Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
My Fabric of the Year 2009 project is finally done. DONE!!!
I was pretty sick of it when I quilted it back in April, so it took me awhile to get the facing on it and then the sleeve. Fortunately, the label is part of the back.
This is not the most spectacular photo, but it is better than nothing and, I hope, you can get the idea. I am thinking of hanging it in my office . I can get a better picture if I do that.
The last bit of the Chocolate Box I had to do was the sleeve. I made it in a short amount of time and then it seemed to take me forever to sew it on. I really had a hard time keeping the tucks out of the back of the quilt. Not sure why. Anyway, another project off my plate. Hooray!
I had to finish something this weekend aside from the interminable pressing and patch cutting. I pulled out one of the pillowcases I had prepared when The Child was making his and finished it. These pillowcases are soooo unbelieveably easy. The worst part is cutting the fabric. I think I have one more prepared and then I’ll have organize more fabric to make a few more.
TFQ is making a bunch and she tried sizing down the Twiddletails pattern slightly. She said it came out fine and she didn’t have to cram the pillow into the case. I want to avoid that at all costs. I want the pillow to slide in so it is a 2 second linen changing job rather than a 20 minute pain and torture session.
One of the best things about this particular pillowcase is that the seam where the cuff, trim and body of the pillowcase all come together matched up! I was really excited about that!
I know it is silly, but I really like doing the best job possible so that people don’t say that I didn’t pay attention. Since these are going to kids with cancer, I really want mine to be the best they can be.
On another, but slightly related note, my mom loved her Sweet Dreams Pillowcase. She left SoCal almost as soon as she received it, but she said she used it at least once.
I am still working on a number of projects on which I have made incremental progress. That is one reason I needed to whip out the pillowcase. I needed to finish something!
Yes, the Knitting Box, which seemed like such a failure, is finished. It took me much longer than I thought it would. Even though I should be done with this project, I am tempted to make another just because I would like to perfect the process as well as make a few modifications.
SIL likes it and I hope she will find it useful. I was nearly finished when she dropped off her child and requested a wrist band instead of the belt loop she originally requested.
No dice. I did not want to rip out the seam and insert a longer loop. I didn’t have it in me. Fortunately, SIL is very thin and the belt loop was generous enough to fit over her hand. It is tight enough not to slip off as she is in transit.
The above photo shows that I added some snaps. I had some large black snaps on hand, which SIL said would be fine to use. I decided I wanted something to match the piece. I looked for pink snaps in several local shops with no success. I am sure I have seen colored snaps before, but I couldn’t find any. I must have seen them online. I finally bought clear snaps and they work well to keep the box closed. I was able to finish it while she was out.
Part of what I wanted to do was secure the corners into a small box shape. I did that with beads and Laura Wasilowski hand dyed Perl Cotton. I hope it holds up. If not, I can fix it.
Above you can see the snaps and unfolding action as well as a bit of the corner detail.
I put two snaps on the edge covering the section where the yarn will come out. I thought that SIL could only snap one in order to allow the yarn to flow out more smoothly.
You can see how the yarn would come out with one snap open.
I will be really interested in how this project actually works in practice and if SIL uses it. I like the way the box looks in this picture and wonder if it will stay like that while she is on the go and knitting.
One of the things I really ended up liking about this project is how it became a group effort. I appreciate my SIL and my niece helping me figure out the solution to my challenges and to all of my readers who gave me resources. I also appreciate the opportunity to do something a little different and to Ruthann Logsdon Zarroff of Mirkwood Designs for posting the original Truffle Box pattern.
Thanks!
Yes, it is Teacher Pillow time of year. I had resolved to not leave it until the last minute, but being in bed with a nasty virus for over week did not assist me in my resolve.
I made one pillow last weekend after I was feeling a little better. I also made a block during the week for one of the pillow tops, but spent the better part of Friday finishing them up. School is out on Friday, so I had to get it done.
