Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I started another Palomino Pouch as part of the Pink Project. I wanted to try and succeed at the gluing step that closes up the sides.
I have everything cut out, but have to find a zipper that matches. The fabric is definitely pink, but more of a peachy pink than the Pink Dot Bluestem or the Pink Piebald and I am not sure I have one that will match. I might have to use white or some other contrasting color. I do like it when the zippers look like they belong on the pouch.
Along with garment sewing and a new bracelet, I also got some more Pantone blocks from Julie at Sew Day.
I have a stack of postcards to match and plan to do that this weekend. I owe her several and hope to bring them to the Retreat.
We are almost done making the blocks, then it will be time to put the quilt together. Perhaps I will use this design – or something like it – sooner than I think.
Cyndi W suggested we all do a challenge for the Fair. This year it is a color challenge.
For fun, I looked in EQ8 to see if I had any old designs from the previous quilts. Colorblocks is way too old for there to be an EQ8 file. I made that quilt in 1990.
I wasn’t going to do it, because I have enough on my plate at the moment. Eventually, I decided I would. I decided that it would be a good opportunity to finally use up that silk fabric I bought a long time ago. Back in the day, I had the intention of making another Colorblocks quilt, then never did. This project has been on my Dream Project list for awhile AND it will qualify for the President’s challenge this year. If I finish it, I will get a lot of bang for my quilt buck.
I am using the Square in a Square ruler I bought through the guild last year. I made a test block out of scraps to get a feel for how it would work. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. Except for the bias on the edges, I think it looks great.
I have some time and the piece will be small. Fingers crossed!
I finally found the Handbag Sampler blocks!!! They were in a bin at the top of my fabric closet
I need at least a few more blocks, which means I have to find the fabrics I used. I have the focus fabric, the handbag fabric, but the others weren’t with it. I haven’t looked for them, but I am confident that they are together and I didn’t use them for something else.
This sampler start has a really different look than the Aqua-Red Sampler and the Original Sampler, though many of the blocks are the same or similar.
Julie made a cool cover for the bracelet from the Retreat last year. She used the slap bracelet as a base to slide inside the cover.
Mine has been sitting on my desk for a year not doing anything. I thought hers was so cool that I asked her to make me one. This is the package I got at Sew Day the other day. The thing with buttons is the cover for my slap bracelet.
I had to do some jamming in to get the bracelet into the cover. Then I sewed the piece shut and can wear it.
At Sew Day the other week, I spent the time helping the YM start some PJ Pants. I know you are ROTFL when you think of me and garment sewing. Have no fear, I was under complete supervision.
I was thrilled, and kind of surprised, that the YM was willing to go to Sew Day with me.
He is in town working during the week, but comes over on the weekends. He wants to learn to make clothes better, especially costumes for events like Sakura-Con. I am not a great garment maker, but I thought I could handle this pattern, if Mary was there to answer questions. SIL #2 was also available for consultation. Sew Day was a great opportunity to work with him.
Mary C had told me that PJ pants were a good starting project. I couldn’t get the pattern she suggested, but I got one that was marked as ‘Easy to Sew’.
When she saw it, she was pleased. She told me that the pattern she has is really old and that this one would do fine. WHEW! There are three pattern pieces total. As a bonus, the pants have pockets.
Mary started out helping the YM, but I took over partway through as she was doing some handwork. I didn’t think it was fair to make her keep getting up.
There was a table set up near the kitchen and Mary suggested he work there. It was actually perfect, because it gave him plenty of room to work. As a bonus, I could get steps in walking back and forth.
He made a pattern with tracing paper first and did all the prep. He was surprised at how long the prep takes. I was reminded of my complaints about cutting out bags. Like mother like son, I guess.
He eventually got to sewing. My promise that the prep was worth it all came true then as the pants went together very quickly.
I brought my travel sewing machine with us. I was afraid he wouldn’t get to sewing and it would have been a waste, but he did get to the sewing part.
He needs practice, because some of his seam lines wandered a bit, but the more he sewed, the better he got.
He almost got the fabric to look like pants by the end of Sew Day. You can see in the photo that the outer seem is just clipped. They do look like pants, though.
He sewed the outer seam and zigzagged all the seams the next day. We only have to do the elastic in the waist and hem the bottom and he will have pants.
I suggested that he make a few pair to get into the groove. I explained to him how I like to make a bag pattern a few times to get the feel of it. I don’t know if he will do it, but he didn’t dismiss the idea out of hand.
The Palomino is finished! I am going to make another one right away. This pouch has only a few pieces and with the way the side panels and zipper are inserted, it is very easy to put together.
This is a gift for a friend and the fussy cutting is important.
