Gifts to Give Using Fab Fabric

One of my favorite blogs is Be*mused blog (link on clip). She puts fabrics together beautifully and shows wonderful pictures. This link to one of her old posts from a current post discussing Christmas gifts dovetails nicely with another fabric avalanche, this one involving DH. He was not bemused or amused. He was rooting around in my fabric closet (first mistake), which doubles as a place to store filing cabinets and Christmas gifts, when the pile of dots, conveniently, but precariously, piled right at the front of a bunch of fabric piles fell on his feet. He claims it covered his knees as well. Totally untrue, but I can see how he might think that. He told me to stop buying fabric. HA!

Anyway, Be*mused makes an excellent point. Pillow cases are GREAT for gifts as well as using up conversationals. I have some great conversations that I doubt will ever make it into quilts. They are currently in the “back of the quilt” stack. Pillowcases for the nieces and nephews might be another good way to avoid the Pineapple. Not this year as Christmas is already only 24 days away, but I could think about it for next year assuming I ever get any additional free time.

clipped from bemused.typepad.com

Now that I’ve decided to hand deliver my Christmas gifts to family members at Thanksgiving, I’m awash in lists and plans.  And, ironically, still cranky over the too-early commercial bombardment of Christmas music and decor.  Scrambling to find gift ideas for those always-difficult people, I’ve had to concede that what hasn’t been decided yet will be purchased, not handmade.

Are you looking for some gift ideas that you can sew?   One of my old standbys has been the lowly and much overlooked pillowcase, which I’ve made mostly for kids, preschool to college age.  I’ve made them to coordinate with gift quilts and occasionally they’ve been an extra something-to-open when I’m sending a gift card or cash.  With all of the great fabrics available today, the theme possibilities are endless and there isn’t a simpler item to sew.  Here are a few of the combinations I’ve used.

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Quilt Exhibit at the Renwick

It pays to read blogs, so you can tell people to go and see this exhibit. It is about QUILTS!
It is at a real MUSEUM!
They have a companion BOOK!

Sadly (I guess it is my day for sadness), I won’t be heading out that way until the summer. Do give me a review and let me know if you liked it. Perhaps I will put the book on my Christmas list. Hhhmm.

clipped from bemused.typepad.com
http://bemused.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/26/100_2995_3.jpg

But the week wasn’t all about turkey and muffins.  Before everyone else arrived at my sister’s, M & I ducked out for a spectacular day in Washington, a city we’ve spent a lot of time in since Molly & K both went to college there.  First stop, the Renwick Museum, where we saw the current show, Going West! Quilts and Community.  I’d wanted to see this exhibit since I read that it had been curated by Sandi Fox, author of two of my favorite books on 19th century quilts, Small Endearments and For Purpose and Pleasure.  Well worth the trip, I’d recommend the show if you’re going to be in D.C. before the close of the show in mid-January.  Sadly (for you,) no photos allowed.  The show’s companion book does include all of the show quilts (and more) with accompanying essays on over fifty quilts brought to or made in Nebraska in the late nineteenth century.

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Make Lounge Cushion Cover

I was randomly surfing blogs and websites today (studiously avoiding the laundry, the Christmas cards and the Pineapple!) when I came across Make Lounge via Juju Love Polka dots blog. I saw this cushion cover and thought it was very fun. Sadly, Make Lounge is in London and I am not. Still, perhaps I will take out Pamela’s project and be inspired.

Appliqué cushion cover

appliqué cushion cover
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Quilter’s Home Subscription


I received an e-mail today to subscribe to QH. Since I hadn’t gotten around to sending in the card, I clicked on the link and in 2 minutes, I was done. I am behind an issue now, so I still have to go and find that one, but am glad that I won’t have to hunt around for hilarious quilt reading material after this.

And while you are at it, read the Washington Post article. If the Post asks you to register, get a slightly used login from BugMeNot.

New Blog Hits the Blogosphere

Linda Cline, a very prolific and talented quiltmaker has started her own blog, Linda’s Art Journal. Although she only has a few posts up, I was immediately struck by her comments on sketchbooks/visual journaling in her first post.

Linda plans to use her blog as her visual journal, which is an interesting idea. Obviously, I do that, but I don’t think it is the same as a visual journal in which I use colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc to convey and idea or get an idea out of my head. I feel, for myself, that the screen and the keyboard are a kind of barrier. Not a complete barrier, because, obviously, here I am writing away. Still, I do find them to be a partial barrier. In order to post something, I have to use the keyboard to write it, modify (crop, shrink) photos in a piece of software and then upload everything so you can see it.

I enjoy putting pen/pencil/crayon etc to paper. I enjoy the feel of the implement gliding or sliding or rubbing over the paper. I enjoy the feeling of the paper on my hand.

I think there is a place for both in my fiber and visual work. I look forward to exploring more on this topic with you. I think there is value in exploring creativity via different media.

Welcome to the Blogosphere adventures, Linda!

Pineapple Problem

I didn’t get to spend the entire day on Friday on the Pineapples as I would have liked, but I got to spend some time on them and make some progress.

First, I needed to figure out the corner problem.

For Pineapple corners, you need to cut a square in half. The book assumes you have pieced perfectly and tells you to cut squares which are 1.75″ wide and use them to make the block and the squares that go on the corner. Because I was actually using fabric, which stretches and has fabric qualities, 1.75″ didn’t work for me. Below are the sizes I tried.

2″ works on some, but not all. I don’t want to rip the ones out that are too small and I can’t tell until I have sewed them, so 2″ squares (cut in half to form a triangle) are out.

3″: a little too big. I don’t need that much extra overlap.

2.5″ : still too big. I still don’t need that much extra for trimming.

2.25″ : looks too big, but once you sew it on it isn’t.

