Towels to Re-use

I'm such a BEGGAR!

I am always looking for stuff that people want to get rid of AND I want it for free!

Sometimes I talk myself into a dilemna with the things I get for free.  Once it is in my greedy little hands my mind starts working on how to put these things to use so that I don't waste this resource.  I would feel so bad if someone gave me something (even if they have no further use for it) and then I can't think of how to keep that out of the landfill or out of a garage corner taking up space...

A really big bag of towels  from my cousin Peggy !

Mostly white, but really the colour doesn't matter.   At first I was thinking of making some washcloth puppets -- seemed like a good idea, except then I thought who would want a bath toy for their child made out of someone elses old towels.  

The way people think I know they would wonder who's bum did this towel dry before?   ADMIT IT!  Thats what you'd think, isn't it?

So, I decided that is not such a good idea, if I were to make wash cloth puppets, I would have to just go buy new terry towel fabric.

Then I thought of the terry towel fabric as being used for batting -- and it is a good idea.  The only thing is that it makes the quilted item just a bit heavier than perhaps you would want for say a pillow cover and it doesn't show the quilting as nice as a regular batting.

So.

I thought I would test a bit of patchwork with the used towel to actually see how it looked and felt.

This is three and a half in squares sewed up and quilted to a used towel then cut to about 18 inches square.  I put on a piece of cotton fabric for the backing and set it down on a chair in the living room.

That 18 inches fit the chair seat quite perfectly, though until I put it there I had not thought of a use for it.

I turned around to go do something, and moments later my fossie cat showed me the best use for this quilted pad -- it is now a CAT MAT and furniture saver...
Now, I wonder if it would be the kind of thing that a pet owner would want to buy as furniture savers???

Well, I shall make up a few of them and list them in the shop before the weekend, I hope.

As for today, I am going for a drive to the big city.  Haven't been anywhere in ages!  There are a few shops that I shall get my driver (hubby) to pause at and see if I can spend money that I don't have...

Let me know if you want a CAT MAT -- I will make you one -- cheap, or two or three!!  I have a couple other ideas of using these towels, too, but that's for another day.

Etsy and a Custom Order

I am working to add things to my etsy story and it sure is nice when someone sees what I offer and asks for a slight variation -- A Custom Order!

Now, I do not usually offer custom requests mainly because I do not have a large warehouse of supplies...  Often what I create is "sometimes more than one, but usually less than a few"...  And I do hope that my choice of fabrics and colours is appealing to other eyes.

So this morning I was working on a custom order for a organizer roll for a specific variety of pens, pencils and other office/artistic supplies, all done up in that red background "asian" hydranga print that I had used for an earlier organizer roll.

This roll is a bit bigger than the ones in the store because it needs the right number of spaces.

Well, I sure do hope that Cathy likes her new organizer roll...

IDEAS

Now we all know that "one thing leads to another" so it never ceases to amaze me how you can go from making one thing and then elaborate on the item to enhance or to specialize it.

I get cold feet.

Last night I am sitting in my chair, knitting another toque -- I am starting to get a pretty fair knit stitch now after 4 1/2 toques -- and my toes as usual were cold, even after trying to wrap an extra blanket around them.

Into my head popped a picture of those knitted slippers -- do you remember the kind Gramma used to make?  I became somewhat disappointed in myself because WHY have I not made myself a pair of those slip on knitted slippers for myself?

SO.

I just had to go looking for some yarn and a pair of needles and started on a pair for myself, for me, just for little ole me!

Shouldn't take too long...

Found Money

So the story goes like this...

After an hour or so of shopping at the mall, we returned to the car and put the purchases in the back of the car -- well, really I got into the car and he loaded everything in. 

Now, while he was putting potatoes and pop, broccolli and beans, spagetti and soap into the car, I heard some change fall on the ground. 

He finished putting the things into the car and opened the driver side door to get in.

 I said "Did you hear that?"  He did not answer.  He started the car.

 I said "Turn off the car!"  He looked at me as if I had gone batty.

And again I said "Did you hear me?" 

"There's nothing wrong with the car." he says

"I didn't say there was."  I told him.

"Well, it's  just the radio" he mumbles

" What?"