Above is the pillow for the Resource Teacher. She has been working with The Child for the past four years. She has made my life a lot better, because she gets The Child. She has provided support that I wasn’t getting from the lower school resource teacher (through no fault of his own). I will be VERY sad not work with her anymore.
Every year I pull out the same fabrics and make a different block. Now she has a set. I am thinking of making a quillow next year. I have never done that, but my SIL is an expert and I can draw on her expertise.
I was surprised to see that lozenge design show up in the middle of the block. I amy have miscolored the blocks when I sewed the pieces together. The block is called Crockett’s Cabin in Around the Block. That lozenge shape is very appealing and I am wondering if it would work for a FOTY piece?
As The Child has moved up in the grades, I spend less time in the classroom, thus I know the teachers less and less. I try to get a sense of the colors of the teachers and it is very difficult when I have only spoken to them 3-4 times. The literature teacher, who also happened to be The Child’s homeroom teacher had a hard year this year. She was out for four months at the beginning of the year, because of the death in her family. I thought The Child would have a hard transition when she came back to school, but he took to her like a duck to water. He liked her because “she doesn’t think she knows everything” and I found her to be a very intuitive teacher. I don’t know if the above colors or design are her style, but they are what immediately came to mind when I thought of her. I hope she likes it.
I force The Child to do a little drawing for each of his teachers. He had a hard time this year. He is getting out of creative practice and I have to get on him about that. (N.B. I blacked the names to protect the innocent!)
Making the backs fit is the most time consuming part. I couldn’t seem to get it right on any of them. This one is actually sideways on the pillow. I figured that nobody would care, if they even noticed.
I really hope she doesn’t sincerely dislike purple. This block, in Around the Block, is called Star of Hope. It looks to me like a basic Ohio Star. I don’t really believe that blocks should have different names just because they have been recolored. I haven’t taken the time to look this up in the Jinny Beyer’s new book, The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns.
The Child kind of got into his drawing after a bit. He has a subtle sense of humor. I thought this drawing was very funny. Do you get it?
I mentioned on Tuesday that I found some fabrics I didn’t really like while I was cutting FOTY pieces. A couple of the above fabrics are those fabrics. However, the Science Teacher is male and I have not had the opportunity to make pillows for many male teachers. I found these fabrics to be great for a science man. I think they look a bit like rocks. I only had a fat quarter of each, so I had to add some others and I don’t have any to match next year, but may continue with the rock theme.
You can see that The Child got on to a roll with his drawings as he progressed through them.
The drawings are done on an 8.5×11″ piece of paper. First I fold the paper into quarters and then I draw pencil lines to mark the seam allowances. I also make a note as to which rectangle on the paper goes to which teacher. This year I also put in the name and the year. The Child knows now to keep within the seam allowance
In the past, The Child has chose the blocks for each teacher. This year he didn’t really care that much, so I mostly chose them. He was adamant about what he wanted for the math teacher. He saw the piece of pie I appliqued on the Tarts Come to Tea piece. He was adamant that he wanted that on the math teacher’s pillow. This is the first time I have done applique’ for a teacher.
The Child kept with the Pie/Pi theme for the back. Again with the sense of humor!
So done for another! YAY! I am going to a party today, but am going to find a fun project to work on tomorrow. I am glad I soldiered through and don’t have this project hanging around for tomorrow, except for the wrapping and the card writing.
I have to admit that I am sick of this project. There is only one year left and I am finished. I am not doing them for high school. I don’t think it is really appropriate and would embarrass The Child, but there are also too many teachers.
It is funny how you think something is a good idea and then a tradition and expectations start, which turns the fun into a chore.
I do enjoy looking through Around the Block and picking out the blocks to use. I am tempted to make blocks for next year’s pillows while I have the fabric out and just tuck them away until April or May so I have less to do next year. We’ll see.
