sweatshop mode

No interesting sewing has been going on around here these last couple of weeks. I've been sweatshopping up a storm, though. My MIL asked for a few more reusable grocery bags (see my tutorial here), so I whipped up a couple using a vintage sheet. I love this print, but that dark gray doesn't really go with most other sheet prints, so it was perfect to use for a bigger project.

Unfortunately, after I was done, I loved them so much that I didn't want to give them away! I had a duvet cover that I'd bought specifically to make bags (my favorite way to go, because the front and back fabrics coordinate), so I cut that one up and made 6 more. I'll probably give 3 to my MIL, and keep the other 3 for a future gift.

And why not go crazy? I had this other sheet that I loved, but it wasn't really vintage enough for other projects, so I backed it with a solid peach sheet and made 6 more bags!

While I was making these, I walked my friend Quynh through the process, and she made a few bags of her own. Then she put her own creative twist on it, and turned a bunch of vintage sheet charm squares (that I'd given her for xmas!) into patchwork bags. They are so awesome!! She let me pick my favorite one to keep, and I chose this beautiful blue one. How sweet is that? I think it might be my favorite bag ever!

And my latest sweatshop project - going through the sheet stash, and cutting out yardage to send to my best addict/customer, Amanda. We have such a great thing going - I get to keep collecting prints, but my bins no longer overflow quite so much, and Amanda gets a steady supply of raw materials for her shop. Perfect!

Happy new year!

Hi friends! My plan A (catch up on everyone else's blogs) didn't work, so I'm going with plan B (start fresh and hope y'all don't hold it against me!). I have no great excuse for not posting - just lots of little bumps in the road, like a new computer (my first Mac! and this old dog is not having fun learning new tricks!), minor illnesses, travels, internet outages, stressful work deadlines, you name it. But nothing serious - life is good here, and I'm so happy that the holidays are over and spring is on the way!

Before I start posting about my recent projects, I have one very overdue thank-you to take care of. Check out this fantastic apron that Amanda sent me!!! I just adore it. Every time I see it, I just want to blow off work and get all domestic in the kitchen! Thank you so much, Amanda! Oh, and go check out her shop - I bet if you asked nicely, she'd make an apron for you too!

Even though I've been neglecting this blog, I'm happy to report that I've been keeping myself busy with the thrifty/crafty stuff. My number one goal for 2011 is to finish up as many WIPs as I can, and to try like crazy not to start any new projects until I get the existing ones done. To keep myself on track, I started a list of all the projects I have in progress. Some are small (like individual bee blocks, or hanging up some miniquilts in my sewing room), but I'm writing down everything as I encounter it, and celebrating every item that I mark off. It's been very motivating for me!

I have a few holiday projects to show, but to heck with catching up chronologically. Instead, I'm going to start off with my most favorite project I've finished lately. You might remember some test blocks that I made last May, and this little table runner I whipped up:

I wasn't in love with it then. But now... I love, love, LOVE it. Behold!

It's going to live happily on my credenza (that's a 'fancy nancy' word for big filing cabinet). I love having something in my office that I made just for myself! And maybe it will help keep me from piling crap on top of there (um, not working at the moment, I have to confess!).

The back is just as pretty! I used one of my favorite vintage sheets, and the colors are perfect for the "tiffany" blue walls.

Now I just need to get busy on the actual bee quilt. I've received all my blocks from my bee partners, and I'm almost ready to start putting them together. It's on the big list! :-)

I have two other goals for 2011. My big list of projects includes a bunch of Project Linus quilts I've got cut out, and I'm hoping that I can use up all the polyester batting that's taking up WAY too much space in my closet. If I don't use it all by the end of the year, I'm going to donate the rest and be done with it.

My last big goal for the year is to blog regularly, and to reply to all the comments you wonderful friends leave for me. I do appreciate them, and I know I've sucked at this in the past. But I'm recommitting. Go ahead - try me! :-)

loot!

