Five Things to Be Happy About Friday (#3)

Thank Goodness It's Friday!  There were summers, when my kids were small, when I barely noticed the weekends.  The days all had the same feel to them and everything ran together.  As the girls have gotten older an involved in more things, and as I've started to become involved in some week day happenings, myself, the summer weekends have become more noticeable.  And more cherished.  This year, I am not taking any tutoring students on Fridays (I'm working with 7 kids this summer, some for 2 or 3 hours a week, totaling about 20 hours a week of tutoring, prep and follow up correspondence with parents.  It started a few years ago as something easy to earn some cash and turned into a part time summer job!).  

So, this summer, by the time Friday rolls around, I am tired, and ready for a day to relax and have fun!  A whole day with no obligations outside of our home.  TGIF, indeed!  

Again this week, I've been so grateful for Five Things To Be Happy About Friday hosted by Amanda at Gypsy Moon Quilt Co.  When life gets a bit crazy and I'm feeling a bit unbalanced, it really helps to look for the good, you know?  So, here are my Five Things for the week, with a bit of an explanation, and a glimpse into our crazy, busy, fun week.

Aren't they so fun, stacked up like that?  These are my heart blocks for #Quiltsforpulse.  I will do a post on these next week, but but it sure made me happy to carve out some time to work on these this week.  And I am over the moon happy to see all quilts, blocks and support for this project pouring in on Instagram.  I'm sure you've seen it too, but you can check out the information page for the project, organized by the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild, here.

Books!  A good book never fails to make me happy.  And the best books make me a bit sad, too.  Here's the stack that's being read in my house this week.  I LOVE having three Readers-with-a-capital-R in the house.  While this stack in all YA, two of them are actually my reads for the week.  Have you read Wonder?  Oh, my.  If you haven't please do.  It's a quick read, and everyone should get to know Auggie, the hero.  I'm almost done with Auggie&Me, the companion stories.  The gem on the top of the stack is shared read out loud that my daughter and I are doing.  It's getting its own post, soon.  There's a quilting connection, I promise.  What are you reading?

These girls. Happiness. I just love them, so.  I was minding my own business on the deck (reading!) and suddenly realized they were doing a hand-clap rhyme I haven't heard them do for years.  They were just so sweet together.  I snuck some pictures and *almost* got away without them catching me.  A bit later, they were in their childhood sandbox together.  Just look at their faces in the top pictures.  You can see how much they love each other.  And that is the happiest thing of all for this mama.

Our little local swimming hole.  Like the Library I posted last week, it's not much to look at, but it's a hub of social life in our little town.  It's a man made pond, with a sandy bottom,  It's clean, well maintained, and only costs $3 to get in.  You can stay all day, even get a hand stamp to come back later in the day.  It's a deal!  We took advantage of a near 90 degree day and cooled off at our little beach.

And this girl.  That's my oldest, Isabelle, whom I have referred to as SingAndDance, sometimes, on my blog.  She was so excited to get to perform with her show-choir type group at Summerfest.  Summerfest is a big deal here in southeastern Wisconsin.  A really big deal.  Her group perfoms a few shows on the children's stage every year,  Usually, its the older kids in the group that perform, and this year...she is one of the older kids.  She looks so grown up here, that it makes me a little sad.  Where's my little girl?  She just shines on that stage.  I smile like a crazy person watching her.  She makes me so proud, in so many ways.

Thanks for checking out my smiles this week.  What's got you grinning and grateful?  Join in the fun and link your post to Five Things To Be Happy About Friday.  Be sure to visit the others who are participating and leave them some comments!  Enjoy your weekend, and to those in the US, Happy 4th!

My First T-Shirt Quilt

About a year ago, I was asked by a dear friend to make a t-shirt quilt for her daughter's high school graduation.  The graduation just happened, this year, so I had plenty of time.  However, the shirts came to me in batches.  Lots of small batches. A few here and a few there as they found them, or fininished wearing them, or even just acquired the ones from the last year!   It was hard to get an idea how to start cutting them without knowing  how many, what size,  and what colors.

