Half Moon Tote

This is the larger size of the Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote. I wanted to make a bag that worked with the Moda Half Moon fabric after the Mini Multi didn’t turn out as expected. I am pretty pleased how this one turned out.

Half Moon Tote - detail

I might be done with this pattern. I dug the Cruzer & Little Cru pattern out and may start working on that.

Cross Stitch Sampler

One of my first serious craft undertakings was cross stitch. Counted cross stitch. I started cross stitching when I escaped to Denmark for a week during a difficult year. I went to visit my Danish sister and her family. Ulla, my Danish sister’s mother, treated me like her long lost daughter. One of the things we did was go to downtown Copenhagen and buy a cross stitch pattern. The pattern I bought, daffodils, was Eva Rosenstand / Clara Waever brand, as is the one above. It was the perfect for a long, cold, snowy winter project. Ulla showed me how to follow the pattern and make perfect stitches.

I finished that daffodil wallhanging and gave it to her. The next time I went to see the family, my little cross stitch was hanging, framed, in a place of honor in her dining room. It made me feel so good.

Cross Stitch Sampler Top/Middle

I bought this pattern years later. I think I bought it in Solvang and it was wildly expensive. I worked diligently on it and was so proud when the border came out perfectly.

Cross Stitch Sampler Top Corner

I have never created a quilt border that perfectly. You can tell it is Danish, because of the extra letters from the Danish alphabet. No, I do not speak Danish.

I gave it to my grandmother as a gift fo her birthday. I didn’t have the money to have it framed, which was a shame, because the presentation would have been a lot better. She opened it and before she got the whole thing out of the box, her husband said “WHAT are we going to do with THAT?” I felt so deflated and I never saw the piece again. I worked so hard on it and I was sure that it went to Goodwill in one of the regular purges that my grandmother loves.

Cross Stitch Sampler Bottom

Last week, my mom gave me a small package wrapped in lime green tissue. I wanted to go to Solvang on the way to or from Long Beach to get another cross stitch pattern from the shop there. It just didn’t get high enough up on the priority list.

When I opened the package I almost cried. My grandmother had sent me back this sampler. She hadn’t gotten rid of it! I was thrilled. I really did a nice job on this project and I am going to get it framed and hang it in a place of honor.

Blue Flower Tote

This is one of the totes that made over the past week or so. I think I bought the fabric when I was in Maryland a few years ago. I bought the fabric specifically for a tote bag. It has been in my tote bag fabric box for awhile. I started to wonder why I bought it and then I found a great use for it. I like the fabric, but it turns out not to be a fabric that I would carry around. I think I bought it at the beginning of my tote bag making mania when I didn’t have a lot of tote bag fabrics.

I used a tea pot fabric for the inside.

Blue Flower Tote Bag - detail

Robot Pillowcase #2

I had to finish something this weekend aside from the interminable pressing and patch cutting. I pulled out one of the pillowcases I had prepared when The Child was making his and finished it. These pillowcases are soooo unbelieveably easy. The worst part is cutting the fabric. I think I have one more prepared and then I’ll have organize more fabric to make a few more.

TFQ is making a bunch and she tried sizing down the Twiddletails pattern slightly. She said it came out fine and she didn’t have to cram the pillow into the case. I want to avoid that at all costs. I want the pillow to slide in so it is a 2 second linen changing job rather than a 20 minute pain and torture session.

One of the best things about this particular pillowcase is that the seam where the cuff, trim and body of the pillowcase all come together matched up! I was really excited about that!

Matching Seams

I know it is silly, but I really like doing the best job possible so that people don’t say that I didn’t pay attention. Since these are going to kids with cancer, I really want mine to be the best they can be.

On another, but slightly related note, my mom loved her Sweet Dreams Pillowcase. She left SoCal almost as soon as she received it, but she said she used it at least once.

I am still working on a number of projects on which I have made incremental progress. That is one reason I needed to whip out the pillowcase. I needed to finish something!

