Marathon Sewing Afternoon

 I was motivated to crank out a couple of project bags this afternoon and attempt to whittle down my 'bin of shame' that is piled up with quilted checkerboard-style pieces.

I got three more done. The folded binding technique makes things much simpler than a sewn-on 2 1/2" double-folded binding.

The only downside of that technique is the fancy fabric is inside the bag, not on the back.

Because I've modified my original pattern, I had extra strips of checkerboard fabric. I decided to make another couple of ort trays with the sunflower set.

I wasn't sure which version looked better - fancy fabric inside or outside. I polled the girlies and most liked the plainer fabric on the inside. One comment was that it would be easier to see the orts on the plainer fabric.

I quilted the two pieces, corner to corner, then attached the snaps.

My Zippy Bag panel arrived from Amazon today. I'm taking it with me tomorrow when Barb and I visit Quilter's Cupboard in Uxbridge so I can get coordinating fabric to line the bags. 

Below where the zipper goes, the designs would lend themselves to trimming without interrupting a big design. That way a vinyl window can be used.

One caution about photocopies next to vinyl... the toner used with laser printer can transfer onto the vinyl window and is almost impossible to remove. If you're not sure your pattern wasn't laser-copied, just keep something between the pattern and the window. 

I finished the border on the Persian Tiles blanket last night. Photos will follow at some point. Now I'm having crochet withdrawal. I need to start another knitting project. Perhaps another Vent d 'Est, Vent d'Ouest (VEVO) neck warmer? I certainly have enough yarn in my stash.

They are cozy and warm on the neck and tuck nicely into a coat pocket.

A Bit of a Roller Coaster

 Yesterday we had lunch at the Mandarin to celebrate Barb's birthday. We enjoyed sampling many of the dishes offered - especially the desserts. They even brought out a little cupcake with a candle on it for her.

I'll be seeing Barb on her actual birthday on Friday as we'll be heading up to the Quilter's Cupboard to do some shopping. I need some Lori Holt fabric for projects using her Zippy Bag panels. Who knows what else will tempt me?

After returning home from the celebratory lunch I was motivated to tackle some of the sewing projects I had piled up.

Many months ago, I went on a quilting binge and sewed these 2 1/2" in squares together  in preparation to make some pretty project bags. I even had selected coordinating zippers.

Using the folded binding method, I made one of the bee-themed ones.

It still needs a zipper pull but otherwise, it's done. 

Today is another snowy day and our monthly embroidery guild meeting has been cancelled for tonight. I should be able to make at least one other project bag. I already have the backing/binding fabric and lots of batting in my vast stash.

I hosted my Tuesday night group last night. Alexa brought her ukulele over so we cleared up a couple of concerns she had. She started ukulele classes a couple of weeks ago. When we go to music camp this summer, she can join me in the Sing-Along Ukulele class. 

With them, and after they left, I worked on the border of my Persian Tiles blanket. Before I went to bed I got started on the last and 7th round of the border with the Mustard yarn. I didn't do the colour sequence exactly like the Eastern Tiles colourway but I did use the called-for colours. 

Knowing how much of each yarn colour was used on the previous blanket, I ordered extra balls of Storm Blue and Buttermilk, knowing I'd need them for the border. There should be enough Mustard to complete the edge but if I run short I have about 8g of it left over from the previous blanket. The blanket will get completed tonight.

Also last night, I received word that a former colleague had passed away at age 49. He was a young Special Education teacher at my school my last couple of years there and since then had transferred to another school in my board. It is so upsetting when someone so young, with a wife and two children, dies but particularly sad when they've taken their own life. I am so sad imagining how hopeless and desperate he must have been feeling to think that killing himself was the only way to stop the pain. I cannot even fathom how his wife will navigate this; dealing with her grief, needing to continue working (hopefully she can take a leave), and dealing with two young sons who have lost their father. Then there's the staff at his school who will also be in shock. The ripple effect of any death is so far-reaching, particularly in the case of a suicide. My heart breaks for all of them.

Life certainly has its ups and downs. I just had most of those 'feels' all in one day. Enjoying time with my 'peeps', eating good food, being creative, visiting with other crafty friends, then sad news about a death, etc. However, in my heart of hearts, I know the 'lows' find equlibrium with the 'highs'. 

To end this on a bright note, my orchid began blooming yesterday!! And look at all those healthy air roots!

