Tag: ombre

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Sew Home Blog Hop! It’s a Twist table runner


Welcome to the next stop on the SewHome blog hop!  I am super excited to be included in this blog hop and can’t wait to share one of my favorite projects from this awesome book with you.  There’s also a giveaway (open internationally) hosted by each blog hop participant!!!  Instructions on how to enter are at the end of the post 🙂

SewHome by Erin Schlosser (photo by C&T Publishing)

Be sure to follow the other participants as they showcase some seriously amazing projects from Erin’s new book!


Wednesday, September 21 – Sew 4 Home & Jen Carlton Bailly
Monday, September 26 – Windham Fabrics & Rebecca at Bryan House Quilts
Wednesday, September 28 – Dear Stella Fabrics & Mandy at Mandalei Quilts
Thursday, September 29 – Erin at Schlosser Designs


Let me start by saying I had the awesome opportunity to quilt another project for SewHome, and so found out about this amazing book a few months before its release.  Erin is so talented and has thought of literally every project you could ever want to sew up to make a house your home.  

I am not as blessed as others when it comes to the interior decorating gene, so this book is a God send.  Erin even thought to include some design basics and clearly explains everything that needs to be considered prior to starting any project.  She has tons of suggestions on how to keep your projects cohesive, even discussing color and fabric selection.  I had the opportunity to preview this awesome book before it was printed, and had to purchase it myself to keep a hard copy on hand.  

It’s a Twist Table Runner (photo by C&T Publishing)

I chose to make the “It’s a Twist Table Runner” since my kitchen decor is a little blah…and I had never seen a design this unique before.  With summer fading and fall quickly approaching, I opted for a warm ombre color scheme to do my “twists” in, and chose the new Essex linen in yarn dyed metallic by Robert Kaufman so I could keep this beauty on the table from September through December.  

Warm ombre color scheme with Essex metallic linen

I had so much fun picking out my fabrics, and couldn’t wait to try the new Essex yard dyed metallic to keep the design warm and fall-feeling.  This project is so fun, and great for adapting to use up your scrap pile!  

You can see the tiny metallic detail in this close up of the sewn together table runner

Erin’s instructions are clear and concise, and I was able to finish this adorable project in under 3 hours.  The twisting technique is really simple to follow and gives such a great look when finished.  I’m excited to try this technique in other sewing projects, too!  

My finished table runner


I also loved that the table runner didn’t have batting in it and wasn’t quilted.  It seems like most table runner projects these days are of the quilted variety, and the “It’s a Twist Table Runner” has ample interfacing to give it a luxurious feel and weight.  It also made it a quick and fun sew.  

I was thrilled to participate in this, and can’t wait to make more projects from SewHome.  Thanks Erin for a delightful read!!!

To enter the giveaway for your free copy of Erin’s book SewHome, answer the following question by September 30, 2016 either in a comment here (on my blog), or a comment on my instagram post about this project:  What home decor item have you been dying to sew for your home?   Giveaway entries will close at midnight, central standard time 9/30/2016 and winner will be selected randomly.  If winner is domestic (US), they will receive a hard copy of SewHome, if international, the winner will receive the e-book version.  Winner will be contacted by me for shipping information.  

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Creating bags with no pattern (or making it up as you go)


For roughly the last week, I have been working on this duffle bag after I received my first shipment of Tula Pink fabrics.  I am absolutely NUTS about this fabric designer.  Her use of color is insane, and her patterns are awesomely fun.  I’ve had a duffle bag on my to do list for over a year now, and it was high time I kicked into high gear.
I browsed tons of websites looking for patterns for duffle bags, watching tutorials, and looking up travel bags on Pinterest.  I didn’t like any of the patterns, they all seemed either really juvenile, dorky looking, too small, or just not finished enough.  
So I made a list of all my “must haves” and decided to write my own pattern.  I had all my fabric out and ready to go, and got to work in my sketchbook drawing out measurements and the order of construction steps.  Turns out I didn’t even so much as cut a piece of fabric until 2 days later.  If you haven’t ever written a pattern before, you might take for granted how much time, trial and error, and re-writing goes into it.  
The project took me about 5 days start to finish (my husband’s family was in town for the weekend–I may have been able to shave one day off if I worked all the way through).  
The one thing I just really was not satisfied with was that I did not put any interfacing in the zipper panel that goes in the top.  In the picture, I have two huge sacks of fabric shoved inside to keep the middle from drooping.  I’m pretty confident that adding the interfacing would fix that.  Maybe there will be a duffle bag 2, but I’m thinking about naming this bag “The Body Bag”.  I could literally fit all three of our dogs inside and still zip it up (Border collie and 2 heelers).
This bag has all over free-motion quilting in four different thread colors, a three-section elasticized pocket on the interior, a 3-section pocket for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, another smaller elasticized pocket, and another 3-section pocket.  The exterior has two zipper pockets (one on each end), and 4 exterior pockets.  And enough room to pack for a week and a half without needing anything.  Those were my requirements, so I guess if the middle is a little saggy, I’ll get over it!