Happy Child

The Child and I worked on and finished his pillowcase. I wanted him to do several, but we won’t be doing that. My original idea was that he work on a project during the summer that was not screen related and would help or benefit someone else.

Lining Up the Pieces

We started on Thursday of last week. There are 3 pieces in the Twiddletails pattern: the cuff, the trim and the main body of the pillowcase. The pain part of this project is lining up the 3 pieces.

Pinning

The whole process was a challenge for him. Sewing is not high on the list of interesting activities for a 13 year old. The prospect of helping kids with cancer kept him there, but he had a hard time with the various parts of the process.

It was interesting and a good lesson for me to show him what to do. Everything was so foreign to him. Pinning took forever and it started with me showing him how to stick a pin in the fabric layers to keep them all together. I was surprised that I found it so incomprehensible that he didn’t intuitively know this basic concept. Almost all of the steps of sewing are so ingrained in my being that working with someone who had no experience was an eye opener. It gave me some insight into some of what beginner quilters know and don’t know.

Sewing the Burrito

Running the machine was not an attraction for my darling. He sewed carefully and slowly…for awhile. He had a hard time with the concept of not pushing the fabric through the machine, but letting the feed dogs do the work.

As You Sew, So Shall You Rip

He didn’t pay attention and wandered off where the seam line should be. He learned how to rip out his stitches.

First Success

He was able to finally finish sewing the burrito. If you can make it through the pinning and sewing with this pattern, the burrito creates the cuff, trim and body of the pillow case as one large piece. The Child had some trouble with the trim, but I didn’t feel like making him rip it out again. It is good enough. I plan to pin a note to this pillowcase saying that a teenager made it and it was his first sewing project.

As You Sew, So Shall You Rip 2

After he sewed the burrito, I had him sew the first line of the main part of the pillowcase. He sped the machine up a little (I had it set to super slow) and his mind wandered. The seam, which started out a 1/4″ away from the edge of the pillowcase ended up near the middle of the main part of the taco fabric. I didn’t look before I told him to backstitch, which ended up as a square spiral, also in the middle of the pillowcase. More ripping and unsewing. I did half for him and we took a week long break.

Following the Line

Yesterday, we got back to it. I drew a line on the pillowcase that he could follow while sewing. Brilliant! The line was much easier for him to follow.

Crazy Pillowcase Maker

Yes, his hair has a life of its own, but here is The Child with his finished pillowcase. He left my workroom so fast I was surprised my head didn’t spin. Now I need to think of a new project for the rest of the summer.

I really didn’t know I knew so much about sewing.

Since I returned from Long Beach, I have been trying to sew a lot. I have a lot of new fabric and I want to play with it. I don’t feel like I am sewing enough, but I am trying.

One of the first things I do is wash and press the fabric. This is a big bottleneck right now. The washing, as I may have mentioned, is done. Since I am not finished pressing so I am, basically, pressing as I need a certain fabric.

The first thing in my sewing adventure I did was cut out and prepare pillowcases for sewing. there is a lot of pinning in the Twiddletails pattern. So far, I have made a total of 3 pillowcases and have two more cut out and ready to sew. I wrote about this a little bit in my post entitled Pillowcase Party. This is ongoing. I have a lot more pillowcases in me, but I am dealing with incremental progress on a number of projects right, so I have very little to show for it.

“Incremental progress on a lot of projects” means that I am working on a lot of different projects and haven’t settled down to one yet. I have been cutting pieces for the Frosted Stars quilt, cutting diamonds, working on tote bags, cutting various patches, trying things for the Zig Zaggy Quilt, etc.

Napkins & Pillowcases (8/2010)

The robot pillowcase (middle), which will be donated, is new. I finished that one quickly yesterday. The two pieces on the right are napkins. I saw the pie fabric and had to get it for napkins. I make pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas and it fits into our family culture. The martini fabric was just fun and not something I would use in a quilt, so napkins again.

