2024 Studio Post #43 - Minor Fix

This is my last entry for the year. (Posting on 12/31 for 12.29.24) I haven't made great strides in sewing this year, but it was more than in 2023! 

 

A friend bought these bracelets for a specific prayer request for her family. The bracelets were too tight for two people, so I measured their wrists with a strip of paper and added elastic. I probably should have gone to buy black elastic, but I went with what I had on hand.

 

The message is "The Lord will provide." There are several Bible verses that have this meaning, but my favorite is Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." (NIV)

 

The ends were originally connected with a LOT of adhesive and some stitching. I used a seam ripper to remove the stitching, pulled one end off the little black tab, and added some elastic. Then I covered the connector areas with the original black logo piece and a bit of fleece. My stitching isn't very elegant, but I think it will work. I need to change the needle on my Brother . . . it has been working hard lately.

 

The one on the left is mine. The last week has been pretty busy with Christmas celebrations, hosting, etc. What a wonderful year it has been!

 

 

 

2024 Studio Post #42 - Christmas! Stockings, Pillowcases, "Swag bags"

I have been sewing a LOT this past week! I made a few more Christmas stockings, but I made so many mistakes that I now have a quick "cheat sheet" of how to put it together the way I want with three layers, no visible seams (also no quilting), a cuff, and a hanging loop. I am DONE making stockings for at least ten months! (That's my sincere hope.)

I made four pillowcases - one for each of my grandsons and one each for me and Louie. I am using them as wrapping paper this year. (stamps for me, sailboats for Louie, Star Wars for Joshua, and dinosaurs for Benjamin)

The pillowcase looks a bit funny because I took the photo with his gift inside it.

I also decided to use up some more of the Christmas fabric I got from Bob Degen more than a few years ago. His wife Ann had owned a quilt shop, but when dementia stole her away from him, he wanted to donate fabric. Louise and I went to his house and visited and went home with lots of fabric. I keep meaning to contact him to thank him and let him know I think of him and his wife when I sew!

I made "swag bags" for people to take home their stocking stuffers. Bags can be so handy! I typically tell them the bag is part of their gift, but if they're going to throw it away, please give it back to me so I can launder and re-use it. I'm not sure about the ribbon I used for the handles . . . it seems too papery? Anyhow, I'm using up what I have!

2024 Studio Posts #41 & #42 - Seriously!

 Even though I've had TIME to do things, I think I'm trying to do more things than are manageable!

On 12/8/24, if I had blogged, it would have been about finishing the Christmas stockings I was making for local teens who attend the Treehouse programs. Here are the last two I got sewn (and stuffed and donated):

I've now made LOTS of stockings. The big size is great for some purposes, but this size works better for this project. I wasn't able to find my old templates and directions, so I "re-did" them this year. I try to hang onto things so that I don't have to re-learn them.

Last week, I worked on repairing cloth shopping bags for my sister Louise. I gave her the birthday gift of acts of service. She gave me a box of bags that needed repair. It was a fun challenge! (Though some of the bags should probably have been tossed out. . . )

The ecru bag was FLAT, so I asked her if I could give it a bottom. I love that I've learned how to do this! I turned it inside out, cut little notches in the corners, and serged it.

The blue bag's handles were in really bad shape, so I cut them off and put on the black straps.  

 

There were other bags where I added a piece of horse blanket fabric and zig zagged the edges. There were holes / tears / weak spots. It was like a treasure hunt to find and fix the problems!

 

I also whipped together three little "treasure" bags for my grandson Joshua. He likes to collect things (acorns, pine cones, etc.) and play different make believe games. I made these bags for him and put treats in them for one of his stocking stuffers. Here's the cutest of them:

 

Last of all, I made him a Star Wars pillowcase with a black cuff that has space-themed fabric. I may just wrap his actual present in it!

 

Last week, I volunteered at his school, making pillowcases with different students as part of their Service Club.

