A Bag and A Blogiversary

Having the flu put a crimp in my blog plans!  But it's Day 8 now and I'm pretty sure I'm going to live after all.  So here we go.

I missed my blogiversary because of that darn flu.  It was on Wednesday and it's been 12 years! Hard to believe that I haven't run out of things to say yet!  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

My secret pal finally received her Christmas gift from me, so now I can share it with you!  This was through the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild.  We have a gift exchange at least once a year and I try to participate when I can.  It's so fun!

first bag

Secret Pal requested zip pouches and also Zen Chic fabric is her favorite.  Perfect for me, as I love making zip pouches and I happen to have a good selection of Zen Chic fabric as she is one of my favorite fabric designers also!  I used some mini charms for the piecing on this bag.

I started these two bags while at my sister's house in December.  I got an emergency call from her for help, as she had slipped and fallen on her porch and broken her leg!  She lives about 3 hours away, so the first emergency was over.  But she was having trouble dealing with it all - she lives in a split level house.  So while I spent a week there helping her, I got these bags started.  I didn't use a particular pattern for them, just kind of a mash-up of two or three.  Then got them finished at home in time for guild meeting.  My sister is all healed up now and doing well.

inside of first bag

Secret Pal is a German lady, so I put the Zen Chic fabric that has German writing inside both bags.  I used the black-on-white version in the first bag.

inside of 2nd bag

And I used the white-on-white inside the other bag.  It's harder to see.

second bag

I used hexies on the outside of the second bag.  I used more of the Zen Chic mini charms for them and I used the tutorial by Modern Handcraft.  They were fun to do, and pretty easy.  The hardest part was getting them to stay in place on the bag while I stitched them down.  I started by just quilting over them but that wasn't going super well.  So I went back and stitched around the edges on all of the hexies.  I'm happy with the way they came out!

I even put more hexies on the back of the second bag!  And I included lots of dark chocolate for her to enjoy!

So, Secret Pal was very happy with her gift, which makes me very happy!

We've been having So. Much. Rain. this past week!  There are flooded rivers and places all over.  Not to mention landslides.  Everything is totally saturated.  And everyone is hoping the rain lets up soon.  It just hasn't given us a break!  It's been so dark and grey and depressing, and the rain has been coming down so hard.  I was perfectly happy to not set foot out of the house at all for the past week.  We finally got a few hours of a break this afternoon and now it's supposed to be dry for a few days.  No sun particularly, but at least not End Of The World amounts of rain.  I sure hope we can dry out some now!  

I hope to feel well enough to start sewing soon too!

Happy quilting!

Last Quilty Project for the Year

 It's the end of the year, and I've got one last blog post for 2018.

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and have been enjoying the holidays.  On the 20th we watched our granddaughters dance in their ballet school's Nutcracker selections.  They both dance on-point now and they each had their first solos!  A very exciting time for them!

We had a great time Christmas Eve at our oldest son's home with his family, and then a quiet day on Christmas, just the 3 of us at home.  It will be a quiet New Year's for us too.  We're going to watch the Dr. Who special and play board games.  I'm looking forward to it.

Fortunately, we had some honest-to-God bright sunlight this morning for the first time in days, so I could get some photos I've been wanting to take for a while now.  It's been so very dark and rainy here, and just terrible lighting for photos.  So this was a wonderful opportunity!  Plus, sunny makes us happy here!

 My last bit of quilting this year was a gift for the Tacoma MQG Christmas gift exchange.  It was secret sewing, so I couldn't share with you until now.  I made a tablerunner in my recipient's favorite colors.  She requested tropical blues and greens. (some of my favorite colors!)

This is based on a couple of quilts in Alexandra Ledgerwood's book Improvising Tradition.   I had to use mostly batiks to get the right tones of tropical blues and greens.  Fortunately, I have a small bin of batik scraps, which came in very handy!  I just sat down and started doing some improv log cabin-y blocks, which is my favorite kind of creativity!

When I liked what I had with the blocks, then I had to figure out the right proportions for a tablerunner.  It wasn't too hard, and I'd like to do another one of these.  I made notes so I could repeat this!

The quilting design was courtesy of my DS.  He drew a sketch and then was kind enough to draw it on the quilt sandwich with a hera marker, making the quilting very easy.  

