Cleaning? As if...

"Well, here's a  scrap of that great red.  And there's a strip of that lovely grey.  Think I'll sew them together.  Oh, and here's another grey.  And another red.  And some black from Ben's quilt.  And more grey.  And another piece of red. "  Suddenly I had a piece big enough for one side of a Mors bag.  "And there's the pile of scraps from the bike quilt.  Those would be great on the other side.  And more grey.  And more red." The bag is complete, and I'm having dinner with a buddy tomorrow night to celebrate her birthday.  Hmm, a present?  I think so.  The studio is still messy.  So it goes...

Creativity vs Organization

WOW duffel/tote and a lopsided ditty bag

My little creative outburst is over for a little while.  No deadlines are looming, and there is just the usual number of UFO's in the studio. The retreat projects are complete. So now it's time to put away all the piles of fabrics and figure out - again - what to do with the scraps. If you're wondering why the ditty bag looks lopsided, it's because I didn't follow the directions - again.  Perhaps that might be my epitaph:  Could she have followed directions?  

Piles of Marcia Derse fabrics and my dad's finances

Piles of fabrics and bags and quilts

Every corner has piles of fabrics.  Here are some of the greys and reds...

Exhaling

City Spokes

Amazing how deadlines creep up, like this "Modern in the City" challenge by the Naperville and Chicago Modern Quilt Guilds for the International Quilt Festival this June.  The weekend retreat in Racine brought home the urgency as I noticed several guild members working on their fabulous challenges.  After a quick trip to return Grandson #1 to Ball State and a visit with my aunt in Muncie, I continued work on this challenge.  Facebook friend Brian Jones from Indiana provided me with the inspiration photo.  Deadline is today, and this quilt is submitted - with hope of acceptance. 

"Sew Together Bag" by Sew Demented

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weekend retreat in Racine was, as usual, delightful.  The highlight was this bag above.  Current vice-president/soon-to-be-president Sarah S did one of these, too.  The mutual handholding was instrumental in making this great little quilting tools carry-all.  There are three zippered compartments as well as four deep pockets for scissors, rotary cutters, etc. 

"Sew Together" - open view

There were two other projects that are almost finished that seemed to enjoy the car ride to and from Racine - a little ditty bag and a Wow bag.   Both are almost done.  But the big order of business is restoring order to the studio! 

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to Racine I go...

I finished up this quilt of Marcia Derse fabrics last night, just in time to put it away and head off to the Siena Center in Racine.  (These fabrics are soon to be discontinued, and I have found an eBay merchant who sells these fabrics for $7.50 a yard.  Look for Private Source Quilting - and her shipping is always reasonable.  Here's a look at one-quarter of this 68" x 84" beauty.  I quilted this one myself.  My linear quilting is just fine on this quilt. (I am still hoping to have my brother professionally photo this one...)

It's always tricky planning for retreat work. I have the luxury of working large here in my studio. So at the retreats I work small.  I have kitted several projects - from a WOW duffle/tote to a new pattern by SewDemented that has 4 zippers in it.  I also packed a medium ditty bag kit and two Runaround kits.  Notice the binder of all directions - helps to stay organized in a small work space.  I don't know whether I'll get all these finished - I'm leaving the retreat early Sunday to head back to Chicago and gather my husband and grandson.  We are returning him to Muncie and Ball State and then visiting with my Aunt Betty White.  Nice little spring - er, winter - getaway!

Wordless Wednesday

Fabric Crush, Part 3

I am still for sure crushing on the remainder of this Marcia Derse fabric.  Apparently a zippered bag, an Aragon Bag, and a bed quilt aren't enough.  Here's a newly-finished little RunAround and the parts for a three-zippered compartment sewing ditty bag. 

I actually have made progress on this quilt, also of Marcia Derse fabrics.  The top half is together - the bottom half will be shortly.  I did have a leave a space just as little walk-through.

 A detour in the adventures this week involved some Jinny Beyer border prints.  A few years ago my sister and I gave our sister-in-law Kim, the one who cares for our parents, two kits for placemats and table runner.  I know Kim likes these fabrics.  But the timing just hasn't been right for her to work on these projects (note:  Kim is a master quilter who excels at piecing and FMQ).  Last week I volunteered to take these kits home and work on them. 

The fussy cutting became annoying - just because it's not the kind of work I like to do.  But I did have some thermal batting left over.  Now Kim has a purple table runner which is also a hot pad, six teal placemats batted with Warm and Natural, and two hot pads also of the teal fabrics.  What I gave back to Kim is finished and usable but needs quilting.  Right up her alley!

These projects involve mirror images.  

