Lush Gift Bags

One of the reasons I buy fabric specifically destined for and make gift bags is so that I don’t have to wrap gifts using paper. I also like to have an excuse to buy holiday fabric that I know I will never use for a quilt. FabMo has created a whole new aesthetic for me for gift bags.

At the last CQFA meeting, Bron brought a few pieces of FabMo fabric and I scooped up a couple. You’ll see some of them soon, but I already made the gift bag.

Lush Gift Bag
Lush Gift Bag

This fabric is some kind of velvet like material and it changes the whole look of the gift bag. I didn’t take any chances when sewing it. I used the new open toe walking foot because I am not familiar with how this fabric acts in the sewing process.

The ribbon is also from another gift.

It is an odd shape, because I just used the shape of the sample and folded it in half. The edges were serged and I wanted to maintain that integrity.

One of the things I like about it is that it looks really special. That is a good reminder for me that the fabric really makes the piece – especially in other types of sewn accessories that don’t have the opportunity for quilting or embellishment, etc. I realize that the maker could do both on a gift bag, of course, if the design were different.

Lush Gift Bag detail
Lush Gift Bag detail

I actually think that gift bags would be a good way to try out new techniques, feet, stitches on your sewing machine, free motion quilting, etc.

Eye Spy & Tumbler

Tumblers, cut
Tumblers, cut

I have been cutting patches for Julie‘s Tumbler quilt for awhile. It seems only fair since she cut a boatload of hexagons for my Eye Spy quilt. Periodically, I get a bunch together and give them to her when I see her. They fit very nicely into a Recchiuti caramel box, so she gets a nice smell of chocolate along with her Tumblers. It occurred to me that I should surprise her sometime and give her a box of the actual chocolates!

I kind of like having a list of patches to cut as I work through new fabric or fabric I am using. There is something nice about collecting a bunch of blocks and then putting them all together at the end of the year or the end of some other timeframe.

The other day, Julie wrote about getting close to the end in a recent post. She is struggling with the same issue I had and that is the edge. When I was finishing up the Eye Spy, I didn’t want to slice off several hexagons to make a straight edge. That is the suggestion that many resources had for the edge of an Eye Spy.

Eye Spy, Full
Eye Spy, Full

I also didn’t really want to sew a binding around all of those weird angles. I did that once and once was enough. The one weird angle in the Chocolate Box was enough for me. As you may remember, I did some triangle gymnastics on the Eye Spy to finish the edge in order to end up with a straight edge.

I think this is a case of thinking about what design would be best for the quilt. Chopping off hexagons that were fussy cut to include an image would be jarring, I think. If I had thought ahead, I might have made the edge hexagons a solid or tone-on-tone fabric and not worried about chopping them off. Solid fabrics might have provided a kind of border effect.

I am happy with my solution. It wasn’t the easiest solution, but I think it looks good. I am sure Julie will come up with a good solution as well.

Knitting Box Un-Fail?

Knitting Box - A new view
Knitting Box - A new view

Last week I discussed the Knitting Box. I thought it was a hopeless failure and I would have to go back to the drawing board.

My fabulous readers came up with some solutions, including a list of comments about “portable knitting sacs” (thanks, Jessica!) and using a pattern for a take out box (as in Chinese take out). On Jessica’s list, I found the Port-a-Pocket and the Knit Knack Sack. One lady also described how to make something similar from a CD. I couldn’t exactly follow her directions, but my go back to them if the failure cannot be repaired. Knituition also had directions for a knitted wrist yarn holder. Sarah on Ravelry shows a slight variation of Knituition’s wrist yarn holder. Halcyon Yarn also has a wrist yarn holder, which, not being much of a knitter, looks like a torture device to me. I will only subject my SIL to that as a last resort. Finally, there was something called a waisthook. I have no idea how this works and am also thinking torture device!

One of these hints led me to the portable knitting pouch, which is made from fabric and up my alley. I also found a Yarn Traveler bag, which is interesting, but doesn’t quite fit the belt criteria. The portable knitting set was also a source of inspiration.

Potential Amount to Sew
Potential Amount to Sew

I decided to bring it with me on the trip to Mother’s Day brunch and show it to the intended recipient. My SIL agreed with me that the Mirkwood Designs pattern has style and I should try and salvage it if I could. My SIL and niece played around with it in the car and we all brainstormed on how it could be salvaged. First, they found a different way to fold it (above). This way of  folding it keeps the box together pretty well. It is actually probably the intended way to fold it. The bad part is that the parts still aren’t strong enough to hold a ball of yarn. An idea they had was to sew up the side about an inch, so that the box will already be partially shut.

