A real challenge

Well, long time no see, so to speak. It hasn’t been because I don’t have anything to say… But this is the last day of June (already?) and I’ve finished my June FMQ Challenge.

This was a tough one. I guess they’re all tough, but no matter how much I practiced this one – and I spent many hours, going from bad to good and back to bad again – I’m not all that happy with my results. Maybe because June has been so chaotic for me and as far from relaxing as you can get.

It was a delicious challenge, though, and some absolutely amazing finishes have been posted over at the Challenge site. This month Cindy Needham encouraged us to blend hard lines and curves to come up with creative and appealing designs. She also instructed us to listen for that “Hum-purr” in our machine. (My hum-purr sits *on* my machine and stares with big yellow cat-eyes at me while I sew.) She does beautiful work, something we can all strive for even if we never achieve it. But I’ll keep plugging away at it.

Thank you to both Sew Cal Gal and Cindy for this month’s Free Motion Quilt Challenge.

Until next time,

Going around in circles

Two things I try and find time for every day besides family, work, eating, etc., is exercise and sewing. It doesn’t always work out, but both of these things are important to me. For one thing, they keep me sort of sane and give me a sense of accomplishment. If I didn’t make the effort to find the time for them, neither one would happen.

This morning, after coffee but before exercise, I finished this little patchwork purse. The pattern was in the October 2010 issue of Quilter’s World. I liked it as soon as I saw it, but it’s only been in the past month or two that I felt confident enough to attempt it. No zippers on this one, but that’s okay - we'll get back to them. The bag looks quite simple, but I had to read the instructions more than half a dozen times before I could figure out what the author was describing. Is it just me? I guess a big part of my problem is the ongoing internal argument I have while I’m reading. That little voice inside my head keeps saying: “That won’t work!” “How in the world can that work?”

The only way I get through the instructions is stubborness, a trait my mother identified very early on in my childhood. The trickiest part of the pattern, for me, was the handles. I adore these handles and they were what attracted me to the pattern. They seem so simple, but that's where I botched up. The pattern calls for stiff interfacing around the handles – attached to the two outer pieces and also around the two lining pieces. I cut all four separately and then attached them to the wrong side of the fabric. Unstitching is part of every project and that wasn’t a big deal, but I ended up with four differently-sized holes. Not a huge mistake, but it's clearly noticeable that they don’t line up. Next time I'll cut out the two front and two lining handle holes together.

I think I’ll post these over at The Needle and Thread Network this week. In these pictures, you may be able to see that I'm gravitating away from the cheap "practice" material, and some of my favourites are beginning to show up.  Go me! That's a good sign. I feel like I'm just about ready to go to work on my Christmas projects. I have to get back to my quilt projects, too.

And if it doesn't quit raining, I'll be up to my ears in finished quilty projects by the end of the summer! Sunday and Monday were sunny and warm, but I was busy with work (and dentist) both days. When I had some time to spare on Tuesday, it rained again. Likewise this morning. However, I did manage to finally get my sunflowers in the ground tonight when I came home from work (before it started raining on me). I also dumped a couple of cherry tomato plants in a patio planter with some basil seedlings, and a couple of habanero pepper plants in another planter with some thyme seedlings.

Life is good, but I am still so behind in the yardwork. I’m afraid that Winter will be here before I’ll have time to get to it. But at least there’ll be quilting.

Until next time,

Rainy days and sewing

Rainy days off mean sewing days because I’m not much into playing in the mud anymore. I had most of Monday off work, so I was going to clear the spot for my new greenhouse, but it rained all day. And all night. And into Tuesday morning. I suspect it will stop once I leave for work this morning and will be beautiful for the rest of the week. Hmmmph!

It would be perfect weather if my vegetable garden was planted, but my little plants are still sitting in their little pots, waiting for my partner to plant them. At least I shouldn’t have to water them today. Fortunately, I planted strawberries last year, and we’ve already been reaping their juicy deliciousness.