"It's the Radio" he says and turns it on

"No, its not"  I tell him.

"Then, what?"  he wants to know (but not really).

"Just turn off the car, for a minute" say I

"Yeah, okay, I turned off the car, like you said. It's not making any weird engine noises. Now, what do you want?"

Then I said " Did you hear what I said before that?"

"You never said anything before that." said he

"Well, of course I did, otherwise why would I ask you if you heard what I said?  says I.  

"You just told me to turn off the car"  he claimed.  

"No I didn't." 

"Yes, you did!" 

"Well, okay, yes I did, but before that I asked you if you heard what I said?" 

"And, I said yes I did cause I turned off the car." he told me.

"Huh?" says I

"Can't you hear?" says he

"As usual you don't even know why you are arguing with me, except to tell me that I am wrong. Right?"  I say with a huge sigh. 

His classic answer "That's not true"  

"Well, I don't expect you to believe me, you never do anyway" says I.  

"I believe you."   he reiterates.

And my answer "You just said what I said wasn't true, so you don't believe me, do you?"

"I - Believe - You"  he said slowly and carefully as if I only understood Russian or Mandarin or some other language, while his face turned an odd shade of purple and his hands on the steering wheel turned white with the force of his grip...

At this point, I managed to catch myself and get back to the beginning of the subject and said

" When you were loading the groceries I asked you if you had heard anything?"

 "No you didn't" says he AGAIN.

Now getting rather tired of this merry-go-round, I opened the door and got out of the car without saying any further words.

 He says "So, now you are mad!"  

"No, I'm not, I'm just checking something" I answer.

I walk around the car to the drivers side and there on the ground by the back door of the car are two Loonies (Canadian one dollar coins) and about 6 quarters and three pennies.  I lean over and pick them up, walk back around to my side of the car and get in.

"What!"  says he, with a sort of guilty look of a six year old boy.

"I just found 3 dollars and fifty-three cents lying on the ground by the car."  I tell him.

"How did you know it was there?"  he asks me.

"I saw the sun glint off of something while you were loading the car."  says I

"There's no sun, its pouring rain" he tells me;  looking at me like I was totally loony, which I was because I now had a few more loonies in my pocket.

"Yeah, well, truthfully, I could hear the rain splashing off something.  I have found some money so now I want to go to the second hand store to see if I can find something to spend it on.

"I hear things alot better than you do" I tell him

"Since when"

"Since I was born!"


"Okay, which one?" he asks.

"Which one what" I ask

"Which second hand store?"

"Oh, Yeah."  I remember

"Just drive, go to whichever one you want to wander around in " says I,  "I am going to buy something extravagent." 

So he did And I did.  A pretty little heart-shaped pin for two dollars and fifty cents, no tax added

39

I am writing this post, mostly just for me.

Today - actually as of 4pm - I will have been married to the same person for 39 years.  I can barely remember not being without him.  Everything I do and alot (but not all) of what I am is pretty much untangleable from him -- though to be honest, sometimes I really need to escape.

Thats what the sewing room is for.

Living a life with a partner has not been easy, but it has made the hard things in life easier to cope with.  We have created two sons, who contribute to the world, rather than take from it, but I raised them with the purpose of independence and it looks like they are so independent that there will be no further generations to follow from them!  Aw well, I am not a real mothering type, though I imagine it would be fun to share some of my days with someone with a younger point of view.

In all those 39 years, we have moved from Winnipeg to Victoria in 1986 and then because Victoria (though it looks very nice to visit) is not really a welcoming place to live, so we moved to Abbotsford, east of Vancouver in 1991 and we have stayed in this quickly expanding town.

In many ways, I am a lucky girl, the man that I share my life with can be relied upon to do anything and I do mean ANYTHING for me.   "He is the man who walked 500 miles just to fall down at my door " -- A line from a song by The Proclaimers.

