Finished Something!

Actually I finished two somethings. 

I have a box in my sewing room of 'works in progress'... WIP for short.  Kind of a nicer way of saying 'UFO'... or unfinished objects.

Every once in a while I drag something out of there and try to get it done, so I can make room for more WIPs.  Occasionally this even works!

So last Sunday afternoon, I decided to 'git 'er done', to quote Larry the Cable Guy.

 

The first one is tomato fabric that I just loved when I bought it (yes, I love red!).   X number of years ago I was making aprons as gifts.  I planned on making a barbecue apron for my son-in-law.  Turns out he doesn't like tomatoes, even on an apron!  Guess I should have gotten the BBQ ribs fabric.  He took one that had onions on it instead, so tomatoes went to the bottom of the pile.

The other one is a piece with ducks.  I got it off the free table at one of those ugly fabric exchanges.  I don't know what I thought I would do with it, but I have outdoorsmen in my life so I heard it calling me.  Duck call.  OK, never mind.

Buy this or other great apron patterns at www.marymulari.com.  Tell Mary I sent you!

I didn't have a pattern, but I had worn enough aprons in my time to know what they should cover up, and I just took scissors to fabric and cut out appropriate shapes.  I later found this lovely pattern from Mary Mulari for a reversible apron that would have been neater and made a heavier apron, but looks very similar to my end product.

I made several aprons, but two got as far as having the seams on the strap pieces sewn, then I put the project aside.  I didn't even turn the straps right side out at the time.  When I moved (was it into or out of the condo??) the pieces went into a zipper seal plastic bag.  This became part of my WIP box.

It's so far down you can't even see it!

Sunday was THE day.  I pulled out the bag, turned on the machine, and went to work.  In under an hour I had two aprons done.  I sewed the pocket on straight on one, then after looking at Mary's pattern I slanted the other, so you can slip your hand in to grab a key or a napkin or any other small thing easily.

 

 

 

 

Done!!  Yay!!  So do you think this counts as one finish or two?

Sew on...

The Adventures of "E" -- Teaching Kids to Sew Part II

Oh my goodness... this has been in my 'draft' folder for almost a year!  Well, have a read and you can chide me for being a bad blogger. 

March 2012:

I had the opportunity to take some time off work while the grands had spring break.  E, my oldest grand wanted another sewing session.  I have blogged before about how she's learning to use the sewing machine.  We were guest bloggers on the American Sewing Guild blog, found here.

This time she wanted to learn how to use the embroidery machine. OOOOOO-kay... well, she's pretty good at threading the Viking so I thought we'd give it a shot.

She picked out a few spools of variegated embroidery thread to use.  We found stabilizer and some white-on-white cotton fabric.  I showed her how to hoop everything. 

She picked a one color design, since the thread color would change automatically.  Little sister thought watching the multicolored butterfly appear was very cool.  When the design was done E removed it from the machine and clipped threads.  Then she went on to pick another design and another thread color.  Much discussion ensued about what would look the coolest. 

Her first ever thread next!!

E did four more designs, including her initial in gold in a scroll-type font.  We talked about how to use these squares in a project.  She decided to make a place mat.  For a pattern she pulled a placemat from the linen closet.  



She is good a choosing complementing colors.



From the fat quarter bin she chose a lovely piece of blue plaid that coordinated with most of the embroidery thread she had used.  She used a scissors to rough cut a large rectangle for the center, and I finished up with the rotary cutter.  (I think rotary cutters are just a bit dangerous for a beginner, especially with a little sister running around!)  I also trimmed out the embroideries.

E took some time to arrange her embroidered squares in a pleasing layout, and assembled her place mat top.  Next we went to the ironing board.  Oh-oh!!  Even though we were being very careful, accidents sometimes happen, and she touched the hot iron with the back of her finger.  (2013 update:  she has since learned to use the iron without ironing her fingers...)

We took a break for some ice in a baggie for the burn, and had a beverage.  After the sting wore off, she decided that it was time to read a book for a while.  Mom came home and we stopped for dinner.

