A Couple a Cozies

It's week three of the Zakka 2.0 sew along!
(More info about that at LRstitched, A Quilter's Table, and in the Flickr group.)

Here are my versions of the Lettered Tea Cozy and the Teabag Pouch from Ayumi Takahashi's book Patchwork, Please!.

All Ready to Brew!

I did make a few teensy changes to the pattern.  Mine is 3/4 inch shorter and has twill tape for the hanging loop and the binding.  Also, I made a little "T" tea bag tag for trim and included two pockets on the backside to hold both the teabag pouch and the bell pepper coasters from week one.


The teabag pouch is my favorite:

I really could have made use of this when I was a commuter college student.  As an avid coffee and tea drinker, I had bad luck sometimes with tea getting smooshed in the bottom of my backpack.  (I do own one of these, thank you very much!)

The tea cozy is quilted with variegated Aurifil Mako cotton (I'm finally using the good stuff !) It striped nicely but obviously I need to address some tension issues with my machine before getting too fancy.

That's it until next week.

Keep it cozy!

-Kristin

Joining In - Zakka 2.0 Week 1

This is me. Singing out.  Joining my voice with all you other crafty people on the web in the Zakka 2.0 Sew Along on Flickr and linking up at LRStitched.  Taking on every project in Ayumi Takahashi's new book, Patchwork, Please!  

The first project (pictured above) is the Bell Pepper Coaster.  They are really adorable and easy to make.  In fact, it took me longer to choose my fabrics than to put them together.  I liked learning a new technique - they are sewn and then cut to flip - the cuts are hidden when you sew the two layers together.  I can see this might be handy in making art quilts.

As for the sew along...

Will I be sewing every project?

All I can say is: I've got a plan.  So stay tuned.  And come sing along with your sewing machine.

Also, if this is your first time to visit me at AndChips, welcome!

Even more info here.

Have you seen my horse?

Meet (well I don't have a name yet) Dresden!

This little colt is from the "Henry" pattern in Jill Hamor's lovely pattern book, Storybook Toys.  It's the first project I've made after more than a month of ooh-ing and aah-ing and generally drooling over the dollies within.  I added an applique (the barn from Violet Craft's Madrona Road) but otherwise stuck straight to the pattern; one thing I might change would be to make the  mane longer.

I used fabric and yarn I had on hand but I still have the saddle to sew up.  I can't get over how cute this little guy is!  He stands well but his back legs splay out a little and it could be the direction I cut the fabric or uneven stuffing but his head tilts a tad.  However, I believe these two mistakes features really add to the newborn foal appeal.

What do you think?

Coin Strips in hot colors

Otherwise in the sewing world I'm woefully behind on the quilt I was supposed to be working on all month.  Instead, I've been tinkering with smaller projects.  I made a name tag (it's a secret!) and two blocks (four actually) for tomorrow's MMQG meeting.  

It's also my month as QUEEN BEE in the Modern Stash Quilting Bee on Flickr.  I picked an original paper-piecing pattern by Marcia Hohn at Quilter's Cache; it's called the Tallahassee block and I'm really pleased with my first few tries at it.

I call them "Blooms." Sewn together, four make a 12 inch block.  The inspiration for all of this was the Quilter's Cache block I bookmarked almost one year ago (before I knew how to paper-piece!) and this pillow made by Jennifer LGB on Flickr; it's one of my all time favorites in my "favorites" on Flickr.

All month long, my quilting bee "hive" mates will be stitching up these little goodies for me; I can't wait until all those awesome little packages start to arrive!  Did I mention my birthday is in April?

Book Review

Lately I've been haunting the library one county over in order to sample, in-person, many of the crafty books I hear about online.  So far, my two favorites have been Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love by Hillary Lang and  Dare to Be Square: A Block-by-Block Guide to Making Patchwork and Quilts by Boo Davis.  (These are both from 2010 - I am so hip.)  I would definitely invest in these two as they are full of super cute, useful and gift-worthy, awesomely do-able, fun sewing projects.  So far, I've made the two wee-est dollies from Wee Wonderfuls:

Here are "Evelyn Inchworm" from page 9 and the "Doxie Necklace" from page 95.... And Chips.

I've been so into my sewing machine, I'm afraid I've neglected my hand-sewing skills; they have a ton of mistakes personality.

Happy sewing!