New Year’s Day Work

AKA Gift Post #6

I am pleased [with myself] to say that 2010 started out with a sewing bang. I finished the bag for my aunt (she never reads this blog as far as I know, so I don’t feel bad about posting it even though I haven’t sent it off yet).

Jeri's Bag
Jeri’s Bag

I started this bag way back in December 2009, but with one thing and another wasn’t able to finish it until Friday. I feel bad, because it was intended to be a Christmas gift. My aunt really loves purple, so I made this bag in purple for her. In terms of fabric selection I had a couple of things I wanted to accomplish and some limitations to deal with. First, I was limited in my fabric choices because of the size of the pieces of fabrics I had available. For a long time I have purchased half yards and FQs. These are fine for quilting, but I am finding that they are barely adequate for bag making. I intend to try the Mini-Multi (AMH’s pattern for the Multi-tasker tote that I resized)This limitation directed me to more plummy colored purples.

Also, I wanted to try a bag where I didn’t use fabrics with a ton of contrast. I think Marilyn’s Multi-tasker was pretty successful. That one wasn’t boring to make. Thus, I wanted to try another interesting combination of fabrics that were also not wacky looking and my aunt wouldn’t feel bad about carrying around.

I am pretty happy with the way this bag turned out. It looks nice and does not look wacky. I made the pockets and straps at the beginning of the process even though AMH says to make the straps at the end of the process, right before I am supposed to attach them. I think my process worked better for me, because once I got past the tedious, fiddly parts, I was able to put the bag together relatively quickly. I like to get all the fiddly parts done, so I can move through the process quickly as I tend to get bored if I have to keep going back to the fiddly bits periodically throughout the process.

Jeri's Bag - detail 1
Jeri’s Bag – detail 1

I think the combination of fabrics is a good one. The colors work well together and there is some interest in the combination. They are all older fabrics, so an added bonus is that I delved into the fabric closet and used some stuff that has been hanging around. I think Auntie would have preferred less plummy and more purply colors, but the bag is what it is.

Jeri's Bag - detail 2
Jeri’s Bag – detail 2

AMH does not make her pockets fully lined. Another change that I have made is that I make them fully lined [by cutting a piece of fabric, folding it in half (right sides together), sewing around, turning] before sewing them on to the bag. I think this method makes a nicer finished product and doesn’t take much longer. I want to remember next time to add a label to the pocket. It seems like a good place to include a label.

Jeri's Bag - detail 3
Jeri’s Bag – detail 3

I am still liking the cell phone pocket, which I learned to make from the Sweet Harmony bag, so I added one to this bag as well.

Cloth Napkins
Cloth Napkins

I have bought some of the fruit and vegetable fabrics, that seem to be popular, recently. I had a joint project with my mom in mind, but decided I liked certain ones too much to give away, thus I made napkins. Perhaps I am making a series after taking a look at the raspberry napkin I made in 2009? The cake fabric and the pots and pans fabric is from my collection of fabric for backs. Those pieces are large, so I can make FQ napkins with no problem and no piecing. In general, I don’t really like making napkins. Turning the pieces and getting the seam crisp are really frustrating and I am generally not successful at it. I tried a couple of different methods this time and am progressing. I do enjoy using the new napkins! I also enjoy looking at the cake fabric. My sister wants a set, but I don’t know if I have it in me to make a SET. Perhaps I can make one a month for her, then give her a set of 12 for Christmas? We’ll see.

In a way I wanted to set a trend for 2010 of major league sewing. In 2010 I want to make major progress in the sewing-quiltmaking-bag making department. I think I did well last year. Still, I want to do better. Not necessarily in terms of numbers of projects completed, but improvement in my processes. Oh, and I would like to see major improvement in my organizational systems. I am not committing to anything on that front, but would like to see it. We’ll see about that.

Various & Sundry Saturday

I have a lot on my mind…again.

Fons & Porter Basketweave Baby
Fons & Porter Basketweave Baby

My Tivo is taping Fons & Porter periodically. I didn’t ask it to do so, but it started doing it on its own and then I started to watch them. It is nice to be immersed in quiltmaking for a few minutes and get a different perspective. Recently, they had a show on a baskeweave quilt. The photo is from their website. I love the idea of this quilt, because it is not simple patchwork done in rows. The maker has to insert pieces into the middle of already pieced rows in order to get the basketweave effect. The project was originally published in February 2007.  I would like to see if it is actually make-able. It looks pretty straightforward on the show and the video, but you know how that goes. I’ll have to look around at the library to see if they have it. I found that with my Quilt Out Loud membership, I was able to log into the Fons & Porter site, so I have to look around there as well. If I ever had that magazine, it is long gone.

Clipmarks and my Internet security system are not liking each other, so I will have to try and explain about Bemused and the online Quilts Japan preview rather than show you. I was reading the Bemused blog and she mentioned her love of Japanese quilting magazines. She also mentioned that Quilts Japan has an online preview. That means you can page through the new issue. YAY!!!

As soon as I remembered to click the page LEFT button, it worked great. Remember? They read towards the left.

My regular podcasting people, Jennifer at CraftSanity, Amy at the Creative Mom podcast and Annie Smith of Quilting Stash/Simple Arts, are not producing podcasts fast enough for me. At the rate I consume them I could go through about 3 hours of them a week. Of course, I can’t whine or complain (I am certainly not whining or complaining, just stating a fact)  since the podcasts are FREE, the hosts work for free and I guess don’t get paid. Not having new episodes each week, however, means that I have nothing to which to listen. This has forced me to search iTunes for new material. I found some interesting works.  IMy two current favorites are CastOn by Brenda Dayne and An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory.

One of the things I like about Brenda Dayne’s podcast is that it is about fiber and not just knitting. I wouldn’t call myself a knitter, though I do know how to knit and I admire knitting and would like to knit more, yet, Ms. Dayne does not bore me with the minutiae of knitting. She does talk about the minutiae of knitting, but I am not bored by it. She talks about other things, too. And the way she talks about things is not boring, it is professional, and, real sounding. She squeals with delight in a professional sounding way.

Danny Gregory, author of An Illustrated Life, Creative License and dannygregory.com did a series of podcasts in conjunction with the publication of An Illustrated Life a few years ago. I talked, briefly, about that book here on the blog in the past, but didn’t review it thoroughly. His podcasts are about 30 minutes long. Longer segments are broken in two parts. He has a wonderful voice and his conversations with artists who contributed to the book make me appreciate the book a lot more. Perhaps I will look at it again and give it a thorough review.