All of the shirts were collected from performances that  my friend's daughter had been in.  Since she was in 5th grade, this young lady has been part of a show choir type performing troupe, made up of kids age 8 - 18.  We started started going to her shows when my daughter was small, and she caught the bug!  She's been a part of the group too, for the last 5 years.  So, I have my own memories attached to many of the shirts included in the quilt, which has made it kind of a special project.   I'm sure I'll be seeing some of these designs again, when I make my own daughter's quilt, about 5 years from now!  ( Actually, she says she plans to make her own.  Can I ask for that in writing???)

As soon as the last performance of the season finished, in April, I had all the shirts in my possession. Close to 30 of them!  Originally the recipient wanted to have all the shirt fronts cut to the same size, and sashed with white. However, after measuring the largest design and doing the math, I realized that plan would result in a nearly queen sized quilt.  Larger than any of us wanted!!  Plus, because the shirts ranged in size from really, really small to adult medium, it was going to be hard to get blocks the same size from every shirt!

So I sorted and measured, sketched and measured again, and came up with a plan we agreed on.

I was even able to incorporate some of the shirt backs -the cool ones with everybody's names.  Then, the real work started.  Each t-shirt got its interfacing and was cut to the appropriate size, according to the plan.

I mentioned that I measured twice, right?  Maybe I should have made that three times, because, umm, see the gaps?

Oh well. There were still some backs left.  I made some long skinny strips of names, and filled in. Not a mistake, a design element!

It's together, now, as a top.  I'm not completely happy.  I need to unsew a few seams and line up some sections more accurately.  The thickness of the interfacing, I think, or maybe the weight of the quilt made it hard to keep a consistent seam allowance.  I will resew tomorrow night  (after spending the day watching my daughter perform with this group at the opening day of Summerfest  - The world's largest music festival!)

The quilt will need a good squaring up and, I've decided to add top, bottom and side borders, just to set the shirts off a bit.  I met the recipient and her mom last night to choose a fabric for the borders and back, and I'm really happy with it! I wasn't sure we'd find something that worked with all the oddball colors of the shirts, but I think we did it!

This is a Brother Sister Design from Hobby Lobby, and it has a very nice feel to it.  Plus, it was very reasonably priced.

Wish me luck as I baste, quilt and bind!  This is a larger quilt than I'm used to.  The graduation party is on July 25, but a small, stubborn part of me still believes that I can have it finished in time for the end of the Second Quarter Finished Along on July 7.  Hmmm.  We'll see.

Linking up with Silly Mama Quilts WIP Wednesday, Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social

A WIP and Curveball

What's that saying about the "best laid plans?"  I LOVE having a plan and a timeline for constructing my 241 Tote, thanks to the sew along that I'm doing with Bernie at Needle and Foot.  It's really motivating to be doing this with someone, and setting goals helps me to break the work up into manageable portions.

HOWEVER, life has thrown a slight curveball.  My 10 year old daughter has been hospitalized at Children's Hosiptal for a week now.  So, instead of sewing away, I'm spending my days keeping her busy and happy.  She has cystic fibrosis, and hospital stays like this are one of the ways we keep her healthy and able to enjoy her busy life!  This is the 7th stay in her ten years, which is a pretty good track record for someone with CF.  She feels OK, but at her clinic visit a couple weeks ago, her lung funtion was a bit low.  So, we are here, getting frequent respiratory treatments and heavy duty IV antibiotics to treat the bacterias and fungus that we know grow in her lungs.  I knew this was coming, but had hoped to put this visit off until summer vaction starts in a month.  Those decisons, however, are not always ours to make.

With that out of the way... back to the 241 Sew Along!  Before we (I say we, because even though she's the one doing the tough stuff, I'm here with her all the way) were admitted, I managed to get my 241 pattern prepped, and my pieces cut and interfaced.  I knew I'd be coming home for at least part of the weekend while my husband took a turn at the hospital, and I wanted to be ready to sew given the opportunity.

It was fantastic to be able to sleep in my own bed on Friday night, wake up, and take my morning coffee to the sewing room where my stack of pieces was waiting for me!

I've made pretty good progress, I think, since I've only had a few hours to spend.  It helps that the pattern (from Anna at Noodlehead) is so clear and easy to follow.  I get a sense that the pattern is written exactly as Anna would give directions to a friend if they were in the same room, sewing together.  No overly technical language, and lots of friendly reminders like "be sure not to catch the pocket lining in the seam as you sew."  That turned out to be really good advice, by the way.

