Miss Snips Notebook

Ending

2009-07-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

This is the official announcement...

Miss Snips has written her last column for the Canadian Quilter Magazine. It has been eleven years of tips and techniques for the readers in this magazine. I have totally enjoyed formating and searching out resourses for quilting ideas, but now it has come time to pass the reins onto someone else to put their ideas and words forward.

Some who read this blog also read the Canadian Quilter Magazine and some just read my little blog stories and I very much thank you for both or either. I still like to write and tell some stories but those stories are not Miss Snips.

Miss Snips will not be writing in this space anymore, so even though this blog will remain in this space for a time this is my last post as Miss Snips -- I will be setting up a more personal blog, a bit of quilt making, a bit of crochet, a bit of personal day to day life struggles and complaints...

Come over and visit me at my new blog - Susan Being Snippy

Privileged

2009-06-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was one of the lucky ones in my guild to take a workshop taught by Gloria Loughman from Australia. She is author of the book Luminous Landscapses. Part of the class, my favourite part was painting skyscapes on fabric. I have done fabric painting on my own with regular acrylic paints but when you have the right fabric paint along with the proper instruction for mixing colours and how to sweep your brush across, around and through your fabrics it makes alot of difference in how the pieces turn out...

These pictures show some of the painted sky scapes drying in the sunny parking lot and below is the one that I did. My sky will be part of a prairie sky, my little landscape quilt is yet to be completed so it will be awhile before I show the sky in an actual piece... soon though, I hope.

I Must try to update ...

2009-06-06T21:14:00.001-07:00

On a much more regular basis...

But, I am STILL recovering from my recent illness and tend to be rather lethargic some days AND now we are having a deck built in our tiny back yard -- the deck takes up half the yard -- it is a townhouse yard, and is only 15 feet wide and 22 feet long. The deck is 15 feet x 14 feet. I can hardly wait to sit out there on my SWING and work on some of my hand sewing projects!

I have pulled out a couple of them -- hand sewing projects that is -- in anticipation of sitting on the swing. One is making some hand sewn dolls -- tiny ones, 3" high only; and I have a english paper piecing project that is about 3 years now, in the works; and another hand piecing project of various blocks from the book Quilted Diamonds -- so lots of hand work to do while sitting in the sun...

Too Deep, Too Deep for Me...

2009-05-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

For a few years now, I have been following Myrna Giesbrecht's writings. She has such a completely committed position to her art and to me works very hard at being an artist.

It is all too deep for me.

I am a lazy artist - I am a lazy worker - I am a person who lives by the words of the song " Whatever will be, will be" I certainly have never been one to make a hard turn in my life to keep on or to purposely change my track. I heartily admire people who can steer their way though life and make choices and even able to recognize the time to make a choice in life or art... I just float along and hope that certain things happen, sometimes I make somewhat of an effort to drift in a particular direction, but if it takes more time and effort than I seem to be able to committ, I don't worry that my "art" or "effort" was not up to par, just that it was not quite enough to be noticed... Marketing, is the word, I mean. I am not really looking to be famous or to do famous things -- but you know what? The thing that I have striven for has never been noticed?

Why is that?

I have written for a national magazine for more than 10 years. I have had a few short stories published in compilation type books. No one in my family has EVER, said congratulations or in fact one family member said to me "so, your not the first one to write a story" --- and that I have to conceed. My great-great-great-great grandfather wrote 3 books, between about 1830 and 1845...

I think, my attitude is what it is, because I am not here to please anyone except myself, and ultimately, I am very happy with what I have done, writing wise, and quilting wise, and even now crochet wise...

Fillers

2009-05-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

I am not very consistent or regular in posting on this blog. Well, not recently anyway. I was determined to keep Miss Snips to writing exclusively about sewing and quilting and some crochet, but, Miss Snips is in for a change...

Miss Snips will go back to writing about whatever strikes her fancy.

There are alot of things to write about.

Half of the things that Miss Snips can write about probably will turn out to be just personal stuff. One of the things that I have discovered is that everybody cares about something quite passionately and practically everybody else wonders what kind of a nut would care about that! Life sure is strange. You see those kind of disparities in people in Political Campaigns. Today is Election Day in BC. We are voting for a new Provincial Government. Because of my own health issues - I think that Health Care is a big issue -- but the party leaders consider it to be about #5 or 6 on their Issues lists. It has been a mud slinging campaign and has been difficult to follow. My particular area has had the electoral boundaries changed from the last election 4 years ago and since one of the boundaries is in the middle of town and so am I, there is a mix of signage, making the list of candidates that I have available to vote for even more confusing.

Ultimately, I hate to say this, but I have not figured out who to vote for. Mainly my illness has occupied my thoughts and the confusion of names and area and issues just was more than I could put my full attention to --- so I am not going out to vote today. I just am not ready for it. I know, it is a responsibility, but to go stand in the booth and puzzle over, "who is this guy and what did he say when" is beyond me for this time. I hate not going to vote; but if I did, it would be an irresponsible vote.

Now, how bout something pretty instead...

Sending a Quilt out to a Long Arm Pro

2009-05-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

The time has come. I have been making quilts since -- too long to say! Though the first 20 years of my quilting was alone and fairly primitive and the quilts were definately for everyday and utility use.
Since about 1990, I have much improved and made quilts for their beauty and usefulness and even have my non-traditional, ARTY side. I have put together and completed a wide variety.
In 1997, I was part of a small group who wanted to learn more about quilting, so I helped the other 11 members focus on learning to piece traditional blocks from simple to difficult. Each person made 12 blocks of each pattern. After a year and a bit, we brought our blocks together and exchanged them. So, I was fairly motivated by the blocks I received -- I usually am -- aren't you?
I created for myself a slightly different "medallion" for the centre of the quilt, added some borders and then placed the group blocks around the central area. Somehow that is where the work stopped. The top has been in the closet for 13 years! I can't even believe I would let something vegetate that long.

So. It is time to have this "sucker" quilted. I think, one of my quirks has been that I have always before hesitated to have someone else, anyone else quilt my quilt. It seems that in my head, then I did not do the quilt on my own -- well, of course I didn't -- I had 11 other ladies contribute blocks to this particular quilt! How, odd is the thought that I want it all mine, mine, mine, yet it isn't and never was, to begin with!

I meet with the long arm quilter in a couple of weeks -- I do need to check a few things on this top and I need to make a backing for it -- then I will deliver it and when it comes back, I will see how I feel about a quilt not quilted by me! I do have a couple other tops that are lanquishing that may also qualify for a long arm quilt job to be done on them so that I can say -- they are DONE...

Value

2009-05-01T08:30:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to point my readers to Alice's blog at http://bcquilter.wordpress.com/
She has a great story about how she has developed the colours and the value of the colours in her latest project quilt, which she plans to give as a gift. Her description of the process and how she came to her end decisions gives us all insight on how to work through the choices of fabrics and why the choices were made...

Further to BAD SERVICE

2009-05-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

I just had to add a resolution to the previous blog entry about bad service.

My friend, took her sewing machine to another shop in town, a LQS, an all around quilter's heaven, actually. They have fabric, they have classes, they have notions or every sort, they have a sewing machine sales and repair department (but not actually for her machine - a different brand) -- the repair person there though did a "bang up" job at tuning her machine and -- THE BEST PART - the basic price was $20 LESS than the basic price at the other store and it is only about 4 blocks away, and she had her machine in a couple of days! (with no added fee for quick service).

Now, our little quilting community, just about 50 kms east of Vancouver, BC has a well established guild, with connections to many other quilt and sewing groups -- and it seems word has spread about the extremely bad service that has been delivered by the long established family owned sewing shop on Clearbrook Rd. and the shop that my friend used, located just a few blocks over on George Ferguson Way, has received high praise, well deserved. So if you are familiar with my neighbourhood, perhaps you could visit the shop that is known for its "notions" and avoid the shop that used to be "music and sewing" but is now just a sewing shop.

What about BAD SERVICE

2009-04-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

In the last few days a group of my quilty friends have been discussing bad service and what to do about it.

In this instance, one of our group, took her very favourite and often used sewing machine into the shop where she bought it originally to have its annual check-up and cleaning. This shop has been in this town and quite well known for many many years. It is a family business, now taken over by the second generation. One son, runs the retail, the other takes care of the repair.

Well, after 5 weeks and two phone calls, our quilty friend happened to mention it when we got together - she said she had called and that the technician had told her, there were only two machines ahead of hers that he had to do and he would call when hers was ready. The problem was, that he had said the exact thing to her two weeks before! When she mentioned this, we all agreed that was pretty bad service and wondered what could possibly be the problem as the machine was not waiting for parts or any specialized work.

So, after much discussion, we urged our friend to go to this local shop and get her machine and take it to the next town, about 30 kilometers away to a different shop that many of our quilty aquaintenances have and continue to use.

Now, our quilty friend, finally dropped a deep dark secret that shocked us all. When she enquired about her machine, two weeks previous, one of the things that the technician said to her was -- "If you pay and extra $20, I can have the machine ready for you tomorrow morning" --- I tell you, we were shocked. I was amazed and blurted out that I thought it was extrortion!
Would any reputable business, add a charge for good service? Is this what you could even consider a reputable business?

Our quilty friend has now gone to this shop and picked up her sewing machine, which has not been touched since she took it there. The clerk enquired of her, why and said it would only be a short time now. I think, I hope, politely, our quilty friend just said that she was unable to wait an unspecified amount of time and was taking her business dollars to a shop and a technician who actually worked.

We heard the next day, that our friend was happily sewing at home with her cleaned and tuned machine, which she had taken to the shop further away, and had picked it up again the very same afternoon!

Now, I bought my sewing machine at the same shop here in town , but because of word of mouth have not taken it back to them for any service. I did go into the shop recently to buy a bobbin case -- but now, I think, even to purchase some of those sewing extras that this local shop carries -- I will avoid them simply because of that suggestion of an extra charge for better service.

I am so outraged by that concept. It is not a new thing of course. Money Talks! Except in this case, I really wonder how much it actually means to the technician if he gets and extra $20 every couple of months just cause he does a machine overnight? Really, unless you were desperate, $20 every 6 to 8 weeks would not make a big difference in your life -- and I think but of course don't know, how often he does this thing, but it cannot be often if one machine takes more than 6 weeks if you do not pay him that bit extra? Or are there that many ladies who will pay that extra $20 to jump the line so to speak? Which would you do? Would you consent to pay more for the same work, if you could have it done sooner? Or would you be outraged that they dare to ask for that BRIBE?

I know, that I shall not be going to that particular shop again -- even driving a few extra kilometers is easier on my mind than to feel that I am a "mark" for the local store to get an easy buck off of...

Interest

2009-04-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

came across this 'playaround' site on another quilting blog (and gee, I am sorry but I navigated away from it before making note!) and could not resist putting my old and still not completely identified antique sewing machine into the old TV picture.

The photo manipulating site is at http://www.photofunia.com/ so check it out, make a few fun pics... it is very straightforward and easy to use...

Oh yeah, any clues you might have on above machine, let me know -- I have checked all the (or maybe most) of the antique sites and so far have not come across anything that is quite the same...

Patchwork and Crochet

2009-04-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well, My, Oh, My...
Here is a project that I have been thinking on and working variations on for a while now -- I am trying to create a shawl, that could and would be used as part of a Pioneer Style outfit. I am not one to research and be totally authentic, that is not really my goal -- I want it to be able to 'go with' and be "LIKELY" if you know what I mean.

A year or so ago, I picked up in a Thrift Shop and 'sample' book of Liberty fabrics, a very high count smooth cotton, but all the samples were quite small, 4 inches x 6 inches. They just sat in their little book on a shelf for the longest time. One day, I just took the book apart and sewed all the rectangles together, then the resulting piece, which I expected to quilt and make into a little throw or charity quilt and give away, sat again for months on the shelf.

Then, I was asked to make a shawl for my friend (I already told about that a few posts back). Somehow, the sewn rectangles of the Liberty samples said, we are sedate, but we look pretty, make us into a shawl. So I thought about it for another month. The right day came along, I folded the rectangle piece over to create a triangle, did it sort of like big pocket, sewed the edge seams in and slip stitched the opening closed. Instantly, I knew it needed a crochet lace edging. Well, it is not a pattern from anywhere, I just started a long three double crochet back and forth sort of thing until it was long enough to border two (the right angle) sides of the shawl and then I sewed it on by hand. It was only about one inch wide so I started doing a 3 chain, 1 single crochet, in even spaces along the crochet already, next row was three double crochet, three chain, 1 single crochet and repeat the length -- I did that row, three times -- and thats it.

To me, it feels like a success -- I have to present it to my friend yet and see how she feels about it. She knows more about the Pioneer Style that she is looking for, so it still may not be exactly the thing. Though, ultimately, I myself am pleased with it.
PS, the yarn I used for the crochet edge was a bit of reclaimed yarn from a vest that I had and took apart and forgot about. It is I believe a cotton fingering yarn, but quite soft and doesn't give a stiff edge to the shawl -- the whole thing sort of feels like it has already been in use for a while...

Crochet, for a change

2009-04-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

A friend was wanting a shawl to wear this summer, that would represent the pioneer spirit. The first attempt is this varigated green , sort of half square granny, which formed a triangle and then with a sort of frilly trim. It is a shawl, but perhaps to colourful for a pioneer type, and somewhat too heavy for summer.

Next I figured I have a grocery bag full of small balls of yarn scraps so thought I would do up some granny squares in mixed colours and see how they looked together with a dark red yarn that was lurking in the bottom of a bin in the closet. The traditional granny square, I think, will do fine as a shawl, this particular one though, may be again to bright and modern to pass for a pioneer lady's everyday shawl to keep her shoulders warm when going out after supper is done to sit on the porch with a cuppa tea. I like the square shape better than the triangle.

I do have another idea, that I have started on, lighter and only the edge is crocheted. Hope to show it in a week or so.

Tell me if you would wear either of these shawls -- I am thinking someone might like to purchase them, or one or the other?

Missing You

2009-04-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Again, I have been ill -- it takes so much to just do the daily things, that my blog here is suffering terribly.

Quilting and sewing just in itself takes more energy than I seem to be able to give it, but it is actually mood lifting to pick up a crochet hook and start using it on scrappy bits of yarn...

I have made a stack of granny squares that soon will be put together in a nice big summer shawl - I hope to have the pictures in a bit for you to see. I have also started a project for my neices - 4 year old twins - each a poncho type shawl and a hat, hopefully to get to them by late summer Pictures, will be coming soon on that project.

I have a pending announcement also in the works but am not quite ready to tell that story, so that too will be waiting til late summer or early fall.

I will try to work on making my poor body think healthful thoughts and learn about this illness that I am dealing with for a second time, perhaps as my doctor says each time it flares up, it is not as bad as the last time -- well, it is still pretty miserable though I do hope...

Four Seasons Quilt Swap Five

2009-03-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

I signed up a couple of months ago, to take part in a quilt swap and this is the little quilt that I have created to send off across the seas.

One of the requirements of the swap was to keep it monochromatic -- I thought that would be easy! And I thought it would be even easier because the partner assigned to me seems to like the same colours and things that I do. I have LOTS of green in my stash. Of course the first thought was something flowery and pretty, which I did -- but it was UGLEEE... so I scrapped it, it was so UGLEEE that I can't even show it as a failure! So start again. I was picking through a drawer where I had odd bits of collected specialty prints and out popped a piece that has brown and green quilt shops -- like so many special fabric bits, it screamed out "ME, PICK ME!" and so I did. So the less that a fat eighth that has been in that drawer for at least 15 years is wandering it's way via extremely slow Canada Post to one of the Countries across the world from me.

I do hope my partner recipient likes the piece and finds a place to hang or use it...

Car Nappin' Pillow, Part 2

2009-03-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

I was quite rudely interrupted, so have decided to post this tutorial in two parts...

Step 6: Anyway. Open out the fabric and you should have two pieces that look like the photo above. Sort of a dog bone shape. The larger square ends, when sewn sort of act as side pillows and you can turn your head and rest your cheek -- your head doesn't flop forward -- at least mine doesn't. The 'bone' section just sets under your neck and gives you good support, especially filling in that big gap between the top of the seat and he head rest.

Step 7: now with right sides together, starting at about the 1/3 point along one side of the 'bone', sew all the way around the shape, leaving an opening so that you can put left over bits of quilt batting or polyfil batting. I like to fill my pillow quite firmly. Now generally the smaller that you are, the shorter the 'bone' section needs to be, I make mine about 8" finished and about 5" wide -- so you might have to experiment once or twice to find your perfect fit. I made one for my husband, and the 'bone' length for him is actually 9 1/2".