So far, I have listened to Danny talk with Peter Arkle and Roz Stendahl. I also listened to the Voodoo Lounge interview with Roz and I, now, want to be her. She is amazingly creative and practical in a way where she seems to use every moment of her time and get a lot done. I liked her interview with Danny Gregory, because she says that shopping (e.g. going and looking for the perfect pen to sketch with, or, in my case the perfect green fabric) is not a substitute for creativity. I think she also inferred that you cannot count shopping as part of your creative time. She has a follow-up to that comment on her blog.

One of the things I like about these non-quilt podcasts is that I get exposed to other artists and start thinking about creative things in a different way. I am not going to give up quilt podcasts, don’t worry.

I have never heard of Peter Arkle before. Peter Arkle is a commercial artists/ illustrator. He also does something called The Peter Arkle News. It is a newspaper containing stories of his everyday life. I love the idea. He started it just out of college (??) to show potential employers he could create and idea and follow through on it. It is now an occasional publication, which he calls ‘wheneverly’. As a librarian, I’ll have to use that instead of ‘irregular.’

One of the things I love about podcasts is how I get to hear the story of people’s lives. As I listen to more and more podcasts, I find that listening to professional radio is starting to be a bit boring or….not as interesting. I always liked Terry Gross, but now I’d rather know about her life than listen to her interview people all the time. I am interested, usually, in the people she interviews, but would also like to know about her. I like stories about people. I like to hear about the wonderful things ordinary people do. Have you done an StoryCorps interview? Take your grandma or your dad out to a StoryCorps booth and do one. Or use your new Flip. What is your story?

I love this tree quilt. It is one of those Miami Christmas quilts. I admire the way she put together the fabrics. I found this blog when I was working on my end of the year post and I was looking for the name of a pattern I bought to make the “It’s a Wrap” quilt by Sandy Gervais (obviously, I found it!). Not Your Run of the Mill blog seems to be associated with a shop, but I wasn’t able to find a direct link to the shop, though it looks like she has some interesting things.

My guild, CQFA, is doing a creativity project in 2010 and I am the first presenter. I did a lot of legwork in anticipation of the prep meeting in November and then was unable to attend. Dolores, from CQFA met me about an hour south of here on Thursday. We had lunch, looked at quilt and creativity books and talked about what I would talk about. I feel much more prepared for my presentation than I did before. I, frankly, had no idea where I was going or what I was going to say. Dolores is extremely creative. Sadly she has no website and no blog, but you can see some of her work that I have posted. Perhaps I will post notes or something on what I talk about. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with things that people expect me to do lately. Not to mention the pressure I put on myself! I think I will have to practice the word ‘NO’ in 2010. We’ll see.

By the way, the Dynamic Quilt link in my sidebar provides a list of my delicious quilt bookmarks. If you have any interest in what quilt sites I am looking at, click there and you will see some of the sites I have bookmarked.

Matt Sparrow is talking about creating a TMZ type quilt website. It should be interesting to see what comes of that. I wonder if there is enough quilt news and gossip to make it worthwhile?

Christmas Fabrics
Christmas Fabrics

Nobody can tell me that I do not have the best MIL in the world, perhaps the universe. I love my MIL. She told me recently that I was the best daughter-in-law.;-)  I was helping her wash silver after Christmas dinner. I don’t think the dishwashing was the issue. I like to think she just likes me. Anyway, part of my MIL’s fabulousness is that she gives us money every year for Christmas. I used to spend a weekend gift shopping with her, but she is no longer interested in shopping, so she gives each of us, usually, a magazine and money. If you do not select a magazine, you get some soap or something “to open”. Usually, I hoard my money jealously and wait to spend it. This time, I spent it almost as fast as I could on the fabrics in the photo when I was at Back Porch fabrics. I bought some more pieces of the Lonni Rossi fabrics. I used most of the FQ pack I bought on Marilyn’s Multi-tasker. I have another project in mind for them and wanted to include some in my FOTY quilt. I may wait and include them in FOTY 2010 as I still have a lot of fabric to cut and wasn’t sure I could commit to washing and cutting and sewing all of those additional fabrics before midnight on 12/31. As I write this, it didn’t happen.

For FOTY 2010, speak of the devil, I am thinking of doing another one patch, specifically diamonds. I like what I learned from combining fabrics when I make the Zanzibar blocks. I know I told myself I would create a design that used new and old fabrics like TFQ does and I do see the value in that. As the year came to a close, though, I felt quite stressed about this project. I wanted the cutting and piecing to be done by the end of the year and it just didn’t happen. It was totally my fault for leaving the washing, ironing and cutting until the last second, but still. I have to have fun with my quilt work, so I am cutting myself some slack.

If I do diamonds, I just have to decide what size. I almost bought some diamond rulers at Back Porch, but resisted until I could see what I already owned in the diamond arena.I was thinking of something like a 60 degree ruler.

As of January 4, 2010, I will be working more hours. For various reasons, I have always worked part-time since I left graduate school. My husband, however, has been our house-husband for the past year (almost). Sadly, I cannot afford to pay him at all, even though he does an excellent job. There are just things we need more money to pay for such as healthcare, so more hours at the day job for me are required. I am VERY fortunate that the work is there and the company is willing to allow me to make the change. I am sad to be giving up some of my free time, which I love. I don’t want to make changes in the blog in terms of posting less, but we will see. I haven’t gotten many comments in the past 1.5 months, so perhaps I don’t need to post as much? Again, we will see.

Although, New Year’s Day was yesterday, I want to wish all of my readers a great day and may 2010 be MUCH better than 2009!!!

Shop Tour

SIL is in town from back East. As I have said before, she likes to quilt also, so we spent the day driving to some quilt shops. These quilt shops are across a bridge from me, so I don’t go and visit them very often. We were planning to do this on our way (as my excuse?) to pick up the Young Man, but he got sick and didn’t end up going to visit his grandparents. We went shopping anyway. 😉

Preponderance of Dots
Preponderance of Dots

Yes, I bought some stuff, including fabric. I looked hard at the notions and I have to say that the stores don’t, in general, have good selections of notions. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I really wanted to see a large number and variety of rulers and pins and other notions. I did find a few things I was looking for including a teflon pressing sheet.

Cotton Patch

Cotton Patch Back Door
Cotton Patch Back Door

The first stop was the Cotton Patch, a long time favorite. I bought fabric for my first quilt there . At that time I bought mostly solids and the day we went they had lots of dots in the room where solids used to be. They recently bought my Janome dealer, which used to be across the street. I was eager to see how they crammed the Janome machines in with the Berninas, fabric, notions, cutting tables, etc into their limited space.

