by Sherri Sylvester | Jun 11, 2013
Thanks to everyone who entered the Among Brenda’s Quilts Giveaway!
Our winner, as chosen by Random.org, was:
#17: Rachel who said: “I really like the “my monster bag”. Looks like it would hold enough stuff for a day at the beach with my 3 monsters :)”
Rachel has won a pattern of her choice from Among Brenda’s Quilts. If you’d like your own Among Brenda’s Quilts pattern, check out her shop – she has a great variety of quilt and bag patterns. She also sells everything you need to make her patterns too!
Fabric behind the “Winner Pic”: Dear Stella – Stained Glass, from the Mimosa collection
by Sherri Sylvester | Jun 7, 2013
I’m feeling sentimental today, and amazed at how many readers come back to Thread Riding Hood to check out what is happening.
As I go on this blogging journey I have so many hopes and dreams in tow!
My one year Blogiversary is a month away and I am in the process of coming up with a great giveaway for you guys to celebrate. I’ve been thinking a lot about where I was a year ago, and where I am headed.
Blogging is so much fun, but it is also hard work. It helps when you can see progress. I was so grateful to find out recently that my daily readers are now numbering more than everyone who visited in the entire month of February!
I love what I do (more than I ever thought I would!) But even when you are excited to “go to work” everyday you still need a break once in a while!
My family went on a trek “Up North” this past Monday to a favorite (and popular) restaurant that we love. I have a feeling it will become an annual trip for us. One day every spring that we take off during the week to slow down and think about family instead of getting caught up in “the rush”.
It reminds me of the times when my parents would let us get fries and a milkshake at McDonald’s – instead of a “proper” meal. And how I can get too caught up in parenting to remember to let my kids have “just fries and a milkshake” once in a while.
Looking back at the photos we took reminds me to stop and think about where we are headed. It makes me think more about how fast my kids are growing up and how I don’t want to miss any of it. It makes me remember that I should say “Thanks” to my husband more often. He works so hard to take care of our family.
Hopefully you enjoy hanging out with me as we journey along. Sewing is amazing, relaxing, driving and sometimes maddening! We all hate seam rippers. Cutting out patterns is the worst part of making anything. Scissors and rotary blades will slip. Bobbins run out (all too often) right before the end of a project. There will never be enough time in your day as a creative person. There will always be too many pinned projects (or works-in-progress!), and never enough that are actually done.
I have to remind myself to remember that, and slow down. It’s normal, and it’s okay! There are others out there like me (and you!), and they abandon the housework for a more interesting project all too often too!
Thanks for hanging out to the end. I appreciate you and I love to hear what you have to say – it really makes my day! Thanks for reading, see you again soon.
by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 18, 2013
First off, we had the third meeting of our sewing club last Saturday night. Hooray! We’re planning another one for the end of May and maybe I can convince everyone to come on a field trip to our nearest “fabric district” with me in June. It’s been so much fun getting together with everyone and being able to talk all about SEWING! I still can’t get over how fun it is when you find people who enjoy doing what you enjoy doing!
For this meeting those who wanted worked on making a Peek-A-Boo Toy Sack. I recently talked about Toni’s great tutorial from Make It Perfect here. These bags are addictive! I cut enough fabric to make 3 of them and it was amazing how quickly they came together (it helps that I have made 6 or 7 of them in the past!) Here are all of our finished products!
This camouflage print is really fun. We all kept talking about how it reminds us of G.I. Joe. It would be perfect to hold the figures as well. Love the retro feel with the brown dot fabric Laura used on the casing.
Love this print too! fabricworm happens to have this one on sale (go and get it!) – it is Birch Fabrics Organic, Mod Squad, Rally in Pool/Grass. Oh, and it comes in Cream/Coral too! The bag looks great with the stripes on the back. Jenn was able to make the whole thing with several fat quarters.
Just as an aside – this (below) is my all time favorite scooter print. I used it to make a lunch bag, and I’ve got a tiny bit left just waiting for the perfect project. Can you find the bird sitting on the scooter seat? Too CUTE! And it is still available at fabricworm – here.
Image courtesy of www.monaluna.com
My toy sacks need a bit of explaining because it looks like I forgot what “trendy fabric” is! The black dot is a large piece from my stash that I hadn’t been able to find a project for as yet. The binding and casings are happy scrap busters from the finished edge of a piece of fabric, folded just the right way. The elephant fabric is a print of one of my favorite childhood Little Golden Books – The Saggy Baggy Elephant. I finally found a project for it, and I really like the stripey casing.
The third is special, and has a story. My husband took the girls to our local fabric store at Christmas and each picked out a “fabric for Mommy”. This one is made out of the fabric my youngest picked out! Despite it’s dubious beginnings – I actually like the bag. It turned out okay, and might be the perfect place to store our dress up clown costume! I can’t wait until our next meeting in May!
