Vrooom....gag, cough!

That's the sound of the vacuum pulling in 11 1/4 yards of fabric!

I was at a crossroads about my Christmas stockings for Toy Rescue Mission - the finished stockings are ready to pack and mail off, and my local quilting group had expressed interest in helping me make more, as per my last post. As my Christmas fabric supply had been radically reduced, it was coming to

1. repurposing fabric from a project box


2. asking for donations


3. buying fabric

My family's schedule was causing some conflict with the upcoming November retreat, and I was considering calling it good for this year, and starting a new cycle after the holidays. And then Wednesday brought one of my regular and kindest quilt customers, who had seen some of my stockings in progress and shopped her stash for donations - one 3 2/3 yard piece of adorable snowmen and 7 1/2 yards of Christmas sayings! She qualified that I could use it any way I choose, and I have to admit the snowmen have a vintage look that is just adorable.

Both fabrics are directional, so I'll pre-cut pieces to stack and cut 6-8 layers at once. I've also decided that I'll make a small adjustment to the stocking template. It flares slightly at the top, which can be challenging if the facing isn't flared the opposite direction when it's attached. This is one of those small things that you can put up with if you're only making a few, but becomes a pain when you're working in larger quantities. Some of the more experiences sewists in the group would have figured this out earlier, I'm sure! At any rate, simplifying the pattern will make it easier for all of us. If I get them cut out earlier, the "kits" will be passed out early with simple instructions. The facing can be inside or outside, fancy or plain, and they need a sturdy hanging loop.

Project Vacuum

Have you ever finished a project that you are so glad to be done with, only to have a new project fall in your lap? It feels like a vacuum to me—something new gets sucked right in. I had to set aside almost all fiber crafts for a few weeks while working diligently to clean out two storage units that belonged to my late brother, a big big project. I almost forgot what it was like to have some free time, but took advantage of having last weekend to myself and got several things finished.

The charity Christmas stockings are finished—all 100 of them. I didn’t start out to make 100, just as many as I could. Some are strip pieced, some are one fabric in front and another on the back, some the same fabric front and back. I brought the last 12 of them to a quilt meeting on Tuesday, which turned out to be newsletter folding night. After the newsletters were finished, I pulled out the stockings to turn and finger press them. Within five minutes, the stockings were literally flying through the air as everyone wanted to help turn them. And now they want to help make more of them during our November meeting. Yippee! This is a good thing, and I need to write up dimensions so anyone interested can check their stash beforehand and pack the fabric. With the nice plastic template that DH made me, I can cut up to 8 layers at a time.

The second mystery quilt top (blue/lime) is done too, and the backing is pieced. Unless I’m donating just a top to charity, quilts are always three projects – piecing, quilting, and binding. I’m still hand-finishing the binding on the red/cream version of the mystery quilt. I chose a different setting for the blue/lime version, and will post pictures of the two together soon.

Finally the replacement barbeque cover is finished…and then I washed the panels for the room divider screen that my neighbor gifted me—only to have them shrink 6” in length! Currently the panels are swaying from the top brace. Yesterday’s endurance shopping bus trip to Portland yielded some pretty blue fabric that happened to be 60” wide, so all three new panels can be cut from 2 yards, purchased for $12.80.

A Good Listen

Anyone who is a fan of Sue Hausmann should check out this great interview by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of CraftSanity Podcast (#118.) Sue hosted America Sews for 15 years, and though it's no longer filming, the project archive is still up at Husqvarna Viking website.

I was lucky enough to take a short seminar from Sue at Sewing Expo a few years ago, and her love of teaching really comes across. There was always something to learn from her shows, even if the end product wasn't something I would want, the techniques demonstrated could be applied to other projects.

Goodbyes

My college-age son left for an adventure yesterday - a year abroad. I didn't schedule any work this week, as he is a last-minute kinda guy. He called this morning to tell us that he'd arrived safely at his destination (as did his checked luggage.) I've also been dealing with my younger brother's belongings, as he died unexpectedly last month. My busy work has been mending and working on charity projects.

Quilting detail on Storybook Quilt - Butterflies. Finished and bound this week.

The Christmas stockings for Toy Rescue Mission are coming along nicely. The eight smaller ones (using the extra backings cut out last year) are finished.

The 23 other scrappy-pieced stockings are sewn and ready for finish work (turning, tying off serged ends, pressing, adding hanging loops.) The top edges will be turned to the inside, and have a hemmed edge.

Another 25 made from a Christmas postcard print are also sewn and ready for turning. They have a cuff sewn from white felt (with sparkles!) that flips to the outside, with an exposed seam on just the felt. I have a meeting tomorrow for charity work and will bring them along for finishing.

Since these stockings will probably become an annual project for me, I've kept better notes on how they were constructed. I answered a sewing blogger's question last month about what to do with "ugly" fabrics, and forgot all about how useful it can be for testing!

This is a sample of the cuff turned inside - much easier assembly if sewn to each side first, then the side seams. My first attempts had a cuff sewn as a tube, and they were clumsy.

