La Pass Sewing

Center Star / Rosette #1
Center Star / Rosette #1

Remember the other day when I said the sewing together of the La Pass parts would all work out?

I was wrong.

I cut and basted the wrong size pentagons. I am not sure how that happened, but I did. I need pentagons in that True Colors Dahlia colorway (pink and purple flowers) in a larger size.

I rummaged through the various bits and bobs I have for this project and found enough papers and fabric to redo the correct sized pentagons. The whole project fits together much better with the correctly sized pieces.

La Pass Hearts & Cones
La Pass Hearts & Cones

STB Pocket Panel

Sew Together Bag - 4 Pocket Panels
Sew Together Bag – 4 Pocket Panels

I am not sure if this is actually called a pocket panel. I might have heard that somewhere else or in another bag pattern. It fits the description, however.

I tried to match up the different zippers with the exteriors of the bags. Stayed to see what you think about my matching.

In the photo, you can see that I have already added the needle holder and pincushion. I haven’t found a good pincushion size. I did something different this time, which was to sew the pincushion to the lining piece by machine. I have sewn them by hand before. The pincushions are also much smaller. Not sure that is good, but we will see. I am sure I will make more in the future.

It occurred to me that I should add a WonderClip holder. I wish I had thought of it sooner, but I can still add something.

Food Quilt #2 Returns

Food Quilt #2 in situ 2021
Food Quilt #2 in situ 2021

I received an email recently from a friend showing me the Food Quilt #2 again. I gave this quilt to her son, a friend of the YM, years ago as a graduation present.

He has had a bumpy journey in college with the pandemic and all. He is finally able to live on campus again for his senior year. My friends wanted to show me how well the quilt fits on his new bed. I am so pleased since I never pay attention to bed sizes.

I am also pleased that quilt looks like it is in good shape.

STB Zippers

Zipper ends folded on STB - finished
Zipper ends folded on STB – finished

I decided to use the zipper foldy trick that I learned from making the Ultimate Carry All Bag on these Sew Together Bags.

Zipper ends folded on STB
Zipper ends folded on STB

I didn’t use it on all of them, because I wanted to be able to compare the final result. One thing I noticed is the big space from the end of the zipper to the edge of the fabric. We’ll see how that works once the thing is done.

It makes the ends of the zippers look very neat and tidy, which I like. I kind of wish I had used a longer zipper, but I know the side panels will take up some of the space.

La Pass Assembly Success

First La Pass 'heart'
First La Pass ‘heart’

I was finally able to assemble part of the first La Passacaglia rosette.

These pieces make up the outer circle of the rosette. Some clever person showed how she had assembled the outer circle into ‘hearts’ and ‘cones’. I haven’t done a cone yet, but I think this method will work very well.

It is taking me a long time. Once I get time to sew I can make progress. I just don’t have a lot of time to hand sew right now. I am, however, applauding every little bit of progress. I plan to take this to Sew Day and work on it there. I really want to keep up and I have enough projects cut out at the moment.

Book Review: Confessions of the Quilting Circle

I read this book as part of a group in which I participate that occasionally has discussions about quilt-related books. I sincerely disliked this book and if you have any desire to read it, don’t read this review post. I ruin the ‘surprises’ completely. The good thing is that the book got my hackles up enough to make me think about some of the issues and write this review.

Confessions from the Quilting CircleConfessions from the Quilting Circle by Maisey Yates

This book is about family secrets. I really, really dislike family secrets. The past has a way of cropping up when least expected and at the most inconvenient times. In my life I am determined not to make any more family secrets and resolve as many of them as I can without hurting anyone.

The book is also about the abuse of women. Two of the daughters are involved with an extreme form of sexual violence while the youngest was a teen mother. I didn’t like the way the author handled these situations. First, I thought there were too many of them to be handled well or with sensitivity in one book. This could have been three books with more backstory for each of the sisters to round it out. Second, the situations were not handled in a sensitive or complete way. Third, they were handled in a kind of offhand way to create added drama. I think that is irresponsible.

