Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

So much is going on, sometimes I forget that I have a blog that needs attention, too! I figured I'd share some of what I've been working on this week.

Earlier this week, I found a whole bunch of scraps in my scrap bin. Most had been assembled into 3.5" squares, but some were just cut and clumped together. So I finished assembling the squares. 

Okay, now what do I do with them? Not enough of them to do anything just with them (10 of each color). So I raided my stash and found a nice dark blue half yard that might work.

Yep, that'll look better.

My husband said it looks like a building with a funky curtain color scheme. I think the white strips really pop compared to the darker colors. 

And now it goes back into the UFO pile until I figure out how to finish it! My guess is it will become a kids' quilt for Project Linus. I have two others in various stages for that group. 

Today I visited a certain big box fabric store, and stocked up on a few things. The nice clerk had an extra coupon at the register, so I got 50% off of things that weren't already on sale. Yay!

First up, zippers. I agreed to repair my neighbor's winter coat, which has a broken zipper. This is my third attempt to get something that will work for it. A week ago I thought I had found the perfect zipper, right color, etc., only to find it was one inch too short. Bah! So, one of these purchased today should work. I also picked up another box of interfacing, to experiment with it and make sure it will work for a t-shirt quilt I'm helping a friend make. I'll dig out one of my old t-shirts to test it on, maybe I'll make a pillow out of it? Plus more machine quilting thread, because I have a feeling I will be doing more of that in the future.

Next up, a bag of cotton batting specifically for microwaveable quilted items. I thought I would try those microwaveable bowls I've seen others making. It sounded like an easy project to make with my sewing student. I didn't even know Pellon made batting, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Batting, batting, batting! Does any quilter ever think he/she has enough? And at half price, it seemed like a good time to buy some that would be the right size for Project Linus kids' quilts. (See, the top and bottom of this post really are connected!)

Tonight I'll work a bit more on my husband's quilt. I'm hand quilting it, which means it progresses slowly, but that's okay. There's a baseball playoff game, and it's chilly out, which means it's perfect weather right now!  :)  

Cheers!

Sports and the Solitary Quilter

I found the following article as I was cleaning up a room this morning. I wrote this bit several years ago, after reading an article in a quilting magazine. I was going to send it in to the magazine, but obviously never got around to it (or got up the nerve to send it in). Seems like the perfect thing for a blog post, though, as it is all still true today.


I am probably an oddity in the quilting world in more ways than one. I was inspired to start quilting by a woman who was not a quilter. I have never taken a quilting class. My work schedule does not permit me to join the local quilt guild. But while I am a self-proclaimed solitary quilter, I am not alone. There is always some kind of sports on the TV or radio while I quilt or sew, and the fan cheers and commentators keep me company.

Sports are the perfect companion for me because TV always replays the really good action, giving you a chance to park your needle before looking up at the screen. Baseball is the ultimate quilting sport, with long periods when I don't have to look up at all, but Summer can be a hot time to quilt. Ice hockey and college basketball have lots of action, but the commentators usually keep me up to speed so I don't have to look up as much. Football provides a good balance and the season is the perfect time to snuggle under a quilt while I'm working on it. Which makes me wonder: do I prefer football to other sports because it's played during quilting season?

I recently realized how important it is that I do something while watching sports. In September 2006 I was diagnosed with tennis elbow and was unable to work on any of my projects until January 2007. I simply didn't know what to do with myself. What's the point of watching TV if I'm not working on my next quilting project? How can people just sit on a couch and watch TV, doing nothing? I climbed the walls for months until at last my elbow healed and I could return to my normal activities. I could sympathize with the athletes who were unable to play because of a seemingly minor injury or who were going through rehab. 

Many people think of quilting as a very social activity, imagining or remembering quilting bees of old and thinking of quilting guilds today. But many of us are not able to join with others, either because of our work schedules, the location of our homes, or other isolating circumstances. I am probably not as unusual as I may think, either in my work habits or in the path I have taken to quilting. But in one way I am like many a quilter on the planet: I make my quilts to give to others, to give them more color in their lives or a warm, comforting hug anytime they need it. This is the social extension of my solitary, sporting, quilting world.

September is National Sewing Month

I remember seeing posts on various Facebook groups about September being National Sewing Month, but didn't think too much about it. I've been sewing more lately, so didn't need additional reasons to do it. However, after a discussion at work, I decided to look into it a bit more.

 

Did you know that National Sewing Month started with a declaration by Ronald Reagan in 1982? I didn't, until I found the site at www.nationalsewingmonth.org. Click on the link for "History of National Sewing Month" to find the previous years' themes. There are a few free patterns and articles on this page, but there are many more at www.sewing.org. I plan on exploring their "Charitable Sewing Projects" section when I have more time.

