Textiles & Fabric

Selvages

Elizabeth E.2 Comments

I did some recreational shopping last week when my husband was out of town.  It was after grading/prepping for hours and hours and I just sat and enjoyed looking at all the fabrics at Sew, Mama, Sew. (I like them because they’ll still sell you a quarter of a yard.)  That night it was that familiar feeling–too tired to move, but not too tired to click and shop.

The fabrics arrived today, and I’ll take a photo of the stash builder tomorrow, but first, tonight, I wanted to show you two interesting selvages.  In case you’ve been under a rock or something, selvages–that woven strip along the edge of fabric–is the New Hot Thing.  When I slashed off multiple selvages to send to Cindy at Live a Colorful Life, I was working from the very bottom of my stash and found lots of interesting selvages to send to her for her pincushions.  In those days, the printing on selvages was used for identification, and color registration.  The manufacturer would check to make sure the dots on the selvage lined up, so the pattern in the fabric would line up.

But look what they’re doing now!  The top row of registration dots are actually little scissors.  This is the new City Weekend, by Oliver + S.  They have little scissors on all the fabrics–if there are more colors, there are more dots.

And the bottom is a row of little apples, from a Moda alphabet fabric, Wee Woodland. And it’s even on sale!! (Why do you think I bought it?)

 

 

 

Quilts

Christmas Star Quilt Binding is On

Elizabeth E.1 Comment

Finished!

Every six months our church has a conference they broadcast over the internet, and I take time to sit and ponder and listen, but I’m better off if I keep my hands busy while I work.  This year, I worked on two quilts.  Getting the binding sewn on the Christmas Star quilt was a priority, for we’re in October now and we all know what that means: December is tomorrow (or feels like it).

I had read Red Pepper’s blog about the way she does her corners–up and around in one continuous piece.  I’d never been really happy with this method as so many quilt corners done like this are slightly rounded, not a pristine sharp-edge tip.  So I decided to try giving the corner a scootch more room.  The instructions, shown in the crazy mom quilts tutorial, fold back the corner.  I decided to fold it back four or five threads more, as shown above by the teensy lip near the pin, then continued my stitching down the edge.

I was really happy with this.  It gave it just enough room to make a nice tight, sharp corner, rather than the usual rounded one that can happen with this method.

This is the back of the corner, and if you look closely, you can see my stitches going up the back of the miter to anchor the corner.  I still hand sew around the binding, but the way the old fingers are creaking with aches and pains from arthritis, maybe I’d either better stop grading so much, or learn to sew it on by machine!

Anyway, I still have to do the label, but I consider this done enough to throw it on the bed come December 1st.  I just hope that at that point, our heat wave will be long gone.

Creating · Quilts

Hide and Seek

Elizabeth E.Leave a comment

Right now I’m playing hide and seek with my brain.  Like, where is it?

That was triggered by a hide and seek game for the fabrics which I need so I can make binding for my Christmas Quilt.  It’s been a looooong week at school, so I thought I’d shove all the grading to the side and make the binding.

But where-oh-where is that fabric, so carefully put aside back in July?


Not here.

Not here.

Nor here.

I thought for sure, this closet.  Nope.

Okay, now I’m checking the drawers.  Maybe I already cut the strips and tucked them away in here.

It’s about this point I’m beginning to get that despairing feeling, like where in the heck is this?  I’ve been through everything twice.

Of course, it’s always the last place you look–in a clear plastic box on the shelf in here.

Anyone want a lovely yellow lamp with a hand-cut paper lampshade? And that iron is one I bought two years ago because I was sure mine was on its last legs and the irons were on sale at Target.  I spent last week helping my sister clean out her (new to her) house–the first wife’s things were everywhere and the children had not yet claimed the possessions yet.  After our experience together, she sent me a link to this blog, where the woman catalogues the things she’s getting rid of.  I vowed to do a little cleaning out myself, but later–after I get the quilt bound.  It’s always later, isn’t it?

Found it.  Now to get busy on cutting and sewing before the guilt over ungraded papers takes over. Or the guilt over cleaning out.

Quilts

A Visit to Mt. Vernon Quilters Guild

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I’m out on the East Coast and one morning.  This past Tuesday,  I met Rhonda, a friend and quilter from the DC area, for brunch.  Afterwards we headed down to my old quilt guild for their first meeting of the year.It’s the Mount Vernon chapter of Quilters Unlimited of Virginia, which is a consortium of 11 different chapters like ours.  We’re the smallest, however.  Bert G. had written to me last year and asked me for a copy of my photo of Mt. Vernon, which she then used in the centerpiece of a new banner.  It was fun to see the completed article.  (The other squares were made by other quilters.)

There were several women there I recognized and it was fun to know that they recognized me.  I was known as the “one who gave us the blog.”  I had been there a year, fell in love with this little guild, and was asked by the President if I would consider being Newsletter Editor.  I told her I was moving home to California, however, after our yearlong sabbatical in DC.  She jokingly said I could still be Newsletter Editor.  I then said I’d do it, if I could create a blog for the guild and switch everyone over to a digital newsletter (we still had 8 women who received a hard copy, and someone local–Rhonda–took care of that for me).

So, our blog was born.  I did it a second year, but then passed it on.  I’m happy that they still like the blog format, and one quilter said that she did–and that all the other chapters were jealous!  We laughed, and I really enjoyed myself there.  It’s good to have quilter friends, and good to belong to a guild.  I really should join one in California–I’m just afraid that none will measure up.