I Finally Have Time

August 7, 2012 · 12:01 AM

Traveling hexagons

If you have followed my last couple of blog posts, you know that I’ve been traveling. I brought the ultimate traveling sewing project with me – English paper pieced hexagons!

A group of hexagons sewn together.

Before I left home, I grabbed this great set of fat quarters that my dear niece had given me.

Fun group of fat quarters

I had already purchased a package of 100 one-inch hexagon precut paper shapes.

Package of precut paper hexagons

I found these at a quilt shop in Illinois but you can also buy them online here. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. A 1″ hexagon means that each side of the hexagon measures one inch. These are made out of light card stock which is perfect. I also cut a couple hexagons out of some card stock I had that were 1/4 inch larger all the way around. I used these as a rough template to cut my fabric with. I simply cut the fabrics into strips, stacked about 4 strips, and then used a rotary cutter to cut around the hexagon template. Some of the fabrics had patterns on them that I felt would look better if they were not randomly cut. In order to “fussy cut” these fabrics, I cut the 1 ” shape out of the middle of my template, placed it where I wanted on the fabric and cut each one out individually.

Using template to see what final hexagon will look like.

Using template to “fussy cut” hexagon

This gave me a wonderful collection of fabric hexagons which are the right size to use with my 1″ papers.

Fabric hexagons and paper pieces.

There are a lot of different instructions for english paper piecing. Some have you actually baste the fabric to the paper which I do not like to do. I hold the paper against the wrong side of the fabric, fold over one side, then another and baste the fold where they intersect. Keep doing this around the shape until all sides are basted down.

Back of basted hexagon.

After basting many of these, they can be whip-stitched together by putting right sides together and sewing one side at a time. It is an extremely accurate way of piecing geometric shapes together and is all done by hand. This is what makes English paper piecing so great to travel with! Small pieces, needle and thread. So little to carry with you!

Front side

Reverse side.

Here is the little case I carry this project in which I bought at the Container Store.

Hexagon tool box

Everything I need!

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my hexagons. I’m thinking of making a tote bag or pillow. I guess it will depend on how many I get put together.

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Tagged as English paper piecing, fabric hexagons, hand sewing, hexagons, travel sewing

August 5, 2012 · 1:48 AM

America The Beautiful

I can’t stop thinking about this song after traveling through Idaho a few days ago.

O beautiful for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain

Wheat field – notice the mountains in the background!

Idaho farm

For purple mountain majesties

Teton Mountains

Above the fruited plain.

We traveled through Idaho on our way to a meeting in Wyoming. Yes, we saw a lot of Idaho potatoes growing but it is the fields of wheat that had me in awe – and out of the car taking pictures. America is truly beautiful. At least this part of America is that has been able to irrigate their fields because of ample rainfall this summer. Unfortunately that is not the case in many other parts of the country.

I floated in a raft down the Snake River this morning, and while I was in this patriotic mood, guess what I saw?

Bald Eagle

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Tagged as amber waves of grain, America the beautiful, Tetons

August 3, 2012 · 5:00 PM

Fun in the Wild West!

I traveled to Ennis, MT last week with my husband and daughter. My husband’s brother and his family were already there and we spent a few days with them . We did a lot of fly fishing.

Max and Maya

Lindsey

Linda and Jim

We fished during the day and we fished at dusk.

Fishing at sunset

It is so beautiful there.

Montana is called “Big Sky” country. See why?

What did we do when we weren’t hassling the fish? Fabric and yarn shopping!

Stitches That Bind
Quilt Store in Ennis, MT

You cannot believe all of the fabric and quilting supplies owner, Julie, fits into this shop! It is well worth a trip to shop here. Of course she has western themed fabrics, but also a great supply of batiks, modern and traditional fabrics and many, many interesting patterns.

CR.eations
Yarn store in Ennis, MT

The “CR” in CR.eations stands for Christine Rodgers who is the owner. This is another small shop that has so much goodness packed inside. Absolutely gorgeous yarns! Lindsey and I bought fabric and spent a day cutting it into pieces for a quilt for her and her new husband.

Ready to start sewing.

Here are the first two blocks of her maple leaf design quilt. All those beautiful batiks! How do you choose which to put together in each block? It just makes you want to keep on making them. That is a good thing!

I left Montana a few days ago and traveled through Idaho to Wyoming. Please come back in a few days to see those pictures!

I’m not in ~~Kansas~~ the city anymore!

