Up-Cycle More Towels - a Bath Mat Tutorial

Well, I did say I had another use for that huge bag of towels.  This project uses one bath towel and I thought I would make this a tutorial so that you can take one of those beginning-to-shred-along-the-edges towel and extend it's life. 
There are about 16 pictures but I am hoping I can keep the words to a minimum.  This project is a basic one and with the tools and supplies should not be more than a hour or so...

What you need

Sewing machine and all that goes with it.  A walking foot for your machine is especially useful for this project.
Thread, the same colour as your towel.
1 Large bath Towel
3/4 of a meter of cotton fabric
Iron and Ironing Board
Rotary Cutter, Mat and Ruler
Straight Pins

The Project

Step One:

If your towel has that sort of gathered band at each end, cut that off each end because you need the towel to lay flat.  If your towel is plain, just trim off the small bound edges at top and bottom.
Trim any frayed edges along the side.

Step Two:
Fold your towel in half so that the short ends touch and it makes a almost square rectangle (well, it is hard to make a square rectangle, or is a rectangle a square? anyway...)

Give a bit of a press to the towel and pin it all around so that it keeps the edges in line.

Step Three:

Back to the Cutting Table.  Cut two strips, 6 inches wide the length of your fabric. (if you did not have to cut off the gathered edge, you will need to cut 3 strips that are 6 inches wide, because your mat will be about 4 to 6 inches larger than if the gathered part is cut)

Take these strips and sew them together to make one long strip -at least 90 inches long - press the seam open.  Then press the strip in half lengthwise so that now it is 90 or more inches long and about 3 inches wide.
Set this aside for a few minutes.

Now cut 1 strip that is 3 inches wide and the length of the fabric.
Press a 1/4 to 1/2 inch turn under edge the length of the strip on both sides.  This is the decorative feature.

(sorry I forgot to take a picture so I hope you know what I mean!)

Step Four:

Pin the 3 inch wide strip across your folded over towel about 6 inches from one end of the towel.

Sew along the edge of the strip to secure it to the towel and at the same time "quilt" the layers together.  Sew the other side of this strip and then place another strip at the other end of the folded over towel (go to the end of the tutorial to see exactly what I mean, if you need to.

Then when you have both strips sewn to what is now the TOP of your BATH MAT.  Sew some "quilting" lines between the strips, about 3 to 4 inches apart.  This helps to hold the layers together better and makes the Mat a bit stronger and easier to wash.

Step Five: 

Now you will take the other section of fabric that you sewed into a long strip -- this will be your binding.   Starting part way along one of the long sides and with the back of the Mat facing up.  Sew the binding strip all around the outside edge of the Mat.  Make sure you get the binding strip and both layers of the towel.   This is much the same as doing binding on a quilt.   If you have not done this before, here is a link to a tutorial for binding a quilt.

http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/photos/continuous_quiltbinding/index.html

or

http://www.sewinspiredblog.com/2007/09/quilt-binding-tutorial.html

Now the binding edge for the bath mat allows for a decorative wide edge - about 2 1/2 inches on the front so when you sew the binding to the back of the quilt first you will have this wide bit of fabric when you turn over to the top.

Much like the instructions of how to do continuous quilt binding you will turn the edge and pin it, but there is no need to sew it by hand.  In fact it will be much more secure to machine sew it.

As you are sewing the front of the binding to your bath mat, when you approach the corner, make sure that the corner is pulled snuggly straight 

Take advantage of the natural lay of the fabric and as you come to the corner, bring the edge over at the corner to form a neat miter.  Pin in place so that it doesn't slip and turn the corner.   

You can at this point sew along the folded miter or go back to it later -- but don't forget to sew that little extra bit!

 

Finally sew around your bath mat about 1 inch from the edge, this helps to keep the binding straight and avoids bunching up when you wash the mat. 

One thing to make sure of is that the beginning and ending of all your "quilting" or sewn lines be backtacked -- meaning when you finish sewing a line, reverse stitch for a couple of stitches.  This practice helps to keep the whole thing together when washing.  A bath Mat is wash fairly regularly and if the stitching is not well secured you might find seams unravelling before you want them to...

And Now...

As you can see that folded over towel turned bath mat fits nicely in my bathroom.  It is just the right size for feet to step out of the shower onto.

Let me know if you try this out.   You will never have to pay for a $20 retail bath mat again!

Up-cycling those Free Towels

You may remember this post, where I wrote about a huge bag of used towels given to me a while back...

