The latest podcast of Annie's Quilting Stash had some great ideas for using and organizing fabric stash. The idea that hit home with me was placemats for Meals on Wheels - fall colors for Thanksgiving. I have a lot of assorted leafy/fall fabrics that work together in small groups, but not necessarily together for a large project. My local Meals on Wheels sounded receptive to the idea, and they told me the current number of people served is 35, which is reasonable for me to finish by Thanksgiving on my own (if the number was 100-200 I would have asked quilting friends for help). Three placemats are pieced & quilted (not bound), two more tops & battings are ready. The battings are being pieced from the 4" strips leftover from customer quilts that were too small to return and too large to throw away. I will probably finish them with regular quilt bindings rather than the serged finish I saw on some similar projects online. Two fat quarters per placemat, with a bit leftover, are being used (so far Rail Fence and 4" squares, but I may use other patterns.)
In knitting stash reduction, two more charity hats and a scarf have been finished too. A February Baby Sweater (Elizabeth Zimmermann) had been started too, but only after finishing the yoke did I realize that she had assumed we knew to put buttonholes in...and the yarn is quite awful, so I will purchase some nicer yarn and re-start, as this will be a gift. The yarn is splitty and a bit scratchy, so it will be recycled into something more decorative than wearable.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Starts and Stops
It’s been several weeks since I’ve come home from the biannual American Sewing Guild. It took me a week to organize projects to bring with me, twice as long to put things completely away. The two main projects I worked on didn’t come home with me – six dolls destined for Honduras, and nine pillowcases for the local Ronald McDonald House. Both were simple projects, but took a lot of prep work – selecting fabrics and coordinates, cutting out the pieces ahead of time. The projects used cheerful fabrics since they were for kids, and the hair for the dolls was recycled wool that still had kinks from the sweater that was blocked but never worn (and ripped).
I also worked on three quilt tops – one is finished and ready to quilt, consisting of three jungle prints with bright green sashing and orange/yellow batik cornerstones; an “I Spy” quilt needs two more squares to complete the layout before it is assembled, and a fairytale quilt needs some adjustments to get the sashings worked out to convert a soft book into a quilt top.
Spinning is happening several times a week, sometimes just for 30 minutes at a time. The second bobbin of a mostly teal green roving from CMF is almost done. Two bobbins of plied slubby cotton are ready to be cable plied for a 4-strand yarn. I’m learning lots about weights and WPI.
The Christmas quilt is finished, binding is complete. Now it will sit in the closet until December, unless it is gifted before then. Two more simple quilt designs have been drawn up in EQ but not started. Blocks for a group raffle quilt are finished (I made 12 Peaky & Spike blocks), fabrics for the next 3 month’s work of 9-patch swap blocks have been selected but not yet cut and sewn. It’s been harder to select fabrics for another group’s raffle quilt blocks – the fabric guidelines are a bit challenging, and I need to find out what colors have been collected so far, so mine will fit in.
I also worked on three quilt tops – one is finished and ready to quilt, consisting of three jungle prints with bright green sashing and orange/yellow batik cornerstones; an “I Spy” quilt needs two more squares to complete the layout before it is assembled, and a fairytale quilt needs some adjustments to get the sashings worked out to convert a soft book into a quilt top.
Spinning is happening several times a week, sometimes just for 30 minutes at a time. The second bobbin of a mostly teal green roving from CMF is almost done. Two bobbins of plied slubby cotton are ready to be cable plied for a 4-strand yarn. I’m learning lots about weights and WPI.
The Christmas quilt is finished, binding is complete. Now it will sit in the closet until December, unless it is gifted before then. Two more simple quilt designs have been drawn up in EQ but not started. Blocks for a group raffle quilt are finished (I made 12 Peaky & Spike blocks), fabrics for the next 3 month’s work of 9-patch swap blocks have been selected but not yet cut and sewn. It’s been harder to select fabrics for another group’s raffle quilt blocks – the fabric guidelines are a bit challenging, and I need to find out what colors have been collected so far, so mine will fit in.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Ply, Ply, Ply
Spinning still feels more like play than work. The natural colored merino that I bought with my spinning wheel is finally finished, and the plying process was even more fun than spinning. It doesn't take quite as much concentration and the result evens out my lumpy singles. After it was finished, the next fiber was 8 ounces of Crown Mountain Farms Superwash Merino, in the colorway Midnight Hour (purple, pink and natural).
Divided into two even lengths, one half showed a lot more of the natural color than the other.
Spun up into singles, the color differences weren’t quite as noticeable, though the bobbin only shows the top layer.
