Tag: Mainely Sewing

Turkey Tracks: Social Distancing: Ongoing Sewing Projects

Turkey Tracks:  March 20, 2020

Social Distancing:  Ongoing Sewing Projects

I’m ok.

I hope you all are all ok too.

I am social distancing.  AC and I go every possible day to the woods, to the beach, and to the grocery store as needed.  I am connected to friends and family a good chunk of each day via technology.  Except for worrying about getting the virus in a serious way, about family or friends getting it and not faring well, and about my seriously diminishing stock portfolio, I am peaceful.  I am enjoying all my sewing projects.  It’s good to see ongoing planned projects getting finished.  And working with my hands is, as always, soothing.

I am reminded that life is what it is, that we have to take it as it comes, and we can do that with joy and purpose and some laughter, or we can just let it all overwhelm us.  That’s a spectrum, of course.  I’m sure I hit the highs and lows of it every day, but mostly I’m…ok.

Here are some of my ongoing sewing projects:

The Galactic wall hanging top is finished, layered, pinned, and waiting for obtaining some Wonderfil GlaMour thread—a rayon with a metallic strand—that designer Tara Faughnan used and loved.  Marge Hallowell at Mainely Sewing is going to carry this thread.  I am hoping she can mail me some.  I LOVE this quilt and this pattern.  Tara Faughnan designed it and curated the fabrics in THE COLOR COLLECTIVE online class by Amy Newbold’s Sewtopia.

I am also playing with a two-round smaller version with the extra fabrics I have.  I have no idea where this project is going.  Play without a goal is important too.

Here is Gumdrops—another Tara Faughnan project from The Color Collective.  The blocks are English Paper Pieced, and we learned how to use a cardstock that one’s printer would take to make the six different patterns.  I’m making a wall hanging with this one too—probably about 30 wide by 30-40 long, with three staggered rows.  I will, of course, move blocks around a whole lot more as each combo gets finished.  I hand sew at night while watching tv.

I’ll be layering and pinning the solid scrappy trip/granny quilt from Then Came June (Checkered Garden) today.  I want to diagonal grid quilt it on a domestic, but will pin it on the longarm.  I loved Then Came June’s version and thought it would be a good use for the solid scraps I have.  It’s bright and wild.  And maybe that’s it’s name?

I cleaned and oiled my serger over the holidays—and replaced the knives.  There’s a blog post on that project.  It’s running like a dream.  But I’ve been having so much fun with quilty projects that I have not circled back to making garments.  There is a pile of knits to be used.  I cut out two tops this week.  Here is the Linden Sweatshirt from Grainline.  I made this top a while back and wear it a lot, so will enjoy this one as well.  This top can be hacked to make other interesting tops.  There is a short-sleeved version as well.  I wear it both layered with a high-neck t-shirt and all by itself when the weather is a bit warmer.  This particular jersey knit is so, so, so soft on the skin.

Be well!

Take care of yourselves!

 

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Vicki Fletcher’s Mt. Battie Modern Traveling Quilt is Done!

Turkey Tracks:  October 25, 2018

Vicki Fletcher’s Mt. Battie Modern Traveling Quilt is Done!

Wow!  Vicki’s Traveling Quilt—a project last year for the Mt. Battie Modern Quilit Guild—came out so pretty!

It’s the FIRST of these quilts to be finished.

To remind, those of us who took on this challenge started with one block.  We each made a little book or set of instructions telling everyone what we liked and disliked.  Then, as each of us got the developing quilt, we added to it, using the original information and what other people had done.  Gradually, the quilts began to come together along their journey.  There were eight of us, and the project took about 18 months.

Here’s a closer view:

Stacy Hallowell at Mainely Sewing, owned by Marge Hallowello, quilted the quilt.  I really like the choice of the Bishop’s Fan for this veryl modern quilt.

The backing choice is awesome!  And the royal blue binding is just perfect.

Vicki also just finished this quilt for a family member.  We held it sideways so it would not get dirty.

Stacyl quilted this one, too.  Love the circles!

And look at this great backing!  It’s perfect for this quilt.

GO VICKI!!

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters’ 2018 Mothers’ Day Retreat: Part 6

Turkey Tracks:  May 21, 2018

Coastal Quilters’ 2018 Mothers’ Day Retreat:  Part 6

Here is Jan Kelsey’s “post card” quilt, which she has worked on in previous retreats.  The post cards were written by her grandparents and handed down to her.

The quilting came out really pretty.  Stacy at Marge Hallowell’s Mainely Sewing, in Nobleboro, Maine, did the long arm quilting.