Well, I have been thinking about useful uses for them.

Also the other day, I told you about a channel changer "caddy" that I made for the side of my husbands easy chair.   So, slightly expanding on his version, I decided to make one for my TV watching/knitting/crocheting chair.

One of the things that irritated me about the "caddy" that I had on my chair previously was that it kept slipping down and sometimes even fell off -- Now the idea is to make the over-the-arm length of the caddy long enough to fit a bit under the chair cushion so that when you sit down you are actually holding it all in place with your BUM...  But my chair is motorized -- I was pretty sick awhile back and practically didn't move out of the chair for about 6 months (twice!) so the lift chair really helped when I did have to get up to go you-know-where...   Anyway, because it is motorized the over-the-arm section cannot go under the cushion very far.

The solution?  Instead of a piece of fabric of both sides of some form of batting, I took one of those towels and simply put all the pockets and one piece of fabric on it.  The terry cloth that the towel is made of works beautifully to help "hold" the "caddy" in place at the side of my chair!

I also think that because it is terry cloth, if there happens to be a spill the terry cloth would absorb the spill quicker - allowing less mess to seep through to the upholstry and hopefully allowing for an easier clean up.  

The terry cloth and the cotton fabric  pockets make this home accessory an easy to wash and useful organizer.

I made pockets to hold the instruction sheets for things I may be knitting or crocheting and even a folded over magazine or notebook can fit in the wider pockets.  Three smaller pockets hold the chair's controller, and the two remote controls for the TV/DVD, and even a few little slots for crochet hooks and pens or small scissors.  Everything at my fingertips!

Now, as a last little note about this chair caddy, is that I somehow seem to be attracted to 1970's fabric and then I think about it and wonder why I picked it up -- which most often I find for a "minimal" price in one or the other of the second hand stores in town.  But this Blue.  It's pretty ugly, if I may say so myself. 

I have another couple of meters of this stuff!  I have to get it used up, it is beginning to make my eyes sore!   Which is why I wonder what possessed me to use it for this project?  Well, my explaination is because often on the first try, self-designed items don't work out and you (me) don't want to waste fabric that cost just barely less than a twenty dollar bill...  Now I have to look at it every day, every night and every time I walk past the chair....  Perhaps after a while it will not look so ugly, or perhaps I will find a couple of hours to remake this chair caddy in something that is nicer to look at.  Except that leaves the dilemna -- after being so proud of my self for finding another use for the bag of towels, it just wouldn't be proper? to discard what has already been given its second chance!   I'm sure I will get used to it, I must have liked the fabric when I first saw it, or was it the $1. price tag that attracted me?

Tomorrow -- or the next day -- ANOTHER project using those towels!

Sunday Flea Market Finds

On a whim, we decided to head over to the flea market today -- we have one at the Ag-Rec Grounds here in Abbotsford most every Sunday.  We go for the exercise and the "just in case" I find something useful.

Today, a couple of good buys...

Two, really large planters -- especially nice that they will go with the patio deck floor and less than half the price in the garden stores 2 months from now when everybody will be looking for backyard and garden supplies -- Definately a good idea to get these way before they are needed come May!

And Yarn...  A good quality Bernat acrylic yarn, a chunky and soft -- should make some nice hats and scarf sets for next winter -- so I have a summer full of knitting.. These, a great deal at $1 a ball.  This particular yarn is discontinued by the manufacturer, but grey and blue, I am hoping will always be colours that someone wants...

Speaking of Gardens...

Not quite at the end of February and here in the Fraser  Valley my perenial herbs are starting to come up out of their hiding places...

The chives are well up, almost able to snip a few bits maybe.

and Sage, which I had thought was done for as all the stalks had turned dry and brittle and leaves had all fallen off, but now I notice they too are pushing up thro the deadfall and coming up with that soft fuzzy green...

I am now going to be watching daily to see what others start to poke through...

Maintenance Sewing

Sometimes sewing comes down to a JOB...

Pearl, because she is a young dog, has a few naughty things she does and one of them is carrying channel changers off into a corner to chew - especially when SOMEONE (there is only one other someone who lives with me) leaves these indispensible tools laying about on chair seats or bottom shelves...

Now, she is usually pretty good when she sits in the back seat of the car because the whole point to getting in the car is to get out again and walk, run, jump, meet up with old and new buddies at the park and generally use up her abundant energy at anything but chewing channel changers...

