Category: Sewing Projects in SC

Where does the time go?

How did we get to mid-September already?

Our weather has been so gorgeous, though it is still too dry. I have had to take time to water the planted beds around the house. But, the walking has just been awesome these past weeks.

More of the clothesline rope came. This one is braided diamonds, and I’ve since read that a “straight” braid is easier to work due to raveling at the ends with the diamond version. I like this one a lot, but will try the straight type if I keep going on these rope bowls. They are so fun… And I think they make charming gifts.

Here’s one of the two books I ordered, and it is so, so helpful. This author has a business where she sells the straight braid rope she recommends. She apparently also sells colored ropes and can suggest dyes to make fun effects like the bowl on the cover. I believe the dye or paint is added after the bowl is made.

The current quilt top, made with more of the 3 1/2-inch squares I cut from my Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics when I cut up what I had been, clearly, hoarding, is on the longarm. ( I am still working the problem with the canvas leaders being “off,” but so far this quilt seems ok.)

I’m using a new panto recommended by Wendie Currie called “Rhododendron.” Wendie is a professional longarm quilter, and she lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She posts her finished quilted quilts to her blog, so that gives one a lot of inspiration. What fun curves for this blocky quilt.

The design wall if FULL of delicious projects, and the challenge quilt, now called the name of the challenge, “Make the Churn Dash Block Modern,” is almost bound. That’s hand-sewing at night.

I’m having so much fun with Latifah Saafir’s “Hurty” ruler. I’m sewing these blocks and rows together now. I could have gone on and on making blocks. This quilt will be called “Arrowheads.” See the downward facing arrowheads that run from the top right corner to the bottom left corner? And I played with the placement of the left and right diagonals of this half-rectangle block.

This block is 4 by 8, and I’m so NOT done with this ruler play. This top has gobbled up a lot of fun stash fabrics too. Yesterday, before I quit upstairs, I found a fabric in my stash that is muted green with lines I can use for the binding, which I’ll cut on the bias. It’s perfect!

These crosses are the next quilt using the 3 1/2-inch squares of Cotton+Steel Ruby Star Society squares I cut up. But with this setting, which I like, I have to lay the rest out and sew them out by rows as the 9-inch block that is off-set won’t sew together without one neutral filler block needed for the join–which is a pain to sew.

I pulled out Jen Kingwell’s “Glitter” blocks a week or so ago and made a few more. I had thought to hand sew them at night as I was out of quilts to bind. Ummm… No. This block is best sewn with a sewing machine. Maybe the four outer edges could be sewn by hand, but… And now I have a quilt to bind and one more on the way, so machine sewing will be my choice.

This block is difficult to make, and I’m still struggling with it. People have made gorgeous big quilts with this block. I’ve redrawn the pattern pieces and will try one or two more times to make it easily and correctly, but… Next I have to see if these blocks will sew together accurately–and that will determine if I continue for a bit. I’m just using scraps to make these blocks.

The postcard my fellow member of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild came in the mail. Isn’t it delicious!! I will treasure it.

My friend who has been helping me with my longarm took me to meet the local longarm group on Friday. They meet monthly at a local quilt store about an hour from here: Angel Oak Stitchery in Harleyville. The owners use and carry Innova longarm machines, so that was fun. And the shop is very nice.

Next week will be busier for me as both local quilt groups are meeting. Meanwhile, have a wonderful day today and a wonderful week ahead.

We are expecting rain today–and we need it!

I wouldn’t mind a rainy day. Not at all.

At our last meeting, the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild organized a giant postcard swap for all the members. Anyone who filled out an envelope’s address then was given another member’s filled out envelope. None of us knew who had OUR envelope–which would be sent to us in the mail and, then, the postcard each of us received would be shared next meeting in October.

Here’s the postcard I made and mailed–using some of my favorite sheep/knitting fabric.

I used light fabric on the back for the message I wrote.

I’m still going down the rope bowl rabbit hole.

