Not so secret sewing....

Over Thanksgiving my mother-in-law spied a microwave bowl potholder that my sister-in-law had made for me last Christmas.  She hadn't seen one before and really liked it.  These are great easy gifts to make, so I sewed some up for her.  It's difficult to pick fabric for other people, but I think she will like this choice, which is an out of print Moda line called Mistletoe Manor by 3 Sisters.  A co-worker of mine gave it to me over ten years ago and I always liked it but didn't know what to make....I'm glad I finally cut into it!

Hope everyone is not too stressed about finishing up your secret sewing!  If you would like to make these yourself check out this tutorial by Karen Church.

Linking up with crazymomquilts, sewfreshquilts, and Needle and Thread Thursday.

Handmade Style Floor Pouf

After making the Carry-all Pincushion from Anna Graham's amazing book, Handmade Style, I decided to make the Floor Pouf.  I'm really happy with this project.  It is similar in construction to the pincushion, but a lot bigger.  It was definitely an effort to wrangle this thing together, but totally worth it.

The top is 24 inches square.  I quilted the top with (not so) straight line quilting in three different colors, off-white, gold, and dark pink.  For the side panels I used a curved shell stitch on my Bernina which has come in handy on a few projects now.  It's fast and looks really good.

 I used an orphan block I had on hand and made a finished bottom for it as well, just in case the recipient wants to change it up every once in a while.  It has a zipper closure in case you need to wash it.

I recommend Handmade Style, so far both patterns I've worked with have been excellent.

One more gift checked off the list...though it's going to be tough to part with this one.  Can't get enough of the Cotton + Steel fabric either!

Linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation, Lorna at sewfreshquilts, and Amanda at crazymomquilts.

Pocket Mending Book and Pincushion

Heidi Staples at Fabric Mutt has done it again with a great tutorial...the Pocket Mending Book.  I needed a pincushion for our December guild meeting holiday pincushion swap and I was stressing over what to create.  When I saw Heidi's new tutorial, it gave me a good idea to use her tutorial to make a pincushion and a matching mending book.  And here is the result!




And look at the cute back:



The fabric is Country Girls, by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake with a few other scraps.

Linking up with crazymomquilts.

WIP Mini-Charm Tumbler Pillow

I love the Christmas colors in Basic Grey's 25th and Pine collection.  It has the traditional red and green, but mixes with a lighter green and navy.  In addition, I love mini charm packs because you can get all of the fabrics without a lot of commitment, so you don't feel guilty!  Here I'm putting both to work for a small pillow project.

I used this mini tumbler template which fits the mini charms perfectly.   

I arranged the cut pieces in diagonal stripes by color and came up with this:

I added a border on all sides and I'm working it into a Christmas pillow, more to follow.  

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.