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!

A New Year's Post

Well, 2015 has gone down the tubes and now it's the start of a shiny, brand-new year!  I hope everyone had very happy holidays.  And I hope 2016 will be a good year for all of us, with all the quilty goodness one could hope for.

I'd like to take a moment here to say "thank you" to all my readers who stick with me, through the dry spells when I don't post.  December was one of those times.  I just had so many things going on that blogging just kind of fell off my radar.  But I was sewing and having fun times.  

My granddaughters did another year of ballet, with the December recital being, as usual, selected pieces from the Nutcracker.  It's fun to see them in the different roles and watch how they've progressed from year to year.

We had a very fun Christmas over at DS #1's house with the granddaughters.  We must have been good this year, because I think Santa was kind to every one of us.  Another aspect of Christmas I enjoy is seeing how the girls' Christmas lists have changed over the years.  Our oldest DGD has now become a teenager, and it's so fun to see how she's growing up.  I think the best part of Christmas Day was playing games with the whole family after dinner.  That was so much fun!

The big, fun sewing project I was doing in December was making a Secret Santa gift for another member in the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild, that I joined this last year.  Her choice of style matched up with mine very well, so it was easy to make something for her.  The guild gave everyone a list of possible hand-made gifts to choose from.  We were to pick 5 things from the list.  That actually made it a lot easier.  So, one of the items my recipient chose was an insulated lunch bag,  And she likes text fabrics and brights with white. That sounded easy-peasy to me! 

I took an idea from Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen, one of my fave books.  I was doing the improv piecing of the sew & flip triangles.  Very fun and easy.  This was test block #1.  It was so soothing to be doing improv again, just sitting and sewing bits together and then seeing how they worked together.  I want to do more of that! 

test block #2

test block #3

It was interesting to see that, even though I thought I was being totally random in my placement of the triangles, they all came out at similar angles.  I don't know if that's good or not, just interesting.

And this is the design I went with.  It was more fun and less expected than the layouts in the test blocks, which pleased me.  The pattern for the lunch bag I was using was this one from All People Quilt.  It was a pretty good pattern and easy to do.  The only thing I would change the next time I make this bag would be to make the bag bigger.

Once I had the front and back put together, I did simple straight line quilting, and I used Thermolam, the insulated batting that one would use for pot holders.  I thought that would insulate the bag pretty well.  I also used a layer of cotton batting, which in retrospect was too much.  Just the Thermolam would be enough, I think.  Of course, making the bag big enough to account for all the batting would help too.  The pattern didn't call for any batting, so that's one reason why it seemed to be on the smaller side.

Here is the completed bag, with the top open.

And closed.

Here is the back of the bag.  My recipient's first name starts with G, so I thought it would be fun to personalize it for her.  I used Tonya's book Word Play Quilts, of course!

Here's a closeup of the text fabric I used in the center of the G.  If you  click on the picture, you can read what it says.  

The inside of the bag.  I used some plastic canvas in the bottom to help the bag hold it's shape. 

And I made a mug rug to go with, using the leftover scraps of the piecing.  I wish I had done the join of the binding a little better than that!  Sheesh!  That's kind of embarrassing.

Here is the entire gift.  G. said her fave designer is Amy Butler, so I found this little jelly roll to include.  

We had a fun Christmas meeting with the Tacoma MQG, and my recipient loved her gift!  Next time I'll share the wonderful gift that I received.

Poking Along

I've been busy lately, but not with much in the way of quilting, unfortunately.  My father-in-law passed away at the end of November, so we've been busy dealing with all that that entails.  There has been little time for sewing or even for getting ready for Christmas.  So, I may be even quieter around here than I have been lately.

I have managed to find some time in the quilt studio.  I did get to make 2 Star-Crossed blocks for the Block Lotto this month.  They were quick and easy.  I just opened my scrap bin and took the first fabrics that caught my eye.  I think they came out pretty good, considering I didn't agonize about them at all.  We didn't have a color scheme this month, just had to be sure to have light, medium and dark fabrics.  I think these will be all I can manage this month.

