Xmas presents part I

The first two of many self made Xmas presents this year. 

Did I mention that I love the 241 Tote by Noodlehead? It has just the right size to fit everyday stuff in it including an iPad. The design offers so many options to play with different fabric constellations, and it is very easy and quick to sew. 

This one is made of home decor fabric. First time that I used home decor weight for the outside and omitted the interfacing. On earlier versions I used quilting cotton with Pellon SF101 interfacing, and after washing the bags the outside showed weird wrinkles with the interfacing. By using home decor weight I save on the interfacing and no wrinkles will appear after washing. I don't wash my bags a lot, but at some point they just have to be cleaned.

I love Charley Harper designs!!! It was a challenge to part with these bags, but they found good homes.

 

Feathers

Two of my in between projects, in between Christmas presents and dressmaking that is. One of my big planned projects for next year is a King Size Quilt with the feather design by Anna Maria Horner. You can download the free pattern here.

I made this small single feather and a table runner mainly to try out the pattern, and because I got really tired of my old table runner in orange and brown. What was I thinking? Orange and brown???

Anyway, since I have all  my pillows in the living room from Amy Butler fabrics I used leftover fabrics to make these so it fits with the rest. When I first started sewing I was quite smitten by Amy Butler designs. Not anymore I have to say. One reason for that is probably that I am not a big fan of green and yellow. My taste shifted more towards Anna Maria Horner, Lizzy House, Heather Ross - just to name a few.

The King Size Quilt will be made from different Anna Maria Horner designs. Creating the feathers is way easier then it might look. Here is a tutorial on how to create the feathers out of fat quarters.

The table runner turned out covering most of my coffee table. Sometimes I thing it looks odd. I copied the feather template to 75% of its original size and that would probably make a better size table runner for this size coffee table. But for now I won't bother with that. I am working on four place mats with the smaller sized feathers and it looks promising.