While all Jinny Beyer products I've purchased have been generous with fabrics, the teal kit wasn't.  I wound up piecing the back of one of the placemats. 

March.  With new snow on the ground, it's hard to believe winter's almost over.  But it is.  Finally. 

In a Groovy Space

 

The wedding dress quilt was delivered Thursday, and a shower present is completed.  That means I have no deadlines, which is a wonderful place to be in the studio.  Since the Debbies turned me on to Marcia Derse fabrics at the last retreat, I've been accumulating.  And this week I finally am cutting into them and have a plan in mind.  This quilt will be alternating pieced and whole blocks, all of them 6" x 12".  So simple even I can keep track of the math!   The scraps are even attractive!

I know this picture doesn't look like much. But it's the beginning of my "Modern in the City" challenge. The inspiration photo taken by FB buddy Brian Jones is not very clear in the picture, purposely. But I've got an idea and think I know how to execute it. What a luxury to have this idea and the space to play around with it while I work on other things.

Back to playing!

Here's the shower present I made for my cousin's daughter - an insulated food carrier. The most special thing about this present is that the spoon was made by my cousin Jerry.

So Stinkin' Cute!

When I use the words "so stinkin'" cute, I'm usually talking about a baby - Beth's Mina and Tessa, neice Jen's baby Henry, niece Laura's little ones. But this time I'm going to use these words about a table runner I just made. This is so stinkin' cute!  It is 52" by 17".  The batting I used was InsulBrite, which means this table runner can also serve at a hot pad.  Here's how this runner started yesterday:

I started with 2.5" strips, a total of 8 reds and a total of 8 greys.  Then I stripped them together.  Fellow guildster Terri told me about this clever use of strips by Three Dudes - and this link is on You Tube.  I've been wanting a new table runner, and this seemed like the perfect occasion to try this technique.  I used scraps on the back of this runner - the Mo Household needs both sides of table runners.  I may add some more quilting later.  Meanwhile, this is so stinkin' cute!

(A special thanks to Holly, Melissa, and Mimi who gave me some of these fabrics!)

Wedding Memories

This little bed topper is 60"  by 60" and was commissioned by my dental hygienist.  I have known Bev for 10 years.  She knows my parents and their journey, and I heard of her mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis.  Bev's daughter married last summer in Michigan, but they also made a special trip to Florida and had a small ceremony with Bev's parents prior to the big wedding.  And shortly thereafter Bev's mother died.  This quilt is a combination of a wedding dress, the grandmother's blouse, and the grandfather's shirt.  The black is the blocks is from the sash of the wedding dress.  This is a sweet project, and I am pleased to have worked with Bev and her daughter on this. 

The back of the quilt features a 15" square from the bride's dress, surrounded by the black sash.

These six blocks helped Bev to decide she wanted 9

The quilt all pin-basted and ready for quilting

My Aragon Bag and My Fabric Crush

Yes, I just made a bed quilt for myself from these fabrics.  Now I've made a carry-on bag.  And I have a couple of leftovers - perhaps a zippered pouch?This Aragon Bag is a pattern of Sara Lawson at Sew Sweetness.  I've made several of her patterns, and I love them.   My Chicago Modern Quilt Guild had Sara for a workshop Saturday.  What a lovely day with some wonderful quilty peeps.

Sara is a great instructor - she had little demo bits for each step of the way and wasn't at all flustered by how independently we work or by how over or underprepared we all were. There's great attention to detail with this bag.  One side of the bag has a curved pocket and magnetic flap.  The other side has a zippered pocket.  Both of these details hide the raw edges of the handles.  Both sides have a little elasticized pocket - perfect for keys, phone, pacifiers, water bottles - you get the idea.  

I usually don't show the interior of a bag, but I must with this one because of the technique for finishing.  So many bags construct the bag and lining separately.  But this pattern treats them as one piece.  The problem is all the messy seams are visible from the inside and must be covered with double-sided bias tape.  I bought the wrong item at Joann's - single bias tape.  So I wound up making bias tape from my bag lining.  Yesterday I attached it by hand, and I am so impressed with how neat the interior of the bag is.  Notice one side of the interior has another zippered pocket.  The other side has two elasticized pockets.  Very practical and easy to use. 

My new favorite tool is evident on this last photo: clips! So much easier than pinning!  I love that I've added some new techniques to my purse-making repertoire.  Saturday's workshop was a great reinforcement of why it's important to read every word of directions - something I'm still learning.  I did made a pretty serious mistake but was able to figure out a work-around by channeling Tim Gunn and making it work!  I'm pretty thrilled with how this bag turned out!