Kim's Key Keeper Tutorial

A few of my Instagram Friends saw a post I recently did on my Instagram account and several asked me for more information so I decided to put together a tutorial for my version of a Key Fob. It's been so very long since I've actually posted something on my blog but this is a great way to post tutorials for everyone to see and understand the steps and process in making things. I hope you enjoy this quick and easy tutorial. It's my GIFT to YOU this Christmas Season. 

Key Keeper Supplies:

• Cut 1 piece of Pellon (One-sided) Fusible Flex Foam #FF78F1 measuring @ 3/4" x 12 1/2" 
• Cut 1 piece of Fabric measuring 3" x 12 1/2"
• 1 Swivel Lobster Claw Clasp Size 1 5/8" x 1" D Ring (inner width is 3/4")
• Matching Thread for top stitching
• 10 Binding Clips
• Applique Glue
• Zipper Foot

Swivel Lobster Claw Clasp Size 1 5/8" x 1" D-Ring

(inner width of D-Ring measures @ 3/4") 

Pellon (#FF78F1) One-Sided Fusible Flex Foam Scraps 

Key Keeper Instructions:

1. Start off with the 3" x 12.5" fabric strip

and the 3/4" x 12.5" foam strip.

2. Turn on your iron to set to High or Cotton making sure the Steam option is on. Then FUSE the adhesive side of the foam to the wrong side of the fabric along the long bottom edge of the 3" strip of fabric.

3. Fold the top edge over a 1/4" and press the

fabric along the top edge.

4. Take the bottom foam edge (foam is facing up before folding) and fold it over toward the middle of the wrong side of the fabric making sure the foam is wrapped snug inside. 

5. Bring up the top pressed edge and fold it down to meet the foam edge that you just folded over. The top pressed edge should match up with the folded foam edge (see above picture).

This will encase both raw edges inside.

6. Use the applique glue to adhere the two long edges together. Use the binding clips to keep it secure until the glue is dry. 

7. The glue takes less than a 1 minute to dry then remove clips.

8. Sew a narrow stitch on each long edge of the Key Keeper.

9. Then sew a 1/4" on each long edge of the Key Keeper.

10. Slip the short end of the fabric strip through the

opening in the D-Ring (see picture above).

11. Place both short ends of the fabric together

and sew a 1/2" seam.

12. Turn the inside toward the outside so that the sewn ends remain on the inside of the circle. Open the seam and place the straight side of the D-Ring inside the opened seam.

13. Pull the fabric of the Key Keeper up and around the metal. 

Then sew together using a 1/2" seam allowance.

14. Attach the zipper foot to your machine. Place your Key Keeper under the presser foot with the metal clasp located on the right of the zipper foot and the fabric loop on the opposite side of the zipper foot. Sew back and forth several times making sure to sew as closely as possible to the metal clasp to get a tight fit.

15. A 6" piece Ribbon can be added to the clasp if desired.  Tie the ribbon on and trim the ends.

The Key Keeper can easily be attached to your keys and makes it a lot quicker when you're digging through your purse to find your keys. You can even slip the Key Keeper around your wrist when you're out shopping or just going to the mail box to get your mail. I even clip my keys to my purse or belt loop.

I also use the Key Keeper as a handy strap on many of the bags and pouches I like to make for myself and others. Pictured above is my modified version of the Easy Sew Cosmetic Bag by So Sew Easy. Just incase you are wondering, I just made my bag longer).

You can find the link for the Easy Sew Cosmetic Bag- click HERE. 

I hope you find this tutorial useful. I've made over 200 of these Key Keepers over the last few years now and lots of friends tell me how much they love them and that's it's easier to keep track of them. 

If you want to follow me on instagram I can be found. . . 

@bittybitsandpieces

Just hit FOLLOW and I will get you connected.

Thanks for visiting my blog!!

Bees Knees Quilting Bee • October 2015 Block

I've been participating in a quilting bee with some long time friends for the past year and we are starting another year of our Quilting Bee this month. It runs from October 2015 to October 2016. So keep an eye out for more blog posts. Several of the Quilters I've met in person and have known for many years and the others I have yet to meet in person but have know them through blogging and the quilting community. They are all amazing and talented women. You can check out our Blog at Bee's Knees Quilting Bee to see current and past blog posts. The Quilting Bee began in 2012.

