Deconstructing one project to make another...

Years ago I started taking a class at the old Country Sew store in Elk Grove by the wonderful quilter and wearables artist Connie Horne. Basically it was to make a jacket over a sweatshirt (there are a zillion examples online if you Google it). Anyway part way through I realized I would never wear something that heavy and I quit making it. It languished in my craft/sewing room closet for many years until recently when I did another reclean up of the room. I pulled out the project bag and took another look at what I had done. BAM! The realization came that if I took the basted fabric pieces off the sweatshirt I could actually make a whole other (just cotton) shirt that I would love to wear.

So, according to my word for the year, explore, I decided to explore what I could do.

It was all done with Marcia Derse fabrics which I totally love and was happy to see I had put together more than I had remembered.

It turns out I had the front (above), the back (just that center fabric) and 2 sleeves (below) ready to go.

So now I just have to iron it all out and then figure out what pattern I will use to make a nice blousy top. Excited to finally get working on something with this fabric!

Added to pages (above)...

For reference, added the following info to the tab LOCAL FABRIC STORES:

Stores near me that have apparel fabrics:

Mihn Phat   M-Sa 9-6, Su 10-6   (916) 391-2288

6428 Stockton Blvd. at 47th Ave.

Sacramento, CA 95823

Hi-Fashion Fabrics  M-Sa 9:30-6, closed Su.   (916) 451-5648

4106 Franklin Blvd  (couple blocks south of Sutterville)

Sacramento, CA 95820

World Class Textiles  Su-F 10 - 7, Sat 10 - 5   (916) 455-4040

4701 Franklin Blvd.

Sacramento, CA 95820

Stores near me that are primarily quilt shops:

• Country Sewing Center (Elk Grove)
• Fabric Garden (Sacramento)
• Quilter's Corner (Sacramento)
• Runs With Scissors (Citrus Heights)
• Thistle Dew (Fair Oaks)

Other fabric/craft stores near me:

• JoAnn's 

Getting organized and sewing...

Aside from being in a teeny tiny room to sew, I have way too much stuff underfoot which makes it difficult to move around. We recently put in a wider ironing board too which narrows the space to come into the room. I have been pouring over Instagram and Pinterest for ideas on how to reorganize my small space. Slowly but surely...

On another note, a couple of weeks ago I finally started making the pillows for the new grey sofa we got. We had gone to Berkeley to Stonemountain and Daughter and Bay Quilts where I found some delicious Japanese fabrics, some for clothing and some for making pillows. Then at IKEA we found pillow inserts so I just had to start sewing!

More to come with those!

Then last week I went to one of the small Asian fabric shops near me, Mihn Phat Fabrics, and found these lovelies! The middle one is jersey and the other 2 are a cotton/poly that feels and drapes like rayon. Cheap too! $4 or $5 a yard for 54-60 inch widths!

I have started making that same Scout Tee top (from last post) in the right hand fabric. This time I am making the sleeves more open/flouncy and the whole top a little longer.

Then yesterday we had to go to the Roseville Costco so I could get glasses frames for my new prescription. The Costco near me didn't have any small enough. Apparently I have a small head with eyes closer together so I need a size 49 frame. Anyway, since we were going to Roseville anyway, we also went to a Wearable Art pop-up shop that was being held in the Lincoln Public Library. I found this cute bag which had been a class sample for one of the talented women in the group (Mary Boalt). Picked it up for $7. The style is awkward so I won't probably use it much but since I had been wanting to paint and mark on cloth more, it gives me a lot of ideas on ways to paint on canvas then make it into something. Next week I will be at my art friend Leslie's house and we are going to play with painting on canvas. Nice inspiration!

If any of my old artsy readers are still around, I would love to hear what projects you have been working on lately! Feel free to leave a comment/photo in the comments section below!

Ice Dyeing...

Recently I have become a fan of the mottled look of ice dyed cloth so I wanted to try it. Dharma Trading Co (where I got my procion dyes) has a tutorial HERE.

So last weekend when I was visiting my friend Leslie we did some ice dyeing.