 

Whew! Now it's Monday morning and I'm late getting out the door.
 

Studio Post #40 - Not Much

 Besides hosting Thanksgiving last week, I wasn't feeling very dynamic. I didn't do much of anything. Today (Wednesday 12/4) I started to repair some cloth shopping bags my sister wants to use. I completely understand the sentiment - repair things rather than just tossing them out. It's how we were raised.

But sometimes cloth bags are made of really thin cheap fabric. And sometimes your time is more valuable than the object you're spending time repairing. But my birthday gift to her was a gift of service and this is one of the things she's asked me to do. So I'll repair a bunch of bags!

No photos. I'm already three days past my self-imposed "Sunday blog deadline," and I just started these buggers!

Studio Post #39 - More Stockings and a Purse

I'm blogging this on Tuesday because I've been sick with some crud that I cannot shake! Last week, I attended a day and a half of a three day retreat. I was not very energetic or ambitious, but I got some stuff done.

Goal one was to make more Christmas stockings for our church project of blessing local teens. Here are some of the ones I got done at the retreat. The fleece stockings are so easy! (Plus, I'm trying to use up my fleece.)

Goal two was to make a replacement for my "sub bag" that I've worn out. It's a handy place to hold pens, post-its, bandaids, lip balm, etc. while I'm teaching. My original one was wearing out (and it's already been patched up, plus I've replaced the strap twice). The first one I didn't box the bottom corners (giving it less capacity) and I haven't added the strap yet. The blue one is functional. I'm not super thrilled with how it turned out, but it will work!

My original goal was to work on the wedding quilt for Morgan and Angela (married in 2016!) but I felt crummy enough (and made enough silly mistakes) that I'm glad I just left it in my car.

I'm so thankful that I rarely get ill. It is unusual for me to be dragging like this.

Studio Post #38 - Christmas stockings

I don't have photos to post. The stockings I made are at church for a missions activity. I may update this entry later.

I made some out of fleece and hope to make more this week. I'm going to an MQ in-town retreat this week (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) so I anticipate a better post next Sunday!

Studio Post #37 - Minor Repair and Medora Progress

This past week, I expected to spend more time in my studio . . . but that didn't pan out.

I did put a pocket patch on a pair of old jeans. Because I like to tuck my cell phone in my back left pocket, that's where I get the most wear and tear (until it won't even hold my phone any more!). This isn't pretty, but neither are the jeans. I can use the pocket again! 

 

There was also a pretty good sized hole in the right knee, so I put a piece of fleece on the inside. That feels good on my knee and my youngest grandson can still "pick" at the loose fabric on the outside.

 

Yes, I used red thread. I just didn't care about color coordinating it. The patch below looks a bit weird because I pulled out a scrap of fleece that "matched" the shape of the damage to the denim. I just sewed around it!

 

I also pressed and cut some pieces for the Medora quilt I'm working on. No photos until I've made more progress. Some of the cutting is putzy and I refuse to get a special ruler to do it (though I could probably put out a call to borrow one). I won the pattern a few months ago and thought I'd give it a try. I'm making the crib size quilt to see if I like it enough to make a larger one.

At our MQ monthly meeting yesterday, I connected with my friend Rose. We have a strategy for Teresa's brother's quilt and dates in January for me to go to her house to long arm it. That's progress!

Studio Post #36 - Gift Bag and a Repair

I knew it was going to be a busy week, so I did a few small things and took a photo. I'm blogging a day early and hope to do more sewing in the week ahead! It helps to have a more orderly studio.

 

The washcloth had a seam coming loose, so I sewed it down and tossed it in the wash.

I wanted to give my daughter-in-law a birthday gift so I sewed a bag to put it in. I like how it turned out.

 

I don't buy wrapping paper any more. I like using fabric! If my family members want to keep the bags, they can. If they don't, I get them back and wash them to re-use.

