DIY Dainty Summer Kitchen Rod Pocket Curtains

I've been working on sorting and restoring my Mom's fabric and retaso (scrap fabric) stash. I've been toiling over it for the past few months and decided to take a break by sewing. I restored a cute, embroidered fabric. It still had some stains, so I thought it best to make kitchen curtains. 

Since the fabric was a bit short, I decided to "upgrade" my curtain sewing skills, by adding a different kind of fabric to make it longer. I matched it with some soft denim fabric and added lace. I wanted to try make table top curtains (the one with loops), but I'm still doing a lot of other stuff, so went for my usual rod pocket curtains.

Here's how I made it:

The result:

Measurements based on my kitchen window:

I just also realized the new curtains match my cat kitchen appliance covers!

Quilted Throw Pillow Case for a Doctor

I have this really cute fabric perfect for doctors. It has hearts and squiggly lines representing ECGs. Last time I used it was to make gifts for my doctors in Singapore. I have a new set and thought I'd make something for my current set of doctors. 

I decided to make a throw pillow case for one of my doctors. She had a pillow in her clinic. I asked permission to measure it and surprised my doctor with the throw pillow case during my next appointment. I still wanted to learn something new for this project, so I made heart accents for the throw pillow case. I'll share next time how I made it (I'm still trying to perfect it). 

Here's how I made it:

Materials:

themed fabric

red fabric

black fabric

fabric for the back of the pillow

fusible interfacing

batting

backing fabric

Size:

17" x 17"

Quilted Monochromatic Tote Bag

From a bag full of colors, I thought I'd try doing something opposite. Black and white, well, a gradient from black to white. It took me a long time to finish this project since I lacked fabric that's in-between white and black. I eventually found some and got to work. It's a belated birthday gift for a friend and she told me she liked her totes to be black.

I didn't want it to be just black, so I thought I'd play around with the color. Oh boy, I didn't realize how hard it would be to find the best layout for the fabric. It took me awhile just to get it right. I had to consult with my son since he's better with colors than me. Things were easy after the layout was finalized. 

Here's how I made it:

Materials:

96 2.5" x 2.5" various fabric from black to white

lining

fusible interfacing

batting

thread

iron

Size:

12" x 16"

Star Wars Themed Quilt Cover for a Bench

This quilt cover project has been on my to-do list since 2022! I decided to just bite the bullet and start it last January. I thought I could finish it in two to three weeks, but no, it stretched to almost six weeks. I got busy doing other home projects. 

The design is quite simple, but making twelve pieces of 4x4 squares took awhile to make. I also decided to use the QAYG technique since the main quilt cover measures 58" x 44". I basically made a blanket with flaps. I left the flap open since the bench doubles as storage space. It's where I keep things that need to be further sorted (haha). 

Here's how I made the quilted cover:

Materials:

fabric with design (I used a Star Wars themed fabric which I got from Spotlight in Singapore)

four solid colors fabric (orange, yellow, blue, green)

black fabric (for sashing and binding)

backing fabric 

Design:

Size:

Main Cover - 58" x 44" 

Flaps: 20" x 12"

How to Make a T-Shirt Memory Quilt Blanket

It took me three years to finally finish my t-shirt memory quilt blanket. It started when I cleared out my closet and I couldn't let go of the shirts because I love each and every one of them. They held 15 years of happy memories. Good thing I did some research before I started working on it because there's no second chances on the material I used. 

Here's a step by step video on how I made it:

The materials I used: 

old shirts

border fabric (I used the same fabric for the binding)

accent fabric (4 colors)

wadding

backing fabric (I used flannel)

thread

lots of pins, safety pins and clips

Here's how I made it:

Step 1: Determine first the size of the blanket you want to make. Then draw how you want it to look, best to include the size of each piece to help you know how many tshirts you need and how much fabric you need. 

Step 2: Cut the shirts. I used a 12.5" x 12.5" square ruler to make my life easier. Then iron on fusible interfacing. This will make the shirt stable. 

Step 3: Cut the binding. 

Step 4: Sew the vertical bindings by row. 

Step 5: Prepare the accent pieces. 

Step 6: Piece together the horizontal border by row. Then add to the bottom of each row. Remove the excess interfacing.

Step 7: Add the horizontal border by row. You can opt to quilt the border at this point. Then piece each row together. 

Step 8: Add the side borders. 

Step 9: Sandwich the quilt. 

Step 10: I decided to just quilt the accents to stabilize the blanket. 

Step 11: Make your binding. 

Step 12: Bind the edges.

How to Make Curtains

The past few months have been very busy because we moved countries and we moved to a new home! You can just imagine how crazy it's been! The first project I had to make was curtains! Our windows and sliding doors required customized curtains. I figured that it shouldn't be as hard as quilting. Here's the tutorial:

Here's how I made it:

Step 1. Got help from my boys to measure the windows and sliding doors. Then I shopped for fabric on Lazada. I was happy to find out that there were many options on fabric. I got pink linen like polyester fabric (normally used for suits). It cost PhP100 per yard. 

Step 2. Measure and cut! Working with linen is a bit difficult though, so get help when needed. 

Step 3. Ironing the border will make it faster for you to sew. I folded 3 centimeters from all the edges and double folder it to keep the border clean.

Step 4. Sew all sides. 

Step 5. Fold 15 centimeters from the top. 

Step 6. Sew it.

Step 7. Mark 6 to 7 centimeters from the top. Pin it and check if the rod would fit. 

Step 8. Sew it. Annnddd you're done! 

How to Make a Pinwheel Lap Quilt Fast!

I wanted to learn quilt short-cuts. I previously made a cheese pinwheel quilt blanket for my Mom by hand. It took me almost 2 years to finish it. While scrolling through Pinterest I found some recommendations on quilt short-cuts. As a beginner quilter my mind was blown and I immediately started planning the project.

I have been eyeing a blender quilt fabric at Spotlight for awhile. I thought it would be perfect for the project. I also wanted to make gifts so instead of making a full blanket I made 4 lap quilts. I worked on this learning project on and off for two months and was surprised how easy and fast it is to make a pinwheel quilt blanket. Here's the video of how I put together the pinwheel lap quilt -

*Watch previous videos too: Make 8 half squares at a time & Easy Pinwheel Quilt

I've also been practicing using my sewing machine more. I hand quilted two of the four blankets and I used the sewing machine for the other two. If you look closely the binding isn't perfect because I used the sewing machine. That's something I need more practice on. Well, I'm writing a nice note for my friends to give them a heads up it's not a perfect quilt! Haha.