Another Smokey Summer

Which is just perfect for sewing.  Can’t go out? Sew! Go to the condo gym or pool! Bake!  I just baked a Muslin navy bean pie.  It’s not bad!  My July dozen for Sew Powerful are all set to be mailed along with the June purses.  And I’ve even made a small dent in August’s purses. 

My sister returned to me a quilt I made for her husband’s ENT practice in St. Joe.  There was an atrium sort of space, and this tall piece (96” x 48”) hung there.  I’m not quite sure what to do with this piece - I love it,  maybe cut it up and  make tote bags? 

A few months ago I was working on granddaughter Nikki’s baby quilt - little Charlotte Rose was born July 15.  She and her mom are doing well.  We hope to meet her this weekend!  As I started Charlotte’s quilt, I realized, as I was cutting out the clamshells, that some of the colors were not right.  So I jettisoned those and found fabrics that more accurately reflected what Nikki wanted for the nursery.  But meanwhile I had all these bits cut out.  So for the last weeks  I’ve hand pieced these leftover clamshells and then quilted the piece.  It’s complete and very pretty.  Nikki might be getting this one, too!   

What’s on my mind all the time is my SIL Chris in Orlando.  She’s taking care of her husband, who has Lewy Body Syndrome, and is doing such a terrific job.  It’s hard to imagine walking in someone else’s shoes…  I’m not sure I could give John the same level of support that Chris is giving to Jerry.  So when Chris mentioned she could use new mug and plate cozies, I sprang into action - these went into UPS this morning.  Think I’ll make myself some! 

Summer has officially started!

 Before we left for our Great Lakes cruise in May, I made a list of what I needed to work on when we returned.  And I came home with a pretty bad cold and didn’t sew for several days.  But now I am happy to announce I finished what  I wanted and needed to work on.  First is the kangaroo/wallaby quilt for the third grandchild of Ed and Marge Dieball.  This grandchild was born in Australia, but now the whole family is living in Wisconsin.  Marge requested this quilt, and I was pretty happy to find this fabric.  It’s bright and cheery and just fun.

My sister in Ann Arbor has always been one of my supporters, and she’s been doing some serious doctoring this summer. The bag below is for her surgeon who did her blepharoplasty. I love this fabric so much, and this is the last of it, I think.  And there’s a small Run-Around which I’m delivering to John’s sister Monday morning.  She’s had a bizarre accident and will be in a rehab center for another month.

Here’s a table runner made from scraps of two quilt projects.  I love these fabrics and needed to do something to use up these gorgeous bits of fabric.  And one can never have too many table runners.  Amirite? 

And of course Junes dozen Sew Powerful purses.  These dotted fabrics are just so happy and cheery!

Below is student Agness from Lusaka, Zambia with a purse I made.  This picture?  It puts what I do in the  best perspective.  Time to work on July’s purses!

Long time no posts! Lots of pictures here.

 My life’s rhythm is changing, and not for any specific reason.  Sure, John was the hospital for five days right after Easter (he’s fine) and I had a big fall (I’m fine also, nothing broke, but I am sad  there isn’t a best bruise contest).  I’m busy sewing.  A lot.  Usually I remember to take pictures, but not always.  So it goes.  

This lone purse was sent into Sew Powerful.  It is on its way to Zambia, and the young lady who gets this will have her picture taken, and I will get a copy of this photo!  Of course I’m eager to see this! 

John’s hospital experience at Good Samaritan in Downers Grove was a positive one.  I made a couple of zip pouches for the nurses and aids.  These are the ones I remember to photograph. 

I panicked a bit when John was in the hospital because I had a project with a deadline - granddaughter Nikki’s baby quilt for her shower in early May.  This bag, not a diaper bag, was the wrapping for the quilt.  

And of course the dozen May purses for Sew Powerful.  Knowing my time would be limited in May and June, in April I made kits, complete with straps.  These are for May. 

During the cold months I made this Trip Around the World, simply because I like these fabrics - I don’t often work with greens.  And it is the last big hand finish until the fall.  It has a wonderful texture, and like most of my quilts, it doesn’t yet have an owner.  I had to put this aside while I was working on Nikki’s quilt.  But now it is complete. 

My sister Paula and my sister-in-law Chris feed into my need to make bags.  The blue floral is for Chris’s caretaker, who is very good with her husband Jerry.  The bag beneath is for Paula’s doctor who did her blepharoplasty.  And I am all about rewarding those who care for us! 

And now for something completely different: a quilt with kangaroos and wallabys. Friends Ed and Marge have a daughter who married an Australian.  This quilt is for Charlotte, the youngest of their three.  This is a fun project with a June deadline.  

And here is where the majority of my time and energy went during April.  Nikki has planned her nursery in very soft muted shakes of subdued pinks and greens.  Her furniture has some scallops, and this Glam Clam design is pretty perfect.  I tried to keep the top of the  quilt scalloped but didn’t quite succeed. The wool batting made this a dream to hand quilt.  And I was happy to give her this quilt last Sunday.  Her baby comes in July.  

