Works in Progress - How things Progress!

Right now I have a few projects finished up and a few  more that are well, you might say, IN PROGRESS....

The Done One is the pillow from a t-shirt project that I have had in my sewing room for at least 6 weeks and I kept studying it and thinking on it -- I was unusually determined to make it Perfectly Right so I did alot of thinking on it and making those little decisions about a project that can make a huge difference.  One decision was to go and buy the inside 'rope' that you get to make a cording around the edge of a cushion.  It was a bit more difficult to work with because of its stiffness, (as compared to my created cord of crochet cotton yarn) but I am really glad I made that choice because it gives a better definition to the edge of the cushion.  Another decision I made was to use two layers of fusible interfacing on the t-shirt so that it would hold it straight and firm -- and that was a good decision too, because this t-shirt has been worn and was slightly stretched at the lower front and had a teeny tiny hole in the fabric!

Now, working my way back, to the projects that are closest to being done...

They all are actually in the just beginning stages but some are much more 'ongoing' than others.

I am still enarmoured of the 'Many Trips Around the World" quilts and so have been working on blocks to create another quilt top to donate to my guild's charitable quilts program.   Even tho I took the time to sort through the two shoe boxes of 3.5 inch squares for just the pinks and greens, there is probably still alot of pink and green squares, so I am thinking that I will do a narrow dark green border on this and then randomly add pink and green squares to create an outside border.  This will make it a nice size quilt for a twin bed....

 

And of course I almost always have something growing with yarn and the crochet hook -- a granny square/ round motif afghan.

 

I saw, on Pinterest -- actually my cousin Judi sent me the link - an afghan made of very colourful circles surrounded by white - It has been preying on my mind now for weeks!  In fact in a previous post on this blog I complained how difficult it is to find bright clear yarn colours here in BC....  So I grabbed the opportunity to go with another cousin, Cindy down to Bellingham, WA last week and was able to pick up some brighter colours than are found around home...

 

I was thinking that I would use a cream as the background/connecting colour but now I see two blocks put together, the cream "muddies" up the brights, so I am going to change that to white, before it progresses any further...

 

Still to add to this pile of part dones are pink and red, and pink and burgundy, lavender and purple and light and dark blue.

 

 

And there are things that are barely off the "drawing board"!  Both of these projects are drawn by me on scraps of paper and are from a couple of other Blogs on the internet.  The first is a Woven Square Quilt Block - and handily it uses 3.5 inch squares and 3.5 x 6.5 inch rectangles and is on Sew Happy Geek from way back in January 2012  (click on the underlined bit and it will take you directly to a tutorial of this block)   I am just doing the Woven Squares, not the whole sampler style project, tho.

 

 

 

And the other Work in Progress is still on Paper, nothing cut and no fabrics chosen but it is one of those that will wiggle its way into my head and I will have to do at least a few blocks just to see how it works!  It too comes from a blog post more than 6 months old which is at What Comes Next and it too is a tutorial which makes it so easy to get done that much sooner since I won't have to figure out measurements, etc.  AND What Comes Next is practically my Neighbour, just west of me in New Westminster, BC!  So check out this idea and perhaps try it out for yourself!

 

 

There is just no end to what is happening around this house!

 

I would include a photo or two of the Forsythia and the Daffodils beginning to bloom here in the Fraser Valley, but my Niece in Winnipeg, Manitoba is fed up with my bragging about the beautiful weather here while the snow blows and everyones toes are getting frosty still...  Soon Winnipeg, soon the green grass and mosquito hordes will be upon you! hahaha...

 

The Afternoon Nap

I have an interesting mix of humanity and creatures in my household...  I have a very peaceful household...  Everyone seems to enjoy the company of everyone else...

Figuring out how Bloglovin Works...

Follow">http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5665503/?claim=9ffeg9z3y6u">Follow my blog with Bloglovin

As many of you know Google reader is ending at the beginning of July and even tho I have not really got into using Google Reader I thought if many of you have you might find it convenient to be able to follow my blog in the NEW BLOGLOVIN which seems to be very similar to google reader.  Anyway, just over there on the sidebar is the button to use to follow my blog, if you are so inclined...

If you have not yet registered with bloglovin, simply go to http://www.bloglovin.com and follow the prompts to register.  It is just a bit more complicated if you are a blog and want a button so others will follow you, but I found it, and so can you...  no, really it is easy...  Go take a look.

If You went to a Retail Store...

What would you pay?

For a Leather IPad case?

 

Some time ago, I bought a leather skirt at a thrift shop and took the panels apart. The skirt cost me a shocking $7! And yes it is real leather, not a man made material that imitates leather...  Now a bit of that lovely skirt, is partially remade into an ipad case.

