WIP Wednesday: Nesting

Tags

mending, quilting, sewing, swears, WIP Wednesday

(WIP = Work in Progress)

Happy Wednesday, all, and it’s especially happy for me because I have finished the baby quilt!

If you recall, this was a commission for a co-worker of my sister’s.  It was a simple quilt–big blueberries on one side, small on the other, blue border on both sides, cross-hatching for the quilting, ruffle around the edge–but there was a fair bit of hand-stitching, so it took me a while.

Things I learned doing this project:

• There is a reason that people don’t put a narrow border on both sides of a quilt, which is that the quilting you do will inevitably shift the border a bit, and then any quilting you do on or near the border will be wonky.  The only way I know to make sure that doesn’t happen is to carefully line up and hand baste the two sides of the border together so that there won’t be shifting.  Slow and laborious, but it did the trick.
• I still really, really hate making gathers.
• I really, really, profoundly suck at estimating the time needed for sewing projects.  I mean, I knew this, but yeah, it’s bad.  When I was a grad student, I was told about the Rule of Threes for research:  studies will always take three times as long as you expect, cost three times as much, and require three times as many experimental subjects.  I suspect the formula is similar for sewing projects.

I had set a goal for myself of finishing the quilt by Sunday night, but I finally finished at 2:00 Tuesday morning (and my fingers are still sore from that marathon binding session).  I’m afraid I don’t have any pics of the whole quilt, as it had just come out of the dryer, and I was desperate to keep it cat-hair-free until I could deliver it.  The only place my cats don’t sit is this little table next to my sewing machine, so that’s where I put the quilt for photos.

Will you just look at that (almost) perfectly-lined-up border quilting?!?

The good news:  I have some scraps of this super-cute fabric to use in future quilts.  The bad news:  I still haven’t learned how to keep the damn camera strap out of my pictures.

Anyway, now that this project is done and delivered (YAY), I think it may be time to do something about Mending Mountain.

All the ugh.

My sewing room is my own little comfy nest and I’m feeling these days like I want to take better care of it.  In addition to dealing with the Mountain, there’s the fabric inventory in Evernote, the project/fabric use spreadsheet (which I took a first whack at the other day), and using up some stash so that everything fits better into its assigned space.  I’m also making a pile of fabric to donate.  If I don’t love it, and it’s not long enough to be useful for muslins, out it goes.

I’ve got a couple of summer tops in mind to help use up some of these weird little 1 to 1 1/2 yard pieces of fabric I have.  These two, for example, are going to be combined to make view D here.

So hard to take pictures in this harsh white light we have here these days.  😦

That blue on the left has been in the stash for years and may be from Wal-Mart, I’m not sure.  The navy eyelet on the right (SO CUTE) is from SCRAP.

Off to start my way up the Mountain.  Wish me luck.

STH

 

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WIP Wednesday: Preppy Plaid Pillow

Tags

Butterick 5948, clothing, Kaleo, music, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, WIP Wednesday

(WIP=work in progress)

Brand new!  Hot off the pr . . . uh, sewing machine!

I just finished this late this afternoon, and I’m feeling all ready for summer now.

I’ve been a little bit grumpy about how gray and wet it’s been here lately, so I pulled out a bunch of my most summer-y fabrics and patterns and pondered what I could make that would remind me of sunny, hot days.

I started with this fabric, a remnant that I picked up at SCRAP a while ago–great colors, nice, crisp feel to it, but only 7/8 of a yard (53″ wide), which isn’t much.  It’s actually a Waverly home decor fabric and “dry clean only” (HA), but it came through the wash fine, wasn’t stiff like most home decor, and Google told me it was 100% cotton.  I’m not at all a plaid sort of person, but I love the fresh look of this print.  It was probably meant to be pillows for a chair on the deck of a beach house in the Hamptons, but, hey, I can do soft and pillowy, no problem.

Here’s the pattern I came up with–dated 2001, but actually still in print.

View B on the far left only requires 7/8 of a yard for 60″ fabric, so that was what I made.

I was worried it was going to be boring, though, with such a simple design, so I used the pocket included in the pattern and bound the neck edge with a bias binding.

Arm holes are finished with some bias tape that I made some time ago and accidentally cut too narrow.

This fabric had a huge selvage on it and I just barely had enough width for the two pattern pieces.  I wound up having to sew one side seam with a little bit bigger seam allowance, just so the selvage wouldn’t show.

Doing French seams doesn’t work well with vents, so I finished the side seams by turning the seam allowances under and stitching.

