WIP Wednesday - the rainbows and linen edition

you know when you're making something and you totally fall in love with it? every once in awhile you stop sewing to admire it and congratulate yourself on the perfect idea or the perfect fabric combination?


that was me this week. i am SO in love with how one of my swap pouches is turning out!! i'm so happy that the image i had in my head is visualizing in front of me, and i freaking love how the fabrics are interacting with each other. we all know that this doesn't happen with every project we undertake, but damn, it's awesome when it does. interestingly, every time i've felt this way it was regarding a project that i'd made with coloured linen. that's a sign, right?





so pretty!! i have to say that modern quilting has totally opened me back up to rainbows. despite growing up in the 80s, i was never super into them, because primary colours weren't my thing. i went through a brief phase in my teens of being into the pride rainbow, but even then, i tended to do things like craft my own pride jewelery out of muted shades. after that phase, i was seriously freaking tired of pride stuff, and it didn't always align with my politics, so i avoided rainbows. (thinking back, i do sort of miss my rainbow cat window decal...)





quilting has given me the excuse to buy and use fabrics in colours that i would NEVER wear, and honestly, how could anyone resist the cheerfulness of a rainbow? it just looks so happy and the colours are so harmonious. when i saw that this partner liked some of the rainbow projects floating around flickr land, i was excited for the excuse to make one!


i tried using something different for this project, and i'm curious what y'all have to say about it. i've heard people rave about fusible batting before, so when it was on sale at the fabric store, i thought i'd pick some up. i figured if nothing else, i'd have some white batting for my stash, i keep needing it at inopportune times.





however.... see that picture above? see the darker spots? meh. now i know to avoid the sections of the batting that seem to have excess glue, or, as i did here, use that side for the back. i realize that the linen i was using is super thin, but is this normal? what brand of fusible batting have you used, or where have you bought it? do you find that the adhesive is consistent? feedback welcome, please!



WIP-wise, i've got a ton of stuff on the go right now. the pouch above has just been completed, and my second pouch is soooooo close to being done. it's been delayed until i dig my magic eraser out and clean off my iron. TIP: when you're trying to clean fusible residue off your iron, don't use a cloth with a plastic tag on it, that just makes it worse. FYI!


i'm also making a smaller item to go inside each of the pouches, one of which is finished. i need to have them both done by tomorrow's guild meeting, which is actually doable - except for everything else i want to do too! i've made myself a list and it's prioritized, so as long as i don't get distracted reading Dear Prudence again (so addicted!), it's all under control.


i was hoping to make a totebag for a door prize, but that's a bit lower on the list. and i haven't even started the VMQG modern block that was this month's challenge, but oh well. as long as i get the important stuff done, and then i can just go and enjoy our anniversary meeting!


what are you working on? are you finding june and july as ridiculously busy as i am?



linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and at The Needle And Thread Network!

Zakka-Style Amy-Style - i heart bright linen!

hey! remember how excited i was about buying Rashida Coleman-Hale's book Zakka Style at the Sewing Show? cause Lindsey at LRStitched and Amy at Sukie: Don't you know who i am? were coordinating a sew-along?

yeah, i haven't been keeping up with that, what with the bee blocks i've been catching up on.

until this week!



this is week 5 of the sew-along, and Kerry of Very Kerry Berry made up a super cute version of the 5th project in the book, the patchwork pencil case.


i sewed up one pencil case on monday, the day that Kerry posted hers, and i even took pictures right away!



i used recycled blue linen for my case, from a pant suit set i thrifted a few months ago. when i bought it, the lady was all impressed about the deal i was getting for the brand that it was... i don't think she was that happy when i told her i was going to cut it up and make a quilt out of it!



for the patchwork accents, i used two polka dot prints that i picked up in abbotsford the day of the FVMQG sew-in.



and i lined it with grey kona. do you like my background? ha! that's the leopard print towel i use to pad my ironing board. adding a towel makes a HUGE difference in how smooth my fabric ends up. it's like magic!

and did you notice the pens in my pencil case? the Pilot FriXion pens? have you tried them? what do you think?


but back to the pencil case itself!

so i made one, i took pictures of it right away, but then i didn't post it... because i COULDN'T STOP MAKING THEM!



is this not slightly excessive?


i started out making one for a dear friend, using leftover shirting fabrics.



