Monthly Archive for November, 2010

QUILTING PROJECT LIST

Published on November 25, 2010 in patchwork and the workroom. 8 Comments Tags: cog & wheel quilt, double wedding ring quilt, english paper piecing, hexagon, Log Cabin, patchwork pattern maker, quilt sampler, shoo fly, whole cloth quilt.

I thought it would be helpful/scary/interesting to dig up all my quilt projects that are in progress and do a bit of a status report on them. I’m curious to see how many I have and of course, it would be great to finish off a few of them. (so that I can start new ones!)

1. Double Wedding Ring Quilt, approx. 60″ x 60″
I am about a third of the way through hand quilting this. I am happy that I am still in love with this quilt every time I take it out to look at it.

2. My First Quilt, queen-sized
I am about a third of the way hand quilting this quilt, as well. That’s actually much further than I thought.

3. Plaid Quilt, approx. 40″ x 60″
This is a gift for a friend. The quilt is basted and I started machine quilting it on the weekend. I am trying to finish this quilt before Christmas. Especially since I started this for LAST Christmas.

4. V&A Quilt, queen-sized
This is going to be a bed sized quilt made from a pattern I created on the V&A Patchwork Pattern Maker. I spent hours and hours cutting out all the little squares and have only sewn together a small corner section. I’m dying to work on this quilt top. Hopefully after the holiday rush.

5. Grey, Brown & Orange Sampler, unknown size
I have four blocks made for this sampler – Road to California, Schoolhouse, Log Cabin, and Dresden Plate. I should try to make at least one block a month for this quilt.

6. Green Log Cabin Quilt, unknown size
I made four log cabin blocks, with the intention that this was going to be for my brother. I’ve decided that this is not the right quilt for my brother, so I’ve been looking for a new idea. Hopefully I’ll be able to incorporate these blocks somewhere into the new quilt. When I get a brilliant flash of inspiration. Quilts for guys = tricky.

7. Shoo Fly Quilt, unknown size
I fell in love with the shoo fly block when I saw the cover of ‘Color Your Cloth‘. I decided to use my French General ‘Rouenneries’ Jelly Roll to make a quilt using just this block. I only have four blocks made so far.

8. Grey + Persimmon Hexagons, unknown size
This english paper piecing project is probably going to be a wall hanging of some sort. soonish.

9. NY Subway Map Whole Cloth Quilt, 14″ x 14″
I’m actually very close to finishing this project. I’ve quilted the New York City subway line using a vintage map that I found. I’d like this to be a wall hanging and I’m just debating displaying it in a wooden hoop or if it should be a square with a proper binding.

10. Cog & Wheel Quilt, twin sized
As I mentioned in my last post, this quilt is basted and ready for machine quilting. I’m unsure of how I’m going to quilt it, but I’d really like to finish this before the end of the year.

I’ve updated My Crafty List of Things to Do with this detailed quilt project list, including quilts I want to make, quilts in progress and completed quilts. Okay, so ten quilt projects on the go. A bit more than I thought, but hopefully I’ll knock three of these off the list in the next month. There is exactly one month of craft time left before December 25th. EEEEK!

COG & WHEEL TOP + BACK

Published on November 24, 2010 in patchwork and the workroom. 6 Comments Tags: cog & wheel quilt, Denyse Schmidt, quilt sampler.

I started the Denyse Schmidt Cog & Wheel quilt earlier in the summer. I was planning ahead to make this as a wedding gift for a dear friend. The wedding arrived rather quickly and then passed in September. Last week, I finally finished assembling the blocks together. This is going to be a twin size quilt. With all my leftover scraps, I put together this scrappy-style backing.

The Cog & Wheel was pretty fun to sew together. The large scale curves are actually not too hard once you get the hang of it. They just require lots and lots of pinning. This was my first quilt made from a commercial pattern and now I have a few others, I want to try out next.

I spent a couple hours basting this quilt last week, so it is ready for machine quilting. I’m so tempted to send this to a long arm quilter, but I also want to do it myself. Perhaps a long arm machine is in the workroom’s future??!! I am setting a goal of finishing this quilt + another basted quilt before the new year. This is so I am able to start on my Quilt Sampler 2 with a lighter load.

I’m going to pull out all my ongoing quilt projects and do a status report this week. I have a feeling there are about 6-ish quilts in various states of progress right now. This seems pretty normal, but I’d like to move a few more to my ‘finished’ pile.

Published on November 20, 2010 in inspiration. 18 Comments Tags: Celine Kim, pinterest.

I joined Pinterest a few weeks ago. The lovely Celine sent me an invite and now I’m completely hooked. I had heard about it months ago, but resisted joining for as long as possible.

What I LOVE about it is that it is an easy and organized way of collecting inspiration and it automatically links back to your original source. Brilliant.

Take a peek at some of my boards on Pattern, Fashion, Interiors, Patchwork and Colour. You’ll notice a new button in my blog’s side bar that will take you directly to my Pinterest page when you need a little inspiration and eye candy.

If you’re hooked on Pinterest too, let me know! Guilty pleasures are much better when shared with friends!

STITCH IDÉES MAGAZINE

Published on November 16, 2010 in japanese dress/craft, needlework and the workroom. 5 Comments Tags: Cosmo, cross stitch, embroidery, friendship sampler, Stitch Idées.