Next day we returned to the project.  E had chosen a white fabric with multicolored dots for a backing.  She pinned it up, and we discussed how to sew almost all the way around, leaving a whole for turning the project.  She remembered having done this way back when she made her little dog blanket last year, so she happily worked her way around the edges, pulling out the pins as she sewed, stopping to pivot at the corners. 

She turned it right side out without assistance.  Once it was turned, I pressed it.  Not wanting another burn, E declined another trip to the ironing board!  I showed her how to use the edge stitch foot to close the gap in the seam.  Voila!  This is one very lovely place mat!  And one happy grand, with a success in the sewing room.

Things to remember:

• It's fun to choose your own 'ingredients'.
• Build on previous knowledge.
• Don't be afraid to try something new.
• Accidents happen.  Be careful but be prepared.
• It's OK to take a break.
• Make it FUN!!
• Be proud of the finished product. 

Happy sewing!

Doll Clothes Marathon

The sewing I've been doing lately is just for fun... a while back I organized my scraps and made a dent in the cleaning project in my sewing room by putting all my doll clothes fabric into two bins, one for 'bottoms' like skirts and pants, and one for tops and such.

In February I was contacted by someone from the youth group in our church about a donation to the Youth Auction in April.  The kids are going to the Youth Gathering in July, and they need to earn money for the trip.  There's a dinner and an auction where they sell goods and services that have been donated to the cause.  Last year I donated a wardrobe for an 18" doll, and I'm doing that again this year.

Making doll clothes has always been fun for me.  I started when I was about 10 or 11 years old, making clothes for my Barbie.  I had one of those original blond Barbies with the boobs and the impossibly small waist and feet.  And the black and white striped bathing suit, remember that??  Oh, yeah!  By the time I stopped playing with her, my Barbie had a career wardrobe, a ton of pants and tops, and several very nice ball gowns.

I moved on to making clothes for the dolls belonging to younger cousins.  They too were pretty well set in the suit and gown department.

My own daughter disdained Barbie.  She was in love with the Cabbage Patch Kids.  And I made a ton of clothing for those kids.  AND I made clothes for the dolls belonging to girls she played with too.

Fast forward to 2003 or 2004 and I now had a granddaughter, who just disdained dolls in general.  BUT she loved stuffed dogs and they all had sweaters and scarves and blankets and hats.  She learned to sew herself and now she will help once in a while with the doll clothes, when she's in the mood.

So I had a marathon sewing session, and all I have left is to sew on a few pieces of Velcro and some trims.  Here's what I am working on:

This red tee was part of an adult sized tee with a few stains on it that became 'fabric'.

The dark denim is a skirt, the light blue is striped pants, and the zipper top is a windbreaker.

Purple tee and lavender corduroys.

Princess pjs and a plaid robe.

Several dresses in various degrees of red prints.

Faux suede pants, a yellow tee, and a leopard fleece coat.

And just for good measure, I spent some time making some clothes for a cast off new style Barbie:



She's got some cool leggings, made with a scrap of stretch lace, plus a ball gown from a silk drapery sample.

These all need snaps, but you see two short skirt and top outfits, plus three denim pieces.

This is the ball gown suite... one in burgundy silk, one knit dress with a flounce, and the silk drapery dress with stole.

The Barbie outfits were made for a friend's granddaughters, whose own dolls are apparently naked at this point.  Of course my youngest grand likes to leave her dolls in the sandbox.  That's how I got my model!

Lucky for me my middle granddaughter likes dolls and plays with them.  She requested some additions to her wardrobe, so there will be no shortage of customers for these items.

I only wish making things for myself was this easy!

Sew on...

A Little Light Sewing!

While I was off work on my medical leave, I was looking for some small projects to occupy a little time and not strain the brain, or other organs.

Before I went to the hospital, one of the church ladies called and asked if I would like to make some things for the craft fair on November 3.  Now I had planned to do some reading, some knitting, and not too much else.  But I felt better after about a week, and wanted to just BE in my sewing space.  I'm sure some of you know the feeling, when you've been gone for a while.

I had grand plans.  I was going to finish up my 'fix it' pile (I hate the term "mending"...).  I was even going to refashion a lovely jacket I bought that was several sizes too large.  Needless to say, I did a few fix-it projects and quickly tired of that.  I did sew badges on the Daisy vest for Miss A.  But I was itching to CREATE.

