Another I.D. Wallet

Remember that Cross Country team I mentioned in one of my last posts? Well, even though the season's over, we still have little parties from time to time. :)  This time we had a Secret Santa gift exchange, so I whipped up a little wallet in approximately 2 hours. No biggie. :)

Of course, the only zipper I had left was red, and I had absolutely no red fabric (and I hate the color red). So, I used other-colored fabric that had bits of red in it, so it's sort of matchy, but not super matchy-matchy. ;) Look at that random quilting...so fun to do... :)

And guess what? This time I added a wrist strap! I guess I'm getting inventive. (:

Well, that was a short post, but short and sweet, right? :)

xo, charlotte

Handmade Vera Bradley Wallet Knock-offs

So, I found this amazing, awesome, super-duper fun tutorial to make Vera Bradley-like wallets. (You can find the tutorial here: ThimbleAnna's Blog)

I tweaked the tutorial a little to make them have rounded corners (instead of square) so they'll look more like Vera Bradley's.

I made the first one for my sister for her birthday.

The 2nd one I made for me. :)

And here's the cake I made for her (and her friend's) birthday. I only had one decorating bag left, so i was limited to two colors. they wanted pink and blue, but it looked like baby colors to me, so i changed it to pink and purple. Now it was only girly colors....

xo, charlotte

do. Good stitches {a Charity Bee}

Back in June or July, I was looking at virtual sewing bees and wishing I could be in one. I went to tons of different websites looking for a way to sign up when I finally found it.

do. Good Stitches. 

I signed up on their little document and waited, and waited, and waited, (i admit, i actually signed up again, thinking my first one didn't go through....)  :/   Finally, about 2 months later, they had enough people to start a new group! We were called "Trust" and we were benefiting "My Very Own Blanket".

Ok. Long story, short, We started in September, and have started 3 quilts, one of which is already finished! :) Each person does 2 blocks per month, and there's 10 people. 5 of the people have more commitment than I do, so they get to assemble the quilt top, design a back, and sew together the finished quilt.

Here's my September Blocks:   (Card Trick Design)

And the finished quilt:

October Blocks:     (Greek Cross Design)

And my November Blocks:     (I called it 5 stripes...very creative, i know)









I think I love the November blocks the most. The dark gray and blues look so modern....and legit.... :)

Anyways, if you think that you'd like to do this, you can sign up at the do. Good Stitches homepage on flickr.

xo, charlotte

1st quilted quilt ever--done!

yep, I finished my first quilted  quilt, ever. I've made two other quilts, but I just tied little knots of yarn through all the layers to secure the batting.

this time, though, i actually attempted quilting--machine quilting. Hand-quilting will be for a different day... :)

i had tried spray basting, since i wanted to get this done in one day, and didn't want to invest 1-2 extra hours pinning it... it worked really well!

this quilt was meant to go in our living room (the blue back went with the walls). i had started the quilt before we got new furniture though, so the black and white doesn't really go with the new brown furniture. i made the binding brown though, so maybe it'll look better.

this pattern was from Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork, it was called snapshots. probably because the little black and white squares look like a collage of pictures... :)

i'm so excited that it's done though! only one more quilt to finish before january 1st...
the next quilt i have to finish though, isn't as pretty. it looks like a rainbow threw up...
 i had no color scheme, so i'm brainstorming how to make it look better... :)

(maybe i could separate the blocks a little by adding white strips between them.)

(or i could alternate a "puking-rainbow" block, and a white block...) 

any suggestions?

xo, Charlotte

a bad mistake turned good

the bad news:
as i'm getting really excited about getting close to finishing my quilt front, i realize that i messed up. The mistake includes ripping out 20 seams and sewing 20 more seams... not my idea of fun.... :)  I was supposed to sew white-black, white-black, etc. but I actually sewed 20 black-white instead... but anyways, let's not dwell on the bad. onto the good.

the good news:
i'm an optimist, sometimes. this was one of those times... it gave me an opportunity to get back to posting on my blog! :) yes, i know, it's sad that i had to make a mistake to get back to posting... oh well. i'll leave you with a few close-up pictures of my animals... getting a picture of our pigs was the hardest, since they scramble around doing donuts whenever somebody goes near them.

Leaper the Cat

Broiler Chickens (there are 25 of these)

Lucy the dog with the long tongue, the overbite, and the fear of water... :)

Lady the pig (not shown are Voldemort-a black pig, and Ralph-a red pig)

xo, Charlotte