It amazed me that even when it was 103 degrees outside the ice lingered.

A very bright t-shirt (still electric after washing).
Interesting note: the white you see are the threads which obviously were not cotton. Procion dyes do not dye synthetics.

 A piece of fabric also very bright. Perfect for a burst of color on a quilt piece! Thanks Leslie for holding it up!

And the blue-greenish ones I took out early and rinsed out to get some more or less pastels. Will be great as blendables on a quilt piece!

All in all the ice dyeing was so much fun I want to do it again! I think I will do it in a smaller scale though, maybe a small tub at a time since I do not have a lot of work room outside. I could use some blues into turquoise ranges next.

All of this was on plain old cheap muslin. I like the more coarseness of the fabric and the occasional bits of brown or other nubs in it. Plus it is so much cheaper than something like a Kona white PFD (prepared for dyeing). But I also have some of that so I will be trying it in the coming weeks as well.

Indigo...

Well I guess there isn't a better way to get back to my blog than showing some of the results from an indigo vat I made this morning!

I have dyed with indigo many times in the past but this is the first time in many many years. The vat making process is much easier these days if you do a kit, and although it isn't the same as the long slow involved process of days past (which some die-hards, still do -- get it? hehe ).  It is still indigo in my book.

So I started the other day by making up some bundles.

The Indigo Kit and a variety of cottons, tshirt, muslin squares, etc.

More folded, twisted, and otherwise scrunched muslin.

Then put off making the vat until today since this was supposed to be a cooler day (well, ok 89 compared to 90s or 100s).

There are a gazillion instructions for and information on indigo vats so I will not go into it here. I will list a couple of my favorites below or you can just Google it.

The indigo vat before use.

Things look green when they come out before they have oxidized into blue.

 Some of my shibori folds and ties.

 More designs. The white rectangles were made with blocks clamped tightly on the fabric.

A few more results.

I got the indigo dye kit from Dharma Trading Co. HERE is their shibori (Japanese tie dye) info page.

HERE is one of the many Internet references you might enjoy to learn more about shibori.

These colors will be a bit lighter after I wash them which is fine. I was mainly testing out the vat making and how easy (or not) it would be to work in my backyard.  Well and I wanted a few shibori pieces so I could make something. Been sewing a bit lately (more to follow on that).

So once again I have come full circle (hence blog title)... enjoying again some of the crafts I started out with in my 20s. Who knows, maybe now that I am no longer allergic to wool like I was for 40+ years I can get another spinning wheel and loom and really start over!

For now I have just found another thing that gives me joy to do in my retirement years. When did I ever have time to work?

Hamentaschen and some sewing...

I did these last week but am finally catching up on the blogging side of things... 

Ok they are pretty lopsided but they were still yummy. I love this time of year because the spring makes me think of hamentaschen, the 3 cornered treats that come out around Purim. I haven't made them for a few years because for a while Solo apricot filling had high fructose corn syrup and I don't want to eat that. Now they don't but the formula is changed. It is no longer that thick rich with apricots filling, but more of a gelatinous pie filling. Still it was what I had so I made them. I morphed a couple of recipes from online but mostly went from THIS one but they needed a little more flour and some baking powder.

And not only cooking... I did some sewing!

I took this WASHI dress class at Country Sew and here is the tunic version I made:

I took the class because there were some dressmaking skills in it I wanted to learn/relearn:  shirring, including hand rolling the bobbin with elastic thread, fitting darts (which I hate), and finishing the inside for a more professional look. I used her online sleeve addition too because I didn't like the little sleeve that came with it. I serged most of the seams and understitched the neckline as well as topstitched it. I forgot to serge the sleeves and when I look at it I can see the difference between nicely finished seams and those seams. Learning curve!

Back from Oregon...

I have been in Oregon... and Blogger did not function well on my tablet so I just didn't worry about it. Back now and going through my photos. I spent a few lovely days on the coast in windy and rainy weather. I loved it! And yes, I bought fabric! More info soon...

Back to quilting and the blog...

It has been a slow start but I am gathering old projects to finish and moving my sewing area into my art room and generally making a mess of things around here! I have started the process of changing where I sew. I was tired of using the eating table for my sewing because a) it is a small table and b) we never could eat at the table unless I cleared it off every night which I didn't...

So my other "art studio" room is undergoing a transformation into more of a sewing room and crap is everywhere! And now I am leaving for 10 days in Oregon and you know what? It will just stay a mess til I get back! Not going to worry about it!

But I did get the table runner I was making for my sister done and I will be giving it to her in a couple of days when I see her. She saw it mid-blocks but hasn't seen it done. And she doesn't get the cat! (That is Phoebe, dutifully watching what I was doing on the bed since I didn't have a long enough table to set it out!).

The back is just the purple fabric.  The surprise is that I got variegated green and purple thread and serged the edges instead of traditionally binding them like a quilt. I thought it was a cool more casual look and I love how it turned out!

A close up of the serging around the edges:

And now I am really jazzed to start some of my other quilting projects when I get back. I found a really cool lap quilt on Pinterest which I want to use as inspiration for my own modern scrappy quilt and then I have a lot of other unfinished projects (UFOs) to get done. My intention is one UFO a month or at least work on one as well as any other newer project. We shall see!

So now I am heading to Oregon, land of incredible fabric stores -- NOT that I need a single morsel of new fabric, but any of my quilting or sewing readers that has never stopped any of us in the past! Hah!

But I am also going to the coast and some other fun stuff so I will post some pix here and blog from my tablet along the way.  Aside from fabric hunting, my sister is having a big birthday bash, I will get to see another cousin later in the trip and who knows, yoga on the beach anyone?

New quilting project...

I finally got around to taking the second of a class in machine (as in your home sewing machine) quilting over at Country Sew. LisAnn is a very kind and patient teacher and helped us all along on the project. She had chosen a table topper for us to make (before class) then learn how to applique and quilt in class. I actually got mine all quilted in class! The only thing left to do is trim and bind it.

Here it is laid out on my sewing table (which I had to clear off first of course!):

and here is the fabric I decided to bind it with.  I "auditioned" (tried out) several other light prints and solids before choosing this one. I think the rusty oranges will bring out the other oranges in the quilt piece and it is more exciting than just a solid fabric. Now just to trim the whole piece, cut the binding strips and sew them on!

Meanwhile it is going to be in the 100 degrees for the rest of the week and I have no air in the sewing area to the side of the kitchen AND I still have yoga teacher training homework to finish, so I will get this project done next week (I hope!).

Sacramento, I am ready for AUTUMN!!!  And RAIN!!!

A bit of sewing...

and a present I bought for myself...

First off, I needed to make a name tag for the quilt guild meetings so I took a quilted scrap piece, folded it over wonky style, stamped my name, and left threads dangling since I often have a thread or two on me these days.

Then I wanted to practice machine quilting with my walking foot so I made a little mug rug out of colors from a charm pack (5" squares) I had.  The waviness on top went away after I pressed it more. I decided to serge the outer borders to keep with the more modern feel of it.

And I had totally forgotten my new polka dot cup so when I went to get a cup for tea, realized I had made that mug rug exactly for this cup! It worked!

And then since I had been so good about cleaning the kitchen while the house was being painted last week AND since they were on sale for 60% off or some crazy thing from Craftsy that day, I bought myself 2 Kaffe Fassett shot cotton fat pack (1/4 yard) bundles.  I love the shot cottons -- they are solids but the warp and weft threads are different colors (from nearly the same to wildly different) and that gives them a wonderful sheen and woven quality. Not 100% sure what I will use these for yet but it was such a deal I couldn't pass it up!  62 lovely quarter yard pieces... I am sure I will think of something!

Coming back to quilting...

Maybe it is the colder months but I find myself drawn to working with fabric more in the winter. And now that I have more time, I happened to look at the class schedule at Country Sew and found a couple of quilting classes I wanted to take. I am not a very proficient quilter, having only made a few quilted things before.

This is the first quilt I made for one of my teacher friend's new baby about 2 years ago:



Now I am working on some separate blocks mostly to learn various techniques, such as this one from this month's Modern Quilting Block Party:

Each month we learn a different block (with a slightly more modern quilting edge, not your grandmother's quilt blocks) and I guess eventually put them all together in one quilt. Except this one is going to become a table mat once I quilt it and put a binding on it. It is about 12 inches square. Turns out I happened to have some dinner candles in these colors and I thought it would make a nice addition to the table for those rare occasions I put my sewing stuff away and we eat at the table!

And the one I am having fun with now that will make up a whole quilt is called Circle of Nine and is from a 3 week class at Country Sew.  This is the original pattern of the quilt (from the book):

Last week we learned how to make the wonky squares for the middle.  This week I think we are learning how to do the background and next week, who knows? Probably how to put it all together and finish it. But... it is the "homework" that is killing me! It is taking a lot more time than I thought to cut the strips and sew 8 more of these funky blocks! I like the modern "wonkiness" of the blocks -- you don't have to worry about measuring or making perfect seams!  The nice thing is that the blocks are huge -- nearly 13" square, so it only takes the 9 to make up most of the quilt.

My theme is for a Day of the Dead quilt. I have had this fabric for a long while and thought it would be fun to use it in a quilt. The centers are fussy cut from the fabric, then the large border (grey print in the book pattern) will all be the Day of the Dead fabric. The colorful squares in the pattern are going to all be black for my quilt, so it will be a lot of black and white. I am hoping the reality looks as good as the one in my imagination!


Linked to: Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!

Puffin Fabric!

Not only is it PUFFINS (my favorite bird!) but also orange and blue! Just in time for another Monday link-up for Mandarin Orange Monday and Blue Monday (links below)!

When I was visiting my friend in Anchorage last week we went downtown to some arty places, and among them was a cool fabric store called The Quilted Raven. It was there I found this amazingly cute puffin fabric! I had to get a fat quarter just to have it, with no idea of course what to make with it yet... it was just too cute to pass up!

Linked to:
Mandarin Orange Monday
Blue Monday

It needed some Day of the Dead ornaments...

So I started with this...

and made a couple of prototype ornaments...

Basic idea ok, sewn and stuffed with batting. Now for some tweaking...

Sari Ribbon...

First I saw some on someone else's craft blog... Then I found some on Etsy... next thing I know I am the proud owner of a bunch of gorgeous sari ribbons...

Dreaming of ways to use it in my fabric art...

Apparently I am a year behind the curve. Already found a Sari Ribbon Blog Hop online from last year and a whole lot of Pinterest links and even You Tube videos and online shops with projects and so much more! I had never even heard of sari ribbon until a couple of weeks ago when I saw a small package of it in a rubber stamp store of all places! When I got home I Googled it and found some on Etsy and here we are, me and my sari ribbon!

Still a secret...

Making something for my sister in Oregon... just wanted to tempt her with the colors! They really are brighter -- this photo doesn't do them justice.

Lined zipper bag...

This morning I decided to reacquaint myself with sewing in a zipper so I made this little pencil case for my niece Sarah, to match the pillow I gave her a couple of months ago.

Since I will be visiting next week and I already had the pillow case for her brother, I thought I would make her a little something too so she doesn't feel left out. And anyway I still had some of the cute pink fabric to use so why not? Now to find a couple of pink pencils and stuff to put into it! (She is such a pink-loving girly girl, so unlike myself! LOL)

I think it turned out quite nicely actually.

Thrift store fabric finds...

I struck quilter's gold today! I thought I would check a couple of the thrift stores between my work and home on the way home today and I found some great finds!

This was a sari for just $4.95!


One of these was a gorgeous table runner than needs a better photo


Some cotton curtains


Yards and yards of velvet!


Interesting cotton and a brocade type fabric


Some interesting cottons

All of the above fabrics totaled less than $20.00! There are two more stores on another street I will try tomorrow... looks like I will find my interesting crazy quilt fabrics this way for a while -- Sacramento area has a TON of thrift stores! And there is a 3-day weekend coming up!!