, SewCanShe!!