One sister was the victim of domestic violence. The husband’s side of the story, the details of his arrest and some of the consequences before the trial were not discussed. I think it is important to know what is going to happen in such a situation and give women information about the signs of a budding domestic abuser. This part of the story was sprung on the reader with no warning. Perhaps that was a tactic to make us feel what the character was feeling. Additionally, the author did not discuss counseling and no resources such as shelters were discussed. This lack of information added to the feeling that the author just threw it in to add drama. I didn’t expect this book to be a “what to do if you are in an abusive situation” handbook, but it didn’t come across as realistic.

The second sister was raped as a minor. She didn’t understand that this was a crime, even as an adult. As an adult she should have known. There was no talk of going to the police in order to prevent it from happening to other girls, which seemed like a strong possibility given the man’s job.

The youngest sister got pregnant and didn’t tell anyone. She was 18 and had healthcare, I assume, through college. She just dealt with it herself, according to the story, which I find impossible to believe.

I don’t think the way Mary is described as a mother explains why Hannah and Avery accepted their situations. Mary is described as not being able to show that she cared for her daughters. She is also described as choosing a good husband and providing a stable home for her daughters.

It just doesn’t make sense that Hannah would accept rape in exchange for a letter of recommendation or why Avery would accept being abused for her ‘perfect’ life based on Mary’s actions. Also, even in the 80s and 90s women were being educated about sexual violence. I can see how Avery might have fallen into an abusive relationship, but there would have been signs early on. David would not have just changed into an abuser because of stress. Mary was not a horrible mother, even if she wasn’t perfect and the storyline that these things were because of the way she acted just doesn’t follow.

I know that the author used these topics to add drama to the story. I find these to be serious issues for women today and I resent the offhand, insensitive way in which they were handled. Women have to deal with protecting themselves every day. Trivializing important women’s issues even in a ‘chicklit’ type of novel doesn’t help anyone.

I also don’t think the quilting aspect was very important. It did tie the aspects of the story together. There also wasn’t too much detail so non-quiltmaker readers wouldn’t be put off.

The journal aspect of the story was good. The entries didn’t take up pages and pages. I don’t think the identities of the women were very clear or why they were important, even at the end. I could have just missed that part.

All in all, I am happy not to read this book again. I also will probably not read any books my Maisey Yates again.

STB Progress

STB for Dylan - exterior
STB for Dylan – exterior

I mentioned the other day that I had gotten my sewing machine back in gear. Some of my supplies, etc are still packed, so I am kind of doing ‘camping sewing’ – making do with what I have.

What I worked on was the exterior and sides of the Sew Together Bag pattern. I am making 4 of them this time. One is for me and the others will be gifts.

The first thing I did was quilt all of them. The two pieces above are from the leaf print. There are two pieces because I wanted the leaves facing up, so I had to use the ‘directional print’ directions for the exterior. Viewers cannot really see the quilting from the outside, but it looks great from the inside. I used a straight stitch and my quarter inch foot*

I did a little quilting on the others, mostly because I wanted to get to assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*part of the ‘camping’ since I don’t know where my box of other feet are at the moment.

Tools Bin Again

Tools Bucket - 3rd pass
Tools Bucket – 3rd pass

I worked on the Tools Bin again on Saturday. I decoupaged paper on top of the blue described in the last post on this topic.

I found some pictures I liked and decoupaged them over the blue paint. I was still not thrilled. For some reason, it wasn’t working for me.

I am building up nice hard layers, however.

Playing with La Pass

I am kind of stunned that I am doing this project. I don’t know why, because it is clear that I am working on it.

Center Star / Rosette #1
Center Star / Rosette #1

I finished basting the other day and also took a few minutes to play around with the pieces.

I am struggling to see how these fit together, but I am sure it will all work out.

I am pretty pleased with the fussy cutting in the center. It is the first time I have used this technique to get a different look from the fabric.

Quilty Box n.3

Quilty Box n.3 contents
Quilty Box n.3 contents

I received the most recent Quilty Box a few days ago.