Now, I've posted about my extensive book and pattern collection, and about my church quilting group's receipt of boxes of drapery samples in the past.  What could possibly bring these two together?  

Hmmm... remember that bag of zippers I got at the fantastically priced web site www.wawak.com?  Oh yeah, I decided to channel Mary Mulari! 

Bags for various things, using drapery fabric, old denim, and some remnants of faux suede and other fabrics.  Note the denim bag with the red/white/black trim... those are the discarded tail ends of zippers, strictly for show!

I had lent my book to someone so I was working from memory, but I have done Mary's flat zipper technique a bunch of times, so it came quickly back after the first try.  I had some patterns and some I just 'faked'.  How can you go wrong with a rectangle or a square.

The bag at the top is a fussy-cut circle from a particularly pretty sample piece.  Here it is a little more close up.

Also in the first picture are these bags, from a piece I really liked.  There's just something about roses...

These will hold glasses, cosmetics, whatever, and look pretty doing it!

Here are a bunch in some black striped fabric left over from a pair of trousers I made (who knows when?  but I kept the pieces!)

The front bag is black denim from a pair of worn jeans, as is the fourth one back.  The trims are bits left over from a quilt binding or two.  The pulls are tiny strips cut from a piece of faux suede.  The piece is folded in half and the fold gets pulled through the hole in the zipper pull and looped over the ends.  Tighten up and you're good to go!

There will be about 25 of these for sale at the church craft and book fair on Saturday.  If you're in New Berlin, Wisconsin, stop by and pick up a few.  The proceeds from the sale will benefit the preschool.  We have to pay for the new security system.

Oh, and I also made Miss A's Halloween costume.  She wanted to be a ghost.  Spooky but not TOO spooky!!

Here she is with big sisters Bumble Bee and Mad Hatter! 

Sew on!

Recovering...

OK, so my gallbladder surgery is over, no complications, things are fine as far as that goes.  I had a one inch stone, but lucky for me things came out the small incisions, and there were no smaller stones that traveled anywhere!

It's funny, I was sliding onto the table, being introduced to the eight or nine people in the room, Dr. Cutie the anesthesiologist was hooking up the IV tubes, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery.  I had a warm blanket and my nurse was telling me that everything went super well.

Suffice it to say I was home by 2 p.m. day of surgery. I think my discharge may have been hustled up just a bit by the nurse who had to clean up the rather rude ejection of jello and juice from my stomach. Word to the wise: If they try to give you the orange stuff, just pass, OK? And the apple juice -- never my favorite and way too sweet.

When I picked up my packet of stuff to leave the hospital, there was a photo in the folder.  UGH!!  There's a picture of the stone inside me in the packet!  Who thought that THAT was a good idea??  OK, I hear that some folks bring home their kidney stones and make chotchkes out of them.  But why??  Good news for you guys, I am NOT going to publish that any time soon!!

Once home on the couch and resting nicely, I ate a bagel and rested.  I was carefully inspected by the five year old when she got off the bus from school.  "Let me see your tummy, please!  Why do you have all these band aides?"  After deciding that they'd left enough of me to please her just fine, she went off to have a snack with the dinosaurs and Gramps in the kitchen, and I went back to resting.

They don't make big incisions anymore unless they really need to remove something large, but they made a LOT of them.  Everyone who knows me knows I love mysteries and police procedurals and all of the CSI shows.  I remarked that I felt more like a victim of multiple stab wounds than a recovering patient.

So for the past couple of days I have done some catch up homework on a class I'm taking, knitted a few simple scarves on big needles with cool yarn, and read a novel almost all the way through...

 

For those of you concerned with Stephanie Plum's well being, she is still losing cars and getting the evil eye from Grandma Bella and having frequent hot s-- well, suffice it to say I have Eighteen and Nineteen waiting on the shelf.

I also received an order from Connie at Stampin' Up with which I will probably make some thank you cards.  My boss send flowers that arrived early on Saturday because the delivery person is in the neighborhood...

