Loving the lilies

I'm loving the blooms in my garden.  My sister gave me this beautiful full Stargaser Lily last year.  I love the color.

As I drive around our neighbourhood, I see everyone's gardens are in full bloom too.  They are loving the hot weather.

Tutorial - Make a Case for the Kobo Touch eReader

This picture tutorial is for a simple case to hold your new Kobo Touch eReader.  This new reader is slightly smaller than the original Kobo.   Since the screen is especially sensitive, I have an added inside pocket holds a firm material so it protects the screen.   Of course, this is optional.

**If you have the original Kobo eReader with the click button, go here for the fabric requirements to make a cover. 

  

Kobo Touch dimension - 6.5" x 4.5"

The directions for this cover will be slightly bigger by about 1/4"



Fabric Requirements:

• Cover Fabric - 15.5" x 8.5"
• Lining Fabric - 15.5" x 8.5"
• Thin Batting -  15.5" x 8.5"
• Inside Pocket Fabric - 9" x 9" (folded in half, wrong sides together)
• Prepared Binding - 40" strip or WOF (cut in two pieces....8.5" and the balance for outer binding)
• Fine Plastic Canvas: 4.5" x 6.5"  (oops.. not shown in picture below)

Assemble your fabrics.  oops...Not shown is the plastic canvas

Layer the Top fabric, the batting, and the lining fabric and prepare to machine quilt.

Machine quilt with a simple all over pattern. 



Trim this quilted sandwich to 14.5 inches by 7.5 inches



With, the lining side face up, add raw edge of the folded pocket fabric, and raw edge of the folded binding to the short side of the quilted sandwich. 



Stitch down using scant quarter inch seam.  Trim away excess binding and pocket fabric so it's all even with the quilted sandwich.





Iron the binding over and top stitch the short binding piece from the cover side.





The hidden pocket should still be to the lining side.



Fold up the bound edge 4-3/4" and pin sides down.



Stitch sides down with 1/8" inch seam to hold the fold firmly.  Prepare to Bind.





Use your favourite binding method to add binding to the 3 raw edge sides.



Top Stitch your binding on the 3 sides.



Cut plastic canvas just slightly smaller than the pocket of the cover.



Turn the cover inside out, and slip the plastic canvas into the hidden pocket.





Turn the cover right side out, and Voila, you're done.

Read On



Winter Wonderland - Week 3 of 5

Last week I showed you the progress on my first stitched block.  It was the second largest block so it took quite a while.  I did get it done last week, and here it is.    While I started out using just the stem stitch, I find that on the printing of the sign and the finer details on the snowman faces, I use the back stitch.   The pattern calls for either or, but I'm using a combination of both where I see fit.

I was looking for a quick finish, so my next block was a small block.    And it's done.   With no trees, and no snowflakes, it was a quick finish. 

So now I'm working on my third block...a larger block.   My fingers are sore, and I've developed a couple of calluses on the tips of my fingers, but I'm sure I'll get this done this week.

Only two more weeks in my Christmas in July challenge, and I know now that this won't all get stitched in July.   But I do have a really good sense of how long it will take me.  

While letting my fingers rest, I did start on the pieced blocks and I have the first of 6 sets of blocks done.  This first set had 5 blocks.    I had no idea that these blocks would take so long to make.   I'm so used to cutting out many blocks at a time, then sewing those blocks all at once... This is very different.  The blocks are either a 12", or a 9" or a 6".  No two blocks are the same size or color combination.    I know it took twice as long to choose the colors and cut out the pieces than it did to sew them.      I sewed one block at a time...    I'll plan my time better for the rest of the sets of blocks. 

I am discovering that I get lots of stitching done while sitting out at the cottage.   And if there's something good on TV for an hour in the evening, I get stitching done then too.  Now that I'm in week three, I find that I'm developing little techniques to help me stitch cleaner, without the long knotted tails in the back.  I'm not sure if it's the right way, but it's working for me.

Choosing a 2012 Raffle Quilt for St. Anthony's

I've been looking through patterns with the intent of making a raffle quilt for the St. Anthony's Quilters to quilt this fall and winter.  I'm so pleased that Gail F. has said it was OK if I used her Starry Path design which she called Sylvia's Stars.  I loved it when she first posted it on her blog.   Then I loved it even more when I saw it at the Sussex Quilt Guild Show last year.     Then I loved even more when I saw that it won a ribbon at the Quilt Show.     If you click here on Gail's post where she has this quilt on the rack and it's half quilted, you'll see the fabulous design she came up with to fill the white squares.   

