sewing and other stuff

I've got some random stuff to share with you, since I haven't been posting regularly it is a hodge podge.  I often do things, or take pictures, with the thought that I want to blog about it.  In fact, I kind of compose part of the words I want to write in my mind.  Then the moment passes, I get wrapped up in stuff, and it doesn't happen.  Today I'm clearing out some of the backlog!

Last summer I had a nice big outdoor planter dish full of thriving succulents.  By the time fall came, I brought them indoors and started a few smaller plants from the cuttings.  Part of the main plants still did well indoors, others not so much.  With the weaker light and short days of winter, they weren't real happy, but most survived.  In the picture below, that big healthy jade plant in the middle is from the last summer growth.  I uprooted all the rest and replaced them with all the little ones around the outside of the bowl.  As soon as we get more warm days, they will go outside again.  And I have more pots started with more cuttings.

When we cleaned out the garage, one of the more nostalgic finds was our original old tent, purchased in 1976, I think.  Still intact, and we even set it up in the yard to see what it looked like.  It brought back lots of nice memories.  Now it has gone to Goodwill and will hopefully bring more memories to someone else.

Yesterday was an exceedingly good weather day, plus Earth Day!  So I did a little digging and started getting rid of some of the old winter scum of dead leaves and even new weeds popping up.  I found a little bit of asparagus showing up!  Yum!

On the sewing side of my life, I am working on finishing up 2 things that will be offered as classes this summer.  One is called Mini Rings, and I don't have a picture here but if you look at the Bear Blog tomorrow you will see a bit of it.  And I'm nearly done with it, just finishing up the binding.  

The other is the big star quilt shown below.  I saw this on display last fall when I attended Quilt Market in Houston, and I was very impressed by the use of color and design.  It's called Star Storm and is by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  The fabric is also her design, called Meadow Storm.  We have complete kits and the patterns for this at Bear Patch.  Now to get it quilted!

Since you had a bit of grandson overload on the last posting, I'll toss in some info about things that I made for little Leo's nursery!  I found some fabric that pulled together some of the colors that Brita wanted to use, and here's what I made:

A "boppy" pillow cover--it gets a lot of use with just about every feeding time!  With the first grandson, I bought the pillowform and it had directions on the wrapper to make the cover.

A little pillowcase (travel pillow size) that matches,
but for decorative purpose only at this stage of Leo's life. 

Matching crib sheets to spruce up his crib.
He's still sleeping in a little cradle in mom and dad's room,
 but will eventually move onto his own mattress.
Use this link to learn how to make them.

And his name banner, not finished in this picture but you get the idea.
You also get the idea of how many threads are stuck to my design wall!  

Last Sunday, Easter, Bob and I had the afternoon to ourselves and decided to visit someplace we had never been before but not far from home.  The Mississippi River is maybe 10-12 miles west of here, and there is a big dam and park that we have never visited.  It's called the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park on our side (the east bank) of the river, and we walked across the dam to explore the trails on the west side, too.  The dam was much bigger than we expected, so I'm glad we went there.  We came upon an area that has had a lot of recent beaver activity, in this picture you can see all the trees that they have been gnawing on.  Lots of carefully made wood chips!  We saw lots of people walking, some folks fishing in the river, and some osprey watching us!

a pillow for posterity

Here is a follow-up on the shirt saga!

We cut a lot of 5" squares to use in lap quilts or couch quilts for ourselves and kids.  Even strips for binding!  We used as much of the shirts as possible.  Some of them were pretty thin, they had seen lots of wear.  Others were newer or made of heavier oxford-type cloth.  So it's a real mixed bag.

We decided to also cut some smaller squares just to make some easy pillows.  These were 4 1/2" squares, making a cover for a 16" pillowform.

I knew that the thin fabric would not be very resilient against wear and tear.  Plus, for something like this, a pillowtop, it's much better to have a little bit of heft to the fabric so it's more like decorator fabric.  So after the squares were all sewn together (Jan helped with placement of the colors) and very well pressed, I pressed some lightweight fusible interfacing to the entire back.  I really wanted a good fuse so I used plenty of steam.  And I have learned to use a pressing cloth to keep from getting gunky glue residue on my iron.  After it was all cooled down, I layered it with a thin batting square and a muslin square.  Then I did simple straight-line quilting with my walking foot, 1/4" on each side of each seam.  After that, I just had to trim up the edges and sew to the pillow back....

very conveniently made from the shirt fronts!  So it had a natural button closing to get the pillowform in, and then close it up.  You can't see it well in this picture, but the pocket is still attached to the upper right corner of the pillow.  Someone told me it's like a giant tooth fairy pillow!