Step 8: the final step is to hand stitch the opening closed. I like to use a ladder stitch and I also use hand quilting thread -- it is a bit stronger and holds better, especially if you have stuffed your pillow quite firmly.

Let me know if you have tried this kind of a pillow and if you find it useful. I have also created one for tv watchin' --- I have a high back Lazyboy type recliner and when I set myself slightly back with my feet up, the little neck pillow supports my neck and head, perfect for watchin' TV -- except I get so comfortable that sometimes I fall asleep before the show ends -- CSI Miami is on at 10pm in my area and getting too comfy is a certain recipe for sleeping with the tv on til midnight or later with not one show actually seen!

Tutorial - Car Nappin' Pillow

2009-03-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since small cars have been sold with Bench seats in the front. That means pretty much every car I have owned in the last 15 years or so have had Bucket Seats, which also means they have those head rests that are actually too high for me -- I am pretty short by average human standards, I guess.

Well, occasionally we go somewhere -- especially a ride on the ferry to Vancouver Island -- that allows for a bit of a nap in the car while waiting in line. A regular pillow just doesn't do the trick for me - my neck has no support and the head rest is way to hard to actually rest anything on.

In the last few months, we have been on the Ferry 8 times -- way to many times, but executor duties for my mothers estate has taken me over there to deal with the house sale, insurance, and bill paying. So. I have made myself a CAR NAPPIN' PILLOW.

I once had a Airline Neck Pillow and found it way to thick around the neck, which just pushed my head forward so my chin was resting on my breast bone, not comfy at all -- so after some thinking and testing, here is what I came up with. I have not provided actual measurements because you may find you need something slightly bigger or smaller.

Step 1: cut a full lengthwise piece of fabric, about 10 inches wide -- trim off the selvedge, so you have a piece that measures about 44" x 10".

Step 2: Press in half so that it is now 22" x 10" Approximately.

Step 3: fold over again so that it is about 11" x 10", do not cut anything yet.

Step 4: fold again, this time making a rectangle that measures about 5 1/2 " x 10" -- this makes it so two sides have folds and two sides are raw edges -- you are actually making two identical pieces that you will sew together.

Step 5: This is the tricky part. Mark a 'cut out' -- one edge is the long bottom edge of your fabric where all the edges are cut layers and the left side (in the picture) is folded over. This will become the 'bone' part of the pillow or the part that goes behind your neck. The piece I marked and cut out was 4 1/2" from the folded edges and 2 1/2 " from the bottom or cut edges.

Daily

2009-03-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

I did say that I would try to keep Miss Snips to quilting as it's main subject matter, but the past six weeks or so, have been a bit of a turmoil and if I don't write about everyday things, I don't have much quilting to write about! Sometimes daily life and challenges get in the way of doing fun stuff...

I will post a few things though in the next couple of days that are definate sewing and quilting related -- one a simple tutorial I have been preparing and testing -- something, new and different that I have not seen anywhere else. So definately check back later...

My biggest challenge of late has been my sister. She used to be such a lovely person but she spent a few years looking after our mother and I think because of it has pulled away from everyone and everything. I am so sorry that she has chosen to close herself away from her family now that our mother has passed away, but, no matter how I try to keep contact with her I get no response or email responses such as "stop badgering me". I guess that is what I should do, perhaps someday she will again find a need for family, but perhaps not.

Another Challenge is that my main source of income has stopped -- I hope temporarily. My husband like many many others who work or rather worked for a large American Corporation has been let go from his position that he held for almost 20 years. He did get a severance package, so there is no immediate worry, but that will end and if he has not found something else, we will then be digging into the savings that we have worked hard to aquire -- luckily being a very cautious investor, our only investments have been our bank savings account and Canada Savings Bonds so our savings have not been reduced as many mutual funds and other types of investments have been. I surely do have to say though, that trying to be encouraging and supportive to a non working partner is very difficult at times! Adjusting to having my partner at home all day (or most of) everyday is a huge change from him leaving for work at 7:10 am and arriving home at 6:30 pm for many many years! The biggest change is, that he starts asking "What's for Dinner?" about 12:30pm everyday!

I am determined to head into my sewing room this morning and not think about what He is wanting for dinner! I have to create a routine that includes my own "Work" and yet still be reasonably attentive to his EGO, I think...

Miss Snips went on a Retreat Weekend!

2009-02-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

I have only ever been on retreats hosted by my own quilt guild. It is pretty much a weekend of free sewing and chatting with everyone else who is there. For the past 4 years, or maybe 5, we have been having our guild retreat at Rosemary Heights Retreat Centre in Surrey, BC.

We arrive at the centre just after Noon on Friday and start to set up our stations. The room that is used for sewing is HUGE. Every quilter has a full size table all to herself, the tables are about 6 foot x 2 foot and a regular height -- some of us need pillows piled on chairs -- this year I brought my own adjustable office chair and I was very glad that I did!

I think on these types of expeditions, I talk as much as I sew, infact if you counted stitches and words, they would probably be about equal!

The Retreat Centre provides the meals, and very nice ones at that. So we don't have to cook or clean, or fold laundry, or make decisions other than perhaps what fabric or colour to use next.

The variety of projects are amazing, but I think that the majority of the quilts being made were going to be gifts to other family of friends of the maker.
The only drawback of the whole weekend was that my husband thought he was doing me a great favour by driving me there and then coming to pick me up on Sunday. I thought to myself but did not say out loud - so if you didn't pick me up, who would cook your dinner? I think I did not say it to him simply because my tongue was already overtired from talking to all my friends about their quilts and their families. I wonder why I came home more tired than I left? A happy tired though.

Comfort

2009-02-01T05:23:00.000-08:00

I first saw and felt a chenille bedspread sometime in the early 1960's. It was on my cousin's bed. I thought is was LUXURIOUS.

In the past few years, chennile bedspreads have been cut up from VINTAGE pieces and used for cushion covers and various other ingenious home crafted items. Remember, back in the early 90's when people would find and old quilt in a second hand shop, or even get Gramma's old quilts when she died and cut the quilts to make teddy bears? They were really quite cute, weren't they. Then, it became almost a crime to cut up those wonderful old heirlooms, even if they were mostly rags anyway. (I never did find a quilt to cut up into a Teddy, but I did make some patchwork to cut up into a Teddy)

Well, I found a chenille blanket at the second hand store --- $5 --- a great deal, and I would have grabbed it at any price. I think it has become Passe` now though.

I always seem to be behind the times. As usual my hubby asked me what I needed it for -- and my usual answer was, I just want it. Isn't it great to be able to have the things you want? Even if I waited 40 years for it?

TIME

2009-01-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

Time is supposed to be the same, a second is a second, but yet, time flys, and it also drags.
Time is relative.
I started a small applique project and part way through I decided that I would use my machine and its button hole stitch to applique the pieces instead of doing them by hand. The pieces were not small and at the most there was only one area where it was three layers.

I started with the layered part, and put the speed way down on my machine, as slow as it would go, actually. Four small pieces sewn onto slightly larger pieces, then the four slighly larger pieces sewn on top of a bit bigger piece (I would show you a picture, but the project is meant for a gift)...

It felt slow. But it was very nicely done. Then there were eight more pieces to applique onto the background. All this time, the sewing machine at it's slowest speed. I did start the sewing of these pieces when my hubby left for work and wanted to make a phone call just after nine am, so I had an hour and a half to work.

Well, I looked up at the clock when I had the whole block completely appliqued and it was ONLY 8:20am! It took less than an hour to applique 17 pieces to the background.

Yep, time is relative. How many times would I have threaded a hand needles to hand applique those pieces? On the machine, I changed thread colour three times.

Now I have made my phone call and am aiming to start a birthday cake, to help celebrate a far away friend's birthday. 10:15am, still most of the day ahead of me....

Time is being kind today.

Exercise in Pressing Seams

2008-12-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

I had no real purpose to my sewing this morning. I had picked up a 'sample pack' of Liberty Fabrics that was marked 1997 from a trade our quilt guild hosted. This pack of a hundred or slightly less were all the same size and in a easy to separate 'booklet', so I decided I would MINDLESSLY sew them together.

As I got sewing the pieces, two by two, then twos to make fours, I decided the best way to keep all my seams neat was to sew the squares in rows and not 4-square patches. As you should be able to see,in the photo below, one row all the seams were pressed one way, then the next row they were pressed in the opposite direction. This is one of the tricks that many quilters just know. Or do they? If you have not sewn your seams in this fashion, by being attentive to the direction you can run into all sorts of little problems that seem like there is no fix for. If you make sure that your seams are sewing in an orderly fashion, the simple fact that one seam lays one way and the other seam the opposite, you will find that they SNUG up together and where they meet will almost always give you the appearance of perfect joins on the top side...

If you perhaps have not learned this little trick, there are quite a few resources on the internet that will explain the idea in clearer detail than I am doing here...
Go to http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/techniques/piecing/the-perfect-quarter-seam_5.html this one not only explains the 1/4" seam but also how to press those seams.

And here ( http://tiny.cc/98SUQ ) is a book by Myrna Giesbrecht called Press for Success that would answer pretty much all your questions on pressing -- on Amazon, or perhaps to borrow from your local library or from your quilt guild library...

Now I have not thought very far ahead when it comes to this exercise in piecing, it should become something, shouldn't it? -- I am inclined to make a new 'bag', I think...

The Stash this Year

2008-12-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

It only took a few minutes to dig out the fabrics that I managed to include in my stash this year...
This first picture is the fabrics that came to me via 2nd hand store finds, garage sale finds or friends left overs that they just could not find a place to use...

I have already used the ski's fabric in a I spy swap, there is a christmas panel that is one left of three, so I used two to make a tote bag. the doggie bones/bowls I used for patch pockets on another tote.

This batch of fabrics are my "looks like solids" and most of them I bought at Wal Mart in Bellingham,WA just a few weeks back on Black Friday at $2.50 a yard a good enough price that I could not pass them up.

My big prints that are just ones that caught my eye. I do like paisley alot! Where or when these will ever be used, well -- that will take some imagination to put them together with something -- it could be years before they get used...

These are the ones that I woke up this morning thinking about -- I think most of them are last year and even the year before purchases and are not of one particular line or manufacturer -- I guess they will be a kid quilt or two or three -- I don't know why though that I remembered those stars with a dark background -- obviously yellow is not so dark (but it could be if I teamed it with that bubbly white background in the top left corner) I don't think that this bunch works that well together, I guess I will just have to add to the possibilities available to me ---- Budget? what Budget?

Budgets and Quilting

2008-12-28T05:25:00.000-08:00

I keep reading about the change in our economic world. Job Loss, Job Change, higher prices (inflation), gas prices up, then down... So far, the change in the past year that has affected me, has been the price of gas - My hubby changed the branch office where he goes to work, not his job or his wage, just where he must get to to do his job -- more than twice the distance away, 60 to 70 minutes driving each way and 40 kilometers further. Now while the price of gas was up at $1.35 CDN it cost a whole lot more to get him to work and a whole lot longer to get there. Now how did this affect my hobby? Well, it no longer gave me the option of driving him to work so that I could run around doing errands here because the time and gas price became rediculously high, so I stayed home ALOT throughout 2008. And how did this affect the budget? Well, because I was home (bus or other transport is not really an option) the cost of him going to work was absorbed by the reduced spending I did, willing or not...

I just could not sign up for workshops at the quilt store unless they were on Saturday or weekday evenings -- and usually those times were taken up with things like grocery shopping or various meetings or family obligations. I attended only one workshop in 2008! I can count on my hands the times I went to the fabric store -- eight times in 2008! I surely would have been there at least every week or two if I could have got there. I did not buy much fabric -- so, I found myself working with what was on the shelves in my sewing room and taking part in a I Spy swap (the top is done and is waiting to be quilted).

I really didn't choose to "cut back" or "budget" my fabric purchases, but that is what happened and it looks like that trend is going to continue into 2009 -- I am being frugal and purchasing less, just because going shopping without a car is such a huge chore! I would wish to support my local stores more than I have been doing, but access to them is a major hurdle.

I haven't been in my sewing room for more than a week, very unusual that is... I think I will get in there today though, because I woke up thinking about a particular fabric that I have that is a dark background and has yellow, pink, blue, purple and red stars on it and my head is trying to remember another fabric further down in the stacks that might, just might go along with the stars fabric -- I have my camera in hand to see how they will connect together... Well, no new fabrics in the stash, so I am thinking what I should put together. I could spend all day, 'auditioning' current stash fabrics just to see what goes with what else...

Perhaps I will post again today with pictures of my 'audtion' session with my own stash...

Four Seasons Quilt Swap

2008-12-22T06:40:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I joined in with a swap of any sort. Well a couple of years anyway.

There are good things and bad about being part of swapping your talent and time. Hope remains always in a swap, until a suspicion of disappoint proves true. One of the more recent swaps I was part of proved disappointing -- but I did not give up until the swapper asigned to me started to send me junk emails, job opportunites and weird links to the point where I had to block all emails from her -- actually in all the time I have participated in swaps that was the most disappointing one ever...

Swapping quilts, fabric, tools or whatever has 99 times out of a hundred been a very good experience -- not that I have been in 100 swaps, not nearly.

10 years back, or maybe more I took part in a fun swap done through the RCTQ google group (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting) called The Baseball Swap, it was based on picking a Major League Baseball team, my team was the Arizona Diamondbacks, because my son told me they were a great new, up and coming team and I have stuck with them as "MY TEAM". I loved this swap because you "Won" a 6" square of fabric for every game your team one -- the losing team "owners" sending you a square. So if 6 people have the Atlanta Braves as their team and the Braves lost to the Diamondbacks, I would receive 6 squares, but if the Braves won the game, I would be sending out 1 square to each of the owners of the Braves. The swappers actually sent out the packs only twice a season, at the All-Star break and again at the World Series. It was a great swap!

I have been part of the Yahoo Group Quilt Swap Group and have participated in two swaps and recieved and sent two wonderfully arty quilts that still today hang on my walls, one in my bed/tv watching room, and the other in my living room, and whenever I see the artists mentioned on lists or on their own blogs, I am so happy that I was able to trade with such special artists.

Now this swap I am participating in, is giving me a very optimistic feel. The list of quilt artists is very impressive and even those I have not come across before have wonderfully interesting blogs. (There is a list with links to their blogs on the 4sqs web page -- just click on the title of this post and it will take you to the main page) The type of swap is not one I have done before -- monochromatic --- It has some interesting options to using fabric -- and I do have something in mind. I can't tell you what though, in case my assigned partner should be reading this.

The organizer of the swap has suggested that to give our partners a bit of an idea of what we like that we post it on our own blog... So especially for the ARTIST who will be making a quilt for me.

I said that I like green but need the thrill of RED... I do wear a red jacket and when I pick clothing colours it always seems to variations of red -- especially towards plum and burgundy, but also browns. The walls of my home are green, so Reds in quilts and home accessories work very well.
I try to be an artist, but most of the time, don't really understand abstract unless it is a crazy quilt format. I do like 'wonky' patterns, but also love the evenness of a good traditional block, well executed. Messiness, irritates me. I am a person who enjoys pets, having two cats and a stinky dog that I put up with everyday, but do not ever kiss! I am, I think, an independent type of person but am lazy enough to let someone else do the things that maybe I should do myself - an odd contradiction, maybe. I enjoy the 'details' of a project, probably more that the thing as a whole -- perhaps why I enjoyed my work as a bookkeeper, but didn't care if the business was in the black or red, just keeping track was the fun part.

Well, that is alot of detail, isn't it.

I hope that if you are considering taking part in a swap, that you do so if you know you can keep the promise to the others in the swap. If you know you may be facing problems or are generally a procrastinator, don't be the cause of someone being disappointed. Jump in, fulfill your promise, swaps are great fun and a wonderful way to add ART to your home.

Quickie Christmas Gift Idea

2008-12-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

Everybody who goes grocery shopping is soon going to be using cloth reuseable bags. Plastic was a great marketing ploy and made someone alot of money, but now they are passe` and soon the cost of using plastic will be actually hitting our pocketbook. More stores (at least here in Canada) are beginning to charge for every plastic bag. Now, most groceries and some department stores like Wal-Mart have reuseable bags at a price that is less than you can make a cloth bag for.

But I for one, really dislike walking around with a bag that BLARES OUT where it comes from, so I have begun to disguise the bags and last week had this brilliant? idea to give them as 'extra' house christmas presents.