And.

So simple to make!  I did buy a pack of Leather needles to use in the sewing machine so that was $6 but of course there was 5 needles and I can use them again and again.  I simply measured the size of the ipad and added an inch all around.  I cut the two squares of leather and then using heavy duty Heat n Bond, fused flannel squares cut to the same size as the leather for the inside 'lining'.  I then sewed around three sides, made a leather overflap and added a decorative bit of fabric on the edge, then a button to close the flap and VOILA`!!  I have a Ipad case...

Took me about 30 minutes including sewing on the button...

 

There is still alot of leather to be used from that skirt -- I'm gonna have to think up things that want to be made in leather.

FINALLY - the SB Quilt Tutorial!

just click on where it says Tutorial - Sidy Blocks Quilt...  Pictures and words to help you create Three different sizes of this quilt pattern.  Enjoy!  or if you don't see the tab just clik on this link...

http://susanbeingsnippy.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html

Work in Progress - And Done

I'm working on ANOTHER "many trips around the world", this one using up the pinks and greens in my TWO shoeboxes full of 3.5 inch squares... 

It can be a bit tricky to keep the colours in order and in their diagonal line, so I made up one block and tacked it on the cork board that I keep just behind my sewing space -- along with the instructions, patterns or other works in progress details so that they don't drift too far from where they need to be handy!

So far, I have got a bit of a stack of the pinks and greens and I still have alot of squares to use up -- and you do know how "one thing leads to another" -- well, I am sorting the blues and browns into piles in preparation for the next 'many trips'!  This has become quite the addictive block!

 

The unpressed stack! It grows so very quickly and once you get going the thought process is almost automatic -- tho I do have to admit, I did have to do a bit of frogstitching when I just got too far in the ZEN moment...

 

 

I think another 4 blocks will make a nice size couch throw, but there are probably enough pink and green 3.5 inch squares cut to make another 11 blocks for a good sized twin...  I guess it depends on when I get tired of looking at pink and green, eh?

 

And finally a finish on a quilt that I can't think of a name for, but my friend Helen keeps calling it an SB quilt!  Flattering and I may just leave it at that -- she has already done a few of them and I keep promising a tutorial with size variations -- later this week I hope.  Just other more pressing things in life than playing on the computer...

 

 

And of course, Walter must get his two bits into the story, so there he is inspecting my piecing and quilting.

 

Oh, by the way, you might notice that the quilt is hanging over a dresser.  Recently I had a mishap with my ironing board -- it collapsed!  Which was not unexpected actually.   A couple years back I was walking along my street and there was an old ironing board sitting by a big blue garbage bin -- being the scrounge queen that I am, I made my DH go get it and bring it home, the ironing board, not the garbage bin, that is.  There was nothing wrong with it and it worked very well this past couple of years, but I suspect there was just too many times of Walter jumping up on it and so the latch that holds up the thing gave away....  So now after that big long story, I decided to bring an unused dresser into the sewing room, which, with adding stapled padding to the top has now become my new ironing board but also allows 6 drawers of storage space underneath it! Nice!

 

Hope y'all are having an very creative week! And are you visiting the "Beat the Winter Blues" Blog Hop? Lotsa giveaways, and some very nice blogs to check out! And of course don't forget the weekly Wednesday Works in Progress link up at the Needle and Thread Network -- all Canadian Blogs

 

 

March is Crochet Month - Sunday Afternoon...

What else to do on a quiet Sunday afternoon but to crochet granny squares together, into what will soon by a child size coverlet.

 

And to do it while watching The newest episode of the Mentalist, and to run to the kitchen during commercials to make a pot of Chili for the Men when they get home from work.  (We don't get normal weekends in this house -- work is done when it is scheduled...)

Do you have a project on the go for Crochet Month?

Work in Progress -- Button Edition

Actually I am pretty much done with these buttons, just a few touch-ups -- although I kinda wonder WHY?

That is, why did I do either of these projects...

I have BUTTONS, Buttons, and more buttons!  Actually alot of them are quite old or fancy so I package them up and sell them in my ETSY store, but many are just plain ole buttons, the leftovers from sweaters and shirts and a few from coats and other ones when you buy six and you only need 4 -- you know that sort of thing...

Well, also being somewhat addicted to Pinterest, I have one of my "boards" as BUTTONS and looking through them the other day, I thought " I CAN DO THAT!" even though I really didn't need to and it took up time where I could have been vacuuming the stairs or dusting the ornaments or even washing the pots and pans, but instead I chose to play with buttons....

