Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I started a new pouch for the Sew Sweetness contest. It is the Bluestem pouch and is also part of Minikins Season 4.
I used one of the fun rainbow zippers I bought from Sew Hungry Hippie. I am not a huge fan of the pulls as they are so large, but we will see. At least they are pretty!
During my birthday extravaganza weekend, Friend Julie and I exchanged more Pantone blocks.
I think my doodles are giving us both some ideas of which blocks to make.
Admin
I updated the gifts post as I received something recently.
I also updated the Color Strip & Chunk donation top page. I have made 16 of these tops!
Tools, Books, Fabric, Notions & Supplies
It is so much easier to open a zipper on one of my bags when I attach a zipper pull. I have been trying to find nice zipper pulls in packages of several. I found some on Amazon**, but wonder if you have ever bought them? These look easy to use and have a nice design.
I heard about Felt Right Tiles, which some quiltmakers are raving about. I almost went ahead and bought a set to replace the ‘new’ design wall. I am not happy with the current large design wall, because my fabric pieces don’t stick to it. I am glad I read more about the Felt Right tiles before I took the plunge. One of the FAQs on their site says “Will quilting fabric designs stick to Felt Right tiles without pins?
Some quilters choose to apply batting or flannel to the tiles before placing pieces of fabric. Without batting, you will need to use pins or thumbtacks to hang fabric.” Having to add felt or batting kind of defeats the purpose for me, though they would be snug against the wall, which would be convenient. I’ll keep looking.
Projects, Classes, Patterns & Tutorials
The guild had a pincushion swap for the holiday party. This set my mind to thinking about pincushions, which I looked at on Instagram and Pinterest for a few days. Carrie shared a pincushion image with me, which sent me off to the blog post about it. It is from Anna Graham’s (Noodle-Head) book, Handmade Style**. I am also sharing the tutorial for a Wagon Wheel pincushion, another one from from Noodle-Head. I like round pincushions.
I am working my way through various Quiltfolk issues. One for Illinois has Mary Fons’ Little Black Dress Quilt on the front. I might want to make this quilt. It looks interesting, so I went hunting. I found a picture of it straight on. I also found that you can buy the pattern from Quilting Daily.
Jane Sassaman has a virtual class coming up in January and February. I want to take it, but the time is inconvenient, so I have to think about it.
K Azcona Designs has some interesting shaped bag patterns such as Y-fronts, stars, ice cream cones and hearts.
Media, Books and Articles
The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles is looking for volunteers! In 2024 The Museum will be launching a new community program; our very own Social Needlework Circle. We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to offer support during our drop-in hours. We are excited to grow together and welcome you to our fiber community. If you’re interested in joining our team, please fill out their form.
I recommend the Sewcial Sunday video from Sew Sweetness, if you are interested in waxed canvas. Sara interviews a friend who is an expert in using waxed canvas.
Events, Shops, Exhibits and Shows
Jonathan Shannon’s quilts are at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles through April 7. He had at least one quilt at an EBHQ show where I also displayed a quilt. At the beginning of my quiltmaking adventure, his quilts were VERY controversial because of the themes of some of his quilts. Seeing his quilts inspired me to make some quilts commenting on political situations. Seeing what he experienced gave me the courage to express bottled up feelings about situations where I was powerless. I am thrilled that the museum has 20 of his quilts. The link above shows several that I remember seeing in person.
I stumbled across the site, Abandoned America, on Atlas Obscura. It has a lot of interesting photos, though I am not 100% in love with the old, decrepit, and broken places. There is a kind of beauty in the photos. Also, it dovetails with a book I read last year, They Disappeared**, which features a lot of abandoned buildings and urban explorers. It is a good book with a lot of layers, a murder mystery, of course.
Other Artists
I have a soft spot in my heart for felt food. I have no idea why. I just think it is wonderful and a great toy for kids. You can imagine how thrilled I was to Lucy Sparrow’s work discussed in a local paper. I went looking at some of the links and saw this amazing spread for the Queen’s Jubilee. This UK artist’s website is full of wonderful images, too. I saw in one blog post that she sews on a Janome!
Julie wrote a post about the Hackney Bag I made her.
This is how creativity and working on some projects is for me. I didn’t make the difficult bags and quilts I make now when I started out. Even now, when I know a lot more, I go through this process.
Thanks to @mounika.studio for a great drawing.
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
None so far.
