Needle Case Tutorial

I have made about a dozen of these little needle cases to give as gifts, so this one and the one I use are the only ones I have on hand right now.  The size is 3 1/2 inches by about 2 3/4 inches.  The rose makes a great small pincushion.

To make one you will need small pieces of felt and embroidery floss.
Cut one piece of felt 3 1/2 inches by 6 1/2 inches for the cover and two pieces 3 inches by 6 inches for the inside pages.  Place the small pieces on the larger piece and stitch down the middle as shown below.

You can now sew the edges of the cover using a blanket stitch and 3 strands of embroidery floss.  You can do this step before adding the inside pages if its easier for you.

Now make a stem and leaves to decorate the front.  Cut two leaf shapes out of felt and stitch with a blanket stitch.  I used a chain stitch for the stem.

To make the flower, you need a 4 inch diameter circle of felt. 

A circle this size will make a rose this size.
Cut the circle into a spiral, as shown below.

Beginning in the center, pleat the felt and begin to stitch.  Shape and stitch as you go around, picking up more of the spiral.  The bottom of the flower should be fairly flat.

I found a tutorial for making these flowers some time ago on another blog.  I thought I had bookmarked it, but today when I looked for it, I couldn't find it.  Sorry if I didn't give someone the credit they deserve.

Along with these little needle books, I like to give a little sewing kit, like this one.

Outside of sewing kit

 Inside of sewing kit.  Pocket for small scissors.

You can find a pattern for this little sewing kit here.  Its on the Connecting Threads website.

I hope you can use these ideas for some of your small gifts.

And the Winner is....

First let me say "thanks" to all who entered the Blog Hop Giveaway.  And thanks to all of you who decided to follow me, welcome.  I hope my blog does not disappoint you.

On the last Blog Hop, I used random.org to select a number for the prize.  This time I had 133 comments as of midnight last night when the hop ended on the Blog Hop post and a couple of comments on posts I did in the past, so I had to come up with another way to pick the winner.  So I asked my granddaughter to pick a number between 1 and 133.  She picked 23, so I counted comments from the beginning of the hop and the winner is Maria Kievit.  I've already contacted her for mailing information.

Today I will be going fabric shopping in Philadelphia!!!  I'm here for few days, but will be home on Monday. 
I hope everyone has a great, restful weekend.

Time for the Blog Hop!

The Blog Hop officially starts tonight at midnight.  If you click on the title of this post or on the Blog Hop sign on the right side, it will take you to the rules and the list of other blogs.  All of the blogs are offering prizes related to quilting.

Now here is the prize that I am offering:

There are three books, a yard of 1930's "feed sack" fabric, and a package of Fast 2 Fuse.  You'll need the Fast 2 Fuse to make the bowls shown in the Irresist-a-Bowls book.

Now the rules:  I'd love for you to become a follower, but I'm not requiring it.  All you have to do is leave a comment below or on any other post I do between now and the 23rd when the Blog Hop ends.  Just tell me you want to win the prize or anything else you've got to say.  I will ship the prize to the winner anywhere in the world, so don't hesitate to enter.

For those of you who are new to my blog, here are some links to previous posts that might be of interest to you.

For a free quilted eyeglass pattern go here Eyeglass Case Pattern

For a cute Christmas Tree ornament go here Tutu Ornament

And for a tutorial for making felted flowers go here Needle felted Flowers

I have other tutorials, so look around while you're here.

Hope you have a great Blog Hop and I look forward to hearing from many of you.

New Quilts

I hesitate to say this out loud, but I feel like I might almost be caught up with a few projects.  This week I quilted the two quilts shown below and finished a few other minor projects.

This is a quilt I have made for my daughter to donate to an auction she is chairing in April.  I got the pattern from this book:

I didn't have a jelly roll, so I cut the 2 1/2 inch strips from fabric I had.  I made the quilt larger than the one in the book, so its almost a twin size.

I also quilting this quilt for someone else.  She wanted hearts all over it for a room she is redecorating, so I hope she will be happy with what I did.  She told me she is going to bind it with strips of all the fabrics in the quilt.

 

I just love having my long arm in the room with the rest of my sewing.  It has made me more productive, because I can quilt a little, then sit and sew on something else, then go back to the big machine.

Check back with me on Friday to see what I'm giving away for the Blog Hop.  I think I've got some thing(s) that will be appealing to almost anyone.

Coming Soon: A New Blog-Hop with Prizes

I just got an invitation to join a St. Patrick's Day Blog-Hop.  I did a Blog-Hop in the fall and really enjoyed having so many new followers and visitors.
This one starts on St. Patrick's Day and ends one week later on March 23rd.  I'm on my way right now to find a really great prize to offer my readers, so be sure to check back soon.

Have a great weekend!

Ideas Needed!

During my recent cleaning moving stuff around, I found a forgotten box of evening bags.  Two were mine, one was my mothers, and the rest, I think, belonged to Dan's first wife's great-aunt.  So I have decided to frame them in shadow box frames for Diana, since most of them came to me via her mother's family.  I happen to have 2 large shadow box  frames that I bought on sale for some forgotten purpose.  Below are pictures of most of the bags.

 

I also have a few small purse accessories that I think I will add.  Here is my dilemma:  How do I attach the bags to the background?  The frames are deep enough and came with a very sturdy cardboard backing.  I plan on placing velvet or velveteen onto the backing.  But then what do I do.  My first inclination is to use glue, but I know that is not the right thing to do.  I might be able to sew them to the velvet, but would that work?

So any ideas?  I welcome any and all suggestions.  I should mention that some of the beads are coming off a couple of the bags in the top photograph.  Also, pictured is the box that the gold mesh bag was stored in and I feel that somehow I should include that in the frame.

Hope that someone out there has a brilliant idea for me!!