Santa brings (fabric) organization!

On the first day of Christmas, Sweetie (who I swear was dressed up as Santa at the time) gave to me:

A Way to Organize/Store my Fabric! 
PVC pipe shelving system that is free-standing and holds various sizes of (large) plastic storage bins. This will save me from the "I don't want to move the stacked bins to get to the fabric/lining I need in the bin on the bottom, so I'll just go to the store and buy some more" thinking.  (You don't think that way, do you?  Someone must be more clear-headed than I am on this.)

Almost as sexy as when Nancy Reagan gave Ronald Reagan a manure spreader as a gift.  Y'all just don't know how sexy a practical gift can be...

 
"We" couldn't wait to put together the shelving and see if all my bins fit!

Uh-oh...they didn't actually fit.  Room for 12 bins, and I have at least... seven too many.  (Hanging my head in shame)

Foreground: fabric bin overflow...

However, later in the day, I came to a realization: my fabric fits in 9 bins; it's the UFO's that take up the remaining bins (and that includes t-shirts waiting to become t-shirt quilts).

Close-up of my "labeling" system: Sweetie found an adorable cartoon version of the Chinese/Japanese zodiac.  Since there's twelve years in this zodiac cycle, this seemed like a way to label my twelve bins with whimsical animals (and who doesn't love a bit of whimsy in their practical everyday?)  

So back to my dilemma:

19 bins total - 9 bins of fabric = 10 bins of UFO's???

Hmph!  What to do?  (Oh, I hear you in the back of the room.  "Just finish some UFO's, woman."  This is me giving you the stink eye.)


Oy.  It's that time of year--I'm sputtering and planning my 2019--good to know where I stand with my robust and muscular stash (and equally massive collection of UFOs)

December progress & Charity Pillowcases

More than halfway through December, time for a quick check-in on

• 31 days of blogging
• December's monthly goals

Hey, only 4 blog posts under my belt in 15 days, so I'm far away from the stated blog-post-a-day challenge.  But, I'm patting myself on the back for not giving up--11 days in a row passed by but I came back!  (Recall: a measly 6 blog posts for the previous 11 months.  I have a lot of bad habits to overcome here.)

Funny story on the December goals...I clearly recall listing FOUR sewing goals for December, and choosing one of these to be my main focus.  Someone was not listening to herself declaring these to be the only December goals.  Alas, dear reader, I have strayed.

There has been some progress on the Xmas stockings.

And then, I went and made a couple pillowcases.

To my credit, these were for my Guild's annual charity donation, and have already left my hands.  Also, they were made from stashed fabrics, so no new purchases.  Finally, the cuffs were both scraps leftover from 2016-17 Circles BOM--even better than stashbusting is finishing off scraps!

Alrighty then: a finish(!) + some progress + more sewing needing to take place.  Sounds about right for a mid-December progress report.

1930's Scrap Quilt finish

I'm happy with posting all these finished projects!  This quilt *may* have been done in 2016--it was certainly well used over the course of this year.

 Last appeared on the blog in June 2016; I had just finished piecing the back at retreat and dropped it off at the long-arm quilter.

Jayne is such a wonderful quilter!  This is the 3rd quilt she's done for me, and I don't think I said much more than, "Please do something in line with the nature of the 1930's timeframe."  She created an amazing border treatment of feathers and waves in the scrappy-cream negative space.

I didn't really love my pieced back, but the quilting really improved its likabiliity.  And has not diminished my using the quilt this year.  It's one of my favorites for napping on the couch.

Successful scrap quilt!  Made from someone else's cast-off scraps, even.  And made entirely from stash, including using up all of a 20+ year old piece of background fabric.

Thanks for a great 2017!  More completed projects need to show up on the blog, and more in-process reporting should happen as the backlog of the unblogged gets sorted through in 2018.

See you next year.

