2019 Quilts

I started this post back in January of 2020...but then we all know what happened to 2020..

So I figured that I would post these quilts that I completed in 2019..and I will get something up about what I did in 2020......

I finally got serious about getting some of the backlog of quilts completed this year. I made this cat quilt top about 4 years ago and it sat on the unfinished project pile till just December of 2019.

I was happy to complete this quilt and put a label on the back. It's a small quilt about 40x50. The backing is a sheet that is really soft.

I was lucky enough to take a class with Katie Pedersen in August. It was called Double Trouble because you make half square triangles and add an extra little piece of fabric to the opposite side of the triangle. I worked with red & blue triangles for in the class and was not sure where this one would go.

 I finished it in late November and I really like the color. It's a bright mix of red and blue. Again this is a smaller quilt about 60x70.

I found this pattern on line at Missouri Quilting Company (I think). I stated to make it and was getting a little frustrated as the red polka dots were too distracting for me. But I kept on and finished the top. It's just not my favorite. I also made a chevron strip for the back of the quilt but as I was really unhappy with this quilt it went on the pile unfinished tops. I think I will take a look at it again in a couple of months. It may hit me as something to complete. 

I made a jelly roll quilt that the internet said would only take an hour. Well if you speed sew yes it will. But I'm not a speed sewer and this took about 5 hours. It was all from scraps that I had in my large scrap bin. I cut 2 1/2" strips, separated the prints and the solids into bags. I would then take a solid and sew it to a print and then back to a solid. It was all kind of an improv type of project to get me moving with our thinking and to just see if this was something I wanted to complete.

I completed this one for a friend. She had cut and sewn all the blocks together I just finished the strips. Now to get it quilted. I have a fun backing for this top...when I get to the long arm machine.

Another quilt from a class, this one with Anna Marie Horner. The class was called Folk Flower. It's an appliqué quilt which I don't usually do, but this one was so easy. I had dyed the blue fabric that is the foreground of the blocks and then picked really bright fabric for the center of the flowers. This is quilted with a heavy knit fabric on the back of the quilt.

Blocks from another class I took this year. This class was with MJ Kinman, who makes beautiful jewel type quilts. These are the only two blocks that I completed but I want to make an entire quilt with this type of block.

This quilt is a called the disappearing 9 patch I made this quilt about 6 years ago and it sat in my studio waiting to be quilted. I made it for my sister and her wife when they got married and finally gave it to her for Christmas of 2018. I just wanted to show it because it took me so long to get it finished.

This little fella was a gift for a friend that was having a baby. I wanted to play with 2" precuts that I had and this is what came out. It's bright and fun for a new baby.  It's also very small, only 36x36. 

Red, White & Blue Alabama Chanin Skirt

This skirt has been in the making for over 2 years. I originally dyed the red fabric in the summer of 2014. I was experimenting with Shibori tie dying. I bought some white cotton jersey from Dharma Trading for the dying process. I folded a yard of the fabric like an accordion then used several rubber bands to hold the fabric together. I like the red design but it had a little too much white for my wardrobe. I thought the fabric would be perfect as the bottom layer of an Alabama Chanin Bloomer Skirt, my favorite of all the Alabama Chanin skirts, I have 6 of the bloomer skirts. Some in the original leaf pattern and some in the paisley pattern. I wear these skirts almost every day, for everything from gardening to going out to dinner. 

The bookstore I worked at use to give us a t-shirt every year. After 25 years I had enough shirts, so I ordered a 6xl shirt, knowing that I would be able to use the fabric for something else. When I ordered the shirt I did not know what color it would be, when I got the shirt I though it was the perfect  blue color to go with the dyed red & white fabric.  

When I saw the New Leaves Stencil I knew that what pattern I would use on the top layer of the skirt. That took me another year to figure out who to get the pattern on the fabric. I was going to teach myself to use an airbrush but after a couple of attempts I realized that screen printing was way easier. I attempted to locate some rubylith, but it turns out that it's a lot more expensive then I remembered. I needed a very large piece and the only rubylith that would work came in a roll that was about $300. OK...I needed another way to get the new leaves design on my screen. I printed out the stencil from the latest Alabama Chanin book at Kinko's. It's large 25x40. I tried just burning the screen with the paper stencil but it did not work. So I decided to use a drawing fluid on the screen after drawing the images on the screen. Again it was problematic as the drawing fluid was old and a little too thick. I did end up making a screen and printing on the blue fabric but it was a lot more work than I had anticipated. The first color I used was a blue because I didn't want the ink to stand out too much. Well the blue ink I used matched the fabric perfectly and I was unable to see the stencil on the fabric. So I had to screen the skirt again...this time I used black. 

Now I had the skirt ready to sew. I spent a week stitching so I could do a reverse appliqué on the skirt. I started to cut out some of the design and my husband suggested that I not cut out all of the stencil but cut the stencil so it looked like vine wrapping around the shirt. I like that idea but I wanted he full impact of the red & white dyed fabric...so I cut out all the stencil. I may make another one with a vine type of design flowing around the skirt. That is another skirt for another post. 

The final result is a Red, White & Blue Skirt...it's my 4th of July out fit this year.

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. 

Jam & some Churn Dash Blocks

When all of our guest had left we found that we had a lot of cherries left over from their visit. I like cherries but there was a lot of cherries left at the house so I decided to make some jam. I also had some strawberries so I added those to the mix. A friend had given me some funky scissors last summer that she was using to chop herbs. I was able to use these scissors to cut up the cherries for the jam. I used my FreshTech Jam Machine and came up with 4 half pints + of Cherry, Strawberry Vanilla Jam (I gave away one of the half pints before I was able to take a photo). I think it used a little  too much vanilla in the jam, I used 2 vanilla beans and really I should have used only one. Then luck struck again...my neighbor Jessie pointed out a Golden Raspberry batch in the community garden (I thought it was just a bush of unripe raspberries), it was FULL of ripe raspberries. I picked a lot to make jam, but ended up eating some so I did not get as much jam as I had hoped. The golden raspberries if you have never had them are wonderful. They have a very fresh raspberry taste and are oh so sweet. The only down side that I found in the golden raspberries is they seem to have more seeds then red raspberries. I strain about 1/2 of the raspberries when I make jam so I don't get a seed filled jam. I think I strained about 3/4 of the golden raspberries before I made the jam. I had to add about a pint of red's to this jam to get the 3 cups needed to make the jam in my FreshTech machine. I think the red's helped make the jam a lovely golden rose color. I also added 1/2 a vanilla bean, this gave the jam a lovely flavor.    
I have been working on the churn dash quilt block. I have seen the block in older quilts and it seems to be on a lot of quilting blogs lately. So I decided to take a stab at making a churn dash block. I messed with different ways to use the squares and I really like making a red cross on the center. I think I will make a few more and see what they look like mixed together. It's a fun block but a little fussy which is not my style of quilting. I'm a pretty messy quilter...I hate having to match up points. This block really needs the points to match....so I may only make this as a test to see if I can do it.