I Finally Have Time

June 23, 2013 · 7:01 PM

Teabag Pouch – Zakka 2.0 Week 3

3 teabag pouches

This week the Zakka 2.0 sew along has us sewing a tea cozy and/or teabag pouch. I thought long and hard about making the cozy because I do have a small 2 cup ceramic teapot that I could use a cozy for, but in the end I decided to make only the pouch. My 3 daughters all drink tea and I thought a pouch would be handy for them to take their favorite tea to work or keep in their purse – so I made 3.

Here are the materials all cut for one pouch.

Pockets ready to be sewn in place.

Once the pockets are in place, sewing up this project is just a matter of placing the outside piece and the pocket piece right sides together and sewing around the edge except for a small opening to turn it right side out.

Outside

Inside

Teabags places within pockets and pouch folded up and button sewn in place.

Teabags placed within pockets and pouch folded up. Button sewn in place.

Another quick and easy project done.

Take a look at the Flickr group here to see what other sewers have done this week. Everyone is doing such a great job of personalizing these projects to fit their own use and style. Instead of a tea cozy with the word TEA pieced on it, Lindsey of LR Stitched made a toaster cover with the word EAT on it and . . .

Toaster cover by Lindsey Rhodes

Diane of Random thoughts. . do or “di” made a mixer cover for her Mixmaster.

Mixer cover by Diane Stanley

Such clever sewers!

11 Comments

Filed under Gifts, Pattern review

Tagged as Patchwork Please, Teabag pouch, Zakka 2.0

June 20, 2013 · 6:49 PM

Sunglasses case

Here is a quick and easy gift to make for summer – a sunglasses case!

Padded sunglasses case

I found the free pattern here at Riley Blake Designs. It was written by Melissa of Polka Dot Chair.

Picture from http://www.RileyBlakeDesigns.com

There is a download for the pattern piece (which comes in two sizes). At first I thought I could print it from the “preview” but it wouldn’t size right. Once I actually downloaded it, there was no problem with the sizing. Duh!

Materials needed.

The directions call for a 7″ zipper which I did not have. Mine was 14″. I added a fabric covering to each end of the zipper leaving only 6-1/2″ in between and cut off the excess zipper.

Outside piece and foam treated as one piece.

I used ByAnnie’s Soft and Stable for the padding. This is a product that I have enjoyed using in a variety of bags I’ve made recently and I had scraps that were big enough for this little project.

One outside and one lining piece sewn on to one side of zipper.

I used the leftover zipper pieces for the zipper pull and a tab coming out of the side that I will put a clip on.

Zipper fun – tab and pull.

Glasses inside!

I made the larger size because the niece I’m gifting this to has large sunglasses. I’m pretty sure that most adult sunglasses would fit into this size case – whether the glasses are large or small.

Now for some fun in the sun!

5 Comments

Filed under Gifts, Pattern review

Tagged as fabric gift, Riley Blake Designs, Sunglasses case, www.polkadotchair.com

June 15, 2013 · 8:40 AM

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Towels – Zakka 2.0

This is the second week and second project in the Zakka 2.0 sew along of Ayumi Takahashi’s book Patchwork Please. The project is a set of adorable dish towels. I bought some pretty eggplant colored towels at a quilting store this week and when I was looking for some fabrics for the appliquéd letters, I happened upon this garden fabric in my stash that I thought would be perfect.

Garden fabric

I cut my letters out of the different vegetables and here is the finished towel.

Dish towel – Zakka 2.0

I considered edging it with the same fabric, but decided I wouldn’t use it as much if I did that. I would like to use the towel rather than just hang it up to be pretty. That is just the size and situation that is my kitchen!

8 Comments

Filed under Zakka Style sew along

Tagged as Patchwork Please, Zakka 2.0

June 6, 2013 · 9:24 PM

And “sew” it begins again . . . Zakka 2.0!

First project from new zakka sew along!

Last year, just as I started blogging, I learned of a sew along for the book Zakka Style which I had just bought at my favorite quilt store. The sew along involved starting at the beginning of the book and sewing a project each week through the entire book. It was hosted by Lindsey Rhodes of LR Stitched who each week introduced a different blogger who shared her experience of making up that week’s project. If you made the item and blogged or posted a picture of it on Flickr, you could link up and have a chance at winning a sewing related “prize”. More fun than the chance to win something, was following the links and seeing all of the similar but different projects that everyone made that week.