I like the boxes – the actual cardboard container – since they are great for mailing things.

I like receiving good mail.

This is, however, the last one I will receive. I decided not to renew for all reasons I talked about in the post about Quilty Box n.1 and Quilty Box n.2. Also, the fabric was cut to make a certain project and that didn’t work for me.

Quilty Box n.3 contents
Quilty Box n.3 contents

This one had Sew Tites and I can always use Sew Tites!

I also liked the charm pack. I really need to find a scrap project that uses 5 inch squares. I have tons in addition to all of the charm packs I have collected.

La Pass Basting pt.2

The other day I talked about starting to baste the first rosette for my La Passacaglia quilt.

La Pass star with diamonds
La Pass star with diamonds

I worked on it at Craft Night for a couple of hours after cleaning up my sewing room.

As I basted pieces, I couldn’t really wait to see what they looked like so I kept laying them out to see if what I cut and basted looked good together.

I did struggle with what the two videos said about which way the bunny ears should go. I thought I understood, but I still have some pieces that I know are going to be a problem.

La Pass star with diamonds
La Pass star with diamonds

Still, I am happy with what I accomplished. I think this star looks really nice with the skinny diamonds.

I have seen what other people have made in the group so this isn’t really a huge surprise, but I like seeing what **I** have done. I almost started sewing these together, but I continued basting.

Pieces basted at Craft Night
Pieces basted at Craft Night

In one of her videos, Tula talks about saving time and being kind to our body parts. I was pleased with how many pieces I was able to baste. I am pretty sure I would not have been able to thread baste this many pieces in the same amount of time.

La Pass Basting

I spent Craft Night the other night basting my first La Pass Rosette. Yes, I finished cutting in case that wasn’t clear.

Half Hexie EPP Section - April 2019
Half Hexie EPP Section – April 2019

On my Half Hexie Star project, I have been thread basting. If you zoom in on the photo (right) you will see the bits of thread holding the papers and the fabric together.

Thread basting is a fine way to prepare English Paper Piecing pieces and their fabric. I had planned to thread baste La Pass. Then I watched the Naudia Tatum video and Tula’s first EPP video, about halfway throug., both of which included sections on glue basting. Sue Daley, the apparent queen of EPP, though I had never heard of her until I started this project, also has a video. Of course, I watched it. I might be tending towards obsession.

Finally, I decided that I would, at least, try it. Time is kind of short around here lately and I really need all the spare minutes I can get if I have any hope of getting anything finished this year.

La Pass -Glue basted diamond
La Pass -Glue basted diamond

First, I had to find my glue pen**. Fortunately, it was in the place I thought it was. Why I knew it was there, I have no idea. Visual memory, I guess. Then, I watched the glue basting section of Tula’s first EPP video video again and went for broke at Craft Night.

In the photo, left, you can see the swipe of glue on the paper on the right hand side. The process takes some practice. I know there will be pieces where I glued too close to the edge, but I think I got used to the process as the evening went on.

La Pass fussy cutting
La Pass fussy cutting

The good thing was that I could see the results of my precise fussy cutting right after I basted.

This is some Tula Pink panda fabric. I do not want animal faces looking at me from my quilt, so I fussy cut them in a way that would make black and white optical sort of designs. I am excited to see it once I sew it together.

I found the glue basting fun once I got going. The Sue Daly small turntable cutting mat** arrived and really helped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item 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 blog.

More STBs

Yes, I am making 4 more Sew Together Bags. Yes, I started cutting at Sew Day in July. Yes, I am writing about these now, because I was finally able to make a tiny amount of progress on a non-La Pass project. No, I didn’t sew, but I cut the rest of the fabric for the 4 bags and am now ready to quilt the exteriors.

Since I discovered this pattern, I have made 10 different versions of this pattern. Two are mine and the rest were gifts. As I have said, this isn’t the greatest pattern, but people love it. Recipients are also pretty impressed by the intricacy. I feel like I really got the whole process the way I like it on the last batch. I am excited to get finished with the prep and start sewing these together, if I can ever sew again.