I'm now up to 40 blocks on my Low Volume quilt - half-way!  Yesterday I declared the day a Mental Health Day and spent all day in the quilt studio.  All I can say is I LOVE the Bluetooth on my cell phone!  It leaves my hands free to cut, iron and sew while I'm on the phone, and I managed to get quite a few blocks done.  I'm really liking this one!  It's so different for me, and it's a nice change.  Frankly, I'm a little surprised I've managed to find so many light fabrics in my stash.  And yes, this is completely from stash!  Whoo hoo!  I have a big basket of full of cut pieces, so when I need some sewing/therapy time, I can just sit down and sew.  I love that.

One day last week, my friend C. came over and I cut some blocks for her.  That was fun.  I love cutting fabric up and visiting at the same time.  Well, while I had everything out on the kitchen counter (there is no room in the studio for two people at the same time - I MUST get around to cleaning it one of these days!), I went ahead and cut a bunch of projects for me to work on.  These will be Christmas gifts, so I can't say much else now.  But at least it's all cut and ready to sew for when I can manage to slip into the studio for a few minutes.  Now I just need to get this all sewn up in a timely manner, so it's ready for the Big Day.  Oh come on, force me to sew!  *grin*

Happy quilting!

Another Little Fabric Book

Do you remember that I started a "secret project" for my sister, way back in July? I started a fabric book, inspired by Gwen Marston and her little fabric books, and then didn't like it for my sister. You can see how this started here and here. So, I made her another one that I showed here. Well, I have finished the original fabric book that I first started and have given it away. So, now it can be revealed! The above picture is the front of the book.

I'm going to babble on while I show you the rest of the pages.

I made a vest for my oldest granddaughter, which I completely forgot to take a photo of! (Duh!) It was a printed panel, and was a vest for school - you know, 'A B C' and '1 2 3' and that sort of thing. She's been patiently waiting for it since I showed it to her last summer. (Note to self: do not show children something you're going to give them until you're ready to give it to them!) She started kindergarten this fall, so I figured it was just right for her at this age. Any older and they won't wear that kind of thing. I think.

Well, you know how it is with little kids. You can't give something to one without having something for the other one. So, I decided that this little fabric book would be just the thing to give to the younger granddaughter.

I think she was a little disappointed that it wasn't something to wear, like her sister's, but she loves kitties, so I think she'll be OK with this.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We had a great time over at DS's house with almost all of the family; DD and her hubby couldn't make it up here from Nevada, and we missed them! But my sister and her "sweet baboo" joined us for the day. It was the 1st time we've had Turkey Day with her for about 15 years.

The next day, "Black Friday", we met my sister and her sweetie in Seattle - we went to dinner and then saw a play. That was also a lot of fun! I NEVER EVER go out shopping on that day - or even that whole weekend. There's nothing in this world that I need badly enough to go out that day!

I'm finally feeling better. Got rid of the sinus infection (Yay, antibiotics!) and the accompanying headache. Now, maybe I can get back to sewing jars for the witch's pantry, and also all those secret projects for Christmas! (I can't believe it's December already - where did the year go??) My quilt studio is calling me to come visit it and play for awhile. Now if I could just find someone to wash the dishes and go to the grocery store for me. If I ever win the lottery, that's what I'm gonna spend the money on!

Secret Project Reveal!

Finally! I finished the Secret Project for my sister AND she's received it, so now I can reveal it to the world. Well, maybe not the whole world. But you never know with the internet.

You can see my previous posts about the Secret Project here and here.

I used Gwen Marston's book on fabric books as my instructions. I think the little book came out pretty well. This book was supposed to be finished for my sister's birthday (in August). Didn't make it. Then, she was stopping by for the night a few weeks ago. I tried again to finish it. Didn't make it. I did manage to cut my finger real well with the scissors though! (Man, I couldn't believe I did that. I was aiming for the thread, but got my finger instead. Right on the tip of my index finger. Ouch!)