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Filed under Family, Quilt Shops

July 23, 2012 · 12:18 AM

CREATE workshop in New Jersey

My daughter and I just spent 5 days at the CREATE workshop in New Jersey. We have never taken a large workshop in another city over multiple days before this. It was fun and I learned many new things. The teachers were EXCELLENT. I enjoyed and appreciated each one. Quilting is my main interest these days but this was a multi media retreat and I was definitely taken outside of my comfort zone. The following are the workshops that I or my daughter took.
Workshop #1 Introduction to Fusion Fabrics taught by Jane Davies.

Introduction to Fusion Fabrics
Start of piece
Size: Approx. 12″ square

Fusion fabric
Finished piece

Fabric confetti

In this class we covered a plain piece of fabric with Misty-fuse which is a paperless fusible web. We covered this with different fabrics, added another layer of fusible and then sheer fabrics (or papers!) including organzas and netting. We were able to add fibers or threads next and then finished with a final layer of Misty-fuse. It created some interesting effects. I’m not that happy with what I made during class, but I can see myself trying this again at home and then using it to make a purse, notebook cover, or other small gift item.

Workshop #2 Thread Painted Mini Art Quilt taught by Elin Waterston and Workshop #3 Hand Stitched Jewels taught by Natalya Aikens.

Thread painted sandhill crane with hand stitched embellishment (not complete)

Teacher Natalya Aikens holding her art piece.

These workshops were separate classes. When I got to the Hand Stitched Jewels class, I decided to use this piece to stitch on. I’m not completely crazy about it, but I don’t hate it either!

Workshop #4 Text Tiles taught by Seth Apter. My daughter, Sandy, took this class and made this for me:

Text Tile
Size: approx. 6″ square

And this one for herself:

Text Tile

Workshop #5 My Mapology taught by OrlyAvineri. This class was about art journaling. The class was full (25 students) and many had signed up for the conference just to take Orly’s class. She had us use images that she gave us (including maps) to create art in our journal. We used paints, papers, inks and any other mediums we wished.

My art journal.

Teacher Orly Avineri’s art journal

Workshop #6 Textured Cuffs & Scrapbook Rings taught by Eva Sherman. Sandy took this class and made 3 copper bracelets and 2 rings. She has never done anything like this before and these things she made are beautiful.

Copper bracelets Sandy made and kept. (Gatsby is her dog!)

Bracelet and ring she gave to me!

Finally we took a class together. Workshop #7 Collage, Texures and Composition taught by Lesley Venable. I had fun in this class, especially because my daughter was there, but collage is definitely not my thing! There are way too many choices of materials. I love working with fabric and a sewing machine SO much better than this. Sandy really enjoyed this class though and I think that her artwork shows that.

My collage

Sandy’s collage

Workshop #8 Nesting Instincts Necklace taught by Jean Van Brederode. This class was about enameling copper to make a fun necklace. It was fired in a kiln at 1350 degrees for 2 minutes. True confession – I bought a kiln 5 years ago to use for making glass beads and have never used it. Here is another thing I could do with it if I got it set up. I really love this necklace.

Nesting Instincts Necklace class

The teachers were all amazing and the students were fun to be in class with. I could write so much more about this fun retreat but I’ve worn myself and probably you out with what I’ve already posted tonight. Thanks for visiting my blog and taking a look at what I’ve been up to!

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Tagged as Create, mixed media, mixed media workshop

July 16, 2012 · 10:23 PM

Zaka Style project #16 – Patchwork Ribbon

My favorite gift!

I didn’t plan on doing this week’s Zakka Style project but I’m glad that I did because I’m quite happy with how it turned out and will actually use it! There is a BIG incentive to complete this project and to link it up to the sew along – a nice collection of Cosmo Thread by Lecien. I was intrigued by the post by The Patchsmith who said she has threads all over the place from making this. After thinking about it for awhile and reading the directions again, I thought that starting with a large patchwork piece and cutting it into strips on the BIAS might be an answer to the loose threads. So I tried it!

I sewed some strips together, cut them into smaller pieces and then sewed the pieces together in an arrangement that I thought would give me a long run of bias.

I cut bias strips 1 1/4 inch wide from this. No frays on the edges and the front of the stripes looked great. The back, though, had all those seams.

Front of bias strips – beautiful

Back of strips – not so pretty

I joined the strips together using a bias join technique. I thought about stopping here and using the “ribbon” this way.