 

Not only buttons but a bunch of old costume jewellery that my Aunt gave me last summer -- those earrings and pendants really add bling to the buttons!

 

 

And really, do I need a reused peanut butter jar (painted on the inside with beige acrylic paint) with dozens of these things glued on?  HMMMMM....  I did have in mind that it might make a chunky vase for the occassional live flowers that find their way into my house, but then do the flowers want to compete with fake diamonds?

 

 

And then I was surfin' through some web sites and came across a quilt of 'canning' jars -- You've seen them, right? the jar shape with printed fabric with a variety of food prints or bug prints or...

And it crossed my mind why don't I do that and sew real buttons onto the jar shape... 

 

 

Does it need more buttons or not?

 

I can't seem to get a straight answer from the Quilt Inspector, Walter...

 

 

 

 

 

Work in Progress - Backlog!

Okay, time to admit there are some very old Works in Progress...

The first one is not that much of a "hidden in my closet WIP", but one that I got in a box of goodies that my Aunt sent to me about 3 years ago that was hidden in her closet for many years!  It was a single quilt block of a pattern that I had never seen before. 

It is quite a challenging design and with no instruction or pattern other than the block, I am going to have to first recreate it so that I can make copies.   The fabrics that it is made of goes WAY BACK I think to the early 1960's or 1950's.   I plan to draw this one out and make at least one new block in the coming week...  I think this would be really exciting to see done in some of those bright MODERN prints.  I may have to search out a few fat quarters from my LQS to get started on this one.

 

My second Work in Progress, is admittedly not even started yet, but it has been sitting on my work table for almost three weeks now.  It is a project for my cousin Peggy - and well, she did say there is no rush, but I don't think she meant it could wait for years -- so this one is definately inline for being worked on AND finished, hopefully by the weekend.  Making a couple of nostalgic BEATLES t-shirts into cushion covers for her Beatles themed guest room in her house...  Soon Peggy, soon, I promise!

 

 

And lastly but the largest and longest in progress is a group of blocks from, I think at least 5 years back...

 

 

I am part of an online loosely woven quilting group - we call ourselves RBQ (rather be quilting) and we have been emailing back and forth I think for close to ten years now!  And I have never met any of the ladies in person, but we have become quite intimate with our everyday lives, husband troubles, car troubles, trips to africa, and even a new baby born (quite some time ago, now)address changes and downsizing housing....  Anyway. a few years back we exchanged house blocks, my blocks have been stagnating in a basket that I uncovered the the other day when I was cleaning up the sewing room....

 

 

I am determined to get them put together before SPRING! I have in my mind a long narrow vertical orientated wall hanging, with winding applique leaves between the blocks and maybe a bit of embroidery or embellishements added as I progress with it...

 

Whew, I best get going on these!

I am linking up with a new linky party I found at I have to say.... 

and

to the Needle and Thread Network

Big Chunky

Yeah, well, that doesn't mean me!

A couple of days ago I went to visit one of my favourite crochet blogs  at http://fiddlyfingers.blogspot.ca/2013/02/spin-yarn.html and was instantly inspired!  Fiddly Fingers is in the UK and has some unique projects...  I'll let you visit and discover some of her other stuff for yourself (after you finish reading this post, of course)

My friend Doris gave me some really chunky yarn that she had picked up from someone else and could not find a good use for, so silly me took it and stuck it on a shelf behind my TV watchin' Chair...

Well, when I saw FiddlyFingers blog post, I remembered the super chunky yarn that seemed to have no good purpose and realized, it had found its purpose....

So.

 

 

An adventure in super chunky crochet, plus adding a regular worsted weight yarn, just to add another element...

The end result being a chunky crochet basket, and as luck would have it, not just any basket, but a basket that perfectly fit around a cookie tin...

 

Cheap cookies from Christmas time, with only the empty tin still hanging about the house...

 

 

The crochet basket, before it found that cookie tin...

 

And finally the cookie tin, combined with the crochet basket...  The lid to the tin will probably go into the recycle bin and the tin and basket looks like it will find a use in my sewing room, to hold some of my smaller notions, like sewing machine feet, needle packs and maybe a few other bits...

Now those balls of chunky yarn need not haunt me for another day, as they have found their rightful place in the world...

Thanks Fiddly Fingers!!

Liebster Award

I was recently given a Liebster Award, and being the Curious Cat that I am I wanted to know a bit more about this award...  The main thing that I found out about it is that it is an award after my own heart - there are no rules!  Really! There ARE rules that have evolved and like a whispered sentence in the ear going around a room, by the time it has gone through 10 or so ears and voices it has changed its message...

