Works in Progress, end of March part one....

I have been busy this month, with so many different things!  I never really stop sewing or quilting so today's update is a bit eclectic...

Amigurumi... I don't even know how to pronounce it!  Many Many years ago, I made two crocheted teddy bears for my sons, they were a couple of the first such projects in crochet that I completed -- that was like 35 years ago...  I have not made any such thing since then.  Afghans, Scarfs, Mitts, even a sweater or two and shawls or ponchos, Til now...  I have been seeing so many creative creatures on various blogs, that I am impelled to make one!  I decided, even though I am a well experience crocheter, perhaps starting with something easy would be a good idea...

After much searching and checking out tutorials, I came upon this link http://baghisblog.blogspot.ca/2010/08/free-amigurumi-pattern-moko-cat.html
as a starting point...

Now, I am not sure if it is because I just need to put my own 'touches' onto anything that I do or if I just HAVE to do it my way, but I am making changes along the way.... Besides, I have about 40 skeins of "Rug Yarn" each skein is I think 15 yards, so not alot of each skein!  Rug Yarn is almost as fine as Sock Yarn, but without the nylon and is definitely a rougher wool, but if I recall I did get the skeins at a second hand shop for about 2 bucks!

So if you take a look at the link above, you will see that I am making a 'ginger' tabby cat, somewhat different that the original pattern and I have already shortened the arm length that is called for in the free pattern--it just seems weird to have arms longer than a body--imho-- anyway...

More on "MOKO" as this amigurumi cat progresses...

Another very long term project I have is the sprouting, planting, and carefully watching it grow, of a grocery store Avocado seed!

I am not sure what exactly possessed me to begin this but it has been immensely satisfying.  I suspect it is the satisfaction that many gardeners experience with many plants that are a challenge!  I definately am not a gardener, tho I plant geraniums and tomatoes and a few herbs on my backyard patio each year...

And my last Work in Progress for March is an experiment!  Now, you know, this has been a long hard cold winter in many parts of both Canada and the USA...  One of the things that has always affected me is dry skin.  Dry skin from head to toe and of course it is always worse in winter.  When I was a kid, my mom would try everything to help me because sometimes it was so bad the skin on my hands would split and leave awfully tender open wounds... She would have me use Vaseline, sometimes I could just slip and slide where ever i wanted to go!  She would put mayonaise in my hair because my hair was like a horse's tail, thick and brittle and strawlike!  Nothing seemed to work, even into adulthood i had problems with dry skin, hair, nails, feet, everything!  One very helpful cure was to move from Winnipeg, Manitoba to where I am now, near Vancouver, BC on the west coast of Canada...  but still winters test my skin for dry  patches...

Praise to the internet and random searching for a new "organic" skin cream!  In the past year or so I have been getting a 'reaction' to a few different face creams that I have bought that even say hypoallergenic!  I put on the product and my eyes and nose start watering -- no actual skin reaction or blotches or pimples, more like whatever evaporates off the skin cream affects my air intake.... weird.

So in an effort to find something that doesn't cause that type of reaction, I landed upon the idea of Coconut Oil!

I am sure there are other brands and other sizes, but this is my first jar -- a pint (US measure) that I bought at Winco Foods in Bellingham, WA for 6.49.  When it comes to a DEAL, this is it!  Where can you buy a good quality face or skin cream for that price?   This is GREAT!  Anyway, I have been using this on my skin for a month now and am very impressed and pleased with the results... My hands are definately loosing some of the wrinkledy feel, every toe and my heels on my feet are softened.  And no more watery eyes or nose when I use it on my face!  My new face cream!  And you can even cook with this stuff!  I suspect more people cook with it than use it on their skin tho...  but I am a convert to coconut oil on the skin!

What a varied mish mash of updates and works in progress!  What little projects do you have that surprise or satisfy you?

In a day or two, a few more updates...

I am beginning to think that most everything we do is a Work in Progress!

Work Today

That title might be a bit deceptive...  I don't actually go anywhere to work, but like more and more people I do like to think that I 'work' from home -- but not much...

I sort of follow the motto  "I'd rather be poor than work!"  which is close, but not exactly true.  I don't think I would purposely let myself fall into homelessness if a job would save me or even to social services support...

I am lucky, I have a husband who will work and work hard unlike me, who lets him!

Anyway, back to actually working...

I have spent a good part of the day today, adding to my Etsy shop.  Thing slow greatly in my shop after Christmas and I admit, I have been letting it slide.  I have not renewed or updated anything for about a month.

