I'm a bag lady!

I never thought I would say those words, but it's true. After the nightmare experience of making the infamous Weekender bag, I decided to stick with what I know and love, making quilts.

But I'm leaving today to visit my friend, who has just retired. She is going to a quilt retreat later in the summer, and I decided that Elizabeth Hartman's sewing circle tote would be a nice gift.

I'll start by saying that this is a fabulous pattern. It is well-written and well-illustrated with photos. It is not something that you will complete in a day. Well, I couldn't have done it in a day. There is a lot of cutting. But once the sewing started, I just took it slow and easy.

I chose Robert Kaufman essex linen blend in denim, and a stack of Denyse Schmidt fat quarters--the ones that were released in Australia, not here in the States, so I had been saving them for something special. For the inside lining, I used "McCall's Easy Sewing Guide" by Windham.

I learned a lot of new skills. There are four exterior pockets. I decided to choose the quilt-as-you-go option because I had never done it before.

  It was really fun and I'll be trying that again soon.

Inside, there are three zippered pockets, two small and one large,

 and five elasticized pockets.

Excuse my picture overload there, but I couldn't believe how well they turned out!

Wonder clips were invaluable. If you don't have any of these, consider getting them. They work for SO much more than binding. They are flat on the bottom, with good gripping teeth. I might not have hated the Weekender quite so much if I had had Wonder clips.

There is a lot of very bulky sewing. Elizabeth uses duck cloth for stability, as well as fusible interfacing. A couple of times my needle must have bowed just a little when going through all the thickness, and I got this message.

So I just hand cranked for a couple of stitches and things were fine.

I couldn't believe my lack of frustration with sewing this bag. But really, just going slowly and following the directions made sewing this bag a very good experience. Everything fit together just perfectly.

I'll warn you--it uses a lot of thread. I think I went through five bobbins! Is there anything I would change? Yes. I would follow Elizabeth's instructions completely. She mentions that it's a good idea to zigzag all around the pieces of duck cloth because they tend to fray. I was anxious to get to the fun stuff, and zigzagging around duck cloth was kind of boring, so when it came to the last pieces, which were long and narrow, I just skipped that step. Next time I'll zigzag around all the pieces.

I'm completely thrilled with this sewing tote. It's beautiful and well done. I give Elizabeth a lot of credit for that. I have gained some valuable new skills that I'm anxious to use again. Let's just say that I don't think zippered pouches will freak me out any longer.

I celebrated when I was done.

Oh, and I added this on the inside. :)

And here's another first. I get to link up to Amanda Jean's finish-it-up-Friday and at Lucy's who is hosting TGIFF. Woohoo!

Remember her name

The name of the newest up-and-coming designer, that is. Her name is Charlotte. She designed and made her first scarf last week.

So first, of course, you need a design. Purple. (That may or may not be me in the center. Not sure...)

 Every seamstress needs a pincushion.

 But sometimes you like the back better than the front. Because then you can put a red pin in Rudolph's nose.

It's pin sticking pain staking work getting those pins just where you want them... And it's nice to have your very own Featherweight, named Sammi (short for Samantha) that fits nicely in its own sewing table. (Levi has already claimed my other black Featherweight. According to him, it's a boy.)

 Pictures of the actual sewing process were hard to take, since Grandma (the photographer) and Charlotte (the seamstress) were working together. At the same time.

Nice choice of fabric.Who doesn't like Anna Maria Horner fabric?

 Every designer needs her own label (or a grandma who has a whole bag of selvages with names on them...)

 "Let's take a funny face picture, Grandma." Hopefully we're safe from this appearing on the cover of the National Enquirer--I could be wrong but I don't think they follow my blog...

Isn't this new designer adorable?

Attention quilting world: Charlotte has entered the building...

My First Tutorial

I have learned how to do many things from online tutorials. So I kept thinking, "Hey, I should write a tutorial." But about what? And then a link popped up on the bottom of my blog yesterday and it triggered something back in my brain, so I clicked on it, and guess what? I already have written a tutorial. Thank goodness for Blogger archives because my brain doesn't archive things that far back....

I made monthly postcards for each of my grandchildren for a year, until they turned 1.  So for the four of you who already read this back in 2008, please feel free to move on. For the rest of you, the encore presentation of my first tutorial: 'how to make a fabric postcard."

1. Have fabulous grandchildren. Lacking this, have other great family members or friends who would appreciate something custom-made by you...just for them. Choose carefully. Not everybody fits into this category, and you'd hate to have someone receive one of these little works of art in the mail, read the message, and then toss it in the recycle bin. Send those people an email instead.

2. Choose some fun fabric. With my granddaughter, Charlotte, I tried to pick something appropriate for the month in which it was sent. You know, snowflakes for January, hearts for February. With my grandson, Levi, I decided sports was the ticket. And for his December postcard, really, who could resist little fish wearing Santa Hats and reindeer antlers?