I don’t really like making napkins, because the seams don’t press well for me. I LOVE using cloth napkins though. I love seeing different fabrics. I love people’s comments when they sit at my table. I love choosing which one I am going to use for the next few days. I also think it is great way to spread fun fabrics throughout my life.

The napkin fabrics won’t be in FOTY 2010, because I only bought a half yard of each and I use two FQs for each napkin. I like generous napkins and I don’t want to square them up. This time I used two new fabrics (the pies and martinis) and found two fabrics that had been around for awhile with which to pair the new fabrics. When I brought them downstairs the boys were already claiming their favorites.

I finally made the sleeve for the Chocolate Box, so that quilt is nearly done.

Blue Janus Quilted

I also went longarming last week. I am not longarming a monster quilt again. The process didn’t go smoothly and only a small part of it was because of the size. I think it is good to find my limitations. For longarming, I think mine limit is a twin sized quilt.

The shop is having problems with their machine, but it was still functional. We spent two hours working through the machine not working. I quilted about 4 blocks (6″ finished) and we had to rip out all that quilting. Evelyn, my helper, was awesome. We talked about our quilting while we worked on the machine. She told me about her family. Another lady came in to help. No dice. The machine wasn’t working. Finally, one of the owners came in and told us we were using the crappy thread that couldn’t be used with the longarm machine.

My question was why was that thread in the longarm room if it wasn’t to be used for longarming? If it was in the room, I would certainly choose it!

We changed the thread and the machine worked like a charm. Sigh.

The good part is that I got a lot of practice stopping and starting, which I needed.

I was too tired to trim the quilt, so it still needs to be trimmed and it needs the binding of course.

There is more to do and I need about a week to just sew with no other obligations.

I am sick of Wordless Week. It was great while I was gone, because I didn’t have to worry about posting, but now that I am back (yes, I will tell you all the details) I want to toss up some words and get some words back from YOU!

I am sitting here listening to Patrick Monahan and Train singing “Hey, Soul Sister” and “Save Me, San Francisco.” Suddenly, I am obsessed with these two songs and have been listening to them over and over for the past half hour or so. I don’t know what they mean, but I love the sound. I first heard “Hey, Soul Sister” on a re-run of CSI: NY, then I found the performance on YouTube and, then, had to buy the song. Now I can listen to it, as well as “Save Me, San Francisco” whenever I want. It is a good thing I am home alone (as I write this), because I am sure the family would be screaming for me to stop torturing them.

Along the lines of obsession, I have been making pillowcases for the past 24 hours. I have 4 cut out and two made. Of the two, one has already been mailed as a special gift. I hope the recipient is still where I mailed it when it arrives! She told me today she is leaving! Oh well!

Hoffman Fish

The fish pillowcase is made from an oooolllllddd Hoffman print. TFQ informs me that it is at least 15 years old. It was in my stack of fabrics that are designated for backs or ‘other.’ Often I buy a half yard or less (though I am having a crisis of how much fabric I should buy), which is not enough for a pillowcase.

Unless I have bought specific fabric for a pillowcase, then my general collection does not provide large enough pieces for the main piece of the pillowcase, so I dug into the back stash. If I haven’t used the fabric, it should be fair game, right? I have a lot of conversationals in this group, so they will work well for the cheerful pillowcases being requested.

I have mentioned the Million Pillowcase Challenge a couple of times. I went to the website to try and figure out where to send the pillowcases and encountered a problem. Quilt shops are collecting them. I have to donate them locally and don’t really have a local quilt shop. One is a few towns over, but they don’t seem to be collecting them. I was determined to forge ahead when CraftHope came through.

CraftHope just finished their largest project, related to the oil spill clean up in the Gulf of Mexico, ever. As is their M.O., they started Project #9, a collection of pillowcases for the Con Kerr Cancer Project. The good thing (for me) about this particular project is that they provide a regional directory of hospitals to which I can send or take the pillowcases with contact information. The deadline is September 15 for the CraftHope project. Can you make some pillowcases?