2024 Studio Post #35 - Crazy Quilt Curve

 So I've joined the Scott County Crazy Quilters this year. They meet three times in the spring and three times in the second half of the year - August, September, and October. I'm still mostly doing it "on my own" by trying to copy from my books. (So far, my main book is Creative Stitching, second edition, by Sue Spargo.) But it's nice to have their encouragement, experience, and example as I stitch. The meeting last week means it will be six months before I meet with them again. I plan to bring my "bin" of crazy quilt stuff up to the lake so I can stitch when I'm up there. 

Last week, I added all the green parts.

 

The heart is a velvet-feeling fabric and the stitch around it is called a "closed fly stitch." I used a super thin ribbon as thread.

 

The fuzzy green thread at top right is not done yet. I ran out of time!

 

I took pictures of a finished quilt another person brought. Looking at it gave me ideas. But I've decided I don't want to post those pictures here.

 

I also did a big sort and organize in my studio. There's a lot more to do, but at least it's less cluttered. And I realized that I have a LOT of fabric!!! I need to stop grabbing things off the "free" table and / or sew a lot more!  

I think I added the word "curve" to my title because I'm in a definite learning curve with this!

2024 Studio Post #34 - Another 5 in 1 . . .

This is so sad. This entry represents September 22 - October 20 in terms of five weeks of sewing. Clearly, I've not been a great time manager. For the first four of those weeks, I would have had very little to share. I mostly used my studio as a dumping ground for various things. I also made the studio into my youngest grandson's bedroom for one night.

 

I worked on a few small things:

• finding some trim for my Crazy quilt block
• ripping out and resewing the "hem" of the toilet paper storage cover for Strawberry Lake. (I had only folded it over once and it was raveling a bit after laundering. Now it has a double fold hem.)
• I sewed a replacement mat for my grandson's swing (that will have a separate entry)
  
• gathering up supplies to bring to the In Town Retreat

 

I had so much fun in January that I signed up for the October 17-19 In Town Retreat. Once again, I stayed at my friend's house and had such a good time!

I had inherited a child size fleece mitten (and I still have lots of fleece from my mother-in-law!) so I planned to make a mate for the mitten. I didn't care that it wouldn't match - I would have a pair for my grandson to use if he didn't have his with or they got all wet. But when I finished it, I realized that I had accidentally made a second left hand mitten. I set it aside and worked on something else. Later, I decided to just make two right hand mittens and be done with it! I carefully made two more mittens but when I turned them right side out, I had two more left hand mittens! I was both frustrated AND mad at myself.

 

I realized my mistake and drew a little picture of what I should have cut and sewn. I packed it away for another day. And then my compulsion to FINISH had me pulling it out and making FOUR right hand mittens (referring to my drawing) so now I have four pairs of little mittens for the grands. (Plus a slightly larger pair at the left.) Sigh. It was a learning experience. The directions I followed included a cuff, but I just made basic mittens. I also made my own template because I didn't want to give my email to get the free pattern. I have too much junk coming into my mailbox already!

Another project I worked on was the Medora challenge crib quilt. I cut out most of the pieces, but didn't have my own rulers there and decided to hold off on it. The design has an odd angle and I'm not going to get the fancy ruler, so I'll need to measure really carefully before I cut out the shapes. I don't use patterns often and I'm trying to be more careful. (I won this pattern at the August or September meeting.) I feel good about where I'm at and may bring it with me to the November retreat.

 

 

The most important project I worked on was the wedding quilt for my oldest and his wife. They got married in 2016 . . . and I bought the fabric with my daughter-in-law in 2017. I had planned to do a disappearing nine patch and had 5" squares on my design wall for a long, long time. But I'm glad I didn't move forward with that. I think a log cabin block with lights on one side and darks on the other will work better. I did some cutting and sewing and look forward to doing more with that. I have two more light fabrics and one more dark fabric to add. I made almost fifty of these blocks so far, but I need to trim about twenty to size. Again, I'm trying to be more precise!

