Space Jammies

We've had a bit of a cool snap again, so it's good that I finished up FuzzyHusband's new flannel pjs!

There was a bit of an issue with shrinkage when I pre-washed the flannel. The space fabric wasn't wide enough for the the pant pattern. The solution: tuxedo stripes!

He's quite fond of them and is looking forward to wearing them when it's cooler again in the late fall. I need to get back to some more sewing and a few boring chores before rehearsal tonight. See you next weekend!

And Now For Something Completely Different

No crochet happened this week. None. Because I spent 63 hours working on this:

So pleased with how this turned out, despite being a rush job!

The pattern is McCall's M7339. My client chose that metallic silver fabric, which happened to be a knit. So I interfaced all the body pieces as well as the lining pieces. The first 8 hours was pattern piece alteration. Once the muslin mock up fit, I cut the lining, the corset body fabrics, and lots of interfacing. So much interfacing.

The black fabric is actually the "wrong" side of the silver fabric. Little glimmers of the silver peek through, for a fun contrast. The black roses are actually a sequin netting fabric that I overlaid on top of the silver.

FuzzyHusband's leatherworking tools came in handy when it came time for the grommets. Made that process so much easier. Also thankful for the twin needle on my sewing machine and the invisible thread from my quilting stash. Adding the trim was so easy thanks to them!

My client wore this last night on stage during a burlesque show. She was a lot of fun to so for. I look forward to working with her again.... with more time allotted for me to sew in. 63 hours in 6 days was not fun. ;-)

I'm going to relax for a few days and get back to crocheting once my hands forgive my for the abuses heaped upon them. See you next weekend!

Quilted Case

I played with the zipper case pattern again. I used the fabric I'd quilted as practice last week. It was handy; literally a foot away from the sewing machine when I decided to play.

This time I changed a couple of things by completely ignoring the instructions for the fabrics and only used the assembly instructions. The result is a sturdy bag with quilted sides and a "loose" lining. You know, like purses have.

I'm much happier with this version in terms of the visual and textural look and feel. I still love how the case goes together, so I'll be making more of these in the future.

Late But Here!

Fuzzy Husband and I just got home from a quick trip south. We went to St. Louis to meet up with many other Twitch live streamers and community members and had a wonderful time!

So backing up a bit, last Monday I was pondering working on a new dress for myself. However I decided that it was time to finally look into upgrading my sewing machine. I've used the same one for 27 years and quite frankly, it makes sewing more work than play.

I went and looked at some options, got information, and came home to negotiate with Himself. Tuesday I went back and came home with this:

I have to say that I'm in love with this machine. I can do so much more with attention to detail without spending extra time on a project.

It quilts like a dream. I quilted together some random fat quarters to test it out. I can also do free motion quilting, but I need lots of practice!

So I finally started my new dress on Wednesday night. I picked this Burda pattern.

It did need about 4 hours of alteration.

Artie just had to help, of course.

But the final result is perfect! Himself was suggesting I make pouty faces and other foolishness whilst taking photos. Silly man.

I got it finished at 3 am Saturday morning, so I was able to wear it to the Twitch meet up. Good to know I still have the skills, even though I had ignored them for a while!

That's all for this week. I will be doing some heavy cleaning this week. Making up for time lost while I was sick. I'm hoping to play a little bit this week though. See you next Sunday!

Some Little Things

Wandering around JoAnn Fabrics last week resulted in a pattern and fabric catching my eye.

Artie "helped" of course.

I still need to clean up some threads and topstitch around the zipper.

I followed the pattern exactly and didn't like a couple of things. I'm going to make another one with some changes and see how it works out.

Saturday was our mini club's workshop day. Instead of doing the N.A.M.E. project like we usually do, we all worked on things for our hat shop.

The straw hats were actually make by Kat the Hat Lady years ago. I bought a handful of them undecorated. The purple hat is one I started as an example when I taught everyone that style of hat. I spent a good portion of my time teaching everyone (one on one) how to make silk ribbon roses. 

That's all for now. Time to find a bite to eat and ponder what to do for the rest of the day.

Technical Difficulties

We've been having issues all week with the internet. It was assumed the reason I couldn't stay connected to Twitch for live streaming was due to the big E3 conference last week. Mnay other streamer friends were having similar issues. However, E3's apparent bandwidth requirements weren't the only culprit. The modem is dying.