When he and I were dating -- those many years ago, and of course we were young and strong and somewhat foolish, he walked from his parents home, which if you know Winnipeg was out Portage Avenue near Grace Hospital, all the way down Portage to Arlington Street, then down Arlington Street and over the Arlington Bridge north to Mountain Ave, then west on Mountain Ave to my parents home -- in WINTER!   What is the day like today in Winnipeg?  Well, that was the kind of day he walked all that way.  Yes, young and strong and foolish and no money to come and see me, so he walked and he walked and he walked...   My mother was so amazed at what he had done that she gave him bus fare home!  And that was very generous of her!  In those days, young men did not stay over at their "intended's" parents home.  That would never even have been considered.

I married a man without prospects.  His family was not poor but they had no vision, and really I and mine were much the same -- we worked at jobs that came along.  We never had a career that you could call a life work.  He worked mostly in a warehouse, a shipper/receiver, a truck loader and inventory counter.  He rarely sat at a desk.  His earnings did not support our growing family as well as it should have -- we plowed along though and managed to buy a house and sell it and buy another house and sell that and now we have a townhouse that is not yet paid for and probably will not ever actually be -- unless of course 6 lottery numbers happen to come along that fit the numbers that I have chosen on my own ticket -- my hopes are not high on that score, though...

We have been up and down in fortunes through these 39 years and I would say we are currently experiencing a Valley -- finance wise and relationship wise.  He can't seem to hear and I am tired of saying things over and over -- a common complaint I am sure.   He has an affinity with his dog that I think may border on obbsession -- he really likes his dog!  And I like my sewing room.   We have too much stuff and am always trying to find things -- memory is a fleeting thing it seems!  Tho I cannot understand why he would put chocolate chip cookies in the trunk of the car, except maybe that is done on purpose as I think he does not want to share them so hides them and has them to nibble on while he drives around at night delivering the newspapers...   Or maybe he does that to SAVE me from those chocolate chip cookies -- I surely do not need them as there are still many of them piled on my hips that need to be "worked" off...

When I began this journey so long ago, I never even expected to live this long -- though mind you, I never expected to not live this long.  I guess that over this many years, one grows used to certain things and laughs and crys and is uplifted and disappointed at what has gone by.  I consider that for the most part it has been a successful adventure though not a lucrative one.  It has been interesting with a variety of adventures but without adventurous travel or aquisitions of monumental proportions.  We go on from day to day, we have what we can without extending our finances except in times when a job is replaced by no job.  We just keep going on.

We were well matched, I am the brains and he is the brawn and I believe he will outlast me in the end.

This is my 39th Wedding Anniversay, not a particularly special day and even though some may say that just being married that long is an amazing feat -- I say not really so, when you are willing to compromise and share the load and put your head down and deal with all the things that come along as a team, it is easier to be together and face the world as ONE, than to deal with life and its hurdles by yourself...

I would not suggest that everyone needs a partner but if the right kind of person comes along, anything and everything is lighter if you have someone to help lift the heavy boxes.

Quilt and Crochet

Now that I don't have to go out everynight to work (shift change) I can get some sewing and creating done at my best time of day -- early, early mornings.

I was up and in the workroom before 6am because I have had this "thing" in my head for awhile and I needed to see how it would come out.

I have to say, it was somewhat inspired by my sister (who doesn't talk to me).  Never-the-less, there are things in life that remind you of other things and when I think of my sister I think of crochet.  She is an amazing crochet artist and has every crochet hook from the teeny tiniest, to the largest -- and she probably has used every one of those hooks.  A few years back she made the most exquisite miniature doily using a very fine thread and a hook so tiny that my "getting older" eyes could barely see the hook on the end.  Last time I saw her and her things she had a sort of plastic bucket organizer where she kept all her hooks -- but I just keep thinking that she could use a crochet hook fabric roll to take a portion of her hooks with her, even if just to other parts of her house or out on her adventures or even to work so they would be handy during breaks...

So, using my sister's crochet hook collection as inspiration I made a crochet hook fabric roll.   I am sure  there are not enough slots to hold all her hooks, but certainly enough for a good start to organizing a variety of hooks.  There are 23 pockets with 6 of those being for larger sized hooks and the rest are just about right for the middling size hooks and you can put two or three of the smaller hooks in one pocket.

I liked how this idea has turned out, so I made two -- one for me and well, since my sister doesn't want to have anything to do with me, the second crochet hook fabric roll is going into the ETSY store.  Today, is so gloomy out and I have not really been able to get good pictures, so I may wait til tomorrow to take pictures for the store -- in the meantime here is the photos that I have done today.