I really like having this little pillow on my couch, it can give me a hug when I need one!

assorted thoughts

I finally finished the bind-off for a scarf that I have been working on for quite some time, but a project that didn't need to be rushed since it was for myself and it's the dog days of summer here--80 degrees and plenty o' humidity!  There is a link in the title below the picture that will take you to the source for the directions.  This is not my first Mini Mania, I have shared it before.  And I have shared it with several people that I know, all of them working on their own version now.

Another "Mini Mania" scarf done!

We have had a few babysitting gigs lately, much to our delight!  Since I haven't shared any recent pictures of our little guy, here you go--

This was towards the tail end of one of our many walks, but this time he declined the stroller and strutted his stuff.  Got a little tired, but slept really well!  I can carry him for a bit, but his is packing on the pounds.  And Bob can't even lift a gallon of milk yet, so he has no choice.

I have carved out a some time for a little indulgence in watching this series--

And I can say that I have enjoyed this bit of historical fiction, and look forward to the next season!

I have been learning some more things about the embroidery attachment for my sewing machine--Bernina 730-- and have accomplished a finished project!

This is a pattern and embroidery design from Claudia's Creations.  I felt quite a sense of accomplishment with this, I have a bit of trepidation when it comes to this new venture in computerization.  New to me, that is!  But it really went off without a hitch, once I got it going!  So there will be more ahead, I am sure!  The design CD and instructions are available at Bear Patch.

the bonus hour

I find myself with an extra hour of life this morning, so I am on my keyboard to update both here and over at the Bear Patch blog.  This comes after a yummy and what-seems-like-decadent breakfast of almond croissants.  Easy almond croissants from the frozen food section at Trader Joe's.  I had not tried them before, but they turned out great.  Also from my last trip to Joe's--

Very tasty!

Here's a little sewing tip and another good excuse to go to the office supply store!  I read about this from someone else but can't remember who.  Scotch, maker of all of those adhesive hooks and hangers, also makes these adhesive patches.

They actually have adhesive on both sides and are thick, like maybe 1/16th of an inch.  When I need to sew something that requires a seam allowance other than 1/4" this is the perfect temporary tool.  I was sewing a hem on the back of a pillow cover, and wanted to make my stitching line 7/8" from the folded edge.  I peeled the adhesive from one side of the strip and put it on the bed of my machine after measuring the correct placement.  Then I could run the fold right against the edge of the adhesive pad and get a nice straight stitching line.  When I was done, I put it right back in the package for another day.

 That hem was on the back of this pillow cover--

which now is complete except for the lack of an 18" pillow!  Previously posted here.

Another pair of mittens for my favorite little guy--

These are quick and fun, and no doubt he will need more mittens in bigger sizes so I should have no lack of knitting!

misc. notes

Not so very long ago, I wrote about making some cement pots.  In the spring, I planted some succulents in my pots.  I have kept them on the patio table where I could watch the progress.  The chipmunks and/or squirrels were watching, too.  Seems they like to snack on those fleshy leaves a bit.  But they have all survived, and I was especially happy with this one...

I wasn't aware that this would bloom!  I saw that tall stalk sprouting up, but just thought it was a quirky kind of plant.  It made kind of an interesting architectural element.  Then, voila!  Out popped some pretty little orange blossoms!  I will have to see if I can get this one to grow indoors over the winter.

Some progress on finishing up a few things around here lately:
This is a pillow called Jaw Breaker from Jaybird Quilts.  It is made from a great group of Christmas prints from Bear Patch.  It fits a 20" pillowform.  I used the Creative Grids Double Strip 60 degree triangle ruler for it.

Here's a little bit of a project that I put together to display at the store.  I made use of one of our fall-colored homespun towels and a strip of fabric cut from a border print.  Add a little bit of rick rack and it really comes up with a nice finish.  And so easy!