The shop used to be a house and they did expand upwards at one point, but the shop is still really small. They gave up some fabric in order to fit the Janomes. I used to like seeing all the feet displayed and I didn’t see that this time. Now they are also closing out the Madeira thread, which is a shame. I don’t do much embroidery, but when I do I always liked the Madeira thread. My SIL has a dedicated embroidery machine, so I will have to talk with her further about thread. Until I get back on the embroidery saddle, I don’t think I will be buying much more thread. They also don’t have as many Janome machines on display. Perhaps, if I wanted to look at the 11K, they would bring it out for me to try. Patty, the lady I liked who worked at the Janome dealer is still there and that makes me happy.

Simplify Book
Simplify Book

I saw this book, which had some interesting projects. I’ll have to see if they have it at the library.

I was really influenced by the way they had the fabric arranged, which is why you see the different red dots. I could see using those dots all in one project, perhaps the Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker Tote? Yes, I think I have some of them already. Oh well, you can never have too many dots, right?

I bought the Martha Negley Grapes fabric, though it looks like Cherries to me, that I talked about in Thursday Misc. The one I bought is very red and the one I posted looks much more pink. There is another colorway called Plum that I think I should have bought.

Cotton Patch Mural detail
Cotton Patch Mural detail

The mural on the back wall is new and I like it. It has similar impressionistic brushwork to what Monet et al did. I think it is a nice touch.

Next, we went to lunch, because I hadn’t really had much breakfast and it was lunch time. I really enjoyed my tostada salad. My stomach is feeling much better after the treatment I did at the beginning of the holidays, so I could actually eat a salad! We ate at a place in Danville called Father Nature’s. I liked the service, and the room was light filled and open. It would make a great workroom.

Wooden Gate Quilts

Wooden Gate Quilts
Wooden Gate Quilts

Thus fortified we headed off to the next shop. Wooden Gate Quilts was formerly Quilters Inn. Bari J talks a little about the switch on her blog. I had never been to either shop, but we mapped it using Quilters Inn and then had a little bit of trouble finding the actual place when we got there, because it seemed to me from the outside that the shop was selling quilts. It is also on the side of a larger building and we couldn’t see directly into the shop. The area has a lot of historical buildings that look nice, so it was pleasant.

The shop was worth the wandering around. They didn’t have a lot of fabric, but the fabric they had was cheerful. Not too many ‘heirloom’ fabrics, as my SIL kindly phrased it. I saw the fabric line below at a couple of different shops. While I didn’t buy these particular fabrics, I did want to remember the color combination for future reference.

Fabric Combo
Fabric Combo

Most of the fabrics in this combination, Flower Sugar are from Lecien. One of the prints (not pictured in above photo) is a border stripe with big dots. The colorway I liked is made from a nice cherry red. I am not fond of the border stripe, but wish they had designed a companion print with those luscious pinky-cherry red dots (#30050-30). Oh well, as if I need more dots.

Lozenge
Lozenge

I loved this quilt. I love the colors (of course; see above) and the use of the little black pin dots. What I don’t love about the photograph is that the plus sign element of the piecing really stands out. It didn’t stand out as much when my eyes saw it. Yes, this is a pattern, though I didn’t notice which one. I have been thinking about that lozenge shape since my quilt adventure in July, so it was good to get a photo of another rendition.

I have to say that the people were really friendly there – chatty, cheerful and they looked like they were enjoying themselves. The colors of the shop were nice and the samples were really wonderful. They had two renditions of the basket quilt pattern (Going to Market #146 from Diana McClun and Laura Nownes new company “From Me to You”) I bought at PIQF and it was fun to see the colors they had used. I am not fond of the Asian prints used in the pattern photo and thought I would make it in my collection of aqua and reds, but the examples at Wooden Gate gave me some other ideas for color combinations. I really appreciated that they took the time to make two quilts from one pattern.

They had some interesting notions. I bought some fusible piping cord to finish some pillows. They carry a small selection of Aurifil there as well. I was looking for some bright orange, but they didn’t have what I was imagining. Of course, Aurifil may not make what I was imagining. I may have to put an Aurifil color card on my birthday list. The Aurifil suitcase is on my list, but I am skeptical that that will actually show up in my birthday gifts. They had a magenta thread colorway I almost bought, but don’t have a project for magenta thread at the moment, so I passed.

I also found a product there, sold by the yard, called Soft Fuse. It is wide, too – about 54″ and it makes your machine applique very soft. Wooden Gate also carried sheets of it that can be run through the printer! I really could have used this when I was making the Tarts. It is paper backed fusible web for hand or machine applique’. I bought some and will have to applique’ something to try it out.

Shockingly, I bought some chocolatey brown fabric with cream dots on it. I sincerely dislike brown, but this fabric was calling me. It is much more chocolatey than ugly brown. I need to make something with it quick.

In Between Stitches

Our final stop was at In Between Stitches in Livermore. In Between Stitches is on the old (?) main street in Livermore and the shop’s architecture has great details – wide pine floors, wainscoting, high ceilings. I would love that shop to be my workroom. This is Alex Anderson’s home shop and she has spoken about it on her podcast.

I had never visited this shop, because it seemed so far away. Once I was in the boonies, however, it wasn’t that far. 😉

In Between Stitches
In Between Stitches

The downtown area was very vibrant as well, which was gratifying. The retail space seemed full, the sidewalks were wide enough to encourage strolling and there was plenty of parking. Although traffic was busy, I had no trouble finding a spot right in front of the shop. Desiree has been very kind to me this December.

They had a pattern for a quilt by Verna Mosquera, which was very bright and cheerful. It is called Mon Ami and the colors really drew me in. They had cheerful fabrics (I bought the orange dots there), including the Lecien fabrics, but a lot of their fabric was of the reproduction/heirloom variety.

Basket Quilt
Basket Quilt

The basket design is a great pattern. I like the way they use the four patches for the middle of the basket. I might have to try a few. The fabrics are a good example of the fabrics they had at the shop.

They had a class going on where people were making the Plus sign quilt like TFQ is making. They were using horizontal strips and I am sure there was a method to the madness, but I couldn’t figure out how to make the quilt from just looking at their work. They classroom was nice and big.

I liked the patterns for the samples, but probably wouldn’t make them in the colors used by the shop staff. There was one star quilt (kit, I think) that I really liked. The fabrics were kind of French General looking colors, but it did inspire me to get off my duff for the Stars for San Bruno blocks.

In Between Stitches is where I bought the teflon pressing sheet. I am using it to make the Flea Market bag from Grand Revival Designs and I have to say it is interesting. The sheet looks like thick, slightly cloudy plastic. It seems to work as my fabric did not get scalded, but the sheet does get very hot, which is a bit deceiving because it doesn’t change color or anything.