I like the process of making these so I think I will make some more in the next couple of days and list them in the store too...

How and Who 3

While I was working last night, something clicked in my head that brought a memory back of a lady that I worked with when I was a young mother.  A lady who was on the verge of retirement and who trained me in the job that I held at Eaton's Warehouse in Winnipeg.

Margaret Forester.   I did not know her for a long time -- at most perhaps a year that we worked together, but I think in my series of people who influenced me in my hobby and art of quilting, I should not leave Margaret out.

Margaret was born early in the 20th century, or maybe a few years before even.  When I knew her she was well past the regular retirement age of 65 but she said that her life was work so why sit at home complaining about aches and pains.  I don't think she actually had any, though!

Margaret was a crafty person, mostly she did embroidery.  When I knew her in the mid-1970's  there were still alot of the older generation who did their own embellishments on towels, and pillowcases, on the corners of kitchen curtains, and on handkerchiefs for the "menfolk".   Margaret also made quilts.  She made them completely by hand, hand sewing all the pieces and then hand basting the layers together and finally hand quilting the layers.

It was from Margaret that I learned to baste the layers of a quilt together.  Most of my days and evening were taken up with either working at Eatons, or looking after my grade school age boys, but quiltmaking had caught hold of me even then and I was eager to learn.  Eager to Learn, especially when invited over to see how it was done!

Margaret had a small apartment in an older block on Sargent Ave, almost a studio -- a combined kitchen and living area, a bathroom and a bedroom.  When I first went to visit her in her home I realized that Margaret LOVED her hobbies -- she did not have the kind of living room that was meant for sitting and watching TV, or for visiting with groups of people.  She had a small "bistro" type of table near her kitchen with two mis-matched kitchen chairs.  She had no television.  She had a floor model radio - the kind with tubes in it, and a record player on the side -- the kind of radio made in the 1950's!

The rest of the main room was linoleum flooring with very little furniture.  She had a treadle sewing machine over near the window and dressing type of table with her scissors and wood ruler and a box with threads in it.  Nothing at all fancy.

While I was there the first time, she pulled out a sort of folding "saw horse" -- actually 4 of them -- I had never seen anything like it and have never seen it since.  She set up these 4 contraptions and then pulled out 2 long boards that had been laying on the floor along one wall.  These boards she laid on top of the contraptions so that it formed a large rectangle.  Then with my help she laid on top of the boards the backing of her next quilt -- I held one side while she clamped (using C clamps) down the other side.

The whole project, just getting the layers onto that frame, and making sure it was straight and even took all afternoon -- with a break for tea of course.

We talked of many different things, things that if asked now what they were, I would have to make up a story just to keep you interested in Margaret and to keep you wanting to hear more about her.

One of the things that I do remember so very clearly about Margaret was that she told me that she was born out on the north prairie somewhere between Winnipeg and the Peace River District in Northern Alberta.  She said that her parents had come from Scotland and landed in Boston, Mass in 1897.  Her father was looking for his own land to farm and he had applied for a homestead in the Peace River.  She said that her parents had travelled by train to Winnipeg, and from the stories that her older siblings had told her, they travelled the rest of the way in two covered wagons.  She said the followed the Yellowhead Trail and it took the family almost two years from Scotland to the Peace River!

The idea of her being born out in the middle of nowhere returns in my memories of her fairly often.  The whole idea of hand quilting and hand piecing a quilt is done by very few -- in fact Applique seems to be becoming less and less on quilts today.   When I compare the life of children born in recent years with no knowledge of what people did to achieve then what seems so easily done now.

Today, I don't know much more about Margaret except that she did embroidery and made quilts, and I imagine she is no longer on this earth as she would be into her second century if that were so.   She was one of the people who have influenced my journey in quiltmaking and even in other crafts that I do...

Do You think about those who have helped you to learn the things you want to know more about?

ungrading by instruction

You probably know that I have an Etsy store (check out the side bar and click on an item to take yourself to the store).  Etsy sends out emails on a almost too often basis -- I barely keep up!  The emails include ideas and instruction or send you to instructions of how to improve one's store.  Well, yesterdays email was the beginning of a series of how to improve the look of a store, how to get people to recognize who and what you are and what to do to get you started on that path.