Personally, I like this year's theme, "Take your skills to a higher level," as that is what I've been tackling in my own sewing life. I recently completed a machine applique wall hanging, with machine quilting and a totally-machine-sewn binding (well, except for the one little bit that got missed on the back and needed a needle and thread to attach), all learning projects for me. I have only done one applique before, a small dove for a small flag, so this multi-part fused applique was something new for me. The pattern was free from Fons & Porter's website, and seemed appropriate after my experience with my own seam ripper a week ago. (I needed to take apart 24 blocks that had been put together in the wrong direction.) The Grim Ripper:

At work, circulation desk staff were looking for something "exciting" that they could use as a theme for a new display. Before they could reach for Chase's Calendar of Events, I suggested the sewing theme, and they were thrilled. Off to find sewing books to display to our patrons! If you are trying to find new patterns, you might check your own local public library and see what they have to offer. You might be surprised!

Glad to be Where I'm At

Watching the US Open semi-finals, I am reminded how glad I am that my paycheck does not depend on me facing Serena Williams. Her serve is terrifying, and her dominating play right now is just plain fierce. 

I am one of those quilters who has to have something playing in the background as I work. My preference is for sports, almost any sport. Baseball, softball, tennis, football (college or pro), ice hockey, college basketball (women or men), Olympics, ... even golf if I have no other choice. If there are no sports on, I'll find some kind of music, but sports is better. I played field hockey, basketball, and volleyball in high school, and field hockey in college, but I have never considered myself an athlete. I played for fun, and happily now watch true professionals show their grace and talent and hard work. With sports on, I can sit and hand quilt or piece for hours on end.

I also am in awe of those quilters who do their work so precisely, so flawlessly, that their quilts are true works of art. I'm looking forward to going to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza in a couple of weeks. I'll take my camera, and look in wonder at all the gorgeous quilts on display, and make note of a number of patterns that will go on my "I'll make one of those someday" list.

But make no mistake, I am quite happy to be the quilter I am. Oh, sure, I would like to learn new techniques; someday I'll tackle a Bargello, someday I hope to try sewing curved seams, and my triangles are still works in progress. I make cozy quilts that will never be considered works of art, and that's okay. I recently made a baby blanket (only two layers, so not a quilt) for a friend's niece. She thanked me for it and said it was so pretty she'd hang it in the nursery. My immediate reaction was, okay, but it was constructed to take the beating that children's blankets tend to get. Only wall hangings get sleeves; everything else I make I expect to be used, frequently. It's okay to throw my quilts in the washing machine and dryer, because that means the quilt is being used and loved. That's the biggest compliment someone can give me for a quilt I've made.

So my latest project has been preemie quilts: tiny quilts, 20" on a side, intended for incubators and take-home. I have four done so far:

They are so addictive, as they take so little time to construct the top. And now that I have a walking foot for my sewing machine, I can machine quilt them pretty quickly, too. (The blue one above is hand quilted, as it was originally just a project to practice my running stitches.) It's so very tempting to keep making more, especially as the group is trying to collect 150 by December to distribute to hospitals for Christmas. (Hence the Christmas theme on some.) So this afternoon I started piecing yet another, and have fun Christmas fabric picked out to make more as the Fall goes on. It's nice to have so many finished projects!

All these little projects are done while I work on bigger ones. I am in the middle of piecing a scrappy quilt top, throw size, no specific recipient, based on the cover quilt of the August 2011 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting:

I grabbed all the less-than-one-eighth-yard scraps from my scrap pile, started cutting them into 1.5" x 5.5" strips, and sorted them into 'light' and 'dark' piles. I'm aiming for 12 blocks wide by 15 blocks long, which will make it slightly smaller than the twin size directions in the magazine.

I'm adding in my own touches, however. The butterflies were made after a discussion in one of the Facebook quilting groups about simple patterns for butterfly blocks. I kind of created a simplified block of my own, had so much fun I made several, then realized they were the exact size to add to this scrappy quilt. I'm also including several 5.5" squares of fabric that have fun prints, like the books and the parasols. Then there are the "baked goods" squares that are also thrown in occasionally. This is one five-row section of the quilt that's done so far:

Okay, enough of a break; back to sewing!  :)

Who Inspires You?

As I'm sitting at my sewing machine, working on the binding for a 20" preemie quilt, I was thinking about those who have inspired me in my quilty life.

I started making my first quilt in high school, after visiting my grandmother one weekend. She took me to visit my step-great-grandmother, who lived nearby. This old woman seemed about a foot shorter than I was (and I was tall for my age then), hunched over because of osteoporosis, and yet she had this large quilt frame filling up her living room with a quilt she was working on. In my arrogance as a teen, I thought, "If this little old woman can make a quilt, why can't I?" And so I started. And found out quickly it wasn't as easy as it looked! I still have that first quilt, even if I still haven't finished quilting it yet:

I suspect this is my personal quilt-that-will-never-ever-die. The construction is bad, the binding is awful, and the blue on one end is faded from sunlight (it was on my bed in grad school, and I left my curtains open a lot). But the dang thing has survived any number of washing machines, not always on the gentle setting, and it has not yet come apart in the more than 20 years since it was made.