I really like seeing new shops. I may not like everything about a shop, but I enjoy seeing the personality of the owner and the staff come out. I also like seeing the fabric in person. I just can’t tell the scarlets from the cherry reds by looking at a web photo. I would definitely visit all of these shops again. I am glad to see that new shops are hoping in the relative vicinity, even if ‘relative’ means 50 miles away!

I have to say I was fairly shocked at the prices. The regular price of all of the fabric I saw was $10.99/yard. I must be getting old, but I remember buying top of the line fabric for $5-$7/yard. I know I got my knickers in a twist at one shop during my summer fabric adventure because their fabric was $11/yard. I am buying larger pieces now, so the cost really adds up. I hope I don’t have to stop buying fabric.

Creative Prompt #48: Fireworks

Welcome to the first Creative Prompt of 2010! What creativity will you be inspired to create this year?

Celebration of New Year.

Celebration of Chinese New Year – scaring off the evil spirits

Celebration of 4th of July.

National Council on Fireworks Safety

Don’t create any fireworks

Fireworks Ensemble from New York

Adobe Fireworks

Cool fireworks images

US CPSC: Fireworks Information Center (who knew??)

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

Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, now, has a Flickr group, which you can join and where you can post your responses.

2009 UFO Report

Below is the 2009 inventory of my UFOs. Let’s see if I made any progress since the  previous roundup post of December 31, 2008 and where I am in the process as well as what I need to do. First, I want to tout my accomplishments. 😉

2009 started off very well.

I read 50 books this year. Of the 50 9 of them were quilt, bag or creativity related.

Completed Pieces in 2009
One of the great things about completing quilts and projects is that they go off the ‘not done’ list and on to the completed list. Two birds with one stone and all of that. 😉

Completed means to me that they are now usable and can in no way be considered to have anything left to stitch.

Mostly Done, Need Finishing
I added this new category to break up the UFO list and to make myself feel like I had accomplished something, which was quite overwhelming. Also, these are all mostly done, IMO.

  • Cheerful Baskets: Top finished; sent to TFQ for back, quilting, binding and sleeve. We meant to talk with Angie of the Quilting Loft about quilting it and what design we wanted, but we didn’t get to it on my week away.
  • Chocolate Box: Top and Back finished; needs quilting and binding. See the post from August 14, 2006 to see the fabrics I used. I will take it to Colleen to be quilted and damn the cost. I meant to do it before Thanksgiving, but didn’t get to it.
  • Purple Bullseye: Top finished; needs back, quilting and binding. See above under Chocolate Box.
  • Kissy Fish: top finished, though I may want to add some more machine quilting to it, needs binding and sleeve or binding and framing.
  • Beach Town: from April 2009 Pamela Allen class with CQFA; finished; needs facing and sleeve.

True UFOs
Here is my list of UFOs. You can see many of them over at Artquiltmaker.com or look at the links I have provided.As mentioned last year, this list in no way implies that I will discontinue starting new projects or finish any of these.

  • Original Bullseye: Still have those directions for doing the border the way I want it (the directions I found late last year). Asked TFQ to help me puzzle out the border, but we had better things to do. No progress in 2008, but am hopeful for 2009.
  • Flowering Snowballs/Cross Block quilt: I have been working on it steadily all year and have finished the center blocks. The side and corner blocks are drawn out on EQ6. I worried on and off about how to keep the blocks from fraying after I square them up. Got some good ideas from fabulous readers after my December 20, 2008 post! Progress throughout 2008.
  • Garden from Pamela Allen class: needs hand embroidery and embellishment. Worked on it in the 2009 Pamela Allen class and it is much improved. Needs quilting, embellishment and binding.
  • Laura Wasilowski Flower Garden: started in the Laura Wasilowski class CQFA held in July 2007: needs machine quilting, hand embroidery and embellishment. No progress in 2008.
  • He Tried to Make it Up to Her: needs back and to be quilted. This is probably a quilt I will want to quilt myself. TFQ has dug out a number of quilts, but I don’t know if this was one of them. No progress in 2008.
  • Her Eyes were Bigger than Her Stomach: needs a back and to be quilted. Very active quilt; probably not the best design, but a mile marker in the quiltmaking journey and an excellent learning experience. No progress in 2008
  • Pineapple: All blocks are done. Need to put them together. Still facing the reality that some blocks are much too large and trying to figure out how to move forward. I measured all the blocks and found they were all different sizes. I think that I will cut them down to all the same size and let them be wonky.
  • Pointillist Palette 4: Night: This is the fourth (of six) in a series of Pointillist Palette fabric by Debra Lunn and Michael Mrowka that was popular a number of years ago. No progress in 2008
  • QA Challenge Quilt: need to fuse the parts and rubber stamp the words. No progress in 2008
  • Quilt Sorbet: started after finishing the Tarts top.
  • See: started in a David Walker class. Needs fusing, satin stitching around fused pieces and quilting. No progress in 2009, but I did think about it alot.
  • Self Portrait from Pamela Allen class: needs more piecing, hand embroidery and embellishment. No progress in 2009
  • Solid Star Friendship Quilt: need more friends so they can make stars for me in solids with black. Do you want to exchange a star block with me? No progress in 2009
  • Spiderweb: foundation pieced project, still piecing. Need to create the templates for the border blocks. Aside from collecting more strips, no progress in 2008
  • The Tarts Come to Tea: Top finished in 2009. Adding a few bits of machine applique’ before I baste and quilt.
  • Under the Sea:  brown piece from April 2009 Pamela Allen class with CQFA. Needs machine quilting, hand embellishment and finishing.
  • Women’s Work 2: last year I said that this quilt “needs focus.” Was inspired and have the design. No progress in 2009, except for finding my drawing and making a file. Scroll down to see the blocks for this piece.

On My Mind
Here are the quilts and projects I am thinking about. Some are on the list from last year. In some cases I have purchased fabric, but no sewing has been done, so they are not yet considered UFOs.

