Kitchen upgrade

My husband and I are renting a home until we decide where we want to end up living permanently. As many of you know rental properties can be drab. I love this house and am trying to figure out ways to add a splash of color without putting a lot of money into it. This week I created a matching  kitchen set to add some color. Our walls are a grey blue and cabinets are white. At first I was going to go with lime green accents. However, I remembered I had a jelly roll waiting for the perfect project and it would work out great for the kitchen. I ended up making a set of pot holders, a grocery bag holder, a dish towel and curtains. This is the first personal sewing I have done in months. I had an absolute blast. Now, back to regularly scheduled client work and new orders as well as gifts.

 For weeks now I have been staring at the bag of bags hanging in the stairway to the basement and thinking I need to fix that mess. Yesterday I was searching for new ideas and found a new to me blog that featured a grocery bag holder. I headed to my stash and 2 hours later this is what I made.

I am sure this could be made in less than 2 hours. However, me being me I decided I wanted a scrappy look and used 13 2.5 "  strips from my scrap pile. The holder is only 3/4 full in this picture.  If you would like more info on this holder you can visit Ashley at http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/01/grocery-bag-holder.html

 

Baby Quilt

I have been very lucky to have an amazing boss at the tutoring place I work for part time. I found out she was pregnant and knew what I had to do. It was time to make a baby quilt. Her colors were green and pink and I was limited on the time I had to make the quilt. I spent the weekend working on this and ended up with this quilt. I played with using two different color borders but think in the future I will stick to using 1 border all the way around.

It occurred to me tonight that I have been so busy I have not blogged in quite awhile. So I thought I would rectify that.  I am still working on getting the ideal set up for my sewing room and when I figure it out I plan to do a short video tour. Yes folks I am going to venture into shooting videos. O.K., so a little about what I have been up to.

My friend and fellow Etsy shop owner Brandy  commissioned me to make felties she could use in her hairbows. I had been wanting to create some of my own designs so I decided why not !  Now you may be asking what in the world is a feltie?  Felties are embroidered pieces of felt used for scrap booking or a variety  of other crafts. It has been about a month and I have created quite a few designs manually using my embroidery software. By no means do I claim to be an expert. However, I think these came out really cute.

The pictures above are uncut felties. Each design has an outline stitched around it so you can easily cut it to your desired size. I will be offering felties on my Etsy shop in the future depending on the demand for them. Also, be on the lookout for embroidery designs that I will create and sell. I am working on testing some now.  If you are interested in getting some custom designs created pleased contact me and we can work on your design.

I am also working on some new bib ideas. Here are two sports themed bibs I created recently. Both of these are for sale. Again I am open to hearing your ideas and I would love to answer any questions my future customers may have. You can message me for more info info@quilthandler.com or hit me up on facebook


 

 

New Space

My husband and I relocated in Feb 2012 from KY back home to NJ. After almost a year of staying with my in-laws we have ventured out to a home of our own again. I am lucky enough to have a sewing space again and it is probably three times the size of my room in Kentucky.  I am so excited just dreaming of all the sewing I will get done. Those of you that know me know I am a tad OCD and everything has to be in its place before I can sew. Therefore, I have spent the last 2 weeks just organizing and cleaning. The rest of the house is finally done and now I can focus on the sewing room. I thought I would share some pictures ( the before) and the work in progress(as of today). The when I have it all set up I will share more pictures.

 

[caption id="attachment_452" align="aligncenter" width="150"] My 10 X12 closet[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_450" align="aligncenter" width="150"] view from the closet[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_451" align="aligncenter" width="150"] From the staircase[/caption]

 

 

My new room measures 24 X14 with a 12 X10 closet. I have set up a mini fridge, computer, bed, printer , recliner and all my sewing stuff. I could live up here if only there was a bathroom !

New Year, Resolutions and Quilt Handler

 

 

Happy New Year everyone !  I hope you had a wonderful 2012 and are blessed with a fun filled, positive and easy 2013. What will the new year bring for Quilt Handler ?????

 

In the new year you will find holiday items, more baby bibs and  embroidery. My mind is full of new ideas for the new year. Look for valentine's day items appearing this week on Etsy. I  look forward to a wonderful 2013 with all of our friends, family and customers.