Beaded and Sewed
Beaded and Sewed

I think sewing it up a bit is a good idea. I used some Perl cotton so that it doesn’t matter if the stitching shows. If I put some beads on the end of the Perl Cotton I won’t I have to try and hide the knot. My only concern is that they would get stuck on stuff as my SIL moves around with the box on her belt.

I will probably put something on the top to keep it together. I talked about buttons. My niece suggested snaps and SIL suggested velcro. I’ll see what I have around and try them.

I always say that more brains are better and this is a perfect example of more brains getting involved helps a lot. Thanks, all!

Auction Throw Pillows

NSGW Pillows
NSGW Pillows

My DH is an executive board member for a California organization called the Native Sons of the Golden West. In addition to supporting the preservation of California history, they raise money to help people suffering from facial deformities such as Cleft Palette. During their elections, each of the candidates opens a hospitality room. They do their best to raise the most money for Cleft Palette. To do this they display items, such as gift baskets, for sale. People purchase raffle tickets or bid on items. The competition to put out the best items is fierce, because each candidate wants to draw the most people to hospitality room. They get kudos for the amount of money they raise.

NSGW logo pillow
NSGW logo pillow

DH comes from a long line of ‘Brothers’ and his mother rallies her friends to make up the gift baskets. I told him I would make throw pillows. He found the designs and fixed up the images. When I was ready to make them, I printed them on fabric, and last weekend made the pillows.

California Flag pillow
California Flag pillow

The hardest part was the color. I needed colors to match the logos, which were slightly greyed. I used some older fabrics. I am pleased with how the pillows came out.

When I did the printing, the first print came out in greyscale. DH had selected, at some point in the process of fiddling with the images, to print in greyscale. I ended up with a black and white rendition of the California flag and NSGW logo. I printed again and gave DH some fabric pens and left him to coloring the first printout.

NSGW logo pillow #2
NSGW logo pillow #2

He did a good job on this logo.

Bear Flag pillow #2
Bear Flag pillow #2

He went a little outside of the lines on this one.

Bear Flag pillow #2 -detail
Bear Flag pillow #2 -detail

The bear looks a little angry. DH is off to raffle these pillows tomorrow.

I was very glad to be able to cross things off of my to do list and pillows are a big one. I feel like I am now geared up to do the 2010 Teacher Pillows.

Creative Prompt #67: Leaf

leaf rubbing

fallen leaves

tree

LEAF: A spirited celebration of regional and world folk arts. Includes music, dancing, concerts, handcrafts and healing arts.

Linux Embedded Appliance Firewall

falling leaves

leaf: In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat (laminar) and thin. Wikipedia

leaves turning colors

Autumn

Four leaf clover

flyleaf

gold leaf

Canadian Maple Leaf (Jill, this one’s for you 😉  )

Dried leaves

See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

LisaLizaLou’s ATCs

If you haven’t been over to Lisa’s blog, today is the day to check out her ATCs. These are awesome! The one with the circular motif on the right looks like a quilting design. I had to look really carefully and I still don’t know for sure that it is not stitched. She has some ATC swaps going so check out her FB fan page and/or her blog.
clipped from www.lisalizalou.blogspot.com

  blog it

Various and Sundry Thursday

Around the Web

Have you seen Judy Martin’s newish Free Block (quilt?) of the Moment? It is a nice updated version of a rail fence. It would make a nice FOTY project.

Jinny Beyer also has a free block she calls Block-a-Week. Every Friday she posts a new block. I wrote about her block of the week before. Have you tried it? Come here and do the CPP, then hop over to Jinny Beyer’s site and get the block of the week. You’ll really get your creative juices going!

Block Party has a fun Friendship Star variation that reminds of the Corner Store quilt that I liked from Pretty Little Mini Quilts. It also reminds me of Gwen Marston’s Liberated Piecing techniques. I must really like this star, because I also talked about it on December 9, 2009! Did you try it out? Nothing has been going on this blog since February. There is a note that says she has a book coming out, so perhaps she is focusing on that project?

I am reading Jinny Beyer’s Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns (you can buy it via the AQ Bookstore) and so I must have blocks on my mind. That book is HUGE!! I need to get out of bed, heave it with two hands off the floor and be careful not injure myself or anyone else. This is not an 80 page paperback. You need this book.

I was listening to a Pat Sloan podcast (from 4/12/2010) with Linda Franz the other day. Linda Franz is the creator of InkLingo. InkLingo is a method of printing templates on to fabric using your ink jet printer. I don’t know if other printers work. They made it very clear that black ink does not work. At first, I thought the idea sounded like another step to add to the quilting process. As I listened, though, I thought it might be worth trying. She offers a free sheet of patterns and the thing that I thought was interesting was that she is creating pattern sheets for blocks that have become too complicated to piece in our quick piecing culture. I took a quick look at her site and will go back for more. I think it is worth a look.

