 I spent a lot of hours the past few days getting a presentation ready for my quilt club. I try to commit to doing one program each year and this year I put together a presentation of some of the veterans quilts that we have made, hopefully to give people ideas for new quilts. I did the presentation last night and if you have time to kill and want to see some of our veterans quilts, you can see the presentation here. After I ran through it in the morning I had a few hours free and decided to load and quilt the newest placemats. I'm so glad to finally have my machine adjusted because it quilted with the trilobal polyester threads perfectly! I'm also really comfortable doing any adjustment on my machine now so it should never be frustrating again. I found a leftover backing strip that was the perfect width for me to be able to load and quilt all 4 placemats at the same time. I've mentioned this before, but I'll say again that I use old (clean) flannel sheeting for the batting on placemats. I don't like my placemats to be puffy. I want them beefy and flat. The flannel works perfectly and I have a closet shelf of flannel available for free.  I started with ruler work in the chevron. I just love ruler work. It's my comfort blanket of quilting.  My other quilting crutch is free-motion filler so I decided to do fillers in the gray background. I did a different filler on each placemat. This is the first one and it's one that I turn to often.  The second one is this one that's called coffee bean. It's a lot of fun to stitch.  The third design is one that I've never done before but it was a lot of fun to quilt. You stitch the line first and then do the crossing stitch back and forth. Super fast.  This was the last one and my least favorite. Placemats are so perfect for practicing because any crappy quilting will likely be covered by a plate or spaghetti stain. Today I will load and start quilting the baby quilt and will try to get these trimmed and pick a binding fabric. In a few weeks I'll dye some napkins to match.  On Monday I went to Hobby Lobby to look for some fabric for a quilt project that I'm going to take on vacation. I actually did buy 3 yards of fabric (at 40% off) but a stroll through the yarn aisle revealed that they were having a 75% clearance! This even usually happens in June but, for whatever reason, it's in March this year. Last year I only bought 2 different yarns but I got a few more this year. The big pile on the left is a yarn that's exactly like Lion Brand Feels Like Butta. It's perfect for chemo hats and it was .99 a skein. I got all of it except white and gray because I have plenty of those colors. The red and blue are acrylics for donation blankets. The 2 in front are a 1 weight. I want to try crocheting with a 1 weight yarn but it's often kind of expensive and I think my chance of success is 50/50. These were only $2.50 so if the project is a fail I won't feel so bad.
No more yarn needed! I did finish another of the big blankets. I'll try to get a photo today to share tomorrow. It was quite the creative and making weekend! On Friday, Mom, Kim and I went to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. The quilts were better this year than last year and I actually took photos this time. I might share them but I really only took photos of specific things that interested me like quilting techniques or design ideas. The photos would seem really random to anyone else.  The Covid years really decimated a lot of vendors so overall the show is smaller than it was in 2019 and earlier. I expect that many had just decided that it was as good an excuse as any to finally retire. There used to be an Indian (from India) woman with a business called Handloom Batik that no longer comes to this show. She was my favorite vendor but it looks like she is only doing a couple shows that are more local to her now. I am sure that over time the show will once again fill every corner of the convention center floor. As it is there was plenty to see and lots of opportunities to spend money! There was one interesting new vendor this year called Legit Kits. They have big foundation pieced pictorial quilts with wonderful designs. I wanted either the big eagle or raven quilt but I wasn't sure what I'd do with the finished quilt in once I was done. I left the show empty handed but couldn't get them out of my mind. At home I perused the website and found this smaller pattern for a Goldfinch and ordered it. You can get full kits or just patterns. I believe the kits use Kona solids but you know that there's no way that I'm going to use solid fabrics for my quilt. As soon as I saw this one I knew that my Jenny Lake Gradient would be perfect for the background pieces. I'm excited to get the pattern and get started.  I didn't buy any fabric (or anything else at the show) and I didn't need to because I had just received new fabric in the mail this week! The new Paula Nadelstern fabrics are finally in the stores and I ordered mine a couple of weeks ago. I just love those dots! I could the best price at Hancock's of Paducah.  Saturday morning I got busy finishing up the placemats and I love how they turned out. These started with 4 embroideries that a friend did for me over 10 years ago. I added and sunprinted fabric (the blue streaky) and a screen printed batik. The napkins are some thrifted napkins that I overdyed and screen printed with the bird.  Here are all 4 embroideries. I can't wait to see which family member chooses this set when we are at the beach in May. I already have another set of fabrics selected for the next set but I'm going to make a few more of the little lap quilt tops first before I make more placemats.  Mom and I talked on Friday about visiting my brother on Sunday so I thought I'd get these doll dresses made up for Ella. They have actually been cut out for a while and, let me tell you, they are kind of a pain to make. That keyhole opening is awfully fiddly. They are supposed to have elastic at the waist but my elastic was kind of dead. I improvised with a casing and a tie which I like better anyway. The casing on the green dress is actually red-purple, not black as it looks.  When making this one, I got the bodice all done and ready to attach to the skirt and noticed that I had cut through the bottom of the bodice. It had to have happened when I cut it out because there are 2 cuts mirroring each other. Well, I was so sick of these dresses by that point that there's no way I was going to remake it. By then I had put the ric rack on the hem of the skirt so I added some to the bodice to cover the cuts. Once the purple sash was added the cuts in the fabric were very secure. These aren't going to be washed so it will be fine.
As it turned out, we didn't go visit anyway but I'm ready whenever we do. I didn't quilt on Becky's quilt but I got the backing loaded and have the batting draped over the frame to get the wrinkles out of it. I might get it basted today if I don't spend too much time outside weeding and prepping beds for my annual mulching exercise.  How cute is that? This was a Christmas gift that I only got to deliver last week so it's been waiting a very long time to share. Way back in September I found these pins on Etsy and I had to get them for my best friend. They are stupid expensive for sewing pins but totally affordable for decoration! They aren't technically great pins anyway so decoration is the only way to go. Either way, I had to have them. When they arrived I knew that I needed to figure out a way to present them and that had to be a pin cushion. I shopped all over Etsy for days and, in the end, found one that I absolutely loved. It was over $50 so I needed to make one instead. I found the pewter salt cellar and I was off and running with an idea.  I thought I wanted red velvet but I didn't have any but then I found this button sun print in my stash. It was perfect.  I cut a 7 1/2" circle from the red and from a base fabric and gathered a large wad of stuffing. It took some trial and error to get just the right size.  Eventually I ended up with a stuffing ball that looked about right in the bowl.  I sewed up the bottom really tight and then added the button cover and hot glued the whole thing in the bowl of the salt cellar. There's a ton of glue holding this thing together.  I felt like it needed some sort of black trim and since the fabric is a button print it only seemed right to make the trim from black buttons. It was quite fiddly to sew these buttons together so that the edges of the buttons touched perfectly with no gaps. That was probably the hardest part of the entire evolution.  One more stick of hot glue and I was ready to add the pins.
My friend loved it and I'm happy to finally be able to share it. This project was so much fun to make.  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. |
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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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