Where I live

Challenge 4 at Project Quilting was "Where I Live". It had a twist, however, in that you were limited to using 3 colors and they had to be chosen from the first letters of the street where I live, the city where I live and the state.  In my case I used "d" for Desert Highlands, "t" for Tucson, and "a" for Arizona.
I chose daffodil, turquoise and aubergine for my colors and since our geography is so unique in that we have the giant saguaro cactus as one of our desert icons.  Had to use it!  So I used our mountains as the background pulling in the aubergine (fancy name for dark purple), the turquoise is the cactus and daffodil, the gorgeous sunsets we enjoy so much in the Sonoron Desert. 
This was a fun challenge because of it's limits and I enjoyed making this 12 x14" piece for my entry.

Project Quilting - Challenge 3 - Tool Time

Here is my challenge answer to Project Quilting's third session - Tool Time.  I wanted to make something that is useful, as opposed to a wall hanging or some other curious thing that you need to think about in order to put it to use.  One of the girls at our quilt group brought her blocks in for show and tell and she kept them in a clever block keeper that her mother in law had made for her.  So I borrowed that idea and made a block keeper for the challenge.  I found a yard of floral in my stash and decided it would make a good background for the keeper.  I'd never done anything in redwork and thought it would be fun to give this technique a try as well.  I found images online of the four tools I needed.  The featherweight would be the leading icon with the other three a bit smaller.  I set the machine for a narrow zigzag satin stitch and, after tracing the images, just followed my lines.

The keeper opens up to about 27" long by 14" wide.  There are handles at the top and two ties at each side which will keep the blocks being carried in place.  This was a fun project and I ended up winning a prize when Kim, Project Quilting's Mom, drew names.  Well worth the effort!  Plus this will be for sale at our annual Christmas Boutique for Charity this December.

Hearts Mug Rug

Recently I made a one to one trade with Sandy from California and we decided our mug rugs would have a hearts theme, celebrating Valentine's Day.  I found a paper pieced heart pattern online and downloaded it.  Then I rummaged through all the scraps around the sewing room and picked out the pinks, reds, red-oranges, pales and etc.  The photo makes it look like it curls up on the lower left side, but it's actually quite flat and even!  Sandy emailed me to say that it had arrived and she was very pleased, making me very pleased as well.

Art4Mail's January Pin Cushion Challenge was to make a heart pin cushion and then send it on to your swap partner.  I wanted to do something a bit different so instead of using a heart shaped element, I fell back on one that I've been making for a long time.  This little cutie is made from recycled juice can and water bottle lids.  The juice can is the base and the water bottle lid is holding a ball of fiberfil stuffing.  Both are enclosed in 5" circles and then glued together.  Then I decorate according to the theme.  I added lots of flowers, ribbon and leaves.  Sure hope Cathy in KY loves it as much as I did making it!

Over at Art4Mail (find it here:  here/) I offered a one to one trade of a spring themed mug rug.  This one is going to Constance in CA.  It turned out so nice and I literally put it together with scraps and very little time.  I had some of the background patchwork already sewn together and was left over from another project.  I just added a few moore scraps to bring it up to our 7x10" size requirement.  I sketched a tulip and then used that pattern for three spring-y flowers, added leaves and fused them to the patchwork base.  I straggle-stitched around the whole thing, outlining each element 2 or 3 times.  Love this so-casual look!  It's great for those who don't want to 'stay in the lines'!  Plus it gives the flowers and leaves some added depth and definition.  Enjoy, Constance!

WAY MOORE FUN QUILTING: Project Quilting Challenge #2

WAY MOORE FUN QUILTING: Project Quilting Challenge #2

Project Quilting Challenge #2

This is the coloring page that I found out there online and used it as a model for Project Quilting's Season 3, Challenge #2 (here).  The theme was making music.  Since we've just come from enjoying The Christmas Season, I thought it would be nice to take on the challenge of interpreting a song title into a quilted piece, which is what PQ is all about (named so after years of watching Project Runway and enjoying it). 




Here is what the process looked like halfway through.  I did not want to reverse the image so using fusibles was not going to work, plus our scanner was not cooperating so mirror imaging wasn't available to me.  So I numbered all the pieces like the straw that the Baby is lying upon and cut them accordingly from different straw colored fabrics, likewise doing the same thing with the remainder of the characters and images.  I laid them all out, one of top of another and began to spot glue them in order to hold the applique together. 

I found the perfect batik background and placed them upon it.  While thinking that the applique would be the finished product, it was our daughter, Katy who suggested that I use jewel-toned batiks for the outside pieces of stained glass.  I was just going to bind the inside of the piece as is, but the point at the top makes it hard to hang, so her suggested was a very good one.  I began to loosly follow the outside stained glass from the coloring page and cut various colors of fabric and laid them around the inset, halo fashion.  I then glued them to each other and, after pinning well in each section, satin-stitched around each one with a wide black stitch, mimicking the leading that finishes each stained glass piece.

Here is my resulting piece.  I am very pleased with the way it turned out and while I did not win a prize in the drawing at the end, I will enjoy this piece in our home during Christmas 2012, and then perhaps offer it for sale at our charity boutique the following year.

Here is a closeup of the image center.  I probably used a mile of black thread on this one!  Four bobbins full were used and quite a bit of starting and stopping!

