CPS Fabric Swap

I love getting mail that is not junk or bills.  In this day and age of e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and blogs it is rare to get something in the mail of a personal nature.


Yesterday was the day for me.


Here's the back story - a couple of months ago Cloth, Paper Scissors(CPS) magazine put out a challenge to its readers to make nine, nine inch squares of altered fabric, send them to CPS by a certain date and get back seven different squares from other readers. The two left over from your nine would be divided up with one whole set staying at CPS and the last complete set going to the winner of a people choice type award.


My submission was talked about here.


What I got back is wonderful range of fabrics that almost defy description.  Aren't these wonderful!

Starting at the upper left is a beige piece of burlap with dyed circles, hand embellished with metallic threads and jewelry findings; then an altered photo on muslin with fabric paints and other hand coloring; then a piece of Katasome stenciling; then a wonderful painted piece with hand applied sharpie decorations; then a collage of old ties and finally a metallic quilted piece of fabric colored by deconstructed silk screening and over dye.


I have no idea how I will use most of these pieces but they do inspire me to try different fabric altering techniques.  I make stretch each piece on stretched bars and hang them up on my sewing room walls... or then again I may use them in projects....or trade them for other altered fabrics or?


I hope you will have a wonderful weekend with moderate temperatures and a little rain for your gardens.  I will be sweltering in record braking temperatures hoping for the the drought to break soon.


Time for a rain dance!      

The Quilt Artist

The Fantasy


The morning sun streams through the east facing windows of the Artist's palatial bedroom.  As the sun strikes her smooth brow she awakens and stretches her well-toned body under her pristine 10,000 thread count, hand-made sheets.  


Her lover has left a beautiful tray of assorted pastries and Blue Mountain coffee on the hand carved side table.  The table, made from reclaimed wood gathered from a centuries old farm house in France, sits in the sunlight shaded by lace curtains woven from recycled silk by cloistered nuns in Rome.


All is right with the world as the Artist sits to break her fast and glances at the dozen art magazines from all over the world that makes up her morning reading.


Suddenly she tenses as she reads about Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine's latest challenge.  The challenge is to take a half yard of fabric, transform it by your preferred method and send eight nine inch squares of it to the magazine Arts for a fabric swap/exchange.


"Yes" she declares aloud, startling her pack of rescued, pure bred, dogs and cats from their  postprandial slumber, "This is just the thing for me."


She dresses in a white smock, made from an Irish Linen table cloth that her great-great-great grandmother hemstitched, and rushes to her secluded studio back in the woods of her mountainside retreat.


Using her portfolio of Japanese wood block prints as inspiration, she selects a piece of fabric sent to her by the Sultan last year and, as her assistant prepares it for dying, the Artist gathers her dyes from Bali, silk screens from Tibet, inks from Ireland and brushes from her badger farm in Montana.


She is now ready to create her masterpiece.


Skipping the next seven days of creative chaos, including three crying jags, 75 yards of fabric sent to the recyclers and the demise of one great dying table from the weight of her frustration, the Artist produces this:

  
The Reality


The Artist awakes to the yapping of three small dogs wanting to get outside to chase the squirrels.  While eating her Cherrios over the kitchen sink, she sees that Cloth, Paper, Scissors Arts has another challenge.


"Yes" she declares aloud, startling her pack of snarling mutts competing for her leftover milk, "This is just the thing for me." 


Using her 1949 tourist guide to Japanese wood block prints as inspiration, she gathers her materials consisting of fabric from the sale table at WalMart, leftover dyes from a friend's class three years ago, silk screens from a door prize package and inks from a calligraphy class when she was in high school.


After eight hours of washing, drying, ironing, wetting, dying, ironing, stenciling, ironing and ruining the top of the plastic table she uses for dying outdoors, she produces this:

  I would love to resemble the fantasy but, alas, my life is the reality.


Have a good week!  

Swap Time

I went to a local neighborhood group meeting of the local American Sewing Guild Chapter for a stash swap.

Imagine fourteen avid sewers clearing out their stashes to swap with other sewers.

It just takes your breath away!

One member brought her Japanese textile 'scraps', another brought another sewer's pattern collection from the 60's and 70's while another brought rolls of silks.

Here are some shots of the loot AFTER it had been reduced by other swappers.

I scored some wonderful lining fabrics, a couple of Japanese prints and a couple of kits to make clutch style bags.

The best thing though was a long curtain made up of many squares of African style fabrics.  I think that will make a great wheelchair quilt for the VA.

Most of th left overs came home with me for the Quilt Guild Garage Sale.  I had a blast going through it one more time before boxing it up for the actual sale.  

