Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Last year when I went to visit my team in Basel, I took the women on the team some Cork I Spy pouches. One of the team sent me a picture of her pouch on a boat in Croatia.
The photo is amazing and I am thrilled that my pouch got to go somewhere I have never been.
I decided at the last moment to make a storage bag for the baby quilt that was off to San Diego earlier this week.
I wanted to use the Jeni Baker of In Color Order drawstring bag pattern, but for a variety of reasons it wasn’t available. I have made enough of those drawstring bags that I have an idea of how to make them.
I used the steampunk fabric from Feather Your Nest in Gresham. The fabric paired well with some black and white stripes I had available. It is also perfect for my niece.
It is really fun to use fabrics I just bought.
This is my cutting table on a good day.
On a good day, my cutting table is small. Tim laughs at the size of my cutting table. His is twice the size. My small cutting table is the reason I do so much cutting at Sew Day. Having space to lay out large pieces of fabric and use big rulers is a luxury. When half of it is covered with scraps and patterns, there is really only a small amount of space to cut.
It only looks this good, because the two giant piles, one of scraps and one of patterns, I had to the right of the tool caddy fell off yesterday. They are still laying on the floor, because something has to change.
This happens, if not frequently, then regularly. I keep walking past the mess and thinking about what to do. I think what I need to do is throw scraps into some kind of bin and then deal with them when the bin gets full.
SueG made me some small bins which I use for thread scraps. A larger size would be great. A One Hour Basket or the Desktop Cube from Minikins Season 1 are both options. The large size of the Desktop Cube is 5-1/2” long x 7-1/2” tall x 5-1/2” wide, so that might be a good starter bin. I also have a Sew Sweetness pattern called the Faithwell Storage Bin. The small size is small circle – 8” diameter x 7” tall, which is slightly larger than the Desktop Cube. What do you use for pre-processed scraps?
EPP Ball #5 is finished also. I finished it a few days ago and already gave it to the baby of a friend.
I have said before that I really enjoy making these and it is still true.
I was thinking about what to piece next after making some pillowcases. I was thinking of starting the Ombre Weave** pattern, which I bought at Stitch in Ferndale. If I started that new project, I would have to take all the pieces of the Pantone Project off the design wall. I thought that was a bad idea since I didn’t want it to become a permanent WIP. Been there done that.
I decided to work on it a little at least and then see what happened.
I wasn’t that happy with my previous layout ideas, Design #1 or Design #2, for the Pantone blocks. I took all the blocks down and started over with the design I drew in my journal. I liked it on paper so I thought it would be a good place to start.
It really is a good starting place. I am pretty pleased with the design as it is shown in the photo, left. I tried to duplicate what I had drawn with blocks and I am ok with the way the fabrics look. I couldn’t do everything as I don’t have enough of some of the parts, but I made due.
It isn’t perfect yet. The top right hand corner, for example is a little heavy while the left upper corner is a little light. Still for an hour of work, it looks like I can almost start piecing.
I might still start the Ombre Weave quilt and do both at the same time.
**Obviously, you should shop at local fabric, knitting shops or quilt shops. However, if you can’t, please know that I use 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 do not recommend items I don’t like. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
Why am I making patterns?
I don’t know, but I am.
I decided that the quilt I planned to give to my great niece wasn’t right. Then I saw this pattern on my Portland/Oregon Coast trip. Then, I remembered the Dessert Roll-ish bundle of fabric I bought at Sharon’s Attic in the beforetimes (2018-ha!). It has been sitting around marinating long enough and now is a good time to use it.
Now I have finished a few things that were in the works and I was looking for my next thing. Bag or Quilt? Quilt, I thought, then I thought about this one. My niece’s brother’s quilt will be done soon, so I should have this one ready soon as well. They are not grownups, so I expect them to wonder where their quilt is if I don’t send both at the same time.
I am not sure I have enough of that speckle fabric so I might need to rethink the background.
This pouch is for Lindsay’s daughter, A. A has a new brother and I didn’t want to bring him a gift without one for her. Mama loves Tula, so she got some Tula fabric in her bag.
This is a cute little pouch that is good for a little girl, though I don’t think it is good for much else. At least I can’t think what I would use it for. How would you use it? The first one I made went into the Pink Project Bag.
I made a tiny bit of progress on the sun hat since I talked about it last time. I washed the fabric and printed out the pattern. I also measured my head. Surprisingly my head is ‘teen’ sized!
The pattern was one of those that prints on 12 sheets of paper and you have to stick it together. Bleah! I know there is no way to print a pattern on one sheet using a home printer, but I dislike sticking patterns together and this one was no exception. It didn’t quite match up, and, yes, I made sure there was no scaling when I printed.
It’s a hat not a dress, so I am sure it will work.
I finished one of the quilts I received back from Colleen the other day, Diagonal 9 Patch #3.
The binding went on very smoothly. I have to remember not to use batiks on the back. I did on this one, but not much.
The baby for this quilt is due in October. I have to get on the Baby 2 Jacobs quilt, because that baby is due imminently.
The EPP Ball #4 is finished. I am pleased because the baby is due soon. I’ll have the quilt done as well by the time I need to send them off.
This is Enigma #5. I do like this pattern! I like the way it looks and how functional it is.
You don’t get to see the all the steps, because I have so much to write about and so much to sew that I am just posting the completed bag now.
Lil Sissy was admiring my Peony Enigma bag when she visited us in Portland. She didn’t ask for one, but I decided to make her one any way. Her birthday was July 26, so I had about a week to make it when I returned. I had a week or so in between everything else – niece’s wedding, YM visiting, etc.
I had to quilt the bottom and I am never happy about quilting, but I am pleased with how this quilting came out.