This months block is for a sampler quilt that my friend Sherri McConnell has been working on for a few years and she decided to enlist our help in making 12 more blocks to add to her quilt. Each block that she mailed out has a different configuration so it will be fun to see her quilt when it's done. You will want to visit her blog at A Quilting Life to keep up with her. Sherri is very talented and currently has two books out called A Quilting Life: Creating a Handmade Home and Fresh Family Traditions. Sherri along with her daughter recently designed a new fabric line for Moda Fabrics called Bright Sun. The fabric collections is expected to ship to quilt stores in November 2015.

I had a lot of fun looking through my Bonnie and Camille fabrics to add to the fabrics that Sherri sent me. I think I'm going to have to eventually get it together and make a sampler quilt using what Bonnie and Camille fabric I've collected over the years. It's a shame that it's just been hiding in drawers and stashed on shelves. It's such great fabric.

Here's a picture of the the Quilt BLOCK sewn up in the pattern layout that Sherri sent to me. I can't wait to see the blocks everyone else has sewn.

 I made a blog post!! Are you surprised? I assure you that I'm still alive and well.

Have a great week my longtime blogging friends!!

2013 Pincushion Club

Ok...okay...before I get started I have to admit that I am horrible at blogging ever since Google Reader, Facebook, Flickr,  Pinterest and Instagram have entered my life. I just don't have enough time to do justice to everything but, stick with me, I will keep trying to blog when I find a moment and have a picture or two to share. So. . . on to the fun stuff. . .

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

I'm announcing here on my BLOG that I will be teaching a monthly Pincushion Class at JUST SEW. So, if you live close by you may be interested in checking it out. You don't have to commit to a whole year but you can sign up for the pincushions you're interested in making.

Here are the details:

• Where: Just Sew located in Highland, Utah
• Date: 3rd Saturday of each Month
• Time: 9:00 a.m.

Class sizes will be limited to 10 people due to limited classroom space. 

Here's a preview of some of the pincushions we'll me making:

2013 Pincushion Club
January's Pincushion

A closer look.

First 3 months of Pincushions.
2013 Pincushion Club at Just Sew.

One More Look!

I love all of the pincushion inspiration you can see on my pinterest pincushion board. I have so many ideas and love creating things. Here's a little look ahead at what I'm working on for the month of May. I love flowers and I love Mother's Day so what better way to pay tribute to my MOM than making a Potted Flower Pincushion!

Just a little note: If you don't know. . . I love itty bitty things and always have. . . So. . . when I had this design running through my head I knew it had to be on the itty bitty side of things. It stands just 4.5" tall from the base of the pot to the top of the flower. It turned out just how I saw it in my head!

I'm also playing around with making one a bit bigger, not much, but a bitty bit bigger!

Well, it's late now and I must start to wind down and go to bed early. I've been keeping too many late late nights all in a row. It just makes it really hard to get moving in the morning. **tired sigh**

Here's a belated Happy New Year to EVERYONE!!! Thanks for all of your talents, inspiration, creativity, and commitment to the craft of sewing, quilting, crocheting, knitting, and creating!!! You all make such wonderful projects. I could spend more hours than I have being inspired by what EACH of YOU CREATE!!!!

Also, I want you to know that I'm still alive and well. My blogging will just have to continue to be sporadic until I retire from working full-time but, I hope you will check in on occasion and leave a comment so I know you were here. I miss hearing from so many of YOU. . . my Quilting Friends.

Christmas Countdown

To Celebrate the Christmas Season I thought it would be fun to do an Ornament Countdown.

I'll be sharing some of my favorite ornaments from my Christmas Tree.

Here are the pictures I've posted on my Facebook page thus far and you can see all of the ornaments that I've posted for the Month of December here on Instagram .

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

I hope you enjoy my COUNTDOWN to CHRISTMAS!!!

Happy Halloween

Be Safe trick or treating tonight with all of those little ghosts, witches, and vampires!

Book Cover Reveal

I can finally show you the picture of my daughter's book cover. It's very eye catching and we love it! Also, I can announce that her book sold to Hot Key Books in the UK and will be coming out the same day as the U.S. on May 21st 2013. 

The Back Cover Copy: 

Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona's own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona's had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona's father isn't giving up that easily. 

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

The Blurb:

“Debut author Natalie Whipple deftly explores painfully real teen experience through delightfully unreal stories. Transparent is a smart, funny, tense gem of a book, and Fiona claims a spot as one of my favorite heroines.” Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of the Paranormalcy trilogy 

Pre-Orders are available on Amazon

Thanks for your interest! Have a GREAT day!

Crazy Excited!!!

I wanted to take a few minutes today and share some great news with all of my friends. . .

First...

We are all CRAZY EXCITED around our house with BIG NEWS that you can now PRE-ORDER my daughter's book on AMAZON. You can also check out the news on my daughter's recent BLOG post if you're interested.