Jan pulled out this quilt last minute as I was leaving.  I absolutely love it.  I love blue and neutral quilts anyway, but a house quilt…oh my.  I love the half-square triangle corner stones too.  They give the quilt a lot of movement I think.

Mac (Nancy) Saulnier and Jan Kelsey went to college together and have remained friends since.  Mac comes to us from Massachusetts for our retreat.  She worked on a “trip” quilt made with bigger squares.  Her husband picked out these colors.  She got all the big sections done on this retreat.

This retreat was Jane Liebler’s first.  She is discovering that she is an “improv” quilter.  Look what she did in the space and time of our retreat.  Go Jane.

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Play Day

Turkey Tracks:  April 39, 2015

Play Day

 

Last Tuesday was “play day”–with  Megan Bruns, who had a day off before starting a new job.

We headed south to Alewives Quilting (Damariscotta Mills) to see the new Cotton + Steel white collection and Megan was looking for fabric for pillows.

Here’s the collection minus the typewriter fabric, which already sold out.

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Next we went to Aboca Beads in Damariscotta to make some earrings.  Here are mine:

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It’s so fun to make earrings!

Lunch was at the River Grill in Damariscotta–they make the best mussels in the whole world.

Coffee for the road at the little bookstore across from the River Grill.

And a stop by Mainely Sewing to visit with Marge Hallowell on the way home.

It was a FUN play day!

 

Turkey Tracks: “Scrappy Streak” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  April 20, 2015

“Scrappy Streak” Quilt

It occurs to me that I never put finished pics of this quilt up on the blog–though I finished it back in the winter–and am enjoying using it so much.

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I apologize for the rug, but it would take two extra people to hold this quilt up for viewing…

I love the graphic nature of this very simple quilt–and it was made with the leftover (now small) pieces of the 2 1/2-inch strips that I used to make the big log cabin and the Bonnie Hunter “scrappy trip” pattern (free on her blog) this past winter.  I am loving having these quilts downstairs.  They are so colorful and welcoming and so much better than the old dog blanket that used to protect the couch.  (The dogs do bring in a lot of mud, especially in mud season.)

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I got the backing on sale at, I think, Marge Hallowell’s Mainely Sewing in Nobleboro.  And I quilted with my clam shell groovy boards.  (This traditional quilt pattern does not fare well with pantographs–at least not in my hands.)

The red border fabric is from a piece I’ve had for over 12 or more years.  Ideas about quilts change over the years, and I no longer wanted to make the quilt for which this fabric had been purchased.  So…  It’s brilliant in this quilt.

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Here’s a final view of the graphic nature of this quilt:

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Quilts like these three quilts all made from my 2 1/2-inch fabric strips remind me over and over of other quilts I have made.  Invariably, seeing a fabric from another quilt makes me smile.

This quilt is No 113 and was finished probably in February.

 

Turkey Tracks: “Blossom,” the wedding quilt

Turkey Tracks:  May 13, 2013

“Blossom,” the wedding quilt

Daughter-in-law Tamara Kelly Enright and I wanted to make bride Ashley Malphrus (now White) a wedding quilt.  The wedding was April 21, 2013, and it was gorgeous.  The ceremony was held with one of the low country rivers as a backdrop–green lawns, big house, big white tent.  It was lovely.  Ashley and her mother, Allison Malphrus, had thought of so many thoughtful, sweet touches all during the wedding.  I’m always in awe of that kind of thoughtfulness as I’m not good at it.

Last Thanksgiving, Tami and I picked out contemporary, colorful Kaffe Fasset fabrics–and Mainely Quilting shopowner Marge Hallowell cut us a big array of the Kaffe Fasset prints.  With a “layer cake” design, one starts with a 10-inch square (in our case), cuts off four borders, which leaves a central square.   Different borders are put onto different squares, and the result–after using these bright modern prints–is a very contemporary, colorful quilt.

I finished hand sewing the binding just before the wedding and mailed the quilt to Tami.  It’s BIG, and I didn’t want to carry it on the plane.  Tami and I delivered it the Friday before the wedding, as I didn’t want to have it at the wedding tent.  I also wanted to explain that the quilt is an heirloom quilt, to be used and loved, but also to be cherished in the way of being a little careful with it.

Here’s “Blossom”–and it’s not a great picture of it.  But you can see how big it is.

Blossom 1

Here’s some blocks close up.  I quilted it with a bright pink thread, and that is wonderful on both the back and the front.   I used a “Sweet Pea” pantograph, but both sides are busy enough that you don’t really see the pattern.  It will catch Ashley, some day, when the light falls just right on the quilt.  I did the best job ever on the quilting.

