Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
My little Mini Pink Pouch is finished. It didn’t take long, though I had to work on it over a couple of nights in between other projects.
I used a tutorial from Quilting in the Rain just to make sure I had the right order when I was putting this pouch together.
One thing I would do differently is put fabric tabs on the ends of the zipper. I think it would make that curve on the side a little less.
I finished the latest Cotton Candy Pouch over the weekend. This is the one that Friend Julie cut out using her Cricut Maker. You last saw it as a bunch of pieces. I am always interested to see how strangely shaped pieces turn into something 3D. It was awesome to not have to cut anything but to have it all ready to go.
One reason I keep making this pouch over and over is to perfect some of my skills, especially Veering the Zipper, which went much better this time. I was also able to get the beginning of the zipper even with each other. So progress.
Yes, I could have gotten the head closer, but that is a challenge for another day.
I also like the shape of this pouch a lot. I am going to try the sidewinder next. Bronwyn, one of the moderators of the Sew Sweetness FB group, had so much trouble with the Sidewinder that she threw out her first attempt. This scares me!
I forgot to use a deeper seam allowance for the lining :(, but c’est la vie. It is fine for this time. Another part to work on.
The Sidewinder is another part of Minikins Season 1. I have two dozen or so patterns from Minikins Season 1 & 2 to try, so I need to get busy! I am constantly wondering if Sara will come out with a Minikins Season 3? Yikes! I need to get busy.
The Red Text table runner is finished. I finished sewing on the binding on Monday during Craft Night. I had already machine sewed and the hand stitching went surprisingly fast.
As I mentioned, I machine quilted it over last weekend. I am pleased, even after several days of looking at it, about how it came out. I am also really pleased that it is done since the new project came out on Tuesday, the Lucky Charm pillow.
I am more than a little thrilled that I finished the two table runners in time for the new project.
I took my first video/Zoom class on Saturday and I learned a lot. I had to come late as I had a presentation at 10, but worked ahead, so was almost at the point of the rest of the class when I joined in.
After class, I decided to make another Catch All Caddy for my DH to put his stuff in. We both accumulate stuff on the dining room table. I made his first first, though I plan to make one for me, too, because I had baseball fabric out from my rummage through my backing fabrics a few weeks ago.
I did a couple of things different on this one. The pockets are made with tubes to so I left a little of the pocket fabric showing above the border fabric (dots). I thought that was an interesting idea and I wanted to try it.
I also used 40 weight thread for the top stitching. It goes through the machine with no problem and you can see it more than regular Aurifil. I don’t know if it is the right shape for DH to use, but we will see.
I finished the binding of the first Seaside Table Runner on Friday. I am pleased with the way it came out and pleased that it is finished.
I have wrapped it with a piece of fabric and a note, so it is ready whenever I feel like going out again.
This is the first project in the Journey2Nebula and I am on pace. I haven’t finished the second table runner yet, but stay tuned for that. I don’t want any of these small project languishing.
I finished the binding on the Plaid Block Party last week. As I said in my last completed quilt post, handwork is somewhat delayed in the world of COVID-19. I have FOTY 2018 and the sleeve for Flying Around to complete as well.
In the meantime, I am very pleased with this quilt. I really like that Block Party block. Aside from being super easy, I think it looks great as well. I’d like to make another quilt with this pattern and have an idea of who the recipient will be.
My DH acted as quilt holder and didn’t quite have the wingspan to get it straight. I may not be able to get a better photo before I have to send it off to my cousin-nephew.
My goal was to use up my plaids, which, with the Plaid donation top, I have done. Yay!
I finished the third Windmill quilt over the weekend. I received three quilts back two weeks ago and I have slowly been working the bindings. Since we have been working on jigsaw puzzles int he evening, I haven’t had as much hand stitching time, so it took me longer than I anticipated.
I sent a photo to my mom and she is excited to receive it even though it is over 100 degrees at her house.
My blue scrap drawer is finally showing some signs of having some space available. I have been piecing blue scraps together, as I mentioned the other day, in between working on the Red Scribbles quilt. I finally had enough to make a journal cover, so I decided to stop and make a journal cover. I need a quick finish fix and there are more blue scraps for a Color Improv donation quilt.
As also mentioned, I hadn’t thought of this as a journal cover, so the piecing is pretty random. I didn’t center any motifs for the front. This is for an older journal just to protect the pages, so it looks ok for that purpose.
As I did this piecing, I wanted to save any strips I found for more of the Color Strip donation blocks (quilts). I don’t know if I will find enough to make another quilt. If not, I can make a few blocks for the rainbow strip donation quilt I am planning.
Though I am making space in the drawer there are still a lot of scraps. The scraps still fill the drawer, but are not crammed in. There is hope, in other words, that I will have enough strips for something else-blocks or a quilt.
I am trying to use scraps that are smaller than 4.5 inch strips, because of the possibility mentioned above. This means that there are a lot of small scraps becoming larger slabs until they end up as a journal cover. It feels good to see the blue drawer emptying out.
I forget how much I like some of the fabrics I have used until I see a scrap. I know I always say that there is always more fabric. I do get attached to fabrics I like and want to email the fabric companies too reprint them when I find a scrap and know it is out of print.
I had a problem (or my own making) with this journal cover. It is slightly too large. By the time I noticed, I wasn’t about to rip everything out into order to trim it.