(do you like my photoshop attempt to show the inside and the outside in the same photo? i haven't quite mastered the magic wand, as you can slightly see on the side of the upright case, but it still looks pretty good to me!)


after i made that one, i thought i'd make for his partner, who's also become a dear friend. i always think of pink when i think of her, and i had this fabulous fuchsia linen. i paired it up with purple polka dots, and decided that i might as well make two, if i was making one!



but then i started thinking about how their home is decorated in more natural colours, if still vibrant, and even though *I* always think of bright pink, that might be more about her personality than her style. and i also had this lovely rusty orange linen...

so i made two of these, with a bit of a sunrise colour combo.



i didn't sew a strap for these ones, i used a strap off of the shirt that i was recycling for the linen. i redid the topstitching to match, and then used several yummy sketchy prints for the patchwork and the lining.



that would be enough pencil cases for anyone, but then i thought of the My Precious QAL, and what's more precious in my world than Melody Miller fabric? so i made a set of Ruby Star Spring pencil cases too!



i made these ones a bit longer, because i saw that some folks were using them to hold their rotary cutters. when i tried that with the cases i'd already made, i didn't think they were quite tall enough. i couldn't quite make up my mind how long i wanted the flap to be, so these two are just an eensy bit different from each other.

i lined them in a great lime green linen that i bought as yardage. i kinda want to do a full quilt with it! i made my closure band using the selvedge, which made me start thinking about all the fun pencil cases that i could make using selvedges... but no! i must stop the obsession!


however! i did discover a few tricks, in case you wanted to make your own!

tip #1 - the instructions tell you to trim your patchwork band before you topstitch it, but i'd topstitch before you trim. that way, if your machine is cranky for the first few stitches (which many machines will be, since it's 4 layers of fabric), you'll trim off the wonky stitches.

tip #2 - you might not want to trim the band at all, if you dislike the slight gathering on the flaps on my pencil cases. or, i think it would be super cute if you widened the end of the flap, creating even more gathering through the band!

tip #3 - if you're using recycled linen, or really, any fabric with a looser weave, i'd suggest stay stitching the section where you leave the opening for turning. that is, sew a line in the seam allowance of the opening to prevent it from stretching as you turn the case right side out.

tip #4 - even with staystitching, i still think moving the opening from the base of the flap to the side of it makes it easier to get a smooth line. you can make it larger, if you want, which will lessen the stress on the opening as you're turning it.

tip #5 - if you move the opening to the side of the flap, you'll need to either handstitch it closed or else topstitch more than just the bottom of the flap. i chose to topstitch my entire flap, even on the first few cases when i was still turning it through the bottom, just because i think it looks better. plus, if you start and stop on the back, your backstitching isn't as obvious. bonus!

of course, you could just follow the instructions in the book, cause they're pretty darn good too!





oooorrrrrr.... if you perhaps didn't want to make your own, and you'd rather have one of mine.... leave me a comment! which ones are your favourites? i'll draw a name at 11:59PST next Sunday, May 13th, and i'll send you your choice of case. (except the shirting one, it's already reserved, but you knew that)


think of it as a bonus for reading all the way to the bottom!


what should i do with the rest of them? i'm thinking that a few of these might end up as guild doorprizes - they'd be fun, wouldn't they? i'll save your favourite for you, don't worry!

