Valerean

Summer is over now (sob) and Autumn has arrived. What do I like about it? Not much. Okay, what do I have to look forward to? Halloween. Halloween was a lot of fun last year, thanks to the costuming of my thrifted stuffies, and really, I've always liked it. I'm planning to make more pumpkins that I could turn into Jack-o-lanterns, but I'm also looking for a fun Halloween sewing project to make as well. I like how the skies turn beautiful this time of year, and the cooler temps allow me and my guy to spend more time outdoors. That will help me avoid all the pumpkin spice things. We don't get a lot of autumn leaves here in the humid sub-tropical zone of Central Florida, but my little Japanese miniature maple does turn red some years. It looks like Nature and Halloween are going to have to carry me through this season. Could be worse -- could be Christmas. :)

I began sewing together the strips I made from 10" squares from the vintage fabric basket, and I didn't follow a pattern. To keep my stress level manageable I want to stick to a simple improv of the rail fence patchwork scheme (here's a free tutorial for a rainbow version.) I thought four strips would make a square, but I actually needed five per block. This is roughly what one panel of my calendar project's September tote will look like. I am hoping to make this tote entirely by machine. I finished sewing together all eight blocks and switched them around until I liked the placement. Next up is sewing them together to make two panels, and then batting and backing them for the machine quilting.

I took all the 10" vintage fabric squares out of my basket and sorted them into print types. Basically I have 29 geometric, butterfly, floral and other type prints. That's plenty for a tote, and perhaps enough for a small quilt as well. I decided not to get too ambitious, and cut all the squares into 2-1/2 strips. I then had to sort them according to their value, light to dark (didn't take a picture of that.) I randomly put together four strips out of all the piles, which I plan to sew together into blocks, and then turn the blocks into my September tote for my calendar project, and (possibly) a quilt top. Stay tuned to the blog to see how that goes. :)

On the crochet front I'm doing quite well, as I have for the last year. Currently I'm making a prototype blanket, sort of a practice run for a charity donation. I love this new-to-me pattern as well as this yarn. The crocheting challenges me in the good way, and the hexagons turn out fabulous. The yarn I'm actually using is from a mill end value bag. Everything is exciting with crochet these days. On the quilting front things are a bit quieter. I have this thrifted bundle of fabric to use this month for my quilting projects, which is kinda-sorta exciting. I also have this basket of vintage scrap fabric to use for my calendar project's September tote, which I do like a lot. But the thrill that crochet gives me is not there with quilting. Despite all my tricks with fabric and motivation quilting still feels like a chore, or taking medicine. I need to do more new things to challenge myself with quilting. I've not made a proper quilt in a while -- ab...

For my first official quilting project of September I decided to do some stitch practice to see where my hands are, and picked two large squares from my basket of vintage fabric from the Coop to make a mug rug. I just sandwiched these squares with some batting and stitched. I used holographic light gold thread and the smallest, sharpest quilting needle I have, and stitched for a couple of hours without too much fuss. My thumb and forefinger are in pretty good shape right now, so I was able to handstitch the entire block. The stitching is not what it should be, but it helped to do it the way I wanted to. Now I can move on to machine quilted projects without too much angst, I think.

One of my aspirations for fall is to use the time to creatively heal. Crochet has been absolutely amazing for me this past year, and I am very grateful for how much it's helped me deal with my ongoing struggle with arthritis-induced limitations. Yet I'm still fighting myself and my dislike of how little I can hand stitch anymore, and the fallout is that I'm not quilting much at all. It's time to fall back in love with sewing, with my sewing machine, with fabric, and with making things from fabric. I don't have to hand stitch to quilt, and I know it. Fabric still grabs my heart. I have, do and always will love fabric. That's the place to start, because 1) I already have a lot of fabric and 2) I still want to make things with it. The other thing I haven't been thinking about is how good it feels to work with fabric and turn it into something. I love that, even when I don't hand stitch it. When I made the mat for my nephew's dog...

