Lucy Sews

Has anyone noticed the new photo on my sidebar in the About me section? 🠞

I am redecorating my sewing room and needed something new for my wall.

 

This took a lot of 4am sewing but it's finally done.

It measures 21 x 21.

This was so much fun to make.

I just made it up as I went along.

I have never been a fan of raw edge applique, but I thought I would give it a try since this is totally mine for my sewing room.

The background behind the sewing machine is pieced with a variety of green scraps.

Since I knew this was something that wasn't going to be washed frequently, I did raw edge applique around the sewing machine, scissors, thread spools and parts of the banner.

 

The pincushion and the cherries are both machine applique designs.

 

I am now a HUGE fan of raw edge applique.

I will definitely use it again. 

It was so much fun!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Linking today to:

https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2020/07/one-monthly-goal-july-link-https://www.shabbyartboutique.com/2020/07/create-bake-grow-gather-party-428.html

http://www.sewcando.com/2020/07/share-your-summer-ideas-craftastic.html

https://prettypiney.com/what-i-made-monday-20-july-2020/

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2020/7/16/wednesday-wait-loss-180

Lost and FOUND!

Despite Mr. Fisherman's comment on my last post 😉...

I found it!

I found it between a stack of folded fabrics. 

Why I put it there, I haven't a clue.

I am going through all my UFO's (unfinished objects) and trying to get them completed.

I have things I started years ago and never finished.

I either got bored with the project, didn't like the way it was looking or wasn't quite sure how I wanted to finish it.

While I'm in this "better done than perfect" mood, I thought I would drag them out and finish them - good or bad.

I didn't have quite enough of the green polka dot fabric to make a nice binding, but I gave it a shot anyway. 

I had a hard time pulling it around to the back to stitch it down.

It was way too narrow for binding, which is why it looks a little wonky.

Well, maybe A LOT wonky....

But, it's done and I'm on to the next UFO.

Lost

I started this little wall hanging well over a year ago.

I have no earthly idea where it is.

My niece was coming to visit and I needed to transform my sewing room back into a guest room for her visit.

At the time I had been working on this little wall hanging.

I remember carefully folding it so the batting and backing wouldn't shift and stashing it SOMEWHERE.

I've looked in all the obvious places.

Nope.

Really haven't a clue....

My mission today will be searching every nook and cranny of my sewing room until I find it.

Wish me luck!

Three Dudes Quilt - finished

One reason I thought I would get back to posting a bit was the following comment on April 25, 2020 asking about the Three Dudes Quilt.

"Hello I realize this post is 5 years old. Just wondering if you have a posted a photo of this quilt finished? I would love to see how it looks. Thanks so much. Deb"

Wow! Five years ago. Really?

You can see that original post here.

Anyhow, I am a little embarrassed to say....

I just finished this little lap quilt a few months ago.

One good thing about Covid-19 (if you can call ANYTHING good) is that I have been going through my unfinished projects and getting them done.

I had the top pieced way back when, but no border, backing or binding.

Searching through my stash I found some black fabric for the border and a large piece of green for the backing.

Since this is just a small lap quilt (33" x 43") I decided to try the self-binding method of  bringing the backing around to the front to make a mock binding. 

I will say, it was really easy and came out nicely.

I will definitely use that method again on smaller quilts or wall hangings. 

I did a easy stitch in the ditch and straight around each block to quilt it.

 

Here's a close up of the blocks.

Very bright and cheery.

I also wanted to thank Deb who commented back in April asking about this quilt. 

I think that comment gave me a little push to start blogging again.

😊

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

See ya next time.

Hello Everyone

It's been quite sometime since my last post.

Honestly, I just haven't been in the blogging mood.

Don't know why.

I'm still sewing and crafting and have plenty of things to share.

Rather than buying more fabric I have been trying to lighten my stash pile. 

Do you ever go through your stash and wonder what in the world you were thinking when you bought that piece of fabric?

Here's one of mine.

I literally haven't a clue what I was thinking.

Super ugly....

Anyhow, I thought maybe if I cut it up into smaller pieces I could hid the ugly.

Again, not really sure what I was thinking.

I found this free Floating Star pattern  on Jordan Fabrics and thought I would give it a try.

It's very similar to the No Point Star from Cluck Cluck Sew I did here.

Jordan Fabrics made a wall hanging using the Floating Star pattern.

 I decided just to use the Floating Star and make a table runner.

I will say, cutting it up didn't help a whole lot to make it any less ugly.

It's a bit busy.

Rather than using it as a table runner I decided to hang it on my antique wooden ladder for decoration.

I have yards of the red and white star fabric leftover and made the little quilt as you go flag wall hanging following a You-Tube video by Fat Quarter Shop.

It was a super quick afternoon project.

Hope everyone is staying safe at home.

See ya soon.

WIP (work in progress)

Yes, I'm still here...not making my blogging goal of twice a week.

Why is that?

I have good intentions.

Really, I do.

