Are you looking for an easy gift to sew?
Well, I have a fun quick project that will be the cutest gift to make for Quilty friends or even for anyone really. The bucket can be so versatile for a lot of use.
I am actually making these to gift to my son’s teacher as a farewell gift. We are planning to fill it in with teacher’s items like pens, notebooks and other fun things.
Another update on my version of this fun free sampler quilt along for 2023 !
There are free video tutorials, so if you are a beginner, be sure to pick up all the tips Kimberly has for you as she sews the blocks in the videos. I love picking up various tips from different quilters as they teach me become a better quilter.
While there’s no hard and fast rule in quilting, there are definitely some time-saving tips and piecing tricks that just make things easier that we can pick up by watching other quilters sew.
I learned so much from sewing along last round for Sewcialites I,
This round I’m sewing mine using a fat quarter bundle by Tasha Noel called the Quilt Fair!
I am all caught up at the point of me writing this blogpost. In this post, I’ll share my thoughts on catching up on the bandwagon when you missed a lot of weeks in a quilt along.
There’s something about just jumping and starting a new project. It’s exciting and fun!
And even better when the quilt only take a day to put together. Well, at least the quilt top, that is.
I decided to jump in with the Moda Charm Pack Challenge and grabbed one of the charm pack that is already in my stash.
You can join in too and grab the Grab the Charm Pack Quilt Pattern: FREE PATTERN HERE>. Make sure you make it and tag @modafabrics and use the hashtag #charmpackchallenge on Instagram. You can see some inspiration there too.
I have enough charm pack to start this project. It only uses one charm pack!
This is great for this stash of Charm Packs you already have in stash.
The pattern is perfect for the charm pack with bright colours or with those two colour line.
I picked out the background fabric and cut out the required background units. I selected only the full colour charm squares and omit those with lighter colours to ensure I get good contrast with the background.
It is time for another update of my Sewcialites 2 quilt!
There are free video tutorials, so if you are a beginner, be sure to pick up all the tips Kimberly has for you as she sews the blocks in the videos. I love picking up various tips from different quilters as they teach me become a better quilter.
While there’s no hard and fast rule in quilting, there are definitely some time-saving tips and piecing tricks that just make things easier that we can pick up by watching other quilters sew.
I learned so much from sewing along last round for Sewcialites I,
This round I’m sewing mine using a fat quarter bundle by Tasha Noel called the Quilt Fair!
I decided to do a little bit of fussy cutting for the centre!
As we head into the new year, it is always nice to start making goals and plans for our quilting projects.
I am all about having fun in the quilting part of my life, but I still would like to feel organized and productive.
Hence, a good plan and some goals would be necessary.
Before planning for what is to come, it is good to reflect on the past. This is to make sure we’re not repeating what’s not working and to do more of what’s working.
As I reflected in 2022 back in this post HERE, I realized that I did not get any quilts done for gifting. I had wanted to make some but really didn’t put any into a good plan.
So this year, I am making intention AND a plan to go with it.
I guess 2022 was the year to gain back some momentum from the pandemic and I didn’t want to stress myself up too much with detail planning.
I think some loose plans are great, and if we start planning early in the year – those goals might just be achievable by the end of the year.
Since I have the intention of gifting out quilts and quilty items this year, I am going to plan it out so I will get to do that.
First I am listing out the special people that I want to gift my handmade quilty gifts this year. This can be for their birthday present, or just for any special occasion like a birth of a new baby or a wedding. I have one baby in mind for 2023, our future niece/nephew. And I have a long list of family members whom I want to make quilts for. I hope this is the year I get to do that!
Of course making quilts for everyone isn’t the best plan because quilts really takes a lot of time and labour to make. Maybe quilts are for close family members while others can still get pillow cases, table runners or even pouches!
You can also make pouches from an orphan blocks. Check that post HERE>
Or make table runners for those who deserves a quilt, but maybe you don’t have the time to make one just yet. I made a few that I can’t part with with in the past years, maybe I’ll try and make some that I will surely gift away this year. But my biggest goal this year is for the closest family members who haven’t receive quilts from me. I think many of my family have received pouches or small items from me. It is time for their quilts.
