I showed a friend the Skeleton Hackney I made before Christmas. She really liked it so I offered to make her one. I am in the process of making about 6-8 Hackneys and one more will be easy.
The inside is a pink from a line that has been hanging around my workroom for a long time. It is one of those fabrics I love and am reluctant to use because a better project might come along for which I need it. I am trying to get over that feeling and use the good fabrics. There is always more fabric, right?
Hand Bone Hackney
I have the lid on, but not the bottom, which you can see above.
I decided to center the hand bones rather than the skull this time. That means I ended up with two skulls on the top.
Hand Bone Hackney Handle
I have the handle on, but I am not sure I have that step in the right place. Remember the pattern does not include a handle, so I had to hack it.
My friend saw it in process and was thrilled. I just need to find some time to finish it. I don’t have much more to go, so it shouldn’t take very long.
I am slowly making my way through this block. It seems to be taking forever.
This is one of the larger rosettes and I changed a few fabrics, which is part of the reason it is taking longer.
It’s hard to watch others in the group putting their entire quilts together. I keep reminding myself that it is not a race. Also, I ripped out some so I could piece a woven motif in the larger pentagons. I forgot, which I why I had to rip.
At Sew Day, I worked on creating the letters for Artquiltmaker. I thought this was a good task for Sew Day. I had a big table and could spread out all sorts of papers, tools and implements so I could work efficiently. It took me the better part of 3 hours (maybe 4) to get the words out, but I was able to get it done.
Who Am I? letters in process
The letters are not quite as good as I wanted. For one thing, the A is backwards. I don’t know how that happened. I have very high standards and I decided to be satisfied.
Friend Julie liked them and she is much less judgemental of my work than I am, but would tell me if I was off track.
Who Am I? letters placed
After I cut them all out, it took me a little while to place them.I wanted them at a certain angle, so I fiddled a bit to get them right.
Then I fused everything in place and they were ready to stitch.
Once they were placed and fused, I spent some time satin stitching them down. I didn’t stitch the entire word down. I needed to take a break and was hoping to finish a bag on which I am working.
I talked a little about the random things we did and saw in Portland the other day. There were also several bags that I have made which made the trip with us.
My Take a Stand in the wild
I didn’t want to bring A Place for Everything, which would have carried everything, but it is big. I was trying not to bring my entire workroom, so I brought my Take a Stand/Without a Trace bag. Using the supplies I fit in this bag, I knew I would be able to work on La Pass Month 18. In it I stuffed my La Pass Sew Together Bag. To carry my La Pass thread, I brought the Inside Outside pouch, pattern from Aneela Hoey. Both of these bag fit snugly in the Take a Stand.
La Pass Sew Together Bag in use
I keep the Sew Together Bag handy when I am working on La Pass, because it has everything I need. I know it is hard to see what is going on, but trust me, it is super useful.
We stopped to stay with Mary and Michel on our way home. Mary wants to make this bag and we spent a lot of time talking about the construction.
It was useful to have everything I needed fitted into the Take a Stand. I knew nothing would fall out, so I didn’t have to worry. I also didn’t have to change bags in order to make everything fit.
Mom’s Take a Stand
Mom also brought her Take a Stand. I am not 100% sure what was in there, but it was hanging around the house.
She also brought her Percheron Pouch with her, which I didn’t photograph in situ. She used it a lot. It houses a crochet project I bought for her that she has been working on for quite awhile. She had a big space she could use to lay the piece out so she could see what she was doing. If I remembered the pattern, I would share, but I don’t.
Not much is happening in my workroom. I was gone and work has tired me out.
Still, the design wall isn’t empty.
The pink blocks are the start of a future donation top. I talked about it a few weeks ago. I really enjoy looking at them and having them on my design wall. They make me so happy. I plan to get back in the saddle and make more soon.
On the left bottom are random Color Strip donation blocks. Currently yellow and green. Those will turn into something after I finish the pink donation top. Maybe another rainbow top. Some of it relies on how many scraps I have and what Color Strip donation tops I have already made. We’ll see.
