 My big accomplishment of the past 2 days was getting Groovy 3 quilted. It took 8 long passes and I only had one thread break. Now I just need to trim it and get it bound and I can take in on vacation. The fabric for the binding is soaking but I will be able to cut and bind Monday.  While Groovy 3 was the biggest accomplishment, my proudest accomplishment is that I did a little cobbling in the old fashioned sense of the word. These are my favorite sandals. I've had them several years and, because of last year's foot injury, I didn't get to wear them at all. Now I can wear them and the last time I did the strap broke on both shoes in the same place. (See the red arrow.) ANNOYING. I could take them to have them properly repaired by a real cobbler but I wouldn't get them back before vacation so I decided to see if I could fix them myself. First I got some old sandals and some upholstery thread and experiment to see if my Juki machine would sew through them. It worked brilliantly with a Jeans size 16 needle.  Next I was off to Hobby Lobby for a $4.50 spool of dark upholstery thread and in 15 minutes I had them sewn back together. It's not a perfect match but no one will notice.  You can see on the inside how the original seam failed. Hopefully the triangle stitching will be strong enough to hold it for another year or 2.
Mom finally got her birthday card yesterday so I'll have that to share with you tomorrow and then we will head to the river for the weekend. I don't know how the weather was where you are but here in Virginia is was pretty much perfect. It's very rare that we can tolerate the windows open in the summer but we had them open all weekend. I even took my yoga mat to the back porch Sunday morning and did my yoga listening to the river. Absolutely perfect. It was also a good weekend for my hobbies too. First, I finished my sun printing and as I write this I realize that I forgot to take photos of the new fabrics. I'll do that for Wednesday's post. I also made a few more crochet hats and I'll share after I finish off the rest of the skein before I share those.  I did all kinds of different things this weekend starting with restocking my lotion (liquid) and lotion bars. I use the lotion bars for my feet at night. Lotion bars are also great for dry elbows and knees. Making your own lotion is a great way to save a few dollars. It's so inexpensive to make your own and it takes no time at all. I'm all set for at least 6 months.  I whittled away on my stack of HST blocks. I'm chain piecing pairs now and then will start making them into 4 patch blocks.  I got my 2 veterans quilts quilted so they are ready to bind this week and then I'll get two more loaded and quilted. I think I have 6 more ready to be quilted and I got the backing dyed and ironed for all of them.  Then I finished off the weekend with this little project. I bought two of these diamond painting kits in Paducah. I've seen lots of people doing this and wanted to see if I might like it. These are stickers that I thought I'd make for Ella, Eli and their cousins. I'm going to see them this coming weekend so it was time to get them done.  I think they are really cute. I think the kids will like them. I will not do this hobby again. It just doesn't appeal to me. I'd rather work a puzzle or crochet. This week I want to get two more veterans quilts quilted, make a lot more progress on the the HST quilt and bind the veterans quilts. I also plan to dye fabric for my new Judy Niemeyer quilt and the sashing for Groovy 3.
Speaking of Groovy 3, I picked 4 possibilities for sashing for Groovy 3. I've narrowed it down to the light blue or light green. My friend, Anne, prefers the blue but I might go green. I'll decide by Wednesday.
This was supposed to be my beach project!  Last month I made this set of placemats to match some ice dyed napkins. I had another set of ice dyed napkins that I wanted to make placemats for. I decided that I would take them with me for my beach sewing project.  I got all of my strips cut out and arranged the way I wanted them.  I was listening to a good book and the next thing I knew I had 4 placemats sewn together!  Yesterday I got the binding done and this project is complete!  Here's the placemat with a napkin half open. I love how these turned out and I think this set will go in the gift closet for future gifting.
I've decided that I will take the Antelope Canyon wedding quilt to the beach to cut out. By the time you read this I should be in the road. I may or may not post again before Monday.
I can't believe that my first veterans quilts of the year were quilted in March! We have several longarm quilters in the club now so it's nice to be able to share the work. I don't know if I'll have another 50-quilt year again. But I was happy to finally get a start and I want to get as much done as possible before our friends arrive Monday. My Mom made the top on the left. You might remember this quilt that I quilted for her in February. She used the leftover blocks to make the one on the left. The quilt on the right was made by Betsy. She works magic with little pieces of reproduction fabrics.  Bonus! I also quilted my 2 veterans quilts. I'll show them after they are bound and finished. I plan to get them done this weekend between several sessions of stacking firewood. A friend took down a giant (and dead) cherry tree and we got most of the wood. We also need to take down a few trees on our own property so I'm getting in my weight lifting exercise this week.  Last night before bed I made 2 microwave bowl hot pads. I made tons of these for Christmas gifts a few years ago. One of the recipients is absolutely obsessed with them. He needed more. I had the blue one left over and made the 2 extra black/red ones. The pattern is here. Chris is having lunch with our friend today and will deliver these.