I used the same fabric I used for the Disco Double Zip pouch and the Percheron Pouch. This is great fabric for my sister as she loves Paris.
I made two of these at the same time. You will see the other one later. Making the same bag multiple times makes them go together faster, but also means I can pay attention to the details. I was able to select which side panel would work for the top and which would be better for the front without a lot of drama. Since I knew what to expect, I could think about the finer details.
I also found a good place for my label and was able to add it in the course of making the inside pocket.
The zipper end was a pain, but ending up coming out well.
Some time ago, I talked about making a hat or some hats. I wrote
“I decided to make a hat for a trip we are taking in the summer. That meant going to the web and searching for different hat patterns. One pattern is from Spruce Crafts. It has a very large brim, which I like. Another is from Heather Handmade. This is also a pattern with a large brim. It also shows you how to measure your head and provides a few different sizes of hats. I also found one from Apple Green Cottage. It comes in 5 sizes and it’s free. The pattern says that the brim is just the perfect size for keeping the face from direct sun, however it looks a little small to me. “
The trip was cancelled and I never got around to making the hat(s). I haven’t traveled in the summer in a long time. I prefer to travel in the winter, except for bad roads, or in the Autumn. The crowds are gone and the weather isn’t too hot for my ‘living in the fog’ body. On my recent trip to Portland and back, I could have really used a packable hat – one I can keep in my suitcase for when I need one.
I am determined to use some of the fabric and supplies I bought, so I want to use the yellow Philip Jacobs fabric to try one of the patterns I wrote about. Of course, they may no longer be available, but we will see.
I received 3 quilts back from Colleen the other day including the three Diagonal 9 Patch quilts I sent her.
One was the Diagonal 9 Patch #3, which is the first one I started to bind.
I regretted the binding choice when I saw it on the quilt, but it looks ok once I started to sew down the binding to the back.
This quilt is for a boy baby. It looks a little girly for a boy, but maybe not too much? I am not going to say anything to the parents.
The back is strange. Lemons and chocolates?
Anyway. I am sure they will like it. It will be done soon and ready for the October baby.
OMG! I have been to so many quilt shops in the last few weeks! It is really awesome. I don’t have a fabric hangover yet, but I’ll need to sew up a storm.
The Springville Quilt Barn is in the space once occupied by Kim’s Fortuna Fabric and Crafts. I visited the previous shop in 2010, but it only got a brief mention in one of my previous posts. I don’t remember anything about it other than a shop was there.
The Springville shop was crowded with fabric, books, kits, notions and was somewhat disorganized. It was not dirty and was filled with GREAT fabric. I enjoyed the discovery process. Everywhere I turned were colors and patterns I love. Jan Leonardo is the owner and she was very friendly and engaged with us.
The front of the shop gave us a taste of what was to come. As soon as we walked in we saw tons of fabric, books, kits, and notions. They were nicely arranged, in my opinion.
I think Jan had a lot going on. She was creating kits, serving customers, posting to her website and all the other things that go into owning a quilt shop business.
There were quite a few notions and I don’t really think I was able to take in all the fabric that was available. It was, mostly, organized by line and somewhat by designer as well. For example, most of the Tilda fabrics were near each other. I saw Tula, Tilda, some Kaffe (and my man, Phil), but lots of other designers as well.
One thing I noticed is that the shop has older prints from the various designers. For example I saw bolts of Tula Homemade there. Not all are listed on the shop website, so call if you need more of a specific print.
Of course, there were other bolts in that corner as well. I also saw quite a few panels in the same corner and in other parts of the shop. I am seeing more panels lately. Are they more popular or have always been popular and I just haven’t noticed them?
FQ packs were everywhere as well.
I loved the long rows of shelving filled with fabric bolts.
I bought some fabric for gifts, but I also bought a half yard pack of Tilda Bloomsville fabric that I have been admiring. The colors are super cheerful, though there are a few that are a little icky. I hope the colors I like will mitigate any ickiness.
The pack includes the flower prints only not the focus fabrics from that line. I think Jan put the pack together herself as opposed to it being a group assembled by Free Spirit or whichever company distributes Tilda. It was kind of an impulse buy, but I also bought a magazine with a pattern I am going to use for it. Perhaps I’ll start as soon as I get home now that the Green Strips donation quilt is in a good place.
Springville Quilt Barn
2045 S. Main Street
Fortuna, CA 95540
T: 707 496 3433
IG: https://www.instagram.com/springvillequiltbarn/
We saw a wide variety of interesting things beyond just quilt shop on my recent trip to Portland. I was pleased and surprised to see quilts celebrating Pride Month at Powell’s Books the day we visited. We visited in July, but the quilts were still on display. Friend Julie wrote about them, too.
The Portland Modern Quilt Guild’s challenge was called Rainbow Quilts. The quilts were displayed in the Basil Hallward Gallery at Powell’s from June 4 to July 30, 2024. As you can imagine, all of the quilts incorporated a rainbow.
I really liked it that Powell’s displayed quilts and that the Portland Modern Quilt Guild organized a challenge.
I am a big fan of rainbows. I love the imagery, but also the merging of colors into one another. Remember my Fabric of the Year quilts?
It was hard to pick my favorite. The plus quilt in the photo, right has a good design. I seem to be interested in curves and circles lately, so the one below it with the rainbow spikes was also a favorite.
You can see that there were quite a few quilts and they were all different sizes. I also saw a lot of different techniques: applique’, Bargello design, curves, mosaic piecing. It was a very interesting collection, which made it even harder to choose the top quilt.
I eventually chose Melinda Miller’s “It’s Time to Use Your Outside Voice”, because I like the quote. I think that it is true for women as well. All of the attempts to curb the rights of women mean that we have some power someone fears.
Be sure to check out the exhibit space at Powell’s when you visit. You will surely see something interesting.