Completed Tote

Candy Tote with Flowers
Candy Tote with Flowers

As you may remember, I bought some fabric at Always Quilting on the day I went to longarm.

After finishing the Clear tote, I looked around for my next project. I had tote bags on the mind, so out came the fabric and off I went.

I cut out two totes. This is the one where the main outside part of the bag is made with the flower print from the Ginger Blossom line by Sandi Henderson. I have used the stripe fabric from the same line for the accents and the lining [inside].

One GREAT thing about this project, aside from geting a new tote bag out of the work, was that I learned to use the button hole function on the Jem. It is much easier to use than the button hole function on the 9000. Now I don’t have to go to Seattle in order to make button holes! TFQ’s machine makes GREAT button holes. The Jem button holes will be a suitable facsimile, not as good as going to Seattle, but suitable.

I have enough of the stripe to make another bag. It is already cut out, but I didn’t do very well making two bags at once, so I just cut both out and lined them. Once that was done I limited myself to sewing one at a time. I’ll sew the other one this weekend.

I also have some blue flowery fabric that I bought for a tote. Perhaps I will get that done as well. It feels like a good time to make tote bags. TFQ asked me if I was still using the Favorite Things Eco Market tote pattern. I am, but she made me think that, perhaps, I should dig out those other tote patterns I have purchased over the past year and try one of them out. I really want to try the Liesel tote. I am a really big chicken when it comes to 3D things, so I’ll have to gear up.

Art and Inspiration

Laume has a nice piece of art posted on her blog, whose source is actually the El Milagro Studios: Little Miracles of Art blog (http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com/2009/07/200th-post-and-giveaway.html).

I have been thinking about big, thick, gold, French-Louvre type frames lately as we work on refreshing our living room project. I want to frame an old beveled mirror in that type of frame. This fits right into my thought patterns.

Laume also has some thoughts about inspiration. If you have someone who has inspired you, I would love to hear about it. Post your thoughts to the comments section and I may write about those comments later.

I come from a long line of needlewomen, some of whom I have written about before. One of my great grandmothers would crochet bread bags into little rugs. These rugs were pretty sturdy and we could wipe our feet on them when we came in from outdoors. They just got hosed off when became too dirty.

My mom tried the technique with plastic grocery bags and they worked ok, but weren’t as sturdy. Still it is a good recycling tip, don’t you think?

clipped from laumesstudio.blogspot.com

Actually, that’s a good post theme – who inspires you? In your art or in your life? Pick one (or more) people who have made a difference in your world and let them know. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, just drop them an e-mail or give them a call, mention it the next time you see them face-to-face. It will make their day, maybe even their week, I promise you.
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More Submission

Cotton Patch, Lafayette, Calif, July 2009
Cotton Patch, Lafayette, Calif, July 2009

A week ago Monday, I trekked over to Lafayette to take the 9000  in to be repaired.

Failure. They were closed. I thought about calling, but then didn’t, trusting that they would be open. I had to be over there anyway for a family event, so it worked out ok.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whether you are my wallet or not), the Cotton Patch is right across the street. I went over and looked around. I resisted a lot, but did buy a few things including those ever-so-tempting Japanese Quilt magazines. I bought 2 issues of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin.

Purchases, July 2009
Purchases, July 2009

See the turquoise and pink on the covers of those issues? I am like a bird magpie with shiny things when I see that color combination.

I bought the pear pattern for my Grama, who perpetually needs something to do. We’ll see if it sparks her interest.

There were a lot of nice fabrics, though I do miss their solids room. I tried to be restrained and just bought a couple of must have pieces. Dots, of course. The background of the green dot is the accent color of my living room.

The magazines were the coup de grace, however. Those Japanese quiltmakers are dedicated. The intricacy of their work is a never-ending source of inspiration for me. I was pleased to see a couple of coffee/tea/cup quilts with block patterns in one of the issues! YAY! Now I can consider the purchase research for the Tarts.

I am still working on that one last section of the Tarts, so these designs will be good inspiration. I thought of using a pattern to piece that section, but was disabused of that idea pretty quickly. Back to the drawing board!