I’m obsessing over cross stitch and embroidery, so finding a magazine like Stitch Idées only feeds the fire. I found out about this Japanese needlework magazine a little while ago and got a couple copies for the shop to check out. WOW. Every page is more inspiring than the last. I have been going though the issues over and over again taking in the goodness.

So many awesome ideas – embroidered bunny postage stamps, jam jar labels, coin purses, cute sewing accessories, tote bags and a miniature photo album in a matchbox. (what!)

My favourite project is a heart friendship sampler. It looks like you get all your friends to cross stitch a heart and their name onto a piece of linen and you have the sweetest wall hanging. I totally want to do this!

We have issues 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Stitch Idées at the workroom. Also, we received more copies of the beautiful Wild Flower Cross Stitch book. Now, if only those pretty Cosmo embroidery threads would get there!

HAPPY HOMEMADE VOL.1 : CARDIGAN 'J'

Published on November 9, 2010 in japanese dress/craft and stitchery. 10 Comments Tags: cardigan, Happy Homemade Vol. 1, Japanese dress book, Liday Baday fabric showroom.

It’s taken me a heck of a long time to finish this project. I started this last year and had a bunch of ideas to make it more complicated than it needed to be (binding all the seams and hems with a contrasting fabric). It got abandoned and then put on my finishing list a few months ago. (still have work to do on that list!)

Since the cool weather has come around again. I got it out of the pile and finally hand hemmed the sleeves and bottom. For the neckline I made a bias tape trim from the scraps of my Stylish Dress Book ‘O’ Tunic. Rather than have the ties loose, I make buttonholes and added buttons so that it would fasten in the back to cinch it in a bit. This pattern is really simple and it’s very satisfying to make a cardigan, especially if you don’t knit!

The fabric for the cardigan is a lovely Virgin wool/metal blend, so there’s a bit of shimmer to it. I purchased the fabric at the Lida Baday Fabric Showroom last year. I’ve been meaning to tell you about this place for ages. This is an incredible local source for designer fabrics that we normally would not have access to. Lida Baday is a Canadian fashion designer who produces a beautiful line of women’s clothing. After each collection is produced the remainder of the fabric (all European) is organized and swatched into a small showroom. If you’d like to visit the fabric showroom, you simply need to get in touch to make an appointment. The experience is very different from shopping in a regular fabric store. When you arrive for your appointment, you are brought into a small sunny room which is lined with rolling racks of swatched fabric organized by type (knits, wools, cottons, linens, metal blends, silks). When you find a swatch you like, you look at the tag to read what type of fabric it is, where it is from (France! Italy!), and what pieces are available. The fabric is sold by the piece, so you must take the entire piece that is available. The pieces range from 1 metre to 30 metres. When I was there I found lots of amazing fabrics that were in the 1 metre to 3 metre range. As you find fabrics you like, you cut a small swatch of it and attach it to the fabric request form, writing in the fabric number, colour and price. I spent over an hour there, leisurely looking through the fabrics and feeling like an actual fashion designer shopping for fabric for my ‘collection’. When you’re done, you give your sheet to Cara (who runs the showroom) and leave. Cara will email you later on with the complete pricing details (the pricing is incredible, a fraction of what you would expect to pay). You respond with your final fabric selections and when your fabrics are ready for you a few days later, you can go and pick them up. I’m probably due for another visit to stock up. My first t-shirt was made from a jersey that I got from the showroom and I’ll be posting up a dress made with another one of these special fabrics shortly too.

I’ve been wearing my cardigan with an embroidered button I bought from Leah at last year’s City of Craft. It perfectly matches the purple floral bias binding and works like a charm to button the front closed.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK : ‘B’ LIBERTY DRESS

Published on November 1, 2010 in japanese dress/craft, stitchery and textiles. 19 Comments Tags: Liberty of London, mauvey, Stylish Dress Book.

Stylish Dress Book (available at the workroom)
Dress ‘B’ : Liberty of London ‘Mauvey’

I wanted to try making Top ‘B’ from Stylish Dress Book as a dress since I loved the pattern so much. I’ve already made this pattern twice (version 1 & 2). The pattern modifications were pretty simple. I extended the pattern pieces for the front and back and added side seam pockets.

This darker version of the ‘Mauvey’ Liberty of London print seemed so perfect for this fall. I’ve been adding purple tones to my standard grey wardrobe recently. Every time I wear one of my Liberty dresses, I always want to make more. They are so easy to wear and feel really great!

Similar to Dress ‘S’, I knew that I would be adding shirring to get the dress to fit better. This time I started my lines lower, closer to my waist and did seven lines. It is amazing what a difference this simple technique makes and now the dress fits like a glove.

I have never put pockets in a Liberty dress before, so I wasn’t sure what to use. I ended up cutting into a piece of fabric that I bought in Paris. I almost feel like a Liberty dress should be lined with more Liberty. Mostly because there really isn’t anything like the weight and feel of the Tana Lawn cotton.

As soon as the weather turns cold, I get the urge to dress only in jeans and sweaters. I’m trying to resist the urge this season and make more dresses and skirts that are suitable for colder weather with tights. So far, so good.

NOTE : Please note there is a tricky part to making the gathered sleeve on this pattern when you are tracing out the pattern. See my comments here.