As I mentioned, The Child and I will be making the taco and robot pillowcases tomorrow. I cut all the pieces and made the fish pillowcase so that I have the steps firmly lodged in my head. He would lose what little interest he has if he had to wait around while I tried to figure out the directions. TFQ walked me through the first pillowcase (see below) and, thus, was instrumental in getting me started.

One big problem is suitable fabrics for the 12-17 year old boy set. After all, all agesa nd genders get sick. I looked at the various quilt shops I visited last week and saw some that would be ok. I saw a great selection at VooDoo Rabbit.

Sweet Dreams Pillowcase

I saw the chocolate fabric at Britex when I was inspired to make a Sweet Dreams pillowcase for my mom. She has ongoing problems sleeping and is having a hard go of it taking care of Grama in SoCal.

The fabric has been around since the end of June and I finally got my act together and made the piece. I am happy with the way it turned out. She is coming home next week. I sent the pillowcase today and hope it arrives before she leaves.

I used the Twiddletails pattern and it is great! It seems bizarre, but works very well and I learned to make French seams! She has a store, so go buy a pillowcase kit and make one for Con Kerr. Thanks, Anina!

I have graduated from Train to Semisonic singing Closing Time, so I will end this post and work on my CPP responses, pillowcases, napkins, and all the projects I am fired up to make!

Finished Cover + Marker

Don’t get too excited, I haven’t started writing. I had a big burst of writing inspiration back in April, but the journal wasn’t ready. After working on it recently, it is more ready. It is funny. I worked on it diligently and thought I was done with all of the backgrounds. As I looked through it after everything was dry, I saw other spots and pages that needed work.

If you haven’t been to work of heart, you need to put it on your list for your next vacation. After going to see the Rosacrucian Museum, you need to spend some time at A Work of Heart. As I have said before, it is an awesomely creative environment.

Lightening a Page

Some of the pages were too dark. In my previous post about this journal, I showed the Credit Card plaid. While the page above is not the credit card plaid page, it was just as dark. Andrea had some spray on Gesso, which makde short work of lightening the page. It is a spray paint type of application, which I didn’t much like (had on my cute clothes), but I did like the end result. I think it will be much easier to write on this page with it lighter.

Adding Words

While I don’t have a complete plan for how I am going to work with this journal, I do know that I wanted page numbers. The Child usually gets a slice of pizza at a place which requires we take a number. I realized that the numbers would make interesting, if a little large, page numbers.

The point of the journal is to explore the word “Purpose.” To that end, I wanted to, first, explore the shape of the letters of the word. I stamped and pasted letters on to almost every page. The letters on the page above are favorites.

Chalk and Silhouette

One of the techniques Andrea showed us was the one above – creating a silhouette page out of pan pastel and a magazine photo. One of the other students did it and I borrowed her silhouette and added it to my journal.

The page number on this page is a little different.  I got a pack of note cards at IKEA which depict address signs on one side. Each pack has a different group of numbers, but the back of each pack shows a tiny illustration of all of the notecards. I cut out each of the  numbers and used it for the page numbers. There weren’t enough for every page, so there are a variety throughout the book.

There is another class in July. We’ll see if I can make it and actually finish my journal.

Knitting Box Closed

Yes, the Knitting Box, which seemed like such a failure, is finished. It took me much longer than I thought it would. Even though I should be done with this project, I am tempted to make another just because I would like to perfect the process as well as make a few modifications.

Knitting Box Open

SIL likes it and I hope she will find it useful. I was nearly finished when she dropped off her child and requested a wrist band instead of the belt loop she originally requested.

Knitting Box One Flap Open

No dice. I did not want to rip out the seam and insert a longer loop. I didn’t have it in me. Fortunately, SIL is very thin and the belt loop was generous enough to fit over her hand. It is tight enough not to slip off as she is in transit.

The above photo shows that I added some snaps. I had some large black snaps on hand, which SIL said would be fine to use. I decided I wanted something to match the piece. I looked for pink snaps in several local shops with no success. I am sure I have seen colored snaps before, but I couldn’t find any. I must have seen them online. I finally bought clear snaps and they work well to keep the box closed. I was able to finish it while she was out.

