Natalie Rocks!

Grandchildren Natalie and Brandon did their first quilt workshop with me. Their projects involved quilting 9" blocks. Natalie chose greens for one side and yellow/golds for the other. Natalie did all the quilting - I just assembled her 48 blocks reversible-style. While I was doing that, Natalie pieced a sample quilt top, quilted it, and then finished the edges with a zigzag stitch. These past three days involved some invaluable skills: ironing, handling a sewing machine, and
sorting/folding fabrics. I'm proud of both of the kids (Brandon will have his own post once his quilt is finished).











Natalie's going to be a 4th grader. I think an experienced quilter would be proud of this quilt. And to think that this is her first quilt. Natalie does indeed rock!

Laptop Bag 3 for Virginia

This bag is for Virginia, my friend Dodie's daughter. Not only is Gin 33 in a few days, this month would have been Dodie's 60th birthday. Virginia is wisely pointing out that it's better to have birthdays than not to have them. Virginia has moved from Chicago to Durham, NC, and it's been good. I miss the occasional dinners with her, but I'm very happy she's in a good place and closer to family.

Weaving with Fabrics: A Tutorial

I'm making another laptop bag, this one for a laptop that is 9.5 ” by 13”. Cut a foundation piece that is more than large enough for what you want to do. I've cut this foundation to 12.5” x 16”. You will also need 2 fabrics that contrast nicely. As you go through these steps below, remember that you can click on any picture to see the details better.

1. Cut 3" strips of fabrics, making sure some are long enough to lay diagonally across the foundation piece. Iron under a hem – ¼” – ½” - but no need to measure. This kind of weaving is quite forgiving.
2. Position your first piece of fabric. Bottom of piece sits at the corner and above. Upper portion of piece sits at the corner and below. You can change the angle of your weaving by how you position this first piece.

3. Position your second piece. Place a pin in the center to hold these 2 strips.
4. Fold back the first piece, and add a strip, snugging it right up to the first one. Place a pin through all three layers.


5. Continue folding back alternate strips and “weaving” in the new ones, using pins to go through all three layers.
6. Continue working your way toward the edges, turning the piece as necessary and always pinning.

7. At some point you may way to trim up the edges, being careful not to cut away any of the foundation.




8. Quilt (top-stitch) by sewing diagonally along all the folded down edges. Because this is a bag that will be carried, I want to secure all edges. The back of your piece will show diagonal rows of pairs of parallel stitches.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - even for a shower present

There have been several pairs of old jeans on my closet shelf. After a difficult day of cutting apart these jeans, I had a nice assortment of pockets and strips. My goal was to make shopping bags. Not the pretty Mors bags that I gave everyone for Christmas but the kind that could last a lifetime. July 5 is a wedding shower for Patricia Dieball Sigcho. I am making Patricia and Byron a quilt for their August wedding, but I didn't want to go to the shower empty handed. So I began to think about giving Patricia something utterly practical, a nice balance to the quilted wall art. About 10 years ago we bought canvas shopping bags and have been using them ever since. They've been washed many many times and continue to be sturdy enough to carry a gallon of milk and canned goods. So I used those bags as a pattern for my sturdy, denim shopping bags. Patricia and Byron are getting two of these bags (nicely wrapped in a MORS bag).These denim shopping bags will last for a long time and be useful.

Laptop Bag #2

I like how this laptop bag turned out. The two different woven/quilted sides are beautiful, and there's a coordinating side/bottom panel which makes this case a nice sturdy little box. It fits my 11" x 17" laptop beautifully. The handles are sturdy and just long enough to put on my shoulder and secure the laptop against my side and under my arm. Now if there were just a zippered compartment inside the case. Perhaps the next one...

This laptop case is for Payal, Chris T's girlfriend. She's starting her 4th year of med school. She charming and personable AND she knows how to sew! The one condition with this laptop is that Payal give me feedback about this laptop case, like the length of the handles, etc.

Three New Bags

I know my stash is too big. So I have begun to take out fabrics that are at least 15 years old. If I haven't used them in a quilt by now, then I'm probably not going to use them in a quilt at this point. So I've begun to experiment. The bag on the left is too large for groceries or anything of weight. It is perfect for pillows or quilts. In fact, I loaded it up with a couple of bags that I have made along with 2 baby quilts for my No Guilt Art Quilt Group which met this morning. It has outside pockets that will hold a manilla folder or a notebook. The middle bag is an unlined MORS bag - I think it's perfect for carrying in a purse or a car. I want to do more unlined ones. The bag on the right is lined BUT the bottom is boxed. I followed the design of the canvas grocery bags that we've had for over 10 years now. It's a perfect bag for carrying heavier groceries. The handles are sturdy.

Weaving

At LaGuardia Sunday I saw a woman with a fabulous purse made from seat belts that had been woven together. I love the texture that weaving creates. So I've been weaving fabrics for a new laptop case. Both of these pieces are very attractive. But they might as well have been pieced - it's hard to tell these have been woven.

Gotta rethink this technique...

For Katherine - and Prince Charming

Sometimes you meet someone and something clicks. That happened with Katherine from Long Island - we met her on our Central Europe tour in 2005. This past weekend John and I went to NYC to see niece Jen Peters dance . This terrific weekend concluded by having Sunday morning breakfast with Katherine and her husband Tony, one of the greatest men ever. For Katherine I made a flat-bottomed purple shopping bag. (Next to it is another flat-bottomed bag which also has pockets on either side.)

Neither John nor I will ever forget our night with Tony and Katherine in a castle in Warsaw. Tony and Katherine were dancing, and John cut in. Tony and John then waltzed off. 2 men cut from the same cloth, both very charming with a great sense of humor. Now we'll also never forget our ride to LaGuardia with them after our breakfast!

Purse 10 - for Cristina

My two favorite teenagers - grandson Ryan Patrick Sheehan and neighbor Cristina Muzzio - are having graduation parties tomorrow. Ryan graduated from 8th grade earlier this week, and Cris graduates on Sunday. Ryan gets money and a tin of gulab jamuns, his favorite Indian dessert. Cristina gets money in a fabulous gift container: Purse 10! Notice that this purse has feet! Both of these fabrics are ones that Cristina has used in various quilts she's made with me over the year. Ryan will go to LT and Cristina is off to the University of Iowa. Both will do very well in their new adventures!

FM Jazz at Autumn Green

My husband John has started a monthly jazz club at Autumn Green, the "active living" senior community where my parents live (67th and Cicero in Chicago). It's called FM Jazz for First Monday Jazz - an easy memory device. This monthly session focuses on a musician or a group, using cuts from CD's and DVD's and a graphic organizer to tap into prior knowledge and information discussed. When we were in India, my dad took over. So far topics have included Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holliday. Today the focus is Dave Brubeck. One of John's techniques with staff development involved door prizes,and he still like to do this. This Mors bag is perfect for a door prize.