3. Choose some plain fabric for the back, or message, side. I used muslin, but any light solid fabric would work.

4. Get some stiff interfacing with fusible web on both sides, such as fast2fuse, the thinner version, which is about 1/8 inch thick and can be fused using a steam iron.

And yes, I DO realize that photographing white interfacing on a white background probably wasn't the best choice...

5. Cut each of the above 4 inches by 6 inches.

6. On the solid plain fabric, your message will be on the left side and address on the right side. I read somewhere that the post office likes the two sides to be separated with a line and also likes the word "postcard" at the top. You'd think they would be able to tell the difference between postcards, letters, and packages...but maybe not.

7. Compose and write your message using a fine-tip permanent marker, such as a Pigma pen. Heat set for a few seconds with an iron. Note: For Charlotte and Levi, I had decided to send them one postcard each month for their first year. Each month, I wrote four lines that could only loosely be considered a poem, and only because it DOES contain a couple of rhyming words. In the interest of self-disclosure but at the risk of personal embarrassment, here is Levi's current card, ready to hit the mail today. And yes, I have already apologized to their parents for my lack of poetic skills.

8. Fuse to the interfacing. If you are careful, you can make a little postcard "sandwich" and fuse about thirty seconds on one side, then turn it over and fuse on the other side.

9. Set your machine for satin stitch, a really close zigzag stitch. I like to go completely around the postcard twice because it nicely covers up the raw edges.

10. Add a stamp. I use a stamp for first-class mail, not a postcard stamp, because these weigh a little more and I want to make sure there is enough postage. And I also add a drop of Elmer's glue to make sure it's nice and secure.

11. Get yourself down to the post office and ask them to please hand cancel your little piece of art. They will be impressed with your postcard. But I can't help wondering if they are rolling their eyes if they read my poem as I'm walking out the door...

12. If you are making your postcard in December, get a holiday-themed postmark. There are lots of them and it's kind of hard to pick. Of course, there's always the North Pole, either Alaska or New York, and I knew there was a Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, but who knew there were five others? You can check out the list of possibilities here, along with the mailing instructions. Charlotte lived in Oregon for her first Christmas, so I sent her postcard to Christmas Valley, Oregon. Now that Charlotte and Levi live a mile from us, it was a bit harder to decide. Levi's Grandpa is from Minnesota. So won't it be cool to get a postcard from Frost, Minnesota?
And there you have it. My first tutorial. I realize it's too late to get the holiday-themed postmark for Christmas, but keep in mind that this would make a great gift for Valentine's Day as well. I'm thinking Loveland, Colorado....

Dear Abby:

I have entered into a fairly new relationship and I'm starting to have second thoughts. Even though the individuals  come from a few different places, I thought everyone's personality traits would eventually blend together and we would all get along great.

Individually I love each and every one of them. But now that I have spent more time with them as a group, I'm just not sure this friendship is working for me. One particular person in the group seems to be competing for all the attention and it's kinda starting to bug me.

So, Dear Abby, do I continue on in this relationship and spend more time with them, hoping that eventually we will form a lasting friendship that makes us all happy? I've seen a new group hanging around my sewing room and they seem pretty friendly.

So do I just cut my losses and look for a new group of friends, stay with my old friends, or be friends with everyone?

Yours truly,

Frustrated in Fresno

Here's the story...

Did you watch the Brady Bunch? I'm sure I've seen every episode at one time or another.

I guess Michael Miller likes the Brady Bunch too because, they just came out with a line of fabric called the Brady Bunch. I placed my order today for this:

Cute fabric, huh? Wanna know the real reason for the order? (1) Because it's named after Cindy Brady (and they assured me that "Cindy" is printed on the selvages twice in every yard) and (2)  I realized I don't have one of my own pincushions! When that fabric arrives, you can bet I'll be cutting that selvage off and making a  pincushion for my very own sewing table. Probably while humming

Here's the story of a lovely lady

Who was bringing up three very lovely girls

Sorry. Now you probably won't be able to get that song out of your head...

Driving...and other random thoughts

Some people really enjoy doing the driving. I am not one of those people. Mark does nearly 100 percent of the driving when we are traveling out of town. Since we became part of the owner group for Lakeview Cottages, we have made many trips up and down. The first time we took the "short cut," which saves us nearly half an hour, it involved a road that is mostly just wide enough for one car, with a steep drop-off. Freaked me out. Even with Mark driving, who is an excellent driver. In the length of 3.5 miles, it climbs from 5,000 to 7,000 feet elevation. Last year, a couple of the Lakeview cabins had not been rented and I wanted to spend some time up there, not working or managing, but just enjoying the beauty and serenity of Huntington Lake. It was midweek and that meant driving up there myself. Including that last four miles. Yikes!

