Appleton Dance

Here is another version of the Cato purse, this time with some directions for how to put it together. I saw this charm square trick on Moda’s Bake Shop blog and wanted to try it. I used nine “Fresh Squeezed” charm squares and followed the Moda directions , seaming together three rows of three, then cutting the resulting square into four pieces and rearranging the pieces into a new square and seaming them together to get my exterior bag bottom. For the exterior of the bag top, I seamed nine more charm squares into a nine-patch, cut the square into four equal pieces and seamed the four cut pieces together side by side to make my exterior bag top. Directions for the bag are given below for using a fat quarter or cut yardage. Materials: Fabric for bag exterior -- one fat quarter OR 1/2 yard fabric or pieced goods Fabric for bag lining -- one fat quarter OR 1/2 yard fabric Thread to match fabric 3/4 yard matching or contrasting grosgrain ribbon trim Optional: fabric-covered cardboard ins...

A friend's daughter made a cute purse for her several years ago and I tried to duplicate it. The pattern is fairly simple, just make the bag and lining for the bottom and a loop of fabric and a lining for the top with holes cut out and bound; then slip the top loop with the handholds between the bag and the lining and topstitch the two pieces together. I used fabrics from Moda's "Fresh Squeezed" collection designed by Sandy Gervais. I bound the handholds with self bias binding and I bound the seam between the top and the bottom with orange grosgrain ribbon with a loop for keys. I plan to make another one and document the process sometime this summer or fall. Front Back

On the way home from seeing Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Mozart's count at Cinty Opera , we stopped at Jungle Jim's where I saw a cute purse made out of silk and satin crazy quilting with a lovely fringe of looped ribbons set inside the bottom seam. I thought I'd like to give it a try but -- as seen in the photo above -- it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Materials: I made two 10 x 12-inch pieces of random patchwork triangle squares from four-inch charm squares. I used of Moda 's "Fresh Squeezed" cotton print fabric designed by Sandy Gervais . (Round the bottom corners of the fabric,  and cut both pieces into identical bag shapes that you desire.) Cut two pieces of matching or contrasting lining fabric the same size and shape as the patchwork pieces. For the ribbon trim, purchase a box of four to six yard-long, mixed-color, fabric ribbon to match or contrast with your fabric. I bought mine in the scrapbooking section of a craft store, Hobby Lobby, t...

Ind y walks the Howell  labyrinth at 1 p.m. Blue skies on World Labyrinth Day in Howell, Michigan -- Indy, Diane, Annette, Kathy & Tom T. and I all celebrated the lovely spring day. We retired afterwards for PG Tips and banana-nut bread into which some chocolate chips had fallen. I love the old Fannie Farmer recipe -- fast and easy and delicious. Next morning I found the labyrinth dripping with dew, lit by the sun.

It has been raining all week and I haven't been able to mow the labyrinth for World Labyrinth Day  tomorrow. It is a mud bog, fit only for toads. But the white violets are blooming in the mire.

I learned how to make pysanki --  Ukrainian, colored eggs -- in a class at Old Economy Village in Ambridge, Pennsylvania about 35 years ago. Traditional pysanki are made with poisonous dyes that must be handled carefully and kept away from food and food preparation areas. To make the designs, a stylus called a kistka holds melted beeswax in a tiny funnel. The beeswax is used to create a design by blocking dye with  successive layers of wax. When the egg is finished, the wax is removed by heating the egg in a candle flame and wiping the eggshell to reveal the design. My teacher said it is not necessary to remove the egg from the shell before making pysanki , but many practitioners do this. Real pysanki are nothing like the eggs you see here. Pysanki are incredibly detailed, complex and beautiful. You can learn more about pysanki at  http://www.learnpysanky.com . For my pysanki -style egg dying I used food coloring instead of poisonous dye, paraffin instea...

That was fun!  Who'd have thought making a pillow case could be so amusing! I stopped by Jennifer's Quilt Shop in Pinckney last week and found they were in the midst of a pillow-case art show. They had dozens of pillow cases hanging from the ceiling and walls all created by customers according to their obsessions from bunnies to zebras. I picked up the Valori Wells Pillow Cases sewing card 'cause I even though you probably don't need a pattern for a pillow-case, I like information. Plus, these cute, note-sized cards would make nice greeting cards for crafty friends.  Brandi picked some fabrics from my stash -- the pillow case only takes 3/4 of a yard of body fabric, 1/4 of a yard of fabric for the edging band, and 1-1/8 yard of trimming or remnant for trim. I whipped her up a new pillow case in about 30 minutes. The tulips on Brandi's pillow case are quite spring-y -- a good choice.