Corner Detail

Part of what I wanted to do was secure the corners into a small box shape. I did that with beads and Laura Wasilowski hand dyed Perl Cotton. I hope it holds up. If not, I can fix it.

Snaps in Action/Corner Detail

Above you can see the snaps and unfolding action as well as a bit of the corner detail.

Open View from the Side

I put two snaps on the edge covering the section where the yarn will come out. I thought that SIL could only snap one in order to allow the yarn to flow out more smoothly.

Another View - Closed

You can see how the yarn would come out with one snap open.

Another View - Closed

I will be really interested in how this project actually works in practice and if SIL uses it. I like the way the box looks in this picture and wonder if it will stay like that while she is on the go and knitting.

One of the things I really ended up liking about this project is how it became a group effort. I appreciate my SIL and my niece helping me figure out the solution to my challenges and to all of my readers who gave me resources. I also appreciate the opportunity to do something a little different and to Ruthann Logsdon Zarroff of Mirkwood Designs for posting the original Truffle Box pattern.

Thanks!

I think the cycle is complete. For a couple of years, I have been trying to focus on the process of making rather than the finished object. I think the cycle is complete, because I am starting not to care that much about keeping things that I make. (there are no lines for the stuff I make, though) This could be a bad thing, because it is possible that I will just start and start and start projects and not worry about finishing. Let’s not go there.

Jill's Pencil Roll - closed

Jill received her pencil roll yesterday. I have been waiting, for what seems like weeks, to tell you about about, especially since I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for blog posts, Jill’s Pencil Roll. Being sick really cut into my sewing time.

Anyway, Jill has been a loyal contributor to the Creative Prompt Project, along with SherriD, for the past year +. Jill has contributed a fabulous doodle response every week. I wanted to thank her for her contribution. It is a time commitment and I appreciate her gift to me of a bit of her time. I had hoped to post both gift posts together, but SherriD received hers the day after I sent it! (Thank  you, USPS) Jill’s took a bit longer to arrive.

Back when I started the CPP, I didn’t plan to reward people for contributing. It is something that popped into my head a month or so ago and seemed like the right thing to do. When I decided I wanted to do this, I thought I would “borrow” some images from Jill’s blog and surprise her. At that time, she had a problem with someone else “borrowing” images. I decided that stealing was wrong and I should just ask. I didn’t give Jill all of the details, but she was very gracious, didn’t ask many questions and sent me some of her images from which I could choose.

Jill's Pencil Roll - outside detail

I had an idea in my mind of what I would do, but in looking at the images, I decided on something else – what you see above. I don’t like rats, but I thought it was important to include this little guy to go along with Jill’s blog name.

This one was a little more challenging than some of the others I have made, because I had to fit the images in to a piece of fabric that would become the outside of the pencil roll. I went back to the days of piecing journal covers and took a page out of that book in terms of piecing the back. I didn’t want to piece the whole back, because I had a piece of FabMo fabric that screamed Jill at me.

Jill's Pencil Roll - outside

The black and white is a designer sample that I got via Bron from FabMo. It wasn’t very large, so I thought adding the bit with the images would work and wouldn’t be too large and unwieldy. It worked out very well and I am pleased with how it came out.

Jill's Pencil Roll - inside

Everything I use to make the Pencil Rolls is from supplies I already have or from FabMo fabric. You don’t need much more than fabric, ribbon and something to use as interfacing.  I save ribbon, which I seem to get a lot of, so some of the pencil roll ribbons have odd words on them. Other things would work as ties as well. I just think it is nice to give these bits and pieces a new life.

Decorative Stitch on Pencil Pocket

I have also started to use a decorative stitch on the pocket of the pencil roll just to make it a little more special. It makes the pocket pucker a bit, so I think I start adding a bit of length to it to account for that puckering. It doesn’t pucker so much that I have had a problem sewing it within the seam allowance.