Sometimes it's life getting in the way and sometimes
(if I'm being honest)  I'm just not in the mood.
  I would rather be sewing.
And another excuse reason...
I'm not a writer.

 Sometimes it's a struggle for me to put two coherent sentences together.

(Obviously, skipping school was my favorite subject 😉)

Anyhow, I have been able to keep (and exceed) my goal of making at least one small little quilted project a month.

So far since January I have completed eight small projects.
That's almost three a month!

My "done is better than perfect" project.

One thing lead to another

A gift for a friend

A little February sewing.

Hiding your mistakes

Scrappy little hearts

More scraps

Dresden Plate

Yay for me!

Grant it, they are very small projects, but that's okay.
My whole goal was to get back into sewing after my year off.

My latest project WIP.

The Flying Dutchman.

It's actually just Flying Geese... arranged a little different.

Almost done.

Be back soon...

Roosters, hens and baby chicks

My neighbor's kitchen and dining area are decorated in roosters and chickens.

LOTS of roosters and chickens.

When her birthday rolled around last year I was trying to come up with a gift I could make with my Cricut.

I found these glass cutting boards on sale at Walmart and (with future gifts in mind) bought five of them.

These cutting boards are super easy to personalize using your Cricut.

The design is put onto the back of the cutting board so all I needed to do was make sure I reversed all lettering before cutting it out. 

Mom, Dad and the three baby chicks.

Because the design is on the back, it's still a usable cutting board.

Hand wash only.

Happy Thursday!

Hiding your mistakes

I've got lots of excuses for not making my blogging goal of posting twice a week.

Wanna hear them?

No?

Well then, I will spare you the details and move on....

Even though I haven't blogged lately, I have been sewing.
I even finished a couple things.
 I just haven't found the time to blog about them.

One thing I have been experimenting with is free motion quilting.

Originally I stitched up a small scrappy piece to practice on, but decided to try on a muslin sandwich instead.

Good thang.

What I found out so far, is I'm not very good at it and I need LOTS of practice.

Why do all those U-tuber's make it look so easy?

 I decided since I need LOTS more practice I would just use a few decorative stitches on my machine instead.

I really like the looks of this wavy stitch.

One problem.

I ran out of bobbin midstream and then couldn't figure out where to begin stitching again so I ended up with this...

So, I quickly hid my mistake!

I now have a new mug rug.

None the wiser.
😉

See ya soon.

Wrapped in history

I woke this morning to 43 degree weather.

I know for some of you that would be balmy, but I'm a Florida gal and it's freezing to us.

This got me thinking about the women in my family who hand quilted blankets out of necessity - not hobby.

 Aren't these pretty?

We inherited these when my mother and mother-in-law passed away. 

All hand made by my mother, my grandmother, my mother-in-law and both Mr. Fisherman's grandmothers.

Some have been well loved over the years and are tattered and torn.

Doesn't make them any less beautiful to me...

❤

A gift for a friend

A few weeks ago one of my closest friends visited from Georgia and brought me wonderful handmade gifts made by herself and her daughter.
I love handmade.
 I know how much time and love goes into handmade.
Teresa made this beautiful Vanilla Lemon scented candle.

So pretty...

Heather (her daughter) owns a goat farm in Tennessee and makes this yummy Orange Hand Scrub.

My house feels like a spa :-)

While Teresa was visiting she noticed a few of my mug rugs and said she had never heard of a mug rug.
I took that as an opportunity to make her one!

These little mug rugs are a quick afternoon project, but it always takes me forever to decide on the design, fabric, etc.
After I have chosen the design and fabric it goes together quickly.

Even hand stitching the binding on the back doesn't take long.

I feel like hand stitching your binding looks much neater.

Sometimes machine stitching in the ditch from the front is a guessing game to see if you have caught the binding in the back and it tends to look a little messy to me.

I don't always hand stitch my binding.
Depending on what I am making, I might choose to stitch the binding to the back first and then stitch it down on the front using a zig zag stitch or a decorative stitch.



I mailed it to her and she is already using it!

I sent her a note with it that said "A mug rug - just enough room for a drink and a snack".

Hummmmm…
Wonder which one is her drink and which one is her snack???
😂


Linking today to:
http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/
https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

~ What's for breakfast ~

These were so yummy, I just had to share.
I had some bananas getting pretty ripe and blueberries left from Valentine's Day I needed to use.
I receive regular e-mails from Genius Kitchen and thought I would check them out first to see what I could find.
I found this recipe and thought I would give it a try.
They are super moist, quick to make and really, really yummy.
I gave them a definite 5 star rating.
Normally I slather my muffins with butter the minute they come out of the oven.
These do not need butter at all because they are so moist and flavorful already.
In fact, they are better after they cool or even the next day.
The recipe makes 12 muffins, so I thought I would try freezing a few to see how they come out.
They never made it to the freezer...
😏

Just check out all those blueberries....
Seriously, the best made from scratch muffins I've ever made.