As you know, I don’t quilt much. I really enjoy the collaborative effort of making a top and allowing someone else to quilt it. Thus, the quilts below are mostly tops, but I will include a finished quilt once someone else finishes it for the group.
Black Strip #2 donation top – January 2024
Grey Strip donation top – January 2024
59% of my fabric this month has gone to community quilt and block projects. I am pretty excited about that!
This category covers bags, toys, aprons and knitting as well as other non-quilt projects.
I still have UFOs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled, it hasn’t been worked on in awhile or it is waiting its turn to be worked on. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
I am annoyed that some of these are still WIPs. I have to give myself credit for completing some of them last year.
This quilt is off to the guild for someone else to quilt and bind.
I added a larger border on the sides to make it less obviously rectangular. I didn’t want people to think only super skinny folks could use it.
This quilt was popular after listening to Christina Cameli give us her Big Ideas lecture. Get her to come to your guild! That is a great lecture.
I am pleased that I finally achieved my goal of one block per day for the month. I have had this goal for awhile and it has taken time to achieve it.
I am still working on the Black, Grey and Brown strip blocks from my black-grey-brown scrap bin. It is pretty easy to make these in quantity using leaders and enders.
A couple of the 16 patches are straight from the box available at Sew Day. I needed some leaders and enders as I worked to finish the Grey Strip donation top at Sew Day, so I grabbed them to use. I am glad the Community Quilts team has them available.
I spoke about my wonderful birthday gifts a few days ago. Gifts continued to arrive after I posted, so here we are again.
Julie wrote a post about our days out together. It was good to hang out. We always have good talks.
First, Amanda is responsible for my cake. Isn’t it cute? I asked my Mom for another Beatty Cake and she said she couldn’t make it for my birthday, but would make it for me another time. I was disappointed, but understand. I was, thus, super happy when Amanda’s card came and it was a cake. I have been enjoying it on my desk while I work all week.
I sent Allison a New Year’s card and she texted me one day, which turned into a wide ranging text discussion. A few days later a book and some fabric arrived. I had wanted the book, which she offered to me around the time of the last retreat, but I wasn’t expecting fabric. It is a half yard pack of fabric designed by my man, Phil (Philip Jacobs to you).
I have some of the prints, but don’t think I have others.
I have an idea for the black background print on the left.
I also don’t think I have the green on the right, so I will have to see about making something special with that. I love these Chrysanthemum prints and the new colors each year are great!
As I was tidying up the wrappings after the birthday breakfast excitement, another gift from Friend Julie fell out. It is a seam guide. I have a standard sewing version, which I never use. This one is designed by Carolyn Friedlander and specifically made for quiltmakers. She has a post about how to use it on her website. I have already started to study the post and think I will be able to use this version, especially in bagmaking.
My Dad got me a gift card and I can’t decide what to buy.
What a great birthday! Thanks, everyone. 😉
I worked hard on the Enigma Bag over the weekend, but, frankly, projects get easier the more often I make them. This project went very smoothly until the end, when I didn’t quite catch the lining bottom with the sides and had to do a lot of ripping. I think this goes back to the quilting when the fabric shrunk up and left some foam showing.
I wrote myself a note to quilt then cut the piece the correct size. Sara gives specific instructions about that, but my quilting isn’t up to par, so this is my new strategy as I expect I will make another one.
I wrote a similar post back in April. I took a look at it and it seems quite paltry compared to the actual number of Hackneys I know I have made. I decided to write another roundup post so I could see all the Hackneys I have made in one place. I have to say, though, that I thought I had made more.
I really like this pouch, as I have said. Those for whom I have made one seem to like it as well.
I keep thinking about making one for myself.
I spent most of the Sunday of MLK weekend working on the latest batch of Pantone blocks. I dug into some old fabric to find good matches.
Pantone has a lot of browns and I am digging deep to find anything that looks close to the colors on the postcards. I found some brown fabrics I had forgotten I had. The exercise is making me think about shades and tones that are missing from my fabric palette.
As you have seen when I have made other Color Strip donation tops, they have been followed by an improv version. I have been putting a few pieces together from the black/grey/brown (mostly black and grey) scrap bin, but it isn’t going well.
Well, I have made chunks of improvisationally pieced fabric, but mostly they are unsatisfactory. Also, I am not sure if I have enough small scraps to make three quilts. I also am not sure I want to combine the three colors into one quilt.