Breaking the Rules Lap Quilt

i did it! i finally finished one of my Kona Challenge quilts!

i had it partially finished for our June Anniversary meeting, but i had a lot more quilting to do, and i finished up the binding just in time to take it to my august guild meeting.



i really really love how it turned out. i love the Kona darks palette, i love the teal linen that i used, and i love the print and the softness of the backing fabric.



i found this tutorial by Candace of Southern Girl Quilts for 3D pinwheels and decided that it would be perfect for this challenge. aren't they fun?



confession time - i didn't use all of the fabrics in the charm pack for this quilt, the way the challenge required. i know, it's bad! i was going to, honest! but they didn't fit. i would've had to add another row of 3 pinwheels and i really liked the idea of the square quilt. i would have needed 12 more colours, and i only actually needed to use up 4 more colours (cause i used a few others on the back in the label, etc) plus, they didn't really match the linen.... and i loved my vision of the quilt. i rationalized by the fact that i used all the colours in my other Kona quilt (i made two, cause i won another charm pack as a door prize), so this one was really more of a bonus quilt anyway.... right?!



this quilt breaks all the quilt-police rules. i used linen on the front, i used RAYON on the back (the horror! but it matched perfectly!), and i quilted it with polyester thread, because the colour matched so well. i LOVE the giant roses on the back, and the rayon is so so soft and cuddly.



the embroidered label. i was going to use one of the Kona squares for my label, but i apparently can't do math, and i screwed it up.... so i cut out what little unembroidered bit that there was left, and included it in the strip down the back, and just embroidered on a piece of the linen.



and i totally quilted the crap out of it.... i think i used at least 700 metres of thread - and of course, it was a colour that only came in 100m spools!



i'm so so happy with the binding on this quilt! the fabulous Felicity linked to this tutorial for using fusible thread, and it's AMAZING! my binding is so perfect and crisp, i love it! thanks Felicity!


i'm linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday, Fabric Tuesday and Finished It Friday. click on the badges to see lots and lots of other fabulous projects!

Teal Linen and Central Park Pillow (yes, more central park!)

i figured since i posted the yellow and orange pillow the other day, i should get around to posting what i made with the first half of the Kate Spain Central Park charm pack as well.

it's linen, are you surprised?

however, this pillow was started well before the orange and yellow pillow - i posted a sneak peak back in january i finished the top then, and even quilted it, but didn't get around to making the back and constructing the pillow last month, just in time for quilt guild.



it's based on the Mod Mosaic pillow tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman, who blogs at Oh, Fransson. this tutorial was actually our January challenge - i didn't finish my blocks for the challenge, because the pillow took forever! my pieces were really small though, since i was working with charm squares.

i used all of the "reservoir" (aqua) and "plaza" (pink) charms from the line, with the prints bridle path, carousel, cobblestone, esplanade, hernshead, linden and trefoil, as well as carousel in "lawn" (green). there weren't enough charms for a a full 16" pillow, so i added teal linen to the top and bottom of the patchwork. and yes, it is the same linen as my bunting pillow, the stuff that i'm in love with.



the back is just the linen, with diagonal straight line quilting. like the bunting pillow, i used flannelette instead of batting to reduce bulk, but to still get the crinkled wrinkly look after washing it.



i used a vintage zipper, like i always do, and it bled! i've never had that happen before, so i was a bit disappointed when i noticed the green along the zipper (after it had already been through the dryer, of course!). and see how the fabric acted on the lapped edge? i was using a zipper foot instead of a walking foot, and the fabric really pulled. i like the way it looks though... i've been so fascinated by the way fabric folds on a bias lately!

Stripey Apron and More made of vintage sheets

i think i mentioned a while ago that i joined a swap on flickr. if you've been following my blog for long enough, you'd know that i used to swap on craftster.org A LOT. i haven't done many swaps in a long time, and the few that i have done have been single projects, with no specific focus on the recipient. this swap was really fun to do because the theme was really open, just kitchen goodies, and i got to "stalk" my partner and try to guess what she'd like. that was always my favourite part of swapping, the inspiration from my partner, the excuse to make things that i wouldn't make otherwise.

i crafted for Melinda of quirky granola girl.


i read over the info that she wrote on her swap questionnaire, spent wwaaaaaayy too long browsing through her flickr favourites, and read back through her blog looking for ideas.

she said that she likes green, blue and aqua for colours, as well as yellow and orange, and cotton, linen, polka dots and stripes as patterns. looking through her blog i saw that she likes vintage sheets and string quilts, and her flickr favourites showed that she liked linen with prints, and fun little pouches. i read that she recently participated in a fabric swap for I Spy fabric, and last year she was in a tea towel swap.