Jill's Pencil Roll - Tips

One thing I learned the hard way on Lil Sissy’s pencil roll was to use a binder clip to gather the ribbon tie out of the way. What is the hard way? Sewing the ribbon to the back as you sew along creating the pencil pockets. If you don’t have a binder clip, get one!

I am really happy that Jill liked the pencil roll. Thanks to everyone who participates in the CPP!. If you are quietly doing it alone, please post a direct link to your responses in the comments section of the prompt or to the Flickr group so we can ooooh and aah over your contributions!

SherriD's Pencil Roll - closed

This pencil roll was made with FabMo fabric. I found the piece and it made me think of SherriD’s Renaissance Faire activities. I decided to make her a pencil roll as a thank you for participating in the Creative Prompt Project for the past year+.

SherriD's Pencil Roll - open

If I haven’t mentioned this before, the FabMo fabrics are generally samples. They vary in size, but I can usually get only one piece of a particular design. I didn’t have enough to use for the inside, so I tried to pick some fabrics that would coordinate and give the feeling of history. The marbled fabric reminds me of the end papers in a book.

Yes, it is Teacher Pillow time of year. I had resolved to not leave it until the last minute, but being in bed with a nasty virus for over week did not assist me in my resolve.

I made one pillow last weekend after I was feeling a little better. I also made a block during the week for one of the pillow tops, but spent the better part of Friday finishing them up. School is out on Friday, so I had to get it done.

Resource Teacher Pillow

Above is the pillow for the Resource Teacher. She has been working with The Child for the past four years. She has made my life a lot better, because she gets The Child. She has provided support that I wasn’t getting from the lower school resource teacher (through no fault of his own).  I will be VERY sad not work with her anymore.

Every year I pull out the same fabrics and make a different block. Now she has a set. I am thinking of making a quillow next year. I have never done that, but my SIL is an expert and I can draw on her expertise.

I was surprised to see that lozenge design show up in the middle of the block. I amy have miscolored the blocks when I sewed the pieces together. The block is called Crockett’s Cabin in Around the Block. That lozenge shape is very appealing and I am wondering if it would work for a FOTY piece?

Literature Teacher Pillow

As The Child has moved up in the grades, I spend less time in the classroom, thus I know the teachers less and less. I try to get a sense of the colors of the teachers and it is very difficult when I have only spoken to them 3-4 times. The literature teacher, who also happened to be The Child’s homeroom teacher had a hard year this year. She was out for four months at the beginning of the year, because of the death in her family. I thought The Child would have a hard transition when she came back to school, but he took to her like a duck to water.  He liked her because “she doesn’t think she knows everything” and I found her to be a very intuitive teacher. I don’t know if the above colors or design are her style, but they are what immediately came to mind when I thought of her. I hope she likes it.

Literature Teacher Pillow-back

I force The Child to do a little drawing for each of his teachers. He had a hard time this year. He is getting out of creative practice and I have to get on him about that. (N.B. I blacked the names to protect the innocent!)

Making the backs fit is the most time consuming part. I couldn’t seem to get it right on any of them. This one is actually sideways on the pillow. I figured that nobody would care, if they even noticed.

Social Studies Teacher

I really hope she doesn’t sincerely dislike purple. This block, in Around the Block, is called Star of Hope. It looks to me like a basic Ohio Star. I don’t really believe that blocks should have different names just because they have been recolored. I haven’t taken the time to look this up in the Jinny Beyer’s new book, The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns.

Social Studies Teacher - back

The Child kind of got into his drawing after a bit. He has a subtle sense of humor. I thought this drawing was very funny. Do you get it?

Science Teacher

I mentioned on Tuesday that I found some fabrics I didn’t really like while I was cutting FOTY pieces. A couple of the above fabrics are those fabrics. However, the Science Teacher is male and I have not had the opportunity to make pillows for many male teachers. I found these fabrics to be great for a science man. I think they look a bit like rocks. I only had a fat quarter of each, so I had to add some others and I don’t have any to match next year, but may continue with the rock theme.