So, for a change I am going to make and effort to "go with the flow" and see if I can improve "my look" and perhaps make my shop somewhat recognizeable.  The first thing was to create a banner for the shop -- and that lead me to a photo manipulating website, picnik.com which is recommended by picasa. com a great little photo storing program that I have on my computer.  Anyway, I only manipulated one photo, of some threads that I bought a few months back while I was in Winnipeg, MB at a second hand store.

My thoughts on choosing that photo is because most of what I do needs some sort of thread with which to create it, so thread seems to be part of my "branding" image.

I have also placed the same image here on this blog so as to tie the two together, to make them recognizably linked.

My banner at the top of this page has been blank for awhile, so if you have noticed that small change, I wouldn't mind if you leave a comment to let me know what you think, should it be brighter?  should it be larger? would you do something that I have not thought of?   What do you think of the chosen font?  Give me some ideas and hints if you have them...

Now back to knitting a toque...

Rediscovered Inspiration

The smallest things sometimes catch the eye and it may take a bit of time for the brain to process what it saw.  I don't mean that when you see something you don't know what it is, but it takes time to realize it's potential.  But then maybe that's just me!

At least three months back, now, I saw a knitted hat that was posted on another blog -- a toque, in my Canadian mind, is what I call it.   So I made one and I sent it off to my brother as a Christmas gift.  Then, a few days latter (mid December) my friend Doris showed me a toque, that she had decided to make, inspired from the one I had done -- except Doris went out and bought a really lovely yarn and the toque ( she actually has made 8 !) is improved upon.  The one I saw on the internet was a single rib all the way up for 11", then gathered at the top and a pompom added.  When I made my version, I did the same, and it turned out very nice -- well, I think so anyway.

Next Doris saw the toque and decided that a double rib, with a stockinette stitch at the top and decreases spaced around the hat would give it a better shape.  So, I tried that version, but my stockinette stitch at the top was done only for a few rows, and I think, even though Doris said it is an interesting way of doing it, I don't feel that it was quite right -- so back to the drawing board, as they say.

I wanted a varigated yarn and in a different project this would be my choice of colour but somehow it doesn't quite work for this toque.  So a couple of things -- not quite right yet...


Doris' version motivates me.  Doris also purchased a completely different yarn, that I couldn't see the potential of, until I saw her versions using a chunky yarn called  Charisma a Loops and Threads yarn available at Micheals Stores. 

It is just amazing how a thing develops and grows!  Amazing too, is the inspiration that one feels when such a simple thing takes hold. 

So, finally, I am working on my fourth version of this toque -- I also made one in a chocolate brown, that is for a small head, perhaps it will get sent to a nephew?

I am really loving the way this yarn creates stripes around the toque, the photo shows only about 5 inches, so there is a few hours left to see how it grows.   An old craft, of which I am having to relearn those basics, brought back and worked on and experimented with, makes life so much more interesting than always continuing to do what you know already.  I love to learn, or re-learn new things. Don't you?

Weather Stress

I don't particularly like snow -- it makes me bones ache, for one thing and it is He - double hockey sticks to work in!

Seems I may have pulled a muscle, you know the one that runs up the inside of the thigh? Yeah, that one, but I still have to go to work tonight and guess what? The weather guy says there is more snow coming!  Well, tonight I think my working partner will do all the labouring, walking through snow and I will do what I think I am best at -- supervising!

A week ago, one of my favourite walks looked like this.

The creek was a rapid flowing stream and we were getting a fair amount of rain, but I much prefer rain, cause well, the trails are not slippery and crunchy with ice that should only be seen in a tropical cocktail...
But Now we have Snow, did I say I don't like snow?  Working at night is miserable when you have to walk through the kind of mess that developes on the streets and roads -- ah, yes, for you prairie winter mavens, I do understand when you say, its not that bad, but really try keeping the car, or even just your body going down a slope with a curve.... 9 times out of ten, you maybe be backwards or on your butt at the bottom...

