Month: October 2017

Turkey Tracks: Camden Juried Craft Shows

Turkey Tracks:  October 15, 2017

Camden Juried Craft Shows

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I rounded a corner of a grouping of booths in the Camden Juried Craft Show a few weeks back.  The booths spread out over the library amphitheater and on the green hill that overlooks our beautiful harbor.  This booth was tucked into a grouping of booths in the amphitheater, and close-by were two other booths I really liked.

My dad used to make his own fly-fishing lures when I was a little thing.  He grew up fly-fishing out west and tried to teach his three girls how to fly fish as well.  We used to practice on the grass front lawn.  My dad loved all sorts of fishing, and he married a woman whose family all loved fishing too.  Family vacations–that was back when people could take month-long vacations–always included fishing.  We fished lakes, swamp bream beds and bass holes, streams, rivers, and bays and oceans.  If it was wet and had fish in it, we were all in.

So, these beautiful handcrafted lures made me catch my breath and long for an idyllic time long gone.  John and I thought we would fish up here in Maine, but the fish are tainted by mercury or no longer exist in places where we would have looked for them.  We soon gave up the fishing idea.  People do fish the lakes and streams, but…

Heirloom Lures, handcrafted by Christopher Augustus, Seal Cove, Maine

heirloomlures.com

 

Kathleen Farnsworth, Searsmont, Maine

Sewing A Notion, sewinganotion@fairpoint.net

Kathleen makes beautiful handcrafted items:  from fiber to buttons.

These little goodies are jewelry holders.

See?  The colors are delicious!

There is a button story which you can read on her blog.

Look at this beautiful little bag.

As you all know, I love bags of all sizes and shapes, so I stood and admired these for quite some time.

Very high quality workmanship here.

 

Jennifer Butts, Brunswick, Maine

Scenic Fabric Collages, Maine Hill Studio, mainehillstudio.com

My pictures did not come out too well as my camera picked up reflections in the glass.  Jennifer has a good gallery of her many beautiful products on her web site though.  Take a look?  There are some great gifts here.

I am awed by her beautiful work–these pictures are not cut from paper.  She cuts fabric to make her collages.  I can only think that she has tiny, tiny scissors to make such beautiful sharp edges.

Clever, clever artist here.

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern September Show and Tell

Turkey Tracks:  October 6, 2017

Mt. Battie Modern September Show and Tell

We had fun at our September meeting.

It was fun to see Joann Moore, who worked all summer.  She brought two quilts with her.  She’s a new grandmother, so there is a fun baby quilt.

And her version of a quilt in Amanda Jean Nyberg’s book NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND called “Happy Rails.”  Love her use of the blue background and the bright fabrics with it.

Vicki Fletcher has been working on this English Paper Piecing large hexagon quilt.  She is enjoying this project and loves the old-fashioned fabrics.  They are special, and so is she.

Tori Manzi showed us a new bag she acquired from an internet “swap” friend.  Wow!  Great bag.  We examined it in detail as we are, most of us, bag crazy.

Paula Blanchard showed us this small quilt from Amy Friend’s Improv workshop with us last spring.  Amy’s blog is “During Quiet Time,” and the method is in her book IMPROV PAPER PIECING.  This is a “wow” quilt, isn’t it?

Karen Martin has her Tula Pink blocks not only done, but put into a top.  Didn’t it come out gorgeous?  These blocks are a challenge for Coastal Quilters, but Karen is the first person among us to finish a quilt top with the blocks.  We finish making the blocks in December.  I have about 40 more to go, but will catch up soon.  The book is 100 MODERN QUILT BLOCKS, and they are all about the fabric.

Love the sashing fabric with the different intensities of black dots.

Here’s Karen:

Mt. Battie had a challenge to make a “minimalist” quilt, from directions and discussion in the MIGHTY LUCKY QUILTING CLUB 2016 WORKBOOK–“Minimalist Improvisation” by Season Evans.

Here’s Becca’s:

Here’s Paula’s:

And here’s mine:

I am enjoying these exercises.  I am making and using bias tape in both quilts and clothing now.  And I’ve found that I’m thinking differently about quilt compositions all at once–along the lines of the creativity that can come with constraint.  It is freeing somehow.

On to the next challenges–which will make the next two months more interesting.

