Cotton Candy Fabrics took the show on the road last week with Katy and I heading to my house in Maine for some rest, relaxation, and serious sample sewing. Katy’s daughter Jane and my friend Linda came along to keep us company and help us spot moose. Here is a quick run down on the projects we completed with links to the patterns (including some free ones) and fabrics used.
Pumpkin Fiesta – Two Ways!
We are definitely sewing “Mexican” themed items getting ready for the CT state shop hop, so I was delighted to come across this fun, free pattern from Robert Kaufman: Pumpkin Fiesta. I made it as shown using the RK Boodacious fabric line on Kona White to celebrate Halloween. (I can’t resist a pop of pink in my Halloween fabric!).
I longarm quilted this on my Handi Quilter Amara with ProStitcher at home with Anne Bright Designs I Spy Halloween using King Tut Egyptian Princess variegated thread. If you would like to make one, we have kits available!
I longarm quilted this on my Handi Quilter Amara with ProStitcher at home with Anne Bright Designs I Spy Halloween. I made the design a little smaller as I wanted to be able to see the Halloween icons – owls, ghosts, leaves, pumpkins, etc. This design is really nice as the icons are scattered so it works on directional or non-directional quilts. I used King Tut Egyptian Princess variegated thread. If you would like to make one, we have kits available!
Katy made a smaller version using a fall batik to show how versatile the pattern is. She used Celebrate Fall Artisan Batiks fabric, also by Robert Kaufman. Given she only made four pumpkins, she added a fun fall border to frame her pumpkins. Quilting is Fall Flurry from Urban Elementz with a variegated gold metallic thread. This is a great autumn collection as it has blocks, borders, triangles, etc.
Cocktail Girls
We are seriously crushing on Tilda’s newest group, Chic Escape, so I had to whip up a sample. Tilda always supports her collections with numerous free patterns, but I chose to make the Cocktail Hour Pillow in the green colorway. I also decided to make it a little wall hanging instead of a pillow, although I may regret that as it would be super cute in the guest room at home. She also offers this pattern as a throw quilt, and you could easily extend it if you’d like. I used with the green/teal fat quarter bundle, although to make it exactly as it is in the pattern you will need a 12″ square of Green Daisyfield as well. The pillow (or wall hanging) finishes to 26″ wide x 13.75″ high.
I quilted the dresses with a tight piano key with Pro-Stitcher to distinguish that part of the quilt from the background. For the background / wallpaper, I free motion stippled. I used Pro-Stitcher’s record function to stitch in the ditch around the faces and arms. I used the same thread throughout – Aurifil 50 weight in Light Leaf (1147). I will hand embroider little faces, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.
Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0
I love making bags and have been wanting to make a travel bag that would have a trolley sleeve to sit on top of a suitcase while I am running through the airport. ByAnnie.com’s Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 is the perfect bag for this, but also for a quick night away. It has a large interior zipper pocket with three mesh pockets, plus four exterior pockets, one of which is a zipper. The side pockets are large enough to fit a water bottle. I used fabric from Rifle Paper’s Bon Voyage line, using Black Unbleached City Guide canvas as the focus fabric. ByAnnie’s Soft and Stable foam interfacing gives this bag great structure and makes it easy to sew. From a quilting perspective, I did three different designs – Diamond Squared, Piano Keys and a Crosshatch to add interest to the different areas of the bag. And thread was all Omni Polyester 40 wt from Superior Threads – primarily black and cream.
This is a complicated bag to make, but the instructions are really clear. Polly is teaching this on September 10 and October 1, so if you want to be guided through the process of making it, please sign up!
Getting Into the Holiday Spirit
Katy got busy with several small projects to help make your holidays more fun. She made a fall tote using the September Morning 24″ tote bag panel by Northcott Fabrics. The instructions are included on the panel and it includes everything you need. You could strengthen the bag with fusible fleece and lining if you wanted, but for a quick simple tote, the panel has it all.
She then moved on to Christmas and made a fun stocking with Makower UK Merry Christmas Stocking panel. The panel includes two stocking images, so you can make one stocking that is double sided, or two if you add your own fabric for the back. The panel includes a cuff, a hanging loop along with three sweet Christmas gift tags. This group also includes a traditional Advent Calendar as well as a panel of little stockings which make an Advent Calendar garland(both of which we haven’t gotten to yet!)
If you like any of these projects and want to make them please send me a message or visit our site. We’re happy to kit them for you too, if we haven’t already!
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