At the latest sewing circle, I finished free motion quilting my tablecloth with my darning foot. It looks gorgeous spread out on our little table beneath my super cute salt and pepper shakers.
Posts Tagged ‘Hobby Lobby’
Darning Foot
01
Jun
When I ordered a walking foot for my Kenmore, I also ordered a darning foot.
darning foot
Fabric Cabinet
13
May
In the past, I never really cared how the office looked (i.e. it was always a disaster area). But now that I spend so much time in there sewing, I’ve decided I need to organize. I took my old wardrobe and moved it into the office to act as fabric storage. The cabinet is perfect for my lovely material and works better for my new hobby than it ever did for my clothing.
wardrobe in the office
Ribbons
19
Apr
I spent part of the weekend organizing my ribbon collection. Aren’t they pretty? They’re just waiting to embellish something.
colors
neutrals
Love,
Tiff
Shoe Shaped Sugar Cookies
09
Apr
Look at what I found at Hobby Lobby for $0.75:
a shoe shaped cookie cutter!
Sewing Circle II
08
Mar
Saturday was the second time I met with my sewing girlfriends from work. We had a blast sewing adorable aprons!
It matches perfectly with my Sunday outfit!
I went with my friend, Lelia, after school to Hobby Lobby to pick out the fabric. I can’t decide which print is my favorite.
The apron has darts, a lined waistband, and an adorable pocket.
pocket and pearls
The ties are pleated and have a pointed edge.
Brendan tied a pretty bow, didn't he?
Look at how well these beautiful fabrics coordinate!
eye candy!
The little polka-dot band fills me with glee! See my dart?
I just love the ruffle and this rickrack (purchased ages ago on clearance with no plans) matched perfectly!
gotta have my rickrack fix
Can you tell I’m reading for Spring?
We are eagerly planning Sewing Circle III and discussing making potholders so that we can practice our quiting skills on a small (and manageable) scale.
Love,
Tiff
P.S. I finally began quilting Mom’s Mother’s Day quilt. Hopefully, I will finish soon and be able to post. 
Mom’s Quilt: Progress
15
Feb
I’ve actually made some progress on Mom’s lap quilt. I bought the fabric over a month ago and cut out the squares a few weeks after that. The little square stacks were sitting on my desk looking sad and neglected and today, I finally started sewing them together.
My desk as the work began unfolding:
messy desk
My progress thus far:
8 of 12 rows done!
Why did I stop, you ask? I had to take another hiatus for a legitimate reason:
Gutermann 22 is empty!
This is going to be a small quilt for Rich’s chair and will be Mom’s Mother’s Day present. The finished dimensions should be 48″ X 60″. I just measured a blanket that I have in my living room for my dimensions.
I’m really enjoying this quilt top so far. I’ve even discussed with Brendan how it matches our house better than my mom’s . . .
“Arctic Blast”
08
Jan
Today was a snow day due to the “Arctic Blast” that swept the nation. Look at the drifts of snow behind our apartment:
Blizzard of 2010
Brendan and I slept in a little and then enjoyed a breakfast of freshly made cinnamon rolls and hot tea.
yummy
teacup from Mom for Christmas
We spent the morning out shopping at World Market, Jo-Ann’s, and Gander Mountain. Later, I went out by myself to Hobby Lobby and look what I found in the Valentine’s Day aisle:
mini ceramic cupcake!
It is so cute and perfect for my new kitchen decor. I think I’ll keep sugar in it for the few types of tea that I do sweeten. Speaking of, I think I’ll have another cup after braving the tundra.
Tennessee Tundra
Love,
Tiff
Winter Weekend
06
Dec
winter wonderland
We had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday, we actually woke up to snow! It didn’t last the whole day, but it was very pretty.
view from our balcony
see the lingering fall foliage?
Brendan is bundling up
the Kia
Our Christmas tree this year:
tabletop tree
There are some “rusty” jingle bells and little wooden ornaments from Hobby Lobby. They are little planes, trains, boats, and cars.A transportation theme!
a closer view
To make our house smell festive, I bought some cinnamon scented pine-cones from Jo-Ann Fabrics.
mmm, smells sweet
I tied some to red ribbon and hung them from the curtain rod in the office (the ribbon totally matches the pirate curtains).
office curtains
I also put some pine-cones on a platter for the living room side table. Our house smells amazing. I think this may be a new Sullivan tradition.
living room side table
One last view of the snow before it melts.
winter in Tennessee
Love,
Tiff
Advent Calendar Tutorial
06
Dec
I love counting down the days until Christmas. Grandpa Leibbrand always had a calendar and daily gift for us. Sometimes Mom would buy the cardboard advent calendars with doors that would reveal a piece of chocolate for each day. I remember sneaking some of the chocolates early. 
