Who Am I? ProgressWho Am I? satin stitching detail
I made some good progress during my winter break from work. Can you believe it? It wasn’t even that terrible. I worked pretty quickly, which meant I got almost all of the satin stitching I needed to finish done in one afternoon. It was amazing. Again, I was kind of shocked at why I was balking at ….sooooo muuuuccchhh saaaatttiiinnnn stiiiitccchhhiiiing…… It wasn’t super fun, because there were a lot of loops and swirls to stitch around and I am out of practice. I had to go over some spots a second time to smooth them out but, all in all, it went relatively quickly. Now it is over.
I am using a variety of techniques in addition to the satin stitching.
Who Am I? Progress – detail
The black letters are attached using a straight line, raw edge applique after I fused them to the background. This quilt will not be washed, so that type of treatment is fine.
The two parts that have been stitched down for a long time, ‘Mary’s daughter’ and ‘William’s Mom’, are sort of couched. I pinned ribbon into place, then stitched it down. I made some 1/4 inch some bias tape that I will use for one of the other lines.
I finished the second Hackney in record time. Now, as I mentioned, have plans to make a few more. The second one always goes a lot faster than the first and I am enamored with the shape.
Cutting wasn’t even terrible for this pouch. Something must be getting into me, though it’s probably the templates. I have a set of acrylic templates for this pouch and cutting with templates is a million times easier than when I have to use a paper pattern. It might be even easier if I used a rotating mat.
Green Hackney upright
The one problem with this pattern, as written, is the lack of a handle. I am not sure of the original intention of the bag, but having a handle I think is important. I asked a few questions of the designer and her team about when to add the handle. I got enough information and ended up adding after step 13. I think it worked out pretty well.
I love the pouch even more set upright like the picture (right). I think it looks so cool. It makes me want one, though I have no idea how I would use it. Some people sew elastic bands on the bottom in such a way that pens and such can be anchored to the bottom. It’s an idea I will have to consider. I have also seen this made as mini first aid kit. Lots of good ideas.
Green Hackney open
The same fabric that I used for the handle was also used for the lining. I am really pleased with how the stripes came out. Also, I think the inside zipper matches, without matching, very well.
The inside pocket is mesh and I think the center zipper looks a little weird, so I think I will try moving the zipper up a little, though I know that might interfere with the operation of the zipper. I might be able to move it up to where the curve starts with no ill effects. The other idea I have is to put a vinyl pocket on top and no zipper. Stay tuned for further iterations.
Sew Sweetness has a hashtag for the Hackney on her FB group (you have to be a member) and I scrolled through a lot of versions of them to get ideas. It was great.
I went on another organizing rampage this morning. I decided to gather all the fabrics and supplies for several bag projects I have planned. This task has been on my list for awhile, so I decided today was the day. In the course of this effort, I tidied up some project bins that were stuffed full of fabric, patterns, etc.
I-Spy / Roadtrip pouches
In one of the project bins I found two of the smaller, completed Crafty Gemini Organizer Club projects. I know I left them there so I could put them together with the last two projects. The last two projects, the Retreat in a Bag and the Ultimate Project Bag have not yet been made, but are on the list. Thus, they were two of the projects for which I gathered supplies and materials.
One of the projects I found, which will be clipped into the Ultimate Project Bag was the Roadtrip bag (right, photo above). Seeing this project again made me think of the templates for which I made a number of pouches.
The Roadtrip bag (pouch) was not used for the templates, but it could be. It looks very similar to the I-Spy pouch by Sew Sweetness (left, photo above), which I did use for the templates. Not counting the size differences, the main difference is the side strip on the Sew Sweetness bag. I made several of the I-Spy pouches for acrylic templates.
The reason I am talking about these is that I thought I would make a larger one, adjusting the size, to suit two sets of templates which don’t fit in the sizes given in the pattern.
The Sew Sweetness I-Spy pouch comes in 3 sizes. The largest size is 10.5 in x 8.5 in high, which is great except that it will not fit the larger templates that need a home. I want to make a pouch for the Chickadee Backpack templates I bought last year when the pattern came out. The templates need a pouch that is about 8 in by 19 in.