Second. . .

The BIG Cover REVEAL will happen in about 10 days!!! I've seen it and it's so awesome!!! I will make sure to share it with you when I can.

Just in case you don't know. . .

I've shared a few things in the past about my daughter becoming an author and today we are excited. When TRANSPARENT (her book) comes out on May 21, 2013 it will have been TWO long years since she signed the contract with Harper Teen (Harper Collins) not to mention how long it took before that to acquire a literary agent.   

The time has finally come to start seeing her dream becoming a reality.

Quilting Comparison. . .

There is more effort in making a book come to life than I could ever have realized. I've learned this in watching my daughter go through the publication process and it's not an easy thing to do!

I believe that's why doing hard things and then following through until we've reached our goal or task gives us such a deep sense of satisfaction and meaning in our lives.

Quilts, especially quilts that require a lot of time, become heirlooms!! Whenever I see Baltimore Quilts, or Quilts with a gazillion pieces I think of how much time and effort and expertise that went into creating such a beautiful piece of art. I love quilting and hope that someday my quilts will be heirlooms to my children and their children.

I just LOVE QUILTING and CREATING!!!

Have a WONDERFUL weekend and take some time to SEW!!!

P.S. I'd love it if you would take the time to go to the Amazon link and click the LIKE button. Thanks for your help in generating excitement about the book!

Book & Mini Mug Rug Winner

Thank you to everyone who left a comment. I really enjoyed reading about all of the favorite places in the world that you all love. I think one of the more popular favorite places was your own backyard. What's not to LOVE about HOME!!! 

Many Congratulations go out to Comment #6 from Lisa Marie

I will mail the Book and the Mini Mug Rug to you as soon as I hear from you.

Springtime in the Rockies Blog Tour & Giveaway

Welcome to my part of the Springtime in the Rockies Blog Tour that runs through Sept. 27th.

Even though it's officially FALL here in the Rockies it seems like SPRING with all of the beautiful colors on the mountainside. Yesterday I was driving to a family gathering and the colors were out in force. Everywhere you looked you could see color splashed across the valley!! It was absolutely beautiful!!!

I took this picture Monday evening around 7pm as the sun was going down. I saw this beautiful view as I was dropping my daughter off at her dance class so, I rushed home and grabbed my camera so I could capture the beauty that was all around me. The valley literally glowed! I love the mountains and sometimes they become such a part of your life that you can easily forget to look at them and take in their beauty. Note to Self... Remember to STOP and LOOK around YOU! Enjoy the Fall Colors!

My favorite mountain growing up was Mt. Timpanogos. Every day I could look out my window and see it's majestic peeks. I loved seeing my mountains and when I moved to California it just didn't feel like home. When we moved back I knew it was home because I felt comforted seeing the mountains all around me.

And that leads me into talking about quilts, which always bring comfort! Right? Well, I want to share with you a new QUILT BOOK called "Springtime in the ROCKIES" by Konda Luckau and 8 other Rocky Mountain Quilters. 

Today I'm joining with my friend, Machelle Preston, in celebrating her project in the new book "Springtime in the ROCKIES" and the quilt is called "Stepping into Spring". . . it's a darling Nine-Patch and Snowball Quilt (along with a few HST's) with a bit of applique and embroidery sewn in the center of the quilt. You will find Machelle's Quilt on pages #54-59.

The BIG NEWS today is that. . . I'm not only giving away THE BOOK. . . but I'm also giving away a MINI MUG RUG that I made up using a scaled down block version of Machelle's quilt project. Isn't it sooo cute? I love things that are itty bitty, teeny tiny, and really small.

The Block measures 5 inches square and it's the perfect size to place your hot mug of chocolate on while you're working on your FALL and WINTER Projects...

I hope the winner loves it as much as I do because I almost kept it for myself. lol.





The List of Quilter's Participating in the Blog Tour:

Make sure to visit each blog for a chance to win a book.