Blossom block

Here’s the backing and binding–so you can see how they play with the blocks:

Blossom backing and binding 2

And here’s what “Blossom” might look like folded on the foot of a bed:

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The name “Blossom” describes the quilt, yes, but it’s also meant to wish, for Ashley, that she blossoms with her marriage, that her marriage blossoms, that the blossoming creates fruit, that in turn, blossoms, and on and on and on…

Turkey Tracks: Ailey’s Pillow

Turkey Tracks:  December 7, 2011

Ailey’s Pillow

Tami is learning to sew.

She bought a used machine up here in Maine two summers ago–from Marge at Mainely Sewing.  Marge carries Janome and will help you get a used machine or trade up for you.  Tami’s Janome is a sturdy, beginning machine which will carry her a long way before she’s ready to upgrade–if she keeps sewing more than household repair, etc.  We got her a darning foot for free-motion quilting and a walking foot at People, Places, and Quilts–an outstanding quilt store, in Summerville, South Carolina–on our “escape” day this trip.

Here’s her first project:  a pillow for Ailey’s first birthday:

People, Places, and Quilts sells terrific kits for pillows and books filled with “sayings.”  The kits come with buttons, needles, and embroidery thread as well–and they are so much fun to use, as you can see.  Tami bought a selection of 1930s fabrics last year–for the sides and back of the pillows–but she needed some help to actually get started on a project.

Also, to see more of this kind of project, look at the Carol Boyer entries under the craft project section of this blog.

Here’s the back–a nice little 1930s print:

Here’s Tami closing up the stuffed pillow–the final step:

It’s so cute, this pillow!  Ailey will have this gift long after her childhood toys have disappeared.

I’ll be making some more pillows as well for gifts or for our Coastal Quilters’ auction next November.  I LOVE many of the sayings that People, Places, and Quilts have put into their books.

And, here’s the birthday girl, Miss Ailey, on the day of her first birthday:

Turkey Tracks: Sweet Pea Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  October 13, 2011

Sweet Pea Quilt

I’ve just finished one of the happiest quilts I’ve ever done.  I adore this quilt.

I find I’m increasingly drawn to bright contemporary fabrics these days.  They are so full of life and energy.

This quilt was a kit from Mainely Sewing in Nobleboro, Maine.  The kit was called “Layer Cake,” I think, and it’s made from Kaffe Fasset prints.   Marge has a strong internet business, so you can get this quilt or any of her other quilts online:  www.mainelysewing.com .  You buy the different “layers” until you make the size quilt you want.  One package makes a small quilt, and so on.

The pattern starts with 10″ squares.  One cuts off two long strips and two short ones–what remains is the inner square.  Then, you just start mixing and matching strips to inner squares.  I think this method would be a really fun way to diminish a large stash and I’ll try that soon.  Probably the way to control mixed fabrics from a stash would be to choose one color–or only a few colors.

Here’s the back–I got this fabric on sale at Quilt Divas in Rockland, Maine.  The fabric is a rich lime color, and it’s perfect for this quilt.  The “stem” of the leaves is a strong pink:

Here’s a close-up of the front.  I quilted it with lime green thread–on the long-arm–with a pantograph called “Sweet Pea Scramble”–  Iahttp://www.lovetoquilt.com/quilting-pantographs-and-roll-patterns/golden-threads/roll-patterns-8-inch.htm.  I’m really loving learning to use the long-arm, and I really like using a pantograph for a quilt like this one where there are no borders and one doesn’t want the quilting to get in the way of the fabrics.  I’m getting much better with the tension on the long-arm–it’s just so different from a domestic machine.

Here you can see how a lively, colorful quilt like this one can perk up a bedroom, even when just folded across the end of a bed:

Here’s one more view of some of the fabrics in the quilt:

Turkey Tracks: Quilt in Progress, September 2011

Turkey Tracks:  September 18, 2011

Quilt in Progress

September 2011

Here’s a peek at the quilt I’m working on these days:

And, here it is coming together on the design wall:

This quilt is such a happy quilt.  I’m so enjoying working with it–which hasn’t been often enough since I’ve been so busy processing harvest food.

The fabrics are all Kaffe Fasset prints, which I love.  And though it can seem jumbled a bit at this stage, I’ve seen it made up, and I really like it.  I bought the kit from Marge at Maine-ly Sewing in Nobleboro, Maine.  She sells online too:  http://mainelysewing.com/

It’s on Lucy the long-arm now, being quilted with lime green thread, which is looking quite pretty, and with a “sweet pea” pantograph.  The backing is a lime green print I got on sale at Quilt Diva’s in Rockland.  It has a linear print of leaves whose panels were QUITE hard to line up properly in order to get the right width.

I haven’t decided what to name it yet.  Happy Quilt isn’t quite right.  Layer cake isn’t either.  It will come to me…