How about something that isn't potholders today! I finished quilting two veterans quilts. I can't say equivocally, but I'd bet a lot of money that this was made by Betsy. This one was made by Glenda (Mom). She pulled out every orphan block that she had and put them together in this fun quilt.
I thought that these would be the last quilts that I quilted before vacation. I only have two tops left but I can't quilt them together. One needs a gray back and one, blue. Yesterday I got an email from peg and she has two tops ready. From the description it sounds like one will work with a gray back and one with blue. I'll be able to quilt 4 more quilts before vacation! There are more potholders coming too.
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Yesterday I jumped in to screen the tea towel gifts. I centered the design by marking the towels with lines using washable markers. I matched them up to marks that I put in the sides of the screen frame. You can see that I didn't apply the design centered on the frame. I'll see how well I did in a couple of days. I dyed the 4 tea towels along with some shirts. I planned to finish quilting both veterans quilts but I only got through one. I overdid it with my weights in my morning exercise and my shoulder wasn't interested in quilting very long. I'll finish this today. There was plenty of time left for the last 6 potholders! I think these are my favorites. This give me a total of 47 but I'm thinking of making a few more. I have some time before we leave for vacation and I don't really want to start anything else. It doesn't matter how many I make, it's always good to have a gift stash. I looked out the front door before dinner and saw that two of the deer have made themselves very comfortable in the front yard.
Today I'll wash out the dyed things, finish the second veterans quilt and maybe plan some tea towels to take to Maine as gifts. Yesterday I got all of my energy back and was ready to get on with chores and projects. I started the day with laundry and that reminded me that we needed to clear the dryer vent tube. In our house the dryer is almost in the middle of the house and the tube has a couple of angles in it. Periodically we have to disconnect it and blow it out with the leaf blower. It's kind of fun. But this time we discovered the dryer itself was blocked. We unplugged it, pulled it out, removed two back panels and removed a phenomenal amount of lint! I think I could have jam packed a quart jar full of lint. It was a big mess but the dryer works much better now and it didn't cost any money. We've had some expenses pile up lately with a new water heater, new TV and new vacuum cleaner so I really didn't want to buy a new dryer. I was happy to get back to the potholders and I finished these 8. I have 41 finished and 6 more cut out but I could see myself making more. They are just a good project for my current mindspace and I'm using up a good bit of fabric. For the lining and pockets I can use some fabrics that really aren't great for any other projects. I did do some other things too. I had 2 veterans quilts ready for quilting so I got them loaded. I got the bobbins wound, tension set and a couple of rows quilted. I'll be back on this today. Then just before dinner I got an idea for a gift. We're visiting some friends in Beaufort, SC in September and she refers to the place as Skeeter Haven. I decided that I could screen print some tea towels for them (her). I'm going to work on these today too. I think I'm going to use Dye Magnet so I can print before I dye and the image will come out during the dye process.
The Cricut is so much fun for this kind of project. It took me just a few minutes to find that cute mosquito in the library and then add the text. I don't have to go anywhere so I should be able to get on with all of my projects. Yesterday was a total recovery day. I was tired! It was a good day to just hang out in my quiet sewing room. I had started these potholders (4 of each fabric) last week and I finished them off yesterday. The ditsy flower print is fabric left over from a quilt back. The other is a sunprint that I created specifically for potholders. This stencil and the chalk pad have really helped. I could quilt these with any variety of "patterns" but the straight lines are easiest....and they are potholder, afterall. The chalk lines don't rub off easily but they will as people use them. I got 8 more quilted and pinned and ready to stitch around.
Today I think I'll try to load a couple of veterans quilts. I don't have many to be quilted but I want to get them done before we leave for Maine. I didn't post this weekend but I have a good excuse. I was exhausted! Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Ella. She was delightful. Saturday (after I had a nap) we were talking about how much we missed her. We took her to her Grandmother's house (also my brother's house) Saturday where we also had an 85h birthday party for my Mom. My cousin came in from Asheville, NC and we got to see one of my nieces for the first time in over 5 years. It was a wonderful afternoon. This post is about the last items that Ella and I made. She used every available minute and we were cutting out things up until she had to pack to leave. Here are the last 3 tshirts that we made. She wore the "dance" shirt to the party. Her little brother loved his new shirts. The special project that we worked on thursday night was a pajama set for Mom for her birthday. It was kind of a last minutes thing so we went to WalMart to buy some pajama bottoms and she designed this shirt as a top. She designed this herself on the Cricut. I think she will be getting one for Christmas! The big news is that we actually finished the blanket! It's not perfect by any means. I think when working with kids that it's important to accept finished over perfect. It's disheartening to have to frog stitching so I just made repairs as we went along. She really loves it and I have a great photo of her rolled up in it but I don't share kid's photos on the web so I'll keep that one to myself. It's made with Lion Brand Off The Hook yarn and we used all of 7 skeins. This is a great yarn for kids and people who want to make things fast. It made a really squishy soft blanket but I hope to never use this yarn again. We had time left Friday night so we learned how to use the pen and how to cut paper and then she wanted a zipper bag for her backpack. So I got to teach her a little sewing. She mostly liked the knee lift and had it up and down about 100 times! We even added a little tassel to the zipper. We got up Saturday and had an hour or so to kill so we cut some things that she can iron to future shirts. Yesterday I actually got to see Ella again. Her parents were planning to tile their backsplash and I offered my wet saw. Then I offered to help. I did most of the cutting while they installed the tile. I was a long day but we got it done! Today I'm exhausted and very grateful that I don't have to grout it. It's going to be a day of cleaning up the sewing room and shopping for a new TV. I might get some more potholders done.
