Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I finished the Planned Improv quilt a few days ago. Yesterday, Alison and Sonja were kind enough to hold it up for me after the guild meeting, so I could take a photo.
I really like the way this quilt came out. I don’t think the photo does it justice. I want to use this technique again and need to make time.
Thanks to Sarah Goer for the wonderful class.
ColorPlay and the Creative Spark will return soon!
Yay! This set is finished! A little more than a year after I got it, it is finished, signed, sealed and sent off.
The quilt in this set was probably the easiest part. I did a pillowcase binding and then sunk the threads. It is a pretty basic quilt, but the small amount of quilting I did on it looks nice, I think.
I don’t think I will make this brand of panel dolls again. The good thing is that everything is all on one panel. The bad is that the seam allowances are really small and the seams tend to blow out after play. My little niece plays with these dolls, a purpose for which they are intended, and I don’t want her to be disappointed. I have another pattern – not a panel – with lots of zippers and buttons so she can learn to dress herself (we had a doll when I was a kid with the same concept called Dressy Bessy). I hope to get started on that doll soon-ish.
Keeping my YM warm is a theme since Thanksgiving. We saw him last weekend and the question was why he was wearing two shortsleeve t-shirts rather than a longsleeve. Answer: out of clean laundry. Sigh.
To that end, I made him a cowl. I had some leftover yarn after making him the hat, so I decided to make him a cowl after realizing I didn’t have enough yarn for another hat.
It didn’t come out as well as I had hoped. It looks good but was too large so kind of flapped around his neck (when I saw it in the wild). I think I needed to cast on fewer stitches to start. Next time – there is always more yarn.
I ripped out a bunch of YM’s hat and finished it. It is still cold in Portland and I want him to be able to wear it this winter.
The yarn was not a favorite. It was very slippery and seemed to shred. It was not very nice with which to knit. Still, I think the color looks very good. I like the slight variation in the yarn – the flecks of silver.
He had said that he wanted it long so he could fling the end over his shoulder. I decreased and started to knit, what I wanted to be, a tail. It ended up looking more like a weird tube. After knitting for awhile, it didn’t get any better in terms of looks, so I sent a photo to the YM and he agreed. I ripped it out and just finished the hat as you see it above.
I have a bit more yarn, so I will knit another hat – as much as I can and donate it somewhere.
Yay! I finished a quilt on the first of the year! In fairness, most of the work was done last year and I just had the binding to sew on. I couldn’t quite finish it in 2017, so it counts as my first finish for 2018. 😉
I started cutting this last year after buying the layer cake at QuiltCon in 2016.
I made the top, as you might recall, at the Quilt Retreat relatively quickly.
Now it is done and I will take it to Portland with me next week. It is a gift for one of the people that helps out the YM.
Sometime in September, I found some Le Cafe fabric by Danhui Nai for Wilmington. I was in the mood to make pillowcases at the time and bought a whole bunch of the fabric to make pillowcases for my sister for Christmas.
My idea was to use the toss prints for the main body of the cases and the border print for the cuff. I quickly screwed up the cuff idea by not buying the right amount for cuffs and screwing up the cutting. I found an old Verna Mosquera dot print and used that for the cuffs. It was like the fabric was made for the pillowcases, because I had plenty for four pillowcases. I think the dot provided a good contrast for the pillowcases.
I cut the pieces out during some evenings when I had 10-15 minutes while dinner finished cooking. I did most of the sewing over the Thanksgiving Weekend. I used the pillowcases as additional leaders and enders as I pieced En Provence. They are not ideal leaders and enders as the seams are long. I beat myself into submission as using the leaders and enders technique gets projects done.
Just in time, I have finished the Knight scarf. This will be a Christmas gift for the YM.
It is very long, which is great since he has been hinting around for a very long scarf for Christmas.
The yarn is a combination of merino and silk.
One of the reasons I didn’t make more progress on En Provence over the Thanksgiving Weekend was that I needed to make a gift. The BAM Winter Extravaganza Palooza Party and Swap was yesterday. I had decided to participate, but sewing time was short, so I picked a pattern I knew well and devoted a day to it.
Mary C wanted a grocery bag, so I got out the Jane Market Tote pattern and made it using some Carrie Bloomston fabrics that I have had for awhile. Her request was that the bag be made in green. The fabric is green, but tending towards teal/turquoise so I hoped it would be ok. I made an effort to do a really nice job sewing. For once, I paid attention to the top stitching and did all that the pattern suggests.
I sew my straps on differently than the pattern suggests, so I also did some top stitching with a decorative stitch at the top of the bag. I made a note to myself on the pattern to leave a little more of the strap in the seam allowance next time. I hope that the decorative stitching will keep the handles from pulling out.
When I looked at the outside, I was shocked to see some of the amazing piecing. I can’t take much credit, though, because I couldn’t really have lined up the fabric any better, if I had tried. And I didn’t try!
I don’t know how I did it, but was very pleased when I saw the way the joins had come together.
This amazing piecing happened in a couple of places. I knew that Mary would notice eventually so I showed her after she opened the gift and she was pleased. She appreciates stuff like that.
The inside is plain. No pockets. I have to figure out where would be appropriate to add an inside pocket sometime. I didn’t do it for this iteration.
I had a bonanza yesterday at the guild meeting. Gerre finished quilting Stars #3, which I was not expecting. Her finish meant I (we!) had something finished to show after all. I was really thrilled that she was able to finish it. I really enjoy collaborating with Gerre on projects.