Just recently I had short discussions with two bloggers I've been following. I started following Erin's My Patchwork Life last fall, when I found out she was making quilts for victims of Superstorm Sandy. I joined in the project, ended up putting some of the quilt tops together for her because she was overwhelmed with donated blocks, and made a great new friend. Her blog has partially been my inspiration for my own. (My discussion with her today was about how she was having trouble making updates, so the posts there right now might seem a bit old. Give her a chance to get back on again, it's worth it!)

More recently I've been following Eric's Eric The Quilter blog. He is a fairly new quilter, but has been extremely prolific in the short time he's been quilting. He's also honest about his struggles with depression, and how quilting has helped some with that. He's also created some funny e-cards and shared some great memes. Nothing like quilting with a smile on your face.  :)

And then there is my mom. She is more of an artist than I am: she can draw things that look like they are supposed to (I can't, unless you want a hand or an electrical outlet; long story), she does beautiful picture quilts with applique and a wonderful family quilt that she finished for her 50th wedding anniversary. We talk quilting often, and she sometimes sends me fun fabric for my birthday (this year it was the official Wisconsin fabrics from a particular shop hop near her home).

My husband deserves lots of credit. He is creative in his own ways (see my previous post about Mazz Press!), and has never had a problem with me buying fabric, or making quilts to give away, and he quickly learned to compliment me on my matching points.  ;)  I made a scrap quilt for him early in our marriage, but it really wasn't him; too floral.  So, I'm now working on one that is very definitely him:

You can tell I'm still hand quilting this one! I've finished the first row (right of the hoop), and am on the 3rd block on the second row. Six rows total, so not too bad, but it's flannel-backed so the AC really needs to be cranked for me to work on this in the summer.  :)

Oh, and here's a shot of that preemie quilt I'm trying to finish:

The binding is really the backing fabric folded over to the front; it's pinned right now, just needs to be stitched. I bought this wholecloth square from a vendor at a quilt fest a few years ago, and decided it would be a good project to practice my quilting running stitches. (Normally when I hand quilt it's using stab stitching, but occasionally I try to do it "correctly".) Finished the hand quilting this weekend, and realized it's the perfect size to send with the other preemie quilts I have ready to contribute to a Facebook group. 

Back to finishing that small quilt. Have a great day!  :)

Teaching More Than Myself

While I've been quilting for many years (I think I made my first real, normal-sized quilt around 1995 or so), I'm still learning. I tried applique for the first time earlier this year for a flag for Boston, and it was good enough to send in with the others I had made. I tried machine quilting for the first time earlier this year, too, to finish a baby quilt made from blocks left over from a Hurricane Sandy quilt. Straight lines are my friends, and triangles are still a slight challenge (although I'm getting better!). But I can look at a pattern and immediately figure out how it was put together, even if it's something I'm not sure I personally can put together well.

So, when my neighbor asked me if I'd be willing to teach her daughter how to sew, I thought it would be pretty easy. I could teach her how to sew straight lines, we'd have lots of practice... Oh. Wait. What kinds of projects would an 11-year-old girl enjoy working on? Probably not a great big quilt with big blocks, at least not at first. Okay, then, let's think about what we can do to keep her interested, help her learn, and have some fun?

I started simple, with hot pads. Even easier than a great pattern I found online, it was just two pieces of cotton fabric and two pieces of cotton batting. Nice and puffy, colorful, and fairly forgiving. Her mom even joined us for that session, and made her own hot pad. Everyone was happy after the first day, so I figured I was on the right track. I learned something, too: my sewing machine's presser foot was not good for machine quilting, as the top and bottom fabrics were moving at different speeds. This was made worse by the extra thickness of the additional layer of batting. Oh, well, mom and daughter didn't notice, so that's something I can fix in the future.  Here's the hot pad I made that day:

Next session, we did mug rugs. I figured the student could use lots of practice sewing straight lines, so we pieced some strips together, put borders on them, quilted on the back, and folded the back over to create the binding. The pattern came from the In Color Order blog (thanks, Jeni!). These took longer, even without her mom with us, but I think she got a lot of good practice.  Here's my mug rug:

Okay, so that is a few mug rugs. :)  The first one I made is the top left; I had so many strips left over that I made four more, and the other two here show the back folded over ready to finish the binding (bottom left), and the one on the right is just quilted and trimmed. I gave all five mug rugs to my parents when they visited, as hostess gifts for one or more of the people they were going to be staying with later in their trip.

What's a mug rug? Best description I've found/come up with is, a quilted fabric coaster that is big enough for a mug (cup of coffee, stein of cocoa, tea cup, etc.) and a muffin (or cookie or apple or...). These ended up being about 10" long by 6" wide.

This post is getting long, so I'll save some for next time.  :)