As I type this, I don't know if I'll be able to hit "Publish" and actually get a positive result. I'm keeping this short and sweet for that reason.

Since I couldn't stream, I sat with my foot up and sewed tiny plush elephants. They'd been cut out years ago and some of them were mostly (and poorly) done. I say poorly as I was under tremendous stress when I first started these pint-sized pachyderms and it shows in my stitching.

The three on the left are the originals. The four on the right in various states of assembled are the ones I started playing with on Tuesday. They all have eyes, ears, and tusks now but for the sake of expediency, I'm not taking a newer photo.

I did make two pairs of fat quarter bundle earrings on Monday before the stream crashed 6 times. However I don't have a picture of them. They will have to wait until next week.

I'm cutting posting this close enough as it is. FH and I will be replacing the modem after the sun comes up and hopefully we won't have more connection issues. I really missed streaming this past week. It just wasn't the same.

So see you all next week! Until then, take care!

A Day Late

Apologies for missing Sunday. Saturday was so busy that blogging completely slipped my mind. I spent the day displaying some miniature scenes at a "makerfest." That's a term for a group of people who come together to show off their various talents/projects and talk about how the made them. The makerfest itself was part of a larger arts festival which included a car show and live performances by local dancers, singers, etc.

Last week's progress on the quilt was slowed down a bit by getting ready to display at the show, but I still got some good work done.

The Freemont, CA row is ready to be sandwiched. I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. I'm planing on adding some more texture details to the sea horses with the quilting.

The Grantsville, MD row is also ready for sandwiching, although in this picture threads need cleaned up. I did that last night, so it's truly ready to go.

I decided to added appliqued eyes to the Morris, IL row instead of just embroidering them. The fish are large enough that I was able to trace around quarters to make the applique templates. This row is already sandwiched and waiting on me to finish blind-stitching the label on the back. I started that last night and am almost finished.

Two other rows are also sandwiched and in the stack to have their labels stitched on before quilting.

I did work on a couple of other projects last week as well. In the effort to reclaim some of my safety pins for sandwiching rows, I started the quilting on some things that have been waiting for attention.

These are the halves of what will be a large tote bag/diaper bag. It matches a quilt a friend and I started for another friend's baby. The link will take you to the post with the quilt top if you're interested.

This is the pile of safety pins I reclaimed, just from those two sections.

I also started on one of the twin chevron quilts. I still need to finish the quilting in the white sections, but I did enough work to get all my safety pins back from it and gave my shoulders a good workout.

I'm hoping to get caught up with all the rows that are ready for quilting this week and then get started on a few more. I have family who've been collecting patterns for me and they'll be mailed soon. If I can be finished with what I already have before the next round gets here, I'll be ecstatic.

That's all for now. I have a busy day of sewing and laundry waiting on my presence. See you next weekend!

Aquariums and Acquisitions

It's been a busty week here on the Row-ing front. I'm going to list the shops where I've acquired new rows first, so if you just want to see gorgeous fabrics you should scroll on down to the pictures.

I ventured out last Sunday and drove all the way to Normal, IL to visit the Sewing Studio and pick up their row. [It's finished!]

A couple of stitching friends have moved to Florida in the last two years. The friend in Naples, FL decided to purchase the kits for me instead of just picking up the patterns. Thank you again, Carol! The Naples shops are: Flash Sew and Quilt and Sew Studio. The row from Flash Sew and Quilt is for the aquarium quilt. The other row kit is stashed for later. [Flash Sew's row is started and pictured below!]

The friend in Clearwater, FL went hopping with members of her quilt guild and she sent me patterns from:Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater, Happy Apple Quilts in Palm Harbor, Crafty Threads in Tampa, and Rainbows End Quilt Shop in Dunedin. All these rows patterns are stashed for later.

Dear family friends in Tennessee volunteered to pick up the two row patterns from Goodlettsville, TN. Originally I wanted these rows for a quilt featuring geometric rows, but since one of them decided to mail me the kits, I've decided to use a few geometric rows in the aquarium quilt. There's the added bonus of now needing as many rows that feature fish/frogs/turtles too. The Goodlettsville shops are Quilter's Attic and Sewing Machines Etc. [Spoiler alert: both of these rows are finished and pictured below!]

A friend of a friend happened to live close to Helios Stitches N Stuff in Mount Vernon, Iowa and mailed their row to my friend here.