Single layer

However, there was so much of it that I decided to go ahead and sew it all together with the wrong sides together using a simple running stitch down each edge. After that, I had only half of the length but no raw edges showing at all!

Double layer

After looking around for something to be the gift to tie it onto for the photo, a wine bottle seemed perfect. My sewing space is incredibly well “stocked”! Don’t you agree?

Fabric to the right. Wine to the left.

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Tagged as patchwork ribbon, zakka, zakka style, zakka style sew along

July 15, 2012 · 10:58 PM

Zakka Style project #15 – Elephant Bookmark

This week’s project from the Zakka Style sew along is an Elephant bookmark. It was designed by Kat Mew. The guest blogger for the sew along is Angela from Cut to Pieces.

An Elephant Never Forgets Bookmark

I used a fabric strip set that was already sewn together. It is hard to tell this in the picture because the batik fabrics are so similar. I put the strip set right side to another piece of batik fabric, put the pattern on top, and sewed around it.

Sewing around the paper pattern

I did not use any interfacing. There were so many comments from others who made this about how hard it was to turn, I just decided not to interface it. Here is a picture of the back side right before turning. I trimmed very closely and clipped all the inside curves.

Trimmed with my beautiful Gingher scissors!

These scissors were a Christmas gift from my daughter, Lindsey. I love them! There is nothing in the word that cuts as smoothly as these. I didn’t have any trouble turning my elephant right side out but it was pretty flimsy without the interfacing so I did the next best thing – I spray starched the heck out of it – several times! This was actually quite effective and it is now pretty stiff. I then sewed an ultra suede ear on. I didn’t bother with an eye because somehow there is a star on the fabric right where the eye would be. I couldn’t have fussy cut it any more perfectly.

Marking it’s place in my Zakka Style book.

Linking to LR Stitched Zakka sew along.

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Tagged as book mark, zakka, zakka style, zakka style sew along

July 14, 2012 · 10:22 AM

Honey Bee Quilt

Isn’t this quilt beautiful? I wish I could say that I made it, but truth is, it’s an old quilt that was bought years ago by my mother-in-law. The quilt block design is called “Honey Bee”.

Honeybee design

Can’t you see why it is called Honey Bee? Especially done is this yellow color! There is a pieced nine patch in the middle of the block and then the body and wings of the bees were appliquéd on. I am not an expert but the nine patch fabric looks 1930s to me. Quilter’s Cache notes that the block design is from the 1920s-30s era so I’m guessing this may be how old this quilt is. Unfortunately, as with many old quilts, there is no label or clue as to who made it. I always put labels on my quilts, do you? Here is a link to directions for making this block.

This quilt is in beautiful shape. There are no holes or frays. However, when I first received it there were many stains and the whole thing was very dingy. It was a beautiful quilt that looked terrible. I wrote this post a few weeks ago about a product called Retro Clean.

Retro Clean

Before and after treatment with Retro Clean

It is a product that revives old textiles. I couldn’t wait to try it on my Honey Bee quilt. I followed the directions on the package. I washed the quilt, soaked it in warm water mixed with Retro Clean and then washed it again. The quilt was kept completely submerged for 30 hours (directions say 24 to 48 hours) in a tub which I kept outside in the sun during the day. It was almost 100 degrees the day I did this and evidently keeping the water warm helps with the cleaning process. On the second day (which was cool and rainy), I couldn’t see any stains, so I took it out of the “bath”.

Stained quilt before Retro Clean

After Retro Clean – no stains!

After such a success with this quilt, I’m wanting to try it on the first quilt I ever made which was for my oldest daughter probably 25 years ago. She still has and uses it and she doesn’t live near me (boo hoo), so I’m going to ask her to send it to me. Fingers crossed! It has a lot of white fabric in it and every time I see it, I think I’ll never make another quilt with white fabric. It’s the dinginess factor again! If I can revive that quilt, I will definitely not be afraid to sew with white. That is an exciting thought.

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Tagged as Honey Bee block, Honeybee block, quilt, Retro Clean

July 8, 2012 · 4:22 PM

“Pockets to Go” by Terry Atkinson

Pockets to Go by Terry Atkinson

Aren’t these adorable? I made one and a friend made the other. The pattern is called “Pockets To Go” by Atkinson Designs. They are sewing supply organizers and can hold all sorts of supplies. I use mine all the time.

