Tag: Fabric

Birthday Report

I feel very fortunate to have received some birthday gifts this year! That was in addition to people agreeing to spend time with me. What a bonanza!

A box arrived yesterday. I took it upstairs to unwrap in peace. I dislike wrapping gifts intensely, but when I get a pile of gifts wrapped gorgeously like this, I don’t want to unwrap them. I did anyway, but I admired them for awhile first.


Inside were all of these things. Lots of fabric, some music and notecards, books, a scarf, some ribbon (which I think will trim some tote bags nicely!). I can’t wait to read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie book. Thanks TFQ!!!!!

Above are the pottery pieces made at my party after they have been fired. Wati made the top piece. I photographed the back because I liked her message and the green she used. The bowl is the piece that I made. The plate came with the party and I tried to have everyone sign.

This fabric came from my dad even though my sister picked it out, paid for it and wrapped it. They are all FQs.

Terri brought the above fabrics.


Above are the gifts that Julie got for me. I got her the Life’s Companion book. Apparently, she thought it was so good that she got it for me! I started to read a bit of it and like. I wnat to reserve judgement, but it seems to be geared owards people who want to have a daily writing writing practice and haven’t yet started. As I said, I am reserving judgement until I read more of it.

I received so much fabric this birthday! It was amazing and great! I will have enough fabric to make a FOTY 2009 quilt with no problem. 😉 Thanks, everyone!


DH bought Amy Butler‘s In Stitches for me along with the Photoshop Elements book. Did you give me Seams to Me? That one came with no card or note straight from Anna Maria Horner. Nobody has confessed so I guess it will remain a mystery. Everyone needs a good mystery once in a while. I am especially interested since the person went to the trouble of getting the book directly from AMH. If you do that…..

Look! It’s signed! Whomever you are who sent this: THANK YOU!!!

I use Photoshop Elements to deal with the photos I post to this blog. As it turns out, I could use a few lessons. One of my goals for the coming months is to take a class (online, probably). In the meantime, the book will give me some help.

Above is an awful picture of some gorgeous batik from my mom.

I only photographed the quilt related things. The Child made me a hand (one of those pieces of pottery you paint kind of hand) with a mouth in the palm. I told you he was a creative child. My sister also got me an ice cream maker. Can’t wait to try that out! Might solve the little problem I have of buying ice cream sundaes for dinner when the boys are gone.

Fabric of the Year 2008 Project

I have mentioned dozens of times that I have been working on and off on the FOTY project all year. That is sort of the idea of FOTY (Fabric of the Year). You work on it all year, especially cutting fabric. In my case I also sewed some of the patches together. Now the top is finished and I will soon be moving on to FOTY 2009.

Basics of the project:
2.5″x4.5″ rectangles
Cut one patch from each piece of fabric purchased in 2008.

I did find one fabric that was missing and that was the purple vegetable fabric I used to make the eggplant/lemon tote. I have a little piece of the veggie fabric that I will put on the back, but I would like to make another tote with that fabric as the one I made didn’t quite come out the way I wanted. Sadly, I don’t have a large enough piece. Gladly I will be able to admire it on the back of the FOTY 2008 quilt!

This project was a joy to work on during the retreat weekend, as I may have mentioned. I didn’t realize how much fun it would be. Partially, it was one project to work on so I could focus that alone. Partially, people made really wonderful comments on how cheerful it was and what a good job I was doing, which boosted by ego a bit.

One of the huge things I decided not long before leaving for the retreat was to change the direction of the project. I started out with the idea that the patches would be oriented in a rail-fence type setting, like I show in a post from August 18, 2008.


After playing around with that stack of blues over the holidays, I was really inspired by the different blues next to each other. I played around with the unsewn patches I had madly cut in January. Trying the layout of the patches out the new portable design wall sealed the deal. I decided to work on more of a blended / color wheel type look to the quilt. That is what necessitated all that ripping. Three days worth, to be exact, though to be honest, it was all day, every day.

That brought to mind the challenge of the FOTY projects. The fabrics purchased during the year may not necessarily go together and there has to be some way to make a cohesive project. At least for me, as I didn’t want to make a project with no design cohesion. TFQ solves this design challenge by adding in other fabrics for the background.
Above are all the pieces that were not sewed together. I put them all up on the portable design wall to look at them. It looks like a jumbled mess here, but that is part of the design process. 😉

The above is an in process photo. I don’t, wherever possible, like to sew tops together in rows. The seams never seem to line up and that frustrates me. Good technique and well sewed quilts are important to me. It really depends on the piece as to how I end up sewing it together. Generally, I go for chunks, as TFQ calls it. She suggested the technique to me and I have embraced it. On this piece, I started in the upper right hand corner and sewed two rectangles together and did that all the way across the quilt. One thing that always fascinates me is the way the top shrinks as I sew. I know it is the seam allowance, but to see the big space appear as the piece goes together just amazes me for some reason.

Above I was working my way across the quilt sewing 2 sets of 2 rectangles together to make a chunk of 4 rectangles.