The grey piece looks really good and I don’t really want to ruin it. The others are meh.
I am tempted to bring them to the guild and see who wants to work on them.
No, today is not my birthday. It was a few days ago. I am so thrilled that I have such nice friends and family. You would not believe the number of texts I received! Dozens! As an added bonus, I had fun AND I got a lot of nice gifts.
Thanks, everyone. You are awesome.
The first things I opened, at breakfast on my actual birthday, were gifts from DH.
As you can see, he doesn’t usually go for the quiltmaking supplies. He usually leaves that to me. I am not quite sure about the Peppermint Chocolate tea, but I’ll try it. I am a huge fan of Milka chocolate and that spread is A-MAZ-ING!!! The pin is a happy birthday pin and, yes, he got me a stocking hanger. We have more stockings than hangers and sometimes the stockings are too heavy for the hangers when there is more than one stocking on a a hanger. The hangers we have are from the Pottery Barn, but are old and no longer sold. I don’t know where he got this one, but it matches the others. I am super happy we will be able to spread out the stocking love.
Next up was Friend Julie. We haven’t been able to spend much time together lately, so she came up to hang out for my birthday and do quilty stuff.
She wiped out the progress on fabric usage I have made this year with the fabric. It is amazing , however, and I am super happy to get to use it. She always picks the perfect fabric for me. I already have an idea for it, so stay tuned.
She also got me some zipper pulls, which I can always use. I don’t have to use my fancy Split Ring Tweezer tool to put them on the zippers, because they come with a tiny baby lobster clip. There is also a lighted seam ripper, which I can’t wait to try, though I hope it is awhile before I have to use it. So many cool things! A bobbin boat, some buttons, some Tula Unicorn pins and some silicon dots for Sew Tites. What a bonanza!
It was a Tula birthday as Mom got me some Tula thread. The Dragon’s Breath had been on my list for awhile and I am thrilled to finally be able to use it. Next to it is my great grandmother’s diary. Apparently there are some entries about me and my sister. I’ll have to take a look. It probably says what rotten little monster we are!
My sister-in-law also sent me some quiltmaking/bagmaking items. The mesh will come in handy. I’ll have to make her a bag with some of it.
I can’t wait to write a review of the books! I looked through the one on the right and it is fantastic. It is an updated version, sort of, of Around the Block**, which is one of my all time favorite books.
I received a few other gift cards and am expecting some other gifts, but if none of them come, I am super happy and feel very lucky.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
I am using this project for leaders and enders, so it isn’t progressing as quickly as it might otherwise. Still, progress is good.
These are the additional blocks I made, some of which were rejected from Black Strip [#1].
It has that weird shape again and I don’t have enough additional blocks to make it wider. Not having additional blocks is a good thing in terms of scraps as it means I am working through my scraps (making room for more!). On the other hand, it is a not ideal situation for actually using the quilt. I might have to go with wider sides and narrower top/bottom when I do the borders.
I am still trying to figure out what my goal for bags will be this year. Or maybe what my plan for bags will be this year. Will I make more bags as gifts? Will I work on UFOs (that EPPic bag is hanging out there ready to sew)? Or what? Not sure yet.
One thing I do know is that if I feel like making a bag, I am just going to make it. I have a friend at work who is having a tough time. She wants to get back to crafting, but her life is too complicated at the moment. I was showing her photos of one of the Enigma bags I have made and it occurred to me that she might like one. I asked her and she said she would be ‘honored’!!! That makes me laugh.
Anyway, I finally got started on this Enigma. It came about when I was hunting through some bins of dots for Pantone blocks fabrics. I found the perfect dots based on her color request and decided it was time to start.
I didn’t have much left of the pink main fabric, so I found the stripes, which go great with that fabric. I will use it, as you can see for the sides.
I don’t think people realize that there are people who have kids who need care at the same time their parents need care. I know that is the term ‘sandwich generation’, but I don’t think people really think about it. If you know someone in this situation quietly help them out or do something nice for them.
I talked awhile ago about selecting some fabrics. These fabrics sat on my worktable until last week when I decided enough was enough and I started making blocks.
I forgot to take photos of all the blocks before I handed them over to Friend Julie, but trust me, I did make about 9 blocks. 😉
She proves it, because she sent me a photo of the blocks.
This effort set me on the path I described earlier this week where I made more blocks. I thought I might see Julie on Sew Day and I wanted to have another batch for her, as I mentioned.