the main project i made for the swap was an apron - which was pretty likely, given how apron obsessed i've been! but also because Melinda said that she'd like one. ;)

i wanted to stay away from ruffles, lots of gathering, that sort of thing, so i made the apron to have a bit of fullness without having to gather the fabric - i see aprons that are straight up and down, without any fullness, but they seem really impractical to me. sometimes you need protection even when you're not standing up straight like a mannequin, right!?



i used strips of vintage sheets in shades of blue, green and a bit of aqua, primarily in dots and stripe patterns, and sewed them directly to a piece of white twill weight cotton to add a bit of strength and weight to the sheets. if you think of quilt as you go strip piecing, that's basically what i did, with no batting.





i sewed the three pattern pieces together, and added a trim of blue rickrack around all of the edges - i like the added pop of colour that it adds.



i created striped pleats along the bottom - again, avoiding ruffles.



i used the polka dot sheet to make straps, and used D-rings at the top of the bib to make the neck strap adjustable.





and i lined it in kona cotton to make everything all neat and tidy.



i really really love how it turned out - it was hard to give up!




and then there were the extras. the apron took longer than i thought it would, and then i was in the art jewelery/enameling classes with Richard Salley last weekend, which totally wiped me out, so i wasn't able to finish it as soon as i would have liked. and then i decided to add the tea towel, and didn't realize that i had to let the paint cure for 24hrs.... so i felt bad, and made a little linen pouch to add in.



the first thing i wanted to make was a matching potholder, and it seemed obvious to go with a string quilt block.



because Melinda isn't very fond of insulbrite, and prefers fulled wool inside potholders, i went off to the thrift store to pick up a sweater (any excuse for thrifting!).

i think the sweater i used was too thick - i thought it would be great for a potholder, but didn't think about struggling to quilt through it! but it did give the stripes great definition -



the back was just the same white twill - i wanted something thicker than one of the sheets so that the sweater didn't show through.


and then the tea towel. i made this silkscreen years ago, and keep meaning to haul it and a few others out to make patches, but never seem to get around to it. this was the perfect excuse! i used Jacquard textile ink to silkscreen. it's a fun iridescent blue/green colour.




and then the final project, a cute little linen pouch. i used more rickrack - i really hope Melinda doesn't hate rickrack! i wanted to pair linen with a print, and used the vintage trim to pull out the colours a bit.



i used a vintage orange zipper, and lined the pouch with orange kona. (i love kona, but you've probably figured that out by now)





i rounded out the package with some canadian chocolate, for grown ups as well as her little boy, and a little stack of I Spy squares from my stash.





i always get so focused on what i'm making for swaps that i forget that i'll be receiving as well - but i'm definitely going to be watching the mail next week!

little linen projects

i've been slightly obsessed with the linen that i used for the hoopla bunting pillow, and i just keep finding more and more projects to use it for.

so far i've made pincushions, a nametag for guild meetings, and a cute little fabric basket to sit next to my sewing machine and hold all my thread scraps. these projects were all with hoopla, because i'm totally loving it, and i still had lots of scraps left over after the bunting pillow.

i made the mugrug with some scraps from the pillow, just playing around. i used wonder under to adhere the little flags, and then freehand machine stitched. there's batting behind the linen, but it wasn't enough to stabilize it, with all of the stitching i did, so it turned out slightly wonky. i like it, but it's definitely wonky!



the next thing i made was the nametag. i used this paperpiecing pattern, and instead of creating a rainbow, i alternated prints with the linen. i machine embroidered my name onto the centre fabric, which is a twill, so a little bit heavier than standard cotton, but it handles the embroidery better. the pattern is actually in three pieces, because of the letters in the centre. because i was embroidering on it, i didn't want any seams in the centre, so i adapted the pattern a little bit. there was one seam that i had to handstitch, no biggie.