  • Liesl tote/backpack: have fabric and pattern and after hearing her interview with Jennifer at CraftSanity, I also have the confidence.
  • San Mateo County Fair Dot quilt
  • Paper pieced Nativity scene: I downloaded this pattern when it was free a few years ago and have never gotten up the energy to be as organized as I need to be to make this, but I still want to make it. You can find the pattern, for purchase, at Paper Panache.com
  • Interlocking triangles #4: love the technique and have at least one, if not two, idea[s] for more quilts using this technique.
  • Dot quilt with inset circles a la Ruth McDowell: more uses for dots and a good exercise in piecing. the Twinkle quilt recently shown in the January 2009 issue of Quilting Arts magazine is similar and renewed my interest in this design.
  • Feathered Star dot quilt from Summer 2007 issue of Quilts & More: more use for dots. Thought I would get to this after making the Pineapple, but the Pineapple is still not complete, so this this dot quilt has not been started.
  • Some kind of pink quilt with all the pink fabric I have still been buying.
  • Colorblocks 3 with silks: I want to use this pattern from Sandy Bonsib; silk fab will use silk fabric with a luscious sheen instead of the regular cottons. Background will be cotton sateen. What’s been holding me up? Backing all the silk. I have the backing and just can’t bring myself to do it. Barsha told me to skip the backing and just make the quilt without it. Can’t decide if the project has new life or not. Definitely not on the top of the list.
  • Garden Quilt: I have been collecting photos and patterns of interesting flowers for years and have always wanted to make some kind of garden or flower quilt. It will probably be something like The Tarts Come to Tea. Need to finish the Tarts first before starting the same kind of project.
  • Jack’s Chain: I saw a quilt of this pattern years and years ago and have always wanted to make one. Probably at least a partial hand piecing project after the Flowering Snowball (Cross Blocks quilt).
  • P&B Pop Parade quilt a la Serendipity Puzzle
  • Bathroom ‘quilt’ out of heavy clear plastic. I want to make pockets that I can put interesting things in that won’t get waterlogged. I also think the stitching would be an interesting addition to the piece. I also saw a tallish tote bag with many pockets that is similar to what I have been thinking for this quilt, so perhaps I will do another tote instead.
  • Presents quilt: have the pattern (It’s a Wrap by Sandy Gervais) and jelly roll to do it. Got excited about it right after I started piecing the hexagons, but kept on with the hexagons. The link is to someone’s Flickr stream done in Figgy Pudding. I have the Jelly Roll called Merry & Bright from a few years ago, but like Figgy Pudding, so perhaps I will buy a Figgy Pudding Jelly roll and do two of these quilts!

Abandoned Projects
This is also a new category. I decided to be upfront about the projects I got rid of.

  • Nothing abandoned in 2009!

Other

  • I am still trying to enjoy the process of quiltmaking more than the finished product. I think there is more work to do, but I also feel like I succeeded so far.
  • I have added projects to the On My Mind section because tote bags have been a big part of my life since 2008 and I expect that to continue in 2010.

Gift Post #5: Cardholders

We give small and/or handmade family gifts to DH’s siblings (5 of them) and his cousins (5 on one side, 1 on the other side) plus small gifts to a few hangers-on who attend our Christmas Eve celebration. This year DH and I made cardholders. Just so you don’t have to do the math, I made about 14 cardholders.

Original Card Holder
Original Card Holder

DH’s mom has a cardholder in the shape of a Santa (oddly shaped, but Santa nonetheless) that I have long admired. She bought it from a door to door salesman in the 1950s or 1960s. She may have told me the name of the company, but I don’t remember. I have wanted to replicate it for a long time and decided that this year would be the year of the cardholders. I also quickly decided that I was not going to make the cardholders in the shape of a Santa.

Original Card Holder - detail
Original Card Holder - detail

I searched the web to get some ideas and found very few ideas online. Apparently, this is not a popular gift. I did find a few, but no free patterns that I liked.

What I find were ideas for shapes. I decided that a long rectangle with a pointy bottom would be easiest to sew and look the best.

DH and I sat down with the measurements of felt (72″ wide) and an idea of what I could sew in a reasonable amount of time. He did most of the heavy math lifting while I stuck to the practicalities of sewing.

Once we had the dimensions down I set about cutting and figuring out the sewing process as I wanted to do as much assembly line sewing as I could.

Testing Ribbon Trims
Testing Ribbon Trims

I have a can full of various odds and ends of ribbon. I use that ribbon when I make gift bags. Some of the saved ribbon is too short for gift bags so I got it out to test trimming the pockets. Above is some really interesting French gold ribbon that I sewed on to a pocket. I liked it, but thought it was a bit wide.

I have several rolls of 1/4″ ribbon in red and green that I got when I cleaned out my Aunt’s craft room after she died. Since I have a lot of it, I used quite a bit to trim various pockets, even though I thought it was a bit thin. The best size turned out to be 7/8″ ribbon, which DH got when I sent him to the store to get some silver ribbon.

Assembly Line Pocket Trimming
Assembly Line Pocket Trimming

I got the assembly line figured out eventually. Above it looks like I am just putting a bunch of pockets on a line of ribbon and sewing. Actually, I cut the pieces of ribbon, wrapped them around the pockets. This enabled me to sew through two layers of ribbon and one layer of felt to anchor the ribbon and keep it from fraying a bit. As soon as I was done sewing one, I would put the next pocket very close to the one exiting the presser foot and keep sewing.

Figuring out color schemes
Figuring out color schemes

You know my rule is to “make visual decisions visually”, so we laid out all the cut pieces and rearranged them until we were happy with the color combinations. After this step, I got down to being serious about trimming the pockets.

Measuring pockets
Measuring pockets

Once all of the pockets were trimmed, I sewed the sleeve and then pinned them to the back, measuring down from the sleeve’s seam line (above).

Cardholder: pinned & ready to sew
Cardholder: pinned & ready to sew

The pockets required more thinking to sew on. I ended up pinning as many as I had cut and trimmed and then sewing like colors on. First I sewed all the red pockets. That left some cardholders with white and green pockets only trimmed and pinned. Once I completed all the red pockets, I changed thread and worked on green, then white. This method prevented me from having to change thread (to match a pocket color) every 5 minutes.

One evening I was home alone, so I took all the cardholders down to the TV and embellished them with buttons, sequins and beads. It was nice to do a little handwork and get away from the machine for a couple of hours. I also think it gave them a bit of a one-of-a-kind look.

Little did I know that DH was surfing the web and had embellishment ideas of his own! He found patterns/templates for some stars, ornaments, mittens and holly.  Again, I hauled all of the cardholders downstairs and we figured out what would go where.

Holly Embellishment
Holly Embellishment

It was very clear that the red buttons I sewed on a whim would make excellent holly berries. I would have liked to put some kind of spine or shading on the holly leaves, but ran out of time to figure that element out. These are some of the cardholders we made.

First Completed Cardholder
First Completed Cardholder

This is the first completed cardholder. We gave it to our friends, Eric and Yar, when we went to their Christmas party at the beginning of the month. They also invite us over for dinner every year and we have yet to reciprocate. Now that the dining room is painted, I think the time has come.

This was is more plain than the later versions. I should call it subdued!

Hanger detail
Hanger detail

We are using some Lucite rods, that didn’t work as quilt hangers, to hang the cardholders. They look nice, were easy to cut, did not need finishing other than a bit of sanding and work very well.