The first step in assembling the bag's exterior is making the darts at the bottom.  This is probably common knowledge, but I learned a neat little tip for sewing darts from my daughter's 4-H sewing leader.

The first step is to place a pin through the point of the dart.  Then, place a second pin through both of the "legs" of the dart at the fabric's edge and a third pin midway between the first two pins, going through both legs, again.

Pull the fabric up to a point, making sure that the two pins closest to the edge lie flat.  This makes sure that the legs match up, and that your dart will be the correct size.

Take the middle pin out and place it through both layers of fabric. 

Now, stitch on the leg from the edge of the fabric to the point.  It's really simple, but a quick and effective way to make sure the darts are done well.

Anna includes a really neat way to make a very smart looking pocket in the exterior of the bag.  I was nervous about doing it, and I admit I had to read through these steps a few times.  Cutting through the exterior fabric was a bit scary.  Luckily, my teenage daughter was working on a project in the sewing room, too and was able to give me the advice I've so often given her..."It's only fabric.  It can be redone if something goes wrong."  Wow, was it worth it!  I love the way this pocket went together and the way it looks on the finished bag.  My topstitching around it could be better, but in the overall appearance of the bag, I think it will be just fine.

The finished pocket is just the right size for my phone, and I LOVE the pop that the dot lining fabric gives.

In the places that I want double top stitching, I've been taking advantage of the moveable needle position on my machine.  I stitch one line using the edge of the presser foot as my guide, then, I pop the needle over to it's left position, and run the line of stitching though the toes of the presser foot.  It works like  charm and gives a nice finish!

I used fusible fleece on the lining of the pockets, and I really like the weight and look.  I am using the same for all the lining pieces, and I'm excited to see how this works for the main body.

The final assembly step for the exterior took a bit of time.  Sewing the pocket/side panels to the center pieces seemed daunting, given the curve, and just the volume of fabric.  But one of the tutorials I'd read in preperation for making my own bag suggested "going hedgehog" with the pins at this point.  So, that's what I did, and it all worked out just fine.

Working on my 241 bag was just what I needed on my reprieve from the hospital.  It was challenging enough to hold my attention and serve as a nice distraction, but not so complex that I got frustrated.  It was a nice little boost to see it come together so nicely!  Sewing is such perfect therapy!

Probably the best part of the time spent in my sewing room was getting to look over as see this:

My oldest was busy sewing away at one of her 4-H projects!  She has enough expertise now that  I am only needed for occasional quick answers.  We can sew side by side and BOTH get something done.  We take turns picking music (her pick this time was the Hamilton soundtrack) , and we sing and chat as we sew. After spending most of the week apart, sewing together gave us a perfect chance to reconnect.  Plus, she got to see me using my seam ripper on more than one occassion (remember Anna's advice about the pocket lining not getting in the way of the seam?  Follow it!).  I think it's good that she sees it's OK to make a mistake.  It's only farbric, and all that.

We have at least 4 more days to go here at the hospital.  So, I won't have a finish to post this week.  But, I'm all set to finish the lining and assemble the bag this weekend.  I can't wait to share it with you then!

Be sure to check in with Bernie to see how her 241 bag is coming together.  Aren't her fabrics just lovely?

I am linking up this week to:

Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts
Lorna's Let's Bee Social
The WIP Link Up at Silly Mama Quilts

Busy, busy, busy!

And, here it is, the end of November!  This year is quickly spiraling toward its end, too.  It's been crazy busy here, and there's little hope of that changing before 2015.  Happily, part of the "busy" for me has been lots of time in the sewing room.  I am really working at making sewing  a part of the  weekly routine.  (I'd love for it to be daily, but that's just not going to happen right now.)  I SO enjoy going up to the sewing/craft/play room and just creating, even if I can only find 30 minutes to spend.  Lately, MonkeyNinja has been joining me, and that's really fun, too!  I will try to catch some pictures of her creations.  She is truly a multi-media artist!

