Valerean

If I work on Mom's lap quilt for a few hours every night I should get it done in time to send before her birthday, so doing that. I found another fabric leaf in the yard from my neighbor's ageing fall decorations, so I decided to add that to the little dog dish mat I made from the last of the red scrap pile: I thought only one leaf looked a bit lopsided, but a few days later another fabric leaf appeared in the yard, so: It makes me ridiculously happy to rescue these fake, tattered leaves and turn them into something other than trash. :)

As I mentioned earlier on the blog I decided to give English paper piecing a try and made some hexies, which was and probably still is a big thing in quilting. I never understood why. I see all these gals hand stitching these little scraps onto cardboard hexagons and then whip stitching them together and even making bed-size quilts out of them, and they all talk about becoming addicted to this method. How? Anyway, I used some scraps from my last experiment to make the hexies, and then sewed together what I got done in one hour: It was okay, I guess. I've done plenty of tedious work in the past (hello, slow stitch) but this variety didn't result in much. Sewing them made my neck hurt because I couldn't get into a comfortable position while making them. I still don't get what the big deal is. To me it felt like a LEGO style of quilting. Where is the originality in piecing all these things together? Looks like a honeycomb. Anything I make this way will just l...

As I write this keep in mind that Blogger (aka the jerks at Google) has forced me to start using their new interface by eliminating the old/legacy option, which means my posts may end up a bit wonky while I learn how to use it. Last night it stormed too much for me to get on the computer, so I worked on my quilt journal and made a small silk art piece for it. Earlier in the day I had printed out a free English paper piecing template for hexagons , and I used the 2.5" size to trace out and cut up about thirty or so from an old file folder. Then I made my very first hexie out of scrap fabric, just to see what it entailed. It wasn't difficult, although I had to go back and reread a tutorial on how to make them , and watch a video on how to take out the cardboard template. So I'm going to make some hexies on the side out of my scraps, and see if this can help make a dent in them. Watch me grow. :)

This fluffy mountain is my collection of scrap quilt batting: I save all the batting I trim during quilt making, and use the pieces for smaller projects. I did this long before I went zero waste because I'm cheap. :) I can cobble together the scraps to make larger pieces to use as well. Here's how I covered the table runner with strips of scrap batting to get the right size/amount: After that it's just a matter of basting the edges together with some old thread (also why I never throw away thread):

The patchwork piece wanted to be a table runner, so that's what it became: I used some scrap lavender binding to finish it off, and then scrounged in my 2019 scrap bag to make some matching coasters: The colors will work nicely as decor for Spring/Easter, too, I think: Always listen to your projects! Ha.

I finished up embroidering and quilting the two thread spool patchwork panels, and made them into a little gift bag: I also got started on quilting a larger patchwork panel I bought from KnJ to make into a bigger gift bag: Instead of cutting a new piece of muslin off the one bolt to serve as the backing for this one I pieced it out of scraps leftover from other projects.

Sometimes I think the pandemic empties my well faster than I can refill it. I was so looking forward to quilting this year when I made this for you, Theo: Looking back over the last seven months I'm really surprised I got anything done. Making things for Oliver helped keep me from giving up altogether on sewing, I think. Although it has more than few mistakes, I am proud of the one quilt I made for him: Keeping it small seems to be doing the trick now: Also trying to get back to my zero-waste quilting scheme for the year: I think this tote is my favorite project of 2020 so far. Not because it's beautiful or special, but because I screwed it up so much the first time. I didn't give up on it. Although I don't count them anymore, I've also made face masks for all the family and friends and neighbors who needed them since the pandemic began, and will continue to do so until it ends. What are you proud of that you've accomplished this yea...

I finished the patchwork tote last night while wrestling with my insomnia: For the back side I quilting some of the swirly lines: Lined the inside with plain muslin:

Finished the do over on the failed crazy tote : I used scraps left over from my mask-making project to frame three sides of the squares because that was part of my whole zero waste thing. Because it reminded me of a flower bouquet I thought the basket print on the bottom of the tote worked nicely: I quilted everything with gold holographic Sulky, and hand-sewed in the lining made from the scrap aqua broadcloth I found during spring cleaning: Very happy I didn't give up on this one.

You all remember the crazy tote fail from May, right? I don't like unfinished projects, so I started working on that again last night: I'm using scraps from my mask-making project to frame the squares, and a couple of strips of basket-weave print for the bottom of the bag. Stay tuned to see how attempt #2 works out. :)

I finished the third piece in my scrap play project with lavender Holographic Sulky and some crystals and pearls: I didn't want to make these pieces into anything practical, so I cobbled them together into an art panel with more feather stitching: As I arranged the pieces I saw the story in it, from left to right: feeling unhappy and isolated (panel 1) immersing in meditative art to heal (panel 2) and rediscovering what brings joy as well as healing (panel 3). I need to focus on the end of the story rather than the beginning of it. I should also say that those who made me so unhappy do not visit this blog, or (obviously) care about me. Just so none of you worry. :)

Over the last month I've been trying to work through some personal stress and unhappiness. I don't want to get into details or have a self-pity party; it's still upsetting to even think about it. It makes it harder to keep trying to reach out to friends, too, as in these times I tend to withdraw and go silent. Color always helps cheer me up, so last night I hauled out the mask-making scrap bag and started playing with pieces of fabric leftover from some that I made for myself: I love these colors together. I also have another project I want to use them in, so I needed to play a bit with the colors while I thought about it. Feather stitching is probably the most meditative stitching I do. For this block I used some ancient rayon embroidery thread that is too old to use for anything practical, and just allowed myself to mindlessly stitch for a while. Once I felt like I'd warmed up, I tried blanket stitch with french knots to make a row of flowers, which t...

These are all the little projects I made from the scraps leftover from Oliver's birthday quilt: Little gift card holder, made from shreds and strips and a piece of Velcro I salvaged from another scrap bag. The buttons dressed it up a bit. Another doggie dish mat, using up most of the remaining strips. Every strip, shred and bit left in the bag went to make this rectangular piece, which will probably become a tote (still thinking about it.) Proof: no more scraps! Ha. This was definitely a fun way to recycle leftover fabric, and it taught me that if you really want to, you can find a way to use every single bit.

To use up the scraps leftover from making Oliver's birthday quilt I'm first making a matching gift tote to put it in. :) Oliver's mom likes the big totes I make, and this one will use up all the extra patchwork blocks and backing fabric.