and then i added the back and a pin, and did a teensy bit of hand quilting. i made the back in two pieces, and left a hole in the centre back seam. after i'd sewn the back and front together and turned the nametag rightside out, i stitched that up by hand. it's so much easier to stitch up a straight seam than it is a round one, if i'd left the hole in the circle seam!



and then for some reason i decided to make pincushions - i don't really know why, because i don't usually use pincushions! but i have been using the purple one, and i've been finding it handy, so maybe that's about to change...



anyway, they're just simple pincushions, 4 patch on the front, and linen on the back, and i stitched them together like a biscornu, with 8 sides. i stuffed them, and then stitched on some vintage buttons - i love having an excuse to use part of my massive button collection! i like them.

and then i made a little fabric basket, inspired by lili at spool of thread. her mom made a bunch of these, to sit by the machines in their sewing lounge, and i totally fell in love with them! i really want to make more of them, and experiment a bit with size, etc.



but i got sidetracked onto another project with the linen - here's a sneak peek!



yum!!

the other day i went back and bought 3 more metres of the linen.
(i told you i was obsessed!)

hoopla bunting pillow!

PLEASE BID ON THE AUCTION POST, WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE


a little while ago i ordered some charm packs from one of my favourite etsy shops. they're all Moda, and most of them were lines that are just now coming out in yardage. i ordered Modern Workshop, Central Park, Hideaway and Hoopla, and i love them! (especially Hideaway, since i'm obsessed with cuckoo clocks!)

i really wanted to make something fun with them, but they're just 5"x5" squares... i searched around looking at patterns, but most of them required a charm pack PLUS a jelly roll or something, or were for things that are pretty, but so not usable (how do people keep their tables clear enough for runners anyway?!). i thought about a pillow, but i couldn't decide on a design. all of my favourite types of squares, like log cabins, need longer strips...

i hemmed and hawed a bit, reluctant to cut into the squares without the perfect project, and then i ran across the Queensland Flood Appeal that Toni at Make It Perfect is organizing, and i knew it was the perfect reason to use some of my fancy new fabric.

at the same times, i ran across another blog that inspired me to think about buntings (i'll post about that blog later), and i realized that bunting flags were the perfect use for charm squares. i decided to use Hoopla, since it has a lot of small prints that are cute regardless of direction. i found linen in the most amazing shade of teal, and knew it was perfect for the background.

and then, because i've been slightly obsessed with paper piecing patterns lately, i somehow decided that i should paper piece the pillow, and that this would be the perfect time to draft my very first paper piecing design. you know - when i'm on a deadline, and using precious fabric that i can't get more of immediately. i'm clever like that, you know.

and so, the epic paper pieced pillow that took longer than some quilts emerged!



i'm so in love with it. i was giddy every time i looked at it for the first few days (and then the giddiness turned to panic when i realized i was running out of time!).



i learned a few good lessons about paperpiecing while working on this project, a few that i was able to fix as i went along, and one that i wasn't, but it's okay. (i wish i hadn't made the patterns all the same size - if i'd split the top half less evenly, the centre flag wouldn't have a seam through it)



i thought about using plain white kona for the bunting string, but that seemed rather blah. the hoopla line contains a tiny white on white dot,and luckily the charm pack had two of them. i cut them into 1" strips and pieced them together, and managed to do all of the string out of them. barely! i think i had a 1"x1" square left over!



the back is solid teal, except for the short row of bunting in the bottom right corner. i used those flags for my quilt label, and machine embroidered on them. one has my name and country, and the other states “Queensland Flood Relief Jan 2011”.





there's a lapped zipper across the back of the pillow, i used one of my cherished dead-stock vintage zippers. it’s a lighter shade of blue, and says “lightning” on the cute rounded tab. (i totally <3 lighting brand zippers!)



i used a layer of cotton quilt batting backed with thin white cotton for the front, and a layer of flannelette for the back. i wanted to be able to enclose the zipper edges in the batting, and regular batting would have been too bulky to fold over. but i did still want the wrinkled look after quilting, so i didn't preshrink the flannelette.



i'm going to do a second post for the auction itself, to keep bids and comments separate. (cause i'm hoping you'll comment!)

soooo..... what do ya think?