Science Teacher-back

You can see that The Child got on to a roll with his drawings as he progressed through them.

The drawings are done on an 8.5×11″ piece of paper. First I fold the paper into quarters and then I draw pencil lines to mark the seam allowances. I also make a note as to which rectangle on the paper goes to which teacher. This year I also put in the name and the year. The Child knows now to keep within the seam allowance

Math Teacher

In the past, The Child has chose the blocks for each teacher. This year he didn’t really care that much, so I mostly chose them. He was adamant about what he wanted for the math teacher. He saw the piece of pie I appliqued on the Tarts Come to Tea piece. He was adamant that he wanted that on the math teacher’s pillow. This is the first time I have done applique’ for a teacher.

Math Teacher-back

The Child kept with the Pie/Pi theme for the back. Again with the sense of humor!

So done for another! YAY! I am going to a party today, but am going to find a fun project to work on tomorrow. I am glad I soldiered through and don’t have this project hanging around for tomorrow, except for the wrapping and the card writing.

I have to admit that I am sick of this project. There is only one year left and I am finished. I am not doing them for high school. I don’t think it is really appropriate and would embarrass The Child, but there are also too many teachers.

It is funny how you think something is a good idea and then a tradition and expectations start, which turns the fun into a chore.

I do enjoy looking through Around the Block and picking out the blocks to use. I am tempted to make blocks for next year’s pillows while I have the fabric out and just tuck them away until April or May so I have less to do next year. We’ll see.

Kim Pencil Roll

Pencil rolls usually take me about 3 hours to make. That assumes, of course, that I don’t sew the ties to the back as I am making the pencil pockets and have to rip out.

This one took me three days for a number of reasons. First, not being one to make simple requests, she wanted one that would accommodate the colored pencils she had cut in half so she could have half of her collection at her job in SF and half at home in Santa Barbara. This meant that the pocket had to be smaller, which meant adjusting the pattern and not just sewing like a demon. I mulled this over for some time and finally came upon the idea of two pockets. The green and white city fabric is used to make a pocket on both top and bottom, so there isn’t really a top. Looking at it now, I should have made those pockets a wee bit wider or the whole piece a bit smaller, but it will work.

Second, I was sick almost all of last week, the weekend and the previous Friday. No kidding and no fooling around kind of sick. Stay in bed and don’t do anything kind of sick except read and sleep kind of sick. I don’t remember being that sick in a long while. The only thing I really accomplished was cooking dinner one night, breakfast one morning, loading the dishwasher twice and reading 4 books.

Finally, I made a lot of mistakes in this project. I blame it on the illness and the mad desire not to waste all this time at home. Getting well just doesn’t seem like enough, but apparently it had to be.

Lil Sissy Pencil Roll Closed

Yes, that is a ribbon or tie from the Merry & Bright Jelly Roll I used for the It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap quilt. It really was the perfect length to tie up this pencil roll. It also fit with the linen feel of the fabric I used for the outside.

Yes, that grape fabric is another fabulous FabMo fabric. I only used half the piece, too, so I’ll have to think of another accessory to make for Lil Sissy with the rest.

Lil Sissy Pencil Roll back

I don’t really get a sense of the fabric until I start working with it. This backing fabric was more loosely woven than the quilting cottons I normally use. One of the good things about the FabMo fabrics is that they are generally of good quality. At least I think they are of good quality. Despite the looser weave (and I am NOT saying it was holey), I had no problem with fraying or raveling or any of the sewing. Looking at the back of the piece, I find that the leaves and grapes really look 3 dimensional.

Lil Sissy Pencil Roll piecing

Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio‘s pencil roll pattern has EXCELLENT directions. I really like this pattern and think that you should go off, as soon as you are done reading this post, and have opened a new window, and buy that pattern. I know I have waxes rhapsodic before about her pattern. I like this pencil roll pattern, because the font is the right size, and there are enough visual cues: boxes and borders, drawings, etc for me not to get lost in a mire of directions.

