Saturday Sharing

Although there were a lot of wonderful projects showcased at the Saturday ASG Neighborhood Group I attended today, this fabirc takes the prize as the most fabulous... at least in my book.

The sample I saw was in black and white. I can't seem to find a lot of this on-line but I definitely need about three yards or so of it to satusfy this fabric lust. BTW it's by Alexander Henry and it is not part of their current catalog.

While I do some more internet cruising I hope your weekend is going well and that you do not get bitten by the fabric lust bug like me.

That's Sew Wrong (continued)

Over a year ago (more like two years ago, but who's counting!) I picked up some fabric made by Michael Miller called That's Sew Wrong!. At that time I used it to recover a utilitarian IKEA secretary's chair. Here's that original post and I'll wait while you go take a look.

I then used the same fabric to recover an old sleeve board that I had picked up at a garage sale many years ago. Here's that post.

In that second post I mentioned that I had a table top sized ironing board that needed a makeover as well and this past weekend I finally got it recovered as well. Here's how it turned out.

Even after these three projects I still had fabric left over from that original three yards. I was inspired by the 101 One Yard Wonders book to make a roll-up sewing kit to take to simple, out-of the house sewing sessions.

There is an elasticized strip for holding spools of thread, a zippered pocket for scissors, bobbins and such, plus a couple of pockets for needle books and other little bits.

I wish I knew why I bought all that trim! I still have tons of it. Want some?

I am now down to the tiny bits that I can in all honesty put in the dog bed stuffing bag.

Not a one yard wonder by any stretch of the imagination but definitely well-used fabric.

101 One Yard Wonders

There's a new sewing book out there that you might want to take a look at when you have that stray yard of fabric begging to be used.




This is a book that will not teach you how to sew but it does have some great projects. I will admit that some are pretty lame... like how to recover a small ironng board using the old cover as the pattern (duh!) but there are many, many more that will stretch your imagination and give you some great results.

I decided to try out one of the projects this weekend just to test of the instructions. Each of the projects are designed by different internet based sewers but the instructions are all written by the editorial team. The one I chose is a cat bed that looks like a big floppy bowl. I was intrigued by it as the design is based on trapezoid walls that lean out from a small bottom.

Here's how it came out:

Doesn't Kelis look mad to be woken up by the flash?

Those big fluffy walls are just Alex and the Girls love to rest their heads on when they are taking naps....just don't tell them that it was designed for a cat!



The fabirc is a golf themed flannel that I have no idea how I acquired it or why. I stuffed it with tiny bits of cotton scraps that I spent way too long making even tinier while clearing out the TIVO yesterday...I should have just run out and bought some fiberfill as suggested in the instructions!



The instructions were very well written, short, to the point and very accurate. If you follow them, and do not get distracted, you will have success with this book. Please note that it is not written just for quilters with their obsession with 1/4" seam allowances, although there are a lot of projects that need bias binding as an edge finish. Many of the projects are suitable are non-quilting cottons which makes this an extremely versatile set of projects.



Even though I do like this book, I am a little disappointed in the projects offered. Even though there are some darling children's clothing and some other great things I haven't tried, there wasn't a hint of a bog coat or a six square jacket... not even one bias top or a simple bag for a wheel chair.



I guess there is still a lot of material out there that can be included in the next addition.

Definitely a Lack of Imagination

I've always wondered how streets get named in new developments



After all, new developments are usually carved out of large tracts of land that have been purchased from one owner. After you have put together a new subdivision you get to name the streets and can pretty quickly run out of variations of the original owners name... New/Old/Smith/Farm Road/Drive/Place/Lane/Circle/Drive is pretty limiting. As long as the new names are acceptable to the postal service you can name the new streets anything you desire.



There is a small subdivision just north of my area that failed to take off for reasons I will not go into here.



After the first dozen homes were built a succession of builders came in and did some fill in building. Finally someone came in and bought all the vacant lots and, for some unknown reason, renamed all the streets.



Here's where the lack of imagination comes in...



Not only did the final owners name two streets This Way and Thay Way, they built a house where That Way turns into This Way.









Now I am all for a good joke, but it must get tiresome explaining to friends and family that your house is located at the corner of This Way and That Way.







And before you go looking for This Way and That Way on Google Maps, be aware that they are both called Right Way there.







Have a great week!

Into the Mail

No, I'm not serving mailing boxes for dinner this evening. It just so happens that I am storing these boxes, before mailing them off, on my stove as it gets so little use these days.

Inside these boxes are the results of two different donation efforts from here.

The top box holds 65 Christmas stockings, each wth a holiday card, for the use of Operation Care Package's holiday mailings this year. This effort is about half of what we did last year but there is still time to get more done before the packages are sent overseas.

The bottom box holds about 20 scarves for the Red Scarf Project of the Orphan Foundation of America. Even though yarn does compress quite a bit you can see I have had trouble getting the box completly squared up. I think I will need to use a lot more tape to get it fixed before shiping it off tomorrow.

I wonder if I can get Alex to help me out with that?

Have a good Sunday. I intend to spend the day enjoying that old TV mini-series "V" while working on Sweet Sadie's books. I guess the grass will just have to wait for another day. My heart is broken. :-)

The Dream Rocket

Quilting Arts Magazine sent out an e-mail today on an interesting project that really speaks to those of us who live in Houston. Its called the the Dream Rocket Project. For someone who lives next to Space City USA it is incredibly intriguing that someone is intending to cover a Saturn V Rocket with a quilt made up of panels illustrating peoples' dreams. The fact that those folk from the International Fiber Collective in Huntsville, Alabama are leading the project is just an accident of geography as I know someone here would have come up with the idea ..... eventually.

What a great project for a grade school class, a group of friends, an individual quilter or anyone else, anywhere in the world who would like to share a dream.

Now to come up with a dream for a 2' x 2' panel .... and the fee.

Schlepp Bag Revisited

Next to my cuttting table is a pile of fabric. It is not the only pile of fabric in my home but it is the one I go to when I need to get away from bigger projects and get some almost instant gratification from making something useful. The other day I was getting sick of working on my pink Angotti quilt and went to the pile to see what caught my eye.

On top of it were two pieces of upholstery weight fabric that were crying out to be made into a wheeelchair bag. Wheelchair bags are a quick sew (Instructions I use are here) and these bits of fabric seemed perfect for one. There was one problem. I had already cut a chunk out of one of them (I don't rememeber why) so I went onto to Plan B.

Plan B in this case was a Schlepp Bag.

I have made several in the past (here, here, and here) but this time I decided to make one based on the original design I found in an old magazine. In that one, the sides were not made from squares of fabric but from strips of fabric. I cut my fabric into 6" x 24" strips, serged them together, top-stitched the seams down, trimmed the top straight by eye-balling the edge, added a lining, reinforced the bottom with part of a worn out cutting board and here's how it came out:

The bottom is the classic square and the points sort of match even though the fabric is fairly heavy:

After it was done I started using it as a library book bag but it has morphed into a travel knitting bag for knitting guild meetings and such when I am taking more than just my current project.

What I didn't realize before I started working on this project is that I do have a specific stack of fabric for fill-in sewing. For those times when I just want to get something done, whether for charity or for my own use, there is this stack that I go to to find the building blocks. I've been doing it for years, I just didn't know I was doing it.

If you have time some day, look at your fabric stash and find those fabrics that are a usable size for various quicks projects. Gather them in one place and you will also have your own stack for fill-in sewing. Wheelchair bags, Anti-ouch pouches, Chemo caps, Operation Care Package Christmas Stockings and other charity sewing projects are all good uses for fabric that no longer has a specific use.

After all, we can all use a little instant gratification once in a while.

In the Mail

The Victoria and Albert Museum

South Kensington

London SW7 2RL

Doesn't that sound elegant?

Selvedge magazine had a short write-up on a new series of books called V&A Pattern. The first boxed set includes four beautiful volumes of images from their collection of patterns from the 50's, William Morris, Indian Florals and Digital Pioneers. Each volume includes a disc of the images that you can download and use for your personal use in whatever way you would like. Copyright resides with the museum but I know from personal experience they are generous in giving it when credit is given where credit is due.

Is this not the most elegant set you have ever seen?

My set came from Britan but I see that it is now available from Amazon here. I also see that the second set is now scheduled for publication next June and will include Kimonos, Owen Jones, Novelty Petterns and Secret Garden. My birthday is in June....guess I'll just have to get this for myself.

It's been raining a lot today and Sweet Sadie's sprung a leak. Not a big leak but enough that when combined with monsoonal rain we closed for the day. We will be open tomorrow but it was nice to have some down time to do some seasonal decorating and catch up on some paper work. Tomorrow its back to the BBQ grind.

Halloweiner 2009

Twice a year Dachshund Rescue of Houston (DROH) has a fund raiser. In the fall its the Halloweiner event. This year it was was held at Meadow Lake Pet Resort down in Pearland and I think they raised about $10,000.00 for the cause, most of it from a one family but still a good amount when the need is so large.


I do not do elaborate costumes for Alex and the Girls because, after the first few minutes of hilarity, they really do look pretty stupid. I do little ruffled collars as their costumes/dress-up outfits with coats for cold weather. Here's what they wore this year:


Alex would not pose without showing off his equipment in the most uncute manner. Here's a shot of how some of the other critters and their owners were dressed.


This guy was most appropriately dressed and amused many of us by climbing up the walls of his cage in his effforts to get out.

Most of the day was spent untangling leashes:

Note the new harnesses for Alex and the Girls. One of the reasons I went to this event was to purchase new harnesses for them from a woman who donates all of the proceeds to DROH. I ended up with an extra small for Kelis, a small for Alex and a medium for Kimora. These are incredibly well made and I can't blieve how inexpensive they were to buy. Check out the DROH website for ordering information. I also gave her all my doggie themed fabric to help defray some of her expenses. I didn't realise how much I had and I know she can make good use of it.




The saddest thing all day was one little guy who had to wear a stuffed lobster that kept falling off of him. He was a real charmer and bore it well. His owner won a squeaky stuffed toy and walked around with it completely ignoring the little lobster boy's efforts to get her attention so he could have the toy. He didn't bark or whine or cause a scene just sat and stared longingly at the toy.

I finally took piy on him and let his owner know what was going on and asked her to let him have the toy. She did and he was in squeaky toy heaven as we left.

Have a great week. I will get back to sewing posts soon!

You Dirty Dog!

After two days of on and off torrential rains little Miss Kelis decided to make an escape attempt to the neighbors' backyard. After much time spent digging and forcing her head through the claylike mud we call dirt around here, she did not succeed in escaping but she did succeed in getting pretty dirty.

Here is the little princess in all her glory after rubbing most of it off on my black jeans (sorry for the devil dog eyes):

I just might wait until later tonight before giving her a bath to see if she finds another spot to dig.