It has been moved out of a sunny window to slow down growth. That way the blooms will last even longer - probably more than 2 months - judging from the last time it bloomed. The little one is also getting ready to bloom. 

Lots of fresh, new life to look forward to.

Crafty Day

Today was a day most of the girlies could come over to hang out and work on projects.

Jen1 made 2 more dumpling dishes. Poppy worked on knitting her colour block sweater.

Marilyn worked on her Plum Street Samplers 'Winter Moon' and Jeanette stitched a little quilt.

II worked on the mortar between the bricks of the house on my 'The Light of Winter' and took a poll about what type of stitch I should use on the 4 stitch clusters. The overwhelming favourite was the complex Algerian eyelet.

The cluster of 4 cross stitches (top) was uninspiring and the simple eyelet (left) looked incomplete. 

Backing up to yesterday...

I kept thinking about the piece I cut from the lower part of the front of the Lori Holt Zippy bag. There were these three quilt blocks that I thought shouldn't go to waste.

I decided to make a little ort container that can snap together on the sides or unsnap to lie flat in the project bag. So I used two of the blocks - one for each side.

It's itty bitty with the sides snapped together.

but flattened out, it fits nicely in the project bag.

After that, I was motivated to make another of the Lori Holt Zippy project bags. None of them had large areas I could use for under the zipper without chopping up the design. I liked the colourful blocks in this one.  I figured I could use a strip of another one of my Lori Holt fat quarters for under the zipper instead. 

It worked out well except I used the entire fat quarter. I probably could have lined the parts above and below the zipper with plain white as I was a bit short on my backing which extended beyond the dimensions by an inch. In fact, I had to trim off about 1/2" from the bottom of the unit so there would be enough allowance for the folded binding. 

I'm pleased with how these stitch up. 

Two tips to pass along. . .

First, before fusing the backing fabric to the quilted part, and after trimming/evening the sides,  I align the back and front using clips then zig-zag stitch the edge all the way around. This ensures that nothing will shift when sewing the binding down. 

Second. Presser feet will stick to the vinyl so just cover the vinyl with the tissue paper that comes with it or even just some copy paper. You don't have to sew through it, just butt it up to the fabric. I used paper over the vinyl both when I was doing the zigzag all around and when I was sewing down the folded binding.

I'm going to transfer my 'The Light of Winter' project to this bag and will show it off tomorrow at Monday morning stitching.

And finally, the Persian Tiles blanket is all sewn together except for one corner, which I'll finish tonight. I always get a second wind in the evenings and had been staying up way too late. Since the new year I've been trying to make myself go to bed a little earlier (before midnight) so I bailed on attaching the last corner triangle. 

Then I'll start the binding. On the previous blanket, I only used the two crochet hook sizes, 3.5mm and 4mm. However the pattern also lists the need for a 4.5mm hook. I wondered why I didn't see where to use it in the instructions. Last night I took a closer look and finally noted it is used for joining the blocks together. Since I'm sewing them together with the ladder/mattress stitch I didn't need the 4.5mm hook after all.

30cm of Snow

I have a snow gauge that, of course, I didn't put out in the yard before this big dump of snow. I went outside a couple of times to do it then distracted myself thwarting squirrels, putting stuff in the compost bin, or making sure the tarp was still secure on the patio table. I may, at some point, stick it in the ground sometime I'm out there but the snow is too deep right now.

I took a ruler outside the front door last night and there was 20cm (8") in the front yard and 30cm (11 3/4") accumulated on the patio table on the back deck. It's still light and fluffy. Hopefully folks are enjoying tobogganing down Glen Hill up the street. 

I hurkle-durkled this morning whilst listening to a podcast. After brunch, I sat down to do some stitching on 'The Light of Winter'. I hope to do a little bit on it every day - even if it's only a few stitches. The fabric is not as grey as it looks in the photo but I can't find the right filter to fix it.

All along the border are these clusters of 4 cross stitches. I can't decide if I'll do them as written or do eyelets one of the two ways shown below. At our stitch day I'll ask for input from the other stitchers.

There are so many areas in this project that will be great for social stitching. Now that I have all the bricks stitched on the house, I just have to fill in the 'mortar'. I started a couple of rows today.

Another stitch I enjoyed doing but requires concentration and magnification is the sawtooth satin stitch.

There's more on the left side of the flowers and below the house as well.

Last night I got the rest of the small triangles done that go in the corners. I didn't get everything attached, however. Hopefully tonight. 