Last year was the first year of hand-quilting for the St. Anthony's quilters.   With a year under their belt, I think they're ready to do more than stitch in the ditch.   Don't you think this will be a striking raffle quilt?  How could you not buy a ticket!

This coming week, I'll be sewing up a few sample stars to see which six inch star pattern I will use.  Then I'll be figuring out a sewing workplan so I can have this top ready for the group to start hand quilting this fall.

Lazy Days of Summer

The lazy days of summer are here.   The warm weather is welcome after the rainy cool spring we had.  We're enjoying more weekdays at the cottage rather than waiting for the weekends. The sunsets are so picturesque.     I love that the flowers there are all coming up nicely and effortlessly.  My Tiger Lillys are about to open up and will show off against the backdrop of the lake.

Winter Wonderland - Week 2 of 5

I'm quite pleased with my progress on my first Winter Wonderland block.  It's Sunday, and if I can find a good movie on TV, I'll surely have it done before turning in for the night. All I have left to do is the little Fresh Candy canes sign, a snowlady arm,  and a part of the clothesline with 4 candy canes.  Yippee.   I think I'll do a couple of smaller blocks next to see if I can get them done by next Sunday.  I think I'll do a couple of the pieced blocks this week too.



Christmas in July - Sort of

The beautiful warm weather is here.  I'm not really working on any big sewing projects.  Although, I am working on hand stitching my Winter Wonderland project.  It's great for sitting in the shade on these wonderful warm days.   

I did take a little time to finish this little project which was my warm up project before starting the big Winter Wonderland project last week.  Since it's Christmas in July, I thought I'd finish it off with some summery flowery colors for the borders and binding.  I machine stitched the binding with my favorite bi-level Pfaff foot, which made for a really quick finish.   

I'll hang it on a wall first chance I get.  Why wait for Christmas, right?

BTW - this is a design from Gail Pan Designs.  It can be downloaded here.

Home Again and loving the warm weather

We're home from Prince Edward Island and Princess Kate and Prince William are on the other side of Canada now.  It was really nice to see them and PEI was a great host to them.  We saw signs everywhere welcoming them to the gentle Island.

Grace, Patience and Caitlin pose in the downtown Charlottetown area for touristy photographers.  They were really delighted at how many compliments they got on their facinators.  They loved wearing them.  Don't they look smashing?

Again, this is a picture of the girls with some of their friends at the cottage campground.  They are setting a summer fashion statement for summerwear...  Don't they look so awesome?

Princess Kate

We made our way into Charlottetown to see the Royal Couple this morning.  They did not disappoint.   All our kiddos were so excited when she appeared from the doors out into the stage area.    It was a really nice morning.   

The kids facinators were a hit.  I haven't seen it but apparently a photographer took a picture and it was on the CBC website.   How fun!

We are back in NB tomorrow.

Winter Wonderland - Week 1 of 5

I'm really enjoying my Winter Wonderland stitching project.   There is definitely more stitching than I originally thought.  But no matter, I'm going to plug away.   I took the advice of one of my commenters and started out with one of the big blocks, the clothesline.  With only a couple of days in July so far, I'm about a third of the way through.     I am enjoying the DMC 12 wt perle cotton.  It doesn't tangle very much and I really like the color.   I decided to use the stem stitch and I like how that stitch gives the 12 wt thread a bit more thickness.

I'm sure glad that there's 5 Sundays in July to report on this project. 

Drop by next Sunday to see how I'm progressing along.

Quilt as You go - Finished

The month of June didn't yield a lot of finishes for me because we were painting our wrap around deck.  (see how nice and white it is under the quilt).   The covered areas only needed 2 coats of paint, but the exposed areas needed three coats.   It was a big job... I think we painted in 8 different sessions.   We're so glad it's done.  We've been celebrating all week.    I've also started up the sewing machine again, and I had this unfinished quilt has you go project on my spare bed for 6 months.  Who knew it would only take a day to finish it once I dug out my fabrics.  I like it.  

I also love using my small home made labels. I simply used a fancy stitch to sew on the reverse side of this Quilt as you go quilt, which is done in browns.  All I need to do is pen the date in. 

Happy Canada Day

There are lots of activities for the whole family downtown on the green this afternoon and evening.   

And I get a special treat!  My sister and her hubby are coming for a visit from Nova Scotia.    We'll make a special red and white BBQ for supper and have a red and white desert.   OK... that translates to Chicken shish-kabobs with red peppers and tomatoes, and of course Strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. 

And what are you doing to celebrate Canada Day?