Category Archives: Sew this

Making-Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt Along

Posted in Craft, Fiber fun, In the Studio, Make Stuff, Quilts, Sew this by

I’ve been broadening my podcast horizons lately and have started listening to the “Modern Sewciety” podcast and I love it, Stephanie has such a lovely way of chatting with her guests about quilting and the quilt world (which I admittedly do not know much about).  I have made a number of quilts over the years but would not consider myself a “quilter” because, well, I didn’t use an established pattern, I made everything up and made my own patterns. And, I don’t quilt as in put the three layers together and hand stitch them on a quilting frame the size of my dining room table…no thank you.  I have quilted smaller quilts on my home sewing machine, tied a number of larger quilts and sent one out to Nebraska to be machine quilted, hmmm funny still didn’t consider myself a quilter. Well, I guess that is all about to change with this quilt-a-long I heard about on Stephanie’s podcast a few weeks ago.   I’m embarking on the Modern Half Square Triangle (HST) Quilt Along this year courtesy of  Alyce  at  Blossom Heart Quilts .

2 blocks per month x 12 months will equal enough squares for a nice sized quilt.  I’ve pulled fabrics from my stash and purchased just a few pieces to round out the color palette, I’ve also purchased a light grey fabric with white printing that will be the background fabric in each block, I am waiting until the top is done to decide on the sashing and binding fabrics.

QAL Fabric Pull

Aren’t they pretty?!  I went with very highly saturated colors for the most part which I think will give some nice contrast against the background.

QAL-block 1

Aaanndd….here is my first block!  Yay!  I have had that dark blue fabric for YEARS!  I’ve been hoarding it as it’s one of my all-time favorites but now it has found it’s perfect home as part of the new quilt!  The block is a little rough around the edges as I need to “true” the block up, I’m waiting to do that until I purchase a 12.5″ square ruler specifically to that task.  But it’s done!  It didn’t take forever!  It didn’t make a huge mess!  Everything went back onto the shelf until it’s time for the next block!  Win Win Win!

What have you been making this weekend?!

 

Four boxes and two bins…the two bins

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Fiber fun, Handmade, Sew this by

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  And all the stuff crammed into these poor baskets, OK here we go last pile of stuff to purge!!

Giant Pile of Mess

Giant Pile of Mess

I think I didn’t realize how junky these two bins had become…my intent was for them to hold fabric/projects that were next up on deck.  Instead they have been relegated to the bottom of the closet and had stuff dumped on top.

Keeping

-Leftover lengths of PB “Simone” drapery fabric…I had to hem all of my draperies when we moved into our new house and I kept the cut off bottoms to make pillows, cover benches etc…

-Handmade batik fabric… My mother bought me two yards of this from one of the cruises she went on back in the 80’s.  She thought it would make a great skirt…which it would have but I’m glad I saved it.  I used pieces of this to fill the glass doors on our console in the front hall.  I’m going to use the rest of it to make a quilt.

-Orange bottomweight fabric – shorts for Gwen, when I see orange fabric, I buy it for her. Think I have a pattern in my stash

-Printed interlock knit – top for Gwen, need to find a pattern

-Paisley cotton – A’la Amy Butler, have perfect pattern to make a tunic/top/dress…need to go get some coordinating fabric as it’s a really pretty patchwork-y top

-Paris Fashion conversational print… originally purchased to make a window treatment in my old studio, never did anything with this…may use to slipcover my office chair.

-Gardening jeans to patch

-Knit top (one i love) need to figure out how to camouflage hole in front at waistline.

-Three crewelwork pillows that my great-Aunt made, I love them and I know how much work she put in to them.  The really sad thing is that she lost her sight to macular degeneration and could no longer embroider, or near the end, do much of anything.  So I really love that I have them, need to figure out how best to display them.

Pitching / Donating 

-Almost one bins worth of fabric scraps from making the quilt for our bed.  I’ve never done anything with these pieces and they are taking up space so out they go.

-Two apple green gingham check long curtains … from girls old bedroom, was saving in case they wanted to use them in their new rooms but they are not interested… out they go.

-Two pieces lavender gingham check…was curtains in our old house, cut off the trim to re-use and out they go.

Throwing out

-Old muslin for blouse

-Misc scraps and pieces of lining.

yes, another blurry picture…so exhausted from sorting I couldn't hold the iPhone still ;-)

yes, another blurry picture…so exhausted from sorting I couldn’t hold the iPhone still 😉

Oh My Word, got through everything and its in some kind of order!!   The two piles on the left are keepers, the bags need to be hung up and the pile on the right in front of the basket are pieces that are going away.  Next step…putting all this in some kind of order that makes sense and figuring out where to store it so it is not i

See the other posts in my 2014 Fabric de-stash series:  

Box ONE  ,  Box TWO , Box THREE and Box FOUR

 

 

 

Four boxes and two bins…part four

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Fiber fun, Handmade, Sew this by

Yay!  The last of the big boxes…I am so happy I took the time to work on this project.  Definitely time to clean out the old and start making stuff…I can feel new projects on the horizon…but now on to Box Four…

piles of stuff...

piles of stuff…

Ah ha!  So this is the box with the lighter weight fabric earmarked for clothing…. wondering where this went….Have a lot of sewing to do from this box in the next few months.

Re-purpose

-pieces of fleece leftover from making “cozy pants” for the girls…I’ve been cutting them up into 6” squares and will sew those squares together for throws for each of them.

Keeping

-Two lengths of linen colored linen fabric…originally purchased for shorts/capri’s and a jacket…may turn into shorts and skirt

-Three lengths coordinating Amy Butler “Blossom” (I think) prints….one for a skirt, one a blouse and one for jacket lining…. definitely going to sew these up this year, not quite sure into what yet.