Have you heard about Knitting Graffiti? Deputy Dog chronicles the different installations of knitting and crocheting graffiti. I have been thinking lately that the local train garage where I park in the morning is a hideously ugly concrete blackmark on a large corner lot of my town. I have been trying to think of ways to prettify it. Kaffe Fasset is always good inspiration, but perhaps this knitting graffiti would be quicker? It would, however, also be more ephemeral.

This site, Lives of the Artists, has some food for thought.

Have you seen this blog? Rachel Draws a Lot is just what the title says – a kid drawing and posting to a blog. I love the whimsical nature of the drawings. If you can do what she does, you can create a creative prompt response. Channel your inner 4YO!

Have you listened to Sew ~ Stitch ~ Create yet? If not, go take a look at the blog and see Beach Town there!

I think a number of other blogs have talked about 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs. I finally went to look at it and was amazed and thrilled. First, it is a treasure trove of quilting designs. Second, there are videos so you can see how the creator makes the design. This site would be a great way to practice your free motion quilting skills. You could decide to do a certain number a week and then just follow along or pick the ones you like.

Nina Johansson has a new website. She is the artist who did the wonderful coffee sketch I found in February of last year. I really like the details in her work. She posts about “rolling the dice” to find a good color combination. This might be a great way of selecting colors for your next quilt. I suppose the die could be created using solid fabrics instead of painting as well.

I am a pretty big fan of most fiber arts. I like to see what my weaving, stitching, blackwork and crocheting colleagues are doing. I can often find some inspiration or ideas from other crafts. This story about a woven spider, yes spider, silk tapestry takes the cake. I cannot even imagine mining spiders for their silk. I can imagine undertaking a project so challenging there was a good chance the maker would fail. I think everyone should do that. Failure is the best lesson ever and success breeds success.

CraftSanity Apron Update

Remember that I made an apron to donate to the CraftSanity Apron Auction? Jennifer at CraftSanity posted a gushing thank you to the people who donated FIFTY, yes 50, aprons.

She wrote about the expected opening of the show plus the press, too and the photoshoot.

I wish I could be there to see the opening, but a visit to Grand Rapids is not in my future at this time. The video they posted is GREAT. My apron doesn’t have a starring role, but there is a glimpse of it on the video. My apron didn’t win any prizes. I have to admit I was disappointed, but the aprons that won had more meaning for the organization than mine did. I wanted to make something fun and cute. I think I succeeded, so I am satisfied. Also, I feel that by supporting this cause in a small way all women win.

Why did I do this? I once call a local domestic violence shelter for a friend whose husband was beating her. I had worked to collect gifts and canned food at Christmas time for that organization as part of my charity work with a local Alumnae Panhellenic. My heart still aches when I think of that whole experience and how wonderful the volunteer was who answered the phone. It is one small thing I was able to do.

Fabric

Anina over at Twiddletails got some fabric from Spoonflower, which she posted about in her blog. Sigh. I am so tempted. I have an idea for fabric that is my own design that I could make available to others. I just have to sit down and do the design.

Need some stripes? Check out the stripes the Quilting Loft has available. Oh! By the way, they also have an online store!

Walker Bags

I found a pattern that I liked at CareWear Volunteers.

I also found one at Laura’s Sewing Studio.

A friend also mentioned that a book came out with patterns for various walker caddies, wheelchair backpacks and the like. I am waiting to hear back from about any tips and tricks she has. I am also waiting for sizes from the physical therapist.

To Do List

I have some things I need and want to do:

  1. Make a bag for the Square ‘n Blocker. It is obvious that it will get really dirty really quickly if I just leave it laying around. I think I can make a bag, like the Eco Market Tote, that will also hold some other supplies like rulers and a cutting mat.
  2. I want to make more circles like I learned to do in the Dale Fleming class. Look for my discussion of that AWESOME class.
  3. I need to fix Lil Sissy’s bag.
  4. I want to make a couple of pencil rolls.
  5. I want to make a couple of journal covers.
  6. Need to catch up on my CPP responses.

I feel like I have so many quilt/creativity and sewing related things I want to get done that I am running around like a chicken getting nothing done. Sigh! I made a lot of progress over the weekend, but never as much as I would like.