She chose to do some straight line quilting, which I think was a good choice. This quilt will go off to its new home soon.
I finished the Cosmic Wonder Dust scarf last Thursday! Yay! Now I have all of the scarves finished for the kids uh, young adults who helped the YM during his cast phase. They are not wrapped or boxed or mailed, but knitted is a good place to be.
This was made with Madeleine Tosh Chunky yarn. This yarn was a little different than the ones I used for the Lichen and Nighthawk scarves. it is Madeleine Tosh Chunky. It knitted up faster, though I didn’t have as much time to work on it. Good thing it was chunky yarn. The unexpected part is that it is not as long as the others. I should have bought three skeins, but didn’t. C’est la vie.
I was sort of in the mood to make something small and wanted to give a small gift to the Retreat Committee, because I had a great time at the Retreat. And because making stuff is fun. Pincushions are fun and I enjoy making them.
I was completely thrilled, because I made these in between work and life. I got them finished after working on them a little bit in the evenings. I was also thrilled, because each entire piece is made from scraps. I did not dig into any yardage.
They are from Love Patchwork and Quilting, issue 39. It is available digitally in the Apple and Google Play stores.
I told myself I wasn’t going to use selvedges again, but I did anyway. I had some sewing failures and had to remake two of the pincushions, because it was too much of a hassle under the deadline to rip them out. My attempt to repair with ShapeFlex didn’t work. Still, the selvedges are very popular, though I don’t think they work very well with pincushions. Whatever. Looks are everything, right? 😉 I’ll get to the repair later and have some pincushions available for gifts.
The pattern says to center the flaps for the Wonderclips and I haven’t done that thinking it would be too hard to sew. I tried it on one of the pincushions and I think it worked pretty well. I eyeballed the placement and might actually measure next time, but I think it came out well and it looks good.
I sent the finished and fabulous pincushions to Gerre, so she could put them with her gift. She reminded me that I had missed one. It is a good thing they are easy to make and I have lot of scraps, because I made up two more quickly. One I gave as a gift – just because and it is already in use.
I enjoy making these I need to buy more wool roving so I can make more – and find some friends who need pincushions.
Yep. The monster is done.
I spent most of the past two weeknight evenings sewing on the binding and the sleeve. I showed it at BAMaQG on Saturday and now I am waiting to enter it into a show.
I had help holding it up. Two members stood up on a table so someone could take a photo with my phone. I thought this might be my only chance.
Did I mention that the thing is a monster? I know what possessed me, but I am still wondering what possesses me to make such huge quilts.
Remember when I cut out all of those pieces for the Poolside Tote? Remember when I laid it out on the floor to look at it? Well, now it is done.
This past weekend was the weekend when I sewed the whole thing together. Tim and I sewed ours at the Retreat. He got busy first and I followed his lead. I had to rip a bunch, so I got behind. It was a great to have a buddy and Diana L acted as mentor to us with some tricky parts.
I love the fabric that Tim used. He fussy cut birds for certain parts of the tote.
Having all the pieces cut and fused was awesome! It made the tote so much easier to put together. Yes, I did have to cut them out at some point, but not having to cut them out and them sew them at the Retreat made everything go much more smoothly.
I am not sure about making this bag again, though I have the fabric to make a pink version. It wasn’t difficult, but it was fiddly.
The sides have rounded centers, which are kind of a pain. There is a piece of facing that is sewed around the top edge to cover all of the raw edges. In general, I thought it was a good way to cover the raw edges, but it was difficult to sew on. I pinned a lot and still got puckers. It might be useful to fuse down parts of it.
The facing was large enough so I wasn’t sewing right on the edge where the bag was thickest, which was helpful. I sewed slowly and used a walking foot for most of this project.
It would not have been possible, or perhaps convenient is a better term, to use the add on style of walking foot. The 6600 has the integrated walking foot and, while not perfect, that thing is awesome. It was great for bag making, especially after I adjusted the foot pressure to the correct number.
I sewed the inside smaller than the directions said (using a larger seam allowance) and it was still really large. You can see the extra fabric really well. I am not sure how much more to adjust it.
I forgot my zippers and swivel hook, so I made slip pockets for the outside and put a metal loop on the inside. The inside has no pockets, which is kind of a design fail, so I think I will make a zipper tote in the same fabric with a swivel hook and clip it on. Either I, or my giftee will be able to put items in there securely without worrying about someone reaching their hand in and easily grabbing them.
I am not sure how I feel about this tote. The lack of inside pockets or a pen pen makes it more for carrying large items rather than everyday use. I guess Poolside Tote is a good descriptions because it would be great for towels and swimsuits.
I finished the Lichen scarf. It was finished yesterday, a little later than I wanted, but I didn’t carpool last week, so I didn’t have as much time to knit.
The deadline was because I went to the knitting store on Monday and bought yarn for the next scarf. I don’t want to stash yarn.
The tightness of my stitches was a little off at the end, but I am pleased with how the scarf came out.
I am pleased to say that I finished the Nighthawk scarf. I started it just about a month ago and finished it over the weekend. I wove in the ends at Craft Night, so done and dusted.
As I almost always say, I am pleased with how this scarf came out. I was also pleased with the size and feel of the yarn. As I said in a previous post, it has a kind of springy feel.
The finished scarf is rather heavy. It is also long, but I wanted it to be long. This scarf, the Monarch scarf and the next few scarves will go to the YM’s friends who helped take care of him this summer.