I almost never rip the patterns sheets out of magazines. One of the issues’ pattern sheet was already ripped out and I didn’t notice until I got home. I took the opportunity to look at it and had no idea what I had been missing. I am not much of a maker of patterns, but the inspiration  on that sheet is worth the price of admission.

Marsha McCloskey has a new ruler out, which I bought from her website. I bought it because of the 1/16th inch measurements. I was trying to cut pieces with 1/16th inch measurements for the Omega Teacher Pillow and was wildy unsuccessful.

Feathered Star Ruler
Feathered Star Ruler
Feathered Star Ruler, back
Feathered Star Ruler, back

My New Best Friend

Janome Roller Foot
Janome Roller Foot

As soon as I got home on Friday, I pulled out the Jem and set it up. I figured that if I didn’t do it right then, I would put it off and all of my sewing projects would languish.

Janome Jem, July 2009
Janome Jem, July 2009

I pulled out the vinyl tablecloth tote bag parts, put on the roller foot and tried it out. I used Valdani quilting thread that I bought at the Chicago Quilt Festival Show a number of years ago. I am now the proud owner of a tablecloth vinyl tote bag.

The roller foot worked really well. REALLY WELL. AMAZINGLY WELL. It really got the job done and I have high hopes that I can make the bathroom “quilt” as well. Perhaps I can even get it done before the 9000 comes back. Perhaps I’ll make one for each bath!

The roller foot worked really well, but wasn’t perfect. I have always had some trouble with the curved corners of the Eco Market tote bag pattern from Favorite Things. Going around the curves with two layers of vinyl was difficult.

Clear tote, July 2009
Clear tote, July 2009

I didn’t line the bag. I didn’t really think it was necessary so the seams all show and it looks a bit unfinished. There are a number of thread blobs that I would have unsewed with normal fabric, but were pretty difficult to deal with the vinyl, so I left them. On the plus side, the bag was very quick to finish.

I get the feeling that I won’t be able to stuff this bag full of heavy stuff either, but I will try it out and we will see.  It sounds dumb, but I felt like a renegade working with the material. In general, I highly recommend the roller foot if you are going to make something with tablecloth vinyl.

One of my CQFA colleagues, as I may have mentioned, borrowed my Jem machine for about 5 months while her Viking was in the shop. She saw some oilcloth type fabric (vinyl or something on one side and flannel-like fabric on the other) pillows and totes and decided to make them. She made them using the Jem and didn’t have any problems. I was amazed that she could do that. I know now that the flannel probably allowed the oilcloth to feed through the machine. I am interested in trying some of that fabric to make a tote bag.

Clear tote, July 2009
Clear tote, July 2009

Creative Prompt Participants

Here are a few of the Creative Prompt participants’ blogs:

Dana Warner Fisher – The Quilted Librarian

Elsha – Mistress of Well Intentioned Decision Blog

Kathy – Finishing Lines

Linda M. Poole – Linda M. Poole’s Quilt & Color Blog

The Quilt Rat – Quilt Rat Blog

Sarah Ann Smith – Art and Quilting in Camden Blog

SherriD – Walking with Walker Lady / Lazy Quilter

I apologize if I missed you. I may update this; I may not.  Thanks to everyone for participating!

Caring for Tools

I have been having problems with my machine recently. As I may have mentioned, I have a Janome 9000, which is a workhorse. It has a touch screen and the left half of the touch screen has not been working. This is a problem on a number of levels (needle down on the left, menu button on the left, etc), but the BIGGEST problem was that I wasn’t able to modify the width and density of the zigzag stitch. This is a problem because the Tarts require a zigzag to keep the cups and cakes on the background. I had it repaired last year for the same problem and it was okay for a while, but the problem has come back with a vengeance. I finally decided I couldn’t live with it anymore and took it in to another Janome dealeron Friday.

Those people ROCK! I talked with Patty at the Lafayette Sewing Center in Lafayette, Calif. First of all, she was not condescending. Second, she believed me even when the machine behaved perfectly (the machine and I will be talking about that later!). It did eventually start messing up and she knew afer a short time that I wasn’t lying. She thought that the machine may need a simple recalibration of the screen.

Simple = Not expensive, hopefully!

They are also going to do a regular service, which the machine surely needs. I use it all the time and don’t do much more than dust and clean the lint out of the bobbin area.