I am encouraged that I'm finally moving forward with this. I don't usually spend lots of money buying fabric, so I think I've been a bit scared about messing this up.

This is what I had decided for the nine patch . . . and it just doesn't work.

I finally finished all the stitching on my 2024 Challenge - Morning Glories - wall hanging. I had it in the show, but didn't feel finished with it. It's packed away for spring now. (Pics below.)

 

I had a few other small things with me. I did some journaling in my quilt "scrap" book. I grabbed some fabric off the "free" table while telling myself, "You don't need more stuff!" But five yards of music themed fabric?! How could I pass that up?

2024 Studio Post #33 - a Placemat and Pockets in my Nightgown

What an interesting week! I was able to spend a few days up at the lake with my sister Ann. I brought a number of different projects (sewing and otherwise). My first priority was to add pockets to my white nightgown (originally a robe, but I use it as a nightgown). 

I like pockets! I like having my phone with me (partially because I use a step tracker app) and pockets save my hands from having to grab and hold. They aren't super pretty, but they're very functional. When I got home, I serged the seams so they won't fray. 

This photo looks weird because the nightgown is inside out (to show the pockets) and the way it's draped makes it look wider than tall!

I also made a label for my bed quilt. I decided to name it "Refracting Rainbows." I haven't stitched the label in yet, but I may do it today.

I also repaired my "sub purse." The strap was really frayed. I wear it every time I substitute teach. It has gum, pens, bandaids, etc. It's just handy! I have the fabric set aside to sew a new one, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

Before I went up to the lake, I had started on a strawberry-themed placemat. Some of our placemats at the lake are looking a bit rough. I quilted and bound it yesterday. I'm not super happy with how it turned out but I'm also unsure how to make others that are better. I'm still learning!

The placemat is actually rectangular, but the angle is due to trying to keep my hands from making shadows on it . . . it's still kind of wonky.

2024 Studio Blog #32 - Medora Pattern

 At last Saturday's MQ meeting, I won a pattern! The 2025 show will feature "Medora" quilts. The pattern designer (Jill Blair of Materiella) was at the meeting and shared some of her quilts. Then she gave away twenty copies of the pattern. I'm not much of a pattern person, but I could also stand to follow directions and be more careful!

Since I can be a bit wild with my ideas and sewing, I decided to start by making a crib quilt. It's small and do-able. So when I got home from the meeting, I picked out some fabrics. That's it. That's as far as I got. But I love feeling excited and inspired!

If I like the design and the process, I may make a larger Medora quilt. It would be so nice to have a quilt in the 2025 show. And I'd love to build up a stash of baby quilts to give as gifts when someone's expecting.

2024 Studio Post #31 - Random Projects

I'm posting three days early this week! I got into the studio to make a "box" for our pontoon boat for trash and recycling. (I'm going to test it out before making a second one.) I used some of the horse blanket scraps my boss gave me. It was quick and a little sloppy, but it's a prototype. 

 

I also used one small scrap of the fabric to make a little container to hold threads or other junk when I'm hand stitching. When I went to the Crazy Quilters meeting last week, I just made a little pile on the table, but I kept brushing against it. If this little thing doesn't work out, I'll just throw it away.

 

I also stitched up a pair of underpants that had a weak seam, but I'm not posting a picture of that! I think I'll bring my hand stitching bag with me to the lake and try to learn some crazy quilt stitches. I haven't gone to JoAnn's yet to buy embroidery needles, though . . .

2024 Studio Post #30 - Teresa's Brother's Quilt - Made By Their Mom

My friend Teresa lost her mom a year ago. Her mom had made a quilt for Teresa and had started to make one for Teresa's brother. Teresa asked me about it. I jumped at the chance to finish it for her brother! (She doesn't have other quilters in her life.) I've done a tiny bit of stitching so far but wanted these pictures of what she had already made. So much work went into this quilt. What a precious gift from a mother to her son.