Sewing this got me thinking about preppy style, which I’ve always liked.  Not the pastels or the polo shirts, but the straight skirts, button-down shirts, and little cardigans.  There’s just something so neat and tidy about that stuff, you know?  It was a socially-acceptable way for girls to dress that wasn’t frilly or fussy (in other words, I could get away with wearing it while still living with my mother, even though it edges a bit closer to androgyny). It occurs to me that if clothing is a language, we sewing people can use our hobby to explore the facets of what we’re trying to communicate, why, and to whom.  Like lots of things, a simple little tank top can be the start of an interesting meditation.  🙂

This was a quick and easy project–not the 2 hours promised, but are they ever?–and a nice basic pattern to have around.  It’s sized for wovens, but I might try this in a knit just to see how it works.  I spent the winter replacing my oldest fleece tops, but I could stand to do the same with my tee shirts.

I hope you’re seeing signs of spring where you are and having lots of sunny summer dreams.  Here’s some sweet summer music for you to listen to.  (I really like this band–try this and this, too!)

STH

FNSI and Sunday Sevens 3-19-17

Tags

cats, clothing, sewing, Sunday Sevens

Welcome to spring in the western U.S.

This week has been full of signs of spring!  Like the tumbleweed above, because spring in eastern Washington is WINDY, and this fine specimen blew onto our back patio the other day.

Did I ever tell you about the former co-worker of mine who went out driving in his pick-up on a windy day?  Just for fun, he tried to see how many tumbleweeds he could hit with his vehicle (if you hit them just right, they kind of explode).  The problem is, he wasn’t wearing his glasses at the time, and he wound up having to spend the rest of the day underneath his truck, picking porcupine spines out of the engine with pliers.  Hmmm . . . .

Spring also means Pi Day, and since my partner is trying to avoid sugar at the moment, I went for a ground beef pie with lots of vegetables and a puff pastry crust.  A bit soupy–too many mushrooms and too little patience to cook off the excess liquid–but delicious.

I have all these cool black and white fabrics, and I was so happy to get to use them here.

My sister’s birthday is today, so I made her this zipper bag using all stash materials.  The bag is supposed to have a bee applique on this side, but I fell in love with my patchwork here and couldn’t cover it up.  So the bee went on the other side.

Here’s the inside:

The nights are a bit warmer these days, so it was time to shift to the spring bedding.  The cats bid a fond farewell to the comforter with its red flannel cover.

And hello to the new green flannel sheets I bought during the January white sales.

BEST SHEETS EVER.

Friday was the monthly Friday Night Sew-In and I worked on this.  You may notice that this is not the baby quilt I was supposed to be sewing this weekend.  My only excuse is that the gray, soggy weather made me want to sew something summery.

And today, I went to Joann’s to take advantage of the pattern sale and came away with this:

Yep, fleece remnants again.  But that green!  And the two together were about $4 for 1 1/2 yards.  I think these are going to get washed and put away for fall sewing.  Or maybe I’ll just leave them out where I can admire them.

As always, all credit to Natalie at Threads and Bobbins for getting Sunday Sevens started.  Have a great week, everybody!

STH

ETA:  A little tumbleweed context–probably the only place that most people have ever seen one:

WIP Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Ends

Using up those scraps, one 2 1/2″ square at a time.

(WIP=work in progress)

Various projects in various states today.  Because I am that sort of person, let’s start with the end first.  Picture above is of my sister’s birthday present, which I’ve been finishing up today.  Just a sneak peek until I give it to her tomorrow.  This color palette is a little bit unusual for me, but I feel like it really worked.

Next up is finishing this, which is the baby quilt commission for a co-worker of my sister’s.  I got about halfway through it, then got distracted by about 12 other shiny objects, but I need to get it finished.  It’s got the big blueberries on one side, small blueberries on the other, and a blue border on both.  This will have cross hatch quilting and a ruffle when done.

And this one is still in its beginning state; this is the flannel I bought for my niece’s baby quilt.  The pattern is here and I think it will be really cute with a couple of borders as a baby quilt.  The white with green spots will be the background for the applique, and the elephant fabric will be the backing (may very well be the elephant on the front as well).  My mother was with me when I bought this and did NOT approve, but I think it’s adorable.

I think the baby is due in July, so I might put this off a bit . . . I think I may need a fun project after I finish the blueberry quilt.  I’ve got my fabric cataloguing to do (why yes, this does qualify as a fun project, doesn’t everybody get excited about databases and spreadsheets?), but there may also be some springy sewing for me.  It’s been a stressful couple of weeks, I’ve been fighting the jerkbrain like crazy, so maybe it’s time.   I have this really cool plaid I’ve been thinking about . . . .

Anyway, here’s a song to listen to in case you’re also in a battle with the jerkbrain.  “Leave what’s heavy behind,” feels very much like what I’m working on these days.