So, today, I did some rescue sewing so that the SOMEONE could easily keep track of his channel changers and tv turn off and onners.  I have one on my chair made a year or two ago, but of course it is too pretty and flowery for that SOMEONE...

                                             The TV, off and no one in the chair...

Ahhhhh....  Perfect, even made in appropriate fabric -- CFL (Canadian Football Vintage )  Definately the correct image for a Football, Baseball, Hockey watchin' MAN and just lucky it keeps the channel changers handy and for some strange reason out of Pearl's range of places to sneak things to chew -- I don't quite know what kind of boundaries dogs, or this dog has, but she will take the item from the seat of the chair but not from the pocket of the channel changer keeper...  I HOPE..

So, that job done, I am taking a day off from sewing or knitting or crocheting for the shop.  We are off to a little town west of us Ft. Langley where there is a great picnic spot alongside the Fraser River -- if the wind is not too cold and around the block a pretty little quilt shop...  Oh and of course the dog park, where Pearl will surely get her fill of adventure...

How and Who 4

In talking via email with a neice, I was reminded of the embroidery work that my my mother-in-law spent many hours creating.  She took up this type of Embroidery in the late 1970's and continued to make a variety of pictures, embellishment on quilts, as features on the top of trinket boxes and other things. I had not seen this kind of embroidery work before - she called it Brazillian Embroidery and had taken some classes though a group that she was active in.

 Brazillian Embroidery is a dimensional system of creating knotted work that became tiny flowers and textured miniature leaves.  The threads were shiny rayon and she had to order them specifically for this type of embroidery.

I have not ever seen anyone else do this type of embroidery -- but of course there has to be others, for where else would she learn it -- and it's popularity is enough that there are web sites and online supply stores specifically for the rayon threads that are used.  Here are a couple of links if you wish to investigate this type of stitching a bit further.

http://www.brazilian-dimensional-embroidery.org/getting_started.htm

http://www.brazilian-dimensional-embroidery.org/

This is what Wikipedia says about Brazillian Embroidery.

Brazilian embroidery is a type of surface embroidery that uses rayon thread instead of cotton or wool. It is called "Brazilian" embroidery because the use of high-sheen rayon thread in embroidery was first popularized in Brazil, where rayon was widely manufactured. Brazilian embroidery patterns usually include flowers formed using both knotted and cast on stitches. Although many of these stitches are used in other forms of embroidery, the technique used to create them is slightly different.



The difference is caused by the method used to manufacture the rayon thread. For example, cotton thread uses an S twist when the fiber plies are combined into a strand. Rayon thread uses a Z twist. One type of twist turns the fiber plies clockwise; the other turns them counterclockwise. When forming the knots of Brazilian embroidery, the embroiderer must wrap the thread onto the needle in the opposite direction from that used in other types of embroidery. Otherwise the fibers of the thread will unravel and make the resulting stitches and knots unattractive

I used to keep a couple of the stitcheries that she made on the wall in various rooms, but over the years they got switched out with other things -- but sentamentality made me keep the things of her that I had been given.

So I went looking for the pieces that my mother-in-law had given me in the years that I knew her.  I know that together we created a piece that I entered in a guild quilt show - at least 10 years or more ago and it came home with a third place ribbon.  I think it received that ribbon because of her beautiful stitchery, not because of my quilting...

I am lucky enough to have been given some examples of her lovely work and even though I did not take up this form of stitchery to great expertise it took me into silk ribbon embroidery that I used fairly often on some of my crazy quilts or blocks.

The next few photos are close up images of the different flowers that she did on the little round "Plaque" above.  Everytime I look at those stitches I am amazed at how she twisted and knotted the threads  so carefully and intricately to create those tiny flowers.

Aren't they lovely?  I am so glad that I had people in my life willing to take the time to show me these crafts and often how to do them...

Sometimes as a daughter-in-law, I did not see eye to eye with my husband's mother, but I certainly admire her skill as a stitch artist!  She was so very meticullous about the way she worked and I am glad she was generous enough to share her work.  Now all these years later, I appreciate them so much !

Work and Reward

Day to day stuff...

No matter who you are there are things that get done everyday.  Most of the time it is washing dishes and making beds, sweeping floors and wiping counters.  In a way I do enjoy those things, the things that you do over and over and over again.  But no one really gets excited about those hum-drum things cause everybody does it (or someone does it for them) and nobody talks about it or gets excited about it.