It really went together pretty well, in general. I had some trouble inserting the lining. It does have the same glue closure as the Piebald. Not so great as I missed the instruction to stop at the 1/4 inch mark when sewing the lining together, so the edges shredded a bit (Moda fabric) when I ripped out some of the stitching. It would be really helpful to have a free arm when making this pouch. Now I know, so I’ll do better next time.
No drop-in lining or binding: perfect.
The zipper I used is one of the set I bought from Sew Hungry Hippie. I wonder if Natalie of SHH collaborates with Tula on the colors? The green matched the butterfly fabric exactly.
I thought it might be a little big, but the pattern called for a handbag zipper. I tried two zipper pulls, but it didn’t work with this pouch design so I took one off.
I took the opportunity to fussy cut the side panels as well. I can’t help that these motifs run into the partial motifs on the main panels, but I still think the side panels look good.
My green scrap drawer has been full for awhile and now that I have made FIVE quilts from my black-grey-brown scrap drawer, it is time to move on. I really can’t get over how many quilts I made from the black-grey-brown scrap drawer. It is somewhat shocking, especially since I haven’t finished the grey improv piece or the black improv piece.
I have already made a couple of green blocks and have several in process. I am also working with smaller scraps to start the improv donation quilts now. It may turn out that I use some combined smaller pieces in the strip/chunk blocks. We’ll see.
The original green strip donation top was one of the first in this series. It is interesting to see how the various quilts, using the same sort of blocks has developed. I think I didn’t completely empty out the bin when I made that quilt, but I don’t remember. I am much more diligent about using every scrap now.
The grey improv top is looking good! It’s been a few weeks since I talked about this piece. I am very pleased.
Yes, I have made some good progress and I really like the way it is turning out. This piece is approximately 24.5 w x 17.25 tall. I have some sewing to do before it can be considered large enough for a donation quilt. Still, I really like it and it is shaping up nicely.
I am still concerned I won’t have enough scraps to make it large enough. I am trying not to worry about it. Sometimes I can’t help it.
I am not really wicked nor am I green, but some of my post titles have been super boring lately, so I thought I would shake things up.
The green scrap drawer is too full, which is good, because I can move on to a new leaders and enders project. It is bad, though as I have plenty of other things I want to do as leaders and enders. Still, I was enjoying making strip blocks, so here we go.
One burning question is WHY do I have so many green scraps. I can remember making things out of a few of them, but not most. How are all of these green scraps multiplying?
On a side note: that large green Pointillist Palette piece is going to get cut up into smaller pieces to be part of a Niece-phew quilt.
Do you get the Wicked reference? 😉
It’s been a few weeks since I talked about this piece. The black pieces are getting larger and my scrap bin is getting emptier.
This is a lot more active than the grey, which you will see in a few days. Those stripes really make this piece dynamic. I think it needs some space for the eye to rest, though. I’ll have to work on that.
This is another pattern from Minikins Season 3. For some reason, it struck my fancy and I decided to make it.
One of the things I already like about the pattern is that you sew the zipper to the side panel as one of the first steps. That means that when I sew the zipper to the main panels, I will sew the side pieces as well.
I did some fussy cutting of the Tula butterfly fabric, as you can see.
I had some trouble cutting this out with a rotary cutter, because the side panels have an interior 90 degree angle, which doesn’t work withe a rotary cutter. I ended up drawing lines around the template and cutting it out with scissors. I used WonderClips** to keep the fold in place while I cut the pieces out.
This picture (right) shows getting ready to sew the zipper and the side panels to the main panels. I used some Frankenfoam and hope that works out. I used some quite small pieces. Apparently, I can’t throw anything out! Pouches are a good use for Frankenfoam, however.
This is the same picture as above, but from the top. Stay tuned for the finishing.
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This is not a difficult pattern, so it went together quickly. It was especially fast since I already had the striped triangles cut.
As mentioned, I used some mostly blue 16 Patch blocks for the alternate blocks.
I pulled out some older batiks for the back and this quilt top (and back) is ready to go to the Community quilt project.
I finally finished Scrappy Celebration! I am well in time for my niece’s wedding and shower. Now I just need to decide if I want to enter it in the Fair.If I do enter it, I’ll have to add a sleeve.
I don’t have much else to enter. If I do, it would mean not giving it to her at her shower, but I think that would be ok.
I am pleased with how it came out, but I think I want to make another quilt, or something complicated, with my man Phil’s Chrysanthemum print. I don’t know why I like the colors so much, but I do.
The back isn’t super interesting. I was reading the New Jersey issue of QuiltFolk. They said that this type of back makes the quilt a 2-sided quilt! Who knew?