Yoko Saito’s Natural Patchwork bag
I know I talked about the bag from Natural Patchwork**, which I still want to make, but I don’t think today is that day. I do like the idea of handles (makes me think of the Grab & Go pattern, also from the Minikins patterns) and I may use foam instead of batting since the templates are quite large and I don’t want them to break.
What did I gain by today’s organizing effort? 1. I have everything ready when I decide to cut new projects out; 2. I have zippers on order, which weren’t already in my bin of zippers; 3. I have more of an idea for securing some templates; 4. Bins with less junk in them.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need at quilt shops, I use 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.
As briefly mentioned when I posted about the Minikins Season Three patterns from Sew Sweetness, I made a Hackney pouch as gift for the YM’s girlfriend/partner. She works as part of a forensics team and loves skeletons. This Timeless Treasures fabric is perfect for gifts for her and I still have quite a bit.
I made her a Sidewinder pouch a couple of years ago, but that had no skeleton fabric. I used a bit of skeleton fabric for the pincushion in the Leaf Sew Together Bag I made for her last year.
Skeleton Hackney open
This turned out to be all skeletons all the time, though not the lining. I can’t get away from light colored linings.
I think the center looks super cheerful and people using it can see their stuff.
This was my first try at the Hackney pattern, but I like it as a bag. These are quite large (I made the large size), so not really a pouch, but a small bag. I really want to know if it fits a Switch**. I’d like to see a photo of the large Hackney with a Switch inside it.
I plan to make a few more for more gifts, but also one for myself. I need to think of what to put inside before I make one and have it hanging around.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need at quilt shops, I use 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 used one in the green Hackney I made. Friend Julie suggested that there were instructions on sewing them into projects. I’ll have to look for those. I just stuck this one in the seam allowance of the lining and sewed.
I finished the Moto Pouch not long after my last post. I like this pattern despite the drop-in lining. I think I have figured out a way to deal with the lining that looks good and isn’t terrible to sew.
Moto Pouch open view
Whether I need that knowledge, we’ll have to see. I don’t know that I’ll make another one. I do know that there are other patterns with drop-in linings. I can use what I learned there. I should make another pattern with a drop-in lining in order to cement the techniques in my mind.
I put the zipper on the side without the handle, but I think that was a bad choice. The handle acts as an anchor for pulling the zipper. The directions are clear and I put in on the handles side on the other one I made, but didn’t understand the reason until I made this one. Live and learn.
My last BOM packet for La Passacaglia came a few days ago. <insert crying emoji here>
It was a fat packet with a lot of fabric for the last rosette. I probably won’t use most of it since I am changing the predominant color from green to blue.
La Pass Month 18 fabrics
I’ll use fabrics that I used in the Month 16 rosette. I found more of the fabrics wrapped in each other when I went to wash everything, so not all of the fabrics are shown. Since I won’t be using most of them, you can ignore the selection. LOL!
Finishing a donation quilt first in the year has to be good karma, right?
Friendship Star donation top
I had been saving some 16 patches to make a donation quilt and decided that New Year’s Day was the day. I combined the 16 patches with pieced sashing and cornerstones from an article in Today’s Quilter issue 91. The information was in the Essential Guides sections, which is great for tuning up your skills.
I wanted to try the technique out, so I took out those donation blocks and got to work. I, mostly, used up some Pure Elements Linen for the sashing background and used a solid for the cornerstones and the back.
It felt so good just to do some easy piecing and I am pleased to have a donation quilt to bring to Sew Day next week.
I received a whole shedload of “your posts go against our community guidelines” messages from Blogger about my old Blogger blog. Since I moved my blog here in 2009, I decided not to spend time telling them their algorithm had screwed up (or someone decided to cause me trouble) and just delete the blog. It doesn’t need to be there anymore. If you want to see any posts pre-2009, they are all here. You can either search or check the sidebar. It’s really annoying to have to deal with something like that, but easily remedied. Hope you had a great New Year!
Projects, Classes, Patterns & Tutorials
For those of you playing along with Chilhowie, the 2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, be sure reprint the Part 3 PDF. Bonnie made some corrections and posted them right away. Just make sure you have the correct pattern. Find all the different parts on the Chilhowie page, but be sure to download what you need before Bonnie removes it.