 Now for some knitting...
I made this Mini Mania scarf once earlier this year and liked it so much that I started up another one.  This one is already promised to Debbie for her July birthday.  I finally got it to the point where I thought it was wide enough to be suitable.  So that means it is time to bind off, which generally is an easy task.  But I recalled that when I made the first one and started the bind off, I was not happy with the appearance of the edge that formed.  I think it was because every other stitch is a slip stitch and made some kind of loose loops on that edge.  At that point, I consulted with my knitting guru (Thora Lee) and she steered me to an alternative type of bind off that really worked out well for this.  When it came time for the bind off this time, I was searching high and low for any notes that I might have kept about what I did, but alas, found none.  So back to the guru, and this time, I am documenting it here for not only myself, but you, too!

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Sewn Bind Off

Working the Sewn Bind-Off

You may work it on either the right or wrong sides.  There is a slight difference between the side so it’s your preference depending upon the pattern.  You’ll need a blunt-tipped tapestry needle.  Follow the two steps below.

1.      Insert the tapestry needle into the first 2 sts p-wise (as though to purl 2 tog), draw the yarn through and leaving both sts on the knitting needle.

2.      Insert the tapestry needle into the first st k-wise, draw yarn through and drop the st off the knitting needle.  Repeat these two steps.

If you are not real proficient with the knitter terms, it can be simplified like this:
With the knitting needle and all the stitches held in the left hand, insert the threaded needle into the first 2 stitches from right towards left.

Pull the needle and thread through, then come back through the first stitch from left to right.

Pull the needle and yarn all the way through, then slide the stitches close enough to the tip of the knitting needle to ease the first one off.

Pull a bit to get the stitch tension to even out with the knitted fabric, and repeat all over again.  This scarf has 300+ stitches to bind off, so it is not a quickie.  But slow and steady wins the race, right?  This is sort of how the edge is supposed to look, although it is a little bit bumpier and more uneven (not keeping even tension) than I would like.

But I am pretty sure that when it is finished and I wash and block it, everything will come out just fine.  I have learned that a little bit of water does wonders for shaping and molding knits.

So just in case you ever need to try an alternative bind off that results in a stretchier edge, this is the one to try!  I do have to admit something, though.  I took all these pictures earlier this morning, loaded them up on the computer with the intent of getting this post done.  But I was horrified to see the close-ups of my fingers, they looked like old hag hands!  Would be good for scaring some poor little children on Halloween!  So I had to lotion up and scrap the first set of pictures, and take the time to do it over again.  Amazing how the dry, cracked, flaky, peeling skin and cuticles become so everyday.  I'm not much for maintaining a professional manicure, but I could easily hit the lotion bottle more often.  That will be my goal!

video time

I found this interesting video about San Francisco which is so fun to watch because I have had family living in this lovely city for a long time. They probably have seen it, but it is new to me. As I listened, I realized that so many of the places highlighted in the video are places that I have been able to visit. If you have never visited San Francisco, you really should go.

Then, a little video that I prepared and posted on the Bear Patch blog:

Brita sews!

See Brita sew. Sew, Brita, sew!

All kidding aside, didn't this pillow cover turn out great? Brita is learning how to run her sewing machine, and helped me stitch up a couple spots of color for her couch. To spark up the oatmeal for Ben!

This fabric was a remnant that I nabbed at a shop in Colorado last fall, and is designed by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit. It's always a good feeling when something that I like is also something that my daughter likes! A nice change from some of the teen years when it was more of the opposite. This is from an older fabric line so I think she is looking online to buy some more.

These cute little zip bags are from a pattern called Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo.

It is made with the Double Diamond Ruler to make that interesting little cutout on the front. The ruler helps you cut little V slits that are then folded back onto each other, laid on top of a backing fabric, and result in a new design element.

Although I don't own an e-reader, I am ready for one with this cover and tote that I have made for an upcoming class at Bear Patch.

The fabric gives me a happy feeling. It comes from Adornit, a fairly new fabric design company with a scrapbooker influence. The pattern is E-Cozy from Whistlepig Creek. They also have a pattern for the Ipad cover, do you suppose if I make the cover, the Ipad will come?

I have spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry, so now I am rewarding myself with some sewing time. All is right with the world!

Rabbit to you, Jan.