2 Mittens & a Star
2 Mittens & a Star
2 Stars, Mittens & Holly
2 Stars, Mittens & Holly

I had to pay attention to what color embellishments went on which color of pocket or background. If I didn’t, the embellishments wouldn’t show up. This war particularly tricky for the mittens, because of the white cuff. I tried some other colors, but they didn’t look right. This is why the embellishments ended up on the two middle pockets on the card holder on the right, above.

Holly & Gold Ribbon
Holly & Gold Ribbon

The gold ribbon in the card holder on the right, above, had a papery feeling. I didn’t like the feel of it after I put it on. I had to chalk it up to experience, though, as those were some of the first pockets I embellished and was still in the learning process.

Embellishments

Ribbon trim
Ribbon trim
Stars
Stars
Mittens
Mittens
Gold Sequins
Gold Sequins
Buttons & thick ribbon
Buttons & thick ribbon

I also made one with a winter theme, rather than red and green, for a family that celebrates both Christmas and Hannukah.

Winter theme with Holly
Winter theme with Holly

Here are the two winter themed card holders I made with one of the holly versions. I had fun embellishing the blue and white with silver beads, sequins and pearls.

Winter beading - large detail
Winter beading - large detail

The beading does help keep the embellishments on as well.

Winter theme - detail, small
Winter theme - detail, small

I thought the turquoise snowflake added a bit of shading or interest to the Winter card holders.

One of the good things about making many of a project is that you know how to make it well. I would say that I am a master card holder maker now, if there is such a thing!

Gift Post #4: Journal Cover #3

Julie's Journal Cover - full
Julie's Journal Cover - full

Here is the journal cover I made for Julie. It is a companion to the pencil roll I made for her birthday. This is actually the third journal cover I have made and this one went together the fastest and looks the best. My only problem was putting it together backwards, so the tree I wanted on the front ended up on the back.

Julie's Journal Cover - front
Julie's Journal Cover - front

No matter. I tried to think of it as a design challenge after my initial disappointment. I fussy cut a tree out of the small piece of fabric I had and raw edge appliqued it to the front. I thought that Julie could handle the raw edge stitching.

Julie's Journal Cover - in process
Julie's Journal Cover - in process

The main green fabric is an old Marrimeko print, as I may have mentioned. The directions I used are a combination of the pattern from Allpeoplequilt.com, the directions on the Exuberent color site (they don’t print well) and my own trial and error and notes from previous journal covers. I use the Miquelrius journals, so those are the journals I bought and for which I made covers. Hope all of the recipients like them!

No Fear of Color

Yesterday I drove to Monterey to attend a Kaffe Fassett lecture. It was put on by Back Porch Fabrics, a local Pacific Grove/Monterey quilt shop. I have written about that shop a couple of times, most recently on November 4, 2009 after my late October visit.

During my last visit, I saw that they were selling tickets to a lecture by KF. I decided to buy 2 tickets and just go. I knew it would be after a 2 or 3 day holiday extravaganza, but I decided the opportunity was too good to pass up and that I would worry about who to take later.

Signed Books
Signed Books

I left in time to arrive before 2pm, which is when the book signing started. I got about 6 of his books signed and he didn’t mind. He said that I was supporting him and he was glad to sign. 😉 I don’t know why getting books signed thrills me so much, but it does.

Quilt Road Signed
Quilt Road Signed

My SIL went with me and she was pleased to see and shop at Back Porch Fabrics. She bought a few fabrics for another Infinity block project she is working on. I bought a few of the Lonni Rossi fabrics so I could make another bag. I bought some FQs there in October and used them all up on Marilyn’s Multi-tasker.

The lecture wasn’t until 7pm, so we had time to hang around Pacific Grove a little bit. We spent a fair amount of time in the shop, partially because it was REALLY crowded and the lines were long. One thing I love about my SIL is that she makes me slow down in quilt shops. She really looks at things, which is a good reminder for me to do the same. Not much else in PG was open, so we went out to eat and then to Home Depot to find some paint colors for MIL, and to Borders to look at books.

After some technical difficulties with the projector and the Powerpoint, the lecture got started at about 7:30. Things I didn’t know about Kaffe Fassett:

  • He found the name Kaffe in a children’s book about an Egyptian boy he thought looked like him. He took it to replace his boring given name, which he is trying to forget. He refused to tell us the boring given name. I imagine it is Joe or Rod.
  • He was born in San Francisco, grew up in Big Sur and is now living near the Camden and West Hampton (Hampshire??) sections of London in Kilburn.
  • He went to a museum studies program in Boston
  • He learned to knit and purl in 20 minutes on a train, which was followed, later, by another 20 minute lesson from his cleaning lady on weaving in the ends and casting off.

He feels that color is in instinctive, that people have to work hard at conquering their fear of color and to learn to listen to their instincts. He enjoys going to places where there is intense color such as South Africa, India and Guatemala. He feels that color is life enhancing; it can make something elegant. He finds color to be a gift that people can give to themselves every day for a very low cost.

He thinks that there is a lot of visual pollution in the US, such as concrete parking garages, and hideous buildings. He thinks that the buildings in the US are very drab. Every morning I go to a horrifyingly ugly concrete parking garage and wish that someone would add some color to it or embellish it with tiles or mosaics or something, so I have to agree with him. He finds developing countries o be filled with intense color, which he calls visual poetry. He showed a number of slides of buildings in various countries, which were painted and embellished in a different ways.

As you may know, Kaffe started as a knitter. He said that knitters are never bored, are happy in their own company and make things that are very personal. He also said that anyone who says they can’t do what he does hasn’t tried. This is the point where he said he learned to knit in 20 minutes on a train.  His point was that people certainly cannot make what he makes if they sit and whine. People have to go to their knitting needles or sewing machine and try, then try again. He said that he makes simple things and spices them up with glorious color. I am not sure his needlepoints are simple, but I get his point, which echoes one that TFQ says:

Go to Your Studio and Make Stuff!

InKaffe’s career trajectory, he moved on to needlepoint after knitting. Some of the chair covers and cushions are just wonderful. I love his vegetable cushion and chair covers. He also create rugs and does quite a bit of needlepoint commission work.

He finds knitting and needlepoint to be slow, so was amazed when he discovered patchwork and saw how fast quiltmakers can cut up fabric and put a piece together. He loves teaching quiltmakers and commented several times on how he loves seeing how people put his fabrics together in new ways.

His adjectives of choice were ”thrilling and ‘exciting’. He uses those two terms a lot when he talked about fabric. He said that making books and fabric allowed him to give part of his creative mind to others and he commented again on how thrilling it is for him to see how people put his fabrics together.