Blocks on my Mind

Teacher Pillow time is coming, so I have blocks on my mind. During this project the book Around the Block is a dear friend. I also like the Dear Jane blocks. Recently I saw the progress Twiddletails was making on her DJ project and it made me think that the authors, Judy and Brenda, of the two books should get together and do the same concept with the DJ blocks. Yes, I know there is an EQ program for Dear Jane, but it is not the same as the Around the Block book. I am not sure if it is possible to rotary cut all of those DJ patterns.

Quilting at the DeYoung

Children's Quilt Project Quilt
Children's Quilt Project Quilt

I volunteered to go and help demonstrate quilting at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco last Friday with the East Bay Heritage Quilters. I took the Chocolate Box with me so I could show how quilts are finished. I had done this “stunt quilting” at the museum before – when the Esprit collection was being displayed at the museum. That experience was wonderful. This experience was MUCH better.

BackStage Pass
BackStage Pass

Renee and her staff treated us like glitterati. I was greeted at the door and immediately given the above pass. There was a performer’s area away from the hubbub of the event where we could rest, partake of food and drink, and chat.

Children's Quilt Project Quilt detail
Children's Quilt Project Quilt detail

One of the things some of the ladies did was work on the CQP quilts. This one was tied with the help of some interested visitors. CQP is project where the guild makes quilts to donate to children in need.

Sewing CQP Blocks
Sewing CQP Blocks

A couple of the ladies worked with visitors to lay out blocks and then sew them. Some of the children were very interested in this aspect of the work and helped quite a bit.

Cutting
Cutting

We demonstrated all aspects of the quilting process, including cutting. Many, many people had never seen a rotary cutter and were quite fascinated.

Hand quilting
Hand quilting

Two ladies brought their hand quilting projects. Jean, working on the attic window quilt, brought several of her quilts. Many of them were a lovely combination of purples, blues and greens.

Tie quilt
Tie quilt

This is another of Jean’s quilts in a lovely group of purples, blues and greens. She made this quilt from ties. I think it is one of the best uses of tie fabric I have ever seen. I like the combination of colors and patterns. I also like the block layout.

Godzilla &  Mothra
Godzilla & Mothra

Edi does gorgeous applique’. She had several in progress pieces with animals, which intrigued the children. The Godzilla quilt was a birthday gift for her husband, Jay (we were both a bit confused when we met!). He designed the quilt, Edi appliqued and then it was quilted with different Tokyo motifs by Laura Lee Fritz. This quilt drew in a lot of people in. Edi and Jay told the story of the quilt dozens of times. It was definitely a lot more interesting than my binding!

Hand quilting
Hand quilting

This evening was one of the most fun experiences I have had in a long time. My mouth hurt from smiling when I got home. Two readers/friends stopped by: Kathy from Everyday Bliss and Lisa from LisaLizaLou. Some people who talked with me wanted to buy quilts, others wanted to commission quilts. Some were genuinely interested in the process. I even told someone my process for washing a quilt (toss in washer with Dreft and then toss in dryer on very low setting). There were a few people who were really interested in my quilt and the binding. Chocolate Box was, actually, a good quilt to bring with me. It is a pretty modern looking quilt and lots of young people were interested in the fabric and the design.

Good Mail Day(s)

AGood mail
Good mail

A good mail day is a day where the mail brings me envelopes and boxes of items in which I am interested and, then, those things surprise and delight me.

I had one such day last week when I finally made the grand trek to my PO Box. I had bills that I knew were waiting for me, after all. What a fun trip! I found, not bills, but a whole plethora of quilt related books and materials.

SherriD, kind person that she is, tracked down that Fons and Porter magazine issue I sniffed and whined about a couple of times, and sent it along. The fun part was that there was also the rest of the directions for the Radiant Star block. I saw half of how to make it on a Fons and Porter episode and then the second episode, somehow, was deleted  before I could watch it.

I also received my prize from Quiltin’ Jenny! I don’t think I have won a blog giveaway before, so this is very exciting! I am not that familiar with Leisure Arts books, but this one seems to have some great fabric combinations in their projects. There is also a basket project and I do like basket blocks. I am happy to have this book to add to my “to review” pile.

As a member of QNN TV, I receive Easy Quilts magazine. More projects! I was really interested and enthralled with the ads. I finally got to see an ad for Linda M. Poole‘s Iridescence fabrics. It is nice to be able to see the detail of some of the designs. I like some of the blocks in this issue, too.

Finally, I received a thank you from Safe Haven Ministries in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the donation of the Petal Apron.

Quilts 1700-2010
Quilts 1700-2010

Over the weekend, my BIL gave me the above book. He was stuck in London in April when the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokul, erupted. He used to live and work near London, so he was able to work in his company’s London office. He spent time over the weekend between meetings visiting some of the London tourist sites. I suggested that he go see the V&A exhibit. He went, but decided that he wasn’t interested enough to visit the quilts. He did buy me this book. I am looking forward to reading it.

