Sewing for Orphans donation project

I decided to contribute to the "Sewing for Orphans" project. Teresa Coates, who was running the drive, was asking for messenger bags, pencil bags, shorts, dresses, and cloth diapers for the kids at the Tam Ky orphanage in Vietnam. She originally blogged about it back in August, but I came to it a little late. I wish I could have done more, but she needs all donations by September 30th. I was still able to whip up 12 zippered pencil bags.

This was the first batch, using this tutorial. They came together pretty quickly, and I liked that it used a 9-inch zipper, which is a standard size that was easy to find. I also got to use up a few scraps of bias tape.

The second batch was made from this tutorial. 

The tutorial involved some applique, but I didn't do any of that. It also called for batting to give the applique some structure, but I didn't end up using any.

The pouch made from cow fabric was my favorite. I almost kept it. But now that I've got the skills, maybe I'll make another one for myself.

Making 12 zippered pouches was great practice with using zippers. Every one of them is lined with a coordinated fabric, so it used up some small cuts of fabric. And since they're meant for kids, I was able to finish off some novelty fabrics that I had no other plans for.

And of course, my favorite part was packing everything up and saying goodbye to it! Glad to have finished another project from stash.

August quilt: gnome pinwheel quilt top

I finished a quilt top, almost on schedule! 

 

I have binding and backing fabrics in mind already, so the quilting should go quickly. Once I get around to it.

 

I made a similar quilt for Christmas last year and thought I'd try it again. The Christmas quilt was made from 100 squares. Cutting out pinwheels shrinks the quilt a lot, and I was hoping for a larger quilt this time.
 

 The quilt started out like this, a 68"X68" quilt top, made up of 196 brightly colored 5"X5" squares with a 3" border around the edges. The color scheme is pretty obvious, but I also tried to pick any matching prints I had with gnomes, mushrooms, and woodland creatures.

I used the "Lil' Twister" tool, which is a Lucite square with an angled cross printed on it that helps to cut out the pinwheel squares.

The finished top shrunk down to 46"X58", even with the addition of the Michael Miller gnome panel. It's a nice size for a baby quilt.

I'm going to try to sell this quilt on eBay, along with listing the diaper bag that I blogged about last time. If they sell, great. College money for the new baby. And if they don't, I can use them for the baby.

Finishing off the quilt might have to take a back burner for about a week - we bought tickets to "Trick or Treat in the Heat", which is a charity fundraising Halloween event that takes place in early September. I have a cow costume to sew for my younger daughter, who has wanted to be a cow since last Halloween. Plus, I thought up the perfect costume for a pregnant lady. It's the only costume on Earth where the fatter, puffier, sweatier, and more out of breath I get, the better it looks. If I can manage to pull it together in the next week, it'll be genius.