The final yarn, after plying and washing, air dried without any weight on it. It’s very soft, and I might venture a hat for myself, or perhaps fingerless mitts.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Work into Play
It seemed time for a new spring hat, and a cotton blend matched my optimism that the temperature would eventually start warming. It’s been colder than usual in Seattle, with more days of snow than I can ever remember (another 3” this morning, all gone by late afternoon). The yarn I fell in love with (online, not in person) didn’t seem to be available locally without an expedition, so I settled for my LYS’s Cascade Rio, mainly cotton (robin’s-egg blue) with some slubby rayon bits of color (pink and yellow). The slubs liked to split off, but I finished a simple beret in less than a week. It fits pretty well, covers my ears and doesn’t fall into my eyes constantly.
Some of my projects that felt more like chores are out of the way – finished the dust cover for the tile cutter (drawstring instead of elastic at base), made two more cloth bags for my frequent customer’s quilts, cut sashing and borders for the flower basket quilt, and stitched the binding to the top of the Christmas quilt. Finished a charity scarf using self-patterning sock yarn – doubled (strips came out soft, not too blenderized.) Made a charity baby/child hat from a frogged scarf. Also made a label for a crib quilt made long ago from Australian fabrics, for a gift to friends of my in-laws.
Play has been spinning again. I have two bundles of hand-dyed pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms purchased at least 1 ½ years ago, that has been waiting until my spinning skills are more consistent. Half of the colonial top that came with my wheel was still waiting to be my practice fiber. I spun half of the 8 oz. last weekend, and finished it up yesterday. I did my first plying with two full bobbins, and was pleased with the result. Plying was SO much fun I went digging for the top that I’d spun last fall, and was aghast at how different (arty? lumpy? ugly?) it looked than the most recent spinning. Still, it is nice wool, I’ll play with dyes sometime soon, and perhaps make some fingerless mitts since it is superwash. It may have to remain singles though, as the twist is very uneven.
I took pictures of the CMF purple/navy/white roving that I will spin this week, and will post the results, assuming I make more time to play.
Some of my projects that felt more like chores are out of the way – finished the dust cover for the tile cutter (drawstring instead of elastic at base), made two more cloth bags for my frequent customer’s quilts, cut sashing and borders for the flower basket quilt, and stitched the binding to the top of the Christmas quilt. Finished a charity scarf using self-patterning sock yarn – doubled (strips came out soft, not too blenderized.) Made a charity baby/child hat from a frogged scarf. Also made a label for a crib quilt made long ago from Australian fabrics, for a gift to friends of my in-laws.
Play has been spinning again. I have two bundles of hand-dyed pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms purchased at least 1 ½ years ago, that has been waiting until my spinning skills are more consistent. Half of the colonial top that came with my wheel was still waiting to be my practice fiber. I spun half of the 8 oz. last weekend, and finished it up yesterday. I did my first plying with two full bobbins, and was pleased with the result. Plying was SO much fun I went digging for the top that I’d spun last fall, and was aghast at how different (arty? lumpy? ugly?) it looked than the most recent spinning. Still, it is nice wool, I’ll play with dyes sometime soon, and perhaps make some fingerless mitts since it is superwash. It may have to remain singles though, as the twist is very uneven.
I took pictures of the CMF purple/navy/white roving that I will spin this week, and will post the results, assuming I make more time to play.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Trying to organize my projects (and actually finish some of them) finds me grouping them into categories: short-term, long-term, simple and involved. Some of the simple projects are great when I am indecisive or tired, and don’t have the energy to think through multiple steps. Last weekend the 14 napkins were the right project – double hemming them took some time but not much thought, and I caught up on some longer podcasts without falling asleep.
One short-term project that is on the list now is not a simple one: designing a dust cover for a specific piece of shop equipment. It is an odd shape, and I’ve drawn the side pattern with the unusual silhouette, but the construction is giving me pause. It won’t be moved a lot, but the shape has a couple of strain points, and I am contemplating whether putting a seam at those points will strengthen them, or if just using some kind of reinforcement is better. A strip of twill tape might be enough, but it might work best inside, so it doesn’t become a ridge that collects dust. There is also a request to put elastic at the corners to help hold it in place, and that will either need to be sewn on the inside or placed inside the hem/casing, which would be tricky to keep flat when hemming. If my stash includes sew-through elastic, adding it after the hem would be easier.
Two long-term quilt projects are moving along little by little. A big part – the quilting – of one happened last week when my scheduled work was finished early. Yesterday the binding was pieced and pressed. The other quilt needs sashing and borders cut and sewn on, the backing pieced, and then it goes into the queue for the next available quilting slot.
