Archive for the 'scraps' Category

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PATCHWORK PALETTES : ICELAND

Published on March 8, 2011 in colour, patchwork and scraps. 14 Comments Tags: iceland, mrsmcporkchop, patchwork, patchwork palettes.

I am so excited about this block! This is the second Patchwork Palettes block that I’ve done with Amanda. The concept of our project is that we draw colour inspiration from one of our Pinterest photos. The two of us each create a patchwork block that interprets the palette. One photo, two completely different blocks!

This time it was my turn to choose and I HAD to choose this incredible photo of Iceland. These colours are so ME. I loved looking through my scrap bin for these icy blues, smoky greys, bits of pink and black. You may recognize some scraps from my last Happy Homemade top. It was a ‘happy’ coincidence that I was working on both projects at the same time. That big gingham in aqua and white was a perfect fit for this.

This block is loosely based on a log cabin pattern with lots of scrappy strips and bits mixed in. Some things that I love about this block : where I’ve pieced the same fabric to itself, the repetition of fabrics throughout the block and the tiny scrap of persimmon plaid fabric near the top right corner.

Amanda also did an improv block this time and I absolutely love it! Take a look at her bold fabric choices and teeny tiny bits of piecing and stripes. So good. Also, my favourite detail is her little diagonal pieces.

This project is so good for me. These small blocks are incredibly satisfying to make and I’m learning all kinds of wonderful ways of improv piecing fabrics together. It is an inspiring way to sew. Plus, testing out colour palettes is so much fun.

I can’t wait to start on our next block. We’re off to choose our next photos!!

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #2

Published on December 29, 2010 in patchwork and scraps. 4 Comments Tags: Kona Charcoal, scraps, sunday patchwork.

Happy Holidays! I’m actually still super busy, so I haven’t had lots of down time yet. I’m really looking forward to a quiet New Year’s weekend. I’m still working away on some of my ‘holiday/new year’ gifts!

In the midst of holiday sewing, I made time for my new Sunday routine. This block was inspired by the leftover scraps from a gift I am making using Kona Charcoal. I rarely use solids in patchwork, but I love how this turned out.

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #1

Published on December 22, 2010 in patchwork and scraps. 9 Comments Tags: scraps, sunday patchwork.

I’m trying out a new weekly routine where I dedicate Sunday nights to sewing and to doing some improvisational patchwork or other type of patchwork. No pressure to make anything from these blocks, but just time to play around with colour, form and fabric. So far I’ve been using scraps for these blocks and it’s giving me so many ideas for colour palettes, possible larger quilts and some smaller projects I want to try out. I’m absolutely loving the magical things that are happening when I sew with no plan.

CHROMATIC HALF LOG CABIN

Published on December 7, 2010 in colour, patchwork and scraps. 13 Comments Tags: colour wheel, half log cabin, mini quilt, scraps.

I had a marathon sewing night on Sunday. I pulled out my bin of fabric scraps and started working on some Christmas gifts from a new pattern I bought. I’ll show you the results as soon as I put the finishing touches on what I made. I was having so much fun playing with all my scraps and sewing improvisational patchwork, that I kept going until the wee hours of the morning. (um… 4:30am!)

A few months ago, I actually spent a night organizing my scrap bin by colour. This made the patchwork process so much easier, since I had little bundles of each colour that I could just choose from. As I was working away on my Christmas gifts, I started thinking about making a little patchwork block that was based on the colour wheel. I decided to do a half log cabin and started with a sunny yellow corner and worked outwards through all the colours. I really love how this turned out! The block is approximately 20″ square. I am simply going to baste this block, quilt it and bind it. It looks great on our dining room table, but I think it will also look great hanging on the wall. I have officially fallen in love with mini quilts.

I’ve got a bunch of ideas for more scrappy blocks. I really enjoyed free style sewing all the pieces together. I’m thinking that Sunday nights are going to be my ‘mini quilts’ night. I had so much fun and felt so inspired by the process.

ENGLISH PAPER PIECING

Published on October 7, 2010 in patchwork, scraps, stitchery and the workroom. 22 Comments Tags: english paper piecing, hexagon.

I’m not sure why, but I’m going through a non-sewing phase right now. I haven’t really touched my sewing machine too much recently even though there is a pile up of projects I’d like to do – new Birdie Sling with Far Far Away II fabric, new dress from Built by Wendy Dresses, tea towels and napkins. Of course, let’s not talk about the pile of unfinished projects.

The one thing I’m really enjoying right now is English Paper Piecing. About six months ago, I embarked on a mini hexagon project (.75″) made up of all shades of grey and bits of persimmon pink. I had so much fun finding all my bits of grey fabric. Johanna even scoured her collection for some lovely grey prints for me. I filled a tin up with my hexies, but when it came to sewing them together I hit a bit of a stumbling block. My stitches seemed to be really visible. I kept trying different stitches, each one worse than the last. Discouraged that it wasn’t turning out very well, I put the project down.

It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago when I was watching Johanna work on her own hexagons that I realized she was stitching them good sides together where I had been stitching them wrong sides together. WHAT?!! I don’t have a clue why I thought they were sewn together wrong sides together. It is standard sewing practice to put ‘good sides together’ for everything. Feeling extremely silly, I revisited my tin of hexagons and now I’m finally sewing all 200-ish of them together. Lesson : even someone who’s been sewing for a heck of a long time can get stumped on the simplest little detail.

I’m sewing them together randomly and organically. I thought this might end up being a pillow, but now I’m wondering about making some type of wall hanging. I think it would be cool to keep the organic shape, mount it and hang it on the wall. What do you think?

