Sunday Sevens 08-30-15

Tags

cats, embroidery, Greenstyle Laurel, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Sunday Sevens

Sunday Sevens is a weekly feature in which we post seven-or-so pictures of our week and chat about what we’ve been up to.  See Natalie at Threads and Bobbins for more info and join us if you’d like–it’s fun!

Sadly, no outdoorsy pictures this week.  😦

I REALLY want to get outside and walk but the air quality here is very bad because of all the fires raging throughout the Pacific Northwest.  Between that and my usual fall allergies, it seems wiser–though a lot less fun–to exercise inside for a while.

This handsome boy went back to the vet this week for a recheck after having a dental cleaning and some tooth extractions.  She tells me he’s healing up really well and also, everybody in the office loves him and his sweet personality.

Of course.  🙂

Because I appear to be unable to resist the lure of a sew-along these days, I’ve decided to finish this UFO for Summer Crush Week of the Sew Long Summer Sew Along.  This UFO is at least 10 years old.  😛

Also in the works, another embroidery project.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this–maybe frame it?–but the comforting themes in it are drawing me in.  I’m applying for jobs and thinking about the future and just generally feeling rather unsettled; the quiet, slow embroidery helps with that.

Birthday present from my sister that’s now brightening up my tomato planter.

Had a moment of inspiration regarding this rather frumpy knit fabric:  a (hopefully) wearable muslin of the Greenstyle Laurel Dress!  The fabric was obtained through Freecycle and it’s really nice quality, though I’m not crazy about the grandma’s-couch type design, so perfect for a muslin.  Setting that aside for a bit later in the fall.

I talked to Rachael and Chrissa at SCRAP Tri-Cities this week and we finalized plans for me to teach a class on October 8.  We’ll be making this rice-filled foot warmer:

I’ve taught psychology classes in the past, but never something like this, so I’m taking a CreativeLive class this week on how to do it.

The National Weather Service warnings on my phone are getting increasingly hysterical.

Don’t worry, NWS–this is August in eastern Washington and we’re used to it.  Crops are getting harvested and it’s dry, so the usual wind is kicking up some dust.  Forecast predicts some rain today–first rain in a LONG time–so conditions may improve soon.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

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New Favorite Thing EVAR

Tags

quilting, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Ticker Tape Quilting

Will you just LOOK at this fun, colorful thing?!?

Tried a new type of quilting this week and I LOVE IT.

This is called a Ticker Tape Quilt, which I first discovered earlier this summer over here. I have been longing to make a Bottled Rainbow quilt since then, and have been collecting scraps like crazy.  I’m nowhere near having enough for that, but I thought I’d at least try the technique and see if I couldn’t make a little wall quilt for my sewing room.

SO MANY things about this type of quilt that are great —

—  Finally a way to use up your smallest scraps that isn’t super-tedious and time-consuming.  Yes, you can spend the rest of your life cutting 2-inch squares and piecing them together, but this is a lot more fun and you’ll actually live to see it finished.

—  This is done Quilt-As-You-Go, so no quilt wrestling.  I sandwiched together my white fabric (which is actually two triangles of leftover fabric sewed together to make a square), a layer of batting (also pieced by butting the edges and sewing with a wide zigzag stitch), and my backing fabric.  Then I zigzagged around each applique and that was it — applique and quilting in one step.

Picture of the back (this happy-bug fabric is from SCRAP):

— This is quilting for the non-anal-retentive.  One of the reasons that I go back and forth between quilting and other craft projects is that I get SO tired of the super precision that traditional quilting requires:  cutting EXACTLY right, sewing EXACTLY 1/4″ seams, getting the grain EXACTLY right, etc.  In contrast, ticker tape quilts are much more relaxed.  You move pieces around until you like the way they look, trim them if you want, maybe add a couple of fussy-cut pieces if you like –whatever.  The size can be whatever you want it to be with no math to work out.  Mine is about 17″ square, simply because that was the size of my white background fabric.

In short:  easy, fast, and fun!  The only problem I ran into was securely attaching my appliques so that they wouldn’t shift around.  I tried the glue stick suggestion, but pieces of fabric started falling off almost as soon as I started zigzagging.  Pins weren’t secure enough, either.  What worked was good old Tacky Glue; I used tiny dots of it all over the appliques, pressed them into place, let dry, then finished quilting with zero problems.