STH

 

 

Sunday Sevens 3-12-17

Tags

Hoover Park, International Women's Day, Newberg, Oregon, recipe, Sunday Sevens, travel

Very soggy Hoover Park in Newberg, OR.

Still catching up on my pictures in this edition of Sunday Sevens; some of these are actually from last weekend, which was spent in Oregon.  As always, all credit to Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for coming up with the Sunday Sevens idea and giving us something to do with all those random pictures we take.

On Friday, my honey and I headed down to Newberg, Oregon, so that he could do a 200k bike ride with the Oregon Randonneurs (that website is terribly unhelpful, but randonneuring is a type of long-distance, non-competitive, self-supported cycling; a basic introduction is here and a slightly odd–why the marching music?–look at what it’s like to do one of these rides is here).  He’s signed up to do the London-Edinburgh-London ride this summer and a LOT of training needs to happen between now and July.

While he was off doing that on Saturday, I took a walk around and stopped at Hoover Park  (Newberg has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover).  This part of Oregon is still firmly in monsoon season and the park is sort of bowl-shaped, so the ground was muddy, saturated, and slippery with leaves.

I was just happy to see some green, though.

Did not manage to get a picture of the hobbits that surely live here.

I also stopped at the Goodwill there, which for some reason has GREAT fabric; last summer, I picked up this fabulous flannel there.  Look at the summery goodies I found this time!  White gauze tablecloth, white eyelet curtain, and this amazing flowered cotton knit!

Total luck–opened the hotel room curtains and caught this guy snacking on the berries in the tree outside.

Back in eastern Washington, I joined a couple hundred other folks in Richland for an International Women’s Day rally.  Best moment:  a toddler in a red dress wandered up to the stage, picked up one of those signs, and walked off with it.  When she turned around, we could see that it read “Children Before Corporations.”  Big cheer from the crowd.

Another Goodwill find:  a new home for the stash!  I have had ENOUGH of moving bins to get to the one on the bottom.

And, finally, dinner:  I have introduced the Resident Englishman to another venerable American food tradition, the Tater Tot Hotdish (albeit an unusual version).  #Murica

Busy week ahead.  Among other things, I’m working on a birthday present for my sister and need to also finish up the commissioned baby quilt ASAP.  I hope you all have an excellent week, get the important things done, and also make room for the fun things.

STH

WIP Wednesday: Spring Showers

Tags

clothing, McCall's 7195, sewing, WIP Wednesday

SO FREAKING CUTE

Spring is the time for doing something silly, right?

I freely admit that I get a little nutty (well, nuttier) when the weather starts to warm up and things start greening up.  The sun comes out and they start to put out all that pastel springy stuff in stores and I get overwhelmed by the thought of soft yellow chicks and little fluffy bunnies and lavender Easter eggs and green grass and warm sun and daffodils and irises and . . . I wind up buying something ridiculous and pink that I will never wear.

I’d like to think this project is a slightly more sensible and grown-up version of that.  ALL the colors, but also the colors I love to wear (i.e., not pastels), plus it’s warm, which is a good thing, as it’s not even really spring here.

I bought this fleece the other day when I was at Joann’s to get flannel on sale for my niece’s new baby quilt.  (I brought my mother with me, just so she could get out of the house, and OY please remind me to never do that again.  She’s like the chorus in a Greek play that tells you how everything you’re doing is going to go horribly wrong.)  The fleece was also on sale, and I got a further discount for buying the last of the bolt, so it wound up being about five bucks for 1 1/2 yards.  My big spring splurge.  😉

I wanted a simple sweatshirt-y sort of shape to show off the fabric, and found this pattern:

The pattern is actually for wovens, but my fleece doesn’t have a ton of stretch, so I cut the size that gave me a couple of inches of ease at the waist and hips.

Hard to see here, but this has bust darts.

This is view B–a bit longer in the back and a curved hem.

I was 1/4 of a yard short on fabric, so the back is about 1″ shorter than the pattern, which was fine with me.

I don’t like bottom bands or sleeve bands on tops, so I didn’t use them on this.  I didn’t really need the extra hip space, but I added vents on the sides, just because I wanted a boxy sort of look.

This rib knit is from the stash, and it’s the only part of the project I’m not happy with–it got sort of crinkly in the wash, and I’m not crazy about the way it sticks out.  I think I’m going to wait until fleece season is over and redo it. A smooth knit and half the width, I’m thinking . . . .

Cap’n, she’s starting to list!  We’re taking on water!

So, definitely happy with this one, and I’ve been wearing it pretty much constantly since I finished it.  I’m also thinking, though, that this pattern has a lot of potential.  It’s basically a tee shirt, and it fits better than any other tee pattern I’ve tried; with changes to the neckline and sleeve length, you could get a lot of different looks from this.  The other thing I like about the pattern is that it only requires 1 1/2 yards of (60″ wide) fabric for my size (even less if I do short sleeves), so I’m hoping it will help me use up some stash.

