Filling the Gap

Lots of "everyday crap" happening in the past 2 months since I last posted. Of course, spring time is the busiest time for substitute teachers, so that's kept me out of trouble and out of my sewing room. I also put in 3 weeks of working with 1st and 2nd graders with state-mandated tests. Spring is my favorite season, but it's never a relaxing one for teachers. Our Spring has been, for the most part, a wet and chilly one. We were still running the furnace last week!

Since I couldn't be outside in the garden or walking the dog on those wet, chilly nights, I propelled myself up to my sewing room! Yes, there is a silver lining with Mother Nature and her moods! I found a quilting improv block that I liked by Christa at Christa Quilts. I enjoyed making one so much that I continued on and made 8 more for a baby quilt. I used many of the same fabrics from the Tula Pink City Sampler blocks, but chose the "boy" colors.

Above are 2 of the 9 blocks.

These gave me very good practice with getting those corners and points just right!

 

 

A photo of them arranged together, before the stitching together and the borders.

Love my purple-polka-dotted feet?

 

Sewing them together was a breeze and I even enjoyed the quilting and binding steps!

I think I'm getting hooked on this quilting thing.

Somebody once told me that could happen.

 

Then on one of the first sunny mornings, I took my finished quilt outside for a photo shoot. Shoot, I think they turned out pretty good!

 

My label!

The pieced back.

 

The front.

And another front shot.

 

I used a simple cross-hatch to quilt it together.

 

 

Leaving you with a photo of Miss Sophie.

She does NOT like her photo taken (kinda like her mama).

In fact, her facial expression rarely changes.

I snapped this one when I asked her, "Are you hungry?"

 

Yes, yes, she was hungry.

 

 

*Thank you to Lara at BuzzinBumble for encouraging me to get another post up!

Have you heard about her newly published book Crafted Applique?

Check out her blog!

My Project for Challenge 5 Project Quilting

 

 

This week's challenge theme was "Through the Eyes of a Child". Persimon Dreams has come up with some interesting themes this year. This one I didn't think I'd attempt....until Thursday afternoon when a photo I saw in an email inspired me! Yikes!

It's been a busy week with 3 rehearsals singing with the local symphony, plus working, plus getting this baby done! I finished it just this morning, just in the nick of time.

 

I'd love to give credit where credit is due as to where I found this inspiration. The blogger asked for permission before referencing her online, but she didn't reply to my request, so all I can say is I found her fabulous project online.

 

The photo immediately reminded me of when I was a little girl. We had a huge old crab apple tree in our backyard. The apples were never good for eating, but that tree held my wish for a swing. I asked many times for my dad or brothers to put one there for me, but my requests, like the one above, went unanswered.

So, to keep it simple, this project was made

through the eyes of the little girl that lives in me! <3

 

 

I started with going through my small scraps for pastel colored fabrics. I cut them into small squares and rectangles and placed them on a large piece of paper-backed fusible web. (Ya think I have enough small scraps?)

 

 

When I got the placement I wanted, I ironed them down to make it easier to sew.

Then I ironed them onto a piece of muslin to prepare for sewing. I used a free-style method of sewing around each block in white thread using free-motion quilting.

 

Using some wood-patterned fabric, I cut out a tree and added some red "apples", sewing around all of it with black thread, giving it a very creative look!

Note: when I was almost finished with the raw-edge applique of the entire project, I thought the tree looked off-balance and I added larger branches to increase its size.

 

Here is my little girl (ME!) in the swing I longed for. I often wore braids or pig tails, plus I've been a life-long purple lover, so she is wearing a purple dress!

Here you can see that the tree grew, too!

 

With a thin layer of batting and a lovely shade of pink for binding,

my little girl on her swing will joyfully hang forever on my sewing room wall.

 

 

 

My final project measures approximately 15" x 17".

It was created in my home in Dubuque, Iowa.

 

Voting will start around noon on Sunday, March 6th on the Persimon Dreams blog. Stop by and vote for your favorites! You will have one week to vote.

Thanks for stopping by!  

 

 

 

My Project for Challenge 3 Project Quilting

Challenge 3 – All about that Thread

 

I am really enjoying the challenges from Persimon Dreams' blog.

Every 2 weeks, a new challenge is announced. The week in between is for voting on the projects that have been linked up. Each visitor can vote for their favorite 6 projects! If you have linked up a project, 

 you can vote for 7!