I had some great scores at the thrift store last weekend! Wouldn't these three sheets make a pretty something together? I think I can hear Amanda's sharp intake of breath - I know that one on the right is one of her favorites. :-)

And how about some more butterflies? I really debated about the one on the right - It's a Vera print, and I have it in purple (and love it, of course), but brown and orange aren't the most popular colors. Oh well, I always err on the side of buying!

I seriously almost squealed out loud when I saw these pillowcases! I love this print, and have it in orange and pink. It pained me a little to fork over $2 each for them, but wow, I just love them!

I also found a bag of new FQs from Joann, 7 of them for only $1! Very timely too - I just used the one on top for one of my bee blocks!

And last, but not least, some vintage fabric that had been sewn into a duvet cover. I love the orange and pink combination!

No thrifting for me this weekend - I'll be too busy sewing instead! Yay!

bee blocks and the table quilt

To my bee partners: I'm so sorry I haven't thanked you all individually for your blocks, and that it's taken me so long to post pics! Here are the ones I have received so far - aren't they awesome?? I absolutely love them!

Top row: Two from Leslie, (thank you for sending two blocks!), plus my sample block
Middle row: Jodie, Amanda, and Jane (and thank you Jane for the beautiful notecards!)
Bottom row: Two from Janice (thanks for sending two blocks!)

I've made a little more progress on my table quilt. I'm happy to report that the top is all quilted. Yay!

From the beginning, my plan was to have the final size of the quilt exactly match the size of the table. I made the top at least a few inches bigger in both dimensions, thinking I would trim it down to size just before I put the binding on. Of course the fabric is pre-washed (a zillion times over - ha!), but I didn't bother to pre-wash the batting. And I've never stopped to calculate how much shrinkage there is from the quilting itself. So... after serging the edges and giving it a wash and dry, I am dismayed to find that it's already slightly smaller than the table!! And I still need to straighten up the sides! Oh well, it's all good. It will still work okay, and I'll know better next time!

Check out the backing - isn't this an awesome print? It's another old sheet - it was in pretty bad shape, but there was just enough good fabric left for this quilt. I might even like this side better than the top!

quilting in progress

I was hoping that my next post would be about finishing this project, but I guess I'll make do with some in-progress pictures!

I don't think I ever showed a picture of this quilt top. When I'm done, it will be a table quilt, like this one (we even have the exact same IKEA table!). It's a very simple design - I just took a bunch of 3" strips of vintage linens, and sewed them all into one very long strip using a mitered edge like I would for binding. Then I cut the strip into pieces that were a couple inches wider than the table, and sewed them up. I didn't pay much attention to the design, except to ensure that the same prints never touched.



When it came time to quilt, I decided to try my hand at straight-line quilting. After about 3 lines, I was regretting it. First of all, it just takes FOREVER. But then, the puckering started. After the first one or two, I lost the will to fight, and it quickly went from bad to worse. Just look at these!



I'm using a walking foot, and the back of the quilt looks great and doesn't have any puckers at all. So I think it must be that I did a poor basting job on the front. I used basting spray, which has always worked great for me before. But this was the third quilt I basted that day, and I was really exhausted at that point. Let this be a lesson for me - even though it's a pain to set things up to baste, don't try to do more than one or two quilts at a time!

Normally, I'm a very (ok, extremely) perfectionist person. But since this is just an experiment of sorts, and not a gift, it was easy for me to just say to heck with it and forge ahead. It's not going to be beautiful, but it will get finished, and it will cover the darn table. I might even try the straight-line quilting again some day, but it will be on a smaller quilt for sure!

the big winner!

Is it weird that I actually get a little nervous before I pick a giveaway winner? Yes, yes it is. Oh well - I asked random.org, and it picked....



Lucky #307 is Meg - The Mad Quilting Librarian!

Meg said...

I've been wanting to make a vintage sheet quilt for the longest time, but I never seem to have any luck at my local thrift shops. This would be a great solution!

So happy to oblige, Meg! Hope you have fun working with them!