I foresee this becoming a future class at SCRAP Tri-Cities.  Also making a fabric bin to contain my scraps, which are currently overflowing a plastic kitchen storage container.

Sunday Sevens 08-23-15

Tags

bags, Beaverton, Columbia River, Greenway Park, Oregon, randonneuring, Ronald Talney, SCRAP Tri-Cities, swears, travel, Tualatin Hills Nature Park, Vista House

(See the lovely and talented Natalie at Threads and Bobbins for the complete run-down on Sunday Sevens.  And join us–it’s fun!)

Since I skipped last week, I’m just going to include the best pictures of the best stuff from the last two weeks.

Best stuff:  PASTRY, MOSS, and SEWING.

Many people that my honey and I know were in France the last few weeks doing the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200k bike ride (PBP).

So one of our buddies in Portland organized a potluck and 100k bike ride called Tiny PBP for her cyclist friends that didn’t go to France.  The “PBP” here meaning “Portland-Boring-Portland.”  (Yes, there is a town in Oregon named Boring.  I can’t vouch for its boringness, never having been there.  Or maybe I have and just don’t remember due to the excessive boring?)

Said buddy made these awesome treats for the potluck:  macarons, fruit tart, and a pastry called a Paris-Brest (yes, actually named after the ride).

While all these bikey people were off doing their thing, I explored Tualatin Hills Nature Park in Beaverton.

Really amazing and beautiful park–man, Oregon does great parks!–with both paved and rougher trails, so accessible to everybody.

This is actually the root structure of a fallen tree.  I couldn’t get far enough away in the narrow trail to get the whole thing in a picture, but I think it’s more interesting this way, anyway.

I also went to Greenway Park, also in Beaverton.  I had just about given up hope of ever finding it, when suddenly there it was.  Seriously, Google navigation, not a lot of parks are located in corporate employee parking lots. 

Interesting bit of public art here.  (It’s a poem by Ronald Talney, but I can’t remember the whole thing and Google isn’t telling.  Harrumph.)

We took the scenic highway on the way home, hoping Multnomah Falls would be less packed with tourists than usual, but no luck there.

Vista House was better than usual, though (when I’ve been by here before, there hasn’t been any room to park, much less take a picture like this).

The view from the parking lot, looking down on the Columbia Gorge:

Back home, I worked all week on a new tote bag.  I don’t really need a new tote bag (QUITE AN UNDERSTATEMENT THERE), but it looked interesting and there was a sew-along.  Not sure how I’ll use this, but I do love the fabric combination.

And I spent the weekend putting together some samples for the class on scrap fabric projects that I’m going to teach at SCRAP Tri-Cities.  This was really just a way to get my butt moving on making some small things that I’ve been falling in love with and bookmarking and not actually making.  (Links to these projects are on the Resources page near the bottom.)

This is a little quilted fabric box.  I’m having lots of Christmas ideas involving these boxes and homemade treats . . . this year I am NOT going to be finishing presents at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas eve!

And this is a rice-filled foot warmer (or it will be when I get some rice).  Made with almost all flannels!  I am going to enjoy the HELL out of this when winter comes.  It occurs to me that I could really use some matching hand warmers . . . .

And I don’t EVEN understand it, but I seem to be on some weird pink binge lately.  Bright pink just seems so appropriate for hot summer days, doesn’t it?

I can feel fall coming, though.  It was 47F here this morning and a few of the trees are starting to change color, so it’s coming.  Hopefully, we’ll have a little more hot pink weather before then.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

The Heidi Bag

Tags

bags, embroidery, Heidi, sewing

Yep, I’m still alive.

Just skipped Sunday Sevens this past week because we didn’t get home from Oregon until Monday afternoon, and the post probably would have been Tuesday Sevens, and that wouldn’t do at all, now would it?

I do have a new bag to show you, though, a birthday present for my BFF Heidi.

I had wanted to make her a bag for her birthday, but played it safe and asked her earlier in the summer what kind of bag she’d like.  It turned out she had been thinking about a new bag to replace the little cross-body one she uses for her camera and other essentials when she travels.  She had definite ideas about how big it should be and what pockets it should have.

And she wanted it in a neutral color so as not to draw too much attention to it.