 

I missed Challenge 2. I really had the plan, the fabric, the method all worked out. What I lacked was the time. Instead of sewing that week, I spent most of it testing 1st graders with their phonetics and reading. That was crazy. In 12 days, I tested about 250 kids.

I was lucky I could still feed myself after all of that.

 

Anyway, last Sunday, Kim announced the theme "All About That Thread" and my ideas started swirling. I had about 1/2 yard of adorable fabric with spools of thread on it. Knowing I like to make purposeful things, I looked around my sewing room for what I needed. I found this:

 

 

Is this what I want for my precious spools? Nope. So I decided I needed a decent fabric basket to hold these little friends

 together in one tidy place.

 

I found a tutorial on a blog, but changed it to fit my needs. Having some groundwork to go on always helps me. I have no fear absorbing some information and then taking off in another direction.

 

I cut my adorable spool fabric, some other "sewing machine" fabric to use as a lining and batting in the sizes I needed.

 

 

I quilted the lining fabric and batting together in simple diagonal lines.

Nothing too fancy.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures in between!

I guess I got excited.

 

 

What I ended up with is a nice little boat-shaped basket to

hold about half my thread.

 

 

I like that the sides are flexible enough that I can still move the spools around to find the right color I'm looking for.

 

 

As soon as I get another hour or so, I need to make a "twin" basket for the other half of my spools. They feel like orphans right now.

 

Beginning Sunday, Feb. 7. around noon,

head over to Persimon Dreams

 and vote for your favorites!

Voting lasts for a week.

 

 

PURPOSE: My One Word for 2016

 

I've chosen One Word for several years now.

 

My past words were:

• Believe
• Create
• Organize
• Change

I've enjoyed and have benefitted from having one word to focus my thoughts and actions on for a full year. This year my chosen word is PURPOSE. I want to give purpose to every day, to every action, to every item I own and to the way I spend my free time.

 

So, I started looking around my sewing room to find "stuff" I could use to make my One Word into a small wall-hanging. I found my over-flowing stash of selvages. I've saved them all, knowing someday they'd have a purpose.

 

 

Heck, I even saved the clear container the selvages are stored in from being buried in the landfill!

I found it in the housekeeper's trash while in Breckenridge last year. It's an ice bucket for chilling wine and has a tiny chip in it. I looked at that baby and said,

"That has a purpose!" It sure did.

 

So, I started sewing selvages together. Enough of them to stitch my One Word to. That meant I'd need about 25".

 

 

Yes, even my One Word is made out of selvages! I twisted and turned and folded each long strip to form a letter, pinning as I went. I do wish I had picked a different color for the "O". That light green just doesn't show up well. With a blanket stitch, I sewed each letter down.

 

 

Next, I chose a few extra long selvages to add a border to the top and bottom.

 

 

 

I had this funky glittery fabric to use as a backing. It was one of those purchases from the clearance row, but have never used. Probably never will either. Ick.

It works for this project though.

Notice I made those nifty corner pockets on the back

for the dowel?

Then came the almighty binding. I even had a package of bright yellow pre-made binding in my stash that needed a purpose, so that was put to use.

 

 

Close-up of my corner pocket.

Hand-printed with the date and my initials.

 

 

The finishing touch was to use some of my mom's old, old buttons. I cannot remember a time that this button bin didn't exist. She always kept it in the kitchen, above the fridge.

I should've asked her why she kept it there,

but it's too  late now.

I sewed a variety of buttons to the letters to look like tacks. So even those dinosaur-age buttons have a purpose now. Mom would be happy!

 

 

 

All in all, I'm very happy with my little project and my

 One Word for 2016.

Now that I'm done, I suppose I should tackle a few closets. And a garage. Maybe under the bed. A couple dozen junk drawers. Heck, even my email inbox needs cleaning out.

 

 

What is your One Word for 2016?

 

Dressing for Twins

No, not me! Heavens no! The earth would crack open and swallow me whole if that were true!

 

My sweet friend, Meegan, found out several months ago that she would be a grandmother to twins due in April. Knowing her daughter-in-law had already miscarried since her last child, they kept the news quiet til the pregnancy had progressed further.

 

They had such fun with a Gender Reveal Party with family and close friends. 2 boxes were opened containing colored balloons that would represent the gender(s). One box was filled with pink balloons, the other blue!  Big sister, Ella, is quite excited to share her home and love with 2 siblings. Being almost 3, I'm not sure she is fully aware of what lies ahead! Is anyone ever prepared enough for twins???