You might remember about a week ago I talked about selecting bag fabrics. I just couldn’t decide so, instead, I started on a different bag, the Anna Maria Multi-tasker Tote, where the selections were already firm in my mind.
I really enjoyed working with these fabrics. I loved the colors and the feel. I finished the bag on Saturday and took it out with me on Sunday. I have to admit that even if I give bags away, I try most of them out. I intend to keep this one, but tote bags flow through my life so quickly that who knows?
These are fabrics that I bought in Ferndale and the large flower print is by Martha Negley. I do love that color, a reddish pink tending towards salmon. It is a cheerful color.
This is the first time I have made the pocket panels the same color as the exterior of the bag. They are the pieces right under the dot fabric you can see peeking out of top left and right.
It made the fabric selection process a lot easier. The pocket panels aren’t highlighted at all; they look like part of the exterior. I don’t know yet if that bothers me. I did a lot of work on the bag and wonder if I need people to see the pocket panels? I’ll have to think about it and let you know.
I like to make the inside of the bag a light color, so I can see what is hiding inside the bag. I really like that dot fabric! I got some a long time ago with a chartreuse-y / olive background. This colorway works very well for the inside of a bag.
I realize that this is another non-quilt project. Yes, I have quilt projects; I just don’t seem to be working on them. Two quilts, Chocolate Box and Passionate Purple are ready at the quilter and I haven’t gone to get them yet. I also finally called for a longarming date. I could have had March 26, but have to work that day, so FOTY 2009 will be quilted on April 23. Don’t give up! Some quilts are coming.
I finished sewing the buttons on to board and DH said he would hang it up for me tomorrow. I am already enjoying looking at the different buttons.
Yes, boys and girls, I finally finished Beach Town. You can read about starting it in the post about the Pamela Allen class from last year. I liked looking at the piece in that post (one of the things I LOVE about blogging!), because I could see the differences including all of the handwork I have added.
I made a smaller version of the Robbi Joy Eklow sleeve (from her book Free Expression) for this piece. I don’t know if it will ever be hung using a rod, but it is ready if someone wants to hang it that way.
One of the things I need to think through when I use this technique in the future is the back and the label. I like to include the label as a part of the back. As you may have noticed, I often piece the back and include the label in that piecing. This allows me (or my quilter) to quilt over the label so that it cannot be removed if the quilt is stolen. Jill, one of the creative prompt participants, talks about this in her recent blog post.
Another reason I piece the back is that I have the fabric, so I might as well use it.
Smaller quilts, and particularly this Pamelala technique are free form and quick. The maker usually lays down the back and batting first with no opportunity to piece the back or make a label. When I take a Pamela Allen class again, perhaps I should just put down the batting and work on the back later?
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Babies and wedding some in waves and I am in a baby wave right now. I am not having my own baby, just to be very clear. Friends are in baby producing mode, however. I have made a few quilts for friends, but am, frankly, too lazy for the most part.
I do make receiving blankets quite frequently. They are much more useful than quilts and people seem less reluctant to use them or save them for a special day. I thought I had written about them before, but I guess not. I searched and only saw mentions
Mostly I made receiving blankets, which can be used for all sorts of useful baby things such as:
Superman (or girl) cape
sunshade
nursing cover
layer for warmth
tent
playmat
wings
changing pad
burp cover
etc
I fold over a double hem and stitch with fun thread and a decorative stitch. Often I will leave the selvedge on so as not to have to hem yet another side. The decorative stitch takes awhile, so it is better for me to do as little hemming as possible. If these were going to another sewist or quiltmaker, I might rethink that strategy, but mostly they go to people who are not crafty.
Finally, I don’t usually give gift bags to people who don’t give them back or re-use them. This time, I really didn’t feel like dealing with any paper or tape or anything. I sincerely dislike wrapping gifts with paper, so I pulled some fabric off the ‘back art’ shelf and made two bags. I don’t really like the background color of the fabric. Don’t ask me why I bought it – the cherries, probably. I like the bags, though and perhaps it will encourage more people to make fabric gift bags they can re-use.