 

After I finish stitching on the off-white, I'll find a stencil to stitch in the large open areas. I want to make sure it's okay with Teresa, first, though. Then I plan to attach the two pieces (one is skinnier than the other) and bind it. Again, I'll check with Teresa on the choice of fabric for the binding. 

 

The large green stitching is what she used to baste the layers together. I'll remove it when I'm done with the hand quilting. I've had it for a year now (almost) and I've only stitched a little bit on it so far. Time to get to work on it!

 

 

2024 Studio Post #29 - Tie Dye!

I have wanted to learn how to tie-dye for ages!  Everyone tells me it's so easy, but I just wasn't sure how to go about it. I had set aside three or four garments that had stains but I liked otherwise. I finally went to JoAnn Fabrics sometime in the past year and bought a tie-dye "kit" but was too chicken (or busy) to read the directions and try it.

Then a few cool things came together! At the Akina camp in late July, they provided everyone with black t-shirts and some foam stencils (as well as foam letters, flowers, hearts, etc.). We each decorated our own shirt, then the gal in charge of crafts - Dorenda (?) sprayed bleach water over the foam. This is how my shirt turned out:

 

 

Then the cousins organizing the family reunion asked about people's interest in shirts. Most people said not to bother, so another cousin suggested we tie-dye! Yay! I brought my garments and tie-dye kit, but there were more than enough other supplies to use there! Louie told me I could do a shirt of his first as my "trial" experience. It didn't turn out at all like I was hoping. 

 

Then I tried to do a striped-type thing on my dress. It didn't turn out as I expected, either, but I wore it. I like this dress because it's sleeveless and has pockets. I don't know what I stained it with, but I'm so glad it still fits! I was trying so hard to not be wasteful with the dye that I didn't use quite enough to really get a cool effect. Live and learn!

Another one of his cousins rinsed everyone's tie dyed garments and laundered them all, so I still have the opportunity to practice these skills. I have my kit and I can find more rubber bands. It says that the dye should be used fairly soon after being mixed up, so I'll have to find time to dye a couple different things all in one session. I still need to clean up my studio so I can sew, but I did a creative fabric thing last week!

2024 Studio Post #28 - No pictures

I meant to write before we went on vacation to Michigan, but here I am a full week and a day late, and not much to show for it.

My studio is a disaster dumping zone. I didn't even bring any stitching with me. AND I got Covid and "shared" it with the whole family. Ugh.

This entry is for Sunday, 8/11 and Sunday, 8/18. We're home from vacation and recovering from illness. I did a tiny repair job on our quilt up at the lake (in early August) but didn't take a picture of it. 

I have moved a few of the kids' games from my studio closet down to the game cabinet (to make more room for fabric). 

Oh!!! I just thought of something fabric-related I can share from our Michigan trip! New entry on its way . . .

2024 Studio Post #27 - MQ Challenge Piece

 I'm blogging on Sunday, August 4, 2024, which means I'm back on track!

I bought the $5 challenge envelope last fall or over the winter . . . I don't really remember. It was a different way to do the challenge for sure! (Usually, we get some fat quarters of interesting fabrics.) The envelope had:

• a rectangle of bird fabric with one complete bird and several cut in half
• a piece of bright orange elastic (rounded, not super stretchy)
• a piece of silvery / teal thread (from France!)
• an elongated hexie (shape had to be used somewhere)
• a piece of black fabric with a rainbow hued grid all over it

 

The other fabrics in the picture are ones I picked out to use with the given pieces. I played around on paper with various ideas. It was fun to just brainstorm ways to use these pieces! I had some fun ideas, but ultimately decided to go with the scene of a bird on a nest in a tree. I used all the pieces of bird from my fabric! I even "Frankensteined" one at the top - the beak and body don't really match. 