 

 

 

Anyway, my friend Meegan wanted a special outfit for little Ella for the upcoming baby shower. Ella's mom is a nurse, so Meegan thought it would be cute to put Ella in scrubs and I could embroider a design on the top. I helped her find a darling pair of brand-new scrubs on eBay for $10 (with free shipping, no less).

 

 

 In the meantime, I did some online shopping for an embroidery/applique design fitting for a Big Sister of Twins. I found several and Meegan chose one. I helped her choose the fabrics and thread for the design.

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, Meegan finds out that little Ella will only wear skirts or dresses! Living in Minnesota, she will approve of wearing leggings beneath her girly wear to keep her legs warm. When the scrubs were delivered, I told Meegan that I could easily make a skirt out of the pants. She'd never heard of such a thing! My mind started thinking and I came up with a few variations. This is what I came up with:

 

 

 I just cut pants a bit above the crotch line and use the leg fabric to make ruffles! I think the hot pink ric-rac gave it the finishing touch and helped to coordinate with the colors of the  top.

 

The finished outfit!

 

 

My Project for Challenge 1 Project Quilting

Today, I finished my project for Persimon Dreams' Season 7 of Project Quilting.

Just in the lick of time, too, cuz it's due by 11:00 am CDT on Sunday, Jan. 10th!

 

 

 

I don't know where I've been for the other 6 seasons, but I'm sure glad I ran across Kim Lapacek's blog post to read about this project in time! She posts the new challenge inspiration on Sunday at noon, along with the requirements.

 

Silly me, I read the post wrong, but my final project still fills the bill!

I thought she wrote that the project had to include ALL THREE requirements of:

1. include patchwork
2. include applique
3. have 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine

After going back to check them again midweek, the post says the project must include AT LEAST ONE of the above. Duh. I'm an over-achiever.

 

This week's inspiration was CONFETTI. So, I pulled out my bright fabrics (a Moda jelly roll) and a black solid remnant and went to it. I needed a new hot pad for the kitchen, so I kept that in mind. I just started sewing colored squares to black squares, cutting them up into smaller strips, sewing them together to get a pleasing look, then added my letters at the bottom. I used a collage of the colored fabrics sewn together to cut out the letters. I added InsulBrite as the middle layer, then used some binding to finish the edges.

 

 

We all like to eat around here, so I wanted to emphasize that word on the hotpad.. It really is a celebration when I cook. I've always joked that I'm going to make a flower planter out of the oven when I retire. Take off the door, add greenery, you get the picture.

 

 

 

On the back, I added a colorful band to slip my hand into when lifting those hot dishes out of the oven. This little baby can also be used on the table/island to set hot dishes onto. Its measurements are 9" x 10.5"...a good size for a larger pan or dish.

 

 

 

It was a fun project and I hope to continue with the rest of the challenges. There are awesome prizes for winners! Check it out! 

One Last Breath of Christmas

 

 

 

It's New Year's Day and while the aroma of Christmas is still in the air, I want to share my latest project. I finished this just 2 days before the Big Day. Whew!

I won a few pieces of a Quilty Box on a blog and the Drunkard's Path template was one of the items. Sewing curves scared me. Even the bejeebees were hiding in the back of the closet, not wanting to get involved. I was in the mood for a challenge, so I found a project with a great tutorial online.

 

I cut out my pieces according to the directions. I sewed those pieces together following the excellent instructions, each curved piece getting better and better. (I was getting a thumbs up from the bejeebees.) As I started putting the blocks together, they didn't look like the block designs on the tutorial.

 

 

That's when I realized that Drunkard's Path templates must come in different sizes and shapes! What a duh moment. But I  had all of these pieces cut and many of them were sewn together, so I was left to my own devices to create a new design pattern.

 

I took about 9 pictures with the blocks arranged in various ways. I studied them for a few days and decided on one that I liked the best.

 

I made enough for 3 large blocks and sewed them together. My bejeebees giggled with pleasure! I decided that the center of each of the 3 blocks needed a little somethin-somethin....but what? I went through by Christmas fabric stash and found a piece that had large poinsettias sprawled across it. I fussy-cut 3 of those flowers and then used my blanket stitch to sew them down.

 

 

 

Free-motion quilting sent my bejeebees back to the closet, so I set about using a straight stitch to "echo" stitch around the poinsettias. Is that a term...echo stitch? Beats me. I know what I'm talking about, so that's what matters, right? :)

 

 

 

Binding was easy. I'm getting better at this, as long as I keep doing it regularly. Finally, I sewed on some red glass beads to the center of each flower.

 

 

I love it!

So do my bejeebees.