It will be hard to keep  my hands off this stuff before I actually put it on sale.

Note to self... I don't need any more fabirc, patterns, buttons, zippers, magazines, books, notions, thread etc. etc. etc..  Repeat as often as necessary.

Irritation Solved

At the Twisted Sisters Swap I received back a cute little tote bag with a snap closure.

I intended to use if for toting small knitting projects.

There was a problem though...I really, really, hated the closure.

There was something irritating about the clunky sounding snapping of the closure.

I decided to figure out what made the closure and, by carefullly opening a seam in the casing, discovered these:

Yup.

The annoying closure was made from a metal tape measure.

Truly a clever technique and instructions for one style of bag are here.  I can see this technique applied to many different types of simple totes and hand bags.

Discovering this meant I was now left with a wimpy topped bag.  I knew I didn't want to put back the measuring tape but I did need a new closure.

I ended up putting a drawstring in the same casing.

Now the bag can be used for my purposes (knitting storage) and I can still show off my friend's excellent sewing.

Now if I can only figure out how to make the lining, which is about two inches shorter that the exterior of the bag, longer, I would be in hog heaven......I wonder if I should open up the interior...shortern the exterior, make a new bottom.....never mind.  If I wanted a whole new bag I should just start from scratch.

Let me know if you try this type of closure and whether you were pleased with the results.

Twisted Sisters Swap

Twisted Sisters is a quilting grop sponsored by the Kingwood Area Quilt Guild.  We are 'twisted' because we are always looking at differnt techniques to change our fabric creations. 

We recently held a swap where each member brought in a yard of fabric that they liked in a brown paper bag.

We then chose a bag and went off to create something.  We did not reveal which fabric we had so this was a blind swap.

Last week we revealed our creations and found out who we created for and who created for us.

Although this is a crappy photo I think it reveals the variety of projects created:

From the center bottom and going clockwise we created a precision wall quilt, a little bag, a christmas table runner, a signature quilt, a Twisted Sisters Valentines Days quilt, a calendar hanger, a large batiked bag and ad appliqued quilt.  

I made the signature quilt and, as I had to collect everyone's signature, it was not a surprise that this is what I created.

I received the little tourquise and brown bag.  This bag has a metal snap closure which will make it great as a knitting bag/yarn barn.

This was a fun project even if there was a monetary incentive to complete some project from the fabric.  If you didn't finish your project you had to pay $50.00 to the person whose fabric you had.

No-one paid the money and I think everyone was pleased with the results.

If you are part of any kind of crafty group I think this is a great way to get those creative juices flowing.  Have everyone trade a bag of fabrics, papers, yarns, Legos, fruit or what have you and see what comes out of working with items someone else has chosen for you.

In The Mail

I am part of a Flickr swap group called 'Fat Quarter Swap with a Twist'. Every month there is a new theme for the fat quarters to be swapped plus some addtional requirements. This month the theme was cupcakes and the requirements were:


3 "cupcake / sweets themed" fat quarters (fabric that measures 18"x20" at minimum)


1 yummy cupcake recipe


1 sewing notion min.


1 or more cupcake paraphernalia





I was lucky enough to draw a Home Ec. teacher as my swap buddy and here is what she sent:

She included a bunch of fun things including some cute fat quarters, a handmade cupcake-like pin cushion and a cupcake shaped placemat. The recipe is for Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (how good does that sound?).

I have only participated in this swap twice and have enjoyed evrything that I have sent and received, which can be a rarity in swaps. The problem with swaps is that I originally joined thinking I would be able to reduce some of my surplus resources but, in most cases, I have ended up with more than I actually sent!

I hope your weekend is going well. As most people know, Houston had about four inches of snow during the day yesterday. Snow is not a complete rarity here as Houston sits right below the Great Plains so storms can sometimes roll right down from the north without anything to stop it. Unfortunately I hear that there will be another chance for snow next week. Personally I don't mind the snow but the Girls hate it and have to be forced outside to go for walks. Alex, on the other hand, doesn't seem to notice and just loves to be anywhere I am... even if it is only twenty degress out.

Needlecase

One of the projects that had to be done before the end of the year that is not a legitimate UFO is that I needed to make a needle case for an exchange at the KAQG holiday party next week. This was not a MUST do but, as a member of the board, I felt that I should participate.

Anyway, tonight I took a wonderful piece of fabric that had been around here for a while and turned it ito a needle case for this exchange.