There are zippered pockets on two of the outer sides and handles on the other. It all goes together very cleverly.

Sewing caddy side view.

The side panels are cut for both the inside and outside. Pockets are added to all 4 inside panels. Zippered pockets are added to two of the outside panels.

The inside and outside panels are sewn together and the bottom added. The last step is to add binding around the top and before this is done, a panel of pel-tex is slipped in to give it sturdiness.

I gave the colorful one to my niece as a gift and made this linen one for myself. Another one of my nieces, who doesn’t sew, thought it looked great to use to hold makeup. Hmmm. . . . that’s a definite Christmas gift idea for this year! I have 4 nieces and 3 daughters who I would love to sew something for as a holiday gift.

Linen and polka dot cotton fabric

Another friend made the longer skinnier version to use in her car to hold things when she travels.

Long caddy

She made it out of travel fabric. Isn’t it great? I may have to do the same for my car.

I really love this pattern but I would like to point out a few things. There are a couple problems with the instructions which may or may not be a factor depending on your level of sewing expertise. You are instructed to make the inside pockets as shown “in Terry’s Tip on page 1” but Terry’s Tip is on page 4. The more confusing error is on sewing on the binding along the sides and bottom of the caddy. The directions and illustration had me trying to sew it on in such a way that I could not neatly cover the corner. Once I realized that it needs to be done exactly like a quilt binding and I could achieve this by starting it on the opposite side of the raw seams, I was able to do it perfectly.

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Filed under Gifts, Pattern review

Tagged as Atkinson Designs, fabric gift, gift, Pockets to Go, sewing caddy

June 28, 2012 · 5:53 PM

Zakka Style project #13 – Patchwork Pot Holder

Finished front

Finished Back

This week’s project from the Zakka Style sew along is a patchwork potholder. Kim from Retro Mama designed these potholders for the book. She has also updated the instructions for putting on the binding which can be found here. This was a pretty quick and easy project to put together. The great thing about these is that they are large and thick enough to make a nice trivet for the table as well as protecting your hands from a hot dish.

I started the project by making a strip set. I had some strips that were already sewn together. Adding a strip of linen to those gave the potholder the look I wanted. After all, linen is the fun element of the Zakka Style projects!

Strips sewn, layered with Insul-Brite, batting, and backing and then trimmed into an 8 ” circle.

I layered 10″ squares of the strip set, a piece of Insul-Brite, a piece of cotton batting and then a piece of linen for the backing. A walking foot made quilting these together very easy. Once they were together I cut an 8 inch circle.

Bound edge of partial circles

2 partial circles were cut out of linen and 2 out of a cotton print (which ended up unseen on the inside). The flat edge was bound and then these were placed onto the back of the round piece and basted around the edge. Now it was ready for the binding. I have avoided binding in linen on other Zakka projects due to the fraying of the fabric. However, since this binding HAD to be cut on the bias, fraying would not be a problem so I went ahead and used it.

Binding turned to the back. Ready for hand stitching.

Unfortunately, I didn’t read the updated binding instructions and just overlapped and sewed the edge of the binding which did not give as clean a finish as doing it the other way would have. I look forward to trying it again and perfecting the binding.

I’m happy with how this turned out and will be making some more for gifts. Any sort of quilted design could be put on the front and it would be fun to try some different things to make a useful and pretty gift.

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Filed under Gifts, Tutorials, Zakka Style sew along

Tagged as gift, quilted pot holder, zakka, zakka style

June 25, 2012 · 8:08 PM

Exercise in “value”

I’ve been meeting with a group of quilters once a month as we go through Joen Wolfrom’s book Adventures in Design. This month’s chapter was on value and the exercise at the end of the chapter that I chose to do was to:

A. Create a design that moves the value from light in the central area to dark in the outer perimeter.

B. Create a design that moves the value from dark in the central area to light at the outer perimeter. The following is what I came up with. (Disclaimer: I have had a terrible time photographing the pink. Sorry!)

Value exercise

This fabric was dyed by me during a workshop a couple summers ago. I had 5 different values of the same pink which I cut into 2 inch squares and then pieced together to make these backgrounds. I didn’t want to make absolute “bull’s eyes” so I mixed the square pieces up somewhat. The background was pretty heavily but easily quilted. I then fused the little birds and the green “thing” they are standing on to the background and did a free motion straight stitch with black thread to the edges. The eyes are little black seed beads. I really like the look of this. I guess it looks sort of cartoonish.