I was able to get into an American Sewing Guild retreat at the end of March, and yesterday I spent an hour or so cutting out pillowcases for Ronald McDonald House, which is the ASG’s national project this year. The fabrics I chose were directional, and they had to be cut in two pieces rather than just WOF, so the prints would not be sideways on the pillowcases. I had a border print with bear cubs leftover from a block swap, and four yards of a cheerful country landscape with farmhouses and cows. I have a couple more projects in mind for the retreat, both simple and complicated.
One short-term project that is on the list now is not a simple one: designing a dust cover for a specific piece of shop equipment. It is an odd shape, and I’ve drawn the side pattern with the unusual silhouette, but the construction is giving me pause. It won’t be moved a lot, but the shape has a couple of strain points, and I am contemplating whether putting a seam at those points will strengthen them, or if just using some kind of reinforcement is better. A strip of twill tape might be enough, but it might work best inside, so it doesn’t become a ridge that collects dust. There is also a request to put elastic at the corners to help hold it in place, and that will either need to be sewn on the inside or placed inside the hem/casing, which would be tricky to keep flat when hemming. If my stash includes sew-through elastic, adding it after the hem would be easier.
Two long-term quilt projects are moving along little by little. A big part – the quilting – of one happened last week when my scheduled work was finished early. Yesterday the binding was pieced and pressed. The other quilt needs sashing and borders cut and sewn on, the backing pieced, and then it goes into the queue for the next available quilting slot.
I was able to get into an American Sewing Guild retreat at the end of March, and yesterday I spent an hour or so cutting out pillowcases for Ronald McDonald House, which is the ASG’s national project this year. The fabrics I chose were directional, and they had to be cut in two pieces rather than just WOF, so the prints would not be sideways on the pillowcases. I had a border print with bear cubs leftover from a block swap, and four yards of a cheerful country landscape with farmhouses and cows. I have a couple more projects in mind for the retreat, both simple and complicated.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Crochet Jinx Begone!
I’m finally over the crochet jinx. There were actually two early projects that were successful, and just one bad one. The project wasn’t that bad, but the size was way off and it was very embarassing.
When I decided it would be nice to crochet a scarf and matching beret for my new Mother-in-law, of course it was to be a surprise, so I didn’t ask her about it. She walked her dog several times a day, so it was a practical gift, soft and washable. When I grew up, lots of women had very oddly colored hair. I never suspected that she wore a wig, and that a snug-fitting beret would pull her wig off. She did use the scarf though.
After that, the only other project I attempted with crochet was to assemble some afghan strips that my Mother had done years before. She must have lost her momentum when she discovered that they weren’t the same size. The project involved removing the box from her closet (so full that she didn’t notice, but her cats did, as they had been “nesting” in it), washing all the fur off them, and then unraveling the strips to be the same width. Fortunately they had been crocheted with short rows, so this was easy to do. The strips were joined together with the unraveled yarn into a usable blanket. My Mother was astonished!
Another reason why crochet was set aside for a long time was the fact that my knitting was criticized by a fellow bus commuter. She was quite the craftswoman, had taught sewing and considered herself an expert on all things crafty. I knit continental style, and use the middle finger of my left hand to help place the working yarn, and it drove her nuts! I had also asked my sister for help with a technique around the same time, and since she knits English style, she could not grasp what I was doing at all. It drove my knitting underground for a long while. I kept at knitting by myself, on and off until I was able to join a group at a local yarn store that met weekly, working our way through The Knitter’s Handbook. That was my first exposure to knitting with others, and boosted my confidence a great deal. We learned some simple crochet stitches too, and that sent me to playing with some simple crochet patterns.
My current crochet project is a simple ripple afghan. I was sure it was way beyond my skills, even though I had been happily working on three inch sock yarn granny squares after watching a video from the library. I had a collection of yarns that had been started as two other knitted afghan projects that just weren’t working. Working on this little afghan is very satisfying—using up yarn that was unhappy twice, and learning that just going though a crochet pattern line by line is really very easy and fun.
When I decided it would be nice to crochet a scarf and matching beret for my new Mother-in-law, of course it was to be a surprise, so I didn’t ask her about it. She walked her dog several times a day, so it was a practical gift, soft and washable. When I grew up, lots of women had very oddly colored hair. I never suspected that she wore a wig, and that a snug-fitting beret would pull her wig off. She did use the scarf though.
After that, the only other project I attempted with crochet was to assemble some afghan strips that my Mother had done years before. She must have lost her momentum when she discovered that they weren’t the same size. The project involved removing the box from her closet (so full that she didn’t notice, but her cats did, as they had been “nesting” in it), washing all the fur off them, and then unraveling the strips to be the same width. Fortunately they had been crocheted with short rows, so this was easy to do. The strips were joined together with the unraveled yarn into a usable blanket. My Mother was astonished!
