I am really sad that the weekend is over. I really could use another day or two off.
There was lots of cooking and baking and visiting and guests. We also went and saw a movie, had 6 boys over, destroyed and fixed our network (sort of) and talked to Grama on the phone. It was a busy weekend.
November Pillowcases
I had hoped to make lots and lots of things. In reality I was only able to finish three pillowcases. For some reason, I couldn’t put one of these together without ripping out significant portions. I had problems with all of them. I have to admit that I just took the ripping in stride and dealt with it.
I have three more pillowcase burritos pinned and ready to sew, but haven’t done it yet. My nephew came over and he started a pillowcase also. He has to sew the front and do the French seam and then he will be done.
The Young Man gave the pillowcase he made to his friend who lost everything in the San Bruno fire. He was able to, finally, make the gift this weekend. The friend’s mom almost started to cry. I was glad we could do something small for them.
So, it was a big pillowcase weekend. What did you make?
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!
Matching Seams
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!
The Child and I worked on and finished his pillowcase. I wanted him to do several, but we won’t be doing that. My original idea was that he work on a project during the summer that was not screen related and would help or benefit someone else.
Lining Up the Pieces
We started on Thursday of last week. There are 3 pieces in the Twiddletails pattern: the cuff, the trim and the main body of the pillowcase. The pain part of this project is lining up the 3 pieces.
Pinning
The whole process was a challenge for him. Sewing is not high on the list of interesting activities for a 13 year old. The prospect of helping kids with cancer kept him there, but he had a hard time with the various parts of the process.
It was interesting and a good lesson for me to show him what to do. Everything was so foreign to him. Pinning took forever and it started with me showing him how to stick a pin in the fabric layers to keep them all together. I was surprised that I found it so incomprehensible that he didn’t intuitively know this basic concept. Almost all of the steps of sewing are so ingrained in my being that working with someone who had no experience was an eye opener. It gave me some insight into some of what beginner quilters know and don’t know.
Sewing the Burrito
Running the machine was not an attraction for my darling. He sewed carefully and slowly…for awhile. He had a hard time with the concept of not pushing the fabric through the machine, but letting the feed dogs do the work.
As You Sew, So Shall You Rip
He didn’t pay attention and wandered off where the seam line should be. He learned how to rip out his stitches.
First Success
He was able to finally finish sewing the burrito. If you can make it through the pinning and sewing with this pattern, the burrito creates the cuff, trim and body of the pillow case as one large piece. The Child had some trouble with the trim, but I didn’t feel like making him rip it out again. It is good enough. I plan to pin a note to this pillowcase saying that a teenager made it and it was his first sewing project.
As You Sew, So Shall You Rip 2
After he sewed the burrito, I had him sew the first line of the main part of the pillowcase. He sped the machine up a little (I had it set to super slow) and his mind wandered. The seam, which started out a 1/4″ away from the edge of the pillowcase ended up near the middle of the main part of the taco fabric. I didn’t look before I told him to backstitch, which ended up as a square spiral, also in the middle of the pillowcase. More ripping and unsewing. I did half for him and we took a week long break.
Following the Line
Yesterday, we got back to it. I drew a line on the pillowcase that he could follow while sewing. Brilliant! The line was much easier for him to follow.
Crazy Pillowcase Maker
Yes, his hair has a life of its own, but here is The Child with his finished pillowcase. He left my workroom so fast I was surprised my head didn’t spin. Now I need to think of a new project for the rest of the summer.
Since I returned from Long Beach, I have been trying to sew a lot. I have a lot of new fabric and I want to play with it. I don’t feel like I am sewing enough, but I am trying.
One of the first things I do is wash and press the fabric. This is a big bottleneck right now. The washing, as I may have mentioned, is done. Since I am not finished pressing so I am, basically, pressing as I need a certain fabric.
The first thing in my sewing adventure I did was cut out and prepare pillowcases for sewing. there is a lot of pinning in the Twiddletails pattern. So far, I have made a total of 3 pillowcases and have two more cut out and ready to sew. I wrote about this a little bit in my post entitled Pillowcase Party. This is ongoing. I have a lot more pillowcases in me, but I am dealing with incremental progress on a number of projects right, so I have very little to show for it.
“Incremental progress on a lot of projects” means that I am working on a lot of different projects and haven’t settled down to one yet. I have been cutting pieces for the Frosted Stars quilt, cutting diamonds, working on tote bags, cutting various patches, trying things for the Zig Zaggy Quilt, etc.
Napkins & Pillowcases (8/2010)
The robot pillowcase (middle), which will be donated, is new. I finished that one quickly yesterday. The two pieces on the right are napkins. I saw the pie fabric and had to get it for napkins. I make pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas and it fits into our family culture. The martini fabric was just fun and not something I would use in a quilt, so napkins again.
I don’t really like making napkins, because the seams don’t press well for me. I LOVE using cloth napkins though. I love seeing different fabrics. I love people’s comments when they sit at my table. I love choosing which one I am going to use for the next few days. I also think it is great way to spread fun fabrics throughout my life.