In the above photo, you can see that I have made larger chunks. Eight pieces are sewn together by now.The process was:

2 rectangles sewed together

2 sets of 2 rectangles sewn together = 4 rectangles

2 sets of 4 rectangles sewn together = 8 rectangles (like the above photo)

So, the top is complete. I am feeling like I can plow through some backs this weekend, so making labels is on my list. I am thinking that this might be a quilt that I can machine quilt on the longarm. I’ll let you know after Friday’s session.

Finished Top!

I finished this top, the Fabric of the Year 2008 top, at the quilt retreat this past weekend. It was a great project for the retreat, because it was enough work to consume almost all of my sewing time there.

The FOTY concept was created by TFQ, who decided that it would be a good idea to try and use a piece of fabric shortly after buying it for a couple of reasons:

  1. If she liked the fabric, she would find out while the fabric was still available.
  2. It would be a good exercise to confirm what fabrics she commonly used so she could buy similar ones later.
  3. She would still like the fabrics

I really like this top. I think it glows. It is very cheerful.

I will have more about this later, but I had to post this for your viewing enjoyment.

Fabrics Not to Pass Up


I was at Always Quilting last week for my longarm class and bought these fabrics. I saw separate fat quarter packs with the orange fabrics and its friends (Fresh Paint by Moda, I think), as well as the fabrics related to the cherries. I wanted to buy both, but settled on what you see above. There was an icky green fabric like the orange one, but they didn’t have it on the bolt. I am thinking about making a quilt like Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs with the cherries fabrics and some others. I’ll have to put it on the list behind all the other projects I want to do!

Using Fabric

I am really in a philosophical frame of mind right now. Not sure why, but I seem to be thinking more about things rather than just trying to get through the day. All that vacation freed up brain space, I guess!


I started a new tote bag last night (forgoing all computer time for fabric time!). As you can see, the fabric is a large flower print. I needed another fabric to go with it. As I was pawing through my blues (oh no! are they back??), I found myself thinking about using fabric.

I am very grateful for all of the fabric that I have. It makes me feel like I could sew to eternity and not worry. It seems that when I am looking for a specific color or shade, however, that I don’t have enough fabric. What I was doing last night was looking through fabrics to go with this wild flower print. It was a lot easier because I didn’t have a certain value or tone in mind. Does the amount of fabric expand or contract depending on what I am looking for?

Additional Gifts from Near and Far

I am a lucky girl! I have such nice friends who give me presents sometimes. 😉

First, I got a gift certificate for some fabric. Above is what I bought. Dots, of course, but also some of Mark Lipinski’s Califon line. I like the delicate designs. Not sure how I will use it, but something will come up. Now I can rest assured that the FOTY 2009 quilt will have some fabric in it. Thgift certificate came from TFQ for Christmas and the fabric just arrived today. I still owe her a thank you note.


How do you like this gift bag? The bottom has something slightly stiff in it, so it stands nicely up to attention. It is made out of felt, so I may be able to make lovely designs with embroidery (using my machine’s embroidery function) on the front instead of the applique’. The blanket stitch can be done on the machine as well. I’ll have to try it. One thing I like about it is the cute size.


This little teapot pincushion was in the gift bag. My friend, Leah, gave both to me. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time and when we got together, she produced this little package for me. It is a very sweet treat, and unexpected.

I have been transferring my pincushion between sewing machine and ironing board, so this came at the right time and, perhaps, I can start thinking about just keeping one near each workstation? I am definitely going to have to buy more pins!

Gift Bags From Afar for the Luckiest Girl

I got a surprise on Thursday! Kristen and Mrs. Kristen sent me a dotted package filled with fabrics and gift bags. I was so thrilled and it was just the pick-me-up I needed.

I saw this sunflower fabric on Kristen’s blog and asked her to get me some earlier this year. I never saw it and know that she is really busy, but was so pleased to see it come to live with me.

The dots, of course, will come in very handy.

While they were at it, they worked on some gift bags for me. Aren’t they pretty? They have little cuffs on them, which is wonderful and different from mine. I am so pleased to add them to my collection. I am also pleased that the gift bags phenomenon is spreading. Hope you will make some, too!

They put it all in a gift box covered with dots, which made me happy even before I opened the package. Thanks, ladies!

Thinking about Jump Rope



I never really liked the Katie Jump Rope fabrics by Denyse Schmidt. However, since looking at the Denyse Schmidt pool on Flickr, I have a new appreciate for the group. These ribbon prints have, especially been growing on me.

One of the things I realized is that I like seeing the entire of line of something, but that I have to be careful and remember that I don’t need to buy or use the entire line. I should, also, take designs/pieces from an entire line and look at them together without all the others.

The people in the Denyse Schmidt pool are really creative and I am enjoying looking through what they are making.

Denyse Schmidt Fabrics: A New View


countyfairpurse2
Originally uploaded by SarahQFD

I wasn’t that enamoured with the new colorways that DS came out with recently. I like the designs, but the colorways didn’t do much for me. Today I saw this photo (still working my way through the DS Pool on Flickr). These fabrics are obviously designed to be used together. That weird gold looks almost buttery next to the burgundy. It makes me wonder about a fat quarter pack. I have to stop myself, though, because there are many, many gorgeous fabrics that I could use with a bunch of fabrics I already have and these would almost certainly have to be used together and then what would I do with the finished project?