Thanks to everyone for entering!! And a great big welcome to those of you who took a look around and decided to subscribe/follow!

Here's what I've been working on lately - more string squares. It's all Rachel's fault - she picked string blocks for her bee month, and I got a little addicted. Yes, there's one missing - I didn't pay close attention to how many I was making, and ended up with an odd number!

I'm not sure if I'll go for a sort of traditional layout...



Or all one direction...

Or maybe I'll try a zigzag? Must go consult Flickr for some inspiration... I'll most likely add some sashing in there somehow, since the blocks I have right now would make a pretty small quilt all by themselves (and I'm quite sure I'm done making them, if you know what I mean)... It would help if I knew what I was making it for, I suppose! At least I'll have plenty of time to think about it while I pull all the paper off the back!!

my bee block idea

June is my month in the Vintage Sheet Bee, and I'm working on my block idea. I started with 3" squares, and made up some slightly wonky courthouse stair blocks. I made sure the center square was straight (though not centered), and trimmed each block to 12.5" in one dimension, and squared up the other sides at whatever size fit best (varying from about 13" to 14"). Like so:







Then I chopped the blocks into 4 corners, with the center square in the middle of the cuts. I added a thin sashing in the middle of the blocks, and a larger sashing all around, to make it look like windows.

I don't totally love it yet, but flimsies never look as good as the finished quilts do! I'm sure I'll love it when it's all done. I had originally intended for it to be a table topper, but it turns out that it will almost exactly fit the top of the credenza (that's fancy for "big long filing cabinet") in my office. Maybe that will keep me from building up piles of crap on it?? Yeah, not likely!

Anyway, I like the basic block idea. It's a great way to use up scraps, and even if I decide not to do this window idea, or even chop them up at all, I think they'd still look nice on their own with some white sashing. So, unless I have some other brilliant idea in the next couple of weeks, I think this will be my bee block!

pink quilt #1 finished

I've finished the quilt for my friend and coworker, Julie, who is battling breast cancer. I will be giving it to her this Saturday, when I join our company's team for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. If anyone reading this feels inclined, you can donate here. (I hope that link works - let me know if not!). No pressure - just thought I'd throw it out there!

I hope she likes the quilt - I know I sure do! It's all vintage linens, including the gingham (a Pottery Barn sheet) and the backing, and it's so amazingly soft and cozy. And I even hand-sewed the binding - ha! Check out the scrappy binding and those perfect corners!

It's made with 6" squares - two each of 35 different prints. The final dimensions are about 55" x 77".

The quilting is pretty simple, just straight "edge stitching" along the seams, and then diagonals one way through the prints and the other way through the gingham.

Of course I had to sneak in a picture with miss cutie pie!

I still haven't figured out the label, but I'm leaning towards a John Muir quote that I saw recently on Bloom:

"Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

I just love it, and I like that there's nothing too overtly "get well! chin up!" about it. Just a feeling of serenity, I hope. I hope...

I've already started on another one of these, for my high school friend Kelli, who is fighting too. Cancer sucks.

April and May bee blocks

Thank goodness, I'm all caught up with my bee blocks!

These first two are for Jane, who requested any sort of pinweel, as long as it contained the light yellow background fabric she had sent. I have to tell you, I was terrified to cut into it! It was my first time sewing with someone else's bee fabric, and I only had a 15"x15" square, and I was so afraid I'd screw it up. And it was my first time making half-square triangles! I should have thought to try on some scrap fabric first, but I think they turned out fine. They aren't very fancy, but I didn't want to press my luck!





These next two are for Amanda, who requested any sort of cross. You might recognize the pink and green bits from the first pinwheel block above! These were fun to make, and I can see how they would be addictive!





