I have had the fleece for a Pet Bed sitting around for a long time. I finally sewed it together last week in order to bring it to Sew Day.
One of the things that spurred me on was the bits of batting I had laying around from the various quilts that I have mostly finished recently. The guild is not using schnibbles for pet beds any more as they don’t make for soft and comfy beds. Also, they are hard to wash. This is sad as I still have a lot of schnibbles. We are working out a plan for their use in another way.
This wasn’t my fabric so I don’t get any credit on my Fabric Used spreadsheet.
Megan’s Bone Enigma has been on my list for awhile. It doesn’t show up on any of my 26 Projects lists, because I hadn’t started cutting or sewing. It only shows up on my UFO Challenge list, because I have been wanting to make it for awhile and hadn’t quite gotten to it.
I could have waited to write the “All the Enigmas” post, but I will have to write another one as I am already cutting others out.
Megan’s Bone Enigma-interior
This bag goes with Megan’s Hand Bone Hackney. She said she liked this fabric and I hope that is true. I bought it for another purpose for which the fabric will not be used. I did make several projects from it, but still have at least 1.5 yards left.
One thing I did on the bottom, which are pieces that need to be quilted, was fuse the fabric, both lining and exterior, to the foam using MistyFuse**. I had forgotten to cut the lining and exterior larger before quilting and wanted to try and mitigate shrinkage. I think I could have left the bottom unquilted, because the MistyFuse really adhered well to the fabric. I was kind of surprised since the MistyFuse has been laying around my workroom for years.
I am pleased with how the center looks. I just feel like it came out really well. The fabric, a Birch Organic, looks really great.
Megan’s Bone Enigma-bottom
I tried really hard to line up the fabric so that the motifs were oriented in the right way.
In the photo of the bottom you can see how the motifs are oriented towards the top. See the handle? When the bag is closed the part of the bottom with the skull forms the back of the bag and that skull as well as the other motifs are right side up.
Megan’s Bone Enigma-bottom-> back – closed
Cool, huh? Sadly, I did not match up the motifs on the top piece with the back piece. I was pretty proud of myself for doing this much, though I don’t think anyone will notice. *I* notice and that is what is important!
Megan’s Bone Enigma-top closed
I am on the fence about the striped handle and pull tabs. I didn’t have any solid black at the time I cut those. The design works pretty well, but I think a solid black would have been better. Or maybe a black and grey stripe? Not sure, but I’ll have to think about it. I did use this same strip on the handle of Hand Bone Hackney, so that is something.
An unintended effect looking at the top is that the handle is enclosed by two hand bone motifs! It looks kind of cool.
I also used MaryC’s rivet press at Sew Day to put rivets on the handle. I am super excited about that!!
Megan’s Bone Enigma -side
Megan’s Bone Enigma -side
I still love the diagonal zipper. I thought the zipper tape I chose would be too large, but it worked out ok.
Well, even though that number hasn’t been picked in the UFO Challenge, I have finished it. I am giving it to Megan today, so needs must.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.
Lupine is ready to go to Colleen for quilting. Not a great photo, but the quilt is large and doesn’t fit well on my design wall.
I am really pleased with how it came out. It is a but pink and purple, but doesn’t scream ‘little girl’ to me. I think the black really helps give it a good over all feel.
In addition, black can be depressing. It did make my workroom a little dark, but overall the pink, purple and Carousel blue keep the black from creating a look that is too depressing.
Lupine back finished
I also finished the back. Mom said it looked a little brown, but I definitely used colored dots on black for the most part. One of the prints, a large-ish piece, middle bottom, does have dots that have more brown in them than I would normally use.
This project used up most of my dots on black fabrics.
I am waiting for a black solid in order to make the binding. I was going to use a pink that matched the border (AGF Cherry Lipgloss), but Lil Sissy pointed out that a black (AGF Caviar) would contain the piece. I think she is right.
I finished the Tadpole I made for Gerre’s International Women’s Day celebration. This is another Sew Sweetness pattern I bought and hadn’t yet made. I made this one at the same time I made Carrie’s.
Gerres’ Scissor Sheath
The fabric I used was the same used for another of Gerre’s bags, the Enigma Pouch. I am not a huge fan of this fabric as it looks a little too creepy for me. However, first, I am almost out, and second Gerre said she really likes it. I decided to use it up and then I can get back to the Alexander Henry Dia de los Muertos fabric I also use for her gifts. Yes, I have used a few different fabrics for her gifts. She was the first one, I think, for whom I started making sets of bags. It took me awhile to settle into the process.