Fair warning:  spring also tends to bring on an organizing and stash-busting frenzy around here.  I’ve got some new plastic bins and I feel a spreadsheet coming on . . . .

STH

Sunday Sevens 3-05-17

Tags

Columbia River, Indivisible, politics, Rep. Dan Newhouse, Richland, sewing, Spokane, Sunday Sevens, Womens March Spokane, WSU-TC

I’m trying to get back into a more regular posting schedule here, so I thought I’d take up doing Sunday Sevens again.  It’s a good place to put those sort of random interesting bits and pieces of your life (and I am all about random).  My pictures this week are actually going to be highlights from the last few months, as I’ve got a bit of a stockpile at the moment.  As always, all credit goes to the ever-fabulous Natalie of Threads and Bobbins for getting Sunday Sevens started!

First, let’s go alllll the way back to Xmas, because I made a couple of pretty cool gifts that I never managed to blog about.

For my sister, I made some unpaper towels and a fabric basket to store them in.

I braved the big Thanksgiving sale at Joann’s to get these really fun flannels (this is a pretty serious level of dedication for me), then I matched them up with cute cottons from the stash.

I’m really liking the basket idea for these, and want to make one for my own unpaper towels one of these days.  I get that people like rolling them up and storing them like paper towels, but it kind of makes them a pain to use.  The basket is a better way to store them, I think, if you have the counter space for it.

I also made a charging station for all my partner’s gadgets.

Yeah, it’s a little droopy.  Obviously I needed a stiffer interfacing.  I sewed along the corner seams and that helped it sit up a bit better.

I made this to fit the shelf where he keeps all his bits and pieces that require charging (which is currently a tangle of cords).

I made buttonholes of various sizes along the back to put the plugs through.

He has yet to put this to use (he’s planning to organize his office, but it’s a bit of a big project, if you get my meaning), but I think it’s going to eventually be really handy.  The execution on this could use a little work, but I really like the concept.

Now for some demos!  Three so far this year, I suspect many more to come.

In mid-January, the Democratic Party called for demonstrations in support of the ACA (Obamacare), and I went to the one in Richland (next town over).  At the last minute, my honey decided to come with, but warned me that he thought we might be the only ones there.  Eastern Washington state is pretty conservative–Republicans outnumber Dems 2-to-1–and it was 15F and snowing that day.

200 people showed up!

Best I could do, being short and at the back.  (And can I just mention how much I want that guy’s gorgeous red hair?!?  I mean, yeah, politics, but I know how to multitask.)

For some reason, they had us gather on the outdoor stage, and it was covered in a sheet of ice–I’m kind of amazed nobody slid off the edge of the stage–but folks were undeterred and fired up!

Then, the following weekend, partner and I drove to Spokane for the Women’s March.  Some folks had thrown a local event together at the last minute, but they planned to walk a labyrinth and meditate, and no way did I want to meditate–I wanted to yell!  So we went to Spokane and it was an amazing experience.  2,000 people were expected, but as we drove through downtown, I thought it sure looked like a lot more than that.  When we lined up with the huge crowd at the start, a woman we talked to told us that they had stopped letting people into the Convention Center for the pre-march rally when they reached 5,000 people in there.  News reports afterward estimated 8,000 attended.

And I should have pictures for you, but my camera would not cooperate.  Sigh.

But we marched and it was great–so much positive energy and determination to fight for what’s right.  Great mix of all ages, races, genders; it meant a lot to me to see all those people come out for this event after the horror of the election.  I was expecting some counter-demonstrators, but the only ones I saw were at the start–three or four young dudebros snickering on the sidelines.  One of them yelled out something about “making it great again,” but was ignored.  It felt like it was finally OUR time to be heard, not theirs.

Did get the camera working for this shot of the park with decorations appropriate to the occasion.

Finally, last weekend, our local Indivisible group organized a town hall at the Washington State University Tri-Cities campus.  Our local Representative–I feel like that word should be in quotes–is Republican Dan Newhouse, and he is one of the 200 or so Reps that are refusing to hold the traditional town hall meetings in their districts.  So we held one without him.  Constituents asked him questions that were videotaped to be delivered to his office.  Great idea, well-executed, and lots of smart, well-informed people there to keep the pressure on him to do the right thing.

I also took the opportunity while I was out there to take a walk along the river path and snap a few photos.

I love these, but the best thing about them is that they swivel around their poles when the wind blows!

Looking across the Columbia River.

Next event is a rally on Wednesday for International Women’s Day.  We are keeping the pressure on and the energy up!

Have a great week, everybody, and take care of yourselves.

STH