I can't even describe how much fun I'm having with Ella. She is the NICEST kid. We went to the store for snacks yesterday and she pointed out some pretzels that she loves. I told her to get them. She then spent several minutes making sure I knew how much they cost and that she really didn't need them. Very sweet. We started out day with her making me get up! When I came downstairs she was already working on her blanket. But we stopped that and got right to making a couple of shirts. I try to break up the blanket sessions so she doesn't get fatigued with it. The blue shirt is for her brother. Next we made shirts for their schools. Eli plays football and his jersey number is 7. They both have their school initials on the front and names on the back. through a few session, we have gotten this far on the blanket. It will be 8 blocks tall and we are through 5. We have 2.5 balls to get through today and that's doable. There are lots of mistakes in this blanket but we did a fine job of correcting or covering them up. She's really happy with it so far.
Last night we did a special project. She wanted to make a birthday gift for my Mom. I'll get a photo this weekend. We wrapped it up before I remembered to wrap it. She designed it herself in the Cricut and did a great job. I think Santa already has something on his list for December! Today we have 2 more shirts to do, some cookies to make and one special blanket to finish! I picked up Ella yesterday morning for our first day of craft camp. She is so delightful! Very respectful, kind and really easy going. But I knew all that before I invited her. She is also outrageously obsessed with coordinated school supplies. I respect that so it's what we worked on for our first Cricut project. We started with these 2 notebooks. Then we made a bunch of labels for her folders and notebooks that she's still left to purchase. We even printed some subject labels in purple to use once she decides which notebooks will be used for which subjects. No one is going to be better prepared for school! She's really good at using the Cricut but I'd expect nothing else from a tech savvy young person. We also started her blanket. We are making a blanket with loop yarn. I don't enjoy working with this yarn but I can't deny the appeal. It's going to be a super soft blanket.
Today we will work more on the blanket and start doing the Cricut projects for the t-shirts. I have 3 for her and 3 for her brother. We're also going to have dinner with my Mom. After a couple of years away it was fun to be ice dyeing again. The best part is that I don't have to iron these fabrics and take beauty photos! I can just slide by with the lazy photos that I'm going to post for you today. I decided to ice dye again because I wanted to make a colorful backing for the houses quilt top that I made a couple of months ago. I sort of wish that this one had more purple in it but once the ice is on you never really know where the dye is going. I like the patterning and I really like having the white spaces in this one. But I couldn't dye just one thing. In for a penny, in for a pound. ![]() I dyed some fabric, t-shirts and tea towels. Both of these were gravity dyed. I'm not going to explain any of the methods that I used. There are lots of YouTube videos and that's where I first saw these things. The shirt on the left is one of my all time favorite things and I'll do more of this. The one on the right didn't work as well but I can screen print something on this and I think it will be cool for a kid. These were all incline dyed and that tea towel is AWESOME. ![]() I think incline dyeing is pretty self-explanatory. My set up wasn't optimal. I have some better ideas for the next time. I like the mandala piece. The t-shirt will benefit from a strong screen printed image. This is a really cool folding technique called "glitch". I really like this and I like all three pieces. I need a little more practice folding and tying but I'm pleased with these first results. I have 4 more 40" square tapestries. The one on the lower right will be cut up in a project. The others are all winners. I think the one on the lower left will be the focus of my next Groovy quilt. Here are 4 tea towels. The one on the top left will certainly get something printed on it. The others are good as they are and that lower right one is a big winner! These are all small blocks, about 13" square. I don't know why I included that tea towel again. But the small pieces are mostly used in the Groovy quilts. These are always a crap shoot because the pieces are so small and you never know where the dye will fall.
For now, all of these are put away. Today I pick up Ella for our 3-day craft camp. I'll share photos of the projects that we work on. Yesterday I didn't get a lot of sewing done. I had chores and hat to get some x-rays and our friends got their house sale activities done so we actually got to spent some time with them. But after dinner I got 10 more potholders done. I'm over half done with them! I really love these made with the Paula Nadelstern mandalas.
Today I'll be getting ready for Ella's craft camp that starts tomorrow! I spent a lot of time this weekend continuing my reorganization efforts. I discovered that I have lifetime supplies of paper (notebooks, notepads, etc) and gift wrapping materials. I should throw out about half of each but, for now I have them consolidated and organized. I did toss out a big black bag of actual garbage. Over the next couple of years I really need to go through my photos and cut that volume in half too. But, two closets, a desk and several drawers are organized and that was a huge step. I now know what we have and I know where it all is. In between organizing, I organized an ice dyeing day. 90 degree weather is perfect for ice dyeing. I got all of the fabrics ready Saturday and did the dyeing Sunday. This was the state of things yesterday evening. I'll have the results in a few days and will share some of the new techniquest that I tried out. Somehow I got blue dye everywhere! These are my dyeing shorts anyway so this addition is OK. I'll be scrubbing blue stains off my hands and nails for days. I sewed some potholders too and I have 15 done so far.
This week, I'll be sewing potholders and getting ready for Wednesday. That's when my young friend, Ella, arrives for "craft camp". It should be fun. We also have our friends here staying in the guest house. They have been working themselves to death finishing their move out and clean out before the sale closes tomorrow. Hopefully, after today we will have some time to visit and catch up. |
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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