So, finally I said "enough is enough!" and sat down and finished the project. I was held up by not having spray starch when I needed it, and then just procastinated. I'm good at procrastination. I was hoping having a blog would help me just get past that. I'm trying, but I'm still procrastinating. Old habits. . . .

So, anyway, the picture up above is the front of the book. It was a hard call as to which page to use. I thought this one was eye-catching.


The next two pages. The page on the right is a direct copy of the one in Gwen's book. I was trying to get into the "zone" on how to do this. And I love that page!
Next. Sorry that dark red page just won't show up well. I tried stronger light AND photo editing, but it's just being shy!
Next, with another dark red page being difficult. (The piecing on the right-hand page just doesn't show up well. I had to cut it down too much.)
And finally the back of the book.


My sister was very pleased and surprised with the book. And I'm happy that she's happy!


It didn't come out as "perfect" as I wanted it to, but I learned a lot. The next one (if there are any more) will be easier. Next time I would do less piecing OR make the pages a little bigger. I had a hard time getting the block centered in the space when cutting down to the size Gwen suggested. Some of them look more off-center than I'm happy with for this rather formal-looking block. I think the next one I attempt I'll go more for the "wonky"!


On other fronts, I think I've decided what I want to do for the Quilt Together with Lazy Gal Tonya. I've tried some free-pieced letters and one jar. I'm not too happy with some of my letters, but I like the jar. Sorry, no pictures this time, but I'll have some for the next time.


My hands are starting to feel better. I've been taking it easy with them. (The house is looking like it too, unfortunately. But DH washed the large pile of dirty dishes today - Yay!) And I'm behind in commenting on blogs. I read blogs last night while I soaked my hand in Epsom salts, which really helped a lot. But I can't type with one (left) hand! So, I'm visiting, but lurking.


Oh, and I finished the other little fabric book, the one that was the 1st attempt. I'll show you that one in my next post.


And hey! A whole post without another fall quilt. But there's more coming. . . .

Another Fall Quilt

This is my Scarecrow quilt, that I always hang by the front door for fall. This was a pattern from a Piecemaker's calendar many years ago.

I used a fusible for the applique, but I didn't "window" it, so the poor scarecrow looks pretty stiff! And I think I'd add more quilting now, as it's kind of poufy. (I may still do that, depending on how much it bothers me!)
I felt that the plain borders, in spite of the busy fabric, were just too - well, plain. So I added some flying geese. Appropriate for fall, I guess! However, these geese seem to be confused - hahaha!

When I was shooting pictures today, Dunkel couldn't get onto the Scarecrow quilt for his usual hijinks, as it was on the wall when I photographed it. So, he got on the half-wall on the stairs. He usually gets on the tippy-top part (which you can't quite see in this photo), and that gives me the heebie-jeebies! I'm always afraid he'll fall, which is about 12 feet down. He knows it "pushes my button" - naughty cat! As you can see, he's pretty comfortable with the whole thing. He does the same thing up top too. He even tries to snag my arm when I walk past him. I try to not even look at him! In case you can't tell, yes, I'm afraid of heights.

I've finally finished the Secret Project for my sister. (Yay! Another finish!) I'm waaayyy late for her birthday (in August), so it will be an "I Love You" gift. I can't show you how it came out until she receives it, just in case she reads my blog. Soon, I promise!

We've had just wonderful warm weather the last few days. The high was in the low 80's and we even got to wear shorts! But, alas, the usual rain and chilly weather will be returning in a few days. *sigh* It was nice while it lasted. My allergies have been miserable, but I still enjoyed the warmth. Still haven't gotten the pansies planted. My bad.

I've only got 2 links to share this time:

If, like me, you're fascinated with the Disappearing 9-Patch, you need to visit Dionne who has lots of links on her blog. I love seeing how many different ways one pattern can look!

One of my favorite quilters is Mary Lou Weidman. Check out her blog. She's really "into" fall!

And, one last thing for September. I think this little video of a sneaky cat is so funny. I hope you enjoy it too! (Watch the kitty carefully.)

See you in October!