 

I didn't get it completely done in time. I was at the venue in Duluth stitching my 3D leaves on it, with people offering to help. I had an hour left before the deadline, but decided to say, "Good enough." It felt so good to have a challenge in the show! I wish I'd taken a picture of all of them . . . it was amazing to see what people came up with! Louise's co-chair Mary won first place. It was such a fun challenge!

 

I liked the buttons I added as "eggs" in the nest. I liked playing with the leaves - both 2D and 3D. My stitching isn't very polished, but I had fun. 

I also had fun including all the bird pieces - with two just poking their tails out from behind the trunk. 

I like the blue "sky" fabric I picked and also the collage-type fabrics for the tree trunk and branches. 

The sun and sunrise effect didn't look quite like what I hoped for, but it gave me the name "Morning Glories." I also think of how much I love to hear bird song and see sunrises. I love to praise God in the morning (and all day long) and reflect on my blessings.

We're up at the lake and I brought this with to do a bit more stitching. I may or may not update this post with another photo. I don't want to feel pressured . . . I want to enjoy stitching. That said, it's nice to FINISH projects and celebrate getting something done. 

 

You can always add more, but sometimes you recognize it's time to move on to new projects.

2024 Studio Post #26 - It's Done!

Well, technically, I still need to choose a name for it and sew a label on the back, but it's got the binding on and it's on our bed! Every time I walk into our room, I smile. It is lively!

I really like the rows of flying geese on each side. And I like the "framed" rectangles at top where the pillows are. I had fun quilting it at Rose's and am so glad I played with different techniques and words.

 

Too bad I didn't take my nightgown and books off it before taking the picture . . . 

 

This post was for 7.28.24 and I'm writing it on 8.1.24. Now I have a few days to come up with next Sunday's post!

 

2024 Studio Post #25 - Quick Carry Bag

I threw this together in about twenty minutes before going to camp with Akina. I had intended to make a whole bunch of them for the kids, but that didn't happen this year.

I have lots of horse blanket fabric scraps from my nice boss. I got a book on bag-making from the library. I just hadn't taken the time to figure out how to make what I wanted. So before going to camp, I threw this together! It's big enough for a pillow, blanket, etc. I want to make them deeper than this one and use stronger straps / reinforce them.

But as a prototype, I'm happy with it!

 

I took measurements so I can plan out the next one better, but I am wading through piles of papers so may need to come back and add info later.

 

 

Titus likes to hang out by me, but this isn't  a very good scale picture. He's much bigger than the bag!

 

 This post was intended for July 21, 2024 but I'm posting it on August 1. Trying to get caught up on lots of stuff today!

Studio Post #20 - What's in a Name?

The main sewing thing I did last week was pack up all my 2024 Challenge bits and pieces to bring to the lake to work on here. It's a new week and I haven't taken the pieces out yet.

The other thing I did was brainstorm names for my queen sized quilt in process. It started out as the MQ 2017 Challenge "Go with the FLW." I've already blogged about it when I took the parts of it to the in-town retreat in January and almost finished the top. Now the top is finished AND I've long-armed it. I had fully intended to trim off the excess batting and backing, make the binding, and sew it onto the top so I could bring it with me to the lake to finish. Alas, I got too darn busy at the end of April and start of May, so it sits at home.

I have, however, come up with some name possibilities for it:

• By Committee (because I kept asking others for their opinions)
• Go Against the FLW (instead of Go with the FLW)
• Directions? What Directions?
• Make Up My Mind!
• I'm No Architect (FLW = Frank Lloyd Wright)
• Neither Structure Nor Style ("Neither Nor" for short)
• It May Be Wild, But It's Mine

 

Some people think naming quilts is pretentious. I don't care. I think it's fun. And it's easier to refer to specific quilts that way. (I don't make enough quilts to get really confused, but I still like naming them.) I didn't bring my quilt "journal" with me to the lake, but I'm curious to check and see if I've recorded all the quilts I've made and what I named them.