It is a14 x 16" rectangle without having to spend any money making it at all!  These are all pieces from my stash and a wonderful way to use them up!

Our dear friend, Julie, offered to take our dog for the weekend recently and we were so grateful because there is no one to send her off with at the moment.  So when Julie voluntarily offered to take Squeaky if we ever needed a sitter, we took her up on her offer.  As a thanks to her, I made this little bag.  Julie loves batiks - has a home full of wall hangings that she's made from gorgeous batiks that she's collected.  So, I thought I would gather my scraps and put together one in blues.  She visits Hawaii often and this might remind her of the islands.

It's a word-for-word copy of this bag that is a pattern offered in the UK, but for postal and shipping reasons, the company doesn't want to send it to the US, so I copied it!  After all, I've been sewing for a very long time and this didn't look like it was going to be all that complicated, so I went for it.  Probably now that I've fully admitted to this crime, someone will try to come for me.  I say let them try.  Anyway, it's a cute bag and was fun to make and here's another closeup:

This is the button ornament on the flap that folds over from the back side.  This button collage goes back to the day when we were all hot gluing stuff to stuff.  This is one big button, but guess it didn't get chosen once all the others were added.  It looks very good with the little blue button I plunked on top to hold it to the flap.  Its weight makes the flap to stay put once it's folded over the top of the purse. 

If Julie checks out my blog before she gets this little bag, then the surprise will be discovered!  I wonder if she ever goes blog surfing?  If so, well, then, surprise Julie!  Enjoy!

Pin Cushion - Thread Catcher

Here is a pattern that I bought awhile back and had it on my list of things to do at some point.  Well that 'point' came within the past two days.  I chose some really cute fabric - SWELL from Moda and used 8 of its charm squares for the pin cushion top.  Fortunately I also found yardage that I could use for the body of the thread catcher.

Here is my finished product.  It turned out really cute.  I always find a way to differ from the pattern, but this time I just did what they told me to do and it worked up very nicely.  They suggested ground walnut shells for the pin cushion and the only shells I could find were in a 5 pound bag at the pet store, so I told the salesgirl what I was up to and she suggested that I use Hermit Crab bedding, which is nothing more than fine gravel.  So that's what I chose.  The finished product results in a heavy enough cushion to hold the thread catcher.  Sew!  Another project done -- Way Moore Fun!!

Those polka dots are sew happy!  I just love them!!

Going Back to My Roots

I've returned to my roots!  This is with the help of my daughter Katy, who is a new wife of a new Marine and will be living in Hawaii for the next 3 years at least.  She wanted to add some "Hawaii" kinds of clothing to her wardrobe and so while we were in our local fabric store on another errand last week, she found two fabrics that she decided she couldn't live without.  So we went to the pattern counter to choose what these fabrics would become.  Because Simplicity patterns were on sale for $1.99, we obviously went to that catalog first.  She found a pattern that was designed for knits and she thought it would work nicely, so that was the one we took from the drawer.  Because she chose fabric with a very large and bold design line which included stripes, we had to pay particular attention to the way the pattern pieces were laid out on the fabric. 

I learned to sew as a 7th grader and never stopped once I started.  I just loved to sew and still do.  While I probably didn't choose dresses like this vintage 60's design I found on line, I tried to be as fashionable as my little-country-girl-from-Indiana budget would allow.  I wish I had kept my old patterns!  My mom probably handed them off to goodwill in one of her spring cleaning frenzies.  This pattern is for sale now at nearly $20 - an astonishing price when we used to pay about $.45 for most patterns we bought back then.

Here is the first dress we made.  What I re-learned is that you cannot mix knit fabrics with woven - especially when lining the bodice!  We had gotten it all sewn together and when she attempted to try it on, found out that she could not because it would not stretch to fit!  Grrr!  So, while she was at work, I carefully un-stitched the whole top and found some off-white knit in the ole stash that we could use for a lining piece.  I am a firm believer that one cannot sew without an iron and a seam ripper - make friends with both because you will be using them often!  We were able to finish that bodice in no time, had a successful try on and then proceeded to finish the skirt, hem and all.  A first success is what she (and I!) enjoyed!!  But, hey, why stop there???

This is the 2nd dress pattern she chose.  It's made from gorgeous, but wildly slippery fabric that was determined to slide as much as possible under the presser foot.  We pinned aggressively and persevered, however, and the result is a very pretty, and perfect for Hawaii, dress.

Here is a close up of her 2nd dress.  She added some sew-in jewels to the collar (hope they wash ok!) and it really adds a nice touch. 



This weekend of stitching was worth the time and effort on both our parts.  I was able to share with her some of my vast years of experience and she has two beautiful dresses to pack.  I have another student to teach, but have tucked away in my memory banks some wonderful bonding time with my dear (dare I say "little"??) girl who will be leaving us soon to make a home of her own.

We do have one more dress to make - she just couldn't stop at two, now could she?  Sew, armed with knowledge of that made-for-knits pattern and what needs to be tweaked on it, we will attempt another one like the striped dress.  This time, there are large geometric prints; we have no stripes to deal with, this making the cut out session a bit easier (I say this with certainty, but will certainly run into a different problem, as we often do!) and the sewing a bit quicker than the last time!  Nothing like good ole trial and error.  Just glad I know how to fix those errors before they get the better of us both!