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!  

Soft and Stable

 Soft and Stable is a foam interfacing that allows bags to retain their shape and stand up straight. It’s not cheap.  When I have some - and I just ordered two big pieces - I begin to search through my bag patterns and my fabrics.  I located Noodlehead’s Super Tote pattern and a feature fabric that Holly got for me at QuiltCon a year ago.  And I love the result. 

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.  

My Evolving Bedroom

 Years ago, maybe 2013, quilt sisters Holly and Sarah turned me on to Marcia Derse and her fabrics.  Three in particular caught my eye,and I made a bed quilt that I had long armed.  I used a big block design and have loved the result.  It has been washed over 50 times at least and perhaps could use new binding.  But it remains a favorite.

But the need for change occasionally strikes.  This all black and white quilt was a fun experiment, and I also had this one long armed.  I’ve used this for maybe three years, and it’s been washed maybe 20 times. 

But here’s the latest bed quilt.   Finished the top in the fall and had to wait until the temps dropped before I started to hand quit this one.  This was my December-January project.  And it’s on this quilt that I learned how to be an ambidextrous hand quilter.  

I love my quilts, and I love sleeping under them.  Luckily, so does John.  

In the Studio: Donations and a Granddaughter

 The women in my guild are generous.  Several gave me fabrics: look at this bounty…

Now I’m thinking I might have to up my output.  I have fabric for the rest of my life - and beyond! 

But the best thing in the studio this week was my younger granddaughter Natalie.  She wants to learn to sew.  As we got started in the past two days, I was reminded of Camp Quilt with my nieces when they were teenagers - all are now in their 30’s,  Leslie even now still sews and has my old Husqvarna! And then I thought of Cristina as she learned to sew.  And she now has my straight-stitch Brother, an absolute workhorse. The Good Sewing Fairy even made a nighttime visit, just to straighten out a few things! Although Nat’s main goal is clothing, we chose a simple bag for her to learn the sewing machine - it’s not easy with threading, bobbins, needles, etc.  But she made great progress.  

This purse has a front zipper, an inside pocket, and an adjustable strap.  The satisfaction of completing a project, especially in two day? Priceless.  I can’t wait to see what she wants to do next!   

Tuning Forks - a Repeat Project

My Chicago Modern Quilt Guild comes up with different ways for us to play.  In September I began a bee with 8 guild mates.  Each 6 weeks one of us would be the queen bee and tell the others what they want us to do.  I took the first reign and asked my mates for tuning forks, a nod to my father and brother who were piano tuners.  True confessions: I did this before and loved the results.  But Thomas Wolfe was right - you can’t go home again.  Although I asked for a neutral background and a darker fork of either 3”, 6” or 9” wide x any length. The variety of what I got was greater than anticipated.  I finally put all the forks  on the design wall - here it is.  Even John looked at this and suggested maybe it wasn’t worth finishing.  

Interesting observation.  But no!  I’ve been watching Project Runway,and I will make this work.  I started again. And this time I gave the forks some breathing space.  Ah, better.

And today I actually joined all the forks and am almost pleased with the results.  Like so many of my quilts, somebody’s gonna love this - it just won’t be me.   I am very excited by what my bee mates are doing.  We’ll have a great reveal in June! 

 

The Sweet Smell of Completion: Sloan Bag by Sew Sweetness

          This Sloan Bag by Sew Sweetness, Sara Lawson, is gorgeous.   

 Here’s how it started: 

Some additional shots of the completed bag…

This bag is one the most complex bags I make, and I love getting lost in the process and the total concentration it takes.  But now?  Time to move on! 

Sloan Bag - Day 4 - almost there…

 The thought of completion is a great motivator!  I couldn’t wait to get started this morning.  And it’s been a productive day.  But I also know when it’s time to stop for the day.  Assembling the outer bag parts is tricky because of the many layers and the curves created by the side pieces.  The best advice I heard for this part of bag making is that seams do not have to be continuous. 

Tomorrow’s task is to assemble the lining pieces and then attach the outer to the inner!  😁 

Nat’s Sloan bag - Day 3

 So almost all the parts are ready to be assembled.  The two big pieces of lining need zippered pockets - and I’m almost there.  Tomorrow is also top stitching all the straps and attaching them.  The final step will be assembling the zippered collar for the top of the whole bag.  And then…😁.

It’s cold cold cold out, and it’s going to snow tomorrow. perfect weather for sewing! 

Nat’s Sloan Bag - Day 2

 

Today was a fiddly day and preparing the various parts.  All the straps are made, and so are all the pockets.  And the bottom of the bag is ready.  Each one of these items needs interfacing, and the straps additionally needed some visible fleece for body.  The side pockets have a snap closure - had  to get out the hammer for these snaps!  The front pocket has a zippered compartment and is also a slip pocket. The bottom piece looks simple but actually has four layers - the actual fabric, interfacing, a layer of Soft and Stable (the foam), and a layer of Peltex, something to add additional body and stiffness for the bag’s bottom.  

I’m thankful for all the fiddly bits - there’s no time to wratchafratch about Trump’s latest acts of idiocy or  the Bears’ loss last night.  And it’s fun to see the bag slowly come together.  Tomorrow? Topstitch and attach the straps,  cut out the lining, and add the lining side pockets and the lining’s two zippered pockets.