This fabric does provide some good fussy cutting opportunities. Since I don’t have much of it left, I am using all the bits.
Gerre’s Tadpole other front
This pouch is more 2 sided than Carries, because of the fussy cutting opportunities. It is interesting how different the two sides are. However, all the figures are skeleton mermaids or mermen. I mostly cut off the tail of them. I suppose I could have turned the fabric 90 degrees and included the tail. Considering the design of the pouch, that might be a better way to orient the fabric. I guess I’ll have to make another one to see. 😉
Gerre’s Tadpole interior
As mentioned, I followed the pattern exactly, which I might not do if I make this again.
I also put an interior zipper pocket on one side of the pouch. I think this pocket could be used for extra rotary cutter blades. They might not be obvious, but a reminder could be using this same side for a rotary cutter.
Gerre’s Tadpole – interior
I am paying closer attention to making sure the linings are not saggy baggy. I am pleased with the way the pockets came out.
Two Tadpoles – front
Two Tadpoles – other front
Both Tadpoles look good, I think. I need some practice to make them better, but this is a useful pouch.
Lil Sissy was in town last week for 12 hours on her way to a sun, sand and scuba diving adventure. She called me a few days before and I cut her in on my day’s plans: museum, GF Chinese food lunch. Then we did some things she wanted, namely getting supplies for some jackets she plans to embellish.
Once we were back and my house she saw my BAM BOM blocks and I let her play with them. We used the ‘design floor’ (LOL) since the design wall was full to bursting.
BAM BOM Flying Geese -Lil Sissy arrangement
It is always interesting to have an artist who uses a different medium play around with quilt blocks. I laid them out in a more or less conventional way. She immediately saw diagonals in places I hadn’t noticed.
She wanted me to make a bunch more Flying Geese so I can really lean into the diagonals. I’ll think about that.
BAM BOM HSTs -Lil Sissy arrangement
She also played with the Half Square Triangles (triangle squares) a bit. Again, she leaned into the diagonals. This arrangement has good possibilities even if I do have to make more HSTs. I think it would look cool to weave the diagonals behind the other blocks.
BAM BOM Friendship Star Wreath
Finally, we talked about my big Friendship Star Wreath and whether I should re-make it with a dark background. She said no, but I might still do it. That white shrieks at me.
The Tadpole is a pouch that I bought as part of a 4-pack with the Cosquilla pattern last June. I am glad to say that this isn’t the first time I have made a bag from this 4-pack.
Carrie’s Tadpole front
The Tadpole (weird name, I know) is a useful pouch with two pockets that can secure scissors, rotary cutters and other similar types of tools.
Tadpole with interior zipper
One pocket is on the top and the other is on the bottom so you have to kind of flip it around to get at both zippers.
One of the pockets includes a small internal zipper pocket. This pocket could be added to both of the larger zipper pockets. I am not sure what I would put in that interior zipper pocket, but I do think that, generally, the more pockets the better. In this case, that might not be true if I were to put something in there and then lose it or forget about it. I look forward to seeing what Carrie says.
Tadpole open with sheath (Carrie)
The pattern includes a scissor sheath. I bought Carrie a nice pair of scissors to go with the pouch and the sheath can be customized to fit the scissors. I wanted to do that, but I didn’t want to open a new pair of scissors. I am not 100% sure the sheath is very useful with sharp scissors. It is definitely cool to have a matching scissor adornment, but I am concerned that sharp scissors will cut through quilting cotton. I might make the scissor sheath out of cork or pleather scraps in the future. It wouldn’t match, but it might be useful.
I made this first one in the fabric I use for Carrie, the Carrie Bloomston Color Theory fabric. I was able to use some smaller pieces, which was nice.
I wanted to make a second donation top for the year and going through a stack of fabric helped. I found the neutral background and that cemented my resolve.
I used the edges that Colleen cut off of Gelato #2 to start this donation quilt. That back was quite large, so I had long pieces from which to choose.
I shoot for about 40×40 for these quilts so a yard of fabric total works. The neutral I found was a half yard.
Ends n.23 back
Except for the back, I didn’t need to dig into my bins of fabric. I chose some light oranges for the back, then dutifully measured and put together some batting scraps for the batting.
I finished the Project Bag that has been on my list for a long time. Or what feels like a long time. The last time I posted about project bags was a year ago and I was thinking about making this project bag.
I wanted to make sure that the zipper tape was covered. The ByAnnie patterns don’t always take care about that and it is a particular annoyance of mine. I know it doesn’t really matter, but I like the zipper tapes completely covered, even on the inside.
