Process

I'm finding it difficult to post often enough to keep up with the steps of my design process. There are many things "in progress" right now too, some creative, and some just going step-by-step to finish them.

I was able to find time to quilt and bind this quilt for American Hero Quilts. Melissa D., from my Washington State Internet Quilters group, completed the top for the New Year's weekend Cyber Sew-in. The plan was to make blocks, and they would be sent on to other quilters to assemble, quilt & bind. Melissa had these blocks from an exchange, so she put them together, and we connnected online. She mailed the top to me, and I provided batting, backing, quilting & binding. It went off in the mail yesterday.

Yesterday I quilted the small tumblers quilt, and it's ready for binding.

The other sewing project finished is a basic apron for my quilting studio. The fronts of my aprons wear out because they get snagged by pins on the front side of my quilting machine

This is the hat finished last week, blocking. The pattern is Caller Herrin by Kate Davies. It's stretched over a 10" plexiglass circle used as a quilting guide. I was surprised at how much it changed the shape of the finished hat--it actually fit me better before blocking, but the yarn did bloom nicely and the tension looks much nicer. I'm looking at other small patterns to use up the leftover wool.

Also completed were a set of felted hexagon coasters. Well, more like flowers, as the edges remained pointy. I'll keep them in a drawer except when company is coming, so they don't become dog chews.

On With the Old, Add Something New

I finished this Ocean Waves top over the weekend at a quilting retreat. It started as part of a swap group several years ago, and 16 of the blocks were made by other quilters. Most sent an extra square of fabric so the border fabrics coordinate. Blocks have been worked on at several retreats, and after the last one I had gotten on a roll, cutting out all the remaining strips (needed for Thangles for the small half-square triangles), and even sewn the sub-sets. There were only 6 blocks left to assemble, and the border blocks only needed to be trimmed down. Whew! The backing and binding fabrics are ready to go, it may be a while before it gets quilted. Approximately 71" square.

After I finished this top, I started playing with a layout of some tumbler blocks that had been cut with my Accuquilt Go cutter. Many of the fabrics in the box that had been collecting were leftovers from the Ocean Waves, with some of the rejects that were too bright for the quilt above, including vintage lime green with turquoise and white flowers. Unfortunately my math was off when I counted pieces, so the tumblers were packed up in the partial layout, and had to wait until Sunday for more pieces to be cut. We worked at home Sunday as the Senior Center was rented out to two churches, so our machines and projects were locked in a secure room until Monday morning.

Sunday at home was very productive, as I cut out the remaining tumblers, cut backing and binding for two quilts, binding for a third, organized batting scraps for some upcoming small projects, and organized pieces for charity cosmetic bags. I'm set for a while with quick, fill-in projects to work on while waiting for quilt customers or just needing a quick sewing fix.

Monday had me laying out all 320 tumbler pieces, stacking them in rows, and stitching. I was able to sew 18 of the 20 rows together, and most of them are pressed. I cut half-width blocks for the edges (to give a straight edge, and a good way to use the leftover bits), and I'll do another layout to select and add those before sewing the rows together. I chose the size to fit the backing...a wonderful piece with large flowers in the same colors on white (another gifted piece).

Lost and Found (twice)

My finished list for 2010 needs updating. Last night the second pincushion cut out back in May (!) finally came together. It was in a small zip-loc bag in the bottom of a quilt/knitting bag and had gone awol for a bit. The top and bottom stars had been finished back in June, and sometime mid-December when the bag was emptied out it resurfaced. My shoulder needed a break from knitting so I went back to handstitching.

The original idea was to alternate the prints on the bottom and top so each diamond was more distinct, but I liked keeping the aqua and purple flower print pieces together, since this was such a small scrap anyway (probably from my sister?). I stuffed it last night with loosely spun wool (some of my early spinning) and some leftover plastic pellets to give it some weight. I like the wool stuffing better than the polyester used on the first pincushion finished back in May. The pincushion was missing this morning, and I thought our chocolate lab Max had purloined it, but there was no trail of pellets to be found. Apparently Murphy the cat needed a quick game of hockey, as it turned up under a bookcase.

Two aqua fabric covered buttons (commercial, with a plastic shaft) came to the top of the button box today to finish it off. Now off to find the other fabrics set aside for the next pincushion.

Finished object and report

The last pictures of the repurposed fabric weren't very attractive, but the bags finished up very nicely. I like the weight of the double layer, as it feels more substantial than even a lined bag. We ended up stuffing 42 bags with cosmetics and other sundries at the American Sewing Guild meeting earlier this month for the local domestic violence housing program. There is enough of the sturdy plaid lining for quite a few more bags, and they'll be ready for next year's donations.

When you make multiples of a project, there is always a learning curve, as something you may be willing to do once (i.e. zig-zag the edges and fold them over and re-stitch), is quickly replaced with serging the edges in one pass (and also containing fraying edges.) The notes are updated for the next time this project is worked on. I'll cut the outside and lining pieces the same size, pin together, serge the edges together then do the quilting.

Repurposing Fabric, Part 1

More "gifted" fabric has arrived, and has been sorted, assigned, gifted or tossed. In progress are cosmetic bags for my American Sewing Guild's December charity project. I started with a simple pattern from Better Homes and Garden that uses two rectangles for easy zipper sewing. The pieces are being layered with a pants-weight plaid fabric that has lines for easy quilting. By itself, I didn't find this fabric attractive, but it's working out great as a lining.

The lining is cut to the finished size, and the outside fabric 1" larger. The thin lines make a good scale grid for quilting. On my test sample, after folding the outside fabric in and zig-zag stitching, I realized that I'll need to trim the folded edge to about 1/4" all around before folding, so the finished edges will be hidden in the seams (except along the zipper edge.) Taking good notes on projects helps me step right back in after taking a break from them.

Some of the donated fabric was in strips about 6" wide, and I needed larger pieces, so they were seamed. My hat basket of ribbon pieces had this fun polka-dot ribbon that covers the seam. It was added after quilting the layers.

Five bags with this floral bag are in progress.

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.