Sept 19th

Kansas City Star http://www.pickledish.com/

Sept 20th

Amy Smart http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/

Sherri McConnell http://www.aquiltinglife.com

Sept 21st

April Mazzoleni http://aprilmaedesigns.com/

Maggie Barber http://shortcookie.blogspot.com

Sept 22nd

Becky Morganson http://stitchesandsewforth.blogspot.com/

Marion McClellan http://myquiltdiet.blogspot.com/

Sept 23rd

Emily Herrick http://crazyoldladiesquilts.blogspot.com/

Kathy Miller http://makingitfun.blogspot.com/

Sept 24th

Karlene Riggs http://karleneskreation.blogspot.com/

JoyLyn Rigby http://broadbentquiltshop.blogspot.com/

Sept 25th

Margie Ullery http://www.ribboncandyquilts.blogspot.com/

Shannon White http://itssewshannon.blogspot.com/

Sept 26th

Machelle Preston http://cherrytreecottagequilts.blogspot.com/

Kim Walus http://bittybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/

Sept 27th

Konda Luckau http://moosequilts.blogspot.com

Jenifer Dick http://www.42quilts.com/

Here's what you'll need to do to enter the giveaway...

• Leave ONE comment telling me your favorite place in the world to visit!!!
• I will pick one winner on Saturday, September 29, 2012.
• I will then send the book "Springtime in the Rockies" and the Mini Mug Rug to the winner.
• If you are a NO COMMENT BLOGGER, or you don't have a BLOG, then just leave me your email address in the comment section.

THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG and for LEAVING A COMMENT!!!

MONSTER Letters

Today I'm blogging about one of my new favorite creative places to visit, browse, and spend money at. The place is called The Wood Connection and it's a store filled with holiday projects of every kind along with all the supplies you need to make the many projects in their showroom. You will also find wooden frames of all sizes, plaques, blocks, ribbons, paints, tools, cut vinyl letters, sayings and also a variety of wooden letters. The hardest part is picking out just ONE project.

I recently finished making this set of MONSTER letters that I'm using for my Halloween decorating this year. I think my grandkids will really like them. I still have to purchase the three little monsters and I thought it would be fun to put their names on each of the three stands. 

Go HERE to see the 3 little wooden monsters I have yet to make.

Click HERE to see a few more of their Halloween Projects.

What I love most about their projects is that it takes a minimal amount of painting and all of the designs on each of the letters is done using scrapbook paper and then adding trim like ribbon, ric rac, buttons, and fur, just to name a few. On this project I also used heat set jewels on the letter T. You should be able to click on each of the pictures to get a closer look.

Go HERE to see their CRAFT TIPS on how to paint the blocks and apply the paper to the wood.

Go HERE to follow The Wood Connection on PINTEREST!

Right now The Wood Connection is only located in Utah but when I talked with the ladies at the store they were hoping to be able to ship items in the not too distant future. So, next time you find yourself in UTAH make sure to visit one of their three locations and give yourself at least an hour to browse and take it all in.


The Wood Connection is located at:
6680 South 300 West
Murray, UT 84107
801.265.2255
530 East State Street American Fork, UT 801.763.9556
Furniture Store 372 West Winchester Street Murray, UT 801.261.1013

Great Granny Needle Book

Okay Ladies. . . I'm going a little bit crazy reducing and resizing the Great Granny Blocks. It's been so much fun and I just had to show you another little project I've been working on today. I've included the cutting list to make this Mini Great Granny Block but you're on your own when it comes to making the needle book. Tutorials can sometimes take longer to make than you think and right now I just don't have a lot of time. I have out of town family here for 10 days and then after that I have more company coming for another 5 days and then I go back to School on the 21st of August. If you need help though, let me know. I can answer just about any question you might have.

On the funny side of things. . .when I showed the itty bitty block to my husband he called it Molecular Quilting. I got a big laugh out of that and told him that you can't go too much smaller than this without the bits of fabric getting difficult to put through your sewing machine and not burning your fingers when pressing the seams.

Talk about itty bitty. . . each little square in the block measures 1/2 an inch by 1/2 an inch.

FYI: There are 41 pieces in the Great Granny Block.

Great Granny Needle Book

Finished Block Size: 3 1/8" x 3 1/8"  •  Finished Needle Book Size: 4" x 4"

Cutting List:

Out of Red Black & Grey Fabric:

• Cut 1 Red Square @ 1" x 1" for Baby Center
• Cut 4 Grey Squares @ 1" x 1" for Mama Round
• Cut 8 Black Squares @ 1" x 1" for Granny Round
• Cut 12 Red Squares @ 1" x 1" for Great Granny Round

Out of White Fabric:

• Cut 12 Rectangles @ 1" x 1.5" for end of rows
• Cut 4 Rectangles @ 1" x 2" for the corners

The instructions for making Great Granny Blocks

can be found @ Bee in My Bonnet.

I used White Bamboo felt for the fabric you stick the needles in and used

Kaufman's Essex Yarn Dyed Fabric in Black for the Needle Book.

I used a red snap for the closure.

I also wanted to place the scissors and thread next to the needle book

so you could get a feel for how small the block really is.