Leigh Ann seemed very happy with this!  

side 1

This was gifted to me, and made by LaDonna.  A great tote bag!  I love that off-set pocket!

side 2

inside view

I love all the pockets on the inside!  Those are always handy. I think all tote bags should have multiple pockets - LaDonna must have read my mind! And the fabrics she chose are so fun!  Kitties and then goldfish swimming in bowls for the pockets.

I don't talk a lot about myself on here, but I will say that I'm glad to see 2018 end.  It has been a tough year.  Dear Son was sick for a lot of it, Dear Hubby was traveling for a lot of it and I got to take up the slack.  Which didn't leave much time for quilting.  :(  Then I broke 3 toes in July and found out I have osteoporosis.  DH retired the end of August, which he really needed.  All that world traveling was taking a toll.

Fortunately, he's around now that I need him, because in October I injured my foot.  The doctor thought it was a sprained ankle.  I rested it and used a cane to walk with and then in November I started physical therapy for it.  But by December, it was much worse!  So I quit P.T. and went back to the doctor.  

I've been staying off of it as much as possible and using a cane to hobble around.  Wednesday the 2nd I'm going to have an MRI to find out what is going on and how bad it is.  I'm kind of dreading finding out - I don't want to have surgery!  So, I'm hoping for good news in January!  Cross your fingers or say a little prayer for me, please!

Goodbye 2018!  Hello 2019!

Since I made my tablerunner with a bin of scraps, I think it qualifies, so I'm linking up with Oh Scrap! over at Quilting Is More Fun Than Houseworrk.

And Happy quilting!

AHIQ Linkup Plus More!

Last year about this time, Debbie of A Quilter's Table blog hosted a quilt-along, mostly on Instagram, doing the Crosscut Quilt.  I had just gotten the prompt for my local guild's yearly challenge, which was "Get Creative With Black".  There were no rules for this challenge other than a minimum size of 24" x 24".  So, I decided that it would be fun to play along, using black fabrics for the background.  Maybe not the most creative way to use black, but I thought the quilt looked like it would fit the criteria.

I promptly ordered a good selection of what I'm calling "low volume black".  In other words, black with a subtle design on it.  And I thought it might be fun to use some of those fabrics I've hand-dyed and hand-marbled, so I used those for the inserts.  I love they way they look with the black fabrics!

Crosscut beginning

I decided to make my quilt a little bigger than what Debbie was doing with the Quilt-Along and what the Challenge size minimum was, just in case the quilt shrunk up too much with quilting to end up at 24" x 24".  This was my start.  Each black square is cut at 9 1/2 inches and the X's (inserts) are cut at 1 inch.  Then the *magic* happens!  *grin*  And that's the fun part.  You'll have to go look at the tutorial on A Quilter's Table if you want to know how to make your own.   It's an easy introduction to Improv quilting.  And a lot of fun too!

The Value of X
24 " x 30"

I got the top made in pretty short order, and then put it aside because 1. I had a year to finish and 2. I couldn't decide how I wanted to quilt it.  So, along comes June this year (my deadline was early July) and it was still sitting there waiting to get quilted.  Yikes! Time to make a decision!  I hemmed and hawed for a little bit, then finally realized that, since I've always admired the quilts I've seen on blogs, IG & Pinterest that have quilted spirals, I really wanted to do a spiral on this quilt.  I thought the spiral would be a good contrast with the geometricality (yes, that is a word now - I just made it up, maybe) of the piecing.  I was a little intimidated, but went for it anyway.  

I had kind of a rough start, perhaps because I started in such a small circle.  I traced around a spool of thread.  It was hard to see the line with the walking foot because it was such a tight fit with such a small circle.  But once I got a few rounds done, it was much easier.  It was actually kind of fun!  And I love the way it came out!

You can see the quilting really well on the back of the piece.  I used up some older stash fabric on the back, including one my mom gave me years ago.

Can you see the two skulls by the arrows?
Can you find the other skulls in this photo?

When I was quilting, I decided to add a few accent lines of a blue/purple thread.  They don't really show much, but I found out that this particular fabric not only has some dots in metallic but some of those dots are actually little skulls!   What a fun discovery!  I have a small quiltlet I made with the leftovers that still needs to be quilted, so you'll see that later.

