Postal Joy

I received a box of awesome in the mail the other day. The brilliant Jen Athanas, who has the kind of fabric stash that would make a strong woman weep, posted me this:


Buried deep in the midst of this vintage fabric was a multi-size hexi template and a handful of pre-cut papers:

and a hank of vintage Irish tweed. I'll admit, I clutched it and rubbed it on my cheek like a child with a lost blanket. And this is on top of the pile of vintage pentagon pieces and trim she traded me for a table last month. Honestly, the craft world has some of the best people!

Spring 2011

I have to say it's a good thing that blasted groundhog didn't see his shadow, because I'm about done with winter. These three beauties have kept me company all winter - the photos were taken last fall and they're almost ready for binding:

and as I get ready to finish this one I think "Oh please, let there be blue skies"

Holiday Gifts

I didn't make terribly much for the holidays last year - even my mother got a store-bought gift! I did manage to whip up a pair of soft monkey blocks for my niece born last October: .. . and a quilt in team colors for my niece born last September who is a Philadelphia Flyers fan-in-training:

Well-Versed Purse tutorials

I've had more than a few requests lately for a tutorial for pieces from the Well-Versed Purse collection. I'm not going to make one at this time for a couple of reasons - one, because it takes so much time to prep a tute with good pictures. The other is because my style has evolved over years of practice based on my needs and feedback from the men and women who have purchased WVP Accessories.

I believe in giving credit (and royalties) where they are due and will suggest to everyone that they consider starting where I did five years ago - with Sherri Haab's Designer Style Handbags.

I think this book is brilliant and - given how many hundreds of craft books are published every year and how few are still in print five years later - I know I am not the only one who feels this way.

The going rate for tutorials on book purses is as high as $13.99 - for the same price (or a little less!) than that you can get Sherri Haab's book with twenty patterns. Everything from an altered book purse (a basic foundation that you can learn to embellish in all the ways that suit your life) to a felted sweater handbag to one of those cool clear vinyl totes with steel grommets.

In addition to nearly two dozen patterns, Haab's book offers great advice on fabrics, linings, tools, and techniques - way more than I could offer in a tutorial for the same price.

The number one complaint from reviewers on Amazon seem to be that it's geared for the young and there aren't any actual patterns. Quite frankly free-forming, template-free sewing is right up my alley and I think I'm mentally hip enough to be lumped in with those 'hip and funk '20's' as one reviewer said in her derogatory voice!

So that's my two cents - if you want to learn to make a book purse, evening bag, cigar box handbag and more, pick up a copy of Sherri Haab's book. If you try even one pattern, it will be well worth your effort and investment!

A Grand Quilt - finished!

At six feet square this quilt is perfect for two cuddled up on the sofa.

I've used these same fabrics (or nearly the same - the darkest blue and green were different) in two other projects - a disappearing log cabin and a random pattern - and every time I do they just make me smile.

oops!

I popped out to get the camera out of my purse and inadvertantly left open the door to the pit.

This is what I came back to:

Seriously, I was out of the room for two-minutes - tops!

Fortunately the quilt squares she's sitting on are going to a friend who has multiple cats. In fact when I asked if grey would be alright for the quilting, he answered that that would be fine as the primary colour in his home's decor was 'fur bunny'

I think she looks appropriately guilty about this, don't you?

A quick update

I enjoy not being pressed for a show - although I'm already looking at a few neighbourhood shows for July - because apparently looking at an empty calendar makes my heart race.

Here are a few of my Welcome Home quilts - the photo's linked to the ones that are listed, more to come later.

I've also got a couple of new pieces in the Well-Versed Purse collection up:

I've been working on a wedding quilt, for which this is the backing:

This is what I've been doing

when I'm not quilting:

I'm picking and eating green things:

and when I'm standing in the field eating raw peas I think I'll put up with the weeds for the joy of eating organic vegetables with the dirt still on them.

Then there's this little guy - who I found in the yard this morning. He wasn't there this evening, so I'm hoping he found his way back up to the nest:
And for my sewing friends, I have to ask: When was the last time you cleaned your bobbinator? Well, if you don't remember (as I didn't), then it's been too damn long. Put down the mouse and go clean your machine's innards.

Because, honey, that's a fire hazard.

What is it about red?