Um . . . what?  NEUTRAL color?  SUBTLE color??????

So I looked and looked, through all my summer travels, for a heavy-weight, sturdy fabric in a subtle color that was as cool and funky as my friend.

I don’t know that I found it, but my first thought when I saw this fabric was that I’d seen her wear all the colors in this, so it must be her kind of thing.  Plus, it was a home decor fabric–so super sturdy–but also washable, an essential requirement for purse fabric, as far as I’m concerned.

(Will you LOOK at the stripe matching here.  I didn’t even have to break a sweat doing it, just cut the large piece for the front, then sliced it into two so that I could put the front pocket zipper in there.)

To compensate for the SUBTLETY of the exterior of the bag, I went with this very cool and colorful batik for the lining.

And I added a fun little pocket inside, just big enough for an ID or a tube of lip balm.

Close-up:

(The embroidery pattern is from Craftsy.)

I think the zipper technique in this tutorial is my favorite (so far), so that’s what I used here.  I wanted the front pocket lined and nicely finished, too, so I basically used the same method for that zipper as well (minus the tab).

I put an ivory ribbon and a small stone bead on the pull of the main zipper so that it’s easy to find and grab without looking.

And, no, there was no pressing of this with the iron–the home decor fabric has a weird rubbery sort of finish to it and I was afraid the iron would do nasty things to it.

Happy birthday, Heidi!

STH

Sunday Sevens, 08-09-15

Tags

Columbia Park, Grand Coulee Dam, Kennewick, quilting, sewing, Steamboat Rock State Park, Sunday Sevens, travel, Washington

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series in which we share some photos from our week and give a little peek into what we’ve been up to–see Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for more and please feel free to join us!

Lots of nature pics for you today!

My mother and I took a walk in Columbia Park this week and, as usual, the squirrels came out to ask for treats.

Plenty of noisy geese, as well; there seemed to be some sort of slow-motion turf war going on while we were there.  The dark-colored one in the middle here had all kinds of complaints that needed to be shared with the rest of the group.

I finally got the baby quilt and bag in the mail, and was eager to get back to my quilt blocks.  The center of this is called “Colorado Beauty.”

Another finally:  I’ve got this stash of watches with dead batteries, and I finally got them running again.

Including this one, which the three stores I’ve taken it to over the years couldn’t figure out how to open!

On Saturday, my partner and two friends set off on their bikes on a one-way ride to Grand Coulee Dam 239 kilometers away.

I drove there in the car, stopping at Steamboat Rock State Park on the way.

Some pretty spectacular scenery out there and few people.

(And freeways.  Say what you want about the U.S., we do damn good freeways.)

And here’s the dam:

Pictures just don’t convey the scale of this thing–it’s a mile long and just massive.  Many more pictures of the trip will go up on Flickr shortly.

The Grand Coulee Dam was initially built as part of the New Deal public works projects during the FDR administration, then enlarged later.  It helps to provide electricity and irrigation water for agriculture to eastern WA, though it’s also controversial for the effect it has had on the native peoples and wildlife here.

The cyclists finished their ride in about 12 hours, then we all got together for a nice dinner and to watch the laser show they do on the face of the dam every evening.  (I’ll have to see if there are any good videos of the show on YouTube; we really couldn’t see the graphics very well from the “viewing area” where we were sitting, which was a bit disappointing.)

Have a great week, everybody, and I hope you have some blue sky where you are.

STH

Free Motion

Tags

anxiety, depression, Kelly Rae Roberts, Mary Oliver, Quilt Addicts Anonymous, quilting, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing

I have a half-remembered quote from the psychologist Carl Rogers (I think) floating around in my head, and it goes something like, “when I resolve some issue in my life, it’s like a call goes out to my clients that they can now bring that issue into their therapy sessions with me.”

There is more than one way to take this statement, but the one I’m focusing on is that when you are preoccupied by an issue, you start seeing it reflected in everything around you.

I’ve been thinking a lot about getting stuck and unstuck these days, and everywhere I look I see messages having to do with not getting in your own way and getting beyond fear and trusting yourself and overcoming perfectionism and OMG JUST DO IT ALREADY.

Sometimes done is better than perfect.

Her favorite moments were those when she let go of all expectations and worries and just simply celebrated the very moment she was living.

