June 19, 2012 · 7:41 PM

Retro Clean: seeing is believing!

I think that a lot of quilters and non-quilters would be interested in knowing about a product called Retro Clean. If you have any old fabric items (quilts, handkerchieves, tablecloths, etc..) that are yellow or stained with age, this product can make them look like new.

Quilt top – before and after

I took these pictures today with my phone while at a friend’s house.  She is the president of the DC area quilt guild I belong to called the Needlechasers of Chevy Chase.  She had this old quilt top that was badly stained.  She removed the worst looking block to see what this product would do to it.

Retro Clean is a powder that is mixed with water.  The directions are to mix 3 or 4 tablespoons in a gallon of water and then submerge the item you are cleaning for 24 to 48 hours.  My friend soaked her quilt block for 24 hours.  She also put the tub she was using out in the sun as the directions say that this helps (their literature says it’s the heat).

One more picture of the results!

I was completely amazed to see the difference and had to take these pictures and share!  Honestly, even the colored fabric looked brighter.  I can not wait to try it on some items that I have.  Luckily my friend sent me home with some, so I don’t have to wait to mail order it.  I have this old quilt on a bed at my house that I may try to soak.

 

Don’t you know how much nicer this would look without those stains? I’ll let you know how it turns out!

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June 16, 2012 · 10:20 AM

Quilted Threads in Henniker New Hampshire

Quilted Threads – 116 Main St., Henniker NH

I live in Washington DC but my favorite quilt shop is Quilted Threads in Henniker NH.  Whenever I visit family in the area, I shop here.  It is about a 20 minute drive from Interstate 93. Henniker, NH has to be the quaintest New England town ever.  I could have taken pictures of a hundred old farm houses/barns close to this shop. (Maybe next time I will!)

Who would guess that you would find such amazing fabric in this little town?  When you enter the store you are immediately greeted with a whole room of Japanese fabrics.  I was told yesterday that they believe they have the largest selection in the US.  It was hard not to drool, but I have to admit that the prices keep me from stashing too much of this beautiful fabric.  The store was featured in this Spring/Summer 2011 Quilt Sampler magazine.

They pretty much have it all: batiks (although somewhat limited), novelty/kids prints, civil war prints, silks and linens, modern, Australian, Japanese, felted woolens, etc..

Here is a sampling of what I did buy:

Australian fabric and a little Kaufman I thought would go with it.

Echino Train and others

Crabtastic by by Maude Asbury

Zipper fobs and variegated pearl cotton

Zipper fobs and variegated pearl cotton

You can never have too many books!

They do have an online store. I was also told that they are about to become a Bernina dealership.  If you are ever in the area (or within 100 miles), you do NOT want to miss this store!

 

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June 11, 2012 · 9:02 PM

Zakka Style project #11 – The Zakka Pouch

The book Zakka Syle has a pouch pattern called the Orchard Path Tweed Pouch by Amanda Jennings.  I can’t call mine a tweed pouch because I opted to sew it using linen and ultra suede.

Zakka pouch

I’m really happy with how it turned out except that I was hoping it would fit my Kindle and it does not.

Kindle doesn’t quite fit.

If I had done the zipper differently, it probably would have fit.  I followed the suggestions of this week’s Zakka Sew Along host(ess) Elizabeth from Don’t call me Betsy.  She suggested following this zippered pouch tutorial from Kelbysews.  I love the way that it went together and the finished look of the zipper.

Zipper detail

Zipper detail

This neat technique made the zippered opening a bit smaller.  I also cut my zipper smaller than I should have which caused me to sew the pouch with a 1/2 inch seam allowance instead of a 1/4 inch.  These two things  made just enough difference that my Kindle would not fit in there.  I may try again because this made up pretty quickly and would be even quicker after having already done one.  Using ultra suede on the bottom corners and the hexies (?hexes) meant that I didn’t have to do any turning under.

Pattern pieces – note the difference?

The book has you enlarge the pouch pattern 200%.  The corner pattern and the hexagons are printed real size.  I found that the corner pattern did not exactly match my enlarged pouch corners.  They were just a slightly different shape and size.  I opted to cut off a corner of my pouch pattern and use that to cut the ultra suede.  This way they were perfect!

Zakka pouch

Good luck to everyone who is sewing this project this week as part of the Zakka Style Sew Along. It’s a great one!

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June 11, 2012 · 11:52 AM

Gift Notebook Cover

Front of closed notebook

I wanted to make a gift for the woman who cuts my hair.  She is a young and busy mother who I always enjoy seeing and who always makes me look good – or at least as good as what she has to work with can get! This notebook is very similar to the notebook I made for my college roommate.

Back of outside

These notebooks have a handy pen holder on the outside, a business card pocket on the inside front and a larger pocket on the inside back.

Open notebook – front

Open notebook – back

I did some free motion quilting practice on the notebook I made for myself and I use it all the time.

Front

Back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that Heather likes hers.  I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow (and dyed – yikes! Wish me luck.)

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June 8, 2012 · 8:44 PM

Zakka Style project #10 – The Zip Organizer

I started this project yesterday when I was waiting for an air conditioning service guy to arrive.  I finished it today when a friend came over to sew with me.  My daughter looked at it this evening and asked how long the friend was here (all day) and was surprised this is all that I had made during that time.  I guess she doesn’t understand how long it takes us to chit chat and show each other what we’ve made since the last time we visited one another!  And we had to have coffee…and lunch!  We’re probably lucky we got anything done.

My air conditioner is now working but my internet is out.  I’m posting on my husband’s computer who has a special” thingy” to hook it to the web without an internet connection. This computer is unfamiliar to me and doing weird things like centering my writing and I can’t get it to align left so I give up!  Goodbye until I can use my own computer!  Good luck to everyone who is making this organizer this week.

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June 1, 2012 · 4:47 PM

Quilting while visiting Montana

Quilted table runner

Quilted table runner – ready for binding

My in laws have a summer “home” in Ennis, Montana.  My husband loves to go there.  I did too when my kids were young and his folks were there.  Now when we go, it is often just the two of us.  That is nice too, but he is often busy puttering with the opening or closing or general (unending!) maintenance, so this year I decided it would  give me more to do if I had a sewing machine there. The “home” is a one bedroom mobile home which was built in 1963.

Humble lodging

Humble lodging

It is in the Madison Valley with mountains all around and the Madison River within footsteps.  Great fly fishing!  I wasn’t sure if I could find a sewing machine store anywhere close so I did the next best thing – ordered from Amazon.  I ordered an inexpensive ($150) Brother sewing machine that came with a hard cover and walking foot.

Sewing in the kitchen

Sewing in the kitchen – Look closely

The machine came the day after we got there and it’s terrific.  It’s not my Bernina, but it sews great.  So look close at the picture, dark as it is (sorry!) and see how lucky I am – sewing machine, wine, little creek just out the window and a BBQ.  What more could anyone wish for?  Well, maybe an extra bathroom would be nice if it were more than just two of us staying here.

Close up of piecing

Close up of piecing

This log cabin table runner is an unfinished object that I started quite some time ago.  I had 18 blocks made up but not all sewn together.  It started as a kit for a lap size quilt but I realized that it would look quite nice on an antique side board that we have inside our front entry at home where we tend to drop mail and keys.  The 18 blocks are the perfect size.  I have sewn them all together and quilted it simply with the walking foot. While trimming I did some measuring and one end is almost 3/4″ wider than the other.  How come?  The wider end is the one I did on the new machine!  Obviously the 1/4″ mark is different enough that with all these seams, it added up to be that different.  I will have to be creative with attaching the binding in order to try to “equalize” it.  The binding will be added tonight so that I can hand sew the back side tomorrow when we drive to Yellowstone Park.

Here it is in place, back at home!

Addendum – The pattern for this log cabin block is by Edyta Sitar and is called Cross Roads. You can find the pattern here.

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May 27, 2012 · 3:33 PM

Zakka Style Project 8: Block Quilt

Zakka Block Quilt

Zakka Block Quilt    Finished size = 46 X 60 inches

Yippee!  I got the quilt done and I LOVE it!  I thought I had gotten a jump on this project by deciding the layout a few weeks ago.  However, all the sewing, quilting and binding was done this week – mostly in the past 3 days.  Luckily my husband was out of town and I didn’t have too many other responsibilities.

Blocks and stitching

Blocks and stitching

I used a charm pack of woven japanese fabrics which are 4″ square.  There were 70 squares in the package and I needed 72.  I supplemented by cutting some similar fat quarters that I had.  I used cream colored linen for the rest of the top and a cotton fabric for the binding and back.

serged quilt back

Serged quilt back

I put the quilt together with my serger.  The linen and the woven fabrics were a loose enough weave that they were fraying like crazy so I thought this would be a good idea.  Look at how neat the back is!  I’ve only used my serger for garment construction and edge finishing (150 cloth napkins for my daughter’s wedding) in the past.  This project was the PERFECT project to serge because of all the straight lines and it went together very quickly this way.

Finished corner

Close up of binding and hand stitching

I did stitch in the ditch with thread that matches the linen along the seams on the top and bottom of the blocks.  This did a good job of stabilizing the quilt.  This loosely woven linen really wanted to lose it’s shape.  Next I did the hand stitching with a thick pearl cotton thread.  The hand stitching was definitely the most time consuming part of this project, but I’m SO happy that I did it because I love how it looks and it reminds me of sashiko stitching which seems appropriate with my japanese fabrics.

Finished Quilt

I wonder how many other Zakka Sew Along sewers are scrambling to get their quilts done today in order to link up for this weeks “prize”.  Good luck everyone!

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May 21, 2012 · 11:59 AM

Personalized Fabric Notebook Cover

My roommate from college visited me from out of town last night.  Her birthday is tomorrow and I wanted to make her a gift.  Here is what I made for her:

Finished notebook cover with pen pocket

Finished notebook cover with pen pocket

I was inspired by this pouch that Lynne had at the DC Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Saturday.  She was given this as a swap item.  Pretty great, don’t you think?

Personalized pouch - front

Personalized pouch – front

Personalized pouch - back

Personalized pouch – back

Fabric notebook covers are my “go to” item if I need a quick gift.  I made a ton of them for Christmas gifts this past year.  My quilt guild, Needlechasers of Chevy Chase, has made many of these to sell in our boutique at our next quilt show and that is how I first learned to make them. It is an original design by Candy Glendening  as featured in “Quilting Arts Gifts” Holiday 2011/2012 magazine.  You can figure the measurements to fit any notebook.  I like to use a hard covered spiral notebook that I can buy at Staples for about $2.00.

Hardcover spiral notebook 9 1/2 x 6 inches

To personalize this gift, I put Karen’s name into a blank word document and played with some different fonts until I found one that I liked.  I then added the little “flourish” to each letter because I liked that kind of look on Lynne’s pouch.

Font is Bradley Hand ITC - embellished as shown

Font is Bradley Hand ITC – embellished as shown

I freehand copied it with washable blue pen onto my piece of linen fabric.

The embroidery was done with 3 strands of DMC floss and an outline stitch.

Embroidery of name done.

Embroidery of name done.

I added some lazy daisy flowers in green with pink french knot centers and then sewed some fabrics around it in sort of a log cabin style.  On the back I did a little bit more patchwork and  hand stitching.  I also did some top stitching with my sewing machine in pink as an easy accent (around the linen square on the back and “KAREN” on the front.)

Outside of notebook cover

Outside of notebook cover.
Ready to be sewn to inside.

The inside of this notebook cover has flaps to insert the notebook  into.  On the inside of the front flap is a little business card holder which I stamped a little design on.  The inside of the back flap has a (green) pocket.

Inside - ready for final sewing

Inside – ready for final sewing

Once the inside and outside pieces are all complete, the right sides are put together and stitched all around except for an opening in which to turn it.  The final step is edge stitching all around the edge to close the opening and finish it off nicely.

Finished Notebook cover - open to show front and back

Finished Notebook cover – open to show front and back

Karen loved it!  And I loved having her visit.  Happy Birthday tomorrow!

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May 16, 2012 · 9:31 AM

Looking forward to the Zakka quilt project

Have you been sewing along with the projects from the book Zakka Style? It’s been fun to see all of the different versions of the projects starting from the beginning of the book.  The first project was a tote bag and it took some time to make up.  However, since then, the projects have been very quick and relatively simple.  The idea with the Zakka Sew Along is to read the guest blogger’s notes for that week’s project on Monday and make the item up and link it by the following Sunday.  I’m going to be traveling some over the next few weeks so I thought I had better look ahead.

Japanese fabric charm pack


There is only one quilt in the book and it is coming up in a few weeks.  I have a charm pack of Japanese woven fabrics that I’ve been saving for just the right project, and I think this is it!  My squares are 4″ and the pattern in the book calls for 6″ but that does not deter me.  I will just add more rows/columns to make the quilt the same size.

Zakka Quilt - book and pencil diagram

I made a sketch to help determine materials and sizes needed.

I’m considering sewing this together with my serger.  I have never sewn a quilt together this way before but all of these fabric are rather loosely woven (especially this linen) and I think it might be a good idea.

Quilt layout on design wall

I did not get last weeks project (mini magnets) done due to travel for my husband’s birthday.  However, I still  feel like I’m ahead instead of behind because I’ve got this quilt all cut and ready to sew.

Happy Birthday Dear!

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May 1, 2012 · 5:12 PM

Zakka Style Project 5: Patchwork Pencil Case

Zakka Pencil Case finished

This was a fun and easy project.  Thankfully, many of you have already posted about it so I was forewarned about following the directions exactly. The best suggestion that I have to add is that the directions want you to “turn” the project through a 1 1/2 inch opening.  I thought it was easier to leave the whole 3 inch end open to turn through (see pictures below).  There were not many pictures or diagrams for this project so I tried to take pictures of each step.  I hope this helps!

Pieces all cut and patchwork sewn together.

Sew the small linen piece to the top of the patchwork strip and the longer linen piece to the bottom of it. Baste the closing band 1" from the top of the small linen piece.

After fusing interfacing onto the wrong side of the lining piece, sew lining to linen piece across top with right sides together. Fold lining back at top and topstitch along the fold.

With lining side up, fold the lining right sides together by folding 5 1/2" from the topstitched edge.

Turn the piece over and fold the linen exterior in the same way - aligning raw and folded edges.

Sew along raw edges on both long sides. I left the 3rd raw edge open to give more room for turning right side out. Folded edge is not sewn.

Turn right side out.

Fold raw edges in.

Topstitch opening closed and it's done!

As others have posted, this case is smaller than it looks in the book or online.    It’s only about 2 1/2″ by 6″.  Here is how it compares to a pencil and a pen:

It has been suggested that it could be used for a small pair of eye glasses or to keep crochet hooks in.  I might use mine to keep my small rotary cutter in when I take it to a class.

Happy sewing everyone!

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