This bag, is the one that Loblaws/SuperStore in Canada sells for 99 cents. I especially like it because the store logo is not too obvious and because the body and handles of the bag are BLACK -- anything goes with black

So, by simply measuring the logo space, which is about 7 inches x 7 inches, I make a patch pocket and sew it OVER the logo on the bag, then I cut a strip, the width of the fabric (42 inches), that is about 3 inchs wide, and then cut the long strip into two at the 21 inch mark, this is the perfect length for this particular bag handles. I fold over the strip and fold in a seam allowance, and pin the strip over the existing handles and sew them on.
The whole process takes about 1/2 hour to make the bag totally personalized and no store logo announces to Safeway that you usually shop at Superstore, or that Wal-Mart stores just happens to have an item that you did not pick up at Superstore where you got the bag.

Of course if you like Wal-Mart's Blue, or Fabricland's Red or Safeway's White, go ahead and use those.

I do like the black with a bright feature fabric. All you really need for one bag is a long quarter. Cut the pocket, then you have the piece that measures about 35 inches x 9 inches, you will have to cut 2 - 3 inch x 21 inch strips from what is left, and you still have fabric left to maybe make another smaller patch pocket for the back or the side!

Doll Baby Christmas Present

2008-12-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

Oh My, Am I getting myself too deep into Christmas? For years in my house we have not 'done' the presents and decorations -- seems boys are not so interested in this holiday, well, lets say, MY Boys are not interested.

I have become closer to my neices in the last couple of years, even though they live in a different city and therefore, their children, a set of twins coming up on 3 years of age, a 7 year old and a little one, just heading toward 2. They are the cutest little girls. I have never really known little girls before, so buying girl presents and making things for them is truly a new experience for me -- and SO Fun!

I happened to read the blog Crazy Mom Quilts and she is making doll quilts and pillow cases so even though I did not follow her tutorial, I created a quilt and pillow for my great-nieces' dolls, the quilt is similar in each case (I already wrapped the other one and just remembered in time to take a picture of this one!) The quilt measures 18" x 14" and is flannel ontop and quilting cotton (the tweety bird design underneath) I did not use a batting because I wanted to keep it light, but I did quilt it in a simple reducing square, the lines are about 2 inches apart, the pillow itself is a couple of 5" x 7" pieces of white broadcloth sewn and stuffed with a poly batting and the pillow case measures about 5 1/2" x 8" and is again the tweety fabric with another scrap of flannelette from my stash....

Now I am debating going through my 'files' to see if I can find a cloth doll pattern to go with the quilt and pillow!

Little Birdies Christmas Party

2008-12-04T05:19:00.001-08:00

I made what I am calling my partridges in a pear tree, a variation of an advent calender idea on Skip to My Lou where you will find the pattern for these birds and a few more ideas for a HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS. I have had wonderful comments on this fresh idea, by visitors to my home and it feels especially nice to have decorations that are made right here in my sewing room or even at my own dining room table.

I was at Canadian Tire recently looking for out door lights and also wandered through the christmas decorations -- now I have not bought a decoration from a retail store in alot of years (more than I care to actually mention) so I was quite shocked at the prices that one has to pay. Totally amazing to me was a wreath -- albiet, real evergreen boughs and red ribbon -- $59.95! How thankful was I that there is a huge cedar tree hanging over my back fence that needs a bit of a trim! I think, using some firm cardboard, some wire and those backyard cedar branches and I will have a Free Christmas wreath by my front door some time this weekend.

PS, my photography is not so great, I have no bright lighting to highlight what I want to take a picture of in my house -- and if you can imagine it, I have windows, only at the front and back of the house, no windows on the side, because we are an attached townhouse. Maybe I need more lamps in here??

Delectable Mountains Star

2008-12-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

Well, this little quilt is all done, binding and quilting complete. It is not a very big quilt, mainly cause those many tiny triangle were rather daunting and even though I do enjoy making them, after a while it gets to be -- to many. I had considered a wide plain border as the next round then another outside border the same as what you see. It would have increased the quilt to about 52 x 52 instead of the 40 x 40 that it has turned out to be.

But.
I am thinking,
I might just do another on, but not in christmas colours. Maybe monochromatic purples or turquoises?

Triangles!

2008-11-27T05:43:00.000-08:00

How many different ways are there to sew triangles together into squares?
When I first took up quilting as a regular hobby -- way back round about 1975 -- one of my first quilts was a Clay's Choice Block with sashing using an upholstry fabric selection of samples (my neighbour worked for an upholstry shop and brought me a bag that was taller than I am, full of scraps and batting pieces). I cut and sewed each triangle individually, many were not quite right and the points did not always match -- it was a learning experience. Some time later, I discovered what my aunt called dress cottons, and made a couch throw -- again many triangles -- delectable mountains -- which I gave to my Mom. She used that quilt until it was threadbare and the binding was in shreds. Now I am working on a delectable mountains block again. I am a bit more experienced and a bit more meticulous with those triangles. They are still a challenge though! I love to hate those triangles...

I do have a soft spot for triangles, they are such a challenge to keep those points true and to press the seams so that they will 'snug up' against each other when you sew them together. For this project using the moda Merry and Bright charm squares that I am working on, I went out and bought a device called The Angler 2 -- it works, but I used it only for about half of the triangles that I did -- maybe it's me, but I did not find it to work any better at being accurate than if I just drew the 1/4 inch sewing lines on the diagonal across the fabric squares.

In fact, I much prefered the accuracy that I got by following the pencil lines and then cutting each of the squares using the scissor, and since I was sitting and cutting the squares in half, I nipped those pesky little ends off, so that when I sewed the seams into rows and then onto the 'mountain' part of the block, I did not have to run over them with the quarter inch foot and perhaps do a little zig in the seam each time.

They all looked so neat and perfect when I took that extra bit of time to do the extra steps. The old-fashion way works best for me. I will probably take The Angler 2 to my next guild meeting where we keep a box for anyone who is giving away sewing room things where someone else in our group may snatch up something in the box, a wonderfully useful free trade system! The Angler may be just the tool for you, in fact my friend Rose uses it all the time and highly recommends it -- but for me, the pencil line is tried and true...

I am progressing on this little quilt quite nicely and expect to have the whole top together by the end of my sewing session today. More pictures to come, soon...

PS. Here is a link to a wonderful tutorial for sewing those pesky triangles!

Christmas Fabrics Project

2008-11-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

I wandered through about a dozen of my quilt books, I surfed through blogs online, and a turned more pages than I could count until I finally came across this pattern, in Leisure Arts book, Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns.

I made a test block, it turned out so well, I should have used the background fabric I wanted in the first place. So here is my project with the Moda 5" squares. This pattern and the instructions are ideal for these squares. The 'mountain' is the 5" square cut once across diagonally, the spikes are 2 1/4" squares cut once on the diagonal. The background is (I think) 7 7/8 cut once across diagonally.

I will show you in a few days, some of the blocks set together. I have all day today and all day tomorrow to play as I wish -- I am making pie and bread, and this christmas quilt and listening to music louder than I should -- T-Rex, the new Serena Ryder, Songcatcher (an eternal favourite) and will probably throw in either Harry Connick, or maybe some christmas carols from Dino Martin, or Nat King Cole...

It's time to say...

2008-11-20T05:11:00.000-08:00

My Mom passed away, it would have been her 80th birthday yesterday. She had been in the process of decline for about 10 years due to a form of Altzheimer's disease and had suffered with rheumetoid arthritis for about 30 years. I cannot say I am sad. I was on my way to visit her, about a 4 hour drive away, when she passed away. I did not know until I had arrived.

She did things that she was able to through her life, she was unusual in that she took some joy in remembering slights and would spend a goodly amount of time, looking for revenge, but she was as good of a person that she could be. She had faults like any one of us, and she had some wonderful attibutes that she was well known for. She was thrifty all her life, and she was creative. She could make just about anything that she put her mind to, from sewing to building things, doing upholstery to make old furniture new, to raising chickens and growing a 1/2 acre garden, to being an amazing cook. She was an amazing hostess and took pride in presenting a meal or afternoon tea, for friends and family. She was fun and funny, but at the same time could say a sharp word and then laugh at you when you showed that it hurt. She was a great teacher and expected her children to grow up and fly away, she felt that it was her job to get us out into the cruel world and be as tough as we could be. Sometimes it was very hard to be my Mother's daughter, but most of the time, I was glad she was who she was.

New Christmas Colour (for me, that is)

2008-11-15T15:33:00.000-08:00

I went to one of my local quilt shops today, a few extra dollars in my pocket, looking for a christmas project. This stack of Moda charms caught my eye -- I actually bought two packs of the same grouping. Perhaps Christmas Spirit is wending it's way into my psyche... So far, I have unstacked and restacked the forty pieces and so far, I have not had an idea to use them for. I know I will by Monday (my next opportunity to get into my sewing room and work). The colours and prints are a new combination for christmas and I am liking the look more and more by the moment. I think I will have to go searching every quilting blog and site to find an idea for this stack.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

2008-11-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

Try, Try Again!

This the 3-2-1 Scarf retried with lighter yarns and a slighly shorter length -- This one is a success! Check back to the previous blog entry for the instructions and a link to where I got the pattern from. This scarf now makes me happy and I am going to wear it to my guild meeting to show it off...

Instead of Quilting

2008-11-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

I actually do a fair amount of crochet, while I watch tv my fingers are making the stitches.
I made two different scarves this past week, the rusty orange above, which I probably will never wear -- I either used a too heavy yarn and doubled it at that! Or I just made it way too long. I saw the 'pattern' for this scarf somewhere in web-land, but now I cannot find it to reference the pattern for you. It is called a 3-2-1 scarf and is very simple to make. Just make a chain as long as you want the scarf -- loose chain stitches... Row one is 3 double crochet in each chain stitch, Row two is two double crochet in each stitch and row three is one single crochet in each stitch. Makes for a very CURLY scarf. Oh wait! I found it, check out Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs for the pattern and a much better picture of the scarf.

And here is the second scarf I made this week, it is more of a neck warmer, especially if your coat doesn't quite zip or button right up to your chin. This little neck warmer will really keep out that chill -- I don't have a link for you on this, I spent half an hour looking for it because I did find it on another blog. It basically is a rectangle that fits around your neck, but the trick is to make the button holes long ways on the neck warmer and then the buttons across the end of the scarf... (or is that viceaversa?)

I wanted to mention a tip for sewing buttons on knitted or crocheted items. Make your knot as usual at the end of your thread, then with your threaded needle pull it through a tiny piece of fabric on the TOP side of your crocheted piece. come up through the piece and through the tiny piece of fabric too, then through the holes on the button up and down as usual for sewing on a button. The piece of fabric will be between the crochet stitches and the button so you will not see it, but it will help to securely hold your button.

Otherwise occupied

2008-11-02T04:52:00.000-08:00

Renovations are taking over my time and thoughts. I am anxious to get into my sewing room. The sewing room has not only become the work and storage area for fabrics, but is also the place where the shower doors, drywall, boxes with toilet segments and boxes with sink and cabinet components are all being kept. I can walk to my sewing machine, but to iron or cut is impossible! So the past couple of weeks have been occupied with other HomeArts, which is mostly Crochet. I bought Quilt Magazine this weekend and it has a quilt on the front that I am inclined to make -- as scrappy one again, but the block is the letter "S". So should I wait til I can go through my stash for suitable fabrics for it, or should I go shopping??? Check back in a few days and see what may have happened with that idea.

Free Motion Quilting

2008-10-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

I have been reading for quite a few months now a blog by Patsy Thompson. Her company, Patsy Thompson Designs has just released a dvd set on how to do free motion quilting along with many many free motion designs--- now we all know how cheap (well lets call it frugal) I tend to be...

Anyway, on her blog she posts photos of about 30 continuious quilting designs, that if you redraw them and practice, you don't really have to buy the dvd, well, to start off with anyway. I would suspect though to start off without the actual dvd, you will need some experience with free motion quilting, but with no experience, buy the DVD first, get the WHOLE Instruction properly seen and then tackle the designs. I think that the first 10 designs are one family, each design slightly different than the one before, then there are a couple of floral ones that would work done large as a block motif or reduced and done along borders strung together. She does explain that the ones she shows on her blog are design families. I would suggest using pen and paper to redraw some of the ideas and then practice on fabric sandwiches.

(If you use some pretty fabrics, maybe when you are done these practice pieces you can bind them and use them for placemats or hot pads in your kitchen).

I do think I will send away for this dvd, but in the meantime, I am so thankful that she has put a little taste teaser on her blog for me to play with. Go to Patsy Thompson Designs Ltd. If you are reading my blog past the end of October 08, then look for the post in her archives under October 08 on the left side of the page.

Christmas Ideas

2008-10-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

I would very much like to spend most of my time sewing, but there are other things in life... I guess.

I just have to tell you about this idea that comes from my cousin Peggy. She says that she noticed this new type of packaging for apples -- in this case for Gala Apples and her first thought was, Great! no bruises on the apples, but then she visualized all her Christmas ornaments in these Apple containers! No more broken glass Christmas balls when she opens them up next year to decorate her tree.... I just had to pass this idea along, because now this over packaging for the apples has become a very useful container good for many years of use. Plastic like most anything else, has its good and bad things -- I think this container design is especially good!

Shopping

2008-10-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Don't we just love it when we find a great deal? But how disappointing is it when what you bought turns out not to be what you thought it was.

In recent weeks I have experienced a couple of episodes where a good deal turned out to be not so good, so I thought I would try to pass on what I think I have now learned...

Way back last fall, I went to a quilt show, and of course there were vendors and an wonderful merchant mall. The merchants at a quilt show often have some good deals, especially for those attending a show. One of the problems that I have run into is the illusion of getting something and finding out months later I got pretty much nothing, with no recourse mainly because I did not recall who I bought the item from. What happened was I bought a pack of fat quarters of coordinating fabrics. I had no particular use for them but they caught my eye and the price was good. Now, what happened was when I opened up the pack of fat quarters to use them in a project (remember this is a year after I actually bought them) is that I discovered that three of the 6 fat quarters had 'fussy' cuts taken from them! Two of the cuts were in corners but one was almost at the centre of the fat quarter! How disappointed I was! The lesson learned from this, Whenever you purchase a fat quarter, whether individually or in a pack, it might be a good idea to open them out to their full size to ensure you are getting what you expect to get. Of course this is not a common occurance, but it needs only to happen to me the one time to be ever after leary of purchasing fat quarters from any vendor...

Another tip to think about when purchasing fabric is to pay attention to the fabric itself. Sometimes I feel so foolish in the mistakes I make! I recently was in one of the chain fabric stores, and they had put some fabrics in the bargain section and on top of the bargain section (which was usually $4 a meter) they had a bright orange sign saying "All Bargain Fabrics Half Price today" Well! I simply could not resist. Could you? I bought a few different prints and colours and one in particular was a really pretty baby blue and I purchased what was left on the bolt, almost 4 meters. Did I check the fabrics closely? Well not close enough, I guess. It turns out the really pretty blue that I liked so much, shrivelled and shrunk under my iron! It wasn't even cotton! Even though I paid just about $8 for it, it certainly was not worth it because where am I going to use it? With the pressing needed on a quilt I surely cannot combine it with cottons... Ho Hum... Another Lesson Learned: Just because the fabric is in the Quilter's Bargain Bin, check to see if it is what you think it is! I know I will from now on...

One other tip that I want to pass on to fabric shoppers and this tip is not so disappointing as the others. When you are looking to match a fabric, or looking for a specific colour, sometimes it is a good idea to take the fabric outside in the daylight (of course with permission from the store employees) so that you can see the true colours. If it just is not possible to do that (most chain stores will not allow that nor will a place like wal mart) then take the fabrics that you are comparing and lay them on or beside something white -- especially good if the store has white cutting tables, but if not, unroll some white fabric and lay your fabric choices on it so you can more clearly see how they work together...

When we go shopping for fabric and things for our favourite hobby we tend to have sort of blinders on. It is exciting to add to our stash or even to choose fabrics for a new project and stores being stores, have "policies" like no returns on cut fabric, or no returns after 10 days. And really how often do we really get to using those fabrics within 10 days? So be careful when making your choices. I know I have felt taken advantage of a few times and disappointed with no way of replacing the item or getting a refund...

Now on a lighter note... Get to know the ladies (usually) who work at your local quilt shop, discuss your choices with them, sometimes they can pass along some really good ideas or suggestions. Take a few classes at your local shop. When you walk in the door of your local shop and they know your name, they often will do everything they can to rectify a error or problem, whether that error or problem turns out to theirs or yours. Having a good rapport with your local shop is the best way to get the best deals, and service. Everybody wants to be smiling. Oh, and some shops are eager to see you bring in your finished to show what you made with the fabrics that you bought from them...