While he's at lunch, I'll be stacking wood! I had a really productive weekend and it started with finishing these placemats and I love them!  This started with 4 ice dyed placemats. I have 4 more in a slightly different colorway and I'll make another set to go with them next.  I'm wanting to make a strip pieced wall hanging for my nephew and I want to do it on the longarm so I decided to use this project to practice longarm piecing. I started with a bunch of fabrics that "matched" the napkin and cut then into 1.5" strips and sub-cut into bits.  Then I spent an afternoon piecing all the bits into strips.  I made the strips about 40" so I could get 2 placemats out of 2 sets of strips. That's also about how long the strips for the wall hanging will be so this was a good practice length.  I loaded my backing and batting and used the channel locks and basted rows about 5" apart so I could keep an eye on my progress and make sure that I stayed straight. I used the channel locks to stitch the rows and it was surprisingly easy!  I got the two panels quilted in just a couple of hours!  Then I cut out and bound the placemats and the project was all done! I'm keeping this set. When I make the next set I'll probably put those in the gift closet.  I also found another vulture! I was cleaning the guest bathroom because we were having company last night and I saw that I missed one of my vulture pieces. My friend, Lora made this one for me.
The reason we had company is that he and Chris headed out this morning for a ski trip. He brought out his luggage and asked if I could create a handle for him because the airlines broke the handle on his bag. This is why our sewing/craft rooms are packed with CRAP (Creative Resources and Projects). Because we never know when we might need something. I cut that latch off a trashed tote/carrier and the hemostat that I use in dyeing helped me stuff the padded handle. He was impressed. I'm not placing any bets on whether this thing actually makes it home. He's the traveler that always leaves at least one thing behind.
Late last night I also finished the tree skirt but I'll share that later. I just didn't want to edit any more photos today. I also got a bee in my bonnet to make us new bathrobes so I'll work on that this week along with the other set of placemats. I don't think this week will be quite as productive but it should still be good! First, the news flash. We have power! I don't know how we got so luck to be one of the first today to get reconnected but we were. There are still 50,000+ people out in my electric service area but that's down 20,000 from yesterday so they are making good progress. The rural roads are still pretty hazardous with trees falling. Chris saw a guy at the grocery store that had a cracked windshield just from a heavy piece of ice falling in it while he was driving. Interesting times here in Virginia! But I did get Monday's orders in the mail. I had them packed up before the power went out Monday morning but there was no mail service and we couldn't get out until today. I will even get to do my fabric dyeing tomorrow, only 1 day late.  Today I'm sharing a project that was actually finished last week but I forgot to post about it. During my Christmas mini-cleanup I found this stamped piece of fabric in my postcard supplies. It's a gradient that I stamped and I used most of it in a project that I don't even remember anymore. I had a small chunk left and intended to make postcards with it. That never happened. The fabric is beautiful and kind of precious to me because it took a long time to make. It was time to do something with it. I also happen to have a bin of dyed napkins. A friend used to do a lot of thrifting and she would periodically bring me bags of vintage linens that she would pick up for practically nothing. I keep them in the dye studio and use them as waste fabric in my gradient dyeing or use them to dump on leftover dye. I have 6 of these napkins (3 in each color) and they matched the leaf prints perfectly. I decided to make placemats with my special fabric.  There wasn't a lot of the leaf print but I was able to get 6 pieces this size. I use old flannel sheets for the batting and leftovers from a dyed quilt back for the backing.  I cut strips of waste fabrics and did a simple Courthouse Steps log cabin design and used some scraps of greens for the binding. I'm really pleased with how these turned out. I'm thinking that I will keep 2 of them and set aside 4 in the gift closet. I think they are pretty enough to be a nice gift.
Tomorrow I'll get back to regularly scheduled activities and posts. I admit that I have kind of enjoyed the past 2 days "off". It was nice to test out our emergency preparedness and, other than needing to stock up on 9v batteries, we did very well and could have easily gone 3 more days, maybe longer. The generator is great but the wood stove is the real hero of the event. I've had these ready for a week or so but wanted to wait to share them until I gifted them and could get model photos. Ella was THRILLED with both outfits and I'm thrilled that they fit so well.
Ella's favorite color is pink so I knew this one would be popular. The pink silk fabric came from one friend and the glitter fabric from another. It's the ReadCreations Reversible Dress. It's a good pattern but the fabric raveled like crazy so it was a little difficult to work with. The little sash on the solid pink side is a piece of ribbon from my stash that I turned into a sash by adding a snap closure. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she opened the box and saw all that pink.