And… new and exciting things are happening at Thread Riding Hood!
I’ve finally signed up for a Thread Riding Hood Facebook page. Come on over and like me (pretty please?!) Follow along (click on the logo below for the link)and get updates on posts, questions and answers from tutorial comments and great links to other wonderful sewing stuff going on around the web.
And, with a sad goodbye to Google Reader – which is going to shut down on July 1st, I signed up for Bloglovin. Turns out I didn’t need to be sad at all! This is a great little invention that emails you when your favorite bloggers put up new posts. The emails are really well designed with photos from the new posts and arrive based on your settings – once a day, or whenever a new post shows up. It’s a really good way to keep track of all of your reading. And (bonus!) it will import your blogs straight from Google Reader if you’re already on there. So, click the logo and follow Thread Riding Hood (you know you want to)!
In other news, my husband is having knee surgery tomorrow. So I may or may not be posting anything this weekend – family trumps all! I will be back for sure on Monday with something fun! Have a wonderful end of your week. Lately I have been feeling that “happy spring” feeling you get when the weather starts to warm up! (thank goodness!)
by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 13, 2013
Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway!
Congratulations to entry number 23 (as picked by random.org)
You are the winner of the 7 gorgeous fat quarters from Double Decker Fabric!
I will be emailing you soon!
Come back Monday to hear about my random fabric adventure from last week! Hint: It involves a Craigslist bookshelf, a sewing stash and 5 Ottobre magazines!
by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 6, 2013
Hi All! I’m over on Sew Can She again today featuring the Super Hero Cape tutorial! I was fortunate enough to have my Sew Handy Fridge Towel tutorial featured about a month ago as well.
I know I have talked about Caroline’s site before, but I can’t say enough good stuff about it. Getting a new (really well designed and photographed) tutorial in your email every day is amazing! I’ve been introduced to so many good bloggers because of Sew Can She. Check out these cute tutorials that I found on Sew Can She.
By the way, I have a few Pinterest boards that you might be interested in following! I’m going to keep these up to date as I find more great stuff around the web.
by Sherri Sylvester | Mar 18, 2013
I made these bookmarks for my kids a while ago. We were having trouble keeping track of the latest chapter/story in their bedtime books. These work great and are a bit tricky for kids to remove – so they actually stay in the books! Since the elastic is wrapped around the book you (or your kids!) can pick the book up move it around without fear of losing your place.
The Scrappy Fabric Bookmark
These are great for using up all of your tiny cute scraps. I cut out some alphabet flannel I stashed and used that to monogram each bookmark. I’ve seen a lot of tutorials for different kinds of scrappy bookmarks – but the cute scrappy part is always hidden inside the book. With this type of bookmark the elastic is inside of the book holding your place and the cute scrappy part is on the outside of the book for everyone to see!
The concept is similar to the pocket bookmark I posted a tutorial for a few weeks back. Here’s a quick rundown on how to make them.
(1) Cut some scraps and stitch them together however you’d like to create a rectangle roughly the height of your book + 1/2″ all around. (2) Cut a piece of elastic that is the height of your rectangle. (3) Cut a lining/backing piece that is the same size as your rectangle. (4) Use medium woven interfacing to interface your lining/backing. (5) Place the scrappy rectangle and lining rectangle right sides together with the piece of elastic sandwiched between them. Pin the elastic ends in the centre of each short end of the rectangle. (6) Stitch around the outside edge of the rectangle with a 1/4″ seam allowance – leaving a 1.5″ opening on one side. Make sure to double stitch over the elastic when you get to it. This will reinforce the elastic so it won’t pull out. (7) Clip your corners and turn the bookmark right side out. (8) Iron in the seam allowance on your opening and topstitch all the way around the bookmark. DONE!
On a different note! You may (or may not) remember that we had another sewing club meeting a few weeks ago. As usual I didn’t have a chance to take photos (again, got to get better at that!). Thankfully a couple of the people who came were able to take photos of their finished library totes (tutorial by Noodlehead) and send them to me. Aren’t they cute! This is a really great project that didn’t take too long to make and everyone who showed up got to take a finished one home!
Love the fabric and colours on this one! The basketweave woven material on the handle looks really great!
This one is made out of super cute laminated cotton. What a great idea! Easy to clean and very durable. It is made extra wide to hold her daughter’s picture books at the library!
This is the one I made. It is made thinner to hold my daughter’s Awana book and vest. The pre-quilted material is fun to work with. It was nice to use up some of my stashed fabric too.
My daughter has just “lost” her afternoon nap. I suppose you can’t expect her to nap forever! I’m in the process of trying to teach her how to have a “Quiet Time” in her room, but for now she is sitting across from me while I post this. And, for the record, it has taken me about twice as long as usual to get to the end. What with potty breaks, stickers needing removed from their backing and her needing a colouring buddy! My new reality…. I have no hope… who could resist this face?!