Hawaiian Souvenir Fabric

The recent visit to Oahu featured lots of typical tourist activity: hotel luau, pineapple plantation tour, beach time, and souvenir shopping!

A top recommended souvenir shopping location is the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, which features hundreds of vendors, both the imported mass-produced variety and handcrafted local artisan fare.  Hawaiian print fabric was seen everywhere.  I picked up some off-cuts of fabric from a booth with aprons, hats, bags and potholders.  It made me happy to find bundles of Hawaiian print scraps, but I really had no idea what to expect inside each one.

The squares were about 3 1/2", so not quite charm size.  Each fabric appeared about a dozen times, and there were 20 different fabrics.  They were all heavier home-dec weight.  I was able to make a bundle of fabric squares for each of my co-workers at the shop.  I hope they like working with scraps as much as I do.

The oblong bundle contained similar fabrics as the squares, but in varying quantities.  Each print appears in several colorways, plus maybe a dozen different black-and-white prints.  I'm envisioning a patchwork tote bag, maybe an oven mitt, and definitely a microwave bowl cozy (I like this tutorial from Happy Hour Stitches)

I got to escape touristy Waikiki and go to a fabric store at one point, and I might've gone a little nuts.  Fabric Mart has 4 retail locations and specializes in all things Hawaiian print: apparel, home dec, quilting and batiks.

My favorite purchase: 3 1/2 yards of black rayon with a large chrysanthemum print.  Although the flowers are large, their placement in vertical rows with plenty of surrounding black background means that I can envision this looking pretty and formal, given the right silhouette.

Two other rayons and a barkcloth, all with classic Hawaiian floral motifs.  The rainbow floral in the center will be a challenge, but the blue & green prints seem more wearable--Hawaiian print shirts, anyone?

Finally, some bargain fabrics.  The red and pink were each less than $5 per yard.  I will use one of them as a bag lining, and maybe make a pop-up basket from the other.

Whew!  Twelve yards of fabric--but someone in one of my fabric stashbusting groups said that souvenir fabrics don't count.  Don't you agree?

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

First 2017 finish: t-shirt baby quilt

Huzzah, a finish!  And made entirely from stash (well, except for the t-shirts)

The challenge 

A request from October 2016 was to make a t-shirt quilt for a baby whose mother works at Mills College.  These were the two t-shirts I was given to work with.  And oh, by the way, could I possibly make the quilt entirely out of stash?  Why yes, I'll accept that challenge!

First things first: Mills colors are blue and gold.  And these t-shirts were decidedly NOT blue.  Or gold.  What to do?  Start with the back.

I had one yard of a blue ombre stripe.  Needed it to be bigger, so I inserted a slim strip of the delightful multicolor fabric (I think it has a nice blue-and-gold overall feel) and the long-stashed gold-with-blue stripe.  (Long stash = made a baby hat from this; said baby is now 26)  Proud to say that I used up ALL of the blue stripe and the gold stripe.  Only crumbs left.

For the front, I found a pattern I liked called Fractal, from the book Quilt Lab: The Creative Side of Science by Alexandra Winston.  Although Fractal is not a pattern for a t-shirt quilt, I saw potential in the oversized squares and rectangles.  I adapted the overall scale to be able to use 15" square t-shirts in the corners, with the intention of putting my purple and green lovelies just so.  Then I searched my stash for blue fabric to fill in the large empty spaces.

Blue fabric.  Um...yeah.  Not really a blue person.  Probably can't tell from the photo above, but my only large swaths of blue are really quite navy.  Sweetie looked at the mock-up on my design wall and reminded me that, "Mills colors are blue and gold.  I'm not seeing that.  And what's with the bandana fabric?" 

Indeed: stash, that's what's up with the red bandana print.  Hmph!

However, I am a resourceful person quilter.  I knew where to get some t-shirts that feel more "Mills".  Collected a big selection--not entirely blue and gold, but enough that I felt confident I could work something out.

the finished quilt front

I fussed.  And I fused.  Have you ever made a t-shirt quilt?  Most of the front is exclusively t-shirts--and they all have to be stabilized with fusible interfacing in order to behave.  And in a baby quilt, behaving is important for the usability and longevity of the gift.

