I’m sliding this in here on a Friday night just so I could say I finished something quilty.
Yep, it’s the Halloween House, all pinned up and ready for quilting, where I:
1) learned stuff
2) would do some things differently
3) happy it’s to this point.
You know, the usual.
Maybe I’ll have it done by Halloween!
Earlier, this week this is what it looked like with the purse laid out, as I’m trying to figure out where everything goes. I wanted a purse that looked “Think-Freddy-ish” without screaming “HEY I’M A QUILTER!” You know what I mean. Clothes, purses — there’s art, and then there’s I’M-A-QUILTER-clothes. The best example of the latter was when I went to Houston and some woman had made a vest out of all the tote bags, complete with the handles hanging down all over. And yes, I’ve made a garment or two that fit into that category. Let’s not go there, because I still like that jacket.
Hoping I’m splitting that line, here. Side One.
Side Two, with a little pocket.
Same side without the Metro map.
Zipper pocket for phone. Gazillion pockets for everything else. I looove pockets in my purses.
Like I said, I like Nancy’s designs, but it does take a rocket scientist to figure out her directions. It helps if you’ve sewn a purse before. How do you like that fabric on that lining? Good way to use that Children at Play paper airplane design. I love the soft aqua. Good feelings here on finishing up something this Friday and I hope you’re having some too.
Tomorrow is the Temecula Quilt Show, where they hang their quilts all over outside, kind of like the Sisters Show, but think Cowboys Meet Quilters. And then the Red/White Quilt show over at Temecula Quilt Company. I’m looking forward to this all (plus getting a flu shot — must be fall!).
So, what I have finished this week? Well, Quilt Frolic quilt top and back, for one. And I cleaned out one of my fabric cupboards as I was trying to put the Amy Butlers back in. It was a mess. Or, as they might say in the art world: I deconstructed it.
And I found this, which I’ve titled: Pink Junk. It is an idea gone south, a cake that fell, a headache turned worse and a sewing idea that never should have seen the light of day. I had this idea to sew strips of pink fabric on a fabric base, cut it out and quilt the jacket and then (horrors!) wear this Pepto-Bismol-Mary-Kay color out in public. (No hate mail. I was once a Mary Kay consultant and even met The Woman Herself.)
I like pink. But I am actually really glad that this is a UFO. I’ve pressed it and cut the sewn parts into 6″ blocks. My plan is to sash them up in some fabuloso fabric. I’ll probably have to find something darker to make the contrast work because all these colors are the kind you would find on Bunny Rabbits in the Easter displays. Come to think of it, maybe that was its genesis? As a planned new Easter outfit?
Saved by inertia.
Today I picked this Kaffe Fassett print at our local fabric shop, as all the Kaffes were on sale. And she kept calling them “Calfs.” (I heard from someone who would know that his name has a long a in it, as in KAYfe.) This is the shop that sends out emails with typos and misspellings in them, but at least it makes the shop memorable. I might have mentioned to her the idea that a spellchecker would help the email writer. Can’t be sure. I did make sure that she wasn’t the writer before I might have mentioned it.
They had a terrific Halloween display up with lots of very appealing quilts and fabrics. This was also on clearance (they had three bolts). I loved it, esp. the group of witches in the middle with the scribble overhead. Maybe they’re gossiping? Trading barbecue recipes?
Lastly, in the back of my now-desconstructed closet, I found this group of fabrics. I remember distinctly where and when I bought it. It was in Amish country, outside Washington DC. Two of the quilting ladies from my guild took me to tour the Amish/Mennonite fabric shops, about 90 minutes from where I lived. This grouping, by Robert Kaufman in a deliciously heavy-weight cotton, was all in a row in the last shop we went to that day. What made this place memorable was the lack of electricity (everything was done by hand, including the ringing up of things) and the black Amish buggy parked just outside. From what little I knew about the Amish, I couldn’t believe that they had a fabric shop set up in the side room, just off the patio. And the woman who helped me couldn’t have been strict Old Amish, because her clothing was more contemporary. It was an interesting day, that’s for sure. About six years ago. And I have no idea what I’m going to do with these ornate cottons, but the stack is too beautiful to leave in the fabric closet for another six years.
I think I’d recently been to Venice, Italy and as I look at it, it reminds me of the Carnivale Masks with their swirls and flourishes and gilt touches, as well as the tightly inlaid marble floors in the Cathedral. Do you ever clean out a closet and come face-to-face with fabric you had to have, for some really pressing and urgent reason, yet now it languishes?
If anyone has any suggestions for this fabric, let me know. Right now I’m thinking quilt backs.
Ta-Done!
Gathered here are:
a block from Sue (Canada)
a block from Kay (Australia)
a block from Leisa (California)
a block from Sarah (California)
a block from Rhonda (Virginia)
a block from Lisa (California)
and a block from me, all combined to make a table runner that will remind me of these lovely quilting friends. For even if I didn’t know them at the beginning, I’ve made some new friends by the end. Thank you, one and all.
I stippled it with invisible thread on top, and red rayon thread on the back.
Because I might want to turn it over and use the reverse on occasion, I hand wrote my initials and the date. But I have this blog to remember everyone by–now to take it to Temecula and enter it in their Red/White Challenge.
(Originally labeled FSF, for Finishing School Friday, a series I ran for a while.)
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 