For him, the different media are all about manipulating color and the knitting, needlepoint, fabric design and patchwork all are ways that he can work with color. He said that he painted white on white still lives for a long time, because he was also afraid of color. He continues to be fascinated by neutrals. He talked about how he enjoys putting colors and textures together so they almost merge (you can see what he is talking about in some of his vegetable needlepoint works, in the shading, especially the Lichen Auriculas at Ehrman Tapestry This link opens in a new window, which is part of the needlepoint slide show). He showed the Vegetable Rug Border Pack in the rug form and also made into cushions. He makes me want to take up needlepoint!

He got around to talking about stripes as well. He said that he is thrilled by stripes and finds that lots of ordinary stripes put together become extraordinary.

He talked about hanging an exhibit of his quilts in France, where he was thrilled to find that the quilt stands had shocking pink background drapes/curtains. He was thrilled and said that he would never find such an occurrence in the US. He finds mostly black and, the most ghastly color against which to hang quilts, white in the US. “Ghastly” was his description and I immediately thought of TFQ.

Philip Jacobs and Kaffe Fassett are now working together. Apparently, Philip Jacobs does large realistic paintings, which Kaffe then recolors in different colorways. One of the recent collections includes some very large sea shells.

Someone asked about creative waxing and waning. He said that life serves up the rhythm and since he travels quite a bit he gets quite hungry to get back to his studio and work, especially when he has been surrounded by inspiring views. He often will see something and go to his studio and make something from the inspiration. This is a piece of advice that I also like.

He hangs up projects which have gotten stale and works on something else. Leaving the stale project around so he can see it affords him the opportunity to be reinspired.

He doesn’t usually plan his projects from beginning to end, but makes the color combination up as he goes along. He also keeps looking at it from different views and angles to see what the piece needs.

Kaffe’s theory about fabric design is that he is working with a palette of color and continually works with those ranges so that newer fabrics work with some of his older fabrics. He is also working on keeping fabrics in print for longer by recoloring them and adding older designs to new collections. He doesn’t want to create a line that is in today and “so yesterday” tomorrow. I completely appreciate this and whish more fabric companies would take this advice. He seems to be going for more of a classic look/feel. I am not sure if that is the right description,  because I am not sure I would characterize his fabrics as having a classic look. Perhaps they are the ‘new’ classic?

He said that he is basically a shallow person who likes pretty things. He claims not to have much depth. I think he was saying that we should make things that we like, things with which we want to surround ourselves and I think that is wonderful advice. He encouraged people to just start playing and put something into repeat to see how it looks. He also reminded us to work with simple shapes.

Kaffe finds inspiration everywhere and said that in England the gardens are where the passion is hidden. Aside from this, I think the best advice he gave was that ‘manifesting’ was vitally important and that having the confidence to make the statment [with your work] and enough energy to make the thing in the first place are the most important parts of the battle. Finally, he said it is important to surround myself with other positive people. This advice is stuck in my head and I think the confidence part is particularly pertinent.

His next book will be out in the spring of 2010 and will be called Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts.

It was 2 hours each way and I didn’t get home until 11:30 pm, but it was totally worth it and I am glad I went. I am now very interested in taking a class from him.

Oh, By The Way

In the middle of the craziness last week, I just had to make myself a new napkin. We use cloth napkins in my house. Why not? There is a boatload of great conversatonal fabric and plenty of it is in my fabric closet. I don’t use many conversationals in my own work, but I seem to buy them anyway.

During the great Iron-Off that is ongoing I came across two conversationals that would go really well together, so I made a new napkin. Not four, not a set, just one.

Raspberry Cake Napkin
Raspberry Cake Napkin

On the back is a luscious raspberry print. The motif is so good that the raspberries look good enough to eat.

The front has that funky cake print. There is a lot of pink, aqua and turquoise.

I use a full FQ for my napkins. I do not try to make them perfectly square and I like having my entire lap covered when I eat.

The bad part about this little project is that neither of these prints will end up in FOTY 2009. Oh well.

Gift Post #3: Sweet Harmony Bag

I love my sister dearly, but she is hard to shop for. She buys what she wants, so I always have to think early and creatively. I found this Basic Grey fabric and just knew I had to use it for a gift for sissy. She is an invertate scrapbooker and LOVES Basic Grey paper. It started the whole thought process, actually.

Sweet Harmony - Full
Sweet Harmony - Full

On my week away, TFQ tempted me with doing a joint Sweet Harmony Bag by Amy Butler. My idea was that we would each make one at the same time. However, it turned out that we worked together on one bag.

This is probably the last time I will make an Amy Butler pattern.  I purposefully did not write the review right away, because I wanted to give the shock time to wear off and give the piece a fair hearing.

While the finished product turned out really well, the directions were overly complicated and the pattern promoted extreme wastefulness.

Here are some tips  and things to be aware of when making this pattern:

  1. Trace the pattern pieces on tracing paper and keep the originals all together on the pattern sheets.
  2. Trace the pattern pieces again, but smaller (approximately 3/4″ will work) for the fusible fleece and interfacing pieces. If you don’t do this, the pattern will tell you to cut them full size and then trim them down. Thus, this direction promoted a lot of waste in the interfacing, Peltex and fusible fleece.
  3. Make a separate pattern piece for the inside pocket as well. This is a combined piece and it is just too confusing not to have a separate pattern piece.
  4. Make a chart (Excel or the Google Docs Spreadsheet feature would work) of the pattern pattern pieces you will need and which fibers you need to cut them out of. I didn’t know to do this and ended up laying all the cut pieces out and reading the list over and over while counting pieces.
  5. The designers seem to have a problem with naming pattern pieces consistently. In Step 4G, they ask you to do something to a Lining Panel. This was the first time I had ever heard of this piece.
  6. This pattern and the directions don’t always make it clear which layer (fleece & interfacing or interfacing only) the designer wants you to work with.
  7. Sweet Harmony Org System
    Sweet Harmony Org System
  8. Directions should have included a rotary kit (cutter, mat, ruler). The instructions do not include these tools, but they make the process much easier. I understand that the pattern isn’t necessarily targeted at quiltmakers, however I think many sewists now have rotary cutting kits as part of their tool arsenal. If you only sew garments and accessories (e.g. no quilts) and do not have a rotary cutting kit, I think you should go and buy one. What do you think?
  9. Use tailor tacks to mark dots.
  10. Handbag pattern includes a 20″ zipper in the list of supplies needed. Then the designer wants you to modify this zipper to make it about 8″ shorter. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know how to modify a zipper. I also did not want to modify a zipper. I barely know how to put in a zipper. TFQ who has LOTS of garment sewing experience and she didn’t know how to modify a zipper with confidence either. This is another bit of waste. I ended up omitting the zipper (it’s for a an inside pocket), but I would recommend buying a 12″ zipper and not modifying anything. The pattern also gives the pattern pieces for a tote bag, which I did not make, and I believe that the 20″ zipper would work with the tote bag. I think they were trying to save space on the pattern by not listing two supplies.
  11. The marks for the magnetic snaps are below and to the left of where they actually should go.