Above those random blocks are three blocks. One is a really old foundation pieced circle Mariner’s Compass block from a Barbara Barber class. I don’t see a post about that class. I know I took at PIQF, but heaven knows when. I really should look it up and finish that thing, if for no other reason than to get it off the design wall.
That Rock Star block (white background with curves) is still on the design wall. I talk about the process of that block in the linked post. It uses the Wonder Curve ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful. Clearly, I am not making the whole sampler nor am I making more of those blocks. Maybe I will, but for the moment, the block is taking up space. I still can’t find a picture of the final Rock the Block Sampler. Oh well.
Finally, the block with the turquoise background is one of the sample blocks I made for my most recent students. It’s too big to go in the file, so there it sits.
On the right side are the Pantone Project blocks. Most of these are from Julie. I really need to get back in the saddle and choose more fabrics.
I talked a little yesterday about the quilt shops I visited while in Portland. There were other random things we did, which were fun or amusing.
Mom frosting Beatty’s Chocolate Cake
A friend told me about a cake that she baked, Beatty’s Chocolate Cake. She baked it because it had the reputation of being so delicious. I wanted to try this fabulous cake, so I assigned my mom the task of baking it. She did bake it with good humor despite not cooking in her normal space. There was a lot of banging of cupboards as she looked for things, but not many complaints. I think she enjoyed herself.
I really enjoyed eating that cake. We shared it with friends who came over, but there was plenty left for breakfasts and after dinner snacks.
Yes, that’s the apron I made in about 2014. We brought it with us since wearing an apron is a good habit and prevents clothes becoming involved in messes.
Beatty’s Chocolate Cake
I warned her in advance so she brought her good cake pans and some parchment paper. I made her follow the directions to the letter, too. She tends to make substitutions when she doesn’t have the right ingredients, so things taste weird sometimes.
OMG!! This cake was delicious and it looked as good as the picture in the recipe. Even with gluten free flour, this was an amazing cake.
Giant googly eyes
Giant googly eyes size comparison
We also visited a shop, as we often do, called Collage. If you go to Portland, visit this shop! They have great stationery, buttons, stickers, notebooks, beads and a whole lot of other things that are different each time we go. I tried to convince my friend Megan, via text, that she needed some giant googly eyes. She was good, so I didn’t buy them, even the bloodshot version, but that spawn a whole text conversation about door decorations. Google it sometime. Great way to decorate for Halloween.
Modern Domestic – Portland
One of the reasons we went to Collage is that Modern Domestic was closed the day we went!! The website said they were open, but when we got there, the sign said they were closed for a 3-day staff retreat. I’d like to work at a place that takes me on a 3 day staff retreat!
Still, I was disappointed that we couldn’t go that day. We went back later in the week, which was fine. I bought a small gift for Amanda, but there wasn’t really anything that I wanted.
Inspiration: wool felt (table mat)
One of my missions at Pioneer Quilts was to get an idea or a pattern for something to do with the wool felt I bought on one of my last visits. I checked out all the patterns they had and thought about what I wanted. I am thinking that I will make another tablerunner for my buffet. I wasn’t able to find a pattern I liked, but can probably figure out sewing wool felt to another piece of wool felt.
I liked the edging on the daisy table mat. I also liked the daisies and thought I could use different colors for the petals, if I wanted.
Inspiration: wool felt (tea cozy)
While I am certainly willing to buy a pattern I wasn’t ready to buy yet, so I took some photos for reference since I might design my own pattern. The above tea cozy has a nice cup and I like the embroidered swoopy, curved lines coming out of the cup. I am not fond of that green, but there is no shortage of embroidery floss in my house.
Inspiration: wool felt (table mat)
I may want something more colorful. I am not sure I want black as a background. I almost bought enough turquoise wool felt to make a buffet runner, but I stopped myself.
I decided that I need to finish La Pass and the Half Hexie Star quilt before I buy anything for another handwork project.