A mini and fiber friend in Idaho really liked one of my fish patterns, so I went and picked up another copy for her. In exchange, she sent me the pattern from Stitches and Petals in Moscow, Idaho.

FH came home from his business trip bearing two rows from The Quilters Studio in Fairfax, VA. One is the pattern, the other is a kit. The kit features fish and will definitely be making an appearance in the aquarium quilt. The other is a gorgeous waterlily design. [Another spoiler: the fish row is finished!]

Now for the really fun part!

The Rochester, IL row is finished!

I figured out the layout for the quilt and as a result some of the rows needed to become squares. The South Elgin row was easily altered and the row from Jackman's in St. Louis is now square as well, and waiting on it's applique to get done.

Sewing Studio's row is completed. I kitted up this one myself instead of buying their kit. Their colors were gorgeous, but I wanted to make sure I had consistency of colors in the overall quilt. I know you haven't seen most of these fabrics yet, but the blue and brown are already slated to be prominent in more rows. The yellow fish is made from leftover batik from the South Elgin, IL kit. The orange fish is made from extra after making the Rochester, IL fish.

Flash Sew and Quilt's row has the applique in progress.

The background for Sanibel Island, FL's row is put together and is waiting on me to cut the applique pieces out..

The rows from Goodlettsville are finished and gorgeous! The row from Sewing Machines Etc looked like it would become a square nicely. Only eight more rows that can become squares needed!

Quilter's Attic

Sewing Machines Etc. I added tow more wave sections because the square really needed a bit more wave action.

My present from FH again took me out of my preferred comfort zone of needleturn applique, but the fabrics in the kit really needed to be fused and the raw edges covered with satin stitching. The pattern designers encouraged us (all the quilters playing with their pattern) to really play with it and make it our own. I decided to add some grasses at the bottom. When I quilt this, there will be bubbles int eh stitching.

And finally a sneak peak at the next row going together. All cut out and waiting for me to start piecing.

Oh and in case people were wondering, there has been quite a bit of snoop-ervision going on around here.

See you next week!

Rowing Along

First off, I want to thank the friends who reach out to me after my father passed. Your words of friendship and comfort meant, and still mean, a great deal to me.

Since I've been home, I've been keeping busy with piecing more quilt rows. I'm lucky enough to have friends and family all over the country who are taking great delight in mailing me row patterns from quilt shops near them. One dear family friend who I've known since kindergarten decided to send me the kits and not just the free pattern! Oh and for those who are wondering if they missed something, I'm participating in this year's Row by Row Experience shop hop. It's huge!

My neighbor, I made the Dresden tea cozy for her, is on a road trip currently and has been stopping at quilt shops in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland! She's having a blast seeing all the different quilts and picking up rows for me. I didn't even ask her to, she just volunteered. I've been getting semi-regular texts from her asking me to look up quilt shops along whatever route she's planning on for day trips.

FH is on a business trip, as of 4 o'clock this morning, and has already acquired a row kit and another pattern for me. I've even been lucky enough to make two new friends in different parts of the country (one in Hawaii) because of this event and we've been gathering patterns (originals, no photocopies)  for each other and mailing them.

I've finished up two more rows since we've gotten home and am working on two others. I'm going to start the list with references linking back to my first posts about these rows and provide the names of the shops where they can be picked up. I wasn't thinking clearly when I wrote up that post two Wednesdays ago. These will be in order of completion.

Row 1 is from Peoria, IL. The shop is called Prairie Points and is one of my favorite places to visit.

Row 2 is from Morris, IL. The shop is called The Fabric Center and is right down the street from a great little bakery. I just want to say what a lovely shop this is and if you're visiting the Chicago suburbs, you really, really want to visit it.

Row 3 is from Winfield, IL. The shop is called The Quilt Merchant. Another lovely shop in the Chicago suburbs.  This row took me out of my comfort zone with the fusible applique. I always do needleturn because I prefer the look, but this kit came with the applique pre-cut and with fusible web already attached. I think it came out alright, despite me getting a single square turned 90 degrees int he wrong direction. A friend quipped that that fish is now a "Nemo" fish due to having a wonky fin, and I thought it was funny enough to let it be.