-Three lengths denim, from mid to very lightweight…. skirt? shorts? top?  All of the above?

-Linen/cotton windowpane plaid…have had this forever, not sure what to do with it but it is really beautiful.

-Three lengths cotton prints for sleeveless blouses….honestly, one of these pieces I am not really that thrilled with so I may let that go.  The other two are cute and I have to dig around and see what pattern I could make with them…

-One length pansy print fabric I have had forever and have been afraid to cut up… I think this is the year

-Two pieces cotton twill, black and brown…for shorts…now that I’m wearing my shorts longer, I hope there is enough of each.

-Length of linen/cotton/poly blend print…black and brown batik…I really liked this when I bought it but now I’m not quite so sure… can’t decide if I want to put the effort into making something out of it or not…would probably be a full skirt….will keep for now and think about it.

-Big length of muslin for fitting.

more crummy photos, I know…trying to shoot quick and move on to the next pile of stuff!! you get the idea!

more crummy photos, I know…trying to shoot quick and move on to the next pile of stuff!! you get the idea!

Pitching 

-cotton print no longer thrilled with

-pieces of blue bottom weight cut out but never sewed…now lily is too big for them!

*Yay*!  (insert jumping up and down and hand clapping)  The big boxes are done and just taking things out and re-folding them I have gotten a lot more room.  Definitely will not need all four boxes going forward.

Now just the bins to go through…on to the next post!

See the other posts in my 2014 Fabric de-stash series:  

Box ONE  ,  Box TWO and Box THREE

 

Four boxes and two bins…part three

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Fiber fun, Handmade, Sew this by

Ah ha!  I see you can’t get enough of watching other people de-stash their fabric… well I have to admit, it’s much easier that working on your own …

This process has not been too too painful so far, so moving on to box three !

Again, apologizing for crummy blurry photo!

Again, apologizing for crummy blurry photo!

This seems to be my “fine fabric” box with all my woolen pieces …

Keeping

-Two pieces of Spanish Lace for Mantillas that my mother gave me…my father brought them back from his USMC maneuvers in Spain  one white, one black   *gorgeous*  no idea what I’m going to do with it.

-Beautiful linen cotton from Britex in SF  (2 1/8 yd / 60” wide) from a work trip where we managed an hour for fabric shopping… pulling this out to make a shirt this summer.

-2 yd 60”  wide red italian wool flannel…. card attached says 65 wo / 25 pa / 10 cashmere recycled….so soft and warm…have been saving to figure out the perfect thing to do with it !  and if anyone knows what “pa” is, let me know…I’m just assuming I’m going to be dry-cleaning the finished project anyway.

-5/12 yd 45” wide  black very fine worsted wool…  again, beautiful, can’t remember where I got it and not quite sure what to do with it…maybe a dress??  don’t wear dresses but there is enough for several things

-2 yd 65” wide grey wool flannel …. again, soft and warm…given to me by one of the gals I worked with at Hathaway in NYC many moons ago…she was cleaning out and knew I sewed and knew I would appreciate it.  Need to find just the right thing to make out of it.  (see my problem?!)

-2+ yards 60” wide black/grey wool suiting… I think this is from Britex as well….might have gone with the black worsted.  I think I was going to make a suit jacket out of this with pants and a skirt to match???  back when I worked in an office and people wore suits and pantyhose to work.

-2 yds taupe and 2 yds khaki worsted wool/blend bought at Fabric Place probably to make slacks…when I worked in an office…keep?  pitch??  hmmmmmm  will have to think about this one.

-lots of yards black satin backed flannel coat lining….I think I bought this to re-line a coat I don’t even have anymore (!) but I am going to keep it because it is really good fabric and I’m sure I”ll have to re-line something at some point so back in the box it goes.

The "keep" pile…will set this aside for winter sewing.

The “keep” pile…will set this aside for winter sewing.

Pitching

black “posh” fabric lining….I really can’t stand this stuff…I’ve lined lots of things with it and it’s hot and sweaty and heavy so I am not going to keep it.

That was almost too easy …

See the other posts in my 2014 Fabric de-stash series:  Box ONE  and Box TWO

What are you de-stashing these days??

 

 

Four boxes and two bins…part two

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Fiber fun, Handmade, Sew this by

Getting on a roll after a very successful purge of Box ONE (Here) so on to Box TWO!

Box2-before

sorry for the blur iPhone camera + night time + tiredness = blurry photos

Keeping:

Box2-smaller than 1 yd pieces

As it turns out, this is the box that has all my printed cottons/quilting cottons plus some “utility fabrics”.   There is a stack of cottons of 1 yd or less, some “fat quarters” some 10×10 pieces, will be good to merge these with the “fat quarter” collection that will eventually be housed in an Ikea dvd tower.

Box2-big cotton lengths

17 fabric lengths 1 yd or greater… all printed cotton, some 2+ yards or greater…can’t figure out how I ended up with quite so much maroon/dark red fabric.  Will have to think  on how I am going to use these up… could be summer pj’s / pj shorts, or maybe a top or two ??  Maybe a quilt/quilt back??  Glad I have photos to refer back to instead of digging through the box

Box2-utility fabrics

Utility Fabrics:  length of footie pajama “feet bottoms” that white nubby rubbery fabric that helps keep you from slipping… leftover blue jean pieces for patching… some small pieces of fabric from LR sofa pillows just in case??? … piece of orange fabric for Gwen’s lambie repairs.

Relocate

-The white sheet Charlie cut up for a “Charlie Brown” Halloween costume…need to move that upstairs to the costume box

Pitch

-a few small flannel scraps went in the trash, not enough to donate.

That was almost too easy …