I’ve been working on a few things in the past week – which is odd for me, because usually it takes me a week or two after one project to settle on the next. Maybe it’s the rain. Or the full moon. Or the piles of fabric that are building up almost as fast as I can use them. I look at some of the “stashbusting” posts on other sites and the bloggers chat about the fabric they’ve used that week as if it’s actually gone, but it’s not gone. It’s just part of something they’ve made now. Which is good. But it’s not really gone unless it leaves the house, right? Anyway, one of my little projects I’ll show you when I’ve made one that looks better – I need to adjust the pattern first. But this little Dumpling pouch turned out not too bad. Recognize the practice material? I’ve seen other “dumpling” patterns around, but this is the one I followed. It almost didn’t survive when I closed the zipper too far in order to match up the ends so I could sew them together and then couldn’t unzip it to turn it right side out. I tried that for a couple of hours before I finally unstitched the end, pulled the zip back and restitched it – which took me considerable less time than I spent struggling with it. The lengths I will go to avoid doing something twice.

So, for my next number… Hey, not so fast. Maybe you can figure it out from the pictures. I got out my scrap bags for this and threw together some random strips. I cut out two 11.5-inch squares and sewed them down in paper piecing fashion. Then I took the tape measure out to the kitchen and measured all of my plates and bowls to find the one with the closest circumference. Turned out to be an aluminum mixing bowl. Perfect! I’ll give you a hint – this month is Purse Palooza 2012 over at Sew Sweetness and I’m thinking I might have something that I can contribute before it’s over. If it doesn’t stop raining, I may have lots of things to contribute.

Until next time,

Fabric accumulation

Oh dear. It’s building up faster than I can use it! I wasn’t planning on buying any more fabric for a while, and successfully dodged several online sales this year. So I dunno what happened, but I weakened. I’d had my eye on a couple of feline-themed fabrics for over a year now, and I couldn’t resist them any longer. I guess I just figured I needed to buy them now before they disappeared forever. 

But Galena Bay Novelty Fabrics in Campbell River offers free shipping on orders $100 and over, and it doesn’t take long to build up, even when you’re buying fabric for $3 and $6.50 per yard (as well as $15 per yard), so… It wasn’t hard to add a few more bits and pieces to that. I’m accumulating a great collection of black and white matching fabrics, for one thing. I also bought a yard of Pellon Thermolam. I’m looking forward to using it – it’s thicker than the Pellon fusible fleece I’m currently using, and sort of stretchy.

You know it’s bad when you look though a bag sitting in your quilting area and find pretty fabric you’d forgotten you had. (And the bags of hidden goodies are also beginning to accumulate.)

I have to say that these new fabrics are even prettier in person than they are in a web catalogue. These Tale of Two Kitties panels from Red Rooster, I’m thinking, would go nicely on a bag I’m making as a Christmas present. So I bought four sets, because I might have to use some for a bag for myself, and it’s always good to have extras for those times when inspiration strikes like a bolt of lightning and you don’t have time to go shopping. Well, it could happen. And if it does, I’m ready.

Until next time,

I’ve got a handle on it

Ta da! The bag is done and I kinda like it. I’m not sold on this type of zipper – it went in easily enough, but it looks sort of messy and unfinished, but the rest of it looks pretty neat. The pattern is from Issue #115 Aug/Sept 2010 of Quilt magazine, but the outside pocket and inside double welt pocket are my own additions. Somehow the strap got caught in between the lining and the wrong side of the outer fabric when I stitched the two together. I thought I would have to unstitch an entire side in order to get the strap out, but after I ripped out the double seam on one end of the strap, I realized that I could pull the whole thing right out if I unstitched the other end as well, since it wasn’t attached to anything else.

So that’s what I did, put the strap back on the right way, positioned it between the outside fabric and the lining, held on tight and pulled the bag back through that crucial little hole you leave in the lining when you sew the two together, and re-sewed the straps back onto the bag. (It was sort of like reaching through a tiny hole in the wall and adding electrical cord when you can’t see what you’re doing.) Then pulled everything through the other way. And voila! Bag. With handles. I still don’t like the zipper, though. Perhaps I did it wrong, used the wrong type of fabric, because the strips on either side of the zipper stand up and away from the bag. They are not attached to anything at the ends. The pattern also called for an oversized zipper, of which the unused six inches would hang down inside the bag. That just doesn’t look right to me.

I still have lots to learn, but I understand the basics now. Enough so that I am confident enough to begin using my favourite fabrics rather than my practice pieces, and using set stitches that I probably won’t have to pull out, and using zippers that co-ordinate with the fabric.