Bonnie Hunter has also posted a block webbing tutorial. Block webbing is a method of sewing blocks together so they stay in order. She uses a 16 patch block (like the donation blocks I make) as an example. Very clear and very useful.
Jaybird Quilts has a Temperature quilt project that looks different from others. It’s more like a braided quilt.
Persimmon Dreams, in association with another quiltmaker has Project Quilting challenges. I think each week brings a new challenge.
Media
The Tula Pink video from early December is fabulous! She made a bunch of stuffed animals from her Everglow collection. They are adorable.
These paintings look like awesome quilts. I don’t want to get into a big discussion about art vs. craft, but how much would this painting cost vs the cost of a quilt with the exact same design?
Friend Julie has another great Cornucopia post from December. Some of the links in this post originally came from Julie’s post. It is so interesting how we see different things on the web.
A lot of guild members are sick of these simple blocks, but I still like them. They are easy to make and work really well, as I have said a million times, for leaders and enders.
Green batik donation block
Tula birds donation block
Dusty Blue Dot donation block
Pointillist Purple donation block
Turquoise latte donation block
Turquoise & Big Dot donation block
Turquoise with leaves donation block
Green batik donation block
Yellow donation block
I am keeping some of these blocks to make a donation top. I haven’t made one in a long time and need to get back to it.
I was still recovering from my oral surgery last Friday as I prepared for Sew Day after work. With a full week of work and the aftereffects of the surgery under my belt, I was tired. I thought hard about staying home, but decided to go. I wanted to see my friends and participate in the Destash party.
In order not to completely exhaust myself, I decided to bring as little as possible with me. I needed a small project without a lot of pieces and parts. For example, I did not want to bring a sewing machine. The La Pass BOM would have been the perfect project, but it is delayed again.
It occurred to me that I could bring the Half Hexie Star quilt, put it up on the design wall and make a plan to get it finished. Looking at it and making a plan had been on my list for a long time and Sew Day provided the perfect opportunity.
I did it! And it worked!
I now have a plan to finish this quilt. I can see the light at the end of the Half Hexie tunnel, which is a finished quilt. This is very exciting. I thought this would be one of those quilts I would finish in 10 years.
Half Hexie Star: top two rows
First, this may be the first time I have ever put this quilt up on the design wall and looked at it vertically. I have laid it out on the floor, but seeing it on the design wall is better.
Second, I figured out what I needed to do to even up the sides. I plan to finish the two rows I have started on the top (see arrows) and call it done. I am not going to add more rows to make it bigger.
Half Hexie Star: side
A lot of people came and talked to me about the quilt. One of my guild mates asked what the final size would be. I looked at her, confused. She clarified that she wanted to know whether the pattern said it would be a twin or another size. She also wanted to know if I made enough stars to complete the pattern. Clearly she doesn’t know me that well. I laughed and said I wasn’t using a pattern. I said it would be as big as I felt like making it. This was a foreign concept to my guild mate.
At that point, I decided that it would be pretty much as big as we could see on the design wall right then.
Half Hexie Stars: right side detail (to do)
I haven’t measured it, though it would have been a good time to do it.
Next, I tried to think of ways to square up the sides. I pinned stars to the sides to make each side as even as possible, so I could see what I had.
The top and bottom just need some diamonds and triangles fitted into the open spaces in the stars. The top and bottom will be easy.
Half Hexie Stars: Trying to add background
For the sides, I thought about putting a couple of the half hexie pieces using background fabric in to the sides as a way of getting the sides to be more square. I even sewed some as a test. I was going to go with that solution, which would have made a gentle zig zag edge. I didn’t feel it was an ideal solution.
Half Hexie Star: Lindsay’s idea
Then Lindsay arrived and we discussed it further. She thought I could add in the triangles and diamonds without the background pieces. It wouldn’t make the edge square, but there would still be a gentle zigzag. The triangles and diamond pieces would match the look of the bottom better. I like this idea much better and will work on it.
Finally Mary C said that I could use the edge as is – already folded under – and fold the backing under, then whip stitch the top and bottom together rather than applying a standard binding. I think this is a really good idea. If I can work with Colleen to make it happen, I will.
I am pleased with the various solutions. I am also glad that I will be done with this top soon.