It's something that has to be lived through...

Then again....

 it can be very lovely under the protected cedars in the park down the road from me...

Though I am not the only one who is not happy in the snow, the towgees are scratching for any bit of fallen seed, they don't usually have a hot bowl of soup and a fireplace to put the feeties up and near to...

FOR SALE

Yes, I am clearing out some of my books and magazines -- so far I have only listed the "vintage" magazines, with still more to add, then in the next few days I will be adding some Quilting Arts Magazines and some quilting books.  Take a look by clicking on the sidebar where is says my ETSY shop and a new page will open with the items in my shop.

I have some crochet items to add and perhaps some christmas goodies on sale...

Watch for updates in my shop, Thanks -- ps send friends who might be interested, too...

Raise a Ruckus Mystery Quilt - put it all together

Ah-ha, onto the "putting it all together"...

So to take stock of what you have now to work with -- you still have the 3 1/2 inch bright squares, you have a stack of 12 1/2 inch light strips that are 3 1/2 inches wide, some plain, some with bright triangles at one end, some with bright triangles at both ends, and the stack of 4 patch in a 4 patch 12 1/2 inch square blocks.  Then depending on if you are adding an outside border that fabric is still uncut -- we will talk about that at the end...

Step One

The first part of putting things together is to make 7 long sections that will then be sewn together to make the top -- now from this point on, those making the full size will need to make 9 long sections where each section is an extra 2 blocks and two sashings in each section -- so keep that in mind because I will only be describing the putting together for the lap size or 12 block quilt now.

You will be sewing two long sections now, at the same time, these are sections 1 and 7.

You will sew, the bright 3 1/2 inch square to the plain 12 1/2 inch x 3 1/2 strips.  This long section will begin and end with the bright 3 1/2 inch squares, so bright square, to plain strip, to bright square so that there is 4 12 1/2 inch strips alternated with a bright strip...

So that it looks like the photo below, hanging off my ironing board.

You should press the bright squares so that the seam allowance is toward the bright fabric. see below.

Now you will be making two more long strips similar to the first two, except you will start with a bright square and end with a light square, then the second and second last piece will be a strip that has the triangles only at one end and so that the point is to the next bright square, not the first one, then you will sew on the bright square, then a double pointed strip, a bright square, a double pointed strip, a bright square, then a strip with only one end with point so that the point is facing toward the centre of the strip and finally a last bright square...

So, now you should have 4 sections that look like the picture just above.

These are actually strip numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7

Step Two

Now you will be sewing the blocks together with the 12" strips to make three long sections.

At this point you need to check how you want the diagonal orientation of your blocks.  For this quilt if you put them up on a design wall, or on the floor, make sure they all go the same way.

Now you will sew a plain 12 1/2" strip on the left side of a 12 1/2 inch block, next will be a one pointed strip that faces down, a 12 1/2 inch block, a one pointed strip, and do this so that you have 4 blocks and the last 12 1/2 inch strip should be a plain one.

Now that you have sewn that section together, make another so that the pointed ends are at the top of your blocks.  If you find it somewhat confusing, I often put a piece of masking tape at what is the top left corner of each block, then I know that every one is orientated the right way -- if for some reason that piece of tape ends up in the wrong corner of the sewn pieces, there is still time to undo one seam and re orientate the block so that it goes the same as all the rest.

When you are pressing the blocks to the "sashing" you should press the fabric so that it lays toward the block -- yes it is easier to do it the other way, but if you do it this way you will find that where they "sashing" joins the bright square on the cross seam they will fit together beautifully without creating a big bump.

The two "block" sections should look like the photo below.

Notice how on row 2 the sashing points are pointing down and on what is row 6 the sashing point are turned up.

The last long section is the very middle row.

You will begin this section with a plain strip, a 12 1/2 inch block, a double pointed sashing strip, a 12 1/2 inch block, a double pointed strip, a 12 1/2 inch block, a double pointed strip, a 12 1/2 inch block,  and at the end a plain sashing strip. So that it looks like the section shown below, which is row 5.

Now you will be sewing these long sections together to create the final piece top.  If you need to mark each row again, use a bit of masking tape in the top left corner so that each strip is properly orientated and

TA-DA!