The napkin fabrics won’t be in FOTY 2010, because I only bought a half yard of each and I use two FQs for each napkin. I like generous napkins and I don’t want to square them up. This time I used two new fabrics (the pies and martinis) and found two fabrics that had been around for awhile with which to pair the new fabrics. When I brought them downstairs the boys were already claiming their favorites.
I finally made the sleeve for the Chocolate Box, so that quilt is nearly done.
Blue Janus Quilted
I also went longarming last week. I am not longarming a monster quilt again. The process didn’t go smoothly and only a small part of it was because of the size. I think it is good to find my limitations. For longarming, I think mine limit is a twin sized quilt.
The shop is having problems with their machine, but it was still functional. We spent two hours working through the machine not working. I quilted about 4 blocks (6″ finished) and we had to rip out all that quilting. Evelyn, my helper, was awesome. We talked about our quilting while we worked on the machine. She told me about her family. Another lady came in to help. No dice. The machine wasn’t working. Finally, one of the owners came in and told us we were using the crappy thread that couldn’t be used with the longarm machine.
My question was why was that thread in the longarm room if it wasn’t to be used for longarming? If it was in the room, I would certainly choose it!
We changed the thread and the machine worked like a charm. Sigh.
The good part is that I got a lot of practice stopping and starting, which I needed.
I was too tired to trim the quilt, so it still needs to be trimmed and it needs the binding of course.
There is more to do and I need about a week to just sew with no other obligations.
I am sick of Wordless Week. It was great while I was gone, because I didn’t have to worry about posting, but now that I am back (yes, I will tell you all the details) I want to toss up some words and get some words back from YOU!
I am sitting here listening to Patrick Monahan and Train singing “Hey, Soul Sister” and “Save Me, San Francisco.” Suddenly, I am obsessed with these two songs and have been listening to them over and over for the past half hour or so. I don’t know what they mean, but I love the sound. I first heard “Hey, Soul Sister” on a re-run of CSI: NY, then I found the performance on YouTube and, then, had to buy the song. Now I can listen to it, as well as “Save Me, San Francisco” whenever I want. It is a good thing I am home alone (as I write this), because I am sure the family would be screaming for me to stop torturing them.
Along the lines of obsession, I have been making pillowcases for the past 24 hours. I have 4 cut out and two made. Of the two, one has already been mailed as a special gift. I hope the recipient is still where I mailed it when it arrives! She told me today she is leaving! Oh well!
Hoffman Fish
The fish pillowcase is made from an oooolllllddd Hoffman print. TFQ informs me that it is at least 15 years old. It was in my stack of fabrics that are designated for backs or ‘other.’ Often I buy a half yard or less (though I am having a crisis of how much fabric I should buy), which is not enough for a pillowcase.
Unless I have bought specific fabric for a pillowcase, then my general collection does not provide large enough pieces for the main piece of the pillowcase, so I dug into the back stash. If I haven’t used the fabric, it should be fair game, right? I have a lot of conversationals in this group, so they will work well for the cheerful pillowcases being requested.
I have mentioned the Million Pillowcase Challenge a couple of times. I went to the website to try and figure out where to send the pillowcases and encountered a problem. Quilt shops are collecting them. I have to donate them locally and don’t really have a local quilt shop. One is a few towns over, but they don’t seem to be collecting them. I was determined to forge ahead when CraftHope came through.
CraftHope just finished their largest project, related to the oil spill clean up in the Gulf of Mexico, ever. As is their M.O., they started Project #9, a collection of pillowcases for the Con Kerr Cancer Project. The good thing (for me) about this particular project is that they provide a regional directory of hospitals to which I can send or take the pillowcases with contact information. The deadline is September 15 for the CraftHope project. Can you make some pillowcases?
As I mentioned, The Child and I will be making the taco and robot pillowcases tomorrow. I cut all the pieces and made the fish pillowcase so that I have the steps firmly lodged in my head. He would lose what little interest he has if he had to wait around while I tried to figure out the directions. TFQ walked me through the first pillowcase (see below) and, thus, was instrumental in getting me started.
One big problem is suitable fabrics for the 12-17 year old boy set. After all, all agesa nd genders get sick. I looked at the various quilt shops I visited last week and saw some that would be ok. I saw a great selection at VooDoo Rabbit.
Sweet Dreams Pillowcase
I saw the chocolate fabric at Britex when I was inspired to make a Sweet Dreams pillowcase for my mom. She has ongoing problems sleeping and is having a hard go of it taking care of Grama in SoCal.
The fabric has been around since the end of June and I finally got my act together and made the piece. I am happy with the way it turned out. She is coming home next week. I sent the pillowcase today and hope it arrives before she leaves.
I used the Twiddletails pattern and it is great! It seems bizarre, but works very well and I learned to make French seams! She has a store, so go buy a pillowcase kit and make one for Con Kerr. Thanks, Anina!
I have graduated from Train to Semisonic singing Closing Time, so I will end this post and work on my CPP responses, pillowcases, napkins, and all the projects I am fired up to make!