As I was working out in the studio today, I kept having to stop and organize my tasks for the rest of this month and for June.  We are travelling the last two weeks of May to celebrate our 44th anniversary!  

Five Weeks of Quilting - in pictures!

Seriously, pictures - in no particular order…

Here’s are February’s Sew Powerful purses

After working on sewing a jacket, its results still to be determined, I had to go to

my safe space, a Trip Around the World.

This is from the leftovers of the quilt below.  Waiting for hand quilting. 

This quilt wasn’t a quilt, but recreated by carefully finding the fabrics and 

ponying up for the pattern.  

Foundation-pieced blocks from the leftovers of these two quilts. 

Six more purses - flaps of friendship

                       The next four pictures are reverse progress ones.  First you see a bag. 

                               Now you see what’s in the bag - shoes, book, iPad, water bottle…

                           Here’s the bag empty.  Notice there is a strap held in place by loops

                       And here is the beg’s outside, empty, pretty blah…. A fun and useful project! 

                                                                    March’s 12 purses

                                  Two blocks for a bee mate - curves are challenging for me. 

                                            Plotting my thread color for my newest Trip

And an off-center spiral has begun! 

                                  That’s  it.  The end.  

Starting 2026 with a Sloan Travel Bag

Trying to keep to a schedule is hard but necessary.  Early January I completed my monthly commitment of a dozen purses for Sew Powerful.  And once those were done…

I resorted to an old safe sew, A Trip Around the World, in a color palette I don’t often work in.  It’s now hanging and ready for a backing, batting, and pin basting with no particular deadline.

And now?  It’s time for a luxury project - a Sloan Travel bag.  It’s one of my favorite Sew Sweetness patterns, and I make them only for very special people.  The next several several blog entries will be a daily journal of this bag’s process and progress.  The special person is my granddaughter Nat.  We met at Sew Modern Chicago in Arlington Heights and spent an hour touching and combining various fabrics.  And here’s what Nat has chosen.

Once I got home I couldn’t wait to get started.  The feature fabric is a woven cotton, and like with all cottons used for bag making, I interfaced it with SF 101.  This iron-on interfacing gives the cotton a bit of body and helps it to wear longer.  There’s a sample strip that is transparent.  Next to it is a strip of Soft and stable, a thin foam substrate that gives the bag shape.  There’s next task is now to actually machine quilt the feature fabric to the Soft and .stable foam.  After experimenting with a couple of different thread colors, I found one that works the best.  And there is a little sample of that to the right of these strips.   

When I was in the classroom and teaching research skills and papers, the kids often got overwhelmed by the task ahead.  And I assured them we would break it down and go step by step.  Bag making requires the same type of assurance.  Are there a lot of steps?  Yes.  But broken down and doing tasks one step at a time will result is a fabulous finished project.  

On the design wall there is an orange-ish grunge and “rum raisin” grunge.  These will be for the accents - the straps and the side and front pockets. Everything is atop the ombré lining which is just gorgeous.  I’ve found the necessary 1.5” rectangular rings.  And zippers?  I’ll decide on colors as I get more into the bag.  And something  wonderful happened as I was preparing what you see above: I’ve fallen in love with these fabrics.  I don’t have a handle on Nat’s taste and tried very hard to keep my personal taste out of it.  And I left the fabric store feeling ok about her selections.  But now?  I can’t wait to really get started.  

Today’s a busy day so no sewing.  But tomorrow and Tuesday are frigidly cold with nothing on the calendar.  Perfect for sewing! 

Something New in the Studio: A Sew Powerful Prize

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG READ

 I started making purses for Sew Powerful in 2016.  Intrigued by the mission of menstrual hygiene education for junior high girls in Zambia and fascinated by the purse pattern, I threw myself into purse making.  Here are some of my first purses.  

If you go through my Instagram account @moquilt, you could probably get a number of how many purses I’ve made.  I’m not a counter though, so I haven’t done that.  But I estimate I’ve made over 300 purses, probably more.  Some months I would do a purse a day.  My rhythm the past years has been to do 12 a month.  Someone asked me who pays for the fabrics and strapping I use.  I do.  And I’ve been asked how do I get these purses to California where they are packed in shipping containers for Zambia.  Well, I ship them, paying the postage.  In the first 7 years shipping a box of purses might cost $40 to $50.   But Sew Powerful is now a recognized charity for the Give Back Box, a charitable shipping program.  Now I can send a box of purses for $20.  I too support Sew Powerful through monthly giving.