So, Margaret at http://www.margaretblank.com/ sent me this award and I am accepting it, but on my  own terms and on my own rules, because really, there are no rules!

At one time to get this award you needed to have fewer than 2000 followers, now it seems you need to have fewer than 200, someone lost a zero along the way...

Another rule was that you have to pass the AWARD onto 11 other blogs, originally it was 3 blogs, but remember there are no rules, so since I like very much to ignore or alter rules, I will let you grab the AWARD only if you want it, so leave a link to your blog in my comments, and grab the 'button" and write your AWARD post as you please!

Another rule is that you need to say 11  random things about yourself, well, since I talk too much and blab any and all details if someone will listen theres not alot of things that you probably haven't read before if you read this blog regularly....  But then too, I can keep quiet and listen especially if I am learning while listening!  Hey, does that count as two random things?  Sure it does, cause, There are no rules!

 

Walter

 

Archie

Oh, and I like my cats.

I love to sew triangles together - any colours and any combinations - you can never run out of ways to organize triangles!

 

Now if you are wondering where I got this notion of there being no rules to the Liebster Award, here is a link to a blog where the research has been done...

 

http://sopphey.onimpression.com/2012/05/liebster-blog-award-origins.html

 

 

and it makes me happy that I did not have to work too hard to change the RULES of accepting this award, and making it way less work that it at first appeared to be!

I'm lazy, thats another random thing about me...

Have a great Sunday!

Thunks 2013 - #1

What are Thunks?

It is a word that I have used in my own head for things that I have THUNK up sometime in the past but have not usually got around to actually doing...

So, On irregular posts for this year, I am going to give the name to odd quilts and or quilt tops that I have perhaps started and then changed to something else and then maybe even had to evolve them  into something mostly different than what it started out as -- usually because of not quite enough fabric of one kind or another, or because I stole fabric from one project to use in another and then the first project became rather DISJOINTED.

All the Thunks for 2013 will be donated to my quilt guild's charitable quilts program...

THUNK #1

 

Not enought blocks of one colourway and a few extras of the other...  The inside border is 2 inch wide christmas reds - three different prints and a 4" wide outside border.  This quilt top measures about 48 inches x 58 inches.

 

A bit odd but still those colours seem to work okay.  A good finish anyway.

 

And it's Valentine's Day, did you get flowers? or chocolate?

 

My husband got busy and started painting the hall and basement entrance area of our townhouse -- it has been unpainted drywall for 8 years...

My Other Life

I have been neglecting the sewing machine (but I did get the sewing room sorted out!).  I think many people find winter the time to spend time sewing, creating quilts or knitting sweaters and crocheting scarves...

Me?  I actually like to sew in summer...

But what do I do in the Dead of Winter...

 

Downton Abbey, a touch of culture... 

 

I watch TV and that includes videos from my past favourite TV series too...

 

Lonesome Dove -- I have an urge to watch the majorly long TV mini series from about 10 years ago... maybe 15 years ago then I watch the subsequent movies on the Lonesome Dove theme -- never did get into the regular TV series tho...

 

OH, and Deadwood,  three seasons worth of Sweringen talking a blue streak and wonderfully low language!  Words I would never dare say in my real life, but GEE, he makes swearing sound like music!

 

 

Oh My, The Walking Dead another one with incredible violence!  I don't know what draws me, to this one, but I sit on the edge of my chair, the tension as they say, makes the air so thick you could cut it with a knife...  One of the episodes in the first part of the season had me so intent, I actually slid off my chair and plopped down on the floor!

Now I don't watch all mayhem and violence... (or do I?)

Did you know, that all the episodes of the TV show Law and Order would not have passed the television ratings standards before 1981?  Do they seem tame to you now?

I do have projects that I could be sewing, or crocheting, or knitting but it seems January and February is my time to visit a different world...  And not to forget, the great old movie classics that I tend to put into the player on quiet afternoons,   Natalie Wood and Robert Redford in This Property is Condemned (you never get to see this one on regular tv) Kate Hepburn's Alice Adams (I love how she plays so soft but is the driving force in her family!)  Burt Lancaster in The Rainmaker-- oh the way he moves, pure sexual male animal, that one!

Is there motion pictures or television mini series that you just cannot resist and come back to over and over and over?

Next week, I will try to get some sewing or crocheting done and get back to the real world -- that is unless I get myself into a Jimmy Stewart or a Cary Grant marathon!!

Work In Progress - Walter's Distress!

Oh My!  Things have gotten a bit out of hand in my work-space!

Every Picture Tells a Story, and I have no excuse...