One year we had little box ornaments that were filled with candy and opened for the countdown. Some of the simplest advent calendars I used were ones I made with paper–often a chain with 24 links and I would tear one off per day.
This year, I wanted to make an advent calendar, but I wanted something a little more sophisticated and something that would last for years to come. With my new hobby of sewing, I thought an advent calendar of fabric would be perfect. I surfed the web and found several ideas and inspiring designs.
This is what I ended up with:
Advent Calendar Wall Hanging
I bought the cute mini ornaments from Jo-Ann Fabrics.
mini ornaments
The ornaments had ugly gold threads. I cut them off and hot glued ribbon loops on the backs of the ornaments.
ribbon loop
glue gun magic
new loops!
ornaments with beige ribbon loops
I think the ornaments look happier!
I wanted to use my Hobby Lobby Christmas music fabric for the background, so I laid out the ornaments and buttons to figure out how large my tree would need to be.
ornaments in tree-shape
close-up of the cuties
Based on the size of the ornaments, I cut a Christmas tree shape out of wrapping paper.
tree pattern next to ornaments
My pattern!
tree pattern
I pinned the pattern to my beautiful Jo-Ann Fabric’s material and cut it out.
pin pattern in place
cut out pattern
Now, I should have sewn the buttons on the tree, but I like to make things difficult and appliquéd the two sides of the tree on the music fabric first. :}
I pinned the tree to the background.
tree pinned to background
detail of pinning
This green fabric was really difficult to work with (I have a knack for choosing tricky material). I had to garment hem the edges and then appliqué the tree. The garment hem kept the fabric’s weave from falling apart with the slightest tug. I ended up going around the edges twice when appliquéing.
two sides are appliquéd
detail of appliqué
After I appliquéd the tree, I positioned the buttons and pinned them in place. I ended up using more than 24 so that I can switch up the placement of the ornaments from year to year.
positioned and pinned buttons
detail of pinned buttons
All of the buttons are sewn and make the tree look festive even if it is void of ornaments.
sewn buttons
Next, I stuffed the Christmas tree to give it some body and added interest.
stuffed and appliqued shut
I needed to “quilt” my stuffed tree so that the stuffing wouldn’t settle at the bottom of the tree. I chose really tiny jingle bells and stitched them in alternating rows.
quilted tree with bells
detail of mini-bell
I liked the bells so much, I had to add them to the tips of each branch. They make the cutest jingle sound!
detail of branch bells
The pockets for the ornaments took quite a bit of time and they are the reason my advent calendar couldn’t start on December 1st this year.
I cut out two sets of of rectangles for either side of the tree (ornament pockets). The dimensions are 13″ X 5″; 10.5″ X 5″; and 8″ X 5″. I garment hemmed them all. The final pocket (#25 for the star) is 9.5″ X 5″.
cut and hemmed rectangles
I then pressed them in half (“hotdog” style). The 25 “trunk” of the tree is a “hamburger” fold.
pressed pockets
I used a disappearing ink fabric marker and wrote each number for the pockets. I then embroidered the numbers with bright red floss.
embroidered pockets
detail of embroidery
The pins indicate the pocket size. They are approximately 2.5″ in length. The pockets are pressed so that the backside of the embroidery is covered by a length of fabric and thus protected from ornaments snagging it.
I then pinned the pockets to the music fabric.
pinned pockets
detail of pinned pockets
Next step, appliqué the pockets. Once the pockets are appliquéd, I straight stitched the pockets.
appliqued and stitched pockets
The ornaments are ready to go!
backside of pockets
After all of the pockets were done, I quilted my advent calendar.
qulit sandwich
My backing is green flannel. After pinning the layers, I quilted around the tree and pockets. I then used red binding and added a “sleeve” so that my advent calendar could hang on a curtain rod. I did not include quilting instructions because I am clearly a novice, and there are many wonderful tutorials currently on the web.
finished product!
Since this project took me so long, it’s already the sixth day of advent.
see the ornament loops?
I can’t wait to pull the star out of this pocket.
pocket #25!!!!
Happy countdown!
Love,
Tiff