The finished size of the the needle book is 4" x 4"

I hope you enjoyed seeing the Great Granny Needle Book.

Great Granny Pincushion Tutorial

It's been so much fun seeing all of the blocks and finished quilts over at the Great Granny Along

and I've been so inspired by everyone that I wanted to reduce the block and make a pincushion.

So today, I pushed off cleaning the house and made a itty bitty Great Granny Pincushion instead. It's much more fun creating than cleaning. I'm just putting off the inevitable and will need to get some cleaning done before I go back to work in a couple weeks.

Anyway, I started thinking that maybe all of you would like to make a pincushion too. . .

So. . .

I put together a little tutorial on how to make your very own Great Granny Pincushion.

First off, the directions for making the block are exactly the same directions I used to make my miniature block. Go check out Lori Holt's Tutorial HERE. The only difference in the blocks is the size of the squares and the rectangles. I also added the instructions for putting together the pincushion.

Not only can you make a pincushion but, you could also make:

• More blocks and make a small doll quilt (I'm thinking I need to make a doll quilt too).
• Make the block into a Mug Rug to use by your sewing machine or on your cutting table.
• Frame the block and hang it in your sewing or craft room.

So, enough talking and on to the Tutorial. Here it is. . .

NEWS FLASH!!!

I had a great epiphany early this morning that I wanted to share with you!

I'm sure many of you collect CHARM PACKS. . . Am I right?

Well, I realized this morning that you could also just use 4 charm squares from any Charm Pack to make the pincushion! When I did the math in my head I realized that you can get SIXTEEN (16) 1 1/4 inch squares out of each 5 inch Charm Square. Isn't that cool? Just another way to use all of those amazing Charm Packs you have laying around. Although, I do find it hard to open them up and actually use them. lol.

The Great Granny Pincushion

Finished Size: 5x5 inches

Pincushion Supply List:

• Four different prints for the block
• White Fabric for the block background
• 5" x 5" Acrylic Ruler (Similar to the "Dear Jane" Ruler)
• Pincushion Filler (I used crushed Walnut Shell)
• Thread
• Buttons

Cutting List:

Out of Multi-Colored Fabric:

• Cut 1 Square @ 1.25 x 1.25" for Baby Center
• Cut 4 Squares @ 1.25 x 1.25" for Mama Round
• Cut 8 Squares @ 1.25 x 1.25" for Granny Round
• Cut 12 Squares @ 1.25 x 1.25" for Great Granny Round
• Cut 2 Squares @ 5" x 5" for Pincushion Back
• Cut 1 Strip @ 1.25" x width of Fabric for Binding

Out of White Fabric:

• Cut 12 Rectangles @ 1.25" x 2" for end of rows
• Cut 4 Rectangles @ 1.25" x 2 1/4" for the corners
• Cut 1 Square @ 5" x 5" for Pincushion Lining

Instructions:

1. Make one Great Granny Block following these instructions.

2. Use a 5"x5" ruler similar to the "Dear Jane" ruler you see in the picture below.

3. Center the Ruler and trim off the excess.

4. Take the two 5" squares for the pincushion back and press one square in half.

5. Place right sides together with the pressed square on top.

6. Sew along the pressed line leaving a 1.5" gap then continue sewing to the opposite edge. Make sure to back tack where you stop and start the sewing.

7. Now fold the wrong sides toward each other to reveal the right sides of fabric.

8. The place where you didn't sew becomes the opening where you will fill the pincushion with the crushed walnut shells. Use a funnel to fill it up.

9. Now take the block, the white lining, and the backing. Then stack one square on top of the other.

10. Pin the layers in place.

11. Take the 1.25" inch strip and sew a single binding around the four edges.

12. Turn over your quilt and fold the edges toward the raw edges of the block.

13. Now fold the folded edge up and over to the back of the block. Press.

14. Turn the block over to the front and stitch in the ditch along the edge of the binding making sure the underside is sewn in at the same time.

15. Fill the pincushion with crushed Walnut Shell, using a funnel,  and fill to the desired density.

16. Place a small amount of batting inside opening to prevent filling from falling out, then stitch the opening closed.

17. Using heavy thread stitch a button to the center and pull tightly, then secure the thread and cut.

18. You're Great Granny Pincushion is done. Now, how about making another one for a friend?

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and if you have any questions feel free to send me an email. Remember, I love comments! So. . . feel free to leave as many comments as you like. It makes me feel good knowing that you like what I do. Yes...I'm fishing for compliments. lol.

Have a Great Day!!!