Now I'm off to think about what I'm going to request for June, which is my month! I've got a log-cabin-ish idea I want to try out first...

potholders

I'm having one of those terribly unproductive days... I really should be working, and I have a big task for work that needs to be done. But the tree people, who were supposed to come next week (nicely timed for when I'd be out of town), decided to show up this morning. So instead of concentrating on coding, I've been doing chores and trying to not go crazy listening to chainsaws and wood chippers and leaf blowers (my least favorite sounds EVER). They finished up not too long ago, and I had about an hour of peace. And then the yard people showed up, with their lawn mowers and MORE leaf blowers. Seriously. Happy Earth Day, have some noise pollution! I know I shouldn't complain - we hired the folks after all! But this just wasn't the productive day I was envisioning this morning!

So, as long as I'm not getting any work done, let me show off a little potholder project I whipped up recently...

This here is a little pile of what I think of as "sheet selvages". They are the bottom hems that aren't really useful for much. I used to throw them away, but then I wondered if I might be able to use them for something. So, I started saving them. During my boring weekly meetings, I trim them by cutting right along the stitching. It's only somewhat quicker than seam-ripping, but a whole lot less messy!

I cut 9" squares of muslin and Insul-Brite, layered them, and then sewed strips on as if they were selvages - the folded edge goes on top, the cut edge gets covered up by the next strip, which is top-stitched down.

I made two like this, trimmed them up, put them back-to-back (rotated one by 90 degrees, not that it really matters), serged the edges and bound it like a quilt. Instead of starting in the middle of one side, I started at a corner, and then made a loop and tucked the binding in at end.

And there you go, one potholder! Cute!

And I'm happy to report that the yard people are done. Thank goodness! Now maybe I can get an hour of work done!

two vintage sheet giveaways...

For all you vintage sheet fans - there are two fun giveaways you should check out.

Rachel at my tiny robot heart is giving away this huge envelope of scraps.



And Emily at Creative Chicks is giving away two sets of scraps.



Go and enter!

what I've been working on...

I am so behind in blogging (along with so many other things, unfortunately!). I have 5 posts in draft form, and what feels like a gazillion projects in process! Here's just a sampling of what I've been working this past week or so...

First of all, I'm happy to report that my stash sale was a huge success! I went from this...



down to this!



I sold about 22 sets (mostly singles, but a couple doubles, and one triple!), which is about 450 FQs, or at least 120 yards of fabric. I'm happy, and my husband is *really* happy!! Thank you so much to everyone who bought a set! And special thanks to Michelle at craftydill and Angie at Dear Spring Green, who took some pretty pictures of their loot and blogged about it - I love that!! I'm excited that this worked out, and actually look forward to rebuilding my stash and doing it all over again! :-)

A side effect of all that stash management was getting my stacks of 6" squares all organized too. I cut squares for all the new prints I'd recently acquired, and sorted them by color (greens, blues/purples, yellows, orange/browns, pinks, and multicolors). Pretty!



I had a private swap of squares to put together (more on that in a later post), and wanted to make sure I had one of each. Can you guess how many are in the stack??



I think it was somewhere around 220! Holy cow!

And speaking of 6" squares... I have also been spending some time working through my novelty stash with my friend Quynh. She wants to make an I-Spy quilt for her sister's kids, so she's trading me her slave labor (ironing and cutting) for a set of squares. It's making me really want to get back on some more Project Linus quilts, but I simply must finish up some of my current projects before I can start anything new. But when I'm ready, it will be so nice to go straight to my now ginormous stash of novelty squares! It's hard to tell from the photo, but this stack is like 8" high!



Finally, I'm making progress on this quilt that I started back in January. Sadly, I recently found out that another friend of mine has had her breast cancer return (again. ug.). I'll be seeing this friend in a couple weeks, so I'm going to try to finish this one up for her, and make a second version for the other friend I originally intended this one for.

The more I work on it, the more I love it. It's so buttery soft and cozy. I hope it brings my friend some comfort and pleasure. And while I'm thinking about it - does anyone have any suggestions for what to write on the label? I can always just wimp out and stick to the facts, but does anyone have any suggestions for a quote or saying? Something kind or comforting or hopeful, or about friendship?