oiyi's block

Have any of you other common threaders had a hard time with the design of one block in particular? This one turned out to be the biggest challenge for me. I thought it was going to be an easy one. As I sketched out ideas, none of them felt like me, so I kept walking away from it. I think because this one is really for Oiyi's daughter, Melody, I wanted something that felt special. All the pieced blocks I came up with felt forced.

I took the sketches to my quilting group in the hopes someone would have a suggestion for me. Carmel suggested a heart with a swoop and that got me thinking of a small decorative pillow I'd made my sister years ago. The pattern I drew for the pillow was too large for a quilt block, but I used that as my starting point. Once the decision was made to applique a heart, the rest fell into place.

The background is pieced from all the scraps Oiyi sent and like others in our group, I thought they had a real sense of my 70's childhood in them, so the Little House on the Prairie/Holly Hobbie type patchwork felt perfect. I was a little nervous about the applique. The last time I used it, I covered the edge with a blanket stitch. That wasn't an option this time.

The embroidery was important to me. I wanted a red running stitch that alluded to a Chinese saying that there is an invisible red thread that connects people who are destined to meet.

I also wanted two hearts representing a mother and daughter. I love how the tails of the hearts sort of nestle into one another. (My previous design attempts with two hearts were supposed to have a "piece of my heart" theme, but wound up looking like broken hearts instead. NOT what I was going for.)

It should be in your mailbox shortly, Oiyi. I hope Melody likes it.

thrifty thursday

Remember that thrift trip I took with Angie a couple of weeks ago? The one where two of my favorite sources have been permanently removed from my list of stops? Something wonderful came out of our final stop. I asked at the desk if there were any sewing supplies left and was told not anymore. While Angie perused the skirts (she scored 5 Lilly Pulitzer skirts for $3 each!) I wandered around the back to look at their linens.

An older woman approached me and asked if I was the one who was interested in sewing supplies. I told her I was and that I loved to sew. She replied that she'd been sewing for over 50 years and was going to be downsizing her home soon. She'd been slowly going through things she'd not be moving with her and pricing them for a garage sale in the spring. I tried to maintain a calm appearance. She then went on to say that she'd love to sell them to someone who would use and appreciate them and would I like to stop over and see if there was anything I would use. Frantic scrambling in my purse for paper and pencil began.

I gave her my name and number and watched her very carefully place it in her wallet. We chatted a bit more about sewing and teaching it to our daughters - hers are about 10 years older than me and no longer sewing much. Then we parted ways and I crossed my fingers that the slip of paper didn't get lost.

It didn't. I got a call just before last weekend and we set a time for me to stop over.

Each time I touched a piece of fabric she recalled what it had been used for - a coat to go over her older girl's prom dress, a skirt for the younger one. I left after an hour and a half with several bags of new treasures.

I'll post a few more next week, but I can write her a thank you note telling her I've already used some of it. The red denim in the bunny wallet was from her stash.

It was one of the scraps from a pair of pants she made her daughter.

bunny wallet

Okay, I'm pretty sure I have the Zakka Sewing book out of my system - at least for a little while.

I need a bunny wallet about as much as I need a bunny pencil pouch, but here it is anyway. That paw over her mouth cracks me up. I just realized that I don't have a picture of the face without the paw on it. There's a 1/2" snap for a nose and embroidered mouth underneath. To make things move along quickly, I used a stitch on my machine that goes over each spot 3 times to machine embroider the lines on the face. The eyes are doll clothes buttons.

The book calls for one pocket for paper money and one for credit cards. I added a second credit card pocket to hold various insurance cards, loyalty cards, etc. You can see by the extra cards in the money pocket that I could have used even more.

Twill tape was used for the coin pocket tab instead of fabric.

It's been fun to use this week, but I'll probably empty it in a few days and save it for more springlike weather.

bunny pouch

More Zakka Sewing fun.

An accessory I totally don't need got moved to the top of the sewing list last week. Made with garment weight linen (same stuff used in the blouse and hat from last summer), a printed cotton from the stash (purchased at the best garage sale ever), batting scraps from previous quilt projects and a thrifted zipper.