I do poke away at trimming yarn ends as I encounter them. Then will come the task of the 5 rounds of border stitches.

Snow Day!

All our snow had melted with our record high temperature last week (13C) and continued mild weather. I finally got myself out the door and ran some errands yesterday. It was so nice only having to wear running shoes this time of year. 

However, the forecast was for a big dump of snow overnight and well into today.  This was the view out my bedroom window at about 9am.

This was the view out my front door a little while ago. You can kinda see the step down from the porch.

In the meantime a neighbour has snowblown the sidewalk. My snow clearing service will be very busy today so I'm hoping they won't come before the plow has cleared the street and deposited a pile in my driveway. 

I decided to treat myself this morning and have a latte with breakfast. I hauled out my little espresso moka that I haven't used in a couple of years. Thank goodness I remembered where I had put it after my kitchen renovation. 

Also making a re-appearance was the Capresso milk heater/frother. The foamy milk acts like insulation and the coffee stays warmer longer in the mug.

After breakfast I lazed around and did a couple of crossword puzzles then decided to tackle a sewing project I'd been putting off; knowing it would be somewhat intricate.

A couple of months ago I purchased the Lori Holt Zippy Bag II panel. None of my local shops had it in stock so I found it on Amazon. The fabric is decorator weight - a twill.  There are printed pieces for 4 large bags and four small bags. Plus little tabs which I didn't use.

I prefer a bag with a vinyl window in the front so I had to pick one of the larger ones that would look OK with only part of the front showing below the zipper. The only one that wouldn't have hacked up the design was the one on the bottom left. 

However, I wanted the bag to be lined and quilted. Thank goodness I had a couple of Lori Holt fat quarters in my stash (thank you, Poppy) so I picked the one that I thought would go best with the printed panel.

I didn't have matching thread for the quilting so I thought I'd try invisible thread - which is basically clear polyester. I used my walking foot for all the layers but it really puckered. I had the whole back (pink side) quilted when I decided to take it all out and try regular sewing thread. After selecting a neutral off-white, things went a lot better. Using fusible batting the quilting was done on the non-fusible side. That way I could fuse the batting to the back fabric later.

As there wasn't enough of the fat quarter to both line the bag and provide a binding, I decided the quilted floral print was going to be inside the bag and the fat quarter fabric would be the outside of the back. If I cut it so it is 1" bigger on all sides, I could do a folded binding as demonstrated in this video.

I attached the zipper to the striped strip and lined it with the fat quarter fabric, then inserted the batting and topstitched everything in place. Then did the same for the fabric below the zipper. I then cut the lower fabric about the same width of the upper fabric, inserted the batting and topstitched everything as well. 

I then cut the vinyl a little bigger than I wanted and sandwiched it between the layers below the zipper and stitched it into place. After trimming all the edges evenly, I zigzag the edges all the way around to anchor everything securely in place. 

After cutting the fabric for the back 1" larger on all sides, I fused it to the batting, then folded the edges in half then over the edges of the bag.

There were several 'issues' as I tried to sew the binding in place. Thread kept breaking, I re-threaded the machine a few times; checked and re-inserted the bobbin. Then I tried switching from my walking foot to a regular presser foot, fearing the fabrics would 'bullnose'. Still problems with the thread breaking. I tried a bigger needle. Finally I inserted a needle for denim fabric, rethreaded the needle and was on my way. Thank goodness because for a while I thought I had broken my trusty Bernina and didn't know how I was going to finish this last step without. Crisis averted.

The green fabric was all that was left of the fat quarter/backing fabric.

It was also used to line the pieces above and below the zipper.

The little sunflower tab is my little 'trademark'. It's just cut from a roll of ribbon and folded to fit in the seam when I secured the folded binding. The neutral thread that I used for the quilting looks OK. That was a tip from one of the Lori Holt videos I had watched.

Then a coordinating zipper pull was created using beads from my stash.

Ta-da!

It turned out OK but if I ever get around to making the other three big bags, they probably won't have vinyl windows.

Yay! The snowplow has been by and my snow clearing service just arrived.

In crochet news, I got all the granny squares and octagons sewn together. I still need to attach the edge granny triangles, and crochet the last two corner triangles and attach them. I should be able to get that done tonight. All that will be left is the border.

I took a photo yesterday in natural light out on the deck. This is before I got the rest of the octagon and squares attached. Said deck is now covered with a foot of snow.