Pincushion?
On the counter next to the cash tablets (registers) was a very strange pincushion – at least I think it was a pincushion. It wasn’t fabric and it felt a little like playdough or clay covered in something to keep it from smooshing all over the place. I didn’t buy one, because I was a little confused by it. The shape reminds me of a pincushion my friend Cheryl has attached to her machine. Cheryl’s pincushion looks like a voodoo doll.
Work visitor
I worked while I was in Portland. WFH is a wonderful thing. I had a visitor some days outside the window of the room from which I was working. He was eating or playing with something in the gutter. Maybe he stored some nuts there.
Seeing a squirrel made me wonder if we have squirrels where I live. After I came home, I saw a couple near where I live, so the answer is probably. They don’t hang out on my roof, though. I can see the roof from my workroom window and I haven’t seen any squirrels.
Stuffie like YM’s walrus
The YM has an image that he uses for various things. I saw this stuffed ‘animal’ and thought it looked like it. I almost bought it for him, but ended up just sending him a photo.
I am just back from Portland where I went for a few days to relax and see friends. I also went to my favorite quilts shops and stocked up a bit. Mostly, I bought fabrics for future projects and some gifts.
Cool Cottons 2023
After having lunch with my friend Amanda, I went to Cool Cottons. It is a small store, but I wanted to take a look. I can often find good fabrics there. I just like looking. That store has fabric stuffed in every corner even though it is a small store.
The fabrics are all on the dark side. The bottom two on the left are for Stay Tuned. Yes, I switched gears on that one and got some different fabrics for the alternating squares and the borders.
I will make some gifts from the typewriter fabrics and bind quilts with the grey stripes and the black and white stripes. Only two are on ‘spec.
Pioneer Quilts 2023
I made a huge effort to visit Pioneer Quilts. I love that store and always like to visit. I got some gifts for people and really enjoyed looking at their fabric.
I didn’t buy a lot there, but I did look at all of their wool felt patterns and fabrics. I have bought wool felt there in the past and wanted to get a pattern or something to do something with it. I finally decided to get inspiration from the book and do my own thing AFTER La Passacaglia and the Half Hexie Star quilts are finished. I bought that book, Wild Wool and Colorful Cotton Quilts**
I have used Chenille needles for hand stitching for a long time. They have big eyes and are sharp. I was finally able to look at a variety of sizes. The 22 or 24 sizes are the ones that are perfect for me. I bought two packs.
Sunshine Quilts 2023
We went to Sunshine Quilts in Medford, which used to be Cottage Quilts. I am glad they stayed open. It is a nice space and there is a lot of potential for more fabric and supplies. At the moment it was a little light on fabric and notions, but I think they will get more based on the amount of space they have.
The packet on the right is filled with ruler stickers. You can outline where you need to cut then peel off the stickers with no residue. Interesting, right?
I am going to make another Cha Cha Cha table runner from the charm pack. I am not sure what I’ll use for the border. Maybe pink.
A good time was had by all.
**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 blog.
I was a little shocked and surprised when Julie brought me the giant roll of Soft & Stable. After letting it float around the room for awhile, I finally settled it into an out of the way, basically permanent location.
Now that it is suitably housed, I have been using it. Using it was also a problem, because I don’t have a table – cutting table – large enough to hold the roll. If the roll is not supported, then it is hard to cut the foam accurately.
Cutting foam off a roll
I am making some more Hackneys. One of the supplies is foam and since I am making several I decided to cut strips off the roll and then subcut them into the right sizes and shapes for various pieces.
This was a good plan, but the only way I could execute it was to put the roll on the floor. I used my long Creative Grids ruler** and a Pilot Scuf** that I like to measure the right sizes. Once the measuring was done then I used scissors to cut the strips out.
I could have used the dining room table, but that would mean hauling everything downstairs, cleaning off the dining room table, cutting and putting everything back. The only thing I would really gain was not squatting. I stayed upstairs. Also, I had to pull the roll out several times to cut more foam.