I remember my Mother showing me exactly how to wipe a counter top -- don't just swish the rag back and forth! No, you sorta go in half circles working your way to the edge and allowing the cloth to gather all the crumbs and bits til you get to the edge and carefully dump it into your other waiting hand.  Now I do it that way, and I am sure you likely do to!

Now, today though along with those hum-drum sorts of things I have managed to fit a few rewards in with all the work!

Not yesterday, but the evening before, I started to knit another toque...
For some reason I kept counting wrong and the 64 stitches that I was supposed to cast on, was 63, so I took it apart and started again -- it's amazing how long it takes to cast on stitches and to knit the first couple of rounds!

I took the work in progress with me to a meeting where I sat in a chair for a couple of hours listening to people talk about quilting (My quilt guild meeting, actually)  I surprised myself how quickly I was able to knit up this toque, because this morning, I knitted the last few rows while I read through some blogs before breakfast...

{I had no model on hand so the big crochet rock on my balcony served as model for the new toque}

As I was saying I was at my quilt guild meeting on Tuesday.  One of the "features" of our meeting is a Give and Take table -- I always check it!  And there was a shoebox full of cut squares, all about 3" square or so.  Now, I sure didn't need a whole shoebox (in fact a boot size box) of fabric.  I started looking though the squares and noticed that there were some very interesting OLD or perhaps you could call it Vintage fabrics.  I love old stuff!   So I picked out a good handful of a variety of the older fabrics and trundled back to my seat not looking at them again until I got home quite some time later...

Interesting selection of little squares there, except there was a problem... 

Can you see?  Every single one was not quite right, some were 3 inches and a bit one way and 3 inches or less the other way or more that 3 1/4 inches, many of them lop-sided as the square above -- do you see?  Aw, Well, I decided I really liked the combinations of those old fabrics, so I took the time and trimmed the squares down to 2 1/2 inches square.  Now I suspect that these old fabrics had been in a drawer or a box since before we had rotary cutters, rulers and mats and that these had been scissor cut, with a bit of a slip now and then...

I stacked up the finished recut squares and since I did not take too, too many I decided to just put them all together randomly, created a border or two and call it complete.   Quilted simply with a cross-hatch design all over, I found another older fabric to use for binding and got that little project done before lunch time!

Both the toque and the little quilt will be going into my ETSY store (click on the sidebar where it says ETSY if you would like to know more)

You would think that was enough work and rewards for one day, eh?  Well, not so...

The word has been going around that McDonalds (yeah, the big Yellow M) was giving away Buttermilk biscuits yesterday and today.

Well, now, one of my favourite quick homemade snacks is Tea Biscuits, or some call it Short Bread or Quick Bread.  I don't have the inclination to go to a fast food place with all the noise and line-ups so I decided I can make a batch of Buttermilk Biscuits fancied up for practically the same price that McDonalds is charging AND I can have more that ONE!

I got out my Mom's old recipe book, not because other books don't have a Tea Biscuit Recipe but because I like to use her cookbook and remember learning about baking and cooking along side her, many many years ago (about the same era as those 'vintage' fabrics are from in the first part of my little story)

So I put the ingredients all together, rolled them and cut them and put them on the baking tray.

Into, and then out of the oven...

By the way, my homemade "Buttermilk Biscuits" are fancied up with chopped prunes and a pinch or two of cinnamon -- try to get that at a fast food joint!  And I would bet the homemade version here has far fewer calories than the FREE ones...

Finally onto a plate with too much butter, and apple and a bowl of soup for lunch...

Whew!

Now I wonder what is on TV this afternoon?

Raise a Ruckus Mystery Quilt online and printable!

Some things take a bit of time to figure out...

To make things easier for you, when I create a Mystery Quilt, I have been trying to make it so that you can print the instructions by each step without having to run back and forth to the computer...

So if you would test out this for me, and leave a comment below (I am going to make it easy so that anyone can comment -- no signing in) and let me know how the system works for you.

Please click right HERE then let me know if you were taken to the site where the 5 pdf files for the mystery quilt open on your computer.   You probably need to click on each of the five parts to print them out one at a time if you want to.  For now, though, unless you really want the instructions I would greatly appreciate it if you can take the time to let me know if this works for you.

a pile of toques

Ah, yes! Those Canadian knitted hats...

Keeping my fingers very busy -- these toques will be in the shop by Monday Morning...

I think I like them better without the pompom...

What do you think?

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?