 I actually made this little hippie outfit months ago but needed the accessories. The shirt is the California Baja pattern and it was very easy to make. If you take a close look below you can see how the stripes in the fabric match up across the pocket. That was a complete happy accident! I also made a second pair of pants in dark orange denim.  My SIL made the bracelet. The purse and boots are from this Pamela Barton pattern and the headband is from this YouTube video. Apparently this particular doll has a guitar so this outfit was perfect. She also had a leather skirt and denim jacket for quick changes.
The dolls really creep me out but making the outfits is fun. Ella's joy is a bonus. I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. Ours was lovely and quiet. The weather was really warm so we were able to take a hike Christmas morning and the rest of the weekend I was able to make some things! One thing turned into another and the next thing you know I had a lot done.
First I got 2 veterans quilts quilted. I think most of you know by now that we quilt them in pairs. So I loaded one back and quilted both at the same time. When I make my veterans quilts I generally make them 2 at a time just for this reason. These are from that big stash of patriotic batiks that I bought last year. I've almost made my way through all of that fabric.  I quilted it with the star/ribbon pantograph with red thread. My current favorite "workhorse" thread is Innovatech. I still like So Fine a lot but the Innovatech is a just little beefier so it shows up more.  I only had 2 more quilt tops in the closet so loaded and quilted them. One is this one that I made with strips of leftover hand dyed backing fabric from other veterans quilts and leftover strips of waste fabric from the Big Green quilt. I adore this quilt! I will make more of these this year. I think it sparkles.  I love to quilt diagonal blocks like this. It's really fast and makes a great pattern on the back.  The other quilt in that pair is this one make by one of our club members. The quilting wasn't going to show so I did a quick stipple. I don't have to bind this one.  Then I had more time one afternoon and decided to tackle all of these batting scraps. I don't think I had let the batting scrap bags get out of control this much before.  It made 8 pet beds for my friend to deliver to Richmond Animal League!  Finally, last night I remembered this scrap blanket that I started last year. I decided to add the rest of the scrap balls that I had and finish it off to be another pet blanket for donation. I have a few old blankets (not quilts) in my closet that I'm going to cut down and serge and make into more blankets for them. I like finding new homes for things I don't need anymore.
Now I'm busy planning my next crochet project and I've started doing just a little cleaning and reorganizing in the sewing room. How are you spending the last week of 2021? Yesterday we took Mom to my brother's house and I got to see my ornaments in their new home!  I can honestly say, that they never looked this good on my rotating trees! They belong on a white tree and Carol loves having them. I'm sure my brother doesn't care one way or the other and I'm cool with tha. You can click on any of these photos to see close ups of some of the ornaments. I think she has around 110 of them and they really fill the tree nicely.  The best news is that more people have seen them in the last 2 weeks than in the past 5 years combined and that makes me the happiest. I made them to be seen and enjoyed and now they are.
Carol also made some really cute jewelry for Ella's doll outfits that I'll share tomorrow or Monday. My normal daily routine is to get up (not early), pack orders and exercise. This morning I was laying in bed deciding what type of exercise I wanted to do today and decided on the recumbent bike while watching some Netflix. But I just couldn't bear sitting on the bike and having to see the dead bugs and cobwebs in the basement corner. The next thing I know, I've traded off exercise and vacuumed the entire basement which was a lot more work than riding the bike, watching Netflix and ignoring the bugs. But the basement looks great, well, great for a basement.  Then I had the great idea to wash the Finally! quilt again to soften it up some more. I just love sleeping under this quilt. It's so heavy and warm, just like I want. But I was reminded why I never buy Kona cotton fabric anymore. This stuff, especially the dark colors, must have some sort of lint magnet. There wasn't any lint on the color squares, just on the Kona black. Nothing 5 sheets of sticky roller couldn't solve but annoying nonetheless. Then I had breakfast!  This weekend was reasonably productive too. I admit that I'm mostly focused on Chris' crochet blanket. It will be done in a couple of day! But when I needed to take breaks I also got 2 Rail Fence veterans quilts quilted. After I finish the project below I'll get these trimmed and bound. Then I have 2 more ready to quilt.  There were also a couple of breaks to make some accessories for this outfit that I made for Ella's doll earlier this year. I don't know what I was saving it for but I decided that it will be part of her Christmas gift. This doll will be a proper little hippie.  The main part of her Christmas gift is getting made this afternoon. It's PINK!
I'll get through it..... |
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In Bloglovin you need to search "Colorways By Vicki Welsh" to find the blog. About Vicki
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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