So this year, my biggest goal is to make their quilts. I have set at least 3 quilts that are surely to be done by this year to gift away. That seems like a reasonable number looking back at the number of quilt I can get done in a year for the past years. Besides, I already have some of these in the work in progress pile. Which come to my next tip, before you plan new projects for the new year,
If you are an avid quilter like me, you probably have a pile of work in progress here and there. Maybe lots of quilt top done and just waiting to be quilted. That will make the perfect gift for this year! It is already close to the finish line and the earlier you get them done, the better!
It will be such a good feeling to finish off some of those. That will surely kicks in the momentum for the whole year. So that is what I’ll be working on the first quarter of the year.
Here are the quilt tops that I have in my w.i.ps stash ready to quilted for this year. And I have decided to put a future owner for these as I’ll be gifting them all away. I am planning for simple all-over design quilting for all of them to speed up the process and to just keep it simple! If you want some ideas on what design to quilt with that are easy and fast, you can check out this post HERE where I listed 20+ free motion quilting designs.
Together quilt
I am also kitting up some new projects with the stash I already have. You need to plan to use your stash too this year! So why not make a plan early so that you don’t end up not using them all year again. I’m sure many of use falls into the trap of buying new fabrics, which sounds like a fun plan for sure. But if we plan well, I’m sure we already have what we need in our stash.
So, that’s what I did. With the person to receive the quilt in mind, I went through my stash and picked up the fabrics and patterns I need to kit it all up ready for when I feel like starting a new project.
As I went and did this, I found some fun fabrics to use from the past Sew Sampler Box that I haven’t used yet. While they may not be the fabrics that I would buy myself, they make perfect match with the person I had in mind. So, it’s great to get surprise boxes like the Sew Sampler Box to kind of add in things that you may not buy for yourself. Which makes it easier to make and gift away too. You can read more about my review of Sew Sampler Box HERE>
Finally, just allow some room for new things and new projects. I am bound to be distracted I’m sure. But with some loose plans like this, I hope to get more productive this year and gift away many more quilts!
Till then, have fun planning and quilting!
I reviewed back on what I worked on this year or at least the one that has been blogged about. Because honestly, I don’t really remember what’s being done in what year if I don’t keep the record on the blog.
That is one of the reasons I love blogging. It is a journal of all the things that were made in my sewing room.
This year I realized I haven’t finished as many quilts, but life with a 2-year-old, 6 and 11-year boys plus a full-time job is a handful already.
I am blessed to call my quilting time, my “me time”. The time when I get to just have a mental escape.
I have been anxious a lot this year with more responsibility at work, so lots of break were definitely needed.
I am so thankful that I can still take those breaks, and recharged through my sewing.
Getting things done and making things with your hand is truly satisfying and can surely improve the overall being. I feel relaxed and can just have fun.
You can read more about how crafting can help your mental health HERE>
If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll know that I love quilt along. It is one of those things that keeps me excited and it is just a good amount of motivation and accountability.
Since it is already nearing the end of 2022, I am listing out some of the fun quilt along that potentially I’ll be joining in for next year! I love to plan out for the new year.
I would love to invite you along with me!
I made more vinyl front zipper project bags!
Last time I talked about how we can organise current work in progress in this POST HERE.
I am currently loving project bags to keep things organised and there’re so many potential fabrics that will be perfect for this, that I just want to keep making them!
Here are two of my recent one made,
I bought this fun patchwork panel and I know that I wanted to make project bags from it!
The bright colour is perfect for a fun project bag.
Another fun quilt along that I’m updating today. This one will be a combination of big quilt blocks and small ones, so it’s definitely a fun one.
This fun quilt along is hosted by Fat Quarter Shop using the book Simply Half Yards, but with a FREE new layout. The setting is beautiful and I can never get enough star blocks, so it was an easy YES for me to join the quilt along.
Drawstring bags are so easy to sew. If you’ve never sewn one, you can make a simple one without the lining fabric or just two pieces of fabric.
If you want to use up leftover jelly rolls, I have another tutorial HERE for that.
In this post, I am sharing you another fun version, because it is always fun to patch up the panels before sewing it up into bags.
This time I decided to make a patchwork gingham panel to start with!
I have always wanted to make a gingham quilt, and I have this idea of piecing it easily with strip piecing.
Small projects like this is perfect to try it out!