My nephew is obsessed with the Miami Dolphins. I remember being the same way when I was a kid, when the NFL was not as it is today but a truly remarkable and exciting sport (as an adult I found out the inidividual cost of that sport for the players, and my hero worship abruptly died.) Anyway, because I understand his obsession I agreed to make him a quilted table runner for his house using licensed Dolphins fabric and the team's colors. So we visited Michaels, where I picked up some bleached muslin, Kona solids and embroidery floss in the team's colors for the project. My nephew likes this runner I quilted some years ago, which features friendship star patchwork, and asked me to make his the same. Unfortunately the patchwork was actually made by someone else (I bought the top and backing fabric from an Etsy seller who has since closed her shop) and I just sewed together, quilted and embroidered the runner. Since I don't have the pattern I'll have to reve...

After making the August tote for my calendar project from fabrics I found in a thrifted bundle, I worked happier and with more enthusiasm than I have in a long time. I don't know what it is about making something out of fabrics that someone else chose, but it definitely motivates me. I have quite a bit of fabric left over from making the tote, as well as the rest of the bundle to use -- a couple of pounds' worth. I love using fabric someone else chose and that I acquire in random bundles to make things. This quilt here is what I made from a pound of fabric scraps that I bought from an Etsy seller. Ten years ago I bought a bag of scrap fabric at the county quilt show for $3.00, and challenged myself to make something from all of it, using every bit. Here's what I made out of that, and it was such a fun challenge I want to do it again. I think in my continuing effort to get over my lack of desire to quilt I'm going to make something from the thr...

There was one piece of fabric in the vintage bundle I bought at the Coop that was perfect for a much-needed quick project, so I took that and a piece of yellow print that worked with it and made a mat for my nephew's dog's food and water bowl stand. I just sandwiched the two pieces of fabric together with some batting, and machine quilted it in a diamond hatch pattern that followed the lines on the print. It turned out to be good machine quilting practice for me, something I really need to do every week now. I've been using placemats for this bowl stand so I'm glad to have a nice new mat for it. I might make a few more since we seem to be dog sitting quite a bit lately.

In three weeks fall will arrive , and that's the season I dislike most. Everything beautiful and green from summer begins to brown and wither. Pumpkin spice, which I don't care for at all, is everywhere. This is the worst stretch of the hurricane season, too. I saw Halloween decor being put out in stores back in July, and I was so not ready for it. Christmas decor will follow, probably well before Halloween. Fall ends four days before the winter holidays, which I really dread every year. I am trying to change my attitude toward everything I dislike, so I'm going to enjoy these last three weeks of summer, and then find ways to appreciate fall rather than hate it. Be the observer instead of the prisoner, my spiritual teachings say. I can do that. I can also steer myself into happier directions. For example, Halloween was wonderful last year because I really got into it. I made Halloween costumes for thrifted stuffed animals. I had a Halloween party and...

I found this patchwork quilt top for a song at one of the antique markets we visited, and it's kind of a mess. It's unfinished, the fabric choices are odd, and sewn so poorly it doesn't lay flat. It was also sewn together with zig zag stitches, which I've never before seen a quilter do. Anyway, as it is I can't save it or finish it, so I decided to recycle it into stitch practice pieces. I do want to hand stitch some reclaimed patchwork into my September tote, so I really need to practice and see what I am still capable of doing. I put together two mug rugs and a mat for practice stitching. The rest of the quilt top will be repurposed for other projects. I also learned some things doing this. I'm not going to be able to feather stitch or embroider much longer, as I fought my fingers just to get this much done. I can only manage huge straight stitches unless I use a very small, very sharp quilting needle, which was a nice revelati...

My lot of three quilting books arrived, let's see if they were worth what I paid. All three books are in pristine condition, and chock full of ideas for making bags and small quilted projects. The projects are beautiful; here's one from bags book. These projects are interpreted from quilting traditionally done in different countries. I love the crazy quilt book, which not only details how to make the projects, but offers stitch maps for the embroidery involved. Smaller projects are more doable for me now, so I'll like find a lot of inspiration from the Japanese quilting book. Let's look at the numbers. Japanese Quilting Piece by Piece by Yoko Saito retails for $32.99. Foolproof Crazy Quilt Projects by Jennifer Clouston costs $27.95 to buy new. Yoko Saito's Bags for Everyday Use appears to be out of print and runs around $44.72 for the cheapest used edition. I'd pay $105.66 retail total for all three, so paying twelve bucks for the lot...