Distracted (again)

I'm here to tell you that cleaning only leads to trouble.  Yesterday, I was sorting through a box of very miscellaneous sewing items like magazines with patterns marked, sample blocks and more when I came across a paper pieced block that I originally made for a class.  I would have ignored it, but it was packed away with all the fabric for a fictional project, some of which was pre-cut.  I thought that if I would make three more blocks, I could make a little wall hanging or something.

If you like paper foundation piecing, be sure to check out www.paperpanache.com.  They have loads of great patterns including some free downloads.  That's where I went to print the extra patterns, and while I was there, I couldn't help doing a little browsing.  There is a nice eagle pattern and a cute turtle, but what caught my eye was this:

Everything came to a halt while I made my round "TUIT".  Everybody is always saying that they will get around-to-it and now I have one of my own.

Zippered Bags

Way last March (2011), I was playing around with some batik scraps left over from another project.  I made up a little pattern and put four blocks together.  The whole thing was only about 20" square.

I wasn't that excited about it so it stayed that way until this weekend, when I layered and machine quilted it. 

Here's what I made.

I like making the little zippered bags.  I also put one together to showcase one of my pull-tab flowers.

Thanks to Sally, Teresa and Pat C., who brought me more drink tabs.  No telling where the flowers will turn up next.  

Look What Happened!

Oh, NO ... look what happened!  I guess it was inevitable, since I titled that post "Purple Haze" and I had all of these purple scraps piled everywhere.

Lately, I have been a lot better at starting things than finishing things and I had just said to myself "I wonder what I could finish today?"  I'm not doing very well with that thought.  Well, I might finish a book ... The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver.  It's a real page-turner.  I have an idea for the pull-tab flowers, too.  Must sew faster, must sew faster.

Six More Blocks

I went "back to the drawing board" to make 6 more purple blocks.  Here's my helper, hard at work.

Tonight, all of the blocks are done and the twelve sewn together.  They'll need some kind of border eventually.  I've got to give a big THANK YOU to Ruth, who made the quilt that inspired me.  

I really, really like scrap quilts.  Suddenly, variety is key instead of the beauty of individual pieces.  I found some "beauties" in the back closet.  They were abandoned by the store's previous owner and I can see why.  Who would design something like this?  Who would manufacture it?  Who would BUY it???

Here's one last thing - I haven't decided exactly what I am going to do with my crocheted pull-tab flowers, but I have found coordinating fabric to use with them!

Purple Haze

I'm back to work on the purple project.  The raw materials appeared in the last post.  For this sample, I only made 6 blocks to get started.  I cut 6 squares of each size:

12 1/2"

10"

6"

4"

I used a wide zig-zag stitch throughout.  First, I sewed all of the 4 inch squares onto 6 inch squares.  I trimmed out the back, pressed each block, then repeated the procedure with the 10 inch and 12 1/2inch squares.  The placement of the squares was crooked on purpose - sometimes a little to the left, sometimes a little to the right.  Here are my blocks at this stage.  

Next, I cut all of the blocks in fourths and switched the pieces around.  The reason for all of the trimming was so that I didn't have 4 layers in the centers of the blocks.  That would have been awkward to put together!

Here are my new blocks, all sewn together.

Time for a break.  Maybe I'll put a border on it tomorrow.  

I couldn't resist including one pet picture.  This is my grand-dog, Ruby, who came to visit me for Mother's Day.  She is a big girl, weighing in at about 105 lbs. at 18 months.  (Her breed is Leonberger.)  I got a LOT of slurpy kisses.  She is a sweetheart.

Playing With My Scraps

The Tar River Piecemakers Quilters Guild (TRPQG) of Rocky Mount, NC, is very well organized in the area of charity quilts.  One of their projects is making and filling cloth bags that police officers carry to give to children in crisis situations.  Inside the bags are assorted items, one of which is a "comfort square", a little 12" quilt that just might provide some child something to hold onto.  That's what I set out to make last night with a giant bag of scraps.  I didn't do anything terribly complicated - in most cases I let the novelty fabrics do the work.  I just finished the binding on the last one, so thought I'd show them off before I turn them in.

HAVE YOU EVER AGREED TO DO A DEMO WITHOUT HAVING A SAMPLE MADE?  Oops, that's what I just did.  I thought that maybe I could start out with a coordinated group of fat quarters, so I got out a little bundle that I won at a guild meeting.

Pretty, but someone was sneaky, and they are not fat quarters!  I need more than that anyway, so I checked the cupboard of scraps ...

Getting better.  THEN, I went to the back closet and hit pay dirt with a couple of larger pieces!  Now I've got more than enough to get started.  That's the project for tonight.

I'm continuing to work on the recent challenge quilt, but decided that I had better not keep showing it on the blog because it is supposed to be a secret!  The wrong person just might check in and see it!!

A New Craft

A NEW CRAFT

Need I say more?

Yes, I made this pull-tab flower.  My friend, Peggy, started it all when she came to visit wearing pull-tab earrings.  I passed that idea on to my daughter's friend, Michelle, who is a serious jewelry-maker.  Michelle, in turn, sent me a link on Facebook showing these flowers.  Fun!  There will probably be more.


On a more serious note, the local group of fiber artists met at the store on Saturday to explore some dye techniques, led by Dr. Katherine McNeese.  Katherine graciously gathered materials, pre-treated the fabric, and mixed the dyes for us.  The first thing that we tried was shibori dyeing of cotton fabric.  We rolled, tied and scrunched the cotton fabric on PVC pipe.  Darn, we didn't get pictures of the rolled up fabric, but here are the ends of the pipes sticking out of the buckets of dye.

While we were waiting for the required amount of time to elapse, we were in the classroom, folding silk chiffon scarves "flag style" into little triangle bundles and securing the corners with rubber bands.

The silk scarves were dyed in plastic bags with a different kind of dye.  Corners were dipped in contrasting colors.  When unfolded, we hung them on the porch railing and they were dry in a jiffy!

 Now, back to the buckets!  Here are the two pieces that I dyed.  One was rolled straight on the pipe, the other diagonally.  I love the effects.  

To see the group blog, go to http://artrageousfibreart.blogspot.com/