I thought the slab was the correct size, but I think I forgot to think about seam allowance for the last bit of piecing. Oh well. Things happen.
I have talked about the two other pouches, Green and PJ Ivy, I made last weekend. This, however, is the main one. I decided to make this one, then added the others on to the project.
I tried to think of how a non-sewing person would use this pouch (or any pouch??) and could only come up with a makeup bag or a cord carrier. I hope the recipient will find some good uses for it. It is a large pouch so it might be good for a project. I know she started an embroidery or cross stitch project recently.
I made the inside light, as I try to do, so she could find whatever she puts in the bag. It is a kind of fun newspaper print that I haven’t used before, though I have used fabric like it. I still like the text fabrics.
I used some of the Michael Miller French Journal Collection from London Portfolio for this pouch. It has good areas to fussy cut. I bought a lot of it several years ago and keep cutting bits off for this and that. It is fun fabric.
I don’t know what the recipient likes, so I made some thing that I liked. Also, this pattern lends itself to fussy cutting and I was able to cut this fabric in such a way as to highlight the featured flowers.
This is kind of busy fabric, so I used the black and white dot fabric to keep the French Journal Collection under control.
This is the second of the three pouches I made over the weekend. I used the Philip Jacobs Variegated Ivy fabric in pink for the ends and the lining. In order to tone down the large and exciting flowers, I used the black and white for the main panel.
This is the medium sized Cotton Candy Pouch from Sara Lawson’s Minikins Season 1 pattern set (no affiliation).
It is actually not for one of my co-workers. I made this for my co-worker’s daughter. They are having an especially tough time at their house. Another zipper, some time and fabric were not that big of a deal.
I sent this one off with my co-worker’s yesterday.
In some ways this will be pouch Week. I didn’t intend it to be, but I have a lot of pouches to show.
I made three Cotton Candy pouches over the weekend. As mentioned before These are to be gifts for co-workers who have helped me.
I really want to get good at this pattern, so I keep making it even though I have many patterns from the Minikins to try. There are a couple things I need to work on. One is veering the zipper. I didn’t get both sides of the end even this time. Next time, I think I will mark where I want to veer the zipper off the fabric and see if that works. I ripped it out a couple of times, but couldn’t do better, so I’ll try to do better next time.
I had some large-ish ‘scraps’ recently, so made a couple of masks for the YM. Since I was mailing him a package I also made one for his girlfriend. She is S-i-Ping 4 hours away from the YM, but I know that that they are trying to see each other as often as possible.
By ‘large-ish scraps’ I mean pieces too large for my scrap bin, but too small for filing in the bins I use for my larger pieces of yardage. For me, it is better to cut them up either for future projects or into usable sized patches. Some of the pieces were large enough that I had enough for masks. I want the YM to have enough for at least two weeks, so he can have a fresh one every day, so cutting mask pieces has been on my mind.
Of course, I didn’t have any dark green scraps, so I had to delve into yardage to find the YMG’s favorite color. I have very little dark green, but I found this Jinny Beyer print that I bought pre-blogging and decided it would work. I hope the horizontal vines don’t come across as having a passive-aggressive meaning…or something.
This is the same video pattern I have been using. I described some issues I was having in the last Face Mask post. I worked on redoing the way I insert elastic on these. I sewed similar rectangles on the ends, but inserted the elastic so that the ends are covered by folding the ends in. I might have made the elastic a little small, but we will see. I don’t try on masks I am sending to other people, so I don’t know if the edges will flap out like my previous batch. I know it is a small thing easily covered by hair, but the detail bugs me.
I finished the Inside Outside Pouch at Craft Night on Monday. I only had the binding left and that was a good task to work on.
The pattern is pretty easy, especially after making the Boxy Clear pouch as many of the steps are the same.
One problem I had was with the zippers. This was not a problem with the pattern, but was a problem with how to measure zippers. I know now that you measure from puller to stopper, not from end to end. The zippers in this pouch are a little short, but it shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme.
I used some leftovers from projects for Mom, so she will probably end up with it. I am not sure how much I like this product. It is a good pattern and easy to follow, but the pouch is kind of large and I am not sure how I would use it. I’d like a smaller version for my binding makers. I may try making a smaller one.
I saw a photo of this doll when I was looking at my previous anniversary post as I was writing my recent 15 year blogiversary post. I didn’t remember the doll until I saw the photo. I had no idea where the doll was. Then, like magic, I found her.
She was started in a doll workshop at CQFA in 2013. From the post, it sounds like I made her pretty quickly. Then, apparently, she languished and was forgotten.
When I found her, I decided that I didn’t have much to do to finish her. I decided to just get her finished. I could see any additional embellishment that was needed. I am marveling at the job I did with the sequins and the bikini top. It is really good!
She is part of a series of dolls.
I know you thought you would never see the finished product. It took me awhile to get a photo of it, but Sunday was the day.
I cleared off my design wall and hung up Flying Around. I had to work quickly as finished quilts are heavy. I wasn’t sure if the design wall could handle it.
I might need to make this design, or a similar one again. I think the Friendship Star wreaths need to be farther apart, so they can be more staggered. That means a larger quilt. I know my friends will sigh at that.
The quilting is magnificent. Colleen did a fabulous job. I want to enter this in a big show, but looking at it today, I am not sure it is ready for prime time. Also, are all the shows cancelled?