Close But No Cigar

Well, here's what I came up with on the "secret project" for my sister. I think they're fine for crumb blocks, which is what I had in my mind when I started them, but they don't really work for a little book. Too many colors and the focus fabric isn't the focus. I don't think my sis would really care for these - she's not a bright fabric kind of person, somehow. So, after consultation with DH, we decided it was back-to-the-drawing-board time. Oh, and I think I will finish these first blocks into a little book for my youngest granddaughter.

Dunkel looks like I feel.

So, I found a fabric with a much more traditional feel to it, and it also happens to be the same fabric shown in Gwen Marston's book. So, I think I'll start down this path, at least for now.

These are the first two I've done. They're not trimmed to size yet. The yellow one on the left is a blatant copy of the one in Gwen's book. I was trying to get into the right mood/mode and thought maybe doing what she had done would help. Now, I think I'm ready to break out into my own style! And, these look more like what my sis would like. At least I hope so! I don't have enough time to change my mind too many more times! *grin*

And, where would I be without my helper cat??

Time Flies

Wow, it seems like forever since I posted last, and I have too many things to show and tell about!

Last week I wandered into an antique shop with nothing in particular in mind. Way back in a corner, I found this antique quilt! It was marked $30 and I had a long discussion with myself as to whether or not this needed to come home with me. In the end, I settled for a couple of pictures! Cheaper and easier. I just couldn't justify the purchase with all that fabric sitting at home. I (theoretically) can make my own "antique" indigo quilt.

It looks to me like an Irish Chain or variation thereof, and done in a scrappy manner. There were a few squares that have disintegrated into almost nothing, and those look like they weren't indigo fabric. (You can just see one in the upper right in the photo below.) The quilting is done in straight lines, which I think is kind of unusual in an antique.

WARNING!! SPOILER ALERT!! To my sister: if you are reading this, STOP NOW!! DO NOT SCROLL DOWN!!

Ok, the rest of you are good to continue. *grin*

I checked a book out of the library recently, and it really excited me. I thought these projects looked like a lot of fun.

As I was reading this book, the author mentioned seeing a well-known quilter on a TV show, demonstrating her little fabric books. She mentioned no names. But it dawned on me that she must have been talking about Gwen Marston. And I remembered I had Gwen's book about this! So I had to go find it.

Here it is!

Then, I had the brilliant thought "It's almost my sister's birthday. Hmm, could I somehow combine these two ideas?!"

So, the secret project idea was born and is now in process! I've just gotten started, and I can't wait to get back at it. (I had to take a couple of days off for other things, darn it!) I think this is gonna be fun, and I think/hope my sister will like this. She's also a quilter, so it figures that she would. We usually like the same things. *fingers crossed*

I bought some batiks the other day. The one on the left (purple) is going to be the quilt studio curtains and sewing machine cover, the green one was just because I fell in love with it.

I went to the Alliance for American Quilts web site with the Gwen Marston interview and looked around. You can search the interviews based on the interviewee, and there's more people on there than I've heard of! I found the interview with Roberta Horton, who's been as big an influence on my quilting as Gwen Marston. You can read it here. It's interesting to me that, essentially, both women are telling quilters "Make your OWN quilt". I hadn't realized that that was the true common thread until I read both interviews. Don't copy someone else's quilt, make one that reflects you and your life. Both of these quilters are basing this advice on their studies of antique quilts. And the quilt that Ms. Horton brought to the interview, "Frau Horton Frau Horton", was free-pieced figures! I've seen photos of the quilt, (you can see it here - scroll down about 1/2 way down the page) and hadn't realized that it was free-pieced. How cool! Another link between her and Gwen Marston. I love finding these common threads to the things that have influenced me.

A little side note here. My daughter plays classical Spanish guitar. She lives in another state now, and I really miss listening to her play. She sent me this link to You Tube. You can hear Andante Largo's beautiful classical guitar playing. The song my daughter plays that I miss is called "Jeux Interdits or Romance". I think it's beautiful, and I hope you enjoy it too!