Check out that tail. I followed the directions in the book, but next time I'll make one using one of my yo-yo makers. The crocheted chain holding it on the zipper is proof of my attempts to try other forms of needlework during the cold snap that kept me upstairs. Knitting was a complete failure. I did manage to make a chain with the crochet hook, but couldn't get a second row of anything going. Good thing I only needed the chain for this project.

The lining is sewn in by hand, but goes very quickly.

The zipper directions were different from my usual method. Next time, I'll go with what I know. I had a very hard time getting the seam and edges to catch properly near the head. I'm calling it good enough and leaving it alone.

The book showed two pouches made with the fabrics reversed. Not sure if this one needs a sibling.

nutkin tea cosy

So much for those works in progress. I couldn't resist the lure of all the new projects in the Zakka Sewing book.

Squirrel Nutkin now has a job keeping my teapot warm. If you have the book and are looking for a quick project, this one is it. The sashiko embroidery took no time at all. In fact, it probably took as much time to transfer the design as to embroider it. I wound up freehand drawing the pattern with an air erasable marker using the book as a guide. The thickness of the wool eliminates tracing as an option and I'm not very good with the old school tracing paper and wheels. Once that part is done, all that's left is edgestitching both sides together. Ta-da!

I was surprised at how large he turned out (the patterns in the book need to be enlarged 200% before use). His size is just right for my Peter Rabbit teapot, but our china teapot was too wide to be completely covered.

Notes: I used wool felt (leftovers from the Halloween tote). The embroidery was done using all 6 strands of floss.

quilting bee

What day is it? With two days off of school last week due to the extreme cold, then two days off this week for a holiday and an institute day, the kids seem to have had another winter break. My schedule is completely out of whack and here we are headed into the weekend again before I even got a handle on the weekdays.

Our cold snap was so bad that I didn't do any sewing at all in the basement (where my machine is located). When there are ice crystals in your laundry detergent, that's too cold to craft. Instead I stitched on some handwork projects that had been neglected for far too long.

Now added to the finished list - The Quilting Bee (Wee Wonderfuls design)

I stitched it on regular linen that I bought for making clothing. While I enjoyed stitching on the fabric, I'm not so happy with how the colors came out on the natural tone of the linen. I think in the future, I'll stick to a single color floss when stitching on a darker background. I'd intended for the figures to look like the girls and myself (someday- I can dream, can't I?). It would have come out much better on a white background. Also, I chose my hair color before visiting the salon this week for some help with the gray. I can't believe how well the mousy brown floss I chose matched my previous hair color. Very sad.

On a better note, I have actually started to catch up on some sewing projects and completed a few new ones from the Zakka Sewing book I just got. A little thrifting was squeezed in over the weekend as well. The title of this post reminds me that I also need to catch up over at Common Threads. Looks like I have my work cut out for me this weekend. Lots of pictures to take and posts to plan.

thrifty thursday

I was lucky enough to have Susie Sunshine as my thrifting partner in crime when I was last out. Having a friend along softened the blow when I discovered my favorite thrift shop (and the largest one) had moved to a location too far away to be a regular destination anymore. The strip mall it had been in for years is undergoing renovations (about a decade past when it needed them). I'm guessing they'll have to burn that storefront to the ground to remove the general funk that permeated the place. Still, I'll miss the vintage aprons I used to find for under a dollar.

Another shop held a few treasures though. A set of four vintage bridge napkins for a dollar-

A bag of buttons for $1.50-


I'm wondering why Lady Fashion buttons feature a gentleman on the card.

And finally this crocheted cutie which is already hung up in Ellie's room-

Glad I had luck at this stop because our next two were also busts. One was undergoing remodeling and was closed for several days, the other was going out of business. Hopefully, I'll have some good news to share about that last shop next Thursday. I don't want to write about anything before it happens for fear I'll jinx it. (No, I'm not becoming the proprietor of a thrift store.)