Another reason why crochet was set aside for a long time was the fact that my knitting was criticized by a fellow bus commuter. She was quite the craftswoman, had taught sewing and considered herself an expert on all things crafty. I knit continental style, and use the middle finger of my left hand to help place the working yarn, and it drove her nuts! I had also asked my sister for help with a technique around the same time, and since she knits English style, she could not grasp what I was doing at all. It drove my knitting underground for a long while. I kept at knitting by myself, on and off until I was able to join a group at a local yarn store that met weekly, working our way through The Knitter’s Handbook. That was my first exposure to knitting with others, and boosted my confidence a great deal. We learned some simple crochet stitches too, and that sent me to playing with some simple crochet patterns.
My current crochet project is a simple ripple afghan. I was sure it was way beyond my skills, even though I had been happily working on three inch sock yarn granny squares after watching a video from the library. I had a collection of yarns that had been started as two other knitted afghan projects that just weren’t working. Working on this little afghan is very satisfying—using up yarn that was unhappy twice, and learning that just going though a crochet pattern line by line is really very easy and fun.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
In Black and White
The list of my sewing room projects has finally been updated, by listing all the UFO's, PIG's and PIM's. Sorting them by category helps keep things in perspective, since there are 45 total.
UFO's - Unfinished Objects, or projects in progress. Ten doesn't sound too bad, though this list is mainly sewing or quilting, and doesn't include knitting, crochet and weaving. Two quilt tops need borders added, and I'm fussing with colors and sizes. These are both quilts that I will most likely keep for myself, or if given as gifts only to a very special person. Three other quilt tops have pieces cut out, and one is a group of blocks from an exchange, where I need to make about 15 more blocks plus pieced border blocks. Napkins, burp cloths and a new studio apron are also cut out and need just a bit of dedicated sewing time.
PIG's - The largest group at 26. These are Projects in a Grocery Bag (usually plastic shoeboxes), with a pattern or sketch and some fabrics in mind. They range from a small embroidery to two bed-sized quilts (backing included). Two are not fabric-related: stitch markers for knitting, and beaded snowflakes.
PIM's - Scaled back to 9, but the group most likely to grow. Projects in Mind are usually just a pattern, purchased or marked in a magazine, or drawn in a sketchbook. Unless I've printed out a diagram, the many many quilt designs in my Electric Quilt 6 program aren't included.
The last two years I have worked with my UFO list to try and finish projects, or let them go. For example last year, two sets of blocks were given away to someone else, several projects were released, but quite a few were finished. I gave myself permission to just make tops for charity, quilting them if they were really special. This lets me try out ideas or use up fabrics that attach themselves to a design in my head.
The next step is to add my knitting, sewing, weaving and spinning ideas to the list, just to help keep things in perspective. Ravelry's "Stash" database has helped me face up to my yarn accumulation, and is a good reality check every time I fall in love with a new pattern. My favorite part of creating things is choosing a design and the materials. I do enjoy the process of creating things, but often need an external motivator (such as a deadline for a gift) to finish things.
UFO's - Unfinished Objects, or projects in progress. Ten doesn't sound too bad, though this list is mainly sewing or quilting, and doesn't include knitting, crochet and weaving. Two quilt tops need borders added, and I'm fussing with colors and sizes. These are both quilts that I will most likely keep for myself, or if given as gifts only to a very special person. Three other quilt tops have pieces cut out, and one is a group of blocks from an exchange, where I need to make about 15 more blocks plus pieced border blocks. Napkins, burp cloths and a new studio apron are also cut out and need just a bit of dedicated sewing time.
PIG's - The largest group at 26. These are Projects in a Grocery Bag (usually plastic shoeboxes), with a pattern or sketch and some fabrics in mind. They range from a small embroidery to two bed-sized quilts (backing included). Two are not fabric-related: stitch markers for knitting, and beaded snowflakes.
PIM's - Scaled back to 9, but the group most likely to grow. Projects in Mind are usually just a pattern, purchased or marked in a magazine, or drawn in a sketchbook. Unless I've printed out a diagram, the many many quilt designs in my Electric Quilt 6 program aren't included.
The last two years I have worked with my UFO list to try and finish projects, or let them go. For example last year, two sets of blocks were given away to someone else, several projects were released, but quite a few were finished. I gave myself permission to just make tops for charity, quilting them if they were really special. This lets me try out ideas or use up fabrics that attach themselves to a design in my head.
The next step is to add my knitting, sewing, weaving and spinning ideas to the list, just to help keep things in perspective. Ravelry's "Stash" database has helped me face up to my yarn accumulation, and is a good reality check every time I fall in love with a new pattern. My favorite part of creating things is choosing a design and the materials. I do enjoy the process of creating things, but often need an external motivator (such as a deadline for a gift) to finish things.
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