 Here is the top and the end of the main instructions.

Now you have a few options, you can simply layer, quilt and bind the top as it is, or add a fairly wide border of a medium value fabric -- a large print or a themed print would be very nice.  I think my first choices of fabric may have made a nicer/sweeter quilt though, the blues that I have chosen makes this look very much like a recycled jeans project -- which is not really so bad, it makes it quite generic, I think.

I am hoping that if any of my quilt guild members have followed along that perhaps you will bring the project to our group show and tell in January??

Further away readers, I am always happy to see if you have followed along and would very much appreciate comments or an email (click on my Profile page to find how to contact me).  I will try to answer or clarify any questions you may have concerning this project.

Thanks, everyone.

Look forward to a PROJECT towards the end of February or mid March -- SPRING HAS to Come sometime for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere!

edited to add -- oh yeah, the border... I haven't added any sort of border onto my lap size quilt top, but I am thinking that a dark red at about 5" wide might give it that finishing touch, though that addition adds 10 inches to the dimenson of it and that makes it expotensionally (sp?) larger for quilting it on my machine here at home...  maybe a 1 inch framing border with a wide light colour border.... Hmmm... I think I better stop talking about borders.   It is time for tea and to read about my new keyboards and maybe push on a few of the keys?

Raise a Ruckus Mystery Quilt - part 2 sewing

Now, onto the easy sewing -- the beginner block, the Dessert.

Now you need to go to your stack of cut 3 1/2 inch squares, the light stack and the dark.

You will be sewing these two pieces together, so that you will have 48 {80} dark light rectangles as shown in the photo below.  Right sides together, and sew along one side using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  This is great practice for a beginning sewer in keeping a straight line and it also helps to over come that inherent fear of sewing through a finger as you guide the fabric along the sewing line -- I do want to say - I started using a sewing machine when I was about 7 years and now with almost 50 years of sewing ( pretty close to) I have never had the misfortune to get my finger between the needle and the fabric!  Tho' I do hear that it does happen -- just pay attention to what you are doing and don't let a commotion somewhere else in the house distract you.  It is a machine, remember.  It keeps going even if you don't keep your eyes on it!

Press (iron) these open and make sure that the seam allowance leans over the dark fabric.

Now, you should have 48 {80} dark/light rectangles that look like these two piles.  Now you will sew along the long edge here so that the dark and light are in opposite corners.  This block, in all the sewing and quilting books is called a four patch -- anywhere you go with quilting, this is usually the first block that you learn to put together -- it makes up an almost unlimited number of more complex quilt blocks.  When you make these blocks you can create anything from a diagonal pattern to animal or other biological shapes just depending on how you place the colours...

Now once you sew these, being careful to match up the seam so that the previous seam exactly matches.  When you place them right sides together the seam allowance on one will face one way and the other will face the other way, that way they will nestle together and it becomes very easy to see where they should fit together.  Use a pin at this junction if you feel that you need to, but don't sew over the pin, pull it out of the way, just before you get to the pin -- which also means, don't sew too fast!

Your next step is to make another four patch block but this time you use the four patch (s) that you have just created as part of the larger four patch.

Now you will sew your already made 4 patch(s) to your already cut 6 1/2 inch squares of medium fabric.  If you have used two different medium fabrics or a random number of these 6 1/2 inch squares, this is where you will notice if your choice of medium value fabrics are appropriate -- you do not want them to be too dark or two light!  If you are unsure as to whether you should use a certain fabric, place it beside your 4 patch block and make sure that the 6 1/2 inch square is not blending exactly with either the light or dark.   When you lay these, so that right sides are facing, make sure that each end matches up exactly, sew all the pieces the same direction.  Stack them up as show in the photo above and make sure that you sew each together the same way.

Finally, now you have 12 large rectangles with a 6 1/2 inch four patch and a 6 1/2 inch medium square sewn together -- now in the same fashion as above you will match up that centre seam, place the two rectangles right side facing and sew them together so that  either your dark squares  go from corner to corner or that your light squares go coner to corner -- which ever way you prefer -- in the final piecing together of the quilt, the "line" this creates will run diagonally across your quilt, so your eye will follow that line most strongly.  Do you want your quilt to appear more light? or dark?  In my case I wanted the darkest colour to seem the strongest.  You should now have 12 blocks that are 12 1/2 inch x 12 1/2 inch {or 20 blocks for the full size}.