Here is the triangle cut from the 2″ square laid on top of the triangle cut from the 2.25″ square. It gave me a visual clue of the difference in size.

With the 2.25″ squares (cut into triangles), they work. They have enough play so I can trim them and make the blocks look beautiful. I was pretty excited about REALLY finishing the blocks and putting the quilt together until…

I put four blocks together. Sigh.

As you can see above, the border blocks fit pretty well together, but the center blocks (well, at least the one I finished with corners) are much too small, which means that they don’t work with the border blocks.

What does this mean?
How did this happen?
I used the same strips, the same sewing machine.

The only difference was the iron.

I am exceptionally down about this and truly ready to put this quilt away and start something new. That is exactly what I didn’t want to do. For once, I wanted to work on a quilt from start to finish.

I will add a few more corners to other center blocks and see if they are all too small, then I will decide what to do.

A Bug in My Ear

I bought this fabric sometime in the past, but can’t figure out when or where. I thought it was at PIQF 2006, but it appears in Thoughts on Dots before that, so it had to be some earlier. I looked all through the first half of 2006 and PIQF 2005 to no avail. I gave up. It didn’t matter anyway.

There is a point, in case you thought I wasn’t getting to it, and the point is that when I bought this, I was with TFQ and we only bought a quarter yard, then we split it, which left me with an eighth of a yard. I never know what fabrics will spark my interest, but something about this one did as I used it for Thoughts on Dots and now on the Pineapple. When I was close to cutting the last strip off for the Pineapple, I began to think I needed more of it. I looked everywhere – online, in shops, at shows. No luck. The more I didn’t find it the more desperate I became. This one fabric took on a holy grail sort of mindset for me.

  • Yes, I should use my fabrics right away so I can see what I like and get more of it before it goes out of print.
  • Yes, there is always more fabric.
  • Yes, I should not make myself crazy over one fabric.
  • Yes, I know this happened once before THIS year and JulieZS saved me with the Flea Market Fancy blue.

I did anyway.

TFQ sent me her eighth yard earlier this week, thus the gorgeous picture at the top of the screen and it put the bug for this fabric back in my ear. Wednesday night, in between preparing the feast, I went online and mindlessly put “timeless treasures” basix blue dots into a search engine and was rewarded with an eBay store, Elisabeth’s Barn Shoppe, that had 13 half yards of the fabric (why she counts half yards as one, I don’t know). I couldn’t believe my luck! I bought a yard. I wondered if I should buy more or buy it all, but I bought just a yard.

One quest complete. Unless I decide to buy more.

Please Note: That is Not Me

There seems to be a lot of confusion around come of my recent posts where I have used Clipmarks. Clipmarks is a social networking tool for posting and providing attributes to non-AQ websites and blog posts I use in my blog. Each Clipmark post has an address bar at the top giving you the original URL or link to a blog post, so you can go back and read the whole thing. It is good to use the links to go back and read the original post as I often don’t convey the original meaning of the author’s post, but put my own personal spin on it.

I use Clipmarks when I see a fantastic image that provides inspiration or someone has posted something particularly interesting that I don’t feel like rewriting or reviewing. I was turned on to it by a subscription newsletter called Neat Net Tricks. Check it out!

Which brings me to the title of my post. The picture of the lady in the post from yesterday is NOT me. She is from Apple Blossom Quilts. See the cartoon to your right? That is me. 😉

Quilt Storage – Good Idea

I saw this in Judy Martin’s newsletter and thought it was a great idea for quilt storage. Quilt storage can be such a problem when you start getting lots of quilts. I have seen quilts rolled on poles, which I also think it a great idea, but this quilt storage would be good for larger quilts.

Quilt Storage – A Quilt Closet

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Finished is Relative

Here are the last four blocks for the Pineapple. It took some time to get these done. I started out normally, but when I got to the last few rounds, I paid special attention to the fabrics I was choosing, so they would be perfect. Perfect is, of course, relative, because of the fabrics they will be placed near, but I just wanted to put some of the dots that I really liked in the last blocks.

I counted several times to make sure that these were the last four blocks and that I had counted correctly initially to make sure I had calculated the number I needed properly, but I fully expect that will have to make more.

As I said, Finished is Relative. Now I am on to adding corners to the blocks. I need to do that so there aren’t big holes in the quilt. I suppose that would be a look, though.

I started out with 2″ squares and cut them in half. They work on some corners, but are too small for others. I want enough extra so I can trim the corners, if I need to do so. I will try 2.5″ or 3″ squares next. I cut a bunch and don’t think I will be able to use these.

Flowering Snowballs

Had a cruddy day at work today, but came home to some Pineapple blocks on the wall and that made me smile. They weren’t new ones, but I really had a good look at them and was reminded how much I like dots!

In between working like a complete dog on the weekend clearing out my aunt’s craft room, I sewed a tiny bit on some Flowering Snowball (Cross Blocks). I did most of the sewing on the plane, but some in the morning over my coffee. I decided just to do corners, except for one block, because I was running out of the colored pieces and had mostly greens and pinks left. It is a scrap quilt, but I don’t want to have too many greens and pinks. It’ll be a balanced scrap quilt. 😉

When I got home I pressed all of the pieces and, on a whim, counted the finished blocks. I have a total of 22 finished Cross Blocks thus far. WOW! How did I get so many? Just plugging along, I guess.

My next task for this project is to cut blue, purple, orange and yellow corner pieces to round out my choices a bit.

I also talked to AJA this weekend. She lives near where I was working, but we couldn’t fit it in to get together. I didn’t e-mail her in time at the beginning of the week to remind her and she forgot to write it on her calendar. Not sure when I will be back, but we had a good chat. We discussed doing the next color Bullseye quilts. Purple, I think. She put me in charge. I will have to talk to JulieZS and see what we can work out.