Now, I said I've been sewing  often.  This is true.  The only thing is, very little of my sewing has been on things I "should" be doing.  Like the quilt I am making for my mom for Christmas, for example.  In June, I brought home some fabrics from her stash.  She has not been able to sew, due to vision loss, for many years.  Her stash and machine and all of her supplies have been sitting, waiting for someone to rescue them all this time.  I decided that she needed a quilt from some of her fabric.  What a perfect Christmas gift!  That was June.  This is November.  You know where this is going, right?  Uh huh.  One month 'til Christmas, and no quilt.  I do have a start on it.  Or at least I did.  But I'm just not loving it.  And since I'm not loving it, it's been easy to procrastinate.  I do think I have a very feasible plan B in mind, now, thought.  So I am hoping to pick up some steam with it over this five day break.

So, what HAVE I been sewing?

Mittens!

Since these are to be worn on stage, I could get away with a quick zig zag over the raw edge, and I didn't have to be too particular with the turning.  They will look adorable to those sitting in the audience, no matter how rough they look close up!

Lots and lots of mittens!  Twenty two pair.  That's 44 mittens.  That's 88 pieces.  That's a LOT of cutting.  And a lot of thumbs to stitch around.

These are costume pieces, not intended in any way, shape, or form to be used in the snow.  They will, however, be used in a Frozen medley performed by my SingAndDance and her performance troupe in their Holiday show in a few weeks.  The mittens will accompany an adorable snowman dress worn by each girl.  Thankfully, I had nothing to do with those adorable dresses!  The mittens were enough!  By the time the last pair was finished, I was really sick of that red and white chevron!  But, I am happy that my 10 required volunteer hours are fulfilled.  And I got to fulfill them by sewing, instead of scrubbing the rehearsal space!  HeeHeeHee!


Pouches!

Love these simple front-zip pouches and the bright modern colors that SingAndDance chose for her friends.  The ribbon zipper pulls are my favorite part!

Hands down, my favorite thing to sew lately!  So fun, so quick, so gratifying. 

This batch was created on a Friday night.  The Friday night before SingAndDance's birthday party.  These were gifts for her guests.  She had an "At Home Spa" themed party, which included Jamberry manicures for each of the girls.  We packed these pouches full of manicure supplies, extra Jamberry wraps, and a few other spa themed goodies.  They were pretty popular.  Have you tried Jamberries?  They are vinyl wraps for your nails that stay on for up to two weeks!  There are hundreds of really fun designs...even some that look like quilts!  I am not great at applying them yet, and it takes me longer than I really want to spend to put them on, so I don't wear them often, but the girls at the party sure had a good time with them! 

This is just a peek at how our mantel looks during much of November.  Both of my girls have birthdays in early November, so we celebrate them.  Only one gets a party each year, since two parties each year would break the bank and my patience!  This year was my older daughters turn.

Goodness, I like this pouch!

This pouch was made on a Saturday morning.  About two hours before I was meeting a friend for coffee.  It happened to be the day after her birthday, which I had forgotten until three hours before I was supposed to leave to meet her.  (BTW, are you noticing a pattern here?  Lots of my sewing has been kind of last minute, lately.  Oh well.)

This is just such a happy pouch.  The colors make me smile and it was fun to piece the patchwork together.  There's just a little bit of quilting, but it came out looking pretty professional.  My friend liked it a lot!  I'm so glad.  She is one of the most genuinely nice, nurturing and sweet people that I know, and it was fun to surprise her with something hand made. 

I think that pouches are going to be my go to birthday gift in 2015.  I don't always give gifts to friends on their birthdays, because of the expense, but also because I just never know what to buy.  And I don't actually enjoy shopping for things other than fabric. LOL.  But a hand made pouch is an economical and personal solution.  I have already made another for a different friend, and have gifted it to her already.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture.  I will get one, though, because it's REALLY cute!

Next post, I will also share a link to the tutorial that I follow when I made the patchwork pouches.  I have to hunt a bit for it, so I'm not doing it right now.  It's a good one, though, and I want to make sure I give the author credit!

One last little tidbit.  I donated a quilt to a silent auction benefitting my favorite charity, recently.  It was fun and a bit weird to watch two ladies bid on it throughout the evening.  It didn't raise a TON of money, but it was a respectable amount, and every little bit helps.  Here's the label I made.  (I forgot to take a picture until we were actually AT the auction, so the lighting was poor.  I got lots of "looks" for opening the quilt up to take a picture, too!)

 

 

Whew!  Perhaps my goal for December should be to write several short posts instead of one really long one! Ha!

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and many hours of Happy Sewing!

A W.I.P.

It's not Wednesday but I have a W.I.P to share.  It's "kinda" a finish too, because the first step of the quilting is done.  And, I had to finish the basting step to get to the quilting step, so, ummm, yeah, it's a finish, too!
O.K.  That's a stretch, but truthfully, I am pleased with the progress and just want to link up to share!

Once my Pink Chevron quilt top got done, it sat around for a few days while I was off watching SingAndDance sing (and dance) in High School Musical, Jr.  It was a fabulous production, but WOW! does the theater life put a damper on the quilting (and cleaning) life.  There was a LOT of time put into getting her to the show, watching the show, baking HSM themed cookies to sell at the concession booth at intermission, selling raffle tickets before and after the show, attending the cast party, striking the set.  A LOT of time.

But, I finally found time to piece a back for this pretty little quilt.  The backing fabric is a pretty pink and brown dotted design that I picked up in a remnant bin and JoAnn's.  It was very reasonably priced, and there was a LOT of it, for a remnant, but still needed a little help.  I've ever pieced a back before.  I am surprised by how stressful that was.  It took a long time to decide what to do, and even to just do the math to make sure that it would come out big enough.  I am not sure I love it, but it works.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea,  I hope.

This was my first time using 505 Spray Baste.  I *Think* I love it, but the jury's still out.   It was a learning process for sure!  I am glad this was a small-ish quilt, and next time I will need to recruit a helper to get the layers rolled out smoothly.    And maybe find something else to lay the quilt on, on the garage floor, rather than a bulky blanket. But I have to say, I did manage to get a nice, smooth "quilt sandwich" that quilted up beautifully!  No major puckers or wrinkles.  And I did NOT miss removing pins!  I was pleasantly surprised that the needle didn't get "gummed" up, too.  In fact, my machine seemed to really enjoy quilting this one, and cooperated for the WHOLE quilt!  That rarely happens.

I quilted along both sides of the seems of each chevron.  It was fun, and quick, and I really like the way it looks.  It's minimal, as far as quilting goes, but I think it's enough.  I hope I feel that way after it's washed.  I am kind of afraid that it will not hold together very well with so little quilting.

I purposely left the neutral chevrons unquilted.  I am going to hand quilt (big stitch, with pearl cotton!) with pink in those areas.  That's the plan for any down time I happen to find this weekend.

Then, to decide on a binding color.  Hmmmm.  Any ideas?

Happy Sewing!

Tami

Binder Pencil Pouch

My oldest daughter, SingAndDance, starts middle school in just a few weeks.  Middle School!  She is so ready.  She's a really good kid.  Smart, funny, kind  and genuine.  I am blessed.

I hope that Middle School lives up to her expectations, and offers her lots and lots of new ways to learn and grow.  One new experience for her will be Band.  She is going to play the flute.

Every morning next week she will participate in "Band Camp" with the other new 6th Grade Band members.  She is required to have a zippered pencil pouch to put in her three ring binder.  She asked me to make one from some really cute music note fabric that she found for $1 in the scrap bin at a local fabric and framing shop.

I will admit, I'm a teeeeny bit thrilled that she asked.  I know that the days of loving what mom makes are numbered, and I will take it while I can!

I have never made a zipper pouch before.  I've never put in a zipper before.  Well, maybe once, but it would have been on a 4-H project, and I'm sure I had a LOT of help from my mom.
I found a tutorial of sorts somewhere on the interned (It was one of those generic How To pages, not someone's blog, and it wasn't very good, so I'm not going to link to it), and gave it a try.  The pink floral pouch is my practice.  I just love that fabric.  It went pretty well, despite some big gaps in the "instructions."  It's a good thing I like to putz and figure things out!  The version in the instructions didn't have any batting, but I knew I wanted this pouch to be sturdy, so I added some fusible fleece I've used when making purses.  Then, of course, I needed to add a backing/lining.  And then, naturally, some quilting was necessary.  I dropped my feed dogs and tried a tiny little bit of FMQ, just around some of the flowers.  It was fun and looked cute.  Until I turned it over.  FMQ turned into FMM...Free Motion Mess!  WOW!  What a nest of thread I created.  It was only the second time I have tried to drop my feed dogs and stitch without a presser foot.  The first time was moderately successful.  This time, not so much.  But it's OK.  It's on the inside, and this was for practice.  Putting in those eyelets for the rings was a new experience, too, but I figured it out.