    Sewing piping to outside pocket
    Sewing piping to outside pocket
  12. The pattern asks you to make much more piping than you actually need. You will really only need about 25″.
  13. Finally, there are not enough pictures, despite the price of the pattern, so I would recommend giving yourself plenty of time and using nice fabric. You may never make it again, so you want to like it!

I think that making all the tote bags I have made really helped in understanding the pattern and how to follow the directions. The final product is really nice and looks very professional. I als learned how to make a pocket that has a little tuck so larger things will fit and you can actually pull it out.

Outside & cell phone pocket
Outside & cell phone pocket
Sweet Harmony Inside
Sweet Harmony Inside

Gift Post #2

Flower Tote
Flower Tote

Remember this tote? I wrote about in a post way back in March. I ended up giving it to my mom so I get to visit with it periodically as she brings it over when she comes to visit with the Child.

The financial situation has not improved much, but my mom said in no uncertain terms that we were going to exchange gifts. We didn’t last year and she said it was really hard, so I decided to work on making some her, and a few others, some gifts.

I am not always a fan of giving homemade gifts, because I don’t want to give people things that have that homemade dorky look. I also like giving people things they will actually use and I don’t know yet know how to make iPhones or a Wii.

I have been working REALLY hard at making my fiber stuff look professional. It will never look like it was made in a factory, which I don’t want either.  I press really well, poke the corners carefully and am careful about stitching, so I think they look good. In any case, I am not embarrassed to give things I make away.

Mom's Pencil Roll
Mom's Pencil Roll

I decided to make my mom a pencil roll since I thought she would use it and I had a lot of fun making Julie’s during my week away. Kathy‘s patterns (well, at least this one) are fabulous. As I mentioned in a previous post, they are very well written and easy to understand.

Mom's Pencil Roll Open
Mom's Pencil Roll Open

The most time consuming bit of this project was cutting the strips. I was kind of at a loss on fabric choices until I found the flowered fabric and the turquoise, both of which I used on the tote I made for her. Perfect! She’ll have a little set!

Stitching all the parts together after layering and turning them is also fairly time consuming. I do that topstitching very slowly after marking the lines on the pocket with a white pencil.

For the inside, Kathy says to use flannel, which I didn’t have, so I used batting and it was a little bit thick o sew through. I can’t say I would absolutely not use batting again, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. If I make another one, I’ll try a couple of layers of interfacng, though I suspect that would make the piece too stiff. We’ll see what I have in the fabric closet that might work.

Strips sewn for Pencil Roll #2
Strips sewn for Pencil Roll #2

Above is a picture of how the strips look sewn together before the whole thing is layered together. One thing I needed to remind myself about was to turn the strips with a strong motif around so it would show after the pocket was applied. I didn’t choose fabrics that would lend themselves to arranging the strips in a colorwash design, as Julie did with mine. I am happy with the arrangement and the idea of making his pencil roll into part of a set.

Merry Christmas!

And Peace and Joy to all of you who do not celebrate Christmas!

Tree 2009
Tree 2009

For the past few years we have only put lights on our tree. Our Christmas decorations are still in storage after our kitchen remodel. They are closer to coming out, though. Just one more step and then we can unload the storage facility. Next year we will have all of our own decorations.

This year my mom went to her storage room and got her ornaments. She and The Child decorated our tree with her ornaments. It looks beautiful!

Decorated tree 2009
Decorated tree 2009

Below is a detail. The teapot ornament is really a chime. I decided to put it on the tree this year so I could admire it.

Tree detail 2009
Tree detail 2009

Creative Prompt #47: Holiday

No rest for the wicked! Even on Christmas you get a prompt. ;-)I am doing it early so I can do a Christmas post for tomorrow and so you have time to get it done in a timely fashion. 😉

Please note that every single holiday in the universe is NOT listed. This is a small sampling.

Holiday preparations

New Year’s Day

Holiday packages

Three Kings Day

Holiday trip

Martin Luther King Day

I am going on holiday

Valentine’s Day

Golf Holiday

President’s Day

Definition: A holiday is, in the English-speaking world, a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observation is warranted.

Chinese New Year

Mardi Gras

Sales tax holiday

St. Patrick’s Day

Holiday train

Baha’i New Year

Holiday house

Name Day

Favorite holiday?

Saints Day

Holiday boutique

Easter

Holiday season

Passover

Holiday party

Earth Day

Home for the holidays

May Day

Cinco de Mayo

Mother’s Day

Memorial Day

Spring Bank Holiday (UK)

Flag Day

Take a holiday

Father’s Day

Juneteenth

Fourth of July

Ramadan

Birthdays

Labor Day

Rosh Hashanah

Yom Kippur

Columbus Day

Halloween

Dia de los Muertos

Veteran’s Day

Thanksgiving

The TSA’s helpful holiday travel tips

Advent

World Aids Day

What will you do for the holidays?

St. Nicholas Day

Holiday lights

Channukah

Holiday Crafts

El Eid

Holiday Bowl

Christmas

Christmas Ale from Anchor Steam

The Holiday (2006) (movie), Directed by Nancy Meyers

Kwanzaa

Boxing Day

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

Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, now, has a Flickr group, which you can join and where you can post your responses.

FOTY Progress

FOTY December 2009
FOTY December 2009

I am slowly getting a bit of the FOTY blocks done in between the Christmas gifts. I am branching out a bit as well and not putting same color with same color all he time. For some of the color combinations it just didn’t look right. Not sure how I will handle that choice when I start putting together the whole quilt, but I am sure that it will work out one way or another.

Cutting FOTY strips and putting blocks together is my main project for next week

Gift Post #1

Grama's Grab Bag
Grama's Grab Bag

I mentioned that I am trying to make as many gifts as possible for the holidays. I am having fun doing it, but I wish that I had started earlier. I wasn’t sure what to make Grama since all she really likes to do is shop and play bingo. I decided to make her a ‘Grab Bag’ from the All People Quilt pattern.

She has started bringing bags back to the grocery, so I decided to make her this bag. I knew how to make it since I made it for a gift previously and could use a couple of FQs, if necessary.

Grama's Grab Bag in process
Grama's Grab Bag in process

I found the older Jinny Beyer border print and a floral for the inside and think that it turned out well. I know she doesn’t read blogs, so I am not worried about ruining the surprise by posting this before Christmas.