Shortbread Buttons Tutorial

Many thanks to Echevette for sharing her special find of these delightful «sewing» cookies/biscuits from Forty-sixth at Grace. I shall have to find someone to invite to tea.

Double Wedding Ring Quilts

Quite the loveliest combination pieced and appliquéd quilt I have ever seen is featured in the banner of Quiltsalott's blog. Here is a link to the whole quilt laid out flat. I think the intensity of the color is what draws me to this quilt; normally I've seen it done with 1930s colors, and this is the first wedding ring I've seen combined with appliqué. Here is the link for how she put the quilt together. Beautiful job, Janet and thank you for such lovely work!

Offset Square - Biscornu Pincushions

I have made two wrist pincushions to match my Ort Bags, one for the sewing nook and one for the office/living room. Here is a marvelous tutorial on how to make the biscornu - offset square wrist pincushions.

Ort Containers - The Ort Port or Ort Bag

Here is an Ort Port for all those little bits of thread that seem to multiply in a sewing room. I have used 1 1/2" strips for the outside of the bag to match the pinks and greens in my sewing nook under the eaves. A 5" cardboard square from the underside of a Charm Pack is the perfect size to interface the fabric sewing cabinet square under the sand-filled weight. Velcro patches attach the strips that drape over the cabinet edge linking the ort bag.

I've chosen 1 1/2" Honey Bun strips from the Rouenneries line from French General for another ort container for my office, which also goes well in the living room. In the background is a market bag using 2 1/2" Jelly Roll strips, also from the Rouenneries fabrics by Moda.

Triangular Scissors Fob - Humbug

Update: I have just learned that this fob is also known by the name of «humbug.» Here is a tutorial on how to construct a humbug cushion.

I'm always misplacing my small scissors--hopefully this fob filled with rice will help me corral it while I am sewing. The pattern is basically a half of a hexagon with an extra triangle for the bottom.

Caution! be careful to always check before you close the blades of your scissors; otherwise you might inadvertantly cut the ribbon which attaches your fob!

Vines In French Dreams

Years ago in my first house I wallpapered the dining room with this beautiful wallpaper, Nancy Vine. I had spent two days in the wallpaper store looking through every book available when at long last Nancy Vine jumped out at me and screamed, "I'm French, take me home!" I no longer have the little storybook house with the pink door, but I still have a few pieces of the wallpaper, which will now grace a paper-covered box edged with blue ribbon to use from which to sell furbelows at reenactments.

And at long last I have discovered a book on Jacobean quilting, The Graceful Garden, by Denise Sheehan, which can help me recreate the feeling of being in the sunlight in that long gone dining room,a quilt that will reach out and scream, "I'm French, take me home." Fabrics are taken from the Moda fabrics of Aviary [3 Sisters] and Collections for a Cause--Legacy and Heritage.

Kit Bag

Making this kit bag, p.96, Home Sewn by Kaari Meng at French General, was a piece of cake, IF you follow the directions exactly. Absolutely nothing wrong with following directions exactly. Hint: Kaari says to sew the vinyl backing to the fabric of each piece with an eigth-inch seam prior to assembling bag. This is the key to this bag's success. I like its generous proportions--it's big enough to hold all of my toiletry items--not just sample sizes. This is essential for me because this bag is my only storage in my bath. The «old» house I live in only has room in the wall for a straight razor and a shaving mug! Now my bag sits proudly on the top of the tank. Fabric is Block Print Multi, Rouenneries, by Moda, and some striped linen from my stash.

Here is a link a another little kit bag. Enjoy!

Summer - Topper in Progess …

Here is the center of the table topper, Summer, from On the Run, by Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka's Treasures. Now it's time for some appliqué … Fabrics are Rouenneries by French General.

Placemats in Progress …

Reversible placemats in progress … just waiting for the fabric to arrive for the binding. Quilting is next.

I plan to hemstitch some natural linen for napkins and monogram them with scarlet thread. Can't decide whether to use silver napkins rings or make some from scraps of Rouenneries by Moda for French General.

Lights, at last …

I have a little sewing room with one window, really just the landing at the top of the stairs, but the sloping walls really needed lights installed over my two machines, an Elna Carina and a Singer 201. Last night my husband attached two goose-neck lamps for me above each machine--now I can start on two placemats for the table.