Turkey Tracks: Sewing Clothes And Learning a Serger

Turkey Tracks:  October 2, 2017

Sewing Clothes!

And Learning A Serger

One of the really fun things about sewing is the young women who are making their own clothes these days.  For fun and satisfaction.

They are inspiring!

Leah Ondra of Clementine (Rockland, Maine) was the Coastal Quilters speaker at our September meeting.  She lit a fire under many of us about making clothes.  Including me.

I have not made clothes since my 20’s as a newly married and poor wife and mother.

But…

Here I go.

Linen tunic, which I shortened:

Skirt to go with…

I have no idea what this material is.  I knew when I left the store but I have to learn garment fabric names.  I cut the skirt on the bias, and the material is nice.  I will make this skirt again and make it a tiny bit longer.

On advice, I prewashed the materials.

Together–and best of all both pieces FIT.

Tunic top is 100 Acts of Sewing Tunic No 1

Skirt is Colette, “Ginger”

I can wear a warm t-shirt beneath the tunic for now.  And, tights or leggins with the skirt for warmth.

I bought a table from amazon that I had to assemble myself.  I loved doing it.  Here is just came up from being upside down on the floor.  (Studio Designs:  Comet Hobby Center)

Here it is with the SERGER (Brother 1034DX I also ordered from Amazon.  (Under $200)  Leah Ondra swears by using a serger in garment making and says this one is just fine.  The thread cones (Mettler polyester) came from Red Rock Threads.  The colored thread spools came with the machine, which is fully color coded, which makes it easier to thread.

Sergers are so NOT like a domestic sewing machine.  And they have sharp knives as they trim off the excess material in a seam allowance.  The threading problem seems to be ok what with all the color coding involved here.  Brother is trying to make this easy.  I keep reading the instruction book, watching the DVD that came with it, and patting the machine.  I did sew ONE line of stitching.  But I need to switch out the thread and PRACTICE.  Which will start, maybe, with learning how to disable the knives.  There is no use in letting them get dull, is there?

Next week’s plan:  get comfortable with the serger.  I have a knit top I want to make.

And “En Provence” only needs 2 1/2 passes on the long arm.

And “My Milli” needs to be loaded on the longarm…

Life is fun and busy.

 

Turkey Tracks: September Mt. Battie Modern Traveling Quilts

Turkey Tracks:  October 1, 2017

September Mt. Battie Modern Traveling Quilts

The “reveal” at our September meeting was so much fun!

The quilts are so full of life and energy.

Here’s what Becca Babb-Brott made for the quilt she was working on.

Here’s Becca’s contribution alongside other blocks in this quilt.  The owner asked that someone start to link up the blocks now.

Vicki Fletcher made a village green for Margaret Elaine Jinno’s quilt.  It shimmers with life, doesn’t it?  This block could become a strong unifier for this quilt.  Good job Vicki!

Nancy Wright made this block for Becca’s quilt.

This block is adding a whole new element to this quilt.  Becca wanted to join all the pieces herself at the end.

Tori Manzi added the lower blocks and the color wheel on the right to Lynn’s quilt.  Wow!  This quilt is going in a very interesting direction with the work of Nancy Wright’s sewing machine and Tori’s blocks.

Lynn Vermeulen these words to Joanne Moore’s quilt.  They are PERFECT!  I like the way Lynn used blocks to separate words.

I worked on Vicki Fletcher’s quilt.  I made her a “tree of life” block, and, as she homesteaded in Alaska, I gave her a forest and a cabin in a clearing in the forest.  Vicki has an abiding Christian faith, so I thought the “tree of life” would be nice for her.  The small trees are from Janeen Van Niekerk’s Craftsy shop, Quilt Art Designs, which features her foundation piecing designs.  Other trees and the cabin came from my EQ7 program.

Here’s the label I made for Vicki.  We are each making a label for whatever quilt we worked on.  AND, we are giving ourselves two months per quilt now.

LInda Satkowski added the row of “x” blocks at the bottom of Tori’s quilt.  And the flower on the right–English Paper Piecing, bias tape, and applique leaves.  Tori’s theme is “color,” so we are having fun with bright colors in this quilt.  It is on my design wall now, and I am thinking about it.  Linda’s additions are going to be a hard act to follow.

So, that’s it for now.  I’ll have a separate post on the Mt. Battie Show and Tell.