She was learning to silence the noise, and reawaken to her own bright bloom.

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice – – –
though the whole house
began to tremble

(I thought I saw the Mary Oliver poem first on My OBT, but I can’t find it there now.  A big thank you to whoever posted that where I could see it.  ETA:  it was here.)

I tend to get stuck easily.  It’s the twin demons of depression and anxiety working together; the voice of anxiety screams at me all the things that could go wrong and that people will hate what I do and judge me and laugh at me, while depression whispers that it won’t work anyway and it would take too much effort so why try at all?

The trick–and I am just at the beginning of learning how to do this–is to hear your own very quiet inner voice and be guided by that despite what the other voices tell you.  And to be able to tell which is which.

This quilt was something of a victory in this process, because I could see it in my head, I was certain it would work out, and I was able to push through and do it (without too much stuck-ness) despite the screaming in my head.

This is a very non-traditional baby quilt for my very cool and non-traditional niece, her fiance, and their new baby boy.  She and I are not close, but I wanted to do this for her, because I do think she is a wonderful, interesting person.

The pattern is here, and I do recommend it if you need to get a quilt out in a hurry.  Made with charm squares, this would be incredibly fast; even cutting my own squares (and taking dinner, evening walk, and other breaks), I got the top done in a Friday afternoon/evening.

I started with the striped backing fabric, then chose the others from the stash to coordinate with it.  The only uncut fabric was the backing, and all the rest were scraps; several are from SCRAP Tri-Cities, including the Laurel Burch quilt label and batting.

(And can I just mention how nauseating it is when you look online at any discussion of craft projects for babies and THEY ARE ALL TOTALLY FREAKING OBSESSED WITH THE SEX OF THE BABY.  Endless angst about “how can I make something for the baby when I don’t know the sex,” and “I really want to make this thing but it’s for girls/boys and the baby is a boy/girl,” and “we couldn’t paint the nursery/buy bedding/make a baby quilt because we didn’t know the sex of the baby,” and on and on and on.  Seriously, people?  And just why is it so VERY CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT that everything that the baby comes in contact with broadcast its sex?)

Because I was nervous about the quilting, I just drew a big heart in the center and sewed that first in bright blue thread to see how it looked; I liked it so I did a few more concentric hearts, then upside-down hearts on each side of the main one in the middle.

 

I was trying for sort of an informal, folk art sort of look to the quilting, and I think I got that.

There wasn’t much room on the label, so I just kept it simple.  I did needle-turn applique on it, but it looked too plain, so I added some blue blanket stitch around the edge, too.

 

I’m very happy with this project, and I hope my niece will like it, too.

 

 

You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations – – –
though their melancholy
was terrible. It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice,
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do – – – determined to save
the only life you could save.

Sunday Sevens 08-02-15

Tags

bags, Chiawana Park, Columbia River, cooking, Pasco, quilting, recipe, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Sunday Sevens, Washington

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series–started by Natalie at Threads and Bobbins–in which we post seven-ish photos from our week, stuff we did or made that doesn’t warrant its own post.  It’s pretty fun and you should join us!

I caught up on some things around the house this week that needed doing, like making another batch of lip balm.  Recipe is here, though I used cocoa butter this time instead of kokum butter.

Took an evening walk along the river and got a few pictures of the moon.

And the sunset turning the grass gold.

Unfortunately, I also discovered on that walk that Chiawana Park is rather serious about that whole “park closes at 9:00” business . . . I had to call my partner to come pick me up as the gate was locked with my car inside.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG, I made one of our favorite meals this week.  The recipe is here, but I use whatever vegetables I have on hand–and a lot more of them than the recipe calls for.

I got the quilting done on the baby blanket, but it’s still here, as I then realized I didn’t have a card to send with it (I am fairly hopeless when it comes to this sort of thing).  Will try to get it on the way to my niece tomorrow.

I finished another bag for SCRAP and tried out yet another method for putting zippers in bags.  I really like the fabric combination here, and I think making these patchwork bags has helped me to get better at figuring out what fabrics work together.

Got my partner to come out with me for another walk on Saturday evening.  The temp was 102F, but it was pretty comfortable walking along the river.

Lots to do this coming week, including finishing a bag for a friend.

Have a great week, everybody, and enjoy August while it’s here.

STH