Here is what I learned about myself. Driving slowly and steadily for 1 1/2 hours in mostly foothill and curvy mountain roads is something that I enjoy, something I even look forward to. For someone who has always had the car in "drive" and never learned how to drive a standard transmission, I now know when to shift to the lowest possible gear and when to use the other gears inbetween. Because it is necessary to drive more slowly and cautiously, it allows me to slow down in other ways as well. I rarely turn the radio on. Instead, I just enjoy the journey and with each passing mile, I feel myself relax.

So here's a question: how would you like this make this journey on a bicycle? Every June, bikers attempt the Climb to Kaiser, which is a 155-mile round trip that starts in Clovis, and ends at the top of Kaiser Pass, 9,200 feet elevation. It has been described as one of the toughtest rides in the United States, tougher even than any of the stages of the Tour de France. That 3.5 miles from Big Creek to Huntington Lake has an average grade of 10%, with some sections as steep as 20%. When we came down (very cautiously) from Lakeview yesterday, we passed over 100 bikers going up this road. Does this look like fun to you??

To  totally change gears (because I simply couldn't resist that one...), Amy from Diary of a Quilter  has recently returned from a trip to New York City and has started posting about some of the things she saw and places she went. As a quilter, of course the fabric destrict was high on her list. A few years ago, Mark and I went on an East Coast cruise and spent a couple of days in NYC.

We went on a walking tour of the garment district.

We did some shopping at Mood, where the Project Runway contestants get a lot of their supplies. Amy mentioned the high prices, which made me remember the most pricey thing I purchased in the garment district. I was looking for quilting cotton and didn't find a lot of that, although I was able to find a few pieces that I really liked. Our guide had cautioned us not to even ask about fat quarters because (a) the sales clerks probably wouldn't have a clue what we were talking about and (b) they usually didn't sell under yard-long cuts anyway. As I was walking around the store, I found the softest fake fur in a beautiful limey green color and when you ran your hand over it, it had turquoise undertones.

The problem: it was $75 a yard! I got the courage to ask the sales clerk if they ever did half-yard cuts and she said not usually, but in this case they could agree to sell me half a yard. It was 54" wide, but still, $37.50? And really. What do you do with a half yard of nearly-neon green fake fur?? I brought it home. And here is the answer to that question:

Worth every single penny.

Weekend Wrap

Last weekend, Mark and I went our separate ways. I went to a cabin near Yosemite National Park for nonstop quilting with three of my friends. It's always an adventure getting all our supplies and food from the car to the cabin. See the car up there on the road? It's quite a trek down to the entrance of the cabin. The first year, we chose a weekend in March and it had snowed. So....our trek involved carrying all our stuff in knee-deep snow, in the dark on a Friday night. We switched to a different month after that...

The first thing I worked on was finishing my Road to Spring quilt-along. I rarely actually "quilt along" with everyone else. I always intend to; I'm not quite sure where the system breaks down (I just had to photograph it with the Better Homes and Gardens because the colors were too perfect...)

Then I finished Baby Geniuses Grow Up. I hardly ever complete a quilt top using a single line of fabric, but I made an exception in this case. It is going to a blogging friend who works with stuff like DNA and this line had some fabrics that were actually based on DNA chains. And she just had a baby...who I am quite sure is a genius...

Next up: another quilt-along. I love the Oz line by Sanae and added a few others from my stash.

The white fabric really gives some breathing space to this quilt top.

We only have two meals each day. Don't worry. We don't starve. Because this is what our midday snack looks like. (In case you are wondering, the swirly thing is a marinated mozzarella cheese rope--yummy!)

And we always always have lemon pie in a meringue crust. Dotty forgot to pack it this year, but did we say, "Oh well...we have enough other things to eat"? No way! We stopped by her house again to pick up that delicious pie.

(Ruth, Dotty and Maggie)

We usually have party favors. Ruth picked up these great scratch pads for each of us. Can you zoom in on that top left corner of the right pad? You can read what it says, right? No? "made with real poo." Really?

Uh, yeah...I plan on getting some of these for stocking stuffers at Christmas....

There is a spiral staircase from the main floor of the cabin to the sleeping quarters down below. So during the weekend, as we finish our projects, we hang them on the railing. By the end of the weekend, it is just a collage of color.

And what was Mark off doing? He was in Pebble Beach, in Carmel, California, at Round 2 of the U.S. Open with Aaron, Christa's father  Ron, and her brother Sheldon. Sheldon was able to score some free tickets as well as all-access passes.They had a great day there.

And Aaron and Mark had their picture taken with the winner's trophy.

This weekend I'm at Lakeview Cottages for a couple of days. I brought Denyse along for company. Well, her Hope Valley fabric and a pattern.

The view from my cabin window...

Hope your weekend is relaxing. I'm off to sew.
P.S. My signal strength is really low up here and I can't pull up the  links, but the Road to Spring quiltalong with was Randi at "I Have to Say" and the hexagon quiltalong was with Julie at Jaybird Quilts.