Ended up using more of the multi-color fabric from the back: replaced the red bandana bits, and tied together both front and back with binding.

The quilting shows up better on the back.  I used my walking foot to replicate the concentric circles that were shown in the quilt from the book.

I'm pretty proud of my efforts here.  I didn't make it to the baby shower (but the quilt did).  The mother-to-be was delighted, so that's a definite win.

1.  A finish
2.  Entirely from stash (counting this as a 2-yard stashbust)
3.  Done on-time for its intended recipient

Do you like the restriction of having to use only stash in a project?  Or do you chafe and feel like your creativity gets stifled?

Fabriholic: More is more

I have a confession to make: I bought fabric.

Kinda a lot of fabric, actually.

I think I should just come clean and declare it all here, and then make yet another a vigorous pledge to not buy fabric for the rest of 2016.

I knew I had been on a bit of an untethered acquisition mission lately.  I had been stashing my purchases hither and yon--hiding them even from myself, it seems.  But then this happened

June 19-25 Weight Watchers focus

Yup, even Weight Watchers conspired to tell me to clean up my act.  And then Sweetie, who moonlights as the Tidy Fairy at our house, encouraged me to tackle the clutter on display in some parts of my sewing room.  Starting with the flat surface that is supposed to be the guest bed.

It was painful, but I am pleased with the results.  "Current" projects [How does one distinguish between WIP and UFO?  Do you have a method for categorizing?] are now stored in the drawers below the guest bed.  Older projects are punted back to the basement.

And in the process, all this fabric came to light.

FQ overload!!!

All these fat quarters were bought in 2016.  (Hmm, looks like 6 yards to me; ouch.)

This is what 39 yards looks like--Gah!

And all this yardage has walked in the door.  Not all of it purchased, but every inch of it acquired this year.

Drat!  Because, you see, I already have enough.  In fact, if you consider my sewing output, I really have too much.  I'm in no danger of using up my stash--especially at the rate I keep adding to the booty.

we're outta here!

It is with great pleasure, then, that I present the Going Away Pile.  Far from perfect.  Far from complete (in terms of ruthlessly going thru the fabric monstrosity).  But it is a start!

Do you have a stash to die for?  What keeps it under control?

Stitch-in-the-ditch foot = Magic!

I finished a wallhanging for the shop this week.  Wanna see it?  Of course you do!

Coffee Rocks! an adaptation by me

It's a bit ironic, actually, because I don't drink coffee.  So I thought I might explain the genesis of this piece.

Here is our shop's entry for 2016 Row by Row Experience, which starts June 21.  Each year Row by Row has a theme; this year's theme is Home Sweet Home.  Our block is titled "Earth Rocks!" and it was designed by shop employee Janet McDonald.  Being in Berkeley, California, we often conceive of home in a more global, earth-embracing way.  Plus, being in the Bay Area, we live on a major earthquake fault zone.  Thus, the fractured Earth nature of the block.

Look at those steam-y swirls!

I saw the fabrics that Janet had used in her sample--swirling Stonehenge patterns from Artisan Spirit--and thought of swirling fabrics I had in my stash

Specifically, fabrics from the Have a Latte line, that I used in making a coffee-themed wallhanging when I participated in a latte blog hop in 2015.  (See?  Precedence for sewing items that declare my secret nonexistent love of coffee.)

 Janet's pattern was for a 9" tall row; but the four individual blocks could be joined into a circle.  A circle?  Yes!  An entire planet of coffee beans and steamy swirls: how else to show off the Love of Java that these fabrics and this pattern evokes?

Embroidery anyone?