Here’s a recent picture–minus my least favorite one with the green bands of fabric, which went upstairs to hold the yarn for the bowls. And, minus the one with pale blue fabric that is now on the kitchen bar as it has been put to work holding the hand-knitted little hand towels I use to dry my hands.

I’m really liking that big deep

You can see how big that blue bowl is in this picture:

And here’s the bowl on the kitchen bar. It is the perfect size for the hand towels.

I am not as fond of using fabric strips as I am the yarn. (Thanks again for this method to Rick Sanchez and his video demonstrating how to use the yarn.) But I also like the “just plain” bowls. They are elegant to my mind.

The bowls will be gifts. Of course they will. And my gift is the total fun I’m having making them.

Hello, Hello to All!

I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. I did, with a family visit and a new project. LOL, like I need a new project…

AND, thankfully, there was some rain yesterday. Some, but enough so that I don’t have to water today.

I’ve been making rope bowls from braided 1/4th-inch cotton clothesline rope–thanks to a presentation to Patchwork Gals by Rick Sanchez. Rick also posted a video to his you tube channel (Stitch With Rick), which really got me started as I could see him actually making a bowl. Rick’s bowls are awesome. Mine are getting there. I’ve made three of them now and have plans for the 4th for later today–a big wide bowl made with just the plain rope and the leather tag.

My first bowl is in the foreground with the little loop closing at the top. It is made with a narrower rope that is not braided, but twisted. And this rope has an inner core that is poly–which makes this rope kind of stretchy. I’ve watched a lot of online videos now and joined two Facebook rope groups–and that’s where the thicker, braided rope knowledge came from–and the leather tabs on the next two bowls. ( I have leather here and a hole punch tool from making bags with leather straps.) Braided rope does not have an inner core–it is just all cotton.

One of the things I have been trying is wrapping the rope with fabric strips from my stash–and that effort is a learning curve. I quickly learned the strips need to be narrower and cut on the bias to wrap well.

You can see in the bird’s eye view that the bowls with the thicker braided rope are much sturdier. BUT, I don’t like the fabric I chose for the 3rd bowl with the green and yellow fabric.

Still, this bowl is pretty. And useful.

The people online who wrap the rope with fabric do a MUCH better job than I have so far–so I’ll go back and look at those videos much closer. I do like the look of including some fabric-wrapped portions on a bowl, which, actually, I did better in the first bowl.

Rick also uses yarn, mostly variegated, that is fed into the space where two rope strands come together–and those bowls are very pretty. So I will try to do that soon as well. I got some cotton yarn yesterday.

I found longer lengths of the braided rope online at Amazon, and I’ll try it today for the wider bowl I want to make–that “hank” is several hundred feet. I can only find 50-foot braided cotton rope here (Lowes), but I can get a bigger piece by ordering it at 100 feet from Lowes, so I did that as well. True Value has this 100-foot braided rope, but it is $$$$. As near as I can tell, about the only way to join two 50-feet lengths of rope is to use fabric to cover the join. So I’ve been limited to making smaller bowls, which is fine for now.

I made myself STOP yesterday afternoon and return to sewing the scrappy leader/ender quilt on the design wall together–which I finished about 8:30 pm last night. It’s ready to be measured and prepped for the longarm.

I’ve been playing with the Hurty Ruler and big (4 by 8-inch) half-square triangles made with scraps from my stash. They are so fun!

AND, I’m playing with another scrappy leader/ender quilt using the 3 1/2-inch Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society squares that live in two bins–one color, one neutral. I using a cross block with the cross in the darker colors.

AND, there is a finished post card, but I’ll post about that next time.

The Patchwork Gals met last Wednesday, and as always, the “Show and Tell” was awesome. The turnout for this meeting is strong, about 25-30 very talented women.

This group had been working on a “mystery” quilt for some months, and during this meeting, they started sharing. Each person made the quilt differently, of course. I could not get ALL of the versions, and there will be more next month, but I wanted to share these three. But know that every single quilt shown was so pretty.

I really loved the scrappy nature of this version. Of course, I love green, but even the sashing was scrappy.