My extra large project bag-back
MaryC uses a technique where she folds a piece of zipper tab fabric in half and slips the zipper tape in then sews and folds the excess back. I tried that this time and found it worked well. My only problem was that I made the piece too small in width. I had to add an an extra piece on top to close the gap. Still I liked the technique. I just need to figure out a better size for the zipper tabs. I think I might have read the pattern wrong and reading it correctly might help. We’ll see if I make this bag again. I think I have enough project bags for the moment. I don’t want too many as it will encourage UFOs.
This is #9 on the guild UFO challenge. I’ll bring it to Sew Day to show off.
This block (for Month 3) took me a long time and I had some detours along the way. Finally, I finished it.
I am not 100% happy with it. I would have liked to use the grey Pearl Bracelets, but I didn’t have enough.
Using the white Pearl Bracelets as the background introduces another color of background into the piece and I had hoped to avoid using white for the blocks. Since I have not used white in any of the other blocks I have to figure out how to make it work.
First step: go see if I can find more grey Pearl Bracelets. Doubtful, but you never know.
The directions were to assemble two Flying Geese so it looks like the above. The look was ok, but didn’t grab my attention.
Option 2:
Zigzag Lupine border
I saw a zigzag border that someone made and tried that with my fabrics. This option looked more cohesive to me.
Option 3:
Alternating chevrons Lupine border
Just to see if another configuration would be better, I tried alternating chevrons. This wasn’t terrible and created a lot of movement, but I thought it was a little confusing for the viewer.
I went for option 2 and started sewing long rows of Flying Geese together.
I borrowed this book from the library after Wales and then Welsh quilts started started cropping up in my life. After the Today’s Quilter supplement, I found out that there might be Welsh influence in Amish quilts, so I started reading up on Welsh quilts.
This is a very academic book and had a lot of detailed references to sources as well as explanations of what the author concluded from the information in the sources. The scholarship is impressive.
As with many activities primarily done by women, research is difficult. “…they underscore the lack of value given to woolen quilts within the Welsh culture itself. The explanation for this is not simply that they were products of a folk culture… But quilts were made by women; they were domestic products for private space” (pg.53). This books has copious endnotes, a very detailed bibliography and an index. Many of the references come from letters, ships passenger lists, and data compiled from US census records.
There are few, if any diaries or journals discussing a connection (inspiration) between Welsh and Amish quilts. The author writes “…discussions have remained largely informal and, for the most part, have not been grounded in any evidence base beyond the visual evidence within the quilts themselves” (pg.131). “Particular equivalence was found in the spare style, intensity of color, and quilted textures of wool quilts made in nineteenth century Wales which–in terms of overall design, use of plain wool fabrics, and elaborate quilting styles–appeared to bear a striking resemblance to Pennsylvanian Amish quilts of a similar date”(pg.7). She goes on to say that questions about where a crossover could have occurred remain unresolved. “..at each stage in the research undertaken for this book, the accumulation of objective data from a multidisciplinary range of sources supported the subjective evidence contained within the quilts themselves”(pg.132-133). Osler is UK based and notes that further scholarship on the topic will have to be done in local historical societies and archives, in person, in the US.
There are similarities between the Amish and the Welsh such as religious non-conformism and farming. There is also geographic evidence showing possible interactions. The author says “It would seem extraordinarily coincidental that two quilt styles with such close visual connections developed entirely independently in the nineteenth century, when–at that point in time–the communities within which these styles were common practice lived in geographic proximity to each other” (pg.132). “Making quilts in deep-dyed plain cloth pieced into large geometric shapes of abstract form was undoubtedly practiced in Wales prior to the time that this dramatic style came into use for Amish quilts”(pg.132).
If you don’t want to wade through passenger lists and census records, read chapter 7, Tying the Threads. It summarizes the conclusions and leaves out a lot of the detail.
There are lovely color plates of Welsh and Amish quilts as well as a few pages of quilting designs.
La Passacaglia – I decided to change the border, which means moving a couple of the rosettes. Daunting so I haven’t worked on it.
Pantone Project – it has been more than a year (where does time go?) since I worked on this. I need to get back to it.
Cut Out & Stopped
EPPic – This is all cut out and I have made tiny steps towards starting
Paris Cell Phone Wallet – This is all cut out and really a small, quick project that shouldn’t be on my list this long.
Rose Petrillo bag – I found the pieces for this bag cut out, but not sewn.
Still UFOs
I still have UFOs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled, it hasn’t been worked on in awhile or it is waiting its turn to be worked on. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
I am annoyed that some of these are still UFOs. This is the year to fish or cut bait: some of these will be tossed.
