Stars for Pat

 My sister-in-law enjoyed sewing and was an avid hand quilter. Sadly, she developed macular degeneration and now can no longer see to sew. She asked me if I would be willing to make a version of a quilt I'd made a few years ago out of fabrics she'd accumulated and saved. Of course I said yes. 

This is the quilt she referenced:

And this is the one I made out of her fabrics:

About 65" square

 They were some lovely colors and prints to work with but they turned out to be highly toxic to my system. They'd been pre-washed in one of those laundry detergents that chemically bonds to the fibers. Even though I re-washed every piece they let off toxic fumes with handling and especially under the iron. It was a struggle, but I was happy to be able to assemble this quilt for Pat. I only hope her vision will last long enough for her to truly enjoy the fruits of my labors.

Scrap Happy in September

The 15th of each month has been designated as Scrap Happy Day by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. We are invited to share something we've made from scrap materials or something we've repurposed. There have been some pretty ingenious transformations among the regular participants. My scrap material tends to be fabric, and I most often turn them into quilts of one sort or another.

Over time I have developed a system for cutting patches and strips from leftover fabrics. I begin with the blocks that require the largest patches or the highest number of patches and work my way down to 1.5" squares. I let these patches accumulate until I feel the urge to do something with them. That's when blocks get made that tend to end up in the Parts Department. Eventually those blocks are used to make a quilt top.

Recently I noticed that my basket of 2" wide strips was pretty full. About that same time I had a series of headaches to deal with. One way I cope with them is to do some mindless sewing, whether by hand or by machine. Last month it was machine piecing I turned to. Without much thought I selected 2" strips from that basket and sewed them together, end to end, until I had pieced strips 12.5" long. Eight of those strips were then sewn together to create 12" (finished) blocks, I call these my Lego blocks. 

Sometimes when I make these blocks I only do a couple and then set them aside. This time I just kept making blocks until my basket was nearly empty. Before long I had a whole quilt top's worth of blocks. Well, a skinny quilt top. So I pieced together some 3.5" wide scraps for side borders and found a length of fabric to sash them. Another couple of strips added to the top and bottom gave me a flimsy about 61" x 82."

I will have to purchase backing fabric for this (and batting of course) but the whole top has been constructed solely from scraps. 😊

If you'd like motivation for using up your scrap materials, fabric or otherwise, leave a comment on Kate or Gun's blogs from the list below. And be inspired by what you see in the other blogs!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
 Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Alissa,
Lynn, Tierney, Hannah, Maggie

August Stitching

 For week 32 in the stitch journal project spearheaded by Kathryn of k3n clothtales we took inspiration from an exhibit of Judith E. Martin's work. One piece of Judith's that I found particularly inspiring was a long, long scroll of fabric couched down with embroidery floss. You can see pictures of it here. My sample piece is only 5" wide and 6.5" long. 

This is the front...

And this is the back of my piece.

The following week we observed the nature of cloth in the making of a fabric collage. I only used various cotton cloths whereas others included silks and linens and other materials. I did include a strip of handmade paper on mine: the pink in the upper right hand corner.

 

 

 We used the mola's of Panama as inspiration for week 34. The women of Panama do needle-turn reverse applique in their work. Some of it is amazingly intricate, made of many layers of different colors of cloth. My sample was only made of three layers and I left the edges raw. (It's meant to be a snake in case you were wondering.)

 

 

 

 The last week of August we used our orts - leftover pieces of thread long enough to be useful. I made rectangles of satin stitched embroidery floss out of my longer pieces and French knots with the shorter bits. In the end I had some room left over so I made cross stitches with a few strands of perle cotton too.

 

 

Kooky's postcard prompt (KoolKookyKreatures) for August was "Harvest Home." I chose to celebrate the fact that honey bees harvest pollen and store it in their home with some couched yarn and tiny bee charms.

 

 

 

 

 And now we're in September. The postcard prompt is "Autumn Hygge." I'm not sure at this point how I will approach this one but it will be fun to ponder!

Scrap Happy in August

 I've been playing with my tiniest scraps lately. When I'm processing scrap fabrics anything that's less than an inch and a half wide goes into one of three lunch size paper bags: one bag for warm colors, one for the cool hues, and the third gets all the neutrals (black, white, gray, ecru to brown). I've discovered I really enjoy stitching these pieces down in fabric collages. One format to use is a strip or scroll rather than a square or rectangle. The base I used for this scroll was a strip of muslin only 2.5" tall. I've wound the completed scroll on a wooden clothes peg.

Unrolled, the scroll measures about 24" long. 

This is the back of the work.

I used a variety of threads, stitches, and embellishments. Most of the threads are Sulky 12 weight cotton or size 12 perle cotton. There's regular embroidery floss too.

I don't have a plan when I make things like this; I just stitch according to what I feel like doing in the moment.

This end is actually where the scroll began. You may not be able to see, but that gap in the stitching in the first section is where the white-on-white fabric is printed with the word CRAFTS.

Now my little scroll is all tied up and living in a pretty glass dish I picked up somewhere along the way. 

Scrap Happy Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. I invite you to visit the regular participants who are listed below. And if you'd like to share what you've done with scrap materials or how you've repurposed items you can leave a comment with either Kate or Gun to be included the next time around. 😊

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
 Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Alissa,
Lynn, Tierney, Hannah, Maggie

The Great Big Little Stitchery Swap Round 3

 In my last post I shared the 4" stitchery squares I sent out for Round 3 of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap. Now it's time to show you the wonderful squares I received. 😊 

I only sent out 5 squares this time around. (In the first round I made and mailed out eleven. In the second round I sent out eight.) Life hit one of my swap partners really hard before she had a chance to do any stitching so I won't be receiving a square from her. 

This first square was made by Laura in Colorado. She claimed this was the first time she'd done any embroidery. I choose to disbelieve her based on what she produced! Those houses are barely an inch tall and they are embellished with tiny stitches to create the details. Lots of little French knots too. 

 

This square came all the way from Margaret in New Zealand, my only international swap this time. (In previous swaps I have received squares from the UK, Canada, and Australia.) The colors are a little washed out in this photo. I actually find this very peaceful to look at.

Oops - this photo is sideways. Obviously, the button flowers should be on ground level. More French knots, some fly stitches, and a lovely piece of lace. There are beads decorating the butterfly applique too. This was created by Sue in North Carolina.

The first square to arrive this time was from Diane in Maryland. The head of the daisy is all tiny knots. I love her composition of the foundation layer with all those different pieces of fabric.

I have probably been remiss in not sharing photographs of all the other stitchery squares I've received in rounds one and two of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap. I have 22 in total. That just feels like too many to put in a single post. However, Annie, the instigator of all this stitching and swapping, has created two galleries where you can see photos of the squares their makers submitted. The gallery for the first round can be seen here. And the gallery for round two will be found here. Annie is still trying to collect photos from round 3. The next edition of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap will kick off in October of this year and come to a close on 31 December. It's too early to say whether or to what degree I will be participating. It's a lot of fun to make and receive the squares. The challenge now is to figure out what to do with what I already have!