For those more experienced, you may already have the idea of what this whole quilt will look like, but at this point take a little coffee break and we will continue to put all the elements already sewn together, into one quilt top.  You will be finished in a couple of hours!

What was it that occupied me yesterday?

I got a new TOY!

A keyboard!  When I was a child, I took lessons from the time I was 8 til my family moved to a farm outside the city when I was almost 11 years old.  That move effectively stopped the lessons although we still had a small piano for a while after the move, but I was not so inclined to practice and I am afraid I disappointed my Father in that my interest changed from playing piano to something more akin to thinking about "rock and roll" music that came from The Monkees and the Rolling Stones and the Beatles;  the piano was then pass along to a cousin who took up lessons (then ultimately didn't get any further than me and disappointed her parents too!)

Well, now, the time seems to have come where I actually want to re-learn what I lost so long ago...  A new thing for a new year, but not a new year's resolution.

Raise a Ruckus Mystery Quilt --sewing the pieces

Good Morning -- well at least for me it is morning -- I think that where I live is practically the last place on land before it turns to the next day!  For me, we are only a little over 9 hours into the first day of the year...

Today we can start to sew.  When I was a child my father often said to me, if I did the part of a job that I did not care for so much, then the part that I enjoyed most would be more fun -- now in just one word, I think he meant DESSERT...

So, the tedious part...

You will need to pick up 17 of the 12 1/2 inch x 3 1/2 inch pieces {31} and bring them to your sewing machine.  You will also need to count out 48 {96}of the two inch squares

In this particular case we are going to make each of the long pieces come to a "V".

In order to sew an accurate line you should mark the back of each of the 2 inch squares with one diagonal line going from corner to corner.

Next you will place a 2 inch square in one corner of the 12 1/2 inch piece so that the right side of the pieces are facing each other, and so that you can see the line you drew on the back of the 2 inch square.  Place the pieces as shown and the diagonal so that it crosses closest to the corner.

You will sew very slightly to the right (or inside) of the line, not exactly on it -- this allows for the very slight amount of fabric that is taken up when you fold over the fabric

  You can chain sew these small pieces by slightly overlapping the longer section. You will find that if you place the next piece just under the one currently being sewn you will avoid snagging or scrunching the next piece.  Sew all 17 {31} 12 1/2" x 3 1/2" pieces so that there is a 2" square sewn to one corner.

Now that you have that corner square sewn you will press it over so that it forms a triangle in one corner.

Open the folded over square and trim away the extra fabric so that it leave about the usual 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Next you will repeat the same procedure at the corner as you did with the first corner for all the 17 {31} 12 1/2" lengths.  Including the pressing and trimming.

Set aside 10 {14} of these long pieces and then sew a 2" square to the other end of each strip remaining to make double pointed ends only on 7 {17}

so now you have two stacks of sewn pieces that look like this ** there are still some of the 12 1/2 " lengths that are left plain with no sewn on corner triangles...

Just a word to ACCURACY.

If your sewn squares look like this after you have sewn and pressed them to the 12 1/2 inch lengths -- well, to put it honestly, you need to re-do it.  If the fabric behind shows up like that it means that when you cut off the back pieces, the full length will be slightly shorter, when that happens you will stuggle to stretch the pieces to other peices to be sewn later.  So to avoid stretched pieces that don't fit at all well.  Make sure that you sew slightly to the right of your drawn line.  Your corners should look like the photo below...

We will finish up the rest of the sewing before the end of the day (my day, that is) So come back in a few hours for the rest of the sewing instruction for this quilt top.

The way to start a year is not to leave things part way done, but certain other events have conspired to interfere with the time it takes to finish up the instructions today -- So please check back tomorrow and the final piecing and instructions shall be revealed!

Thank you everyone for your patience...

* and I have definately figured out a way to put this into pdf format and will let those interested when I will have completed the process... (still trying to decide if I should charge you for the 'service')