I had so much fun with this pattern that I made placemats for myself which you can see here.  And now I want to do this pattern again, maybe on a slightly larger scale.

I'm linking up with Ad Hoc Improv Quilting linkup today.  Go check out all the other bloggers giving Improv a go.  There's some good stuff to see!

my 1st Raspberry Kiss block
4 1/4 inches

The Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild was having a "white elephant" exchange at the meeting last week.  I remembered from last year that these are actually pretty awesome handmade items, so I knew I had to rise to the challenge.  The theme this year was "Make It Modern".

I've been wanting to make some Raspberry Kiss blocks that I saw on Pinterest, so I thought now was as good a time as any.  

I changed my mind about what project these blocks were going into many times during the process.  But then it jelled and became a pouch!

Inside of the pouch

Blogger won't let me place this photo where I want it, so you get to see this first!

the "cool" side

the "warm" side

I love this so much!  But now it lives with Roxanne.  I'm planning on doing something more with the Raspberry Kiss block for myself!

Here is the "white elephant" that I came home from the meeting with....a beautiful pillow made by Leigh Ann.  I love it and it has pride of place on my living room couch.  It looks so summery and it makes me smile.  I love these colors!

Here is my newest addition to my collection of sewing machines.  A 1950 Singer 221 Featherweight! (the same age as I am!)  I received this wonderful gift from my friend Judy.  She taught me how to oil and grease her up and now she's ready for me to play with.  I've been wanting a Featherweight for a while now because I've heard (and seen) what a wonderful straight stitch they make.  I'm so excited to own this!  Now I have to go shopping for some fun (and some not-so-fun-but-necessary) accessories for her.

Happy quilting!

6-6-16

I have so much to share with you!  May was another busy month....and where did it go?   It seemed to just zoom past me!

I took a class that I've been wanting to take for a long time, at the local art gallery.  It was Fabric Printing with Linoleum Blocks.

The actual block carving was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  It was very hard work, and very tough on my arthritic hands and wrist.  As a matter of fact, my wrist (that I sprained 2 years ago) is still giving me pain after 3 weeks.  Above is my first test print on paper.  It showed me that I needed to carve away more background material.

And here is my best print on the fabric.  Not perfect, but OK.  I have 3 prints from the class and now have to decide just what to do with them.  

I learned that this process is not for me!  Always good to know, but a disappointment to me.  I guess I will stick with rubber stamps for printing on fabric.  I have yet to try carving one, but I'm pretty sure it will be easier than the linoleum block.  And I have a lot of purchased ones to play with before I need to worry about carving one, so that's good.

I taught my 3rd bag class 2 weeks ago.  Probably my last one for while.  I had 3 repeat students out of four...they said because they had so much fun in the first class they took that they wanted to do it again.  And we had a lot of fun! 

V's bag

S's bag

C's bag

J's bag

I also made a bag as a gift for my sister, but totally spaced on getting a photo of it.  It was really cute.  You'll have to take my word for it until I can get a photo, I guess!  LOL

I went down south to visit my sister for 5 days.  We had a lot of fun.  Visited a couple of quilt shops, saw my niece and nephew who are both living in the area again, and went to dinner a few times.  But mostly we sewed!  I made a block for the BOM and then some other random things.  

This is the sample block for the June Block Of the Month for the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild.   It is a pattern by Bonnie Hunter called Pineapple Blossom.  The colors for June are lemon yellow, cerulean blue and white.  

By the way, I found a fun website!  It's called "Color Palettes", and it's a lot of fun to play around with.  And I can see it being very helpful for planning a color scheme for a quilt.  Just pick a color or two and pages and pages of suggested color schemes come up.  Whee!

But mostly we made bags.  Sally is making some to sell, and I was making them "just because".  I've been using Noodlehead's Open Wide pouch tutorial, but decided to use a Missouri Star video this time, for doing the zippers a little differently.  I did use Noodlehead's dimensions for the pouch though, as those are good sizes.  I didn't do the zippers perfectly (wrong both times!)  but the pouches came out good anyway.

smaller pouch

I used some fabric I've been hoarding for years on this one!  It finished at 11 inches wide by 7 inches tall.

and the lining

the larger pouch

And for this pouch I used some new fabric that I love!  (my sister loved it too and had to order some for herself) This one finished at 12 inches wide by 9 inches tall.