This would be such a good project to use up a variety of colours of yarn of the same weight. However, I do have my eye on another one of Janie Crowfoot's crochet designs. It's the Mystical Lanterns blanket.

I will be investigating the kit offerings from Wool Warehouse in the UK.

In the meantime, you can have fun with this jigsaw puzzle. When you open it, click on the icon on the left (9 little squares) to change the number of pieces. It's a tricky one!

Cabin Fever

I didn't go out much this week. It's almost like I've gone into hibernation. I have all my supplies here and flit from one project to another; then rest a bit; then play on my phone or laptop a bit; then do something else. Probably searching for a rush of dopamine.

I have been trying to whittle down the inventory in my freezer so have been eating bits of this and bits of that - mostly leftovers. The extra space makes it much easier to see what is in there. I went grocery shopping yesterday for the first time in a week. 

I have all the big triangles and granny squares done on my Persian Tiles blanket. I mostly work on it in the evenings whilst watching TV. The other night I only counted 29 octagons so started crocheting another one. The next day I discovered I had miscounted and there already were 30. So I have started sewing everything together and attaching some of the edge triangles.

I sewed an octagon in the wrong place but I decided not to sweat it. There is enough variety and contrast it doesn't make any difference. Oops! I just noticed a second misplaced one. Oh well. 

Draping it over me while I sew it together makes it nice and cozy. I'm now toying with the idea of only adding a 5th row and not bothering with a 6th row or 5th column. With all 30 octagons it weighs almost 3kg (5lb).

I do a bit of stitching on 'The Light of Winter' every day. It is a great piece for social stitching as there are lots of areas that just get filled in. I finished the 'snow' on the other side of the walkway and started the border. 

Tomorrow is a stitch day at Marilyn's so I should be able to get a lot of the roof done and finish filling in the windows. I know my brain won't let me just do that so will probably stitch another motif, too.

I did a bit of culling in the basement yesterday and emptied several bins with stitching and other craft projects. I actually discarded several stitching projects that were just too dated and no longer interested me. Languishing in the basement all these years was a pretty good indicator. A couple of them were kits that had lots of floss. If the pattern said it was DMC, I spent some time last night incorporating the threads into my stash. I used my DMC thread colour card to make sure the dyelots matched. 

If the dyelot didn't match, or if there were non-DMC threads (i.e. Anchor), I set them aside to give to my friend whose granddaughter has started making friendship bracelets.

When checking the price on Amazon, I was shocked at how much the colour card has gone up in price. I believe they're exported from France to the US where hefty tariffs are levied. Then shipping to Canada, we probably pay again. And then there's that pesky conversion rate from the US dollar. It seems to me that the cost has almost doubled. It would be interesting to find out if it could be directly imported to Canada from France. I'm glad I already have mine.  Just a note, there is also a printed version but it doesn't have the actual threads so it's not as useful as the one cited above. 

I just found one at a much more reasonable rate from a Canadian Etsy seller. The shipping is only $4.50, too! There was only 1 in stock but it's certainly worth doing a Google search for things like this.

Poppy and I will be heading to Madrid for our knitting tour in a few weeks. In addition to sight-seeing and woollen-based activities, we'll have a couple of knitting classes with Carol Feller and a couple of days at Madrid's big knitting show - Love Yarn Madrid festival. 

Skip and I did an Irish knitting tour back in 2013. Carol Feller was one of our instructors at our hotel in Galway. It was a really interesting workshop as her book, 'Contemporary Irish Knits' had just been published and she had most of the garments/models from the book there for us to look at. It was so interesting to hear her talk about how she designed each one - challenges she encountered and how she overcame them. Then we got to knit a decreasing honeycomb swatch from the book we each received. For the workshop, we also received a ball of Donegal Tweed yarn from one of the few remaining Irish woollen mills.

For the Madrid show, I took a look at the classes that were offered in English but nothing really 'grabbed' me. Steven West is doing a couple of 1 hour lectures about colour selection. Not sure if I'm all that interested, although it would be cool to inhale the same air as him - LOL. Just not sure if I want to spend €40 for this. I took a look at the classes offered in Spanish and the only one I would have been really interested in - an excursion to the Prado Museum - was sold out as it had very limited availability for only 20 participants. 

We will be visiting several other museums including the Costume Museum. We are scheduled to spend all three days at the yarn festival so I'm wondering if one of those days I could go visit El Prado. 

We are also looking at stitching retreats. Jen1 found this one near Renfrