3 Quilts and a Pair of Sushi Pants

My husband gave me the Legendary quilt pattern from Elizabeth Hartman a couple of years ago. I kept putting it off when it came to making it as there were sooooo many pieces. About 180 half square triangles for the background of the trees. Well I finally  cut it out and finished it in late April. I like the quilt top,  now I want to make it was a dark blue background and the  Abominable Snowman or as some people call it a Yeti in place of the big foot. The pattern actually goes together quickly its the cutting that killed me. I spent 2 days cutting and you have to be very organized and accurate or you will have issues when the whole thing goes together at the end. I saw a woman that made this same quilt but staggered the trees and had a sun in the corner. I liked the way that flowed. It had a much more organic feel to the quilt top then lining up the trees and big foot. I love Elizabeth's patterns but they are all very precise, I tend to like randomness in quilting...like the quilt below. 

I love Pendleton Wool. Living in Portland I'm close to one of the mill outlet stores and I go there often to get wool scraps. I have been collecting cream with yellow and black stripes for the last couple of years before I finally got enough to make this all wool quilt. It then took me a year to figure out the back and what I was going to do to quilt the piece. It's heavy so I knew I would not need a batting. I wanted a simple fairly lightweight backing that would not take away too much from the front of the quilt. 
I found a bolt of yellow wool fabric at a place called City Liquidators, they usually do not carry fabric but they had bought out a fabric store that closed about 5 years ago. The fabric store had a strange mix of polyesters from the late 70's, batik fabric from India, Cotton Jersey and strange uniform looking shirts. City Liquidators was selling the bolts of fabric for $25-$100 a bolt. There was a lot of fake fur and upholstery fabric that was the $100 bolts.  I found a bolt of yellow 100% wool fabric (about 16 yards) for $30. I'm not a fan of yellow but I could not pass up that much wool fabric for such a cheap price, I figured I would find something to do with that yellow fabric. 
After I finished the quilt top it lived on my wall for about 6 months. Looking through my fabric one afternoon I realized that the yellow fabric would be a great backing for the Pendleton Wool Quilt. 
I decided to tie this quilt because I thought it was too thick to put through my sewing machine. My husband cals this the Canadian Winter Blanket, it has been kitty tested and kitty approved. It's a 52"x 72" 100% wool quilt.

I found this quilt top at a resale store called ReRun in Portland. I think it was about $15, maybe $20, it was 88"x88". I liked the turquoise color and the Sarah Jane  Mermaid fabric that was used in the quilt. I was going to take this to the long arm and quilt the piece but in the end decide to tie this quilt too. I used a fluffy polyester batting so it was a little thicker, but not too heavy. It's a nice bright quilt that we used at the end of summer on our outdoor bed. 

 I finally finished the Sushi Pants for my husband. We bought the fabric in Hawaii last January and I kept putting off making pants for him as I made other things (like more quilts that we really do not need). They are a simple elastic west pant, with larger pockets. The pattern is Simplicity 3645, it very easy to sew. Needles to say he put the pants on as soon as I was finished & wore the pants the rest of the summer. 

Granny Square Quilt

I made this quilt top a couple of years ago. I kept seeing this pattern pop up on flicker and found the original pattern here. I fell in love with the scrappy feeling of the quilt. I have a passion for scrappy quilts, you should not ever have to go buy 1/2 a yard of 10 different materials to make a quilt. I come from a family of seamstress so there was always scrap material around. 

I made the quilt top and actually forgot about it till one of my cats jumped up on the shelf and down toppled all my unfinished quilt tops. I pulled out the top and started to look for fabric to complete the back. I had a long piece of this lovely light purple that I wanted to use but I also wanted a little color...something simple but that still had a snap of color. I played around with different colors on my design wall and came up with a nice backing. I think the solid strip of turquoise and the red added a nice break in to the eye.
I had taken a class on the long arm machine at Modern Domestic last year, but just in case you missed that post...a quick recap...when I went to do my 2 hours of studio time I broke the machine...an $18,000 machine. A piece of thread broke in the bobbin and they were unable to get it out, the machine froze and they had to pull it all apart. This is the finished quilt that broke the machine. Needless to say I was a little shy to go back for fear that they would never let me use the machine again. 

SO this year for my birthday I signed up for another class to use the long arm machine at Modern Domestic, This time the class was 2 days, 3 hours each day. There were only 3 of us in the class and we each got turns playing with the machine after learning a design. I liked the wave pattern and the loopy pattern, I had done squares inside squares on all the quilts tops I had done so far.  After you take the class you get 2 hours of studio time. 

I finally went on August 11th, 2 hours of sewing on the machine and no problems....well one small one...I put the needle through my finger and broke the needle, but I did not break the machine. I also quilted part of the batting to the back of the quilt. The batting clung to the back of the quilt and when I attempted to roll the quilt on the arms it would not move. That is when I realized I had quilted some of the batting to the back. Oh well, now that I have done it I know what to watch out for when rolling and unrolling the quilt sandwich on the machine. 

I really like the look of this quilt, it's all puffy from the machine quilting and the loopy pattern that I used was a nice contrast to the granny square pattern. I really liked making this pattern I think I will try it again but make it much more scrappy. 

A Kitten Quilt

I received Elizabeth Hartman's quilt pattern "The Kittens" for Christmas. Since made her Fancy Fox quilt before the holidays and really wanted to try the kitten pattern. When I looked at the pattern I saw that there were a lot of small pieces. The eye's and noses are 1 1/2 x1 1/2 inch pieces. That scared me as I had tried some of Tula Pinks City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks and I did not do well with all the small pieces. I also have a hard time cutting out small pieces and made some mistakes when I was cutting. 

In several of the blocks you need 3 1/2 x 3 inch piece as well as 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch piece...so I had to be very diligent about marking and separating the pieces for the blocks. I cut out one block at a time then sewed it together, then another block and sewed it together...you get the picture. It was very time consuming but it kept me from making too many mistakes (of course there were a couple mistakes, but that is to be expected for the first time). I would also lay out the blocks so I knew what piece when where...this helped keep every thing organized.

I also marked my sewing line on the fabric when I first started making the blocks, it really helped me get a straight line when sewing the angels. After you make a few of these you don't need to mark the fabric but when you first start out it really helps. 

You can see that the marked line will disappear when you stitch the pieces together so no need to worry about the lines showing, they are all in the seam.  

This is a really cute quilt block and it's worth taking the extra time to cut the small squares and make the blocks. The final size of the block is 8 1/2 x 10 1/2. Mine are a little off but I can manage that when I add the sashing between the blocks. I may even get ambitious and make the glasses to go on one of the kittens. 

A few pieces of black clothing

It's been awhile since I posted anything. I have not been really busy so I'm not sure what has kept me from writing. It snowed here just after the new year. It was a beautiful couple of days.

I finished the Red Fox Quilt and gave it to our friend Chuck.  I used Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox pattern...great pattern by the way. The quilt is about 48x40. I used a very soft flannel sheet on the back with a very modern pattern.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a Sunday afternoon making several pieces of black clothing. I had some knit/fleece fabric that I bought sitting in the studio and wanted to try to make a warm shirt. I have made several of the Jalie 2805 tee shirts and I think these are my favorite. They fit nicely and go together in about an hour. I bought a couple of cotton jersey bed sheets and practiced with those to make sure I really liked the end result. I have posted about making these shirts previously.  This time I made the shirt with a knit/fleece type of material that I had in my stash. Since the fabric is thicker the shirt is nice and warm.The only thing I would have done different is make it a crew neck instead of a V-neck, for some reason the fabric stretched out quite a bit around the neck. I had enough of the fabric left that I made a pair of leggings. I had some issues again with the elastic waist band again…but they fit and are nice and warm. I need to read about sewing with elastic then do a bunch of tests. I hate muslins or testing materials...even though I know it will help me in the end. I also made another little bag, this one with some of the left over Pendleton that I use to make my husbands Christmas shirt this year. 

I then pulled out some black rayon type fabric…again not sure where it bought the fabric or what the exact content is but it flows nicely & has a nice drape. I had a cotton slip that I really loved but the slip was falling apart. I made a difficult decision to take it apart so I could make a pattern. I had made a slip from the pattern a couple of years ago but since i used a quilting cotton the slip/dress was a little stiff. I made it again from a seersucker type of material and I loved it. Though I think the shoulder straps were a bit too thin. I felt the rayon type fabric was perfect, I could wear the slip/dress under a sweater in the winter or as a nice summer dress.

When I made the pattern the first time I felt the underarms were a little strange. So I looked a the original pieces and decided to add about 1/2" to the underarms. Well that was a little too much because now the underarms are too large. I think I have to use a facing or hem the neck and arms to make it fit better. That of course did not stop me from wearing the dress under a warm sweater last week. I'm always looking for simple summer dresses because I live in them all summer long. I think this pattern will work nicely after a few more tweaks. I guess I have to get out my pattern making books and read up on how to make the pattern to fit properly.

Happy 2016

Getting ready for 2016....I have been very industrious this last year. Orders for my screen printed bags went up to about 100 a month through the summer. For the Holidays I sold about 800 bags. That can be a little hard on the arms screen printing all those bags. This last year I also had the chance to sew more. I feel really lucky to have a decent sewing area, it's a little cold during the winter months, but we are working on that. I would like to get a dehumidifier the space since it's in the basement but really I have not had a problem since I have a small space heater that keeps the area at about 65. I also put up curtains and tapestry to keep the heat in the small area that I actually work the most. People who lived in large castles used tapestries on the walls to keep warm back in the day, though I do not have any large beautiful tapestries I do have some nice heavy fabric and curtains to close off my sewing area. 
Anyway for the Christmas I made my husband another Colette Negroni from some Pendleton wool that I bought a couple years ago at the outlet store in Pendleton Oregon.

 I was able to get about 12 yards of wool fabric for less than $100. I was very happy to score such a deal. In 2013 I made 2 shirts from some of the grey wool..one for my husband and one for my father-in-law.

There are several things that I made this year that I was was very proud of:

All the bags I made for Christmas from fabric I had collected over the years. The Red Fox quilt that is for some friends who are expecting their first baby in April of 2016, the Alabama Chanin Skirt that I printed and sewed while camping, the A line dress from Alabama Chanin...WITH POCKETS & the western shirt from a really lightweight gingham...it fits perfectly.
There are also a couple of other things such as all the pants I made for my husband this year. It was great to learn how to make pants and make something that he would wear everyday. Next I want to make myself a pair of jeans. My goal this year is to make me a comfortable pair of jeans and a few more pairs of leggings. Of course there will be several more quilts made as my husband bought me the couple of really cool quilt patterns from Oh Fransson…the sasquatch quilt pattern and the kitty pattern.