All that being said, I almost never pay attention to making a 12 or 24 slot pencil roll. I see what size FabMo fabrics I have and make as many slots as will fit the piecing of backing fabric I have, so I don’t have to waste or cut it. The thing is that I am probably not going to use these weird fabrics for anything else and it seems a shame to throw them away. Nobody to whom I have gifted an 11 slot pencil roll or an 8 slot pencil roll has complained, so I am going to keep doing what I am doing. One thing about making the same thing over and over (remember all of those Eco Market Totes I made?) is that I get to know the pattern and how the item goes together. This method works for me.

One of the reasons I buy fabric specifically destined for and make gift bags is so that I don’t have to wrap gifts using paper. I also like to have an excuse to buy holiday fabric that I know I will never use for a quilt. FabMo has created a whole new aesthetic for me for gift bags.

At the last CQFA meeting, Bron brought a few pieces of FabMo fabric and I scooped up a couple. You’ll see some of them soon, but I already made the gift bag.

Lush Gift Bag

This fabric is some kind of velvet like material and it changes the whole look of the gift bag. I didn’t take any chances when sewing it. I used the new open toe walking foot because I am not familiar with how this fabric acts in the sewing process.

The ribbon is also from another gift.

It is an odd shape, because I just used the shape of the sample and folded it in half. The edges were serged and I wanted to maintain that integrity.

One of the things I like about it is that it looks really special. That is a good reminder for me that the fabric really makes the piece – especially in other types of sewn accessories that don’t have the opportunity for quilting or embellishment, etc. I realize that the maker could do both on a gift bag, of course, if the design were different.

Lush Gift Bag detail

I actually think that gift bags would be a good way to try out new techniques, feet, stitches on your sewing machine, free motion quilting, etc.

Knitting Box - A new view

Last week I discussed the Knitting Box. I thought it was a hopeless failure and I would have to go back to the drawing board.

My fabulous readers came up with some solutions, including a list of comments about “portable knitting sacs” (thanks, Jessica!) and using a pattern for a take out box (as in Chinese take out). On Jessica’s list, I found the Port-a-Pocket and the Knit Knack Sack. One lady also described how to make something similar from a CD. I couldn’t exactly follow her directions, but my go back to them if the failure cannot be repaired. Knituition also had directions for a knitted wrist yarn holder. Sarah on Ravelry shows a slight variation of Knituition’s wrist yarn holder. Halcyon Yarn also has a wrist yarn holder, which, not being much of a knitter, looks like a torture device to me. I will only subject my SIL to that as a last resort. Finally, there was something called a waisthook. I have no idea how this works and am also thinking torture device!

One of these hints led me to the portable knitting pouch, which is made from fabric and up my alley. I also found a Yarn Traveler bag, which is interesting, but doesn’t quite fit the belt criteria. The portable knitting set was also a source of inspiration.

Potential Amount to Sew

I decided to bring it with me on the trip to Mother’s Day brunch and show it to the intended recipient. My SIL agreed with me that the Mirkwood Designs pattern has style and I should try and salvage it if I could. My SIL and niece played around with it in the car and we all brainstormed on how it could be salvaged. First, they found a different way to fold it (above). This way of  folding it keeps the box together pretty well. It is actually probably the intended way to fold it. The bad part is that the parts still aren’t strong enough to hold a ball of yarn. An idea they had was to sew up the side about an inch, so that the box will already be partially shut.

Beaded and Sewed

I think sewing it up a bit is a good idea. I used some Perl cotton so that it doesn’t matter if the stitching shows. If I put some beads on the end of the Perl Cotton I won’t I have to try and hide the knot. My only concern is that they would get stuck on stuff as my SIL moves around with the box on her belt.

I will probably put something on the top to keep it together. I talked about buttons. My niece suggested snaps and SIL suggested velcro. I’ll see what I have around and try them.

I always say that more brains are better and this is a perfect example of more brains getting involved helps a lot. Thanks, all!