I thought cutting strips would be better, because then the edge would stay straight and be easier to use.
Subcutting foam
Subcutting was, pretty much, a breeze. I had a 60″ wide strip to deal with, but it was so much easier than the giant roll. The foam, as you know, is really lightweight, so I let it dangle over the edge of my cutting table and cut the sizes I needed. It worked great.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and other small or indie businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need at the smaller suppliers, I use Amazon affiliate links. I 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 blog.
I was so fortunate to receive some fab gifts for my birthday. First, my husband let me open my gifts early in the morning.
Of course, I always love the gifts he gets me, but I really liked the card. It says “Part Rainbow Part Tornado” and I think it is fairly perfect for me.
Birthday gifts from Julie 2023
As usual, Julie and I went out to lunch and to a quilt store. She got me A LOT of gifts! I was so thrilled to get so many. I really liked them too.
Tula Pink Minerals
The guild retreat is coming up so I look forward to using the wool pressing mat. Julie assures me it doesn’t smell. It goes with the mini Oliso she gave me a few years ago. Julie also stocked me up on Tula Pink ribbon from Renaissance Ribbon and Tula fabric. Yay!
The minerals are really good tone-on-tone fabric. I might still be able to use some of them for La Passacaglia.
Gift from Amanda – 2023
In Portland, I met Amanda for lunch. She also gave me a gift. I was surprised and pleased!
First of all, she made that fabulous pouch. I’ll show more of it another day. The top stitching is amazing, then she filled it with totally useful gifts – items that I will definitely use up. And candy. We all need something sweet, right?
I know a lot of people donated to the charity I chose on Facebook and that just warms my heart. I am so fortunate to have so many good friends.
I am trying to reduce my use of one-time use plastics. As a result, this bowl cover tutorial is of interest. This tutorial shows you how to make cute, reusable, washable bowl covers to protect your food. I am not sure it would work in my fridge if the bowl was not see through. That is asking for a science experiment.
Quilting Jet Girl, Yvonne Fuchs, has a quilt-a-long called Diatom. Check out the blocks on her website.
In a recent video, Tula Pink talks about how to highlight specific pieces of fabric using features of ByAnnie’s patterns.
Tools, Books, Fabric, Notions & Supplies
The IronEZ seems to be the current popular gift. I received one and am most excited that there is a holster to hold it on my ironing board. I was concerned about adding Best PRess or Flatter to the bottle and clogging up the mechanism. Scott H got back to me quickly when I put a support request in. He said ‘The bottles have worked well with other liquids. If they ever clog just fill the bottle with warm water and spray it through to clean it out. It has only happened a couple of times that we are aware of but the warm water has done the trick.’ Excellent customer service based on my one interaction! 😉
Media
I receive Deanna Raybourn’s newsletter every month. It is in a weird format, so I often don’t read it. I did in January and was glad to be introduced to Domestika. It is a site with a lot of different online courses, many of them creative. They have a number of craft courses, but I didn’t see any quiltmaking courses. However, if you want to make puppets, dollhouse furniture or learn woodworking, check out these courses. There are also a number of courses on making and embellishing garments.
Martingale is closing. They were never one of my favorite publishers, because their books were almost strictly project based. Still, I have several of their books and there are some authors I really like in their line.
I decided I needed to see what Sewline said about refilling their pencils. I found a video that helped. It’s only one minute, too.
Health update and ‘The Butt Club” from Alex Anderson.
NQR
As you may know, I am an audiobook fiend. I listen while I sew. I listen while I cook dinner, when I am doing boring cut and paste or data entry at work, in the car and whenever I can. I don’t buy print books any longer unless they are 1) quilt books or 2) books to which I have listened multiple times on audio. Recently, I listened to Thank you for Listening** by Julia Whelan. Stop what you are doing right now and go buy the audio version and listen to it. Not only is it narrated beautifully, but the story is great, too.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and other small or indie businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need at the smaller suppliers, I use Amazon affiliate links. I 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 blog.