Zakka 2.0 started this week and we are going to sew through Ayumi Takahashi’s book called Patchwork, Please.

The book starts with a nice list of Tools and Materials and then a chapter on Techniques. A lot of helpful information is given.

The first project chapter is “for the kitchen” and project #1 is the Bell Pepper Coaster. This week’s blogger is Penny from Sew Take a Hike. She decided to enlarge the pattern and make a hot pad instead of a coaster. I felt that this would be more useful as well. So here is my finished bell pepper hot pad:

Front of pepper hot pad.

Back of pepper.

I love it! When I started thinking about making it today, I knew exactly which fabric I was going to use. I had just bought a bundle of yellow fabrics from Del Ray Fabrics.

Fabric bundle from Del Ray Fabrics

These fabrics came wrapped together in that pretty brown ribbon that was perfect to use for the pepper stem!

This pattern went together very easily. I took Penny’s advice and enlarged the coaster pattern by 180%. The final hot pad is about 9 inches tall and wide. There are step by step directions in the book for sewing this, but NO pictures of the process. So I had to really read carefully. I guess I must be more of a visual learner because I really missed having pictures of the steps.

After enlarging my pattern and picking the 3 fabrics for the front and 1 for the back, I cut the fabric to fit the pattern pieces.

Fabric and paper pattern

First step was to sew that middle pepper piece (I used polka dot fabric for this). I had already read through quite a few blog posts from those who had made their peppers and linked them to LR Stitched. Amy from Amy made that! . . . by eamylove said she used freezer paper to make her templates. She ironed them on the fabric and sewed around them and this allowed her to use the same pattern for each of the pepper coasters she made instead of tracing the shape on each fabric. This sounded like genius to me, even though I was only making one today. I just pinned the pattern piece on my fabric and carefully sewed around it.

With right sides together, I sewed all the way around the paper pattern.

Middle piece trimmed and a slit cut in one side for turning.

Since this piece is going to be sewn on top of the larger piece, that hole will never show!

Turned and set aside

Next is to sew the two other fabrics together with a straight seam, press seam open and place the pattern on top with the seam down the middle.

Oops! I almost cut that fabric too small.

Under this I layered the background fabric and 2 pieces of Insul-bright which is a thermal batting. One piece would probably be enough, but when I set something hot on a pad on my table, I want to make sure it’s not going to hurt the table.

Again, I sewed around the paper pattern.

I trimmed the whole piece to about 1/8 inch and then trimmed that Insul-Bright as close as I could get it to get rid of the bulk in the seam. (I knew it would be topstitched after turning and if some of it pulled free of the stitching on the inside, it would get caught in the top stitching.)

Trimmed close!

Seam partially opened.

Turned.

To finish the pepper, I topstitched around the edges and then covered the middle opening in the seam with the pepper middle (hole side down) and topstitched around that, catching the ribbon for the stem in the top.

I love this new hot pad! I’m visiting my daughter in Chicago this weekend and will be gifting it to her. I guess I’ll know if she read to the end of this blog post by whether she expects it or not.

To join in the fun, grab a copy of the book and get sewing. Besides sewing “for the kitchen”, there is sewing. . . for kids, for the home, for going places and for crafting. Lindsey from LR Stitched and Debbie from A Quilter’s Table are the awesome hostesses. I had the pleasure of meeting Lindsey at the Sew South retreat this past spring.

5 Comments

Filed under Pattern review, Sew South Modern Sewing Retreat, Uncategorized, Zakka Style sew along

Tagged as A Quilter's Table, Ayumi Takahashi, LR Stitched, Patchwork Please, quilted hot pad, Zakka 2.0

May 29, 2013 · 5:41 PM

Travel Log – May 2013

0000 – Trip odometer (re)set as we left home in Washington DC on a 2-1/2 week adventure.

0001 – Entered Maryland

0160 – Entered Pennsylvania

0254 – Entered West Virginia

0267 – Entered Ohio (obviously only crossed a very small part of WV!)

0500 – Entered Indiana

0650 – Entered Illinois

0805 – Entered Missouri

0927 – Stopped for the night in Columbia, MO.

1058 – Entered Kansas

1490 – Entered Colorado

1837 – Stopped at friend’s cabin in Creede, CO for 5 days.

Hummingbird mania off the back deck! Make sure you have your sound on – they were noisy!

2080 – 5 days and many good meals and bottles of wine later – Entered Utah

2177 – Visited Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.

One of the Natural Bridges

Cliff dwellings visible near bottom left side.

2311 – Visited Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.

From the park service brochure: ” capitol for the white domes of Navajo Sandstone that resemble capitol building domes, and reef for the rocky cliffs which are a barrier to travel, like a coral reef.”

Notice the car on the road in front of us to get a size perspective of this area.

Petroglyphs on the cliff walls

Panorama

Fruit orchards which the Mormons planted and the National Park Service now tend.

Fruit orchards which the Mormons planted in the 1800s and the National Park Service now maintain. Pies available at the park store!

2683 – Entered Idaho

2835 – visited Craters of the Moon National Monument. This is a huge area of cinder cones and lava rock which flowed as recently at 2000 years ago.

Lava

“Splatter” cone

And more lava! As far as you could see.

3055 – Entered Montana – where we spent 5 days opening and repairing our family “retreat”.

3318 – Visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Me – among the geysers

Hot pot

This elk walked right by our car and didn’t pay any attention to my talking to it.

Bison were everywhere! Including the road.

Lots of bison babies too!

3710 – Back in Montana

Group of Elk

Beautiful Sunset

Bald Eagle

4170 – Entered N. Dakota

4625 – Entered Minnesota

4790 – Entered Wisconsin

5080 – Entered Illinois – where we visited with family.

Lindsey shows off her finished quilt - which she just finished binding.

Lindsey shows off her quilt – which she just finished binding.

5213 – Entered Indiana

5366 – Entered Ohio

5615 – Entered Pennsylvania

5803 – Entered Maryland

5893 – Home in DC. Whew! What a trip. Almost 6000 miles.

(And my husband and I are still talking to one another!)

8 Comments

Filed under Family, Uncategorized

Tagged as Capitol Reef National Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Natural Bridges National Monument, Yellowstone National Park

May 24, 2013 · 1:43 PM

Wool Embroidery and a Triple Zip

Baby chick candle mat – Size is about 7″ across (small!)

Isn’t this a happy little piece? I bought it as a wool felt embroidery kit. It included all the pieces already cut out. All I had to do was pick some embroidery floss to make it up. I was inspired to stitch it while I was visiting my friends in CO. A couple years ago, my friends and I made this larger piece as a gift for a week in the friend’s cabin together:

Felted wool and embroidery – size is about 15 inches across

Close up of wool and embroidery

Once I left Colorado, we drove to MT where I have a sewing machine. I finally made a triple zip pouch that I’ve been wanting to try making for some time. I used this tutorial by Debbie of A Quilter’s Table. It is an ingenious pattern and makes up fairly quickly.

Fabric and zipper selection

All pieces cut out and ready

Zipper tabs applied about 3/4 inch from each side of pouch piece.

Piece after all zippers and linings have been attached

Somehow, after all of that, it turns into this:

Finished triple zip – Size 7 1/2″ wide by 6″ tall

I’m trying to decide what sort of pouch would be the absolute best for carrying charging cords around when traveling – or maybe just for storing them when not in use. I currently use my House Pouch from the Zakka Style book:

Zakka Style House Pouch

I can fit my computer cord, kindle cord and telephone charging cord in this pouch but I have to take the whole bunch out and untangle them to get one. I thought the triple zip pouch might work but it is too small. (A larger version may be in the works soon – if I can figure it out).

Do you have a “pouch” that you like to carry charging cords in? Please let me know and I hope it is something that I can make.

8 Comments

Filed under Pattern review, Purses and Bags, Uncategorized, Zakka Style sew along

Tagged as embroidery, felted wool, Triple Zip Pouch, wool felt

May 21, 2013 · 4:39 PM

The Making of a “Spatuloon”

I spent a few days last week with some good friends in Colorado. The husband, JB, has been working with wood since he retired and has become a real craftsman/artist. He and his wife, Chesta, are really great cooks (as became apparent by my snug fitting clothes after spending 5 days with them) and they love a utensil that he makes which they call a spatuloon.

Spatuloon

As you can see, it is part spatula and part spoon. You can use it for stirring things thick or thin, or for scooping or lifting food from a pan. I guess that JB has made quite a few of these for friends and was surprised to know that I did not have one from him. Off to the wood shop we went!

Drawing the pattern on the piece of cherry.

JB had a piece of cherry that he thought would work nicely. First he put tape around the board and then he freehand drew the pattern of the spatuloon – both on the front and side of the wood.

Next he took the piece to the bandsaw and cut out the shape in the first direction.

Shape cut out

Retaped together

Cut out the other way on one side, retaped, . . .

. . .and then the other side cut.

I wasn’t crazy about watching him do this. His fingers were pretty close to that blade! However, it didn’t take long before it was all cut and now the piece looked like this:

Rough cut spatuloon

At this point, it just needed to be sanded smooth.

Sanded first on the electric sander.

Then with and electric hand sander.

And finally by hand.

My husband and I got into the act with the hand sanding. We used different grit sandpapers, getting finer and finer, until the spatuloon was quite smooth. The last step was to oil it and JB likes to use Walnut Oil for that because it puts a good protective finish on the wood but is also safe for using with food because it is used for cooking.

Walnut Oil can be bought at many grocery stores.

Here is my spatuloon next to his well used one:

Finished spatuloon.

I can’t wait to use it!

For your viewing pleasure, I just can’t resist showing you some of the other things that JB has made. First of all, his shop is in the garage of this cabin in the woods.

This is JB with a bench that he made the week before. He intends to sell this one at a local gallery when he finishes it.

The gallery he sells some items in is The Studios at Bristol in Creede, Colorado. The owner, Teri Inman, is an amazing fiber artist who sells her hand woven and hand dyed items out of her studio and also in Estes Park and Taos each year. This is definitely a great place to visit if you travel to south-central Colorado.

The top is splayed sycamore and the legs are pecan. The finish has not been put on yet which will accentuate all of that grain.

Here are some of the pieces that he has made that are in his cabin. Some of which, you will see, were made from hollowed out logs.

Shelf

Another shelf (or maybe side table would be more accurate)

Lamp

There are so many other things JB has made, pretty much everything in the cabin. He has been so generous in his gift giving and I have items all over my house – bowls, rolling pins, vases, cutting boards and this very special spice rack:

Best spice rack ever! Holds 35 bottles.

I have a very small kitchen, so I love having all these spices so handy but not taking up room on the counter or in a cabinet.

And lucky me . . . now I have a spatuloon!

7 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as Creede Colorado, spatuloon, Studios at Bristol, Teri Inman, wood artist

May 13, 2013 · 7:56 PM

Sue Benner Workshop

NeedleChasers of Chevy Chase was fortunate enough to book Sue Benner for a lecture and 2 day landscape workshop this month. She is an extremely interesting artist. Please take a look at her website to learn more about her and see her work, you won’t be sorry. She uses a fused quilting technique using many fibers but especially a lot of silk which she has dyed. She also uses paint when layering her fused pieces. Here are a few of her landscape pieces used with her permission from her website.

Artist: Sue Benner March #19 – Willow Creek 2006 – 40″x 29″
Dye and paint on silk and cotton, found fabrics, fused, machine quilted

Marsh #17 - River 2006- 17"x 44" dye and paint on silk and cotton, found fabrics, fused, machine quilted

Artist: Sue Benner Marsh #17 – River Bend 2006 – 17″ x 44″
Dye and paint on silk and cotton, found fabrics, fused, machine quilted

Aren’t these beautiful? Wouldn’t you want to try to learn how to create something like this? 15 of us got this chance last week. Let’s be clear, we didn’t do any dying or painting. We simply tried to learn how to layer fused fabric in a way to represent a landscape that was special to us.

Sue Benner with the NCCC workshop group

I used a picture that I love of a wheat field in Iowa that I took last summer while we were traveling to the Tetons in Wyoming. Notice that the Teton mountains are there in the background.

Here is my attempt at the fabric landscape of this picture. I actually love the bright colors, even though the original picture is rather dull.

Fabric – Size is about 16″ x 20″

We did a couple exercises during the first day of the workshop. Here is a great example that Debbie Lamb-Mechanick did. These are only about 6″ x 8″ in size.

Debbie’s trees
Photo- left
Fabric – right

I love the abstract leaves. I just think that the color makes the picture.

My “table mate” for the workshop made this sunrise picture from her vacation home on the beach.

Donna’s Sunrise

Wouldn’t you love to look out at that everyday that you’re on vacation?

All 15 participants in the workshop did something quite different and they all looked fabulous. Not only that, but it was a lot of fun to hear the stories behind why each person picked the photos or pictures that they used.

Thanks, Sue Benner, for such a fun and informative workshop.

Me and Sue Benner

4 Comments

Filed under NeedleChasers of Chevy Chase

Tagged as dyed fabric, fused quilt, Needlechasers of Chevy Chase, painted fabric, Sue Benner

May 8, 2013 · 7:30 AM

30 years of Lindsey

May 8, 1983

1984 – 1st birthday

1985 – 2nd birthday

1986 – 3rd birthday

1987

1988

1989

1990

Cotillion Holly Ball 1995

Senior picture 2001

High School graduation 2001

Grad school graduation 2007

Montana 2007

Wedding – 2011

2012

Easter 2013

Happy 30th Birthday Lindsey! We love you!

3 Comments

Filed under Family

May 6, 2013 · 12:55 PM

Finch Sewing Studio

Finch Sewing Studio – Leesburg, VA (Photo from FinchHandmade on Flickr)

The Finch Sewing Studio is owned and operated by Nicole Morgenthau in Leesburg, Virginia. Nicole runs this business out of her home and she has a great space set up for it – complete workspaces for up to 6 sewers with plenty of room for cutting and ironing.

Nicole Morgenthau

I know Nicole through the DC Modern Quilt Guild. I’ve been following her blog and reading about the different classes that she offers. She has occasionally brought some of her bolts of fabric to the DCMQG meetings, so I know she has a great collection. She is also frequently wearing something that she has made and it always looks great! I’ve been wanting to see her studio and take a class, so when my sister decided to come for a visit from Connecticut, I thought this was a fun thing that we could do together – even though I am an avid sewer and my sister hasn’t touched a sewing machine in at least 30 years.

Sisters

So, off we went yesterday, with my daughter, to Leesburg for a 3 hour tote bag class. We had a blast! It was such a fun thing to do together. We didn’t have to bring any machines or sewing supplies, the Finch Sewing Studio had it all. We just showed up and Nicole had us pick out our fabrics and got us started.

My sister at the ironing station

This was basically a beginner sewing class. It is probably a great thing for any of us that think we know a lot about something, to go through listening to the instructions given to someone who is just learning. There is always more to learn!

My daughter and her fabric.

My daughter was quick to point out all of the things I had taught her that weren’t quite right – like how I pin my fabric pieces together before sewing them. Of course, there isn’t really a right and a wrong way of doing it (is there?), but one way is easier to remove the pins as you sew.

Here I am cutting out my fabric.

The tote that we made was an easy but clever way to make a bag. The bottom accent piece is just added on over the main fabric while the piece is still flat. I’m sure this has the added benefit of providing a sturdier bottom to the bag as well as just making it easy to apply and nicer to look at.

Class sample – Photo from Finchhandmade on Flickr

The bag and lining are sewn together by topstiching at the top after the careful ironing under of both pieces. No sewing, leaving a gap, and then turning right side out and having to hand sew that opening shut. In fact, Nicole suggested that we let the lining pop up a little bit at the top so that it looked as though there was a pretty piping detail. So easy and so sweet looking.

After about 3 hours, here we all are with our finished totes!

“Wearing” our new bags!

The final detail was a leather handle. The Finch Sewing Studio has these in several lengths but we all liked this 26″ size that makes it easy to put the bag over your shoulder. We were all so happy with our new bags. Thanks Nicole!

I will be returning soon to take a garment class and learn how to make a pattern actually fit my body. Want to come with me? Let me know and I’ll set it up! Or give Nicole a call (503.964.2439) or send her an email (finchsewingstudio@gmail.com) and go have some fun sewing at her studio.

13 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as Finch Sewing Studio, sewing class, tote bag