This 2-color version in blue and white is dramatic and graphic. This version took the 4-patch into the outside borders, which extended the line of squares, which I very much liked.

This one is made of 1930 reproduction fabrics–and next on my list is to tackle a collection of those fabrics which has been residing in my stash for nearly 20 years. I had thought to make another churn dash quilt, but I am drawn to this type of scrappy “Jacobs Ladder” form. Maybe I’ll do this type of quilt, though it would mean separating the various 1930s prints. Who knows? I may also look to the Modern Quilt Society patterns for ideas for my collection of 1930s fabrics.

After the meeting, one of the women told me about the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild, which will meet next Tuesday night. This group of women is separate from Cobblestone and might belong to the Modern Quilt Guild organization. This group also sews together monthly on a Saturday. I’m going Tuesday night, for sure.

THE TUNIC

I’ve wanted to make this tunic for some time now. I acquired this pattern back in Maine, and some months back I got some cotton fabric to try it out. I wanted a longer tunic that covered my bum to wear over some luscious leggings that Tami gave me for Mother’s Day. They are a soft aqua color.

I had to order tracing paper as I could not find any locally. And last week I traced off the pattern and cut out the tunic.

It’s so, so cute! And it fits! I like the curved hem. I will layer this top with a t-shirt given my old-lady droopy skin arms.

Note that the back is longer than the front–and it curves very nicely over my bum.

Here’s the back.

And here it is with the color of the leggings.

Someone with better legs than I have now could wear this tunic over shorts.

Also, the cotton fabric above works great for the tunic, but I also think a lighter, more “drapey” fabric would work even better, like a lawn or a double gauze. And I’m wondering about an Essex linen, which is thicker but which drapes really well. Note that this pattern was “fiddly” to make, given the construction of the bodice piece and the side pockets. I liked a lot the easy construction of the bias binding armholes, however. It’s perhaps not a good pattern for novice garment makers.

I ordered this fabric in warmer weather, and it now feels too summery for our colder weather. So I ordered a darker color of flannel that I can wear with the leggings maybe. But I’ll be trying out a different pattern–and yesterday I traced it out and am ready to go when the fabric comes on Monday. I can always wear this other flannel top with my jeans or knit pants if I don’t like it with the aqua leggings.

Here’s the tunic I’ll make this next week–it’s the orange one in this picture.

Wish me luck!!!

And I so enjoyed making these placemats–which used up the blueberry fabrics in my stash, along with A LOT of the solid fabrics–AND the project let me experiment with different placemat methods of construction. It is nice to have some small projects to make that finish quickly…depending upon how MANY one decides to make.

There are 27 blueberry placemats–and there are homes for a chunk of them already. Two of these are going to Bryan’s family–to go with the 6 funky placemats which started this whole project.

So, altogether there are 33 finished placemats. All the backs are different. And I always stitched some lines in each one when I sewed around the edges–to keep the backing fabric well connected to its front. Each placemat is quilted with improv wavy lines.

I did put some of the striped fabric I had kept with the blueberry fabrics on a few of these placemats, and those are handsome, but WAY more work.

To remind, here are the six funky placemats where I experimented with different construction methods. Each method has its strong points, for sure.

ALL of these placemats and their napkins will wash and wear for DECADES. I know because I sent old placemats I made 30 years or so ago to Good Will when I left Maine. They were soft and comforting, but not worn enough to throw away. I did bring one set to see me through until I had time to make some new placemats here.

Now, the Traverse BOM (block of the month) quilt is waiting for me on the design wall. To remind, this quilt is designed by Tara Faughnan and my project is hosted by Sewtopia. (I just downloaded a hand quilting online on-demand class Tara Faughnan is running on her web site–as I want to hand quilt Traverse and the quilt from hell when it is ready. I’ve done a lot of hand quilting over the years, but it will be good to see what Tara Faughnan does.)

And I only have about two more nights to go before I finish the binding on the last of the Churn Dash quilts from the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society project. I do have other scraps that are cut into useable pieces that will make up into…something…down the road. But for now, I’m moving on to other projects.

Sounds like a plan.