DH raked leaves today, and I'm thinking about some fall themes.  You can pop over to Connie's web page at the right side under Blog Links.  She's very creative, I'm thinking of things I can do from her vast list of projects while I'm housebound!

Meanwhile, I'm retiring to the reading chair with Stephanie #18 and a small supply of Painless Pills, the chocolate variety...  because tomorrow I have to get the sewing machine out to sew on the Daisy and Girl Scout patches.

 

 



Keep on sewing...

What do I do with all these quilt blocks??

In my mailbox nearly every week there will be a new quilting or sewing magazine.  I haven't counted how many I get, but I know off the top of my head that I get Threads, Sew News, McCall's Quilting, Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, Better Homes & Gardens Quilting, and maybe a few more.  The joy of opening those covers and checking out what someone else made knows no bounds!

When they first come I spend a few minutes rapidly paging through to look at all the articles and patterns.  Then I take them one by one and spend some time studying the patterns.  Are they based on 2 inch or 2 1/2 inch or some other size strips or squares?  Can you assembly-line sew parts, are there triangle units or geese units?  I love figuring that out, and I love it even more when the author or editor has good, clear directions.

Then I spend some time looking at the color combinations.  I especially like it when a second color scheme is included.  Sometimes I think I don't like a pattern just because it's not my favorite colors, or I DO like it because it is in my colors, so I like to see a second or third colorway to test the theory.

After I've been through the whole magazine I go back with sticky notes or flags and put them on the patterns I most want to try.  If there are three or more in one magazine, I will usually keep the whole magazine.  But if there are only one or two, I'll make photocopies of the pages I want and recycle the magazine to quilting friends or the local sewing guild free table.  This way I can pare down my collection and keep myself from starring in an episode of Hoarders!

A couple of times a month I'll sit down with my patterns and make up a test square.  Sometimes I make more than one in different colorways.  I test how long it takes to make one, and see the finished size.  Often I take these 'tests' to Friday night sewing for 'sew and tell'.  Sometimes we're inspired to make more and finish a top.  But sometimes the test is the only square that actually gets done.

If they were always the same size or colorway, they might be made into a sampler quilt.  But they're not, because, well, that would be boring.  So I end up with a box of various sizes and colors and patterns.  If I can make a 24 inch square or a 24x30 rectangle, they can become a doll quilt.  If the squares are smaller, say 8 inches, I've made them into eyeglass cases and pot holders.  That's also a good use for those bits and pieces of batting.

Other things you can use your leftover squares for are purses and bags, table runners, pillow cases, children's clothing (think a square in the middle of a small jacket back!) or cushion covers.  I've been wanting to turn some of my nicer squares into a seat cushion for my office chair.  It's a wonderful chair but it has a mesh seat and back, and in the winter it gets a bit chilly.

I've also seen very cool covers for the backs of those square-backed kitchen chairs.  You make a sleeve that fits over the top third of half of the chair, and it dresses up your kitchen.  I want to turn a set of bright colored squares into some valances for the spare bedroom, to dress up the plain white curtains that are in there now.

Lately I've seen those extra squares used very effectively with large chunks of fabric for quilt backs.  There's no reason why the backs can't be as lovely or interesting as the fronts, is there?

One other very interesting way I've seen these orphan squares used it for a kind of crazy quilt top.  Not 'crazy quilt' in the classical sense.  More like a wildly insane top made with bits and pieces.  I can't remember who did this, but the person cut the squares on the diagonal and sewed them to other squares, intentionally mis-matching.  But because each piece appears more than once in the top, it looks planned.  Then smaller squares were enlarged, or sewn together into groups to make a panel, and when the panels were the same size, those were sewn together until the top was large enough. 

I think that one will take more planning than I can devote to it right now.  Meanwhile, I'm still sewing some sample squares every week.  Last week's was Bonnie Hunt's Scrappy Sister's Choice , which you should go and view on her blog.  I made some with 2" strips because I already had a bunch of nine-patch squares done.   They're super cute!  They'll be a quilt for some lucky American Girl doll sometime soon.

Try something new.  If nothing else you'll end up with some jazzy pot holders!