FMQ coffee cup

A little embroidery embellishment, a little quilting: big stitch (love me some Finca Perle cotton #8), straight-line-with-walking-foot, and the tiniest FMQ scribbles in the center.


And something new for me: MF&B!
MF&B is the shorthand we use at the shop when a customer wants to use our quilting services to attach binding to their quilt and finish it by machine, rather than handstitching (machine front and back).  Can't believe that I had never bound a quilt this way: always, always I have blindstitched by hand.  (Or had Ginger-the-Binding-Angel or Linda-the-Marvelous-Mama do it for me.)

And to help me with this MF&B adventure?  A stitch-in-the-ditch sewing machine foot!  What IS that, you say?  Why, a feat of modern engineering that will absolutely change my life.

Behold, the extra piece of metal nestled up against the binding seam, right where it attaches to the quilt top.  And the needle follows that piece of metal so very smoothly; the stitching becomes lost in the ditch where the two fabrics come together.  Invisible from the quilt front.  Magic, I tell you!

Okay, so I've never stitched down my binding by machine before.  Like, ever.  Even the nobody cares what it looks like bindings on all the Sew Together Bags I have made.  (Even Oakie's luggage bag.)  But this is a game-changer.  You can bet that this sewing machine foot and I will be making beautiful music together many times in the future.

Are there sewing machine accessories you can't live without?  Brag to me about your fave!



I haven't linked up a finished project in awhile.  Might as well show off a bit with TGIFF and Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

Stash report: used 1/2 yard of coffee-themed fabrics from my stash for the front & back; the background fabric on the front was a new purchase (but it was from the sale table!)

Quick neck pillow finish

Nothing too exciting, but I managed to make another one of those triangular/bone-shaped neck pillows.  Just in time for Sweetie to take it to her mother for a belated Mother's Day gift.

The Minky used was purchased to make Mom-in-law a full-size throw for her bed at Christmas.  So it seemed fitting to make her a matching pillow with some of the leftovers.  I hear tell she thinks its pretty comfy already.  (Still waiting on a picture of the pillow in action.)

Who do you make sewn gifts for?  What's your favorite compliment from a gift recipient?

Stash used: 3/8 yard (between the Minky and the home dec leopard/palm print)

February "garment" finished

I pledged to try and make more garments this year.  Don't know if this one really counts, but I finished something I can wear!

Simplicity 1959 - a collection of hats made from fleece.  I made view D: a beret-like slouch hat with super-cute tucks around the band (shown in pink on the pattern envelope)

What a simple pattern! Two pattern pieces, and only two lines of instruction. The only tricky bit was sewing so very many tucks. I worried whether my seam allowances would be accurate enough to allow the finished product to fit my noggin.

The fabric is from my scrap bin: camouflage fleece that made a very comfy pair of pants back in 2012.  (Pants that still see regular rotation as loungewear at home.)

Happy to make something useful from scrap fabric.

Not sure about the camo, but fingers crossed

Of course, I want this garment mojo to keep going.  So far, two months into the year, and two completions.


I have so, so much fabric--Must. Keep. Going.

Oakie's "Luggage"

Third finish of 2016: Oakie the travel penguin now has a bag to hold all his outfits and accessories!

This is the Sew Together Bag, slightly modified.  I removed the center zippered pocket to leave a large open space.

Top: modified; bottom: unaltered pattern

Initially, I thought Oakie could travel in the center compartment, but I was wrong...

Snug as a penguin in a pouch

Not that he didn't fit, but his clothing needed more room.

This guy has more of a wardrobe than I do! Visible in the photo: teddy bear, new Christmas hat and ugly Christmas sweater, sombrero from Mexico, visor & board shorts.  Yep, this is one well-appointed penguin, no matter the occasion.

A lad and his luggage... contented sigh.



Stash report: entire bag was made with scraps and stash; according to the pattern, almost a yard of fabric gets used up in this beauty.



[Credit for Oakie's new Minion hat goes to my talented sister--wish she had a blog for me to link to]