summer reinvention (contest) ... the Man Wallet

Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting a contest called the summer reinvention challenge, geared toward highlighting projects re-made with a variety of materials.

If you've been following my progress on the Zakka Style sew-along, you know that I call denim "poor woman's linen" ... with that in mind, I'm submitting a project I haven't blogged about yet, but just recently sewed up :  a Man Wallet.

My husband, also a teacher, recently had his wallet stolen from his laptop bag while at school.  (phooey on the person who did it!)  While he was moaning about the loss of his wallet & its contents, and the need to replace it (he really hates shopping!), the Purl Bee came out with their little summertime wallet tutorial.  Could it have been better timing?  I think not!

So -- I took two different colors of denim scraps, embroidered a "D" on the front of one for fun, and sewed up a little wallet.

My husband is still using it ... he's the worst at shopping for new things!

PS - if I were to do this again, I'd definitely add some velcro, or even better -- a magnetic snap of some sort.

yippee !!

Just stopping in to say that I just won this week's zakka style contest ... the big prize of a $75 gift certificate at the Fat Quarter Shop !!! Yay!

I've been wanting to tackle a large quilt project for a really long time ... so I think that this is the opportunity I needed, to help me stock up on some fabrics for a quilt for my bed (a queen-sized quilt ... am I crazy?).

Here's what I'm thinking ... I'm going to go for a modern style quilt, most likely something that has a lot of solids with a white background.

I might go in the direction of a wonky log cabin -- no surprise as I just made two of them (here and here).  I like this one with flea market fancy, this one or that one),

Or, I might go for a design like Denyse Schmidt's Bunch of Squares (this one has been haunting me recently).

Here are some fabric choices, all at the Fat Quarter Shop, that I could get in bundles to work into the quilt:

I'm just about sold on the Crab Shack ... it's the bicycles that really do me in (we're big into biking in our family!).   

Yay!  Isn't it so much fun to be dreaming of new projects?  

{zakka style sew along} week 8 : the zakka block quilt, a.k.a. the Parisville Quilt

I've been going crazy with the zakka style sew along ... it's been so much fun, and this week's project was no exception!  I will say, however, that this week just about did me in, with the school year ending and all of the insanity that comes along with that.  Or, should I say, that this week *saved* me from the end of the school year insanity?  Because though I had to find time to work this week in, it was a peaceful retreat at the end of each day!

And so I present you with this week's project : the zakka block quilt, a.k.a. the Parisville Quilt.   After coming across the walked quilted flickr group, I've decided that I'm going to have to start targeting picturesque spots that I can drag my husband to, so he can hold up my quilts, in the flickr group headless fashion.

I used Tula Pink's Parisville collection for this quilt, mainly because I succumbed to buying the entire set of fabric in 6" charms some time ago, and they ended up being perfect for this project!  (French teacher = anything with the word "Paris" in the title must be purchased!).

The solid sashing is Kona cotton in Champagne, a rather nice color.  It's darker than the usual Kona cottons I use but it definitely grew on me during the making of this quilt.  I used the same Kona on the binding, which I usually don't do (I love a good polka dot binding!), but inspired by the original in the book, I thought I'd try it.  I like it! It gives the entire quilt the look of a seamless canvas.

For the quilting, I mimicked the "fans" print of the collection and quilted some large scallops over the whole quilt.  Don't judge me based on the close-up ... I keep telling myself practice makes perfect with free motion quilting! :)

For the backing, I used the "cameo sprout" print, and I do think it's just about perfect.  Not quite wide enough, I added a strip of my remaining charm squares and a tad more Kona.  I love the back!

In all, I made this quilt in under a week -- and an insane week at that! -- so I'm *definitely* keeping this pattern in mind for any quick quilts that I need to make in the future.