Most of my "products" are Vintage sewing related goods.  Buttons at the top of the list and you can see my banner at the top of my blog proudly proclaims that!

So I have added Buttons today, some pretty image buttons that would be SO cute on a little girl's Easter dress, hmmmm?

Or maybe a conglomerate of odd metallic buttons, maybe for jewelry making...

and even, dozens of what looks to me like school uniform buttons -- would you believe I have 200 of them!

Tomorrow, too, I shall be doing some more updating of my little store...  If you are interested, check out the link to my shop on the left hand side of this page...

Thanks!

The Pressing Conundrum

Now, that my sewing station has been moved and downsized, I had to find a small useful corner in which to press the seam allowances when piecing fabric...

And of course pressing the fabric itself before cutting it...

My 'studio' had a dresser that I had originally covered the top with batting layers and terry cloth along with that heat resistant batt that is used for pot holders and similar...

But my much reduced sewing area did not have that big dresser with its top area for pressing fabric -- so...

I went out and bought a 'table top ironing board'...  Ho HUM...  Made in China...  The only useful part of this unit was the metal frame.

The cotton cover was pretty much see through -- it could not last long or withstand the use I planned for it...  Under the see through cotton cover was a 1/8" thick or should it be called thin piece of a sort of plastic foam--it certainly would flatten into a piece as thin as typing paper the first time that any heat was applied...

This unit cost $17 bucks!  And of course it needed work to make it useful.

Not alot of work...

I took the thermal batt that I had previously used on my dresser top, and layed it on the cutting table...

I had some fusible quilt batt, quite firm -- It was in my scrap bin but enough to just fit the size of the ironing frame...  I layed it down on my cutting table on top of the themal batt.

Then, the ironing frame layed down so that the top covered the two layers of batting... 

Simple now, simply cut around the metal ironing frame, flip the whole thing over and replace the thin cotton cover on top... 

I plan to go with a better quality cotton top, but haven't decided which fabric in my stash that I want to look at every time I iron something, so that part is for another day!

Well, now back to sewing together my Many Trips Quilt, which is still "in progress" -- I will have progress on it to show, next week, I think...

Spring! is here!  Hope your part of the country is noticing it; if not today, very soon you will be sitting on a blanket or quilt with your fingers buried in the cool beach sand!!!

Linking up with Off the Wall Fridays -- Nina Marie Creations -- click on the "button" on the left side of my page to take a look at her own comments today and to explore the many links she is sending you to!

A Quilt Block Book

I have had a bit of a different idea for quite sometime and an opportunity to put this idea into effect seems to have presented itself...

Barbara Brackman, will be starting a series of 36 blocks in April. These blocks will have a connection with the time and stories of Jane Austen, so I was thinking that I would like to follow along and make each of the blocks that she presents on one of her blogs at http://austenfamilyalbumquilt.blogspot.ca/


Now the difference for me, is that I do not plan to create a quilt from the blocks.  I am thinking I will create a quilt block book.  I plan to make each block, as she posts them, put a border, and a binding and quilt each one, so that each block is a small finished quilt of its own.  Then I would like to sew the blocks together in pages to make a book of quilt blocks...

Thats the plan.

In the mean time, Barbara has a post where she discusses choice of fabrics and common fabric in Jane Austen's time that might be useful in thinking about the whole project.

I have too many scraps tho...  So I don't think that I will adhere to any particular colour or time constraints.  Each block that I create in this series will likely be a choice of fabrics from my stash that suits me in the moment...

Let's see how this pans out, eh?

Mind you, I have a few fabrics, that just might be a 'common' theme through the blocks in this Quilt Along --  I am definately not going with Jane Austen era fabrics and prints...   I really like that red/gold/brown and have had it for quite awhile on my "use for the next quilt" pile, so there it is again!   

Perhaps you might have the inclination to follow along with this project?  It begins April 6 and spans 36 weeks...

After a LONG Break -- Work in Progress...

Definately a stack of new projects and projects that were put aside that are now being worked on!

Now because of much furniture moving and stash reductions, I have done very little in the way of sewing, but this past weekend I have picked up a couple of project that have been sitting on the 'TO DO" shelf...

First up and first in line is the continuation of the MANY TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD "kick" that so many Modern Quilt Blogs were doing last year...  I did one small one and donated it to my guild's charitable quilts program, but still had and have many 3.5 inch squares cut from fabric scraps so picking up the idea of SPRING I am working on these 25 patch blocks... so far there are 17 blocks made, I am hoping to make 30 so that the complete quilt will measure about 75 x 90, without borders... Maybe I will do a border, maybe not...