Here is the fabric:

I got it at the International Quilt Festival a few years ago and fell in love with this and other bleach discharged indigo fabrics the vendor had avilable for sale. I don't remember the vendor but every time I've seen this bit of fabric since then I have kicked myslef for not getting more.

Here is how the needlecase came out:

At 3 1/2" by 7 " it is more of a travel sewing case than just a needlecase. To the interior I added a small pocket in which I placed a couple of silk thread wound reporduction thread savers, a bit of white felt with a couple of needles stuck in it and another little pocket to hold a small pair of scissors. I like the way this turned out and I hope that whom ever gets it will use it in good health for a very long time.

In the Mail

I'm in a new swap called 'Fat Quarter Swap with a Twist'. It is a small group and, essentially, each month has a theme, you and your partner swap a small number of fat quarters geared to the theme plus a couple of other requirments. For October, the theme was Autumn, the other items were something hand made that your partner would like and a sewing notion or two.



I have not sent my package off yet as I was waiting for the Quilt Festival to see if anything jumped out at me, however, my partner from Britain did send hers to me and I received it yesterday.



Here's all the loot she sent:



The whole package included fabrics, threads, rick rack, ribbons, buttons, felt flowers, ribbon, a Guterman tin, a small jar, an address book, a medium Moleskine notebook, little clothes pins and a wonderful Lavender sachet. All of it fit into a wonderful Royal Mail shipping box that I can't wait to re-purpose. Thank you sazziej for a wonderful swap. Mine back to you should be in the mail by the beginning of next week.



The interesting thing about the box is that it had vent holes in it so you could actually see the wrapped packages inside. In general, that woud be a bad thing, especially when you are sending parcels where two inchies of rain or more in a day can occur at this time of year. In this case, someone was looking out for this parcel as it arrived between rain storms without a drop of wetness marring its pristine contents.



Now to rest up for more Quilt Show trolling!

What to do with....

Doll size quilts obtained thorugh on-line swaps?

That has been a problem for me for quite some time. These wonderful little pieces of art really deserve to be seen. I was displaying one or two at a time on a table top but that left the majority lanquishing in a drawer until I remembered to switch them out.

I think I came up with a solution for about six of them...

Paul hung two light weight curtain rods above my cutting/ironing table so I can see these every time I use the table and, maybe, get some inspiration for a new project.

The rest do not have rod pockets, just corner pockets and those I intend to hang on the opposite wall... but that will wait for another day.

Four Seasons Swap

Months ago I signed up for the latest version of the Four Seasons Doll Quilt Swap. I had missed out on the last round so I was eager to get in on the next round. This round, the fifth, is based on a partner chosing a set of colors and a season to be created. I received a lovely, twirly, leafy quit. And was eager to get my contribution into the mail.

There was just one little problem.

After a couple of months of gathering brown fabrics, picking a title ('Hunkering Down'), laying out the intentionally slightly wonky blocks, quilting it, adding a label and a hanging sleeve I went to look up the address of the intended recipient. I went to the notification e-mail and noticed that the recipient DOES NOT LIKE BROWN AND HAD ASKED FOR SOFT GOLDEN ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How could I have missed that essential fact!

Back to the drawing board.

As the deadline was coming up quickly I fell back on my favroite type of quilt.... Ricky Tims' Covergence Quilts. I love this book and I have slowly been working my way through each of the quilts. I decided to fall back on my personal favorite that uses just two fabrics. Once that choice was made I went hunting for soft oranges. I quilted it with a wonderful variagated thread from YLI in a pattern like a blowing wind with child-like leaves blowing around. This is how it all came out:

I call it 'Whoosh' as in whooshing winds and leaves on a sunny day. I hope my partner likes it. I did enjoy working under a tight deadline but next time, if there is ever a next time, I MUST recheck the requirements e-mail many, many times to ensure I don't go off on the wrong track.

The brown autumn quilt? It's slightly wonky log cabin town on top of harvested fields makes me smile. I think I will keep it and hang it right near my sewing machine to remind me of this small debacle. Here's how it came out:

This week must be better. After four solid days of rain and cold weather I am so looking forward to opening the windows and enjoy a warm breeze. I might actually get a quilt quilted. Have a good week!

In the Mail

Yesterday in the mail I got the neatest quilt from the Four Seasons Quilt Swap fifth round. You may remember that I didn't make it into the final swap for the original four seasons but when the swap leader came up with a fifth round I jumped at the chance. The fifth round was for monchromatic quilts for a specific season as chosen by the receiver of the quilt. I chose orange and brown and spring. I was gently reminded that orange and brown are not typical spring colors so I changed my season to fall and the color to just orange. Here's what came from Lori:

This is a unique setting in that Lori did not just make blocks and join them together in a standard grid, instead she made the leaf blocks, scattered them on a 20" grid and filled in the resulting spaces with white fabric. Very, very nice result!

