Fabric Bowl and Blessings

I finished the fabric bowl today!

It is about 13" across, and I used 50' of cotton cord, plus 26 WOF fabric strips (cut to 1"). I used  a regular machine needle ( #80 Universal) and sewed slowly so the stitches wouldn't skip. It was quite easy to sew. The longest part of making the bowl was wrapping the fabric around the cord

Tips (or things I should have done differently!) -
- I shouldn't have made such a big bowl. I should have started the side(s) sooner because it takes a few rows for the side(s) to take shape.
- I shouldn't have added handles for my first bowl. It was hard to get them the same size and directly across from each other. Plus I should have only added two rows for the handles (I wanted to use all the cord) because the last two rows changed the shape of the bowl, and the handles stick out to the side instead of sticking up.

I thought it would make a nice basket to hold projects for my sewing room.

It was lots of fun to make and I will definitely try it again - smaller, maybe a couple of different fabrics and no handles!

This is last week's Blessing block from the Temecula Quilt Co.

All three 4" blocks so far - two more to go I think.

It didn't get as warm as they originally thought it would, but lots more snow melted today, so still wonderful.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥


Has anyone else noticed that the "little pencil" used for editing posts and pages, and the "crossed wrenches" for editing things on the side bar, are missing on their blogs when they are signed in?

Friday Night Sew In Results

For the Friday Night Sew In I started making a fabric bowl.

the start of the bowl

getting bigger

almost big enough to start the sides

the base is 9" and I started the sides

 When starting the sides I found that I really had to hold the bowl up, and press it up underneath, close to the presser foot, otherwise the base was just bending.

the sides are getting more noticeable

I started with 50' of cotton cord (it is 1/4" and sold as clothesline cord) from the hardware store. I have had the beautiful fabric for a couple of years and never knew what to make with it, I thought this would be a perfect application since the colours are so wonderful (and I have nothing to go with it).

I cut 1" strips of fabric across the width, and pressed 1/4" over along the edge. I used this method with the pin in the ironing board. It worked wonderfully (once I realized I could keep the little legs on the Oliso iron from coming out), I just set the iron down on the strip and pulled the strip through. It took just seconds to press each strip. I chose to fold down an edge of the fabric so that the bowl wouldn't be "hairy" with little threads.

I then wrapped some cord, it overlaps about half of the strip. I only wrapped one strip of fabric at a time and then sewed.

I do have this very handy double cording foot for my machine which is very helpful. I used the Triple Zig Zag stitch, set quite wide.

I started the bowl last night, worked on it some more this morning and have quite a bit more to go!
The inspiration for the bowl is from here (I probably will add handles too). I have used 17 WOF strips so far. I probably should have attempted a smaller bowl first!

Here are some lovely images of all kinds of fabric bowls from Google.

I did manage to get another row added to the Winding Ways quilt yesterday too, more than a quarter of the quilt now.

I just realized how to add captions to pictures and recently how to set blogger to open a new window for a link - amazing when you read the fine print.

Thanks for another great FNSI Heidi and Bobbi!!

Happy National Quilt Day and St Patrick's Day!♥

Friday Night Sew In

Tonight is the Friday Night Sew In hosted by Heidi and Bobbi.

I am attempting my first fabric bowl! We'll see how far I get.

Usually I volunteer one afternoon a week at a school library, but this week it was the spring book fair, and I was there for three full days. Such fun! And so wonderful to see all the children - lots I have known since they were in Kindergarten. The theme this year was "A Book Luau". Notice the "quilted" signs on the walls made with book jackets - guess who made those!

We have been having fabulous weather (supposed to be 24C on Sunday) and my oldest was thrilled to be able to take out his motorcycle for the first time this year (about a month earlier than previous years).

Back to sewing!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