Now, head out to your local shop and say hello to the clerks...

Resolution

2008-10-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is certainly not January 1st, nor is it any particular special day, but I have been thinking lately that this blog has gone off track somewhat. I began this a few years back for the purpose of writing about and passing along to my readers, quilting tips, quick ideas, and techniques. I find that I do manage to get a few things into my posts, which are definately not often enough, so FROM NOW ON, I plan to include in EVERY post something that should make the passion of quilting and sewing either interesting, fun or even easier.

I hope you will follow along with me, in reviewing or learning about all sorts of quilty things. I would really appreciate any thing that you might want to say about the things I write about, or even to send me suggestions of what you might like to know more about.

I have more than 10 years worth of Miss Snips Notebook written in the Canadian Quilter Magazine, so I will start passing along some of my very favourite ideas, very soon...

Beauty or Beast?

2008-10-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Aw Well, it is Mine, All MINE!!! I am so excited to receive this sewing machine. My Aunt Patsy has had this machine sitting in her extra guest room for about 8 years or so -- I think I first saw it in 2003 - but I think she got it sometime before that. She tells me that she saw it at a garage sale, it was being used for a door stop, so she asked what the seller wanted for it. I'm sorry, but I cannot remember what she paid for it,

But knowing my Aunt, I am sure it was not more than $10...
Now My Aunt has moved to an apartment and has GIVEN the machine to me! I am so very lucky! I have been looking at it's various gears and mechanisms -- it is a very simple machine, but it does have the tension screw -- thats it at the top of the curve of the head, and it also has a bobbin winder. No where on the machine can I find a manufacturer's name though. Only the number 9484, appears on the botton of the slide opening for the shuttle.
If you know what this is I would appreciate any info you can give me -- but don't tell me to look on the singer dating site, or IMACS, I have done that already and the only new thing that I discovered is that it is probably refered to as a fiddle base sewing machine. There is a picture of a similar one at http://ismacs.net/jones/jones_fb.html but it is somewhat different. This Machine is NOT FOR SALE.
I hope in the next few days to do some sewing on it, it moves quite well, but is dusty and probably needs oil, so when I have done that, I will be satisfied that I could even make a quilt with it...

Left Over

2008-09-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

I have a rather large scrap box that I keep underneath my cutting table. As I cut fabric and have leftover strips, squares or yardage end bits, I drop them into the box. Sometimes I make too many blocks for a quilt or even only part make a series of blocks and decide that I don't particularly like the block or the colours or just the way the blocks go together --- and those things go into the scrap box.

About a week ago, I noticed the box was at the point of over flowing, so I sat in my chair and started to pick through the box to see what I had dropped into the box over the past few months.
I sorted and folded the larger pieces, I stacked the end bits from yardage and folded them. I discovered the black and white disappearing nine patch blocks that I had made and used some by adding turquoise. I had decided I didn't care for the black and white -- it felt sort of grey, actually. But after sitting for a few months, out of sight, I guess my view of the blocks have mellowed, so I stacked them by my machine and sewed them together this past Thursday. Hmmm, they did not look so bad as I thought. Friday morning, I put a 2 1/2" stopper border in deep dark red and then a strippy sort of musical print. Bright, and yet a sort of gloom to it. I think it works...

Out of the scrap box came alot of 3 1/2 inch squares and a few 3 1/2 inch wide strip pieces that I cut down into squares. These squares are leftovers from the Dick and Jane fabrics that I made into a quilt a few months back, a mystery quilt that I made about a year ago and then gave to my brother and this past summer's quilt guild challenge. I decided to sew randomly and put together all these bright prints that were mostly suitable for a kid quilt. There is no real reason to seperate the top section by a stashing strip but I like the effect. It makes a nice size crib quilt, I think. It is about 40 inches x 55 inches. I still need to quilt the border. Perhaps it will be a gift quilt for the next person I know who has a first baby...

Now, talking about first babies, I was wondering about that 'little rule' of mine. I make alot of quilts, more than I need and I donate about half a dozen each year to my guilds charity quilts program, but still, I make more quilts than I need, so I give them usually for weddings and first babies. I wonder how appropriate it is to always give a quilt -- I am beginning to think that people know I am going to give a quilt, but do the recipients want a quilt? You know the way the world is now, so many people find "labels" and brand names to be so important, the current fashion colour is the priority in their first homes, and really everyone has different tastes in colour and pattern. I was beginning to think I should conform to the 'norm' and just give a cheque. I will need to think on that ---- but, then what would I do with the quilts that I make? Can you imagine having stacks of quilts in closets, when I die? Then who has to figure out the problem of where they should go? I like making quilts, but really how many can one person stockpile?

Sanctuary

2008-09-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

This morning I walked into my sewing room and realized that it smells different than any other room in my house. It smells fresh, like spring. It is cool, like an early fall evening. It has colours like summer, and a muffled quiet you experience on a morning after an overnight snowfall.

What a great place to be! The Sewing Room is my Room, is my Sanctuary. My favourite place to think about life, to be thankful for what I have, what I have had, and to reflect on the possibilites of the future. Having one's own special place is a wonderful thing.

Altzheimers Art Quilt Initiative

2008-09-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

September 21, 2008 is World Altzheimers Day. You can create a virtual tag in memory of someone you may know who suffers from this disease. My mother currently resides in a wonderful, caring facility and I visit her when I am able. (I live in a different city a good part of a day away by car, and ferry) I think of my Mom every day and wish that her illness would just go away, but there is only one way for that to happen. My mother was a vibrant high energy type of lady. She always found something to keep herself busy and me too, even if I didn't want to. She was creative and sometimes a bit too critical but she is my Mom and none of her idiosycrasies matter, if I could only have her back again..
You can create a 'tag' for someone you love and put it on your own blog too. click on the title of this post and it will take you to a page where you can make your own 'tag'.

My Mother's name is Margaret Merry.

How to Fold a Quilt

2008-09-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

How to Fold a Quilt, without creating permanent creases and so that every quilt you have can be folded to a uniform size while stored in your closets.

As the main reason for this blog is to provide quilting tips and techniques to help quilters, here is a very good way for you to fold your quilts. This method of folding, which is done on the bias, actually avoids causing creases in your quilt that becomes "burned in" simply because it does not follow the natural grain lines of the fabric.

If you follow the pictures here you can easily see the order needed to make the folds for your quilt. This method of folding also makes it easy to fold different sizes of quilts so that when all your quilts are folded and stacked, they can be the same size. To accomplish this simply mark a square or rectangle (don't use felt marker on your floor!) (perhaps a piece of fabric laid on a carpet to mark the size that you want your folded quilt to be) Then when you fold each edge of the quilt, bring the fold to the edge or line you have marked so that the end result is always the same size as your marked square.

Your third fold may actually require a small in turned fold so that it does not flop outside your marked area. Keep your folds as straight as possible. You may have to practice this technique to actually get a nice neat square/rectangle, because, remember you are making the folds on the bias grain and it will tend to want to go at a angle.

Voila! once you have all the edges folded in, fold once or twice as needed to complete the rectangle. Each time you refold a quilt it will always fold on slightly different 'lines' so over a period of time you will not be folding the same quilt in the same spot and because of this you will avoid the crease lines that tend to become permanent folds when you use the square, or on the grain system of storing your quilts.
Other tips about folding quilts are...

When you fold an unfinished quilt top it should be folded so that the seams are on the inside, this helps to prevent the seams from unravelling, even if the quilt to is stored for a short time, when other things come in contact with the exposed seams it can cause the raggedy, unravelled look.

When you fold a finished quilt, the top or main design should be folded so it is on the inside so as to protect from dirt and fading the 'featured' part of the quilt.

I learned this technique from my friend and fellow quilt maker and quilt instructor, Lois.

THE END? of the summer of 2 1/2 inch squares...

2008-09-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

Even though many of us have spent less that half of our lives attending schools of various sorts, it always seems that when the kids go back to school, summer is at an end...

I have not been in school since 1992, and even that was way past the usual time of school attending because I went back to school for 2 years when I decided I did not want to be a waitress anymore... So even my second stint at education is 16 years gone.

Now having said all that, it does feel like the end of summer and my goal for my own little summer challenge has offically come to an end. I am finished with the two shoe boxes of 2 1/2 inch squares that I started out with in late May. There are still a few hundred squares left in the box, but it has reached the point where not enough variation in light, dark and medium is available to create much of anything that would resemble a pattern.

So the last piece that I have sewn together and quilted and bound is a extra long table runner. It is about 6 foot long and 18 inches wide. The picture here doesn't show its length as I took the picture in between rain showers and the only place relatively dry outside was the fence. I quilted it using the design of the floral pattern that is on the back of it. It made an interesting and different quilting pattern. I have wanted to try that particular free motion quilting technique for quite some time and finally used it here with good success.

Happy Back-To-School for all those who are going, and to at least half the members of my family and extended family, Happy September Birthday! My father, my husband, my brother, my cousin, my aunt, my neice, a sister-in-law, my son, and I am sure a few others that have slipped my mind...

Obsessed/Possessed

2008-08-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure which it is, but I am STILL stuck on the 2 1/2 inch squares!
Actually the quilt in the pictures - one quilt different borders - is what I seem to be obsessing about. A few weeks back I put on the Jinny Beyer border fabric. This fabric is about 10 years old and has a definate 'grey" feel about it. For along time I bought fabrics that were "greyed" like that, but my choices seem to have changed to more clear colours and after much consideration, I decided that the border did not suit this quilt at all.
But What would suit it?
I finally went back to the stacks of 2 1/2 inch squares and along with the black stopper border added two rows of light and medium squares to make the border.
Now the job is done, and even though I have no intention of changing from the light border, what do YOU think?

Would you believe it when I say, I still have at least another 1000 of these 2 1/2 inch squares? HoBoy! How am I ever going to get out of this dilemna -- I even gave away a 1000 squares and sent them off to Linda in Manitoba, hoping that 1000 squares gone would make a dent in the pile.... BARELY!

Well, for now, I have two large quilt tops to get quilted, while ideas for the rest of those %#@&%! 2 1/2 inch squares percolate in my head -- still quite faint but becoming clearer is to make a table runner with the squares and do wool applique ontop of the squares, so the colours/shades could be quite random. I am working on it in my head, so you will have to come back sometime soon to see how that turns out...

TODAY.... we bake!

2008-08-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!
We start off with our famous freezer waffles. I have an OLD, and I mean OLD waffle iron -- my mother used it when I was a kid and it still works, though the cord has been replaced. It probably is not energy star, like todays new home appliances, but I have replaced toasters three times in the last 5 years and this waffle iron is going on 40 years old I would suspect, so in this case Energy Star does not equate.

I make freezer waffles for my family about every 14 days or so and just like the famous name ones you buy in the freezer section, these just go into the toaster and with butter and syrup there is breakfast.

Next Chef Emry -- I do believe dogs study diligently how to bake and cook. I have had two dogs in my life and both stand patiently by in the kitchen studying every move that I make. I suspect that if they had words and hands both those dogs could have created home cooked meals and restaurant gourmet selections to match any of the famous chefs... Jamie, may I introduce Chef Emry, he is especially expert at muffin making...

And of course the reward is to LICK THE BOWL!

Other People's Places

2008-08-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Isn't it great when you go and visit someone and see a wonderful little treasure? Especially a treasure that you can HAVE, too? Bopping around the web has become a real habit for me -- and hour or so almost every morning, just looking at stuff! Today I found a wonderful little tutorial by Sandi Henderson at Portobellopixie where she shows you how to make a ROLLED ROSE. Her tutorial list is on the right hand side of the page under, you guessed it, Rolled Rose! She has a few other tutorials there that you might want to check out too.

I am thinking that making these roses will be a great use for the left over lengths of binding fabric that you cut for a quilt but have leftover... Now you can make a few roses from it. Failing that those extra inches from various projects can be sewn together and make a multi colour binding on donation quilts that you may make, too

Scrappy Bits Inspiration

2008-08-01T11:30:00.001-07:00

I am sort of in between big projects right now and while checking through some of the other quilting and crafting weblogs that I read, I came across Anna Marie Horner's Blog where she posted a short tutorial on making book marks. Easy, Quick, Satisfying -- mine are a bit different only in that I used my programmed stitches on my Janome to pretty up the edges. I have a whole 'file size' type of box full of scrappy bits, enough to make hundreds of book marks, but for now, these four will do... (just click on the highlight above to go to the tutorial for these)

Back to the 2 ½ inch Squares

2008-08-01T05:31:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of small projects done this week. Two doll quilts, the small light one is only 23 x 27 and the larger is 25 x 30. Not much to say about them actually. I am thinking I might use them as 'test' sales on etsy and see how that goes.

I think that the 2 ½ inch sewing frenzy may be slowing down as I am finding other things to work on.
I like to do a small project now and then; it takes 4 hours from start to finish for such a traditional little quilt and though I am calling these doll quilts, I expect that they (either one) could be a table topper, or even something pretty to hang on the wall in a childs room. Today, some sorting of those 2½ inch squares and maybe a table runner, at least started...

Yesterday I went out with my cousins and picked blueberries for the first time in years. Picking ones own berries is quite satisfying considering the price at my local Real Canadian Superstore last week was $5.88 for 2 lbs and at the farm where I picked the berries they were $1.20 per pound -- but you had bring your own pails. An ice cream pail, not quite full is 4 pounds. I like to have about 10 to 15 pounds in my freezer to last me all winter -- I alternate my breakfasts with blueberries and yogurt, raspberries and yogurt and bananas and yogurt, mostly.

So there is a few more days of picking ahead and a bit of exercise included with the bonus of berries in the freezer.

Is Summer for Quilting?

2008-07-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

I do tend to work on my quilting more during the summer than at any other time of year. That seems to be a bit backward from ' normal', I'm told. Most people sew and quilt and work on their hobbies -- other than gardening that is -- during the winter months. I think even the marketing of fabric and classes are geared to start up in mid to late September...

I am still working with the 2 ½ inch squares that I started digging into back in mid May, but now the selection of them is getting thinner and I find myself going into my scrap box occasionally to cut a few more squares -- I must be a sucker for punishment!

I have been working on a few smaller projects -- a few Doll Quilts -- with the squares -- mostly playing with the lights and darks, or creating small Trip around the World tops on my design wall -- nothing completely pieced though in the last week or so...

We are have been doing a bit of yard work -- creating a little corner feature and sprucing up my garden ornaments... The blue jay in concrete got a new paint job the other day and is looking almost new again. He was given to me as a gift about 15 years back by a friend on my son's when I came over and brought them groceries and did some cooking for them (they were in their early twenties and dinner was generally a burger and fried. Well the blue jay has lasted me much longer than the groceries and has weathered at few summers in various gardens. My Canada Flag stepping stone came to me as a 'mother's day gift' about 5 years ago and it too needed fresh paint so some red and white acrylic has done the trick for that. My yard is about 15 feet wide and about 25 feet from the back door to the fence -- not much bigger than alot of living rooms. It is looking quite cozy this summer though.

Perhaps I will have some Doll Quilt Photos in the next few days -- I wonder whatever will I use Doll Quilts for? No grandkids to give them to, I guess they will set in the closet for a while...

I was gonna...

2008-07-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

I was gonna get back to working with those 2 ½" squares and I have incubated another block idea for them, but....

I was visiting with a friend last Thursday and she showed me a new quilting book that she bought. I thought I had just skimmed through it and saw, but didn't really look -- if you know what I mean. But something in there burned itself into my mind. I am sorry, I can't remember the book or the author, see what I mean about skimmed through?
Well one block/one photo in the book kept popping up in my mind, so by Saturday morning I was pulling fabrics off my stash shelves and did not have nearly what I wanted, so after grocery shopping I headed over to the quilt shop and spent $40 bucks on a bunch of fat quarters. For a few years now I have been hoarding batiks, one or two at a time and I guess this quilt is what they were meant for...
Monday I worked out how to put the block together -- I actually made 6 test blocks to make sure I knew what I wanted and how to do it... Then I sewed 64 blocks. Whew! It was exactly what I dreamed of...

Tuesday, the whole thing percolated in my mind and I kept wanting to go and sew, but other daily chores and mundane life things conspired to get in the way and kept me out of the sewing room.

Wednesday! Yes, at like 5am, I was sewing! by noon I was starving, but I was well on the way to seeing what I had created.

After Lunch I put on the stopper border in black and then added the outside border. That outside border was a bit of a dilemna -- my mind saw it as scrappy but random and that is surely what it turned out to be! But was it what I wanted? Well I continued on, trusting what was still mostly inside my head and this is what it turned out to be....

Sometimes it is so amazing that what you see inside your head can actually become something real! Now, a busy day for me outside of the sewing room, but again, in my head I have a quilt motif that I want to quilt this top with, so I suspect, this quilt will be done pretty quick, just cause it is so in the front of my mind... Definately next week back to using up the rest of the 2½" squares...

Win a Quilt

2008-07-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not giving away a whole already completed gorgeous quilt but if you want one go to the old red barn company -- just click on the title of this post and it will take you there, and enter your name as instructed...

AND THE WINNER IS...

2008-07-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

First, please excuse me for not posting this yesterday, but my internet server was down most of the day and evening -- don't ask me why -- it is all part of the "powers that be" stuff...

Anyway, I wrote everyone's name or other identifiers that they sent me onto little pieces of blue paper and folded every piece the same. Then I put them into a Mixed Nuts tin, closed it up and drove across town so that my friend Cindy could verify that there were no favourites and that every piece of paper was exactly the same. She put her hand in the tin and drew out the name....

LINDA MULLEN -- I think from Manitoba...

So Linda check your email and then send me your mailing address and 1000 2 1/2 inch squares will be on their way to you. Start thinking of what you can make with all those bits. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

The weekend...

2008-07-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

I finished up a quilt that has been waiting a few months to be quilted. Actually I had it done on Thursday morning, then I was working on ideas

for using more of those 2 1/2" squares and have come up with a couple more ideas...

But first I need a break from them and a stack and slash type idea caught my fancy the other day. I have been saving batiks for a couple of years , seems the idea of saving things always goes far too long -- years of having fabric on a shelf is too long, so I pulled out all my batiks, which was not many and put together a few blocks... Oh, oh, I like it, so my attention is diverted for a few days anyway, to putting this, which will be a little quilt top together --- except I just had to go and get some more batiks, and headed to the LQS and spent $40 on fabric, that I didn't need, but wanted...

Meanwhile, my hubby and sons, put together a new planting bed in the deep dark shady corner of our back yard. 300 paving bricks and about a 1/2 cubic yard of soil later and I have a place to put my 5 or 6 hostas that struggle in other sites around the yard.. Hostas are shade lovers, but this corner is also quite dry so I am now begging my friends who have large yards to save their grass cuttings for me to use as mulch of a while til
the Hostas can settle into their new place...

The paving bricks make a nice little place to set a chair down and still be in the shade --- hmmm, maybe I need to go looking for a wicker chair to relax in -- what a great way to spend the summer afternoons!

PS... Tomorrow is the last day to enter the 1000 2 1/2 inch squares give away... I will draw a name about 7pm, PT time, so get your name in or check back after that to see who won...

Putting the Layers Together...

2008-07-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

I was just wondering...
How do other people put the layers of the quilt together? Have you ever found instructions on how to get those layers together without too much trouble? Or is it as I suspect, in many cases, do you send the quilt out to be professionally quilted, not only because you want the machine quilting to be done better than you can do it on your home machine, but also because then YOU don't have to put the layers together and try to keep out those little folds or errors that always seem to turn up after it has been quilted...

So, which is it? Or maybe you just don't know how to get those layers together. Everyone thinks it is not a part of the quilt making process that needs much instruction as just the sentence -- Put together the top and bottom with quilt batt of your choice, then quilt --- seems simple enough, doesn't it?

Fine if all you do is make crib quilts, or table runners or place mats, but what about when you want a full size quilt to cover your double or queen or even king size bed -- I must admit I have not made a king size quilt yet, nor even a proper queen size, but lots of twin and a couple of double -- that means at least 80 inches wide by 96 inches long. Big enough to cover two people sleeping on a double bed without one or the other always having a cold back!

I am from the "school" that feels that unless I do the quilt from start to finish I cannot call it completely my quilt -- mind you there is nothing wrong with having a quilt professionally done and I might consider it at some time in the future, but to be honest, I will get a quilt quilted long before I can afford to pay someone else to do it, so that is what keeps me in the "school" of doing a quilt from piecing to quilting to binding all by myself...

But to tackle the problem of getting a large quilt layered without wrinkles in it and without (let me say that again) WITHOUT crawling around on the floor -- I am too old for that, I have been too old for crawling since I was 25...

My method for layering a quilt is based on gravity. I developed this idea over a number of years and I think I finally have it pretty much perfected. It works with any batting you care to use, but I recently discovered fusible batting and for a large quilt this makes it even easier...

So the first step is to get the batting out of the bag and let it relax and expand out those wrinkles. I drape it over my ironing board for a day or so.

If you purchase your batting by the roll you can skip this step -- which also means you have lots and lots of space to work in and store your stuff...

Go get your step stool from the kitchen.

I assume you have put together your backing fabric -- of course it had to be pieced and should measure about 10 inches or so larger than the front of your quilt -- if you pay close attention to details it can be less than that but like I said, pay close attention...

With your backing fabric, right side away from you, and holding one long side, up, way up, tack a corner into the wall. Put tacks in along that edge, you only need about 5 or maybe 6 tacks -- make sure the edge is straight -- you also need to make sure that the other side is not dragging on the floor--if your quilt is really big you might need a regular step ladder to get up there. This is not nearly as hard as crawling on the floor! You might have to put a tack or two along the sides and bottom, just to keep it from 'waving' but if your sewing is straight, you shouldn't need these (MUCH)

Now, that your backing is up, get your batting and do the same, making sure that it covers, or at least comes to, every edge of your backing fabric, as you put the backing up on the wall, pull a tack out and put it back in to hold both layers -- the batting if it has not 'relaxed' enough may need another day or so to just hang there. Smooth it out but don't stretch it.

Finally, get your top, start at the upper edge and using the tacks already there, tack the top of your quilt over the backing and batting -- make sure that the top does not go past any of the sides of the batting or backing fabric. Tack top, sides and bottom snugly to the wall -- by now you have been up and down that ladder at least a dozen times, but it STILL is easier than crawling around on the floor!

There, now. You have your layers layered with no wrinkles or folds, now you can start to pin the layers together with your big curved safety pins, start at the top and use ALOT of pins.

This is where the fusible batting comes in handy -- you need a hot iron rather than pins, climb the ladder and iron the quilt to the batting. I still put in pins around the perimeter of the quilt, just in case I miss an area... Also, if you use fusible batting, you might need to get your husband or partner or tall grown-up son to come help you turn the quilt over and re - tack it to the wall and iron the back to the fusible, so check before you take the whole thing off the wall, whether or not the back has fused while you ironed the front.

Now of course with this method, you need to not worry about all those tiny tack holes in your wall -- I use the same wall all the time -- so sometime in the future, I will need to get out the polyfilla and patch those holes and paint, but in the meantime -- I don't worry about the little tiny tack holes. The Quilt is the Thing, who cares about holes, at least til I have to sell this house...

So if you still think of laying the backing, batting and quilt top on the floor to put those layers together, just imagine how easy it would be if you could hover over those layers without disturbing them as you put them together, whether pinning, basting or fusing those layers. Now, use your wall space to put the layers together, and that is exactly what you are doing! Hovering over it! No more trying to reach to the middle to baste -- it is easier to get to the middle than that top side, actually.

I will try to post a couple of pictures later as I am going to be putting up a quilt today, if I get time -- but first I have to go out and buy some batting... for this quilt top.
PS, Three more days to enter the 1000 2 1/2 inch squares give away! Go back to the posting about it and leave a comment, if you haven't already entered... Tuesday next week is the big draw day!

Step Away...

2008-07-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Out here on the West Coast -- or almost the west coast we are finally getting summer. It has been a long cold rainy winter and spring did not bring May flowers, it just was rainy... That is the reputation out our way--but it was rainier and cloudier than I can remember since I lived here (1991)...

Now. It is SUMMER. The basil I set out in early June did not grow any new leaves for a month almost -- now it is growing and you can almost hear the little plant molecules cheering and saying yippee! If a plant could jump up and down, I guess it would be doing that too.

My garden is pretty small. I would say it is not much bigger than my living room, in fact. It is surrounded by either fences or 20+ foot cedar trees and of course a three story high townhouse so the garden has been very shady for many years... During the past winter the neighbouring property trimmed and pruned back some of those huge cedars and we have SUNLIGHT! So, my quilting/sewing room has not seen me for a couple of days.

I have been moving a few plants to take most advantage of the sun that is suddenly available in my yard and this year I have added a couple of plants that want more sun. Swiss Chard is thriving in its container, a couple of zuchinni plants are daily adding new leaves, though no flowers quite yet.

I mostly have herbs, rosemary, thyme, oregano, dill, spearmint, and of course lavender -- no flowers other than a dwarf lilac.

So for the past few days I have been picking and poking about in my various containers with all my little plants. Today, I aquired for FREE (my favourite price point) a hundred clay bricks and am building a little corner planting bed that I am going to put all my Hostas into.

I have a few more ideas for 2½" squares and strips, which I will post about in the next few days and in the meantime, I would like to thank all who have left comments to my previous post about the giveaway. I know whoever receives all those squares will have a fun time putting them together in an new ingenious way... If you are reading this and you didn't know I was doing a giveaway, check back to the previous blog post and leave a comment which will enter your name into the draw (if you leave the comment on this post you are not entered, though)

As I write this it has started to rain -- but that is a good thing -- I don't have to go out with the watering can and give each of those wonderful little plants their daily drink.

Two and a Half Inch Squares To GIVEAWAY!

2008-07-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

Miss Snips has far too many of these little squares to be able to get them all sewn together and quilted by summer's end. SO... I am going to GIVE AWAY 1000 two and a half inch squares to one of you out there. You need to leave a comment at the bottom of this post or send an email to Miss Snips at quiltcomment at yahoo dot ca between now and July 15, 2008.

I would ask that you only enter once, but if you use lots of aliases I probably would not figure that out. This give away is open to anyone who think they can make use of this many squares. 1000 squares with a bit of extra added and borders can easily make a double or adding even more of your own squares could make you a queen size quilt.

In this stack -- does that look like a thousand squares to you? -- there are generally about 8 to 12 squares of each fabric and as you can see there is a fairly equitable balance of lights and darks and mediums too. The fabrics range from prints available from about the mid nineties up to a few recent prints. They are all good 100% cottons and are pretty accurately cut, if I do say so myself.

On July 16, or thereabouts I will get a friend to draw names from a hat and will announce the winner here on my blog -- so just as a reminder if you comment on my blog and do not leave a link to your own website, you will need to come back here to check to see if you were drawn and then to email me (again at quiltcomment at yahoo dot ca - remember to put the @ and the . in the appropriate places)

This is the first ever Miss Snips Give Away and I hope to post a few more in the coming months... Oh, one more thing -- if you live in a country other than Canada, you are responsible for any customs or other fees that your country may impose on the package before you receive it in the post. Otherwise, I will pay postage to you, wherever you might be...

More Two And A Half Inch Squares

2008-06-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

640 of them actually...
My stash of those pesky 2 1/2" squares does not seem to be perceptively reduced! 640 squares takes along time to sew together, even when you are doing the sewing randomly! Random though sometimes takes a bit of thought to not get an overwhelming number of just one print or of just one colour. Seems I have too many pinks and alot of greens, but not so many reds. Red is my favourite colour so you would think there should be more reds. Well, thats why I used the rusty red as one of the "rails". It was pretty rare that it came up against a colour that was so similar that it would distort the look of the rail. The light 'rail' too came up against other light fabrics but I don't think I actually have any other cream on cream fabrics in the little squares.

I didn't start this pattern out to be a big quilt, it was supposed to be lap sized, but I was enjoying the effect of the scrappy squares with the rails, so I just kept going and going. I fear to count the hours that it took to put them all together. Next, a black "stopper" strip around it and then a wide cream on cream with the intention of doing applique all the way around -- I haven't even looked for an applique idea yet, but I intend to machine applique so big leaves and flowers probably...

Two and a Half inch Squares

2008-06-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

There is something compelling about 2 and a half inch squares - I keep cutting them and I keep sewing them together. They generally end up as middling size lap quilts that I donate to my guild's charity quilt program.

I thought I was getting low on the squares so I went through my 'less than fat quarter fabric stack" and started cutting, then when I was cutting I began to wonder how a particular blue might look beside a green, or if the green went well with an orange or if orange and fire engine red would clash and give one a queasy feeling deep down in the stomach...

Twenty 16 patch blocks all bunched together and there is not much that stands out - except for that bright orange. This batch is a pretty even assortment of lights and mediums and darks. Piecing them was totally random and thats what it looks like. I don't think you would need to worry much about placement of the twenty blocks there, if you switch positions of two of them I think your eyes would not really notice the difference. I think perhaps I will alternate these patch blocks with something simple, or maybe, I will do half blocks and give it a stacked brick look... I will have to try that tomorrow.

How about this variation of the blocks? The 16 patch blocks have 4 light squares in the centre surrounded by bright or dark squares. Then half square triangles in fours, with light centres. I was going for a star pattern but it doesn't emerge in this combination of lights and darks. If the half square triangle blocks were changed so that the light is on the outside and the dark in the middle then instead of 'diamond' shapes standing out, the star shape would be more noticeable...

I have lots more squares and almost as many triangles so studying the effects of light and dark will probably be occupying many more hours...

Old, not Antique Sewing Machines

2008-06-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

I sure do love these old machines!

Here is another one that I found at the flea market this weekend. It is -- according to the singer web page that dates these machines --(by putting in the serial number that appears right on the front part of the 'bed') made in 1948 in Quebec, Canada. I think this is the first one that I have had made right here in Canada. The one that I recently sold (a 99K hand crank) was made in Great Britain, and a Spartan that I inherited from my mother was american made.

What is it about these old machines that catches my eye? I go with my husband to our local flea market, mainly for the exercise and to get some vegetables at the farmers market that is part of the flea market but rarely do I actually buy anything other than veggies. Wandering through the rows of fancy glass and not so fancy household goods, garden rakes and bunches of tools and kids used toys, there was the little brown case that the sewing machine sits in... The case was clean and barely beat up, so when I opened it, I was happy to see this Singer 128 (I had to look up the model number on the internet) a bit dusty but the shuttle and bobbin both installed as they should be and the wheel turning smoothly. I had to dicker a bit for the price, that ended up well within my budget so I brought it home and spent a few hours oiling and dusting and adjusting the tension to a nice even stitch -- that is the biggest job with these, once you set the tension though it usually sews quite a lovely stitch.
It seems that I cannot hold onto these machines for long though as there is always someone I know who is wishing for one and I am happy to make a bit of a profit on it and then I will be on the hunt again for another to give a bit of spit and polish to.
My husband says, he is amazed at how such a little thing can make me so happy.

Re Purposed

2008-06-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

We are almost at Summer, but this is still spring cleaning...

I have been making quilts for quite a lot of years now. I seem to have aquired more little quilts than are needed or wanted and they take up far too much closet space. Many of these little quilts are from various guild challenges over the years or are from trying out quiltmaking/piecing/applique techniques that I have discovered and wanted to use or learn. Some of these projects are dare I say, UGLEEE... (well maybe they weren't when they were made, but progress of ability, changes in styles and changes in the colour fashions have made them so)

Today, I cut into a crib quilt that I made 20 years ago -- the label says so. It was a crib quilt made for a child who never came to be and giving the quilt to another just did not seem to be the thing to do, so this hand quilted simple quilt has languished on a shelf or in a box for a very long time!
I am now calling this my SHOW AND TELL TOTE. It is HUGE (fold over a crib quilt and you will see how big of a bag it will make) There is no pattern to the making of the bag; just a fold in half, take off the binding, cut half circles so that the wooden handles would slide on. A seam down the one side and across the bottom and squared off corners to give it a bottom. I did make a zippered pocket that I installed on the inside so that I could put in a pen, notebook, camera and maybe my wallet.

This crib quilt will now have a USE and is now put to a happy use for a few years til it becomes ragged from carrying back and forth to the monthly guild meetings, instead of wasted on a shelf.

I have many more of these little quilts that I want to re-purpose and am looking for bright ideas to make use of them. The next re-purposed quilt, I think will become a couple of place mats, next week, maybe...

Making Flying Geese

2008-06-10T05:27:00.000-07:00

Just a very quick post now, but more to come later today.
In my blog wanderings this morning I came upon this tutorial for making flying geese, four at a time. Great for flying geese or even for eight pointed star blocks. Clik on this post's title to link to this wonderful tutorial.

Everybody should have two Cats

2008-05-28T05:59:00.001-07:00

Well, not everybody likes cats, but if you do, it seems two is the magic number.
Fossie and Archie are my two. Fossie is about 11 years old, my son caught her when he discovered a feral mother with 3 kittens, when he checked back a few weeks later the kittens had grown and with alot of squeezing his arm under some concrete steps and a few scratches he dragged out this fuzzy brown calico. A second calico proved too elusive and a black (tailless) male was just to nasty and too wild to hold for long. Well, we kept Fossie. She is a good quiet cat but never comes to greet visitors.

She keeps her distance, I guess some of the feral qualities remain. She is totally indoors and I suspect she loves her life. Well, as much as a cat can.

Archie, oh Archie, I do believe he is the love of my life and I am the love of his...
He is an inbred siamese, his Mother is his sister. He comes from a older lady who kept too many cats and the only reason she gave me Archie (originally called Rao) was because the city had given here 30 days to bring her cat population down to THREE. Archie was six weeks and along with his 2 sisters, the Lady let it be known amongst her neighbours that the kittens were give aways... Archie now, Three years old, is affectionate and loves to sit at the window or beside the sewing machine and watch the needle go up and down -- he has never tried to 'catch' the needle so I suspect he just enjoys the intrique? of it...

Cats really can and are a nuisance though when it comes to fabric. I have found Fossie, buried in the folds of polyester batting, making a whole section unuseable because it was torn up so badly...

And, there is something about flannelette. I cannot keep it in my stash. One of them has this thing about flannelette, that it should be kept wet -- guess how they make it wet? EYUCK!
So I don't use flannelette, even to make a crib quilt! Mind you, if I would ALWAYS remember to close the sewing room door, I don't think I would be finding wet flannelette any more -- or would they decide that regular cotton needed to be dampened down?

Now just because Fossie and Archie are the current cats, doesn't mean they were the first and probably not the last either. To me, a home without cats is missing something important -- but then of course if you don't like cats then you are quite happy to have that lack. My maternal grandmother did not like cats -- but she liked me, so she was nice to my cats and even though the cats wanted to be nice to her, I usually put them in the washroom and kept them out of the way. Not liking a cat is not much different than fearing them...

Well, thats about all, for CATS today...

Gardens and Quilts or Quilts in the Garden or...

2008-05-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

Usually at this time of year, my inclination to be a farmer has satisfied itself and everything is planted that is possible to plant in my little yard that is no bigger than most living rooms...

But this spring, everything is late. The winter has been long and cloudy and it just seems like there was nothing worth getting started on.

Last Weekend really was the first Sunny Saturday in a very long time and I noticed that my potted hosta in the shady corner of my yard was getting a splash of sunshine! A neighbouring condo complex had done some tree trimming during the winter months and for the first time since being in this townhouse my yard is getting rays of sun through a good part of the day! Dare I plant something other than hosta? I picked up some swiss chard. I have not eaten swiss chard in years. It was not a favourite of my Mothers so it never grew in the family garden nor did we sell it through our market garden, but my Aunt loved the stuff and grew more than anyone could eat, so when I spent summer weeks out at her farm is was a staple and for me a treat.
So, for the first time ever, it appears in my garden. My husband is not one for greens in his meals but will force down a green salad now and then, so I told him that is was a new kind of lettuce. He believes me. I can hardly wait until there are enough leaves for me to start picking and nibbling. I think there will not be more than I need, but for a first attempt at it, it is growing very well, indeed.

I did get up early the other day -- well actually I am up early everyday. I cannot stand to miss a moment of the summer sun, so I get up before the sun and revel in the quiet moments before most everyone even opens their eyes... But, as I was saying, the other day I got up especially early and was motivated to create a little camera bag. That's it sitting on the Hosta in the first picture. It is for a Ugly Fabric Challenge that I am taking part in. When I was send the ugly fabric, I thought it was quite lovely, but in keeping with the idea that someone thought it was an ugly fabric, I did my best to hide and disquise and make pretty the ugly. I think it turned out quite nicely actually. I like it so much that I am going to make it in a 'red' version for myself. I don't get to keep this green and purple version as it goes to the person who thought the original fabric was ugly. I can't see an ugly fabric in it, but it is there. Which one? Pick whichever you may think is the ugly and you are probably right...

Sewing with Others

2008-05-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

I often forget how much fun it is to spend time with the people who share the same interesting hobby that I do.
I belong to a local quilt guild where I get to see people who gather together to promote and learn this interesting thing called quilting, but to actually sit down and sew, whether your own or a classroom project with other human beings is a very invigorating and motivating experience -- and a bit humbling too.

I guess like many people who have been around on this world for longer than a half century we think we know it all... I truly and surprised and also very happy when a young person teaches me something new. I do think that some people resent being the student rather than the teacher, but to me learning almost anything new is a wonderment and I will gladly accept the gift that is offered to me.

Well, friday evening was a Quilt til you Wilt at one of the local quilt stores, no real class was offered, just the space and inspiration you could gather from those around you. I think I spent as much time talking to my fellow quilters about their projects as I did actually sewing on my own! Some applique, some beginner star blocks, a huge disappearing nine patch for a beloved daughter and the finishing touches on a patchwork jacket - (I thought that was an 90's thing) but I guess they are still doing them...

It is so facinating to see what each other person was in the process of creating, that I forgot to take even one picture...

Reject

2008-05-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

What a terrible word...
but oh well, at least it was not a rejection of a quilt from a juried show - not that even that could break my heart. I just tend to go on - I am far to even tempered, but then I do have just a touch of vengefulness in me...

So where did the rejection come from?
Looks like I was bounced out of the Artful Quilters Web Ring -- no notice, no email to say I am being removed, no reason, no consideration. I don't even know when it was done.

Aw well, now as I write this, I am removing their little logo from my side bar. And I am sure whoever runs that show will not even notice... HO HUM.

Now, onto the next thing.

I made Jamie Oliver's Basic Risotto this morning -- I just felt like doing some cooking and since risotto is a very foreign to me -- I'm a mashed potatoes type of girl -- I thought I would try it out. I think it came out pretty good. My son stopped in on his way to work (he works 1pm to 9pm) so I gave him some for lunch... He said "mmmmmm..." I think thats good, then away he went to earn his living. Now that he has tried it, perhaps I will too. But since I don't recall ever having risotto cooked for me, and this is the first time I have done it, I have nothing to compare it to. So, it really can't be a failure can it, as long as it is tasty, it will be the best I ever had. I like that idea.

A Keeping Bag and Bits from the Garbage Can

2008-05-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I put together a little "accordian" type of bag. I saw one on a webblog somewhere on the internet and read through the posted tutorial for it. I was a very pretty little bag, but I thought that the construction was a bit more convoluted than it needed to be, so I made some adjustments in my version. I made three separate lined flat bags - the kind I have been making for years using the method where you sew the top, then the sides, turn rightside out and with a few hand stitches sew the opening closed, which makes "envelopes" with no seams showing. Then I sewed the three little flat bags together by sewing a 3 sided rectangle between two 'bags' and in so doing created a smaller pocket in between the sewn flat bags. Then I made a fourth piece cut the same width, sewing right sides together and a layer of poly batting, leaving an opening, turned, stitched closed the opening and attached it to one of the already attached "flat bags", the extra fold over formed the 'cover' or envelope closure, add a button hole and finally a button and, it was done. I am now working on a second one with some weird dinosaur fabric, that was in my stash for far too long...

I made a mistake, an error, a boo boo...
I am working on creating my own block design so the error can be excused because it did take some experimentation with the strips of fabric to cut, both the width and the length. Well I cut quite a few strips of fabric 3 1/2 inches wide, but after playing around, I discovered that the optimal width for the block that I am wanting should be 2 1/2 inches wide, so, as you see in the photo below I have a PILE of 1 inch wide strips of fabric. My first inclination was to throw them out, which I did.

Awh... But the next morning, way to early, I was up and in the sewing room. I saw those 1 inch wide strips sitting in my garbage can and still on my ironing board was a piece of cotton quilt batting left over from my last quilt that was about 20 inches wide and about 40-50 inches long. Well, it just seemed natural to pully all those narrow strips out of the garbage and start sewing them to the batting... I guess at 4:30 in the morning, I am just unable to leave things in the garbage can. Now I have a piece of 'material' with batting attached that is rather interested, but what to do with it? Well, sometime in the next few days perhaps an idea will come to me and I will create something useful or maybe not even useful, but it will be something.

Neglectful

2008-04-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

Six Weeks! Six Weeks already? I know I have not put anything new on my blog for quite awhile. I keep meaning to. There is so much going on right now, well actually for the last few weeks, finding time to sit and write has been a challenge.

I have been sewing most everyday, though. Finishing up the Guitar Quilt, I am very happy with it. Making a few organizer type bags. And thinking, cutting fabrics for a quilt that is somewhat like BENTO BOX QUILT PATTERN BY TRACEY BROOKSHIRE but is a book called Triangle Free Quilts by JUDY HOPKINS. The difference being that the size of the centre squares are small - quite small actually, maybe too small for what I want, perhaps I will slightly change that pattern, but ultimately the effect will be the same, whether called Bento Box or Arctic Nights. I am working in REDS, from deep dark purple through bright reds to pale pretty pinks. Still in the cutting stage though, so no pictures to post about it yet.

My husband and I talked ourselves into debt - we bought a brand new car - we have never bought a car that was newer than 4 years old before, and have not had a car payment for many years because we generally pay cash for a car purchase. This time, a fairly good deal on a new Pontiac seemed worth digging ourselves a hole for the next 5 years. The deal hinged on zero percent interest... So, as we save money in the bank and EARN interest we pay off a loan with no interest. It means a few dollars saved and earned whilst looking like we can actually afford a new car...

Not that that has anything to do with quilting, except now, we have a 10 year old Chevy sitting in the parking spot that I am sorely tempted to take a paint brush to. I have always wanted to paint Quilt Blocks on an old car. Of course it would render it unsaleable to anyone else if I did that. I shall contemplate it though with the old chev... It is a dark green background, so would look interesting with pink and white Star blocks painted onto it... Do I dare?

I will try to post a few pictures and more entertaining writing in the next few days...

Birthday Booties

2008-02-26T02:02:00.000-08:00

My grand nieces will be two years old in a couple of weeks -- so trying to be a good auntie, I am making them some fleece socks...

And between pairs of socks (I think I need some for myself too) I added a dimension flower with greenery to a simple little evening bag --I am still debating whether or not it needs more. Hmmm...

The leaves are simply folded circles and the centre flower is made by twisting and sewing in place a length of rick rack.

It stands out quite nicely on that black doesn't it? Seems that simplicity in this case is quite impressive, either that or it needs an abundance and variety of embellishment added all over...

Quick Update

2008-02-13T11:42:00.001-08:00

Since I got up at 4:30 am to work on this quilt, I thought I would take the time to post the progress. I am thoroughly enjoying the construction of this project -- even though it is not my design, it will surely make the giftee happy after I show it off at the quilt show...

Time for lunch...

And maybe a nap.

Quick Update

2008-02-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

I was up at 4:30 am simply because this guitar quilt was on my mind...

It is progressing nicely -- Now to get to the stitching

Working toward my guild's Quilt show

2008-02-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

Well, here are two projects that I plan to display in my quilt guild's biennial quilt show at the end of May, this year.

This first quilt is finally done -- years ago -- at least 10 I think, I watched an episode of Eleanor Burns Quilt in A Day series and she explained the process of making these double pinwheel blocks -- I wrote the instructions as she talked and demo'd. Some time later I found the floral fabric and the green and decided they were the perfect choice for the pinwheel, so I put blocks together until I got tired of making blocks...

Then the top got put into a box during a house move -- would you believe I did not FIND this top until about 2 1/2 years ago! Determined to geterdone, I layered it and... Guess what, I put it on the top shelf of the closet and forgot it again! Cleaning out old books and sorting UFO, again, I rediscovered this long suffering quilt.

Now because I had my new Janome 6600, quilting this pinwheel quilt became a much easier task so NOW IT IS DONE -- well, except for the binding, which I am working on today!
Guitars in Progress -- this is a Robbie Joy Eklow pattern from her book Free Expression When I first saw this wall quilt, I knew it was a necessary gift for my older son, but like alot of the things I plan...
Well, it got held up -- since I don't really dye alot of fabric, it took time for me to find a selection of fabrics to use for this quilt --- Finally ready with fabrics, I was ill all fall so did not do much other than draw out the pattern, copy to freezer paper then put it away. I expect to have it done soon enough for the show... Then it will become the property of the eldest son who not only collects guitars, but plays them too...

There are a few other little projects, that may or maynot get into the show.

For now, I am happy with my progress...

Continuations

2008-01-31T05:21:00.000-08:00

The month of January has disappeared so quickly! Instead of sewing and quilting, I still seem to be on a crochet "kick", though not exclusively -- alot of time has been spent in the kitchen, baking.

I 'sort of' invented a muffin recipe that the men in my family love. Chocolate (fruit) Bran Muffins. It is a pretty basic muffin recipe, except that I either mash bananas or chop really fine whatever fruit (even canned peaches or fruit cocktail) and add into the recipe. Somewhere I had heard or read that cocoa can be an thickener, so I also add two tblsp of cocoa to the recipe which makes it appealing to my chocolate loving men -- but there is also almost as much bran cereal in the dry mixture part of the muffin to call it a bran muffin -- the cocoa disguises the bran completely!

Here is my recipe, just in case anyone else might like to try it out...

The dry ingredients go into a fairly large bowl.

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup your favourite all bran cereal (I use Fibre 1)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tblsp cocoa powder

Mix together well til combined

Then the wet ingredients go into a smaller bowl

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup yogurt or sour milk (in a pinch)

1 cup fruit (mashed banana, finely chopped canned peaches or canned fruit cocktail) one or a combination of fruits that are juicy.

use a wisk and mix the liquid mixture til creamy. Add the liquid mix to the dry mix and stir together til moistened - still has some lumps - fill greased or paper lined muffin tins to about 3/4 full - makes 12 muffins (usually). Bake at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes.

***********************

SNOW DAYS

The past two days we have had more than our usual share of snow. The people who have to get to work, hate the difficulties it causes in their communte, the kids love it - some of them actually go outside and play -- we older homemakers spend the time inside enjoying our hobbies -- many extra hours of quilting!

The cedar trees in my backyard are burdened with the white flakes but the temperature hovers around zero (celsius) so it makes for nice weather to spend out of doors without getting too, too cold.

My Dog, Emry, a cocker spaniel, loves the snow! He is in and out the back patio doors dozens of times a day when the ground is covered. I have a bird feeder in my back yard, that I fear Emry works his hardest to keep the birds away from, so I will give those poor hungry birdies a bit of a respite from being chased by a crazy cocker -- but he attentively watches for the prey that he will never catch and evenually wears himself out hoping to catch at least a glimpse of them...

Quilting...

I am focusing a bit on the projects that have been waiting since the end of last summer and I have managed to get my Quilt Show Challenge quilt completed -- bound and labelled! I finished up the black and white and turquoise disappearing nine patch which really wasn't a disapearing nine-patch cause I added "logs" to two sides.

Next,

I think I will start piecing the African Quilt for my neice Sabrina -- it is going to be fairly large for me that is -- double size or a bit more, so I am thinking I will use an adapted method of Georgia Bonesteel's method of creating sections that are quilted, then sewing the sections together afterward, so as to make it more manageable to machine quilt. Or. Maybe I will work on something else -- you know how it is, you get in your hobby area (room or dining room table) and the best intentions may be diverted by a recent magazine or just an inclination to sew triangles or test out stitches or practice free motion quilting... I'll have to see how it goes...

What's Ahead for the Next Little While...

2008-01-02T10:53:00.001-08:00

A stack of blocks, 80 of them actually, that were exchanged amongst some of my friends. We just traded these blocks in Mid-December so they happen to be on the top of the UFO pile, but I don't think I will be able to work on them before doing a few other projects that have been waiting much longer!

Of a more urgent nature is the Quilt Show Challenge. And I MUST do this challenge because I am the organizer! As with most Challenges fabrics are provided and a theme to work to -- Once Upon A Time...

I have the Challenge about half done, and here is a partial picture of one of the blocks. One of the Challenge criteria was that there should be at least 1 square inch of a traditional type of needle work showing on the front of the quilt. The pretty cross stitch that you see, though is not my own work -- I found some embroidered napkins at one of my favourite 2nd hand stores and am appliquing my design onto the napkins (this is allowed in the rules) When the quilt is displayed at our Guild Quilt Show then I will be able to show you a full picture of it.

I thought I would start off this year working on some of the leftovers from last year -- and previous years. This first quilt is a jumble of orphan blocks and filler fabrics, the backing is on and it is partially quilted -- it just needs the binding. I think it will be a "beach/picnic/emergency quilt, so I am going to make a drawstring bag to go with this as a carrier and it will be kept in the trunk of the car. It is not a pretty quilt, but it relieves any guilt that may have developed as a result of throwing away all those left over bits.

I am going to work on it today, so it should be all done by this evening.

This next photo is House Blocks of which I was part of an exchange. My idea for this set of blocks is a bit different than usual. I am planning to create an accordian style booklet and will be adding embellishments and interesting things -- the idea is still rather vague as yet, so when I get to working on this project, hopefully, I can post more pictures of its progression.

Number Three Project, though not necessarily in that order is to make a medallion type of quilt with an African Theme -- the LADY batik will be the centre of the quilt surrounded by the fabrics stacked up around her plus at least a dozen other fabrics that just did not fit in the picture...

I am not even sure why I call this Number Three Project -- perhaps that name will reveal itself when I get working on it...

Now these 5 are not the only things that are hanging about the sewing room waiting to get done.
There is the Guitar Wall hanging from Robbie Joy Eklow's book...
Some items to sell (maybe) in our Quilt Show Boutique which is items made by our guild members -- I was thinking of doing some cosmetic/pencil zippered bags and maybe some aprons to see how they go over...

I have collected up a few children's type fabric which actually started with falling in love with the Dick and Jane fabrics and I have added a few complements to those -- so I guess that means I am planning? to do a child's quilt.

And as a filler to the days when I just want to mindlessly sew, I am using some of my older fabrics and creating 16 x 20 inch grocery tote bags. I have made 4 for my own use -- my husband loves them as they are just a bit bigger than the plastic store bags and quite a bit bigger than the bags that some of the stores are offering for about a buck as their "save the environment" contribution. I am not sure what I will do with more than the 4 bags I already have, because selling them is not really feasible (or is it?) because the fabric I use definately cost more than 99¢ and the time it takes would mean I need to get at least 7 to 10 bucks to be worth making a sale. So I suspect I shall give these bags to cousins and friends and encourage them to be used. Though sometimes I wonder about some of the people I know as the seem to like to walk around with bags that are stamped with store or brand names -- which makes me think they may not want to be seen carrying a flowery fabric bag...

There are a number of patterns tacked up on my bulletin board, and I do have a strange little journal of ideas that has some pretty cool stuff in it -- only problem is there are too many ideas and like most every other creative mind, not enough time...

Cool Stuff I got for Christmas

2007-12-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

Made in China -- this little dog ornament is a gift I gave myself -- this time anyway.
On Christmas eve (my birthday) I went to one of the 2nd hand stores in town - managed to park the car right near the front door, too. When I got out of the car, this little dog was sitting in the window directly in front of me. Perhaps and most likely he was a different one, but this little ornaments big googly eyes sat on a shelf by my bed through most of my childhood years! I think that my grandmother gave him to me around the time I started school -- and he was in my room when I left my parents home... I guess the original one was given or thrown away as parents do when their kids leave home and I have not seen him is some 30 years! Well, now here he is again -- $4 he cost me this time, and now he shall sit on a shelf by my bed again. . .

I find the strangest things to Collect. I have been collecting beaded and other fancy evening bags for a few years now.

My Aunt sent me this pretty bag, I think it has become my Instant Favourite. The picture does not do it justice, at all -- the ridgid handle has inlaid mother of pearl on the top edge that you cannot see. Inside is a very nice black satin with two pockets which is quite unusual. The beads are done in such a way that it creates a texured diamond shape.

Gettin' Up There...

2007-12-24T16:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve 1957...

Today is my birthday. I thought about vacuuming the stairs, but decided not to.

My Dad died this day 11 years ago.

December 24 has alot of memories, happy and sad, so I thought that I would look through old photos just to remember those things more clearly...

Thats me, by the little tree, and my two brothers and my Mom -- my little sister was not yet born, we had to wait another 9 years before she entered the pictures...

My Dad made a Car for us that year -- made from plywood, it had a real car steering wheel that actually turned the front wheels and pedals down front to make it go! We drove it around the basement, til spring and then outside everywhere ! It was painted a bright shiny Red. My Dad used to say that Red was the best colour for a car -- he always had Red cars -- except he had a blue 1959 AMC Rambler for awhile but he said it was never a good car -- then he got his 1963 Brand New Chevy Biscayne -- Burgundy Red, of course...

Well, enough nostalgia for this day -- I have some sewing to do -- well, maybe not, I think I just may go watch a movie and wait for someone in my family to call me when supper (and birthday cake) is ready...
Happy Christmas, everyone!

Snow.... Flake

2007-12-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

Make a Flake

Just a bit of play, here's the snowflake that I made from the Make a Flake site...

Interrupted Pile Up...

2007-12-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

Our quilt guild has a Ornament Exchange as part of the Christmas Program.

So I made these little Christmas trees -- I added to and slightly changed a pattern that I found on THE SMALL OBJECT where you can see the original design and download a .pdf pattern for the project, I made the half rounds, used Timtex as the stiffener, fused fabrics onto the half rounds, glue gunned them into cones, added the fancies, strung a cord through the three cones -- but first added two jingle bells to the bottom and happened to find two star bead for the top. Quick, Easy, and Christmassy...

Only thing is, How come whenever you, anybody you, take part in one of these exchanges, it seems like you always get back something that is not quite as pretty as what you put in? Not that what you get back is poor or cheap or badly made -- just that it never seems to be quite as nice as what you contributed? Is that our own ego??

I do hope the one I get in exchange really does excell the one I put in -- actually, thats why I made two -- so I can have my ornament and get one too!

Pile Up!

2007-12-10T06:02:00.000-08:00

I have too many projects to do, that were promised to be done!

But then I do have an excuse why they are not done --- I was sick -- but the projects still need to be done!

First up was an exchange of blocks, that I did manage to finish up all the blocks to exchange -- but because my head is sort of cloudy (is it the extra meds?) I brought the blocks home, put them up on my design wall and started thinking about how to set them. I even got to the point of cutting sashing strips and cornerstones...

Then I realized, I had another block exchange that was due Dec 5, I am obviously late on that one, but am half done.

So, I put away all the first set of blocks and cuttings, because those blocks can be sewn together, not in a rush...

The second block exchange though has applique, and all the pieces are cut and ready---BUT--- I am helping with my guild's Quilt Show to be held May 30 and 31 in Abbotsford, BC --specifically I am 'doing' the show challenge quilts -- which means I should also have a challenge wall hanging to put into the category! I have had the idea and have collected up the fabrics since before I was ill. So, this, I decided was number 2 priority and I got a really good, and pleasing start on it yesterday.

Next is the second block exchange -- though I do pick it up for a few minutes each day as I am able to fit it in --- Sorry, ladies, I just don't think my blocks will get to you before Christmas...

Two other quilts are on the Project list, though neither has a set deadline -- mainly because they are requests from relatives. My son wants a quilt with guitars on it -- I told him it will be a wall hanging, and my neice wants a African Fabics themed quilt, so I have been gathering up fabrics since may (I have more than I need!)

And of course there are projects in the PILE UP that include crochet, too. I am working on a BIG sweater (mid thigh length and wide collar) for myself -- the back and one front panel are done and I work on it while watching TV during the evening. In amongst that crochet project is making a few pairs of those easy peasy slip on slipper for my sons, who would never be caught dead having someone see them wearing them, but always seem to ask for them.

Last, I can't even believe this myself -- I forgot to even send a christmas card to my elder son! I am making him a pair of those slippers, so maybe I can get them done today and mailed with a card tomorrow. So the slippers, have slipped up to the number one spot and everything else down!

Is this anyway to keep a schedule? Good thing I don't have to go to WORK!

WIP done

2007-12-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

After some help, from my husband, sorting things and piles of things in my sewing room, I discovered the pieces of this little teddy all cut out and waiting. I had bought a few second hand store wool sweaters during the summer intending various uses for them. The sweater I chose for this teddy, actually did not shrink (felt) as much as I had hoped, but it was cashmere and so soft I could not keep my hands away from it. This is a small teddy, he is only about six inches from bum to brow and took only one sleeve worth of the cashmere sweater.

Here is a tip when working with wool -- iron on facings, interfacings and most products like wonder under or heat n bond do not stick to wool, so if you use it, expect it to peel off quite soon -- in other words, don't use "stick on" products that you need to be permanent with wools.

So now having said that, because the cashmere still had a stretch to it, I used and iron on interfacing to back the fabric and then cut my pieces. And there it lay for a couple of months. Yesterday I sewed him together, set in his eyes and nose, and filled him with poly stuffing. The iron on interfacing was peeling back by the time I was filling him with the stuffing, so that gives you an indication of how long they stick to wools -- just long enough, in this case -- I guess it may be because of the oils that are present in wools...

As you can see in the picture, I decided to put a shirt on this teddy -- the picture does not show the finishing on the shirt -- The shirt though is made from the cuff and sleeve of an old cotton stretch long sleeve t-shirt. Happened to be just the right neck size and makes a perfect turtle neck! To insert the sleeves, I simply cut up from the 'bottom' to the edge of the cuff, measured the size of arm piece needed, cut a square and sewed up one side down the other -- which gave the t-shape and did not cut into the cuff -- sewed the underarm/side seam and VOILA a teddy t-shirt. Then I trimmed the arms to length with a bit of a fold over, and hemmed the bottom edge to an appropriate length. Last I sewed on the little heart.

My husband asked why I made this teddy. I said, I heard him calling to be, so I made him. My husband then said what is he for. I said, I had no idea but I suspect he will find his own place in the world and let me know where he wants to go, someday. My husband thinks I am a nut sometimes!

Blog Dump...

2007-11-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

I don't usually just give links to various blogs that I read, but I have come across a few interesting ones lately that either have good recycling ideas or good uses for scrap fabrics or ideas to work on reducing a stash that is needing using up, quickly.

One blog that has an excellent idea for making use of the tiny cheap one size fits all gloves can be found at http://craftaddictions.blogspot.com/2007/11/warm-from-my-fingers-to-my-elbows.html I found this blog through a link on the CRAFT magazine site which almost daily posts sites of interest in a wide variety of craft ideas, patterns and tutorials available mostly free across the web.

Be Sew Stylish is a blog that is part of this magazine, the have excellent tips for sewers of all expertise and since we are into winter here is a recent blog entry on tips for sewing fleece. http://besewstylish.taunton.com/n/blogs/blog.aspx?webtag=besewstylish&entry=191

PoppyTalk is a westcoast canadian blog that points you to other mostly canadian designers and handmade products or ideas , not just quilting or sewing, but basically what is out there in the big world that may interest anyone interested in a variety, any variety..

In the news lately AGAIN, has been the idea of banning the use of plastic bags in grocery stores, but this site My Recycled Bags has patterns, ideas, and tutorials of just how to recreate the plastic in the grocery bags into different, more sturdy and rather pretty totes and purses. Check the side bar for a tutorial that will explain how to take apart the basic grocery bag to create the "yarn" to use on for the remaked bags.

Oh and the one I have been following all the month of November as I was able to get to between being stuck in the hospital and wishing I could make something from each category, but...
Check out Sew Mama Sew , check back through the entries, each day a different category (look on the left hand sidebar for the daily links) you will find easy projects to make for christmas gifts or just things you need around the house...

No pictures today -- I spent time in my kitchen making real RICE PUDDING and roasting a couple of Squashes to make Squash soup in the next day or two -- now off to crochet, something, anything...

Recovery Project - sitting and doing something... anything

2007-11-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

Still so tired from this illness, but now I am at home I can at least access my various stash boxes of STUFF. My friend recently bought a very arty scarf, knitted with diffferent yarns, white, black, turquoise and various ribbons woven throughout. It is a wonderful scarf! Well, I opened my 'ribbons' box and my left over yarn bits box and created this little arty fuzzy scarf in about 3 hours. I used every scrap of browns and silver specialty yarns and two part skeins of a white acrylic yarn as the base. Not quite as interesting as the scarf my friend bought, but I think this one is a good first try--now do I have the dress/clothing to help set it off as an accessory?

Interrupted... and the subject of Naming a Quilt

2007-11-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

My view from a hospital bed did not change for 16 days!

Not a bit of sewing, not a bit of any type of crafting - just trying to get my body to co-operate and be able to actually move was a challenge.

Well now I am on the mend and my brain is working on some ideas and trying to organize works in progress, even though I have not actually been able to pick them out and sort them. Its all in my head.

I spent some time reading the Quilt Art List yesterday (110 digests from the last two weeks) and a small subject that was talked about was the idea of naming quilts. This little subject has got me to thinking . A friend and I were wondering what the point is of naming a quilt, or even sometimes labelling a quilt that is a old traditional pattern and is probably to be used around the house. I think, that kind of quilt doesn't need a name because whether it is used on a bed or dragged about the living room or tv room to cuddle in on cool nights, everyone comes to know the quilt and it developes it's own name. "Mom, wheres the green quilt? I'm cold!" Seems to me to be an excellent name for a quilt... But then of course if you are making a quilt as an art piece or even to display in your local quilt show in the spring, perhaps you will need to find a name and an explaination for the creation of that quilt. Do you start with a name for a quilt in that case? Or do you study the quilt when it is done and mull over a name to give it, because of the part of your heart that you have put into it? Let me know your point of view, on that, Please!

Ongoing Traditional Project

2007-11-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well as promised a couple of days ago, here is a picture of what I am working on while I am held prisioner by illness.

While I sit and imagine playing on my sewing machine, wishing to sew, cut, iron and put together a quilt top a day -- instead I am limited to a box of small scraps, along with scissors, needle and thread and about a thousand patis, I put together the fabrics and pieces, cut by hand, sewn by hand and eventually quilted by hand. So far I have 13 hexagon blocks done and aiming for about 30. It will ultimately be about crib size and I plan to leave it with the hex edge rather than trimming a squareing off.

With the amount of time and handwork in it, I will not give it away -- unless to a first born grandchild, which is not seeming to be a likely happening in my little family...

Bin Gone so Long...

2007-10-26T02:37:00.000-07:00

I have been through a very incapacitating illness the last while and even though sitting at a computer is not such a strenuous activity, it was beyond my mental or physical ability for quite some time.

Neither have I been in my sewing room or near my favourite sewing machine -- the hospital IV's even prevented the simple picking up and using of a crochet hook!

Well, now I think I am beginning to mend, though do things in short bursts and am still watching alot of daytime TV that mostly lets me snooze a part of the day away.

Lacking pictures of projects to show off, I do have a before and after of my renovated 1970's bathroom. We have a small townhouse so we did not change the design, but most repaired plumbing, replaced pipes, fixed floors and walls and installed all new fixtures. I say we only in that I watched

and picked colours while the worker guy did his job -- all the while working around the lady of the house getting sicker and sicker and I am sure harder and harder to deal with.

Well, now that things are picking up and I am no longer having morbid thoughts my brain has again turned to creative things.

For a couple years I have been working on a variation of grandmother's flower garden -- piecing by hand -- and I got out the box yesterday afternoon and in the next little while of recovery I hope to work on adding to this long running project.

In a day or two I will post photos of this ongoing project, but can't promise a finish date for it -- but it does progress surely even if rather slowly -- but that is the quilt that I keep and love all my life, so it will be one of those very special ones, I think.

Aprons!

2007-09-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

On a way lighter note than my last blog entry, here is a short stack of apron patterns that I have collected, along with some "vintage" (70's - 80's) fabrics. Apron patterns do not change much over time, do they, but the price of the patterns sure do. The McCall's 5617, was originally priced at $1.75 and I have seen it on ebay for 4.95, The Simplicity 7245 (with the purple header) has a price on it of $11.95!

I am hoping to make a few of the full aprons, the simpler versions as christmas gifts this year, but don't quite have the motivation to get to it right now...

There are a stack of UFO's in my sewing room and the biggest UFO is to clean up the room so I can move around in it to get things done. How does it get so far out of hand? I have too many things going right now. I have two lap quilts that are ready to be quilted, they sit in the corner with things piled under them -- do I dare look under them to see what other projects I have forgotten???

Just doesn't seem like there is quite enough time to get things done, or perhaps I sit at this computer for too many hours reading other quilting and crafting blogs or worse, playing my current favourite computer game, LUXOR...

Tomorrow, I shall try to post a picture of an accomplishment, completed...

No More Free Speech in America!

2007-09-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

Wow! I was shocked...
First, to those who look to read this blog for quilting and crafting info, I'm not sorry to make this statement, even though it is unusual for this blog. I am a political person, not American but interested in the world so, last night when I watched the Larry King show I was amazed to discover that at the Emmy Awards, parts of acceptance speeches were censored by, cutting off the sound or actually removing the speaker.

When Sally Field came up to accept her Emmy, her speech ended with "“I am proud to be one of those women. Let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place. Thank you for everything.” But it was cut short before she said "no goddamn..."

And Kathy Griffin...
"Suckit Jesus", yes that is what she said, the portion of her acceptance went like "Now, look, a lot of people come up here and they thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, Cesar Millan would be up here with that damn dog. So all I can say is suck it Jesus, this reward is my God now."
It was cut from the broadcast.

Now who decides what should and should not be said? Has America become a dictatorship? I was going to ask if there are people out there so self-righteous that they take upon themselves the censorship of the nation and the people -- but I don't need to ask that question, do I? There obviously are those people out there.

This kind of censorship takes away my ability to make an informed decision. The person who is so self righteous and full of their own egocentric control of the masses, it a person who I fear more than almost anything in this life...

What a terrible thing to discover that someone can control what we see on television -- though, yes, it has gone on for as long as there has been media or any type of message. I thought that we were enlightened, but there are those who do not want that to be.

Control is achieved by limiting information, the term "dumbing down America" is a lofty goal of those who wish to achieve their own success by creating their alternate reality...

Now back to the regularly scheduled crafty bits...

Crochet?

2007-09-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

I started this ripple afghan way back in May -- a result of following the ripple-along blog though I never did "join" officially, I followed the progress of all the other projects. Facinating the combination of colours used and the various ripple patterns. I used a very simple ripple pattern, a repeat of 12, 5 dc, two increase, 5 dc, two decrease. I made it 60 inches wide and about 80 inches long and it is the biggest and most heavy bunch of tangled yarn I have ever created! Whew!

It has 16 balls/skeins of Red Heart and Bernat Acrylics in 6 different colourways.

I don't think afghans really were meant to be made so big, they become quite unwieldy, working the last half of it, always struggling to keep the weight from pulling your stitches out of the gauge that you are trying to work in and keep even. I think I did well though. I used a stool in front of my chair mostly to hold that extra weight, but I can say, I will not be making another afghan quite so huge. Quilts yes, but afghans, no, never again, that size...

Now, I am part way done a couple of scarfs, one just a alternating dc, sc stitch -- I like that combo, it makes the whole thing look so textured and yet not really crocheted, and the other scarf I have on the go is actually a pattern, extended in length from one of those mile-a-minute afghan patterns. I wanted to make something lacy and couldn't find a pattern that appealed to me and then discovered in one of my drawers the mile-a-minute booklet and thought, hey! that makes for a nice scarf, and it will.

Two quilts are ready for quilting, already layered and pinned, just waiting for the energy to get myself motivated...
Discovered recently that I am anemic -- never have been before in my life -- so am on an iron supplement and can already feel the difference only a week in...

Hope to show a few more pictures of the projects just mentioned in the next few days...

A Colour Study?

2007-08-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

Not quilting or sewing or even crochet, today -- but still a project considered a bit of a skill and definately, like a quilt, done on a grid.

I put ceramic wall tiles around my stove in my kitchen. I did a pretty good job, too. Nice and straight and properly spaced -- but just barely enough of the gluey stuff to cover the area that I wanted done.

And here is an opportunity to learn about colour combinations, even.

I am slowly but surely upgrading my mid-seventies kitchen. Did you know the wall behind the stove was painted a rosy pink?

Well back to the lesson in colour...

Doesn't the stove a 1985 Eaton's Viking model look grubby and dirty? Not that it is too dirty, but this sure does illustrate that combining clear whites with, creamy beiges just does not work. When the wall was pink, the stove did not look so grungy, but now that the cupboards and walls are such a bright white, that poor ole` stove looks very out of place.

There are colour lessons everywhere, some not quite as glaring as this, next... Maybe a new or newer stove and fridge definately in WHITE!

Sometimes a Scrappy Quilt is just that.... SCRAP.

2007-08-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

I used to wonder why so many of the quilts I made were dull and most of the colours were muddy. This quilt has shown me why that was true. Most of these fabrics are "gifted" fabrics or thrift store purchases, mostly in small amounts. Most of these fabrics, except for maybe a half dozen recent purchases are late 80's or up to mid 90's fabrics. Are they VINTAGE! HA! They are just old...

I, like most people of my age and generation really dislike throwing things away so I have been chopping up the bits left from other projects into 2 ½ inch squares or strips. I have a shoe box full of squares and another of strips, so using a block pattern I found here (except using the width of strips I have rather than the 1 ½" called for in the pattern) I proceed to put together 60 blocks and combined those sixty into 12. Everything done completely randomly with whatever came up in the pile next. Well the result is a useable but unpretty lap sized quilt. I feel compelled to complete this but am thinking of going to the thrift store for a flannel sheet or thin wool blanket to use as the "batting" and some flannelette purchased on sale for the backing and call it done.

I have some relatives coming through my town in the next few weeks -- not favourite relatives as I have not visited with them since 2002, but I have also never gifted them with a quilt. They know I make quilts but they are the kind of people that only know quilts as being made of leftovers and bits of fabric taken from old clothes -- they don't know that quilts can be art.... I am thinking that this quilt which to me is rather unpretty would exactly fit their expectation of a quilt and thus would fill my feeling that 'she' has expected a QUILT from me for quite sometime -- even though she only sends cards at Christmas and never anything else (I do try to keep in mind that to give is better than to receive.)

So, should this quilt be called a success or is it just something that filled my time and kept the guilt of not making good use of old fabric at bay? Perhaps a better, brighter choice of borders or a different setting for these blocks will update them somewhat -- because as I said I still have alot of 2 ½" squares and strips -- probably enough for two or three or four more of this size of quilt... A good project for mindless sewing and guilt free use of scraps, but one can quickly become unmotivated when the finished product is unpretty.

Playing with Leftovers

2007-08-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I never quite get around to making use of the extra blocks or experiments that I create -- especially the ones that feel like they are failures. Or even the ones that have achieved a point where I have become satisfied with them.

Today, I just needed to sew, something unplanned, something that I can just do and make and have in the end. Well, there were 8 squares left from my struggles with the black and white and red and turquoise quilt (look back in my blog to July 5 to see the beginnings of that quilt), so I put them together, added some handles, added a vinyl piece to create a see through pocket, a tab overflap and the only thing missing was a big red button. Not one of those could be found in any drawer or box or hidden corner in the sewing room, but I did find a length of plastic beads and settle for them as a long loop to slip through the button hole in the tab to hold the thing closed.

The patchwork is random, being mostly turquoise with only little bits or red and hardly more bits of black, but different it is and I am quite happy with the result...

What got done, he asks...

2007-08-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

After working hard all day in a warehouse, my husband comes home around 6pm and always asks me what did I do today.

I am not sure if he is trying to make me feel guilty for not going to work at a money earning job, or if he is interested in how I keep active in a day.

I don't actually -- I am pretty lazy and my shape shows it, but I do try to get out there and get a walk in especially on a nice day. Well, truth be told, any day that you don't have to go to work for someone else is a pretty nice day!

This spring out townhouse got some reno work done, new windows and doors and new vinyl siding and because of that I did not plant anything in my gardens or flower beds -- good thing too, cause what was there was badly trampled by steeled toe work boots!

So. I walked about the neighbourhood and took a few pictures of the neighbours gardens.

One of the few things that I did manage to find at the garden centre was some scraggly basil plants, and I bought them anyway.

I planted them in a large urn and put them by my front step, they are doing beautifully and the three plants make me wish I had bought 6 or 10! I have to touch the leaves every time I go out my door.

Before the walk, which was taken round about mid afternoon -- I was up early this morning and finishing up the quilting and the binding on a little quilt that I plan to give away -- to whom, I don't rightly know yet -- maybe for our guilds charity program or perhaps to the recently added twins on my husbands side of the family, but is it okay to give one quilt to twins??

Maybe I will have to make a second one -- well thats a project for next week, though I also have on my list to quilt the black and white and red and turquoise quilt that I put together a couple weeks back

I should get that one finished before I start something else.... Oops, I already started something else.

Who could possibly find time to work when there are so many other interesting things to do?

I should have at least done the dishes today, if nothing else in the way of household chores, but I think it is too late, I shall be caught at it if I start now --- I guess I could say I was kept so busy that there simply was no time til NOW to get the dishes done -- Shall we go out for supper, dear?

And, hey?, can we stop in at the fabric store, I am thinkin' that I need some black fabric for the African Quilt I am about to start working on...

Feeling Successful...

2007-07-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, or was it the day B4? I created a tutorial for layered applique and posted it on Flickr, and I thought I did a pretty good job of describing the process...

So today, I made another tutorial -- I'm sure there are others describing the process of making a tote bag, but I thought I would do one myself since my friend had just asked me about how I go about doing one so quickly... I can make them in about 1/2 hour, sometimes a bit longer if I add extras to it; but generally, it is a SNAP to make as I have been doing them for myself for years now.

I think though, that I used up all my upload alottment on my Flickr account for the whole month by doing two tutorials - so I guess for the next little while, I will either have to work quietly on my own with no bragging or showing off, or stick to my ripple afghan project, which is getting quite huge, but not huge enough...

Or perhaps start something new...

Oh yeah, the link to the Lined Tote Bag Tutorial can be found on my sidebar. Hope you find it useful and if you make a bag using the instructions send me a comment and let me know or send me a picture! Its always nice to know if I have made myself useful to others out there in the world!

Oh, and my tutorial for the Layered Applique is also featured/posted on Craft Magazine's blog. How cool is that?

2007-07-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

We have had a cloudy, rainy week, up here in the Lower Mainland (Fraser Valley) of British Columbia.

I don't work well in hot weather -- I just sort of wilt and wait for the cooler days to stiffen my spine so that I can again move around...

Anticipating hot weather coming I have been very busy this week and part of last. I completed a small quilt that will be submitted to my quilt guilds' summer challenge. Our guild does a challenge every summer with the object being that the quilts submitted are given to local children's and women's charitable endeavours. We are usually give one or two fabrics to work from with no rules other than the quilt should be suitable for a child or baby. So this butterfly is my endeavour. My husband thinks it is great -- but then he is partial to BLUE. This little quilt though has given me the opportunity to post a tutorial on APPLIQUE.

I use a specific method to create layered applique -- which is the kind of designs that are built to create a picture or object, rather than the kind of applique where you sew a single motif onto a background such as you would if you want to create a vine with individual leaves.

If you are interested in seeing how I put together the wings of this Butterfly you can go to my LAYERED APPLIQUE TUTORIAL on Flickr and follow the steps. The pattern I used for this project is from a book called BUTTERFLIES by Nancy Donahue and published in 1982 by Patchwork Patterns of Industry, CA, so I am not able to pass along this actual pattern to anyone who may request it. The tutorial though will work with any type of applique design that requires that you "build" the elements of the design before appliqueing it to a background fabric.

Please leave a comment or a question to let me know how well this tutorial has worked for you either here or on my flickr site.

2007-07-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

Miss Snips Neighbourhood...

My neighbourhood is in a mess -- you know when you decide to take everything out of the closet and sort through and get rid of the stuff you don't use anymore and then you maybe build a new shelf or two, reorganize and sort again and finally put it all back together -- well that is what is happening in my neighbourhood and has been happening for about a year now...

The first photo shows the yard and just a corner of one house that was across the street from where I live -- as it looked in September 2005...

And the second photo was taken just this morning... It is at just a few steps different angle from the first picture. There have been two buildings put in, the first is complete, the second almost finished and the third still in the framing stage.

What a difference it has made on our street. Just a few more steps to the left of the second picture is the entrance to a nature area that goes down into a ravine and a salmon spawning stream, and yes the fry are still in the stream but other wildlife have been greatly disturbed. The streets surrounding seem to take their toll of possum, raccoon and even the occasional squished rat...

Progress, eh...

2007-07-14T02:51:00.000-07:00

I'm on a bag making kick! I actually made two of these totes yesterday afternoon with the fabrics that I got at the flea market last Sunday. I am going to make an effort to sell some of these, though I have not yet decided if I should open and "ETSY" shop or physically go around to some of the little shops in my own area and sell them direct or consignment. I have before tried to sell via consignment and the thing that frustrates me about that is they want such a large share of the selling price the maker either accepts less or the product is priced so high that no one finds any real value in making the purchase -- or more simply said, an overpriced product that doesn't sell...

It takes me only about 30-40 minutes to make this style of bag and it is so versatile for everyday things. This particular size is about 10 - 12 inches wide and about 14 inches deep. The pocket on front is 6 inches deep and is divided into two sections. No extra hardware or fancy bits -- though the second one I made does have piping along the top edge of the pocket -- it adds a nice finishing touch. $16 Cdn seems quite reasonable and $4 shipping should cover it nicely. I want to make some of these to donate to the local Women's Transition House and I was thinking if I can sell some too, perhaps I can purchase some personal type items to include in the bags -- things like a comb, lip gloss, hand cream, etc... Ultimately I am aiming at creating 20 bags for the Transition House and enough in sales of bags to purchase the things to fill them... I guess it is my own little Christmas Project.

2007-07-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

What is one of the things that we buy over and over and over during our life and probably two or three times a year? Handbags! I haven't bought myself one in ages, but I make a half dozen a year at least for myself and for practically any friend or relative who asks for one. Except I have to say I have crossed off a couple of friends off that list since I discovered that they prefer to carry a bag with the name Tommy H.... on it, instead of a one of a kind, specially made only for them bag by Miss Snips...

I went to the flea market on Sunday and bought a stack and more of upholstry samples from a vendor and spent only two dollars on them.

This morning, I pulled one of the smaller pieces out of the stack of fabrics and made a new handbag. It is a bit smaller than I usually use but is a new design that I have not tried before. I think it turned out quite well for a first attempt at that style. It has an inside pocket and a magnetic snap to close it.

I am not quite sure I like my choice of the 'band' at the top of the bag, but like I say, it is the first time I have tried this style of bag, so experimenting with colour, fabric, and method are to be expected...

It started out as a 14" x 16" piece and finished about 10" wide and 8" deep, but because of the pleat it is quite roomy enough inside for a wallet and cell phone, keys and a couple of other things we tend to carry about during the day.

2007-07-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

I'm on a plane, I can't Complain --- Kurt CobainSo then, there it is...

How I made myself suffer with this one! The black and white with red allover is such a traditional combination of colours, anyone can do it! But no! I have to add a squiggly black lined turquoise print and on top of that, I cannot allow myself to place the blocks so that they are a lovely geometric "attic window".

What did develop overnight that set me on this turn of events? I can't rightly say, but now that the blocks are making the eye move across the body of the quilt I feel fine about it. The border though is the touch it needed. I slightly changed a quilt block that was in our guild newsletter to create that wonky piano key border. I had considered putting "cornerstones" in the border but after an audition (again wasting time) I decided to put the border on in a slightly different way than expected (Look Closely) the goal being that the border keeps your eyes moving around but I did not miter the corners nor did I create two short and two long sides of the quilt. It is the first time I have had occasion to use this method for a border, though I have used it many times when piecing star quilt blocks...

So in the almost end, I have decided that I like this quilt after all. I think that the strange turquoise print is essential to the whole as is the border. I do believe a black binding will give the creation an edge for your eye to stop its wanderings.

Tell me what you think...

2007-07-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Back to Black and White and Red and Turquoise...
Ho.....

Hum....

I am either unfocused or have discovered that this combination of colours and shapes do not suit me at all.

It is hot outside today -- What's that Got to Do with Quilting, Anyway? -- so I thought that I would get back to this dilemna. I spent 3 hours and a bit, fiddling around with these black and white blocks trying to find something, anything that I like about them.

How am I going to work with these when they give me the YAWNS!?
How am I going to justify the wastefulness of this project as I do believe I have reached a point that I have explored it as far as I want to go with it...

Is there anyone out there that can take a liking to this project? ~~I will happily send this stack of blocks and cut bits and even about 1/2 meter of the turquoise print to someone who will CREATE something that suits them...~~

~~I am packing them up into a mailing envelope and all it needs is a name and address.~~

The only one that comes close to what I see in my minds eye is this third photo with the "white" squares diagonal to each other.

I thought I would really like the triangle version, because, well, I am partial to triangles and to pinwheels in particular...

But.

I Guess NOT...

The pinwheels look somewhat like Swastikas and though it is just another form of THE CROSS, it has more recent symbolic memories that alot of people even now prefer not to see.

The on-point triangle surely would be interesting but not in this colour combination.

~~So, someone answer my plea to take this challenge off my hands so that I don't need to feel guilty about being wasteful with my fabrics!~~

Addition to this Post: Yep, even 6 hours later I cannot seem to find a reason to continue with these fabrics in this particular conformation... Take them, please!