Specifically, what is it about red that weakens textiles? I remember reading off and on over the years about how, when preserving textiles, the greatest care needed to be taken with pinks and reds because they deteriorated fastest, but what is it about the chemicals that reflect red that makes it so dastardly?

I ask because I was quilting last night with some variegated thread and every time I hit a patch of pink, the pink broke apart and sheared off in the eye of the needle. Slowing down (and using a larger needle) helped to get my work done, but it still leaves me wondering, What is it about red?

Great Printable Fabric

I had a minor meltdown this evening. I have accepted a donation request on a fairly short deadline for a custom piece. The piece involves reproducing custom art in a wall quilt. Unfortunately my stock did not include enough of my drop-dead favourite cotton poplin for use in my home printer.

Being on a short deadline and having a fairly large project - twenty pieces to print, piece and ultimately quilt - I grabbed my keys, my charge card and headed out to my Local Quilt Store. My local quilt store does not have my product of choice, but they do have a printable fabric product comprised of pre-cut standard sheets that bear the name of a popular professional quilter.

They are crap. The fabric is so flimsy it looks like cheesecloth next to my sashing fabric and every single piece has frayed on all four edges as the paper backing was removed. It is comprised of uneven threads that yield a rough finish. I can't say enough bad about the poor quality of this product - but that's going to be directed to the manufacturer and the artist who has licensed her name to the product.

For you, I will wax poetic about my favourite product - Blumenthal Lansing's Crafter's Images PhotoFabric.

Personally, I buy it in the 12' roll, but it's also available in precuts. This product comes in cotton poplin, cotton twill and cotton/silk blends. The poplin is sturdy, washable once set and - wonder of wonders - doesn't fray in the course of basic handling. Did I mention it's sturdy - with a tight, smooth even weave?

Click the image to find all the current offerings in poplin.

This is what I use when I print handkerchiefs for soldiers in forward units, for printing photos in quilts, for printing kids' art onto panels for a throw cushion for Grandma. This is also, now, my forever product - my shopping list includes multiple rolls so I will never find myself in the position of rushing out to settle for an inferior product again.

Accomplishment!

I finished a couple more quilts last weekend and helped stack a cord of wood.

The quilts are way more interesting than the timber, so here are pictures:

This is the finished one, which I really, really like:



It's actually square, although in the picture it looks like the right side is a good inch and a half shorter than the left!

This one is for a friend, which has been finished, but it's a rainy day and I didn't get any good pictures of it after it was quilted and bound, and now it's already packed to ship, so you'll just have to imagine it's post-quilted goodness:

Squeeeeee! Green Mushroom Sprites!

I am a giant dork. I know that revelation is no surprise to the people who know me in real-life - whether you know the indie-comic reading, B-movie watching, or old school video-game playing me - or for anyone who has read this blog more than three times and has realized that I take way too much delight in the simple, the nerdy and Science Friday.

Needless to say, quality geekery - the kind of art that can only be made by dorks who are truly honouring their nerdy roots (not merely creating hackneyed reproductions of something popular) - tickles my dork soul to it's cold dark core.

Enter: Susie Ziegler.

If you have ever trolled through my recommended 'Fiber Art Blogs' reading list over on the left, you may have stumbled on Susie Can Stitch. She can do a lot of other things, too, matching me one granny craft for another, but her sewing machine skills definitely fall under the 'bad-ass' category.

She may also like the Mario just a little more than I do, as I have never expressed my love by graphing, pieceing, stitching, trimming or pressing a sprite.

The adventure was an excercise in using quilter's grid interfacing. For those of you who are not fabric nuts, a brief diversion - interfacing is a woven polyester fiber which may or may not have adhesive on one or both sides. It varies in thickness from barely thicker than tracing paper (like you would use to give body to a doll's skirt or cape up to 1/8 inch thick ridiculously sturdy stuff that you would use to make fabric bowls or hats.

Just like someone realized one day that the process could go a lot smoother if gift wrapping paper had a grid on it, someone realized one day that if your interfacing had a grid, your seams might line up right.

There's a whole great tutorial on using the grid interfacing at Craft Critique, but I'm just going to cut to the chase and spoil the surprise by sharing the sprite here. I mean, the common-or-garden dorks aren't reading this anyway, and the fabric nuts are already over at Craft Critique, so they will see it there anyway. Enjoy!

Obviously, if you want to find out how Susie made this, read her tutorial.