THE QUILTS OF GEE'S BEND

Published on August 13, 2010 in patchwork, scraps and traveling. 8 Comments Tags: Alabama, Gee's Bend Quilter's Collective, Soak, The Quilts of Gee's Bend, Whitney Musuem.

Back in 2002, I got to see The Quilts of Gee’s Bend exhibit at the Whitney Museum in New York. Those historical quilts made quite a stir at the time. I remember walking through the exhibit marveling at the colour, the re-purposed fabrics and perfect simplicity of the composition. Little did I know that this show would help push me towards the creation of the workroom several years later.

A few days ago, I traveled down to London, Ontario to see an exhibit of more contemporary quilts from Gee’s Bend and to participate in a workshop with some of the women of Gee’s Bend. Jacqueline of Soak organized a small group of ladies for this road trip, all I had to do was get up at the crack of dawn.

We spent the morning walking through the show. Though the exhibit seemed small at first glance, it is huge on substance. These quilts were all made within the last four years by various women from the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective and they are wonderful. I was so incredibly inspired by many of the pieces in the show.

After lunch at a local market, we joined a workshop led by four women from Gee’s Bend. Using scrap clothing, some solids and a couple prints, they led us through their techniques to create a couple blocks sewn by hand. The true highlight of the day was spending time with these lovely ladies from Alabama. Their sweet, enthusiastic and warm dispositions had us grinning and laughing, while we tried to soak up their teachings and their southern twang. The day ended with hugs and a class photo. Perfect.

I posted all my photos from the day here.

365 : 65

Published on March 12, 2010 in 365, patchwork, scraps and stitchery. 0 Comments Tags: 365, english paper piecing, grey, hexagon, johanna masko.

March 6, 2010 of 365 : pile of grey ‘scraps’ from johanna for my hexagon project

The English Paper Pieced hexagon project that I’m working on is using all shades of grey with splashes of orangey red. I have quite a few greys in my collection, but I was hoping to have only one or two hexagons of each fabric. I have estimated that I’ll need over 225 hexagons to make my pillow, so that’s a heck of a lot of grey. I asked Johanna if she might open up her vault of fabric (over 20 years of collecting) and snip a few small pieces for me. She generously handed over an incredible stack of delicious grey pieces from her huge collection and each piece is a real gem. (I actually do mentally envision Johanna’s insane fabric collection as a huge vault full of fabric. She seems to have a neverending stash of amazing prints.)

FABRIC FISH

Published on December 15, 2009 in DIY and scraps. 3 Comments Tags: fabric fish, holiday gifts, jighead.

Last year I got Andrew’s dad & grandfather some fishing lure for Christmas. These jigheads have a super sharp hook, so I thought it would be cute to sew up little fabric fish from scraps and safely hook these little guys into them before wrapping them up. It was something I did at the very last minute, but I think it looks so cute!

For some other ideas, I thought I would just point you in the direction of my holiday posts from last year, since I can’t really share this year’s ideas just yet.

a simple linen apron, you can’t go wrong
every year I pick one thing to make multiples of, last year was the year of the snap coin purse
for some quick wrapping – sew your gifts into paper
easily personalize your handmade items with a typewritten fabric label
another great use for scraps – patchwork potholders
family photos are a great way to mark the end of the year

A couple people have mentioned to me that they’ve made some of the French Chocolate Granola for gifts. I personally think food gifts are awesome.

CEDAR BIRDHOUSE

Published on October 24, 2009 in scraps. 9 Comments Tags: andrew cloutier, bird house, cedar, happy birthday.

I can’t tell you what a nice birthday month I’m having. I’ve had cake everyday for about two weeks and sadly now it’s all gone! What the heck am I going to have for breakfast tomorrow?!

I had to share the handmade gift I received from Andrew with you. A beautiful cedar birdhouse of his own design. Even better, he used all scraps of cedar wood he had lying around the house from past projects. That’s the kind of design I love!

I’ve always wanted a birdhouse and this one is deluxe. I can’t wait for a happy bird or bird family to move in!

SNOW BUNNY

Published on September 25, 2009 in reading, scraps and stitchery. 6 Comments Tags: my crafty list of things to do, snow bunny, softies, tamar mogendorff.

I’ve been slacking on my ‘Crafty List of Things to Do‘, so I finally decided to tackle one of the easier projects. There are so many great patterns in the ‘Softies‘ book, but of course, the sweet Snow Bunny caught my eye. My bunny collection is coming along nicely. Thank you for asking. I’ll do a group shot of my bunny family soon, if I can get them all in one place at the same time.

Snow Bunny was designed by one of my favourite softie designers Tamar Mogendorff. The construction is quite simple and I enjoyed all the hand stitching. I was quite inspired by Tamar’s embellishing and pretty much tried to replicate it as best I could. I was happy that I hadn’t gotten rid of my bead collection so that I could give the Snow Bunny a little ‘bling’. She’s a pretty posh bunny.

For the pom pom tail, Debbie donated some gorgeous, chunky cream yarn from her extensive stash to the cause. I took this opportunity to try out the Clover Extra Large Pom Pom maker. It was easy and fun. I wanted to make more, but what else can I make with pom poms?

I used the same wool stuffing we use in the Animal Softies class for filling. I will never use anything else. It feels so wonderful, it molds nicely and feels slightly heavy. The wool will also deter dust mites and mold. Plus, if you’re making dolls for children or babies, the wool will retain familiar scents that can be very comforting.

the workroom received oodles of new books and patterns this week, so I’ll be updating My Crafty List over the weekend with some new projects. Baby Stuff by Aronzi Aronzo has some definite bunny possibilities!