Row 4 is from South Elgin, IL. The shop is called The Twisted Stitch and is kind of hard to get to, but totally worth the effort when you get there. So many bright and colorful fabrics! I decided to make one fish who doesn't follow the crowd in this row. I think the "Nemo" fish from the Winfield row had an effect on me or something. ;-)

Rows 5 and 6 are in the works currently. Both feature applique, so are taking a bit of time.

Row 5 is from Rochester, IL. The shop there is one of my all time favorite shops in Illinois! It's called Peace and Applique and of course many of the quilts there feature applique! As you can see, I've gotten two of the three fish sewn down and the third placed. There will be seaweed in between the fish, but I changed the way it's done. In the original they made the seaweed fuzzy and textured, but I was afraid it wouldn't hold up to washing, so I drew up some quick designs to needle turn instead. Finishing this row is on my to-do list for today.

I needed a break from hand sewing yesterday so I began piecing the background for Row 6. It's from another all-time favorite quilt hop, Jackman's Fabrics, specifically the St. Louis, MO location. I haven't had a chance to get the row pattern from their Fairview Heights location. Currently the background is in 6 strips that need sewn together. Another project for today.

In the course of hopping around and gathering row patterns, I've also visited the following shops: The Quilted Fox, The Quilted Cottage on Main, Nonnie's Attic, and Harvest House Quilting. Quilted Fox and Quilted Cottage's rows aren't going in the aquarium quilt. Quilted Fox featured the Eads Bridge and is being stashed away for a different project. Quilted Cottage did a lovely trapunto applique design with seashells, starfish, and sand dollars, and is embellished with beads.

Nonnie's Attic did a cool paper-pieced turtle design, but the printer they sent the design to messed up the size of the paper-piecing guide. They had to get the all clear from Row by Row to take the names and addresses of people who walk into the shop and mail the rows to them once the printer fixes the mistake. This design will eventually make it into the aquarium quilt.

Harvest House's design is also going in the aquarium quilt. I just haven't started it yet. Oh and talk about a dark horse shop. It's a hidden treasure located in the basement of the owners' home! They used to do the big trade shows and then stopped for health reasons, but they're still in business! Such a fun little shop full of wonderful and beautiful things.

I also have been given or sent patterns from a few people that are burning figurative holes in my stash. Patchwork Plus in Wood River, IL features the meeting of the waters, i.e. where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet. I'm saving this design for a future project.

My in-laws were vacationing in Sanibel Island, FL when Row by Row started and picked up the pattern there for me. Three Crafty Ladies is a shop I hope to visit in person some day. That would require having the time and being invited to go to Sanibel with them ;-) Their row featuring some adorable turtles will be going into the aquarium quilt.

And finally a friend went to a wedding in Cedar Rapids, IA and popped into The Cotton Creek Mill in West Branch. She says we need to road trip there sometime together because the shop is so cool! I asked her to pick up their kit for me because it features a panel design of a barn, with barn quilt, and a windmill. It's being stashed for another project.

That's it for now. I'll post progress pictures and list the places where new patterns and kits have arrived from next weekend. Ttfn!

So Many Finishes

Last week was a week of several finishes.

First up is the needlepoint heart from last week.  After I got all the backstitching done, it occurred to me that I shouldn't have done the cool background stitching around the heart and finished it an an ornament instead.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll turn it into a box top or something.

Second is the Violet Tool Case.  I ended up having to sew around the piping by hand.  My sewing machine didn't want to go through all the pocket layers and the piping.  Oh well.

Next up is the framed Tuscan Greeting sampler.  I finished stitching it last August, but never got around to framing it.  As it is, I have to re-frame the piece because it shifted in the frame when it was wrapped up and taken to the PASG Judged Show.  The shifting was enough to cost me a blue ribbon, but I'm still ecstatic about the red ribbon.

I also finished Musical Roses last August and finally framed it last week.  It was also entered into the show and took a ribbon.  Despite the frame being too small for the design (which I'm absolutely irritated about), it took a blue ribbon.  It's also going to be re-framed, but with a larger frame and a mat.

I've saved the best for last today.  I finished my original cross stitch design that features a poem that I wrote. They share the title of Paint the World.  I plan on offering the chart for sale as a .pdf file at some point in the future.  I'm not sure when, but it is in the works.

I'm happy to say this piece took two blue ribbons at the Judged Show this year.  The first in it's category, the second was a special award for this year's theme, "Tell Me A Story."

 It's been a crazy week, so I'm going to take the rest of today off and put my feet up.  See you next weekend!