While I was there I asked about the tablecloth plastic I tried to sew a few months ago. She had worked with that material and recommended the roller foot. I bought one for only $7. One of the things I love about my Janome is the inexpensive price of the feet. And I have never broken one.  My quarter inch foot got bent once and I had to buy a new one. I think I stepped on it, which doesn’t count as breaking. 😉

I am excited to try it and, frankly, I feel like I am about to begin a 3 week sewing vacation where I can sew tote bags and take a break from some of my ongoing projects. I will miss the fact that I may not be able to work on my projects – will have to see what kind of adjustments I can make to the zigzag – but it might give me some perspective.

Clever!

Today may be a Various and Sundry with a lot of Clipmarks, because I don’t know if I am up for writing and editing and cropping a big blog post.

I am really enjoying Weeks Ringle’s blog, Craft Nectar. I am pretty sure I pointed it out before. This week she talks about the craftiness of planning her daughter’s first sleepover party. She also includes a pillowcase pattern for the party favor. A few days ago, they posted a PDF pattern for a sight word game for early readers. So fun!

clipped from craftnectar.com

get a clue

clue-cards
clipped from craftnectar.com

styled-pillowcases-700
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Intelligent Making

Once in a while a person comes along who is really able to explain parts of making (or craftmaking) that I like. I listened to the CraftSanity episode #28 with Debbie Stoller and felt that way.

In the first part of the episode, they talked about Debbie being a feminist. Immediately my defenses went up, because I have found a number of feminists to be quite angry, which I don’t think achieves anything. I found Ms. Stoller to be quite different. Her personal definition of feminism has to do with valuing men and women the same. Simple and easy to understand!

She also talked a lot about work, including housekeeping or homemaking and crafts, in the home and their value in society, which I always think is an interesting discussion. She really talked about craftmaking in an intelligent way.

I think that there is more to quiltmaking (and other crafts, of course) than just buying and meeting to make. Those are great parts of any hobby, bu I find tha I also enjoy the study of the quiltmaking: studying the technical parts, learning about the history, researching old blocks. I feel like it gives me more depth when I go to work on a piece.

Ms. Stoller validated that in the way she talked about women’s work and its value.

This is an older podcast and I think it is still interesting.

clipped from craftsanity.com

CraftSanity Episode 28
Stitch ‘N Bitch with Debbie Stoller
Tune in this week
for a chat with Debbie Stoller, the co-creator
of

magazine and author of the
“Stitch ‘N Bitch” books that have inspired
thousands to pick up their needles and start
knitting and crocheting. Many of you are probably
familiar with her wildly popular knitting book
“Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation” that was joined recently
in bookstores by her latest crafty publication,
“Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.”

Debbie has some
impressive credentials. She earned Ph.D. in the
psychology of women from Yale in the late 1980s, but
decided not to lock herself in an academic ivory
tower. Instead she set out to do something about one
of the things she thought was jacked about the world:
the media. Since her research was on women and media,
she’s dedicated her career to doing what she can to
make it better for women.

tara40_home
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Terri Talks Comfort

Terri Thayer, author of Wild Good Chase, Old Maid’s Puzzle and, the latest in her Dewey Pellicano series,  Ocean Waves, has written in her recent blog post at Killer Hobbies, about a book called Comfort Quilts, which has projects specifically designed to provide comfort and give away.

This isn’t the kind of book that I would normally be drawn to purchase. I am pleased that I got a little exposure to it. It reminded me that it might be time to share some of my good fortune. Also, it occured to me that my Grama may appreciate some patterns since, at 87, many of her friends might be able to use a walker bag or a lap quilt. Her birthday is coming and I might buy it for her as a gift.

Creative Prompt #23: Look

Look!

Do  you really look at the world around you?

Look was a magazine.

What do you see when you look into someone’s eyes?

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.

There is more information on the recently updated Creative Prompt Page.

Tarts Progressing Slowly

Tarts, July 12, 2009 #1
Tarts, July 12, 2009 #1

I was determined to get at least one of the blocks done this weekend.

I took the easy way out and worked on the smaller block. No block is easy, regardless of how small.