I am glad to see that these fabrics look nice together. Quilt Fabric Delights blogs about these fabrics and this purse at: http://quiltfabricdelights.typepad.com/quilt_fabric_delights/2008/09/i-sewed.html

Resolution Goes Bad

After a particularly “less than stellar” day at work that produced a lot of animosity for my computer, I resolved not to turn on my home computer.

My computer is off. All good.

iTunes, however, is not on my computer and I decided to update my library while I supervised websurfing by certain individuals. In the course of updating iTunes, I came across Craft Sanity, a podcast by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood. TFQ had mentioned a particular episode to me over the weekend and I went looking for it. I wasn’t able to figure out how to download one episode, so I went to her site and saw these beautiful photos of colors and fabric. Now, here I am blogging. Sigh.

Enjoy the colors!

clipped from www.craftsanity.com
CraftSanity Episode 41
A Chat with Quilter Weeks Ringle
mendhi-line-up
  blog it

PIQF Follow-up


Like everyone else, the economy is affecting our family so I was extremely restrained in fabric purchases at PIQF this year. I tried to only buy fabrics that were really calling my name. As you can see, I still have the turquoise/aqua as well as dot themes going.


I am excited about the fabrics that I bought and I also got the best ruler in the universe. I know rulers and this one totally rocks. It is a 4.5″x8.5″ Creative Grid Ruler. The ruler is great because it is big enough to cut without fear that I will cut off my hand, but small enough so it doesn’t hang over the edge of my small cutting table. It is also the right size for the variety of pieces that I cut. For example, I can cut the FOTY pieces without having to move the ruler at all. One end is exactly the right size. TFQ and I both wanted to use it at the same time, so I may need to buy a second one for when we are sewing together. If you don’t have this ruler, go out and buy one now.


I also bought two new bag patterns. I know I know! I really plan to make them. I have some canvas-type Moda fabrics covered with cupcakes that I bought in Virginia this summer. I think it will be perfect. One is a vertical bag by Liesl + Co called the Backpack Tote. It converts from a tote to a backpack. It requires some hardware that I have never used before, but I can get through it. If not, I will bring the pattern to Seattle in the spring and TFQ can hold my hand while I work on it.

The other is very similar to the Eco Market tote that I have been using. It is by Gail Abeloe, owner of Backporch Quilts in Pacific Grove.
I bought it because of the slightly different shape of the top and the construction of the bottom, which you can’t see in this picture. It has a square bottom and not side panels. We’ll see which one I like better.

I spent a lot of the show really looking at the quilts. We didn’t succumb to trying to take photos at times when there were too many people in the hall. This resolved made me less annoyed and allowed us to really look at the quilts. We took photos on Wednesday evening at the preview and then late in the day when people had left. It worked out well. It was also a joy to see that people are using cheerful fabrics again. There were many, many quilts that were simply wonderful and I know you will see many of them show up in my end of the year roundup of favorite quilts.

Despite the fact that I had to turn around and, virtually, go straight to speak at a conference, it was great to get away, sleep in, not worry about taking care of anyone. I feel like I take a lot of time off, but I seem to need it. I have had several busy weekends in a row, though, so perhaps that is the reason.

Picking Fabric

Avoiding work, I was browsing the blogs. I clicked on Pink Chalk Studio and came across this photo of, what looks like, fabric selection during the design phase. I admit, I didn’t read the post…yet. What struck me about this photo is that it is my ideal way of picking fabric. I would like to have the space (physical and brain) to heap up fabrics and look at them kind of jumbled together. This photo of these jumbled together fabrics give me an idea of how they would look in a project.

The problem comes in the actual execution. Sigh. I know that if I take these fabrics out of the closet and jumble them, I will most certainly have to refold and put at least half of them away.

I know I have to do something like this (make visual decisions visually), but I seem to have a brain block. Perhaps I need a studio assistant? HAH! Or just continue to work on cultivating enjoyment of the entire process.

clipped from pinkchalkstudio.com
blog it

Last New Fabrics???


I have to gear down my fabric purchases, but I bought at few at a really nice shop last weekend in the LA area called Loving Stitches. It is within walking distance of my grandmother’s house. Each time I have tried to go there, it has been closed. I was pleased to catch them when they are open and glad to find that it is a really nice shop. They have LOTS of fabric and the people were really friendly.

I was pleased to see that they had a wide variety of fabric for all tastes. They didn’t seem to focus on only one type of fabric.

They also had a great collection of Hawaiian shirt fabrics. I was tempted to buy some for a tote bag, but refrained for now. I want to use up some of the tote bag fabrics I have already purchased.

I’ll look forward to visiting them again.

More on the FOTY Front


I am plowing through the massive amounts of fabric that I bought and here are some from which I have already washed and cut a Fabric of the Year patch. They still need to be sewn together.

I have to admit that I am already thinking about the FOTY project for next year. Something with a 4patch, I think.