The single fabric stockings with felt cuff were definitely the easiest. The larger size that TRM prefers is also easier to work with too. The Christmas fabric stash is largely depleted, though there is a box of Christmas print scraps for a simple strip quilt that will probably yield leftover. There will likely be other fabric gifted to me to build up the supply as well.

Bits and Pieces

Lots of small projects have been finished in the last month, and of course several new projects started.

I made a batik top from some grey and blue batik fabric that a quilter gave me, and a pair of matching pants (cut out months ago) from a lavender/blue cotton. The pants were a test of a pattern that I hadn’t used before, a multi-sized ( ) pattern. I always have to adjust the rise as I am short-waisted, and since the pants have slant pockets and an elastic waist band with drawstring, it makes the pocket openings a bit small. They actually fit pretty well, and I have some gabardine fabric in house to make a fall version of them. Of course, having lost 20 pounds since I cut out the first pair, I will need to revisit the size.

Two kitty beds were made from a recycled sheepskin car seat cover and a recycled homemade corduroy bench seat cover. Murphy LOVES them, so they were worth the effort. The corduroy had been purchased by my mother many many years ago at a yard sale. I made the seat cover twelve years ago for our van. It helped when the van was sold that the seats were nice and clean, even though we have dogs. All of the usable parts were salvaged, and the rest tossed.

I spun a small sampler of superwash sock yarn that came as a gift with a larger order. It's a pretty teal blue, and I think it wants to be plied with some of the shiny rayon thread that isn't strong enough for machine quilting. It will add just a bit of shine plus strength to the wool single.

At a sewing retreat two weeks ago I started working on Christmas stockings for Toy Rescue Mission of Tacoma. I made stockings for them last year, and had a few extra backings leftover. I contacted them about the size, and they do want them as wide as possible, so I drew a new template and my husband kindly cut out an acrylic template for me. For the pieced fronts, muslin was used as a foundation. I started with some fussy-cut birds that had been cut too small for their project, and some small animal caricatures gifted to me. The leftover bits from the bird project, plus other gold, green and red fabrics were added. I have some cream fabric with gold stars to cut the backings for the larger stockings (23 of them). I also cut out about 30 stockings from a print with postcards of Santa – 2 large pieces of the same print given to me by different people, they will be sewn up without additional embellishment.

Binding has been finished on the 4-patch charity and started on the red/cream Christmas quilt that will be a gift. I started some baby washcloths from cotton chenille when I needed a decompress project. We’ve had a lot of the crazy to deal with including several life-changing things happening at the same time. Simple projects bring a sense of calm.

Keeping notes on finished projects

I’ve gotten much better at writing out ideas when inspired to make something—especially when I’m designing it from scratch or altering a pattern. Too many times I’ve looked at a bundle of fabric in a box and wondered what the original idea was.

Now I’ve come up against a finished project that needs to be re-made: a barbeque cover from Sunbrella fabric. The first one was finished about 4 years ago, and has lived outside ever since, though under a metal-roofed awning. Last month a small tear became a large tear, and I promised DH that I would look into making a new one. First I looked at finished BBQ covers online and at a store (in a sealed box of course), and decided that even the more expensive versions (~$40) wouldn’t last very long.

It’s a rather strange shape, but I didn’t keep any notes on the dimensions of the first homemade cover. We measured the cover and I made some yardage diagrams. I planned on doubling the center panel that drapes over the top for the new one, as that’s where most of the wear happened on the first cover. Then sticker shock set in when even after adjusting the finished size to make the best use of 60” wide fabric, we would still need 5 yards at $20/yd. I don’t remember the first cover costing over $50 total, so either I purchased a color on sale (it is grey, a weird color for our house and deck) or the price of this fabric has really gone up. DH checked at local stores to see if he liked any of the ready-made options better, and didn’t, so it’s back to trying to locate a decent price on Sunbrella fabric.

Working the Stash

I'm very drawn to printed panels, although they can sometimes be a challenge to work with. Often the "blocks" are not square and not all the same size. At a rather frantic sample sale I picked up this book panel, not realizing somehow that it was a book and not a quilt panel.

Some time ago it had been measured, and diagrams drawn and the purple sashing cut, then it sat in a box. When I pulled it out a few days ago, I checked the blocks and adjusted the size down a bit when cutting them out. The large block in the center was supposed to be the center of the book, and it didn't make sense to cut it in two, so the sashings on each side were cut just a bit wider to adjust the total width.

After the top and bottom rows were assembled with the vertical sashing, I ended up trimming the bottom edge another 1/4" to removed the printed sewing instructions (in black) that would not have been hidden by the seams. The pictures are very sweet and it will be a nice charity quilt, finishing about 47" x 56".

It wasn't until the bag was finished that the fabric reminded me of fireworks, appropriate for a July 4th project. My friend Patty loves red, and this batik fabric had been given to me in two long strips. I used the full width of one piece for the bottom section, and split the other lengthwise to made the top section and handles. The outside pocket just visible with the top of a blue notepad peeking out is a hanging pocket made with the lining and a small strip of the red batik as a facing at the top so the lining doesn't peek out. The lining is white with random small red dots.