favorite quilts at the fair, 2019

Disclaimer: None of the following quilts were made by me. These were my favorites from the Benton County fair this year, picked either for color or pattern, and in a few cases, both.

Does anyone know the name of the fabric in the circle below? If you do, leave a comment. I’d like to find it.

That is one charming bunny–love his race car and jaunty scarf!

A library cat amongst the book shelves!

 

What a gorgeous pop of color. This would look so pretty on my wall….I need to learn this technique. I did not make a note whether the same person made the similar one above (which also has terrific colors).

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great use of 1930s repros, in a period-appropriate pattern. Wish I owned this one.

🙂

Don’t these inspire you to get to work? Yeah, me too.  Thiiiis close to doing it….

Maybe in the morning. 🙂  If you posted pretty quilts on your own blog, please link in the comments. I’d love to come see.

Advertisements

handmade grocery bags

I notice my sister, the talented CraftyTokyoMama, has two Halloween themed grocery bags for sale in her Etsy shop at super-reduced prices–under $10, including shipping straight from Japan! I have several similar bags, and I can attest these hold up for YEARS.  Wash, dry, re-use.

The jack-o-lantern pic above is shown with 8 quarts of milk inside to demonstrate how much it holds. The purple one is slightly folded flat. These roll up to about the size of a child’s fist, so easy to carry in your pocket or purse while doing your shopping.

CraftyTokyoMama’s Etsy shop is here. I bet these won’t last long!

mspt: quilted coasters

(mspt = make something pretty today)

Following my self-imposed challenge to actually use up my favorite fabrics, I made a set of coasters from the Tilda Apple Butter fabric.

Very pleased! And our furniture will thank us later.

mstp: tea caddy

(mstp = make something pretty today)

I saw my sister had given one of these to our mom, and thought I’d like to have one, too. So I copied her design.

I had been to a diner, which had been out of tea. A restaurant running out of tea?

It made me wish I carried a tea bag in my purse, just in case of such an emergency.

A tea emergency.

Yes, probably the one occasion in my life where I would find a restaurant without tea, but still. Who wouldn’t want to carry this little caddy in her purse?

It would make a sweet pick-me-up gift for a friend who’s feeling down. Or to give to a co-worker at Secret Santa time.

Or maybe even leave tucked in the car glove box. You never know when you might need a cup of tea.

Anyway, it makes me happy, and now I think I’ll make another one. Because it doesn’t hurt to have something ready at hand to brighten someone else’s day.

🙂

pretty rabbit table runner

I haven’t shown off my sister’s Etsy shop in while, so I thought I’d pick out a few of my favorite items that are available right now.

This bunny table runner is perfect.

I love a covered notebook. The Mt. Fuji works so well here.

And a holder for chopsticks so you can keep them tidy in your purse or lunch sack? Perfect! (And yes, those are little budgies in there, if you look closely.)

Do check out her other listings, she finds fabric in Japan that you just can’t get in the U.S.

 

 

mspt: a mug rug and a mat

I’ve wanted a flag-themed mug rug to put on my desk at work for a **long** time. I’d like to rotate these out to match the holiday or season. Even if it’s just sitting under a plant, it makes the office space feel a little cheerier.

I used fabrics from Bonnie & Camille, Handmade, and Lecien, Flower/Sugar, and the dots are Walmart.

I think what took me so long to make these was that I wasn’t sure what to do about the blue stars area. I could have pieced a quilt star, but my stash is not strong on navy nor stars, so what I had on hand wasn’t suitable.

The roses, though, seem appropriate, and pulls it all together in a shabby-chic way.

I’m happy with the mat. Maybe could have made the star area larger? Overall, the piece is about 12″x16″.

I used the same idea for the mug rug. The flowers on blue work a little better, as there is more blue showing.

Someone wrote an article about how people who decorate for the holidays are happier people. What do you think? I thought it couldn’t hurt to try a little harder to step up my decorating game. Maybe it’s true?

mspt: make something pretty today – pillowcases

I made two of these, whew, what a lot of work.

Still, I was glad of being able to sit around and keep my hands busy. These turned out so pretty.

I kept the color palette limited so the design wasn’t too complicated, but with enough variation that the result wasn’t cartoonish.

The variegated purple above worked out terrific; I’m always suspect about why anyone would buy variegated, but I picked up more in other colors for other projects after trying it for this. It makes the color changes in those flowers so simple.

 

 

 

I still don’t know how to crochet, so I picked up some cotton lace at the craft store to complete the project. Yep, I made TWO of these.