There is a very important lesson learned in this quilt....even modern fabrics can have their colors run when washed. I have tended, in the past couple of years, to not pre-wash my quilting fabrics before working with them. A couple of the leaf fabrics ran when Lori washed the final quilt and, although it does not bother me in the least, I think I will return to pre-washing my fabrics when making a special quilt for someone.

My entry for this swap? Well it is almost done but I am still fiddling with it. My challenge was to use brown for a fall quilt. Let's just say there won't be a leaf on it. Until its done that's all the hints I will give you.

Thanks Lori! I can't wait to hang this with the other swapped quilts I have received.

In the Mail

The fifth round of the Doll Quilt Swap is over for me. I received a beautiful New York Beauty quilt that was the first attempt by my partner at doing paper piecing. I don't think I would have the patience to paper piece this type of intricate block. Isn't it neat?

I sent off my quilt the other day and it is going far away to where snow is a four letter word. The quilt was based on a snowball block and is called Twisted Rope. What do you think?

I had a lot of fun this time making my quilt as I used a new book that I got through YesAsia.com as the basis for my quilt. The book is called Patchwork 1030 and has 1,030 quilt blocks in it. The layout is terrific and you don't need to know Japanese to get acceptable results. Each block is illustrated in line drawings four times. The first is illustrated in grey scale so you have an idea of how many values of fabric you need. Beside the drawing of each block is a slightly exploded view showing you how to assemble the block, then another view showing the back of the block so you can see how to iron the seams and the final illustration shows you the size relationships of each of the pieces. Here is a pretty crappy picture of one page.

This is a great book for bathroom reading as it requires no concentration but gives you plenty ideas for future quilting adventures and we all need more ideas for quilts... right?

I hope your weekend is going well. I am off to my last annual meeting of the Houston Chapter of the American Sewing Guild as their Treasurer. Although the chapter has over 400 members the treasurer's job is very straight forward. I will not miss the job but I will miss the board meetings and all the friendships I have made with other board members over the past four years. I know the new treasurer will enjoy the job and I intend to leave her a clean set of books.

Enough nostalgia... onto my annual report!

Four Seasons Quilt Swap 5

The Four Seasons Quilt Swap 5 is off and running and looking for a few good quilters who can accept the challenge. The new swap is very different from what I have participated in before but I am looking forward to the challenge. This time each of the swappers is asked for their favroite colors and their favorite season. Your partner will take your likes and dislikes and create a special doll size wall quilt for you.

Intrigued?

If you would like a quilting challenge check out this link for the rules and how to sign up for this swap. If you are curious about the kind of work done check out this Flickr site.

In the Mail

The Bag Ladies Swap project for October is a Christmas Stocking. This is a complete departure from the usual swaps and I was truly looking forward to getting it done. Today I received my package from my partner. Along with a bunch of candy and freebies from an odd assortment of companies, I also got this little gem:

Side One

Side Two

I think this stocking highlights the good and the bad of working with old ties. The good part is all the wonderful fabrics and patterns in them.. Toni highlghted this by quilting the opened ties onto muslin before constructing the stocking. The bad part about working with ties is that it is hard to get the folds pressed out so that they stay out.

All in all , a very successful swap. My cotribution will be going out tomorrow. I wonder which little muchkin around here will be getting this filled with treats this Christmas?

Into the Mail

I mentioned a while ago that I had worked with some purple leather for a Bag Ladies Swap challenge. As it has now been received by Nicola in Ireland I can now show you how it turned out:

(didn't know leather was so shiny until I took this picture!)

The exterior is purple leather, the applique is red suede. Can you see that I used both sides of the red, one is smooth and the other is fuzzy? The handle has the red suede on the interior of the strap. The interior is some dupioni silk with, of course, some lavender buds between the leather and the silk. I did not use any interfacing for stiffness because I think the leather is sturdy enough on its own. For the closure I used two little rare earth magnets sewn into two little pouches at the top of the bag. I did this because, I must confess, that with the lack of interfacing, a standard magnetic snap just would not work so I took the easy way out. This is the Grace handbag from the Making Vintage Handbags book I have used before. I understand that Nicola will be field testing this bag this week so I hope she will report back on how it stood up to her use.

For September it appears the challenge may be a man's bag...Yikes!

In the Mail

Today I got a woderful surprise in the mail. I received my Doll Quilt Swap IV quilt from Lynn. Isn't it wonderful!

Not only does it have wonderful colors but it was hand quilted. She mentioned in her note that there were a couple of errors. I don't see them but then again, if we were all perfect we would all be God and she hasn't given up her job yet. Lynn also included a couple of fat quarters. The red one is a wonderful flannel, perfect for Operation Care Package stockings. The other is a lovely cotton from Moda with Dachshunds (the ones in blue sweaters) on it. Not sure what I will do with it but I don't think it will age a long time in my stash before being used. She also included a couple of gourmet chocolate bars. They are now in my fridge as they had started to melt in our heat before I got the package inside. They will not last long once they firm up a bit.

Thanks Lynn!

In the Mail

Today I got a special surprise in the mail. The August version of the Bag Lady Swap was to create a bag using a technigue/material/style you had never used before. I worked with leather while my partner worked with ribbon. Check out this fabulous bag:

It appears to be made out of woven ribbon fused (or maybe not) to a very heavy interfacing like Timtex. It is nine inches tall and seven inches wide at the bottom. The button loop is braided ribbon and the strap is made out of the lining material plus two layers of ribbon.

I love it and can see myself using it a lot. Heck, who couldn't use a red, black and white bag? In addition to the colors, the variety of textures in the bag make it a sure winner. Thanks Jennifer aka Flyinghippogirl!

Here is her flicker page.

Bag Ladies Swap

The challenge for the August Bag Ladies Swap was to create a bag that would have you use a new technique or material. I decided that I would use the use piece of purple leather that I have had sitting around here since my last trip to Toronto. I puled it out and went to the 'Making Leather Handbags', published by FIT, that I have had for a while. I should have read it before I decided to use this leather.

There are a lot of tools and skills that you have before you work with leather. The glues can be very toxic, the needles are deadly weapons, there are multiple weights of leather and there is no such thing as second chances. I experimented with a simple, simple pattern for an eyeglass case and realised that I would need to do lots of stitch samples before I made the final product. Here is a picture of the eyeglass case plus the other materials I used in the swap bag:

I ended up using a design from 'Making Vintage Bags' by Emma Brennan for the final product. I can't show you the final product as it is a secret until my partner in Ireland gets it. The best part about this experiment is that I still have some of the purple leather left so I can do one for myself and anyone I want to inflict with my experiments.

In the Mail

Last week I finished up the Bag Ladies swap for June. I sent out the Tot Pack I finished in January of this year. Since I did not make it for this swap, I felt a little guilty so I filled it with stuff from the local independent toy store. I understand that the four year-old who is now using it was thrilled with the results. I was also thrilled as I have not had an opportunity to spend some quality toy shopping time in quite a while and it was nce to see all the new stuff available for creative kids.


In return I received the following from Sylvie's Creations in Denmark. It is approximately 13" x 14" with thin leather cords that can be used to sling it over your shoulder or as back pack straps. I used it the other day while running a bunch of errands and it worked great. I might experiment with this design a little and make the straps wider as the thin cords did tend to cut into my shoulder when the bag was fully loaded. The theme for the month was a child centered bag. This bag works well for both children and adults alike so it was a good choice for me. Thanks Sylvie!

Into the Mail

As part of the Interfaith Quilting Bee a special block is suggested each year for the groups to concentrate on making. Last year it was a rail fence variation. It was a good choice as a simple block but it did require some precision sewing to get it all to line up correctly. This year, a member of the KAQG taught something called a Crazy Nine Patch. It does require that you keep organized while you are sewing it but it has the added advantage that when you finish sewing it you square up the blocks to the largest size you can get your blocks to all match. For instance, if you start with twelve inch squares and, after slicing and piecing, you could get a ten and a half inch block out of each of them, them your blocks wil be ten and a half inches. If you really ended up with raggedty edges you might end up with nine inch blocks. Good for those of us that are not as precise as we should be. The original block block appears to have been taught at a Bernina workshop. A great tutorial on how to do this block is here.

I decided that I would use this block for my Doll Quilt Swap IV submission. Here is what I came up with:

I started with some of those five inch charm squares that are sold in quilt stores. I love working with this size but I thought it would be tricky for this block. It was a little tricky. In the end I ended up with twelve, three and a half inch unfunished blocks which ended up in a twelve by fifteen inch quilt. One thing I would do over is to follow the instructions. I went my own way and the last cut turned out to be a little tricky. Also, you can press your seams to one side as instructed in the Allsorts tutorial or you can press them open. Open means you will have fewer layers to struggle through with your rotary cutter.

BTW - I can't tell you where this quilt is going but its a very long way. I hope it makes it in time!