Geez, where does all of that cat hair come from?

Until next time,

Good on the curves, but…

In Canada, we celebrated Victoria Day this week by having a three-day weekend. Normally I work weekends and statutory holidays, but there was nothing happening on May 21 so I got to spend the day at home. Traditionally, this is the day we plant our gardens, but I’ve left the planting and tending in the hands of my partner. And the day was overcast and slightly unpleasant as well, so I spent the day at my sewing machine. What a martyr.

I didn’t have anything scheduled for Tuesday, so I played hooky from work and we drove to the city. I took Miss Bernina in for repairs. They’re going to be a bit on the pricey side, but I didn’t pay much for her, so I can afford to spend a little more. I also bought a quarter-inch walking foot for my Horizon while I was there and it works brilliantly! If only the operator was as smart as her sewing machine…

I decided to do this pattern from a recent Quilt issue. This was a different sort of zipper. I also liked the simple looking strap, and I wanted to try the different style of bag. I also strayed from the pattern in the magazine just a little by including a pocket on the outside, a double welt pocket inside, along with a divided patch pocket on the opposite side. What’s the fun in sticking totally to the pattern? The double-welt was easy, but I need practice to make it look straighter.

I used the heavy brown fabric which had been given to me, and this Japanese-patterned fabric that I bought a couple of years ago. The lining was gifted fabric as well. Who knew there was so much fabric in the world to be had? First I quilted the sides with variegated thread… Darn, it worked last time I used variegated thread, but it disappeared into the brown. You can’t see what I did unless you look at the interface. And you can’t see that now because the bag is sewn together.

Have I mentioned before that I have a hard time following instructions? Probably because so many of them skip a few steps or don’t explain everything you need to know. But that is why I began with a simple tote and worked my way up to this one. Pattern-writers can’t always be re-inventing the wheel. And I’m learning just to follow the pattern and trust that all will work out as described, even when the instructions defy the laws of the universe.

I sewed my first real serious curves. Easy! Did the pockets. Not too bad. The zipper… This one was different from the last pattern in that you attach the zipper to strips of fabric on either side of it and then attach the fabric to the body of the purse. The lining doesn’t extend to the zipper, which cuts out a lot of hassle. The zipper is right side up, and it works! We have zipper!

But something happened when I sewed the lining on this morning. First, the pattern didn’t mention leaving that crucial hole in the lining so you could pull the innards of the bag through it. I know, that’s sort of standard, but since the pattern didn’t mention it, I thought we might be going for a different look with this bag. It was different, but not in a good way. I had to get my seam ripper out and unstitch a hole to pull the bag through. That worked and the finished bag looked pretty darn good. The zipper still worked even.

But… Bugger! Where did my beautiful strap go? Somehow it ended up between the bag and the lining. Sigh. So, I’ve unstitched the seams and pulled it out. The pattern instructions were no help at all, but I think I have it figured out. I’ll try it again tomorrow morning and maybe we’ll have a nice-looking bag by Saturday night.

Until next time,

Is the cute too much?

I was in Williams Lake earlier this week on a business trip – it’s about a two hour drive north of where I live. It has a population of just over 11,000. My co-workers and I went out for a coffee after the seminars were over. The four of us were so busy yakking that I almost missed seeing this little guy. His owner had him in a pet carrier inside the shop and we only noticed him as she was carrying him out. They were still just outside a little while later when we left, so I took some pictures. Who could resist? Amadeus, the little angora goat.

I’ve been practising my free motion quilting, but nothing that would be of much interest to anyone else. I promise to do better over the weekend.

New Moon on Sunday, May 20. It will be at 0 Gemini around 5:45 pm Pacific Daylight Time. Lots of planets focussed around that part of the sky – Taurus and Gemini. Venus at 23 Gemini adds its pretty face to the influence of the New Moon, while Mercury touches noses with Jupiter in nearby Taurus on the same day. Gemini rules the hands in a sort of crafty way. It also rules ideas which will be flitting through our heads so fast this month that it might be hard to stick to just one or two (three, four, five…) projects. You might find yourself looking through books and magazines for more ideas, not that you need any more.

Until next time,