Thanks for the mail, everyone!

Brain Dead Projects

It's a Merry & Bright Wrap!
It's a Merry & Bright Wrap!

I have had some time to reflect on this project. I realized that “brain dead projects” have a place in my quiltmaking process.

“Brain dead project” sounds fairly derogatory and I don’t mean the concept to be.  To me, a brain dead project is a project that I can work on that has very few decisions involved. I have put off writing this post while I tried to think of a better term.  I haven’t succeeded yet. I am sure one of my brilliant readers will come up with one.

Quiltmaking is, in a way, an intellectual process for me. My normal way of working is that something intrigues me – a block, a fabric, a tool – and I start playing with it. The circles are a good example. I saw a quilt, began thinking about how to make it and what I wanted to convey and ended up in a class. The process with the circle quilt is not over by a long shot. It is still in the percolating process.

Sometimes, my normal process takes too much thinking. The It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap quilt was the perfect project when I needed just to sew. I didn’t have to choose the colors (except for a couple of background additions) and I didn’t have to figure out the piecing. I bought the pattern, which was a choice, but after that, it was basic sewing and pressing. I only had to focus on the more technical details of putting the quilt together.

I need this kind of project sometimes. It keeps my hands busy and allows my mind to wander. When I made this top (which still needs borders) I was having a hard time and the fewer decisions the better.

I am happy with the way the quilt turned out (so far) and that I got to learn to use a Jelly Roll. Yes, my quilt looks like everyone else’s. Sometimes that is ok.

Happy Blogiversary!

I missed my Blogiversary last year and was only reminded after listening to Amy of the Creative Mom Podcast talking about her Podcastiversary (is that a word??).

I guess it isn’t that important to me. Or, perhaps the beginning of the year is so full of celebrations – birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day, etc, that I couldn’t take another celebration. Too much of a good thing and all that….

Still, today is kind of a special day, because it is the 5th anniversary of starting this blog. I have to celebrate. I am really proud that I have kept it up; that people read and that I have made progress on my creativity.

Here are some interesting facts about Artquiltmaker Blog

May 2005 – 7 posts

May 2006 – 6 posts

May 2007 – 20 posts

May 2008 – 24 posts

May 2009 – 39 posts

May 2010 – 16 posts, as of May 9, 2010

Total AQ blog posts: 1274

Comments: over 2400

Pages: 11

Categories: 51

Tags: 90

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Creative Prompt #66: Home

Home is where the Heart is.

A house isn’t necessarily a home.

Mary Engelbreit

country home

See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

home improvement

home decor

home safety assessment

Home tab

homepage

A home is a place of residence or refuge comfort. Wikipedia

SETI@home

home remodelling

Knitting Box Fail

I have been trying create a portable knitting bag for my SIL.  The idea is that she can put the loop on the ‘box’ through her belt and the bag/box part will hold a ball of yarn. The point is that she can knit while standing in line and her ball of yarn won’t roll away.

Finished Piece
Finished Piece

The engineering part of this has been a challenge. I didn’t see the one that she saw and only had it described to me. I searched the web for a pattern (didn’t go to the Library and look through their patterns). I wasn’t sure what to call this thing, so searching and looking in indexes was hard. I thought I was golden when I found a truffle box pattern over at Mirkwood Designs (great podcast, BTW).

Various Pattern Bits
Various Pattern Bits

Not only the pattern seem like I could blow it up and use it, thus eliminating the need to deal with proportions, but it also has style. The copy center at work helped me blow it up. Then I traced for the fabric and traced it again for the interfacing pattern and traced the square one more time for some Timtex-like stiffener.  The short answer is that I couldn’t make it work. You should make the designs at Mirkwood Designs as truffle boxes, though, because I am sure they are fabulous made out of the right materials for truffles. Her recipe for the truffles sounds fabulous, too.

I have to admit that not everything works the way I intend it. This is one of those things. I am not giving up, but I have to regroup and start over.

Finished Piece
Finished Piece

I am not sure why it doesn’t work, but it doesn’t. One thing I do know is that the sides aren’t right. The piece has style, but no functionality. The idea was that the curves would slightly overlap the straight edge and keep the ball of yarn in. Alternatively, I thought I could also put a cute button on each side with some ribbon to wrap around it, which would keep the thing closed.

I don’t consider failing a bad thing. I am not happy about it, but failure helps me learn and that is good.

Now, back to the drawing board. Need a failed project?