October & November Finishes and a New Goal

It feels good to have this one finished and finally properly photographed. I have to say, it turned out much better than I expected. Giving up that fat quarter of Tula Pink was definitely worth it to give this quilt some life. The quilting gave it a nice cozy scrunch and I hope it brings comfort to its owner.

The Wedding quilt is also done and will be mailed to the young couple today. Here's the front...

...and the back. This fabric is now officially available at Ikea.

The mesh bag I made for my son will have a different purpose than the one I originally intended. It will not be keeping his riding gloves safe from his other laundry but it will be protecting Nico's socks from the dorm laundry gremlins.  When I presented it to Son #1 he loved it but said his buddy, Nico, had been complaining about a rash of missing socks and he felt he needed it more so asked me to give it to Nico instead. I love Nico so how could I say no! Besides, it gives me an excuse to whip out another bag for my son. I love a good excuse to sew!

This is all you get of this one since it is a gift. Most of you will realize what it is. And yes, it is upside down in this photo. I shared the fabric selection in my last post. I deleted the floral back and just went with more purple. You know, more purple will always make a room more perfect, just ask my grand-niece.

Next up some completely new and never before shared finishes.

This one took days to finish when it should have been a one or two sitting project. I was fresh off a two-try-sewing-fail and my confidence was low for whipping out semi-self-designed projects. 

I have a collection of T-shirts from bike rides I have done and I never wear them because I despise wearing men's T-shirts. I have had grand plans to up-cycle some of the cuter designs but have been putting it off for years. Well, I got a particularly cute one from my last ride (which I will share later) and the motivation was high. I pulled out a couple of dud T-shrirts to try my hand and they were both failures. On try #1 I underestimated the stretch in the ride shirt versus my favorite Old Navy Perfect T. It came out too small even though it lays out larger than the inspiration piece. For try #2 I didn't cut down the shoulder area enough and I had a serger blade oopsie around the bust, but I did get the tummy right. Two fails and I was down on my skills. 

Next up was a much needed cover to protect my sewing machine. After searching I found great inspiration and made a list of some things to avoid and strive for in my cover construction but I did not find the right cover for me. That meant I would have to design my own without a pattern or tutorial. Was I up to the task? 

So, after popping out an adorable panel using Elizabeth Hartman's Mod Mosaic Tutorial, I must have measured my Juki hundreds of times from all angles. I drew up some sketches and pretty much only attempted a step in the process per day. I needed time to sit back, make sure it was still working and carefully plan out my next move.  It would have been so much easier if I could have found a tutorial that fit my mental picture.

So here it is. Its stands so nicely. Looks like I went with the proper interfacing.

The back.

To notch or not to notch. That was a question I asked for about 24 hours. Not just to myself, but to others. I'm glad I went with notch.

I used some orange commercial bias tape I had on hand. I like it. I finished the remainder of the binding in the same gray as the body so as not to compete with the mosaic. Another choice I'm happy with.

For the handle I added a piece of canvas tape from a fabric bundle. 

It is so nice to have my machine protected from all the dust and dog hair!

Since that went so well, I decided to wing it without a pattern for another little project.

This is a gift for a friend of #2 Son who just turned 21. He's in the Air Force and stationed here at Fort Gordon. I have been sharing our plastic grocery bags with him since the first day we met. He uses them in his dorm trash can. I made him this bag tube in patriotic colors to store his stash of bags. I used a quilt-as-you-go technique and it turned out smashing too!

I think I may be recovered from my T-shirt up-cycle disasters.

My goals for November: (Linked with A Fibre of All Sorts and A BitterSweet Design's A Lovely Year of Finishes)

1. Make 5 name tags for new guild members. Goal - ALYoF

2. Start on a Christmas Quilt using my new Quick Curve Ruler that I just received from Mass Drop.

3. Make another mesh bag for Son #1.

4. Make a Christmas pillow with the Mini Charm Pack I purchased while Hubs was riding in The Southern Cross.

5. Design and maybe make a cover for my HuskyLock 905.

6. Make a few Christmas presents. 

Linking up with:

She Can Do's Craftastic Monday

Anything Goes Monday by Stitch by Stitch, Hosted by Till We Quilt Again.

Making the World Cuter by Keeping it Simple.

Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday