Modern Maples - Happiness style

It is always very exciting to have a finished project to show. This time, it is a Modern Maples quilt made by the terrific sewists who make up the Happiness circle over at Do Good Stitches. My month as quilter was in August and I asked for Modern Maple blocks in shades of purple, grey, and cream and my group-mates did not disappoint. I wanted to make a larger lap-size quilt so I added in a couple of plain blocks (straight fabric, no piecing) but I needed a few more. I thought about outright copying Toni's absolutely gorgeous quilt here, but I came to my senses and realized I only had so much free time and making those blocks would probably take too long. So, I decided on square in square blocks and I really like how they look.

For quilting, I selected the wavy-line decorative stitch on my machine and set the width and length settings as high as they would go. I then drew lines 1" apart on the diagonal, traveling in the same direction as the leaf points; my idea is the wavy lines would add the concept of movement. I ran the walking foot dead centre down each line. I think it took longer to mark the lines than to sew it (in case you want to try it on your own project) but I am happy with the result. Then I bound it, washed it, and took it outside to get a photo. As you can see, there are plenty of leaves on the ground so it fit right in!

I do not have a design wall. We recently invited our daughters and their spouses to move back in so they could finish school/save for a house, so hubby and I have taken over the basement - a far cry from my grand plans to create a sewing room in one of their formerly vacated bedrooms! In the absence of a design wall, I found using painter's masking tape to adhere the blocks to the wall worked nicely. I played with them for quite some time before settling on the final arrangement, and in the end, I am happy with it. My daughters have commented it might be one of their favourite quilts I have ever made - but they don't like the modern maple block, nor do they care for purple. So I think my efforts to lay out the blocks and get it "just right" really worked, and that is what they are drawn to.

A friend picked it up from my office today and is transporting it to it's new home in High River - a small town recently devastated by terrible floods. So many people have lost their homes and I am glad to send someone a big hug in the form of this quilt.

I hope all the leaves at your house are fabric!

e.

Naptime

Not really, but seeing all these pillows sure made it an enticing idea! I spent Labour Day weekend cleaning and reorganizing my sewing room and one of the things I had to deal with was my collection of Clothesline Club kits from several years back. I made a few of them, but I still had a lot of them sitting in their original packages. It was time to do something about it. I took all those pretty 30's prints out of the packages, pressed them all up, and integrated them into my stash. But I knew that wasn't the final answer, so I tried to think of how I could use up some of the fabric and came up with the idea of pillowcases.

I'm a sucker for making pillowcases; they are a quick sewing fix and the method where you roll everything up into a tube and turn it inside out is pretty genius! I ended up with enough large pieces to make seven pillowcases. I pressed those babies up and got them stacked and they've been sitting in my sewing space, cheerfully awaiting deployment to some good cause. My only hesitation in giving them away was I really wanted to get a picture - must blog, therefore, must take photos! Today was finally the day!

I asked eldest daughter dear to help out with the photo shoot; basically, I said "go up to your room and bring me all your pillows - make sure they're naked!" So most people's children, I imagine, would have been somewhat fazed by such a comment but not my daughter. She knew exactly what I meant and having her mother make such a request didn't even cause her to skip a beat - not even one. Not sure what that says about our family, but on with the story!

Or wait, let's just get on with the photo:

It's autumn now. I love fall, but overcast, dark, blustery days are a bit of a bummer, especially for taking photos (although not quite as horrible as it getting SO dark SO early in the evenings, anymore!).

Quick finishes equal happy sewing! They'll be off to a new homes shortly.

Happy last day of September.

e.

Whiskers

Paper piecing. Any chance it's a "love it or hate it" type of thing? I truly admire the people who do it and the projects they make. I am amazed at how someone can get an idea for a design and then break it down into small sections that can be joined together with a straight seam. It really is a gift.

But I don't think it's for me. As a technique, that is. This month, our assignment over in the Happiness circle for Do Good Stitches is to make one of these Whiskers blocks in catfish colours - oranges, greys, and watery hues. I appreciate Craftsy making the pattern available as a free download - thanks, Craftsy!

Here is kitty:

You can't tell with the way the light is but the background is a nice grey pindot from one of Bonnie & Camille's lines. The orange is Glimma and the nice charcoal fabric is Running Stitch by Patty Young. I think the colours came together nicely and the block itself - not too bad at all.

I'm not a fan of the amount of fabric it takes; you need to have generous slabs of fabric to ensure the section is completely "covered". I'm not a person who prefers to sew with itsy bitsy scraps or crumbs, so the chunks I cut off end up in the garbage can - phooey! I imagine with (lots) more practice I would feel more comfortable cutting it close with my fabric pieces, but obviously, I'm not there yet. I also don't care for a lot of texture in a block when it comes from seams - from great fabrics and contrast, yes, sewing lines? No.

It's okay though, right? I really do like how the block turned out and I learned something new - can't complain about that. For now, though, I'll probably stick to other methods of piecing (and hope those little scrappy bits of fabric don't end up in the dog's mouth!).

e.

Fresh Sewing Day: September!

September is my favourite month. It always has been. I'm not sure why because I love so many other times of the year as well but I was definitely one of those people who loved school, and getting a whole bunch of new school supplies to sharpen, organized, and label was always a very exciting time for me! And now I work at a college and for us, school starts again the Wednesday after Labour Day each year and there is always an excited energy in the air which is kind of neat to be a part of!

I have had a great few weeks at work and I even managed to sew a fair bit, but I don't have anything to show because I loaned out my camera to my daughter so she could take it on her field school course - she's not back until Tuesday. I'm really, really hoping she doesn't leave my camera out in the woods as a gift to one tree or another (like she did with the last camera I got her, and the last water bottle...do you see a trend?). I am a big fan of trees but I am quite certain they are not hankering after my Nikon so Eryn, if you're reading this, please bring my camera home!

In lieu of fabric and quilt-friendly photos, I bring you this masterpiece taken with my phone around noon today:

No, it isn't a dust bunny gone wild (although I've seen a few come close), it's a bat. I don't know what type of bat as my naturalist is out in the woods somewhere (hopefully still with my camera) but it isn't very large at all and it appears to be quite content just hanging around outside our front door. I checked when it started getting dark - assuming it would be gone - and found it had moved into the corner. It looks very content (and almost cute) so as long as it doesn't bother us, I don't plan to bother it.

I did celebrate Fresh Sewing Day and the first day of National Sewing Month by tidying and organizing in my sewing room. As of September 1 my job description has changed so that I am now only responsible for 1.0 full time positions (instead of the 2.8 I was trying to hold down - all of the moms get what that is like!) and I want to celebrate by making my sewing space as accomplishment-friendly as it can be. I absolutely have some kind of sewing ADHD and had many (I won't admit HOW many) projects started all over the place. In fact, as I cleaned up, there was one or two I had forgotten about. Every time I'd go to sew, I'd be so overwhelmed by it all that the best answer (here's quilter's logic for you) I'd start something new! I am fairly certain I'm not the only one to have done something like that. As of this evening my work surfaces are cleared and my projects have been gathered and organized into plastic storage bags and placed on the shelf for when I am truly ready to focus on them and get them done. Yay for a fresh start on Fresh Sewing Day!

Linking up here!

e.

Voile-a!

Not kidding. About three weeks ago I very firmly stated to a co-worker that I would rather cut out and sew an entire quilt from scratch than sew on a button - that's how over garment sewing I am. Or was. The next day (not kidding), like some sort of challenge coming from the cosmos, I see the Lady Skater Dress posted on a blog and the narrative tells me it is easy and boy, is it cute! And the brain starts moving and I think "my girls would love a dress like that" and "oh, they have some really pretty knit fabrics now" and before I know it, I had fallen down the slippery slope from "ain't never sewing clothes again" to "I'll go to bed as soon as I finish altering this bodice pattern".

Several patterns removed from Lady Skater, I present my first Washi dress:

 I admit, when I started seeing these pop up on blogs last fall, they didn't do much for me. First of all, I thought I was still the person who no longer sewed clothes. Second, I didn't really dig the neckline. Third, "quilting cotton" and "comfortable dress" are counterintuitive for me so I quickly closed my mind to the idea. But as my Lady Skater texts to my daughters turned into involved Pinterest and Flickr sessions, the Washi pattern came to the forefront as the "must have" pattern for a summer dress. And Anna Maria Horner's voile naturally became the only fabric option.

I downloaded the PDF pattern (all 3, 789 pages, it seemed) and set about cutting, matching, and taping until I had a pattern. And then (I can't believe I'm saying this) I made a muslin. Yes, kids, unheard of in my past sewing life. Not only did I make the muslin, as the pattern suggested, but I took the seams apart and fooled with it and altered it until the bodice fit my daughter nicely. Then I altered the actual paper pattern. No kidding, I really did that. Then I waited. Patiently (or not). We ordered the fabric from the nice people at Hawthorne Threads and had it sent to the border because mail coming into Canada from the US needs to be manhandled by everybody at Homeland Security, Canada Border Services, and Canada Post. That's a lot of people; that takes some serious time and I needed to get these sewn before I lost my dressmaking mojo!

As you can see, I took out that scoopy cutout thingy on the neckline. What you can't see is I lined the bodice back and front following Rae's directions (super easy) and I used French seams throughout. I made each dress in an evening (disclaimer: I used to sew all my girls' clothes when they were little, so I have had some practice).

I worried a bit about sewing with voile; I read some posts online before getting started but really, it was a breeze. I didn't encounter any issues or difficulties (but it does wrinkle easily, as you can see from the photo). The pattern itself is very well written and super easy to follow. Rae generously created a series of videos which show how to do the lined bodice; they are posted online and a great resource.

So that is what I was up to last week. A second Washi dress is also finished and I'll get some photos of it when my daughter has a chance to come over and model it for me.

As for the Lady Skater? Pretty sure I'll be making one of those real soon...

e.

Modernista

I've been having fun working on some projects for the Modernista swap going on over at Flickr. I am new to this swap (not sure how long it has been going on) and the theme this time has been "the bedroom".

My big project was a 24" throw pillow cover which I did in my partner's colours (blue, purple, green) in a courthouse steps design. I made each block individually so I could make sure my steps matched the adjacent block - it didn't take long at all and I didn't have to repeat any of the fabrics in the top.

For my small gift, I made a bunting using similar colours; my partner had given she might like one with the word "LOVE" on it. By checking out her Flickr photos and her blog I also learned Kate Spain is one of her favourite designers so I used a Central Park scrap in my partners colours to make the heart in the middle.

I tucked in some coordinating fat quarters and wrapped it all up in Jeni Baker's Lined Drawstring Bag in the Project size. I had another fat quarter of Central Park on hand and it was just enough. I finished it really late Friday night and didn't remember to get a photo of it yesterday morning before I ran the package over to the post office, but it turned out super cute.

I have a couple of fun projects coming up this week which hopefully I will get done to the point of having something to show. I love summer, I love summer weekends - time to go and enjoy a bit of both.

e.

Why is the weekend always gone?

Sigh. I am usually sad to see the weekend leave; they go by so quickly, don't they?

First of all, I got so caught up in doing things I forgot to post about the Let's Get Acquainted blog hop on Friday so please, forgive my tardiness and visit these bloggers to show them some love:

Hilltop House Creative Works
Sew Happily Ever After
Christa Quilts
Wonderland by Alyce
the crooked banana
Caroline's Craftiness
Sassafras Lane
quarter incher

Every week I find more amazingly talented people through their blogs. I love it. 

I'm in a little swap going on over at Flickr and managed to finish piecing and quilting my main project today:

Between the late evening light and my (lack of) photography skills, it is hard to tell these are purples, blues, greens, greys, and whites - but they are! It's both fun and a bit nerve-wracking to come up with something I hope is just perfect for my swap partner. I pulled out my trusty old Bernina 830 (as in the old one from circa 1978!) and spent some quality time meandering around this piece. I do most of my sewing/piecing on a much newer Husqvarna but she just doesn't to a nice job when it comes to FMQ, for some reason. I've had that Bernina for a long time and she helped me make entire wardrobes for my girls many, many years ago. I had to have her serviced and this was the first time I'd used her since - she worked like a charm!

Hoping everyone had a good weekend and especially my American friends who celebrated their big holiday a few days back!

e.