Just a few things I've been working on.....

I just finished this shabby cottage style desk set....a letter try and standing organizer for mail, CDs, bills, or other whatnots. I painted them with three coats of Country White paint and then shabbied them up with sandpaper. The inside of the letter tray is lined with pretty pink floral paper. These items are sold separately in the Organize Your Home category on my website.



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I've also been working on this handbag/tote for the new Cottage Heirlooms category on my website. It is crafted from a repurposed quilted pillow sham and lined with a repurposed quilted rosebud pattern bedspread. I used the "ragged" technique and it is soooo soft and cushy now!!!

This isn't all I've been working on though.....I'm finally going to have a studio....my own place for bringing to life all of the ideas I have running around in my head right now! I'm painting and furnishing my studio so that it will a very nurturing space for my creations......and also a very organized space. No more paint/paper/sewing machine on the dining room table for this girl....yea! I'll have pictures of the completed project for my Show and Tell post in a few weeks though.

Have a wonderful week!

The ongoing saga of the "ragged" lap quilt......

At last.....the "ragged" lap quilt is finished....*big smile* ! Once all of the "X"s were sewn on the squares, sewing the squares together went rather quickly...then it was trimming the edges evenly and washing and washing and washing and drying and drying and drying the quilt to get the "ragged" effect. This was a fun project, but probably not one I'll do again. To those of you who make "ragged" quilts on a regular basis....I salute you!

Putting my plan into action.....

Okay, faithful readers, I promised you a peek at what was next on my list of creative endeavors with all of that fabric.....and here it is!

I'm making my first ever ragged quilt. If you've never seen or made one, they are pretty cool.....you take a backing fabric, polyester fiberfill, and coordinating fabric for the top of the quilt. Then you cut same-size squares of each, sandwich the fiberfill between the two fabrics and sew a big "X" across the three layers to hold everything in place. Once all of the squares are finished you start sewing them together in strips with the seam on what will be the outside top of the quilt. Once all the squares are sewn together you pop it in the washer for one or two cycles and then into the dryer and this "rags" out the edges of the seams.....pretty cool!

Well, I decided to do a variation on this theme....the backing for my ragged quilt will be the fabric with the green stripes and pink print you see in the photo. Instead of fiberfill, I am using a solid cream color flannel fabric so the quilt will be flatter and not so puffy. Then my topping fabric is the big surprise. I took some of my vintage cotton lace tablecloths and cut them into squares and they will make the top of the quilt.....doesn't that sound pretty?

So here is where I am with the quilt right now......the squares are all cut and ready to be assembled into layers with the "X" sewn across them......and THAT is tomorrow's project!

Stay tuned for the next segment of "Putting my plan into action".......and I'll post photos as I go through the stages of making this ragged lap quilt which, by the way, will be a featured item on my website www.shabbycozycottage.com once it is completed.