I have decided to combine donation blocks and quilts into one monthly post. We’ll see how that works this year.
I didn’t make any donation blocks or quilts in January, so here we are in February.
Blocks
Red and stripe donation block
Red donation block
Red with batik donation block
Black dot donation block
Red, white and black donation block
Small diamond donation block
Large diamond+ donation block
Large diamond+ #2 donation block
Sidewalk green solid donation block
Sidewalk green solid #2 donation block
I am collecting black and red donation blocks to make another Quarter Square donation top for the guild donation project similar to QST 16 Patch #4 Blue. I have more green squares after a couple of sessions of scrap processing. I want to make another Sidewalk quilt, but I don’t have enough of the half blocks to make a green one yet. The blocks above are being added to the pile.
Quilts
Blue Improv #2 bound
White Strips #3 with red
I might have posted the *bound* Blue Improv before, but I don’t see it. It was getting folded up to be donated at Sew Day and I took a quick snap of the finished piece. More scraps off to do some good.
I also finished White Strips #3 (with red) and handed it in at the meeting last weekend. It looks different than the other white strips quilts, but I like it.
I took a look at loveyousewpatterns, which I saw on IG. I have similar patterns to most of the patterns I saw, but I did like the Leah Travel Bag. I didn’t buy it (yet) as I want to compare it to the Pandora Allure, which I already own.
I am not always super excited about the free patterns offered on websites. Understandably, designers aren’t going to put their best work out as free. This does not apply to the free patterns on the Kokka Fabrics website. OMG! They are awesome. There is a bucket type bag called the Round Bottom bag that I think I need to make. I don’t normally go in for bucket bags, but this one has a fantastic number of pockets. There is also a scissor cozy that I might need to add to my list of gifts to make.
Curated by Souls Grown Deep’s Chief Curator Raina Lampkins-Fielder in collaboration with IMMA, the exhibition features works by mothers and daughters Mary Lee Bendolph (b.1935) and Essie Bendolph Pettway (b.1956), Rita Mae Pettway (b.1941) and Louisiana P. Bendolph (b.1960), and Qunnie Pettway (1943–2010) and Loretta Pettway Bennett (b.1960), alongside Qunnie’s sister Sally Mae Pettway Mixon (b.1965).
While the quilts of Gee’s Bend have garnered international acclaim and reside in the permanent collections of more than forty museums across three continents, Kith and Kin: the Quilts of Gee’s Bend returns audiences to the core foundation of the tradition that has made such recognition possible: the familial bonds that have sustained the Gee’s Bend artistic tradition from the early nineteenth century to the present day.
Media & Articles
Thanks to Friend Julie, I found that Etsy has joined the Color of the Year Parade. Etsy annoys when it doesn’t respond to my exact search, but in this case, I am thrilled with their color, an actual color, Patina Blue. No, it isn’t turquoise, but it is a beautiful blue. Check out Julie’s January Cornucopia. She found some interesting sites to visit.
NQR
I often think about how to be kinder, more empathetic and generally a better person. Recently I was introduced to the Center for Non-Violent Communication. One of the things I am thinking about is removing certain words, like war and death, from non-specific usage in my vocabulary. For example, I am trying not to say “I am going to kill you” when ‘you’ spill the milk or something equally small. I will use those words in specific contexts like “I am attending a funeral because of a death in the family”. This is a small act on my part to make the world kinder, but I believe that small acts, especially those that don’t hurt others, can add up and make a difference. This was not the main point when I learned about the Center for Non-Violent Communication, but it was one thing I took away and wanted to share with you. Also, I was impressed to see that a new Microsoft CEO had made one of their books required reading. You can get the Feelings and Needs Inventory for free by signing up for their newsletter.
This commercial from the SuperB Owl is definitely a feel good commercial. I wonder if Lynard Skynard (or the owner of the license) approved the message before agreeing to have his song used?
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.
I started a project at the guild called Creative Play. This was loosely based on a concept I had during COVID that kind of petered out. It was also inspired by a quote I read in Libs Elliott’s newsletter. The quote is “I have made a promise to myself that I will make time for creative play in 2026. Because, when work gets overwhelming, I find joy in taking even just a bit of time for myself to experiment and try something different without an end goal in mind.”
I am determined to have it take off this time and so far, so good.
I started out by handing out the rectangles in the center. Cyndi took it and added the orange border. That is an amazing choice. I don’t think I would have thought of it, but I love it. The orange has an interesting texture as well.
I handed the piece to Sue next and she added the half square triangles. I am really pleased with the work so far.