 



Another project, that really is not my own, was given to me by a friend who is unable to complete it -- so I am tasked with the challenge of finding a solution and a setting for these applique blocks...  The applique is done with a small zig zag and the pieces were fused to the background fabric...  This is NOT my favourite method....  I am thinking that I might make these into a long narrow wall hanging, rather than a more conventional table topper or baby quilt...  Any ideas?  I am still mostly just 'THINKIN' on what and how to put these together!

 

 

 



 

Another project that really is just about done, is what I am thinking of as a cat nap mat...

Just scraps done in random strips, framed with more scraps to make a "placemat" size mat -  it is backed with a scrap bit of flannel that was just the right size.  It is destined for someone elses place tho, so I really don't know how they might choose to use it!  Only the binding is left to do on this project...

 

 

 And those Works in Progress should keep me well occupied for a while!  Here's hoping that they progress to the point of FINISH!

Friday Finish...

I have had an ongoing project for the past few weeks and during that time because it involved moving my sewing stuff, I could not do any sewing...  So there is no new projects to show... YET.

I, with the assistance, meaning muscle, from my hubby and favourite son, have been moving things and ROOM purposes around.  It is one thing to move the furniture in a room, but quite another to change a room's purpose!  For 10 years I have used an upstairs bedroom as my sewing studio and totally loved it!  But as times change so do needs and my focus on sewing has changed to such a point that I felt that I no longer needed a room dedicated to sewing. 

My 'stash' is much reduced and I am feeling somewhat of a relief that there is not so many pending or possible projects that 'might have been'.  For the longest time, the inclination was to purchase a meter or two for SOMEDAY and SOMETHING, but like someone said awhile back, "there is more fabric there than I can use in a lifetime!" and just that fact began to weigh on my mind!  I have kept in my stash, only that which I expect to use within a reasonable amount of time -- as it was I had dated fabrics that would have never been used unless I waited another 20 or 30 years and made a VINTAGE quilt...

I wanted a room to myself...  A place where I can do "peaceful' things, a quiet room, a personal room.  Maybe it is age that makes me crave alone time...  Maybe it is just me.   So the whole project involved THREE ROOMS.   The shared bedroom, the living room, and the former sewing room.

 

My OWN ROOM...  It is still in need of sprucing up, some pretty frilly curtains and some paint, lavender I am thinking...  I have a recliner to sit or nap in, my lap top computer to read blogs, a stereo to listen to Harry Connick, Jr on, and even a small collection of yarn to keep my hands busy when I am in the mood to just daydream...

The LIVING ROOM has become the all purpose room, it includes a TV along with a comfy recliner for tv watching -- no couch, tho -- sewing machine and cutting table along with some fabric on bookshelves in baskets, it includes the treadmill - for walking on rainy days; the computer and household accounting/record keeping, photo organizing centre. 

 

And plans to repaint -- I do love that spring green, but it has been this colour for about 6 years now and time for a change...

Maybe the Living Room could be called the Family Room, tho there are only three of us (all adults) in this townhouse. so family room, too. is a misnomer because we all do not gather at the same time in that room...

And now, because I have my own sanctuary, the BEDROOM has become somewhat more masculine, you do not see the thrown about clothes or the crusty socks in this photo, but that is what he seems to be happy with, his own stereo too -- he seems stuck on the "golden oldies" of the 60's and 70's -- a tv that he leaves on whether he is asleep or even gone to work, and of course the dog and both cats who he happily shares the bed with...

 

Still, tho, the room is crowded with quilts, which makes the masculinity of the room not so obvious!  The only change he wants is a bedside lamp instead of the tall lamp you see, so next time we are out and about perhaps a small lamp will present itself???

 

I cannot show you the before photos, I did not think to take them, but suffice to say, the whole project involved moving three recliners, a couple of shelving units and all the stuff on them, a dresser or two, contents of closets, stereos and all that goes with them... Oh and all the sewing stuff! (there were quite a number of boxes and bags taken to either recycling or donated to thrift shops)

 

Now, we are settled into our change and it appears to be making everyone happy!  When you move house, you tend to get rid of what you don't want to move, but we haven't moved in 10 years, so it was definately time to do a complete house run through and clear out the things that no longer had a use! 

 

So even though this house is not arranged in a way that most homes are expected to be, I think it suits us and especially me, quite fine!