Once I knew what I was doing and how it needed to go together, I came up with my own method, which is a bit more streamlined than the original - it's all one piece, so just top and bottom seams.  I quilted this one in straight lines, going horizontally, perpendicular to that awesome, chunky orange zipper.  I'm really so happy with how this turned out!  SingAndDance is, too! Yay!

I am linking to Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.  Very Excited to have TWO things to share this week!!!

Happy Sewing!

Finally Sewing Again!!!

I have finally made it back to my machine! Well, to the cutting table and ironing board anyway, but that means that I will be sitting down at the machine really soon.

I would have LOVED to be in the sewing room all last week once we got home from my daughter's hospital stay, but, while we were gone, my husband and older daughter gutted the older daughter's (SingAndDance) bedroom for a room re-do/tween update.  It was a logical (ummm, sort of) time to do it, with MonkeyNinja being out of the house.  She shouldn't be exposed to great amounts of dust, paint fumes, cleaning stuff, etc...and all of that was involved in the room re-do.  And, since I wasn't home, either, it was logical (ummmm, sort of) to move everything out of SingAndDance's bedroom and into the sewing/crafting/toy room.

So, after 12 long days in the hospital, I arrived back home to find my entire upstairs, especially MY space, filled with the belongings of a wonderful 11 year old who was making her very best effort to sort through everything and purge/donate before moving things back into her room which still wasn't quite ready yet, despite her father's very best efforts to get it done.  It was hard to be upset.  But really, seeing my space filled up like that when my nerves were already raw was unsettling.  I might have cried (a little).

It was kind of comical how they had just tossed stuff in, and piled it up, too.  I should have taken a picture to show you but, honestly, I think I might still cry, looking at it, even now.

All's well that ends well, though.  My husband finished a self-designed, custom built loft bed for SingAndDance.  They worked together to paint her room a really lovely shade of blue with orange and pink accents (she had a plan, he dutifully followed it).  And she and I sorted through her "stuff" and packed up and put away a lot of keepsakes that she just doesn't need on hand, sent a few boxes full off to be donated and are working on setting up and accessorizing her new room.

ALL THAT to say...I have my space back!  I am celebrating by starting a quilt that has been on my mind for months, since SingAndDance commented, "You should make a Pink and Brown Chevron Quilt.   That would be really pretty."  After that, chevron quilts and patterns seemed to be everywhere I looked.  And she's right, I DO love pink, brown (and cream) together.  So, I've been keeping an eye out for a few pink prints, and I pulled some pinks and browns/neutrals from my stash, and here we have:

...the start of something pretty!

I am using this tutorial from Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation.  It's her Easy Peasy Chevron pattern, and I like that sound of every single bit of that!!  Yesterday I was able to get all of my fabric pulled, decide on an order and get 9 inch squares cut from each fabric.  Kelly's tutorial involves making 4 HST's at a time from 9 inch squares.  I haven't done HST's this way before, but I love the idea!

It was a very tight squeeze getting enough 9 inch squares from some of my fabrics.  My "stash" includes really old and really random pieces that have come from garment sewing, doll making and other odds and ends so there were some pretty weird pieces.  In fact, both of my neutrals ran short, so I am mixing and matching a bit.  I'm not sure I'll like the effect, but this is supposed to be a stash buster, not a stash filler (I did buy new pinks, but only fat quarters so they are pretty much used up...) and it's a charity quilt.  We'll see how it turns out!  

I am really hopeful that I will be able to finish the top by Friday.  Because that will be August 1, and I have a DOOZY of an August to-do list!  

I am off to carve out thirty minutes of sewing time before the piano teacher gets here and before I have to start dinner...  Hopefully I will be able to post progress pictures soon!  (HEY!  The piano teacher is running late!  I think dinner will be late, too!  More time to sew!)

Happy Sewing!