Little Yellow Taxi

The other day, my cousin visited the city with her baby boy. We were meeting for brunch, and I wanted to make him something to remember his first visit to the "Big Apple." Since he's around 18 months, I whipped up a little, yellow taxi - a common sight on the streets of NYC!

Stuffed NYC taxi - Mitten to Apple original

Using fabric markers (in black and grey ink), I drew a simple taxi on yellow cotton fabric. After adding some iron-on fleece to the back of the fabric, I sandwiched it (wrong sides together) with another piece of cotton and sewed around the taxi shape.

After turning it right-side out, stuffing it with fiberfill, and hand-sewing up the closure, the little taxi was finished... I hope my cousin's little boy will enjoy his little piece of the big city after he's gone home!

Work in progress: pinwheels

I'm working on a new project that will eventually be a gift for someone. I will be back to share photos of the finished product as soon as I've gifted it, but in the meantime here's a sneak peak:

Pinwheels on display

As you can see, I used more of the Hobby Lobby fabric I have in my stash. The yellow isn't quite as "golden" as it looks in these photos, I promise!

Sewing Machine Cover

The other day, I made a sewing machine cover.

Sewing Machine Cover - Mitten to Apple original

Admittedly, the photo above shows the cover on my machine, but the cover was actually a surprise gift to my mom who lives halfway across the country- she's an amazing crafter and has been sewing beautiful purses recently. I thought a machine cover might come in handy for the times when she wasn't using her machine, but didn't want to put it completely away.

For this project, I wanted to try the "tube" piecing technique (the one where you sew strips into a tube, and then slice them up), so that's where the cover began. I still have a long way to go until the method will be fool-proof for me, but it was good to at least try it once (especially because someday I want to make a scrappy Trip Around the World quilt)!

I added elastic bands to the sides of the cover to keep it on the machine. I'd seen versions of this cover online that used ties, but I thought elastic would be a little easier to slip on and off my mom's machine.

 

I used home decor fabric from Joann's on this project, so it is fairly sturdy. I also used my trusty quilting guide bar to quilt on the diagonal.

Colorblock Place Mat

As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect, right? Well, that's my plan these days as as beginner quilter- I'm trying to work on (attainable) projects that give me the chance to try/practice new techniques and skills. With that in mind, here's my Colorblock Place Mat:

Colorblock Place Mat - Mitten to Apple original

Using Hobby Lobby fabric and a pattern I dreamed up, this little project let me practice piecing, quilting, and binding on a manageable scale.

My sewing machine came with a handy quilting bar attachment that helped me keep the quilting lines perfectly spaced.

I ended up machine binding the place mat, and I have a lot of work to do in that department. The binding is functional, but leaves a lot to be desired in terms of visual appeal... I guess that means it's time for more practice!

Something new...

I love to create! And thanks to the unwavering support of my family, the past few years I've enjoyed all sorts of creative endeavors. So I've begun this simple blog as a record of the things I'm up to these days.

To start things off, here's my first quilt: In Color Order's Patchwork Chevron Quilt. Of course, I didn't think my first "real" sewing project would be a quilt (I could have made something a little smaller, right?), but while visiting a fabric store with my mom recently I fell in love with the Paradise Blooms collection by Hoffman Fabrics. So I purchased what I needed according to In Color Order's super helpful tutorial, and set out to finish my first quilt top.

To be honest, I didn't think I'd ever finish it, but wouldn't you know it... I did!

In Color Order's Patchwork Chevron Quilt - process photos

As you can see from the cell phone photos above, the steps to creating the top were really simple and the top is finally finished. A family friend is taking care of the quilting for me (thank goodness - I definitely wasn't ready to tackle that yet), and I can't wait to get it back... once the quilting is complete and I sew on the binding, I'll be back with a final reveal, because I'm very proud of my first quilt!

Quilt top and backing