And the lining

I don't know if you can see in these photos, but I added ribbons and beads on the zipper tabs, so they're easier to open.

I forgot to get photos of the bags my sister was making.  Her bags were very sophisticated, with linen and batiks.  

We had some fun playing with Zoe, my sister's tuxedo cat.  

Zoe was modeling for us on a vintage quilt that my sister owns.  It only took about 60 photos to get one good one!

And here is Zoe begging for her breakfast.  She does this sitting up pose all the time.  What a silly kitty!

I hope you have time to be creative this week!

April's Been a Busy Month

I've managed to get quite a bit done this month, thankfully.  First up was taxes, of course.  It's never a fun process, but it's done for another year.  I taught another bag class, and I've been busy sewing.  Yay!  Always my favorite thing to be busy with.  I'm having trouble deciding where to start this post.

My purple azalea

We've mostly had lovely weather this month, and we've had some beautiful flowers too.  A week ago today our high was 86 degrees!  Today we had a high of 54 degrees with alternating rain and sunshine.  Pretty chilly after that warm spell.  But really we can't complain.  Except for the allergies - they are brutal this spring, because we've had so much rain.  Everything is yellow and sticky, and everyone is sniffling and sneezing.

I made another  bag sample for the quilt shop.  I finished it and got it over to the shop so quickly that I completely forgot to get a photo while I had it at home.  Here it is at the shop:

front of bag

back of bag

I had 5 students for this latest class, and all but one got their bag completely done.  C. just had to finish the top edge when she left.

C's bag

J's bag

S's bag

Same fabric as mine, just in the red colorway

I forgot to get a photo of N's bag.  I'll be teaching this class again at least one more time this month, possibly twice.

Forget-Me-Nots in my backyard

I finally decided on what fabrics I want to use to make one of Sujata's Rail Fence blocks from her book Cultural Fusion Quilts.   I decided to use my DaGama 3 Cats indigo fabrics that are made in South Africa.  (I collected these fabrics for many years at Pacific International Quilt Festival).  I only had 15 fabrics large enough, so decided to make 4 half-size blocks with the smaller cuts to fill in for the last block to make all 16 blocks that the pattern calls for.  So I figured out the math for the half size block, made one to test my math skills and it worked!

the first 8 inch block - isn't it cute?

While making the first block, I discovered that my indigo fabrics are not 40 inches wide but 35!!  So, I wouldn't be able to get enough fabric from my 1/4 yards (not fat quarters) for the 16 inch blocks that the pattern calls for.   So, more math skillz.  I figured out that with the 35 inch fabric, I could make 14 inch blocks.  I have yet to test that theory.

Then I finished making the other 3 half-size blocks, since I had already cut the fabric.

all 4 of the 8 inch blocks

So, now what to do with these?  They wouldn't work with the 14 inch blocks.  So I decided make a table-runner.  

quilting the table-runner

And here it is, all finished!

It just fits my coffee table in the living room. I love the way this looks!  Rather traditional fabrics, but a very modern vibe to it.  And I can see and enjoy those wonderful DaGama indigos!  I can see that I have a little wiggle in my border that I'll have to deal with.  Oh well, finished is better than perfect, right?  *grin*  

Here is a pouch I made for my Secret Sister in the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild.  I used Noodlehead's tutorial for the Open Wide Zippered Pouch.  I love this pattern and have made a number of these useful bags. 

fun fabric for the inside

I had to do take-down of my DH's pottery display at the Spring Fair for him as he was traveling for work.  I saw this photo and had to snap it to share with you.

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers was one of my heroes when I was growing up, and I love this photo of him!  Look how young he is!  I'd love to know the story behind this photo.

Google to the rescue!  I found this from a search:  "In 1938, a youngster named Roy Rogers opened the show (he returned with his wife, Dale Evans, in 1973)".

From an article in The Seattle Times, dated 1997, about the history of the Puyallup Fair.

I hope you get to do something creative this week!  Happy quilting!

Rhododendron in bloom