This is the Chubby Charmer. Two of my friends, Maureen and Terri both had bags made from this pattern and I admired their shape and size. On my week away, I made one.
This is a BIG bag. I could fit my 3YO nephew in this bag! I didn’t realize the size in relation to my size until it was finished. I like it and will probably use it to carry stuff up and down the stairs in the house, or perhaps out to the car. I can imagine it would be useful for carrying packages out to the car to take to the post office.
I don’t think it will be great for carrying around on a general basis, because it might get really dirty and I am not sure about the washability. I also think that I could easily fill it up with 30 pounds of stuff. I’ll have to make an effort not to fill it with 30 pounds of stuff.
I used a Moda pack of charm squares from approximately 2007 called Recipe for Friendship by Mary Engelbreit to make the outside of the bag. There weren’t quite enough so TFQ threw in a few from the more recent Snippets collection. We agonized a bit, but not too much and then I began sewing them together.
One of the things I liked about this pattern is that it is specifically designed for the Moda Charm Packs. I don’t know if other companies make 5″ charm packs. I assume some do. It is very easy to cut your own 5″ squares out of your favorite fabrics. If I were going to use my own fabrics, I think I would collect 5″ squares as I cut fabrics for other projects.
I was putting away some other charm packs I have (Figgy Pudding and Pumpkins Gone Wild), I was thinking about what else I could make from these charm packs. I don’t need to have a specific charm pack pattern; I could just sew the squares together and then cut a pattern out of that new fabric.
I also used the red and white dotted fabric (by Susie Osborne, Emmalyne’s Day of the Week line) for the handles and TFQ gave me the red fabric (Mary Lou Weideman for In the Beginning Fabrics) for the inside.
I bought a pack of fusible fleece at the same time I bought the pattern at PIQF. I found, though, that that pack didn’t have enough of the fusible fleece and I had to get more. Both the inside walls and outside walls take two layers of fusible fleece. I didn’t find that it stuck together very well afer pressing. As a result I think I would just use my leftover batting if I made this pattern again.
The pattern designer has a really cool trick for making the box bottom. The maker traces a square template (provided in pattern) on to each bottom corner. After some sewing gymnastics, which are well explained in the pattern, you end up with a line to sew across that makes the box bottom. Very easy and no box bottom guessing. TFQ came across a similar trick in the Jane Market tote by Posie Gets Cosy. We tried to find the ratios of squares to front panels so we could try it ourselves on our own designs, but haven’t yet been successful.
Yes, this baby is complete. I can chalk another finished project up on the list. I quilted it a long time ago and only had to do the facing and the sleeve. I really don’t know why I waited until the last minute. I did and ended up with some unsewing that needed to be done. When I sewed the facing on, I kept sewing through all three layers quilt. Duh! I don’t know what that was about. I ended up clipping the threads from the front and sewing the back, very carefully the second time, shut again. It was sent off with the Nosegay on Wednesday and should have arrived today. We’ll see.
I get to go and visit it next week.
I know I showed this earlier this week, but I wanted it to have its own celebratory post.
House & Garden Finished!!!
This quilt was started in Pamela Allen’s class at EBHQ in May 2007. Two years, almost to the day later. Hopefully, the ones I started last month at CQFA won’t take that long
The Nosegay is finally finished.
The binding is on. The piecing is finished. The sleeve has been handstitched on to the back. It is a large quilt, so I will have to post it again after I get a professional photo taken.
I finished sewing the sleeve on to the back while watching The Queen last Saturday night while the boys were gone. I had to watch some of the bonus features (sadly, no deleted scenes) in order to get the last bit done.
So many “hands” have touched this work. By that I mean I have received so much help with this project: TFQ, quiltmakers from CQFA, Doreen Speckman, the teacher of the class in which I started the project, Colleen.
I am thrilled to have a finished project – a quilt project.