We know the financial need at Sew Powerful is great.  And these needs have been identified by the community it serves. There is a constant assessment of needs.  In addition to the menstrual hygiene aspect of Sew Powerful, the organization has supported needs the community identifies.  Not enough soap has been an issue.  So there is now a soap cooperative that employs local me.  There’s a sewing cooperative which makes uniforms.  There’s a farming cooperative which provides food for kids who are undernourished. In addition to serving communities in Zambia’s capital city Lusaka, Sew Powerful has begun working in Livingston, the city that’s at the base of Victoria Falls. 

Every year sew Powerful holds a fundraiser.  Our purses are meaningless unless there is also $10 worth of supplies that go into them before they are given to the girls,  I’ve never participated - my reasoning: people I know are already so generous and supporting what’s important to them.  But this year I responded to the email calling for fundraisers because there were more prizes than fundraisers.  Fine, I thought.  I’ll give this a try.  After all, who can’t use a new pair of scissors or one of those nifty scissors sets?  I set a goal of  $500.  And thanks to my sister and my husband, I reached that goal the same day.  I had to keep upping my goal because people were so incredibly generous.  My final tally was $5500.  

Sew Powerful also did a great job with the fundraising communication.  We were easily able to keep track of how much money we were raising and how many purses we committed to making.  My goal was 24 purses, but my final count was 36 purses.  We were also able to see everyone’s fundraising tallies.  The top fundraiser who raised 15k won a trip to Zambia.  The next two fundraisers were eligible to the next big prizes of fabulous sewing machines.  But these two women both fundraised last year and won prizes so they refused prizes this year.  So I became eligible for one of the terrific sewing machines,  I chose the Bernina Bernette - it is a straight stitch powerhouse.  I can’t wait to make a bag or backpack and let that machine glide through all the thicknesses.

After a month during which I waited patiently, my Bernette just arrived,  and boy oh boy is it ever sweet! I can’t wait to get to know it better.  So far I’ve wound a bobbin, figured out the threading, and have done some sewing.  And today I’m starting a backpack to really test out the machine.  Il, wait a week or so before starting my December purses! 

I’m thrilled but also a wee bit embarrassed.  I am not a part of Sew Powerful for any individual gain.  Yet I’m beyond delighted with this machine. Over the years as I’ve gotten new machines I’ve given old ones away.  My niece in Colorado has my first trusty Husqvarna. My buddy Cristina has my old Brother straight stitch machine.  And two others have older machines of mine.  This new Bernette will allow me again to be generous with an older machine - a granddaughter is talking about learning to sew!

Years ago when I was very new to  Sew Powerful, I wrote an essay “So Fiddly But Perhaps Worth It” which was published in “We Are So Powerful”.  At that time I was using the intermediate pattern which had an elaborate flap with an elastic pocket.  The effect was lovely but it was difficult and laborious to do. Shortly after a beginner pattern was published with a much simpler flap, and I took to that pattern very happily! I love that my sewing is productive and has a purpose.   I’m thankful for this Sew Powerful mission and knowing that I am having a positive impact on young woman and the future of their country.  

Sewing all the things…

Once the Sewathon was over, I was itching to put this quilt together.  I saw the design and the fabrics and wanted to make it.  I think I’ll use this design again but with different fabrics,  and I now I need to find some good No 8 Perle Cotton.  I need my design wall so assembling these blocks was the first task.  The completed quilt top is now hanging in my closet.

And what’s been on the design wall is the start of my 100 day project, the goal of which is to make a useable quilt from my black and white scraps.  I started making simple 6.5”  9-patches and throwing them on the wall.  It was kind of overwhelming and cluttered.  So I made some 12.5” 9-patches.  While layout is to be determined, daily I am making additional blocks. October 1 was the start date.  So the end? Early January 2026!   

But what I really needed the design wall for was purses.  I have committed myself to a dozen ourses a month.  So it’s time to get busy.  This time I hit my green scraps to make flaps.  There are 8 in process.  Next step is make linings for these 12.  

I love fall Saturdays when John is engrossed in football.  Although I could do more with purses, I was pretty happy with my progress.  So much so that I decided to start another purse project with my favorite Seth Apter fabric.  Normally I’m would use the design wall to keep track of the various parts of this Sandhill Sling, but the floor will have to do.  Perhaps I should work on this first today!  And then go back to purses.  And of course do some 9 patches!

Last, I’m in love with the Great British Sewing Bee.  Yes, I watch sewing while I sew. 

Sew Powerful Sewathon 2025 is in the books!

 

I’ve sort of lost track of what purses I have posted.  But I haven’t lost track of how many I made during September.  My goal was 24, but I made 40.  Combined with the 12 from August, I’ll be putting 52 in the mail next week.   And each one of these will have a note of encouragement that neighbor Lynne has created.  The purse below features my latest fabric crush.  But more importantly, people I know have donated over $5500!  I am still stunned by the generosity of people I know.

The photo I used for this years fundraising was 8 years old.  So here is the updated shot, all ready for Sewathon 2026.