Like I said, I have no excuse for leaving my room in chaos, so today's work in progress is to clean and sort and organize and label, give away and recycle...

Soon to have a room that will be workable again, and soon to post that tutorial...

Patience, please!

Work in Progress - I'd like to keep it

Somewhere between the frenzied trend of creating "many trips around the world" quilt blocks and finding ways to use those thousands of 3.5 inch squares I came across a photo of a quilt pattern I do not remember noticing before.  Now after 40 years of sewing and quilting you would think that such a simple concept would have crossed my sewing machine before.  But no.   It caught my eye, and my thought processes and I just had -- that should be HAD (in capital letters) to make this design.

These blocks are so fun and easy to put together but when the blocks are put together they become a bit of a puzzle.  I don't even know the name of this pattern!  It does take a bit of Math to fit the pieces properly, but all the sewing in simple squares and sashing.

There are two different blocks to make in order to create the pattern. (I didn't take a photo of the second block)

After one little false step, which is blame -able on adding and substracting skills, I got everything to fit nicely together to make the quilt top.  Still in progress, and because I plan to make another or maybe two more (which I rarely do, repeat a pattern, that is) I must really be loving the way this design pleases my eyes.

I used all the "kiddy" type squares that I could find in my stash and came up with this completed top.

Now, the dilemna is....  I REALLY like this quilt, but it is meant to be donated to my guilds charitable quilts program.   That means, I am FORCED (yeah, really who needs to be forced to make a quilt?) to make a second one that will be ALL MINE!  (and bigger)

Also, since I have already spent the time figuring out the Math -- I will post a bit of tutorial for those who might like to give this pattern a whirl, and will include the mathematical variations for at least two size, and maybe three block dimensions, so you can make various size quilts...  Check back (or even sign up on my email list so that you get notified when I do that post).

Now, another work in progress that I have has nothing to do with sewing or crochet or crafty stuff...

Each year, near Christmas a small group of my cousins gather for a end of year dinner and talk fest...  For the past three years we have been attempting to keep journals of our daily lives.  This year we gave our journals a theme.  To write about the things we are THANKFUL for.

The cover of the journals (they are all the same) is a bit deceptive, but inside that cover are my writings of things that I am trying to express my thankfulness for.  I do not write in this little book everyday, but as the need arises and when I find something to write down my thankfulness for.  For the month of February I am starting my thoughts with this quote.  (Because sometimes I get critical and abhor that I pick at little things and don't just let these little things float over my head to be forgotten and forgiven)

So my personal thankfulness for this month is...

" Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who help our souls to blossom"  -- Marcel Proust

Work in Progress -- Last Week and This Week!

The projects have been progressing well, very well, in fact -- it was just figuring out the uploading and downloading of photographs, but like I said a couple days ago, I think I have that little challenge well in hand.

I am working on another PILE of 3.5 inch square -- two shoe boxes full of them and have the first top completed and done in the very trendy Scrappy Trips around the World that you can find all over the internet with a Google search.

This is my version, the first one anyway.

 Casually thrown!  The stairway from my living room to my sewing room is the only bright area of my house.  There is a skylight up there above the bathroom door and there are no 50 foot cedars blocking the light as there is on the other side of my house.

To get a bit better feel of the "TRIPS" I taped the quilt top, which measures 49 inches x 66 inches to the door and wall, with packing tape!   Now that I see the effect of the squares, I know I am in for making another batch of blocks -- probably considerably larger.  They are simple to sew, but a challenge to keep the 'value' (lights, mediums, and darks) in a sequence that will make the diamond stand out.

As I said, I have TWO shoe boxes full of these ready cut squares, so I suspect there are still a few hours of piecing ahead of me...

Another project I am working on is a granny square afghan.

I am making the granny squares in one colour and using a variety of aqua, pale blue, dark turquoise and I am considering putting a bit more blue in a middling shade.   So far I have 62 squares made and am striving for another 20 at least before I start connecting the squares...

As yet, I am not at all sure what colour I should use as the connecting sashes, although I am leaning to a creamy yellow, maybe, if I can find it.

One of the things I have noticed about colour, and it is a frustration to me, is that here in the Vancouver/Fraser Valley area, it is really difficult to find bright, clear yarn colours.   It seems like all the shops carry the colours that you see in local architecture.  All the houses are shades of brown and grey.  A blue house or a green house is quite the rarity around here.  So, the shops around here are rich in browns and greys and dark blues and very dark moody greens, if you find a red, it is usually a burgundy.   I suspect I am going to have to go online  to find those rich bright colours, cause they are very sparse in the shops around here...