Every block requires a background which I must choose while considering the surrounding blocks. I was determined to use that purple/blue dotty swirl (see bottom middle next to the frothy drink). I love that fabric and think the quilt needs another piece of it somewhere. I cut it, confidently put it up on the design wall and stood back to look.

Blech.

Failure. It bled into the background of the frothy drink and just didn’t stand up to the blocks around it.

Sigh. Back to the drawing board for a new background. After consulting with myself, I decided that the area could stand a purple backround, yet it would have to be a different purple.

Tarts, July 12, 2009 #2
Tarts, July 12, 2009 #2

I looked at the background of the grey teapot and decided that I should bring that color down to the bottom of the quilt. I found a piece of a similar violetty-purple. It isn’t the exact same fabric and it is more subtle. I was pretty happy that my second choice seemed to be a good one.

It does add a seventh instance of purple to the quilt. I think that I am ok in terms of the “Odd Rule,” which I understand to be a design element or principle, which says that an odd number of related elements make the piece more interesting.  My mother, an artist, reminds me of this all the time. I have to balance design principles for art with design principles for quilts. I believe, that there is, at least, a slight difference.

Tarts, 2005
Tarts, 2005

Here is what the Tarts looked like at the start of the design process.  This is really a Here to There type moment.

It has really come a long way and TOTALLY changed direction. Notice I took out all the coffee-themed fabric. I bought that fabric all for this quilt. I have tons of it and now ask myself what I am going to do with it. Backs and tote bags, I guess. I also had a melon shape thing going at the time. There are a lot more classic quilt elements – more Flying Geese, Square in a Square, lots of sashing. The blue and pink Flying Geese that have survived the design process this long are really a remnant of the original idea I had. Time to move on!

Inspirational Artists

Quick Note:
City Arts and Lectures, a program here in the City had an interview with Maya Lin yesterday. The show is replayed Tuesday nights at 8pm on KQED FM in San Francisco. KQED has a media stream so you can listen on your computer to the interview even if you don’t get KQED.

The reason I am telling you this is because I think you should listen to it. I sat there riveted the whole time thinking that I wanted to be Maya Lin’s new best friend.

I didn’t know how well spoken and thoughtful Maya Lin was. She is also a thinking artist. She thinks about her art and what it means and how she is going to make it. She does research. Listening to her made me think that I had found a kindred spirit.

I also listened to a CraftSanity podcast with Brenda Dayne. Brenda is a podcaster who created Cast On!, a knitting podcast. The podcast is number 22 and I would recommend listening to this episode of CraftSanity. The show was from 2006 (still making my way through the archive of over a 100 podcasts), so I am glad to see see that Ms. Dayne is still podcasting. During the show she said that she wasn’t sure how long she would continue. Ms. Dayne has a great voice! Very smooth and a voice to which it is easy to listen.  I don’t even knit much and am thinking of listening to a few of the Cast On! podcasts just to listen to Dayne’s voice.

A couple of things I liked about this podcast follow.

First, Jennifer always asks what advice her guest has for listeners wanting to start creative businesses. Ms. Dayne’s advice was spot on! She said to look at creating a number of different, but smaller income streams, such as writing, making things, teaching, producing posters and cards of your work. Her idea was to suggest that a creative business person not expect to make their entire salary from one thing. If you make stuff and expect to make all of your money from that work, you will burn out and be out of business.

Second, she talked about the landscape around you informing your work. Ithought this was wonderful to think about. Ms. Dayne lives somewhere in Wales (apologies to my Welsh readers: I know nothing about Wales) and moved there approximately 9 years ago from Portland, Oregon. At the the time of the podcast, she had lived there for 6 years, so I am extrapolating out and assuming she still lives there. Ms. Dayne said that she had knitted wonderful classic sweaters in Portland that were perfectly suitable for Wales and she wasn’t wearing them. She didn’t have a good reason why. After thinking about it, she said that her new work was very different in color from her old work and the old work wasn’t suitable. She said it much more eloquently than I just did! Ms. Dayne also said that she had no doubt that she would wear the sweaters again when/if she moved back to Portland. She followed that with saying that she thought the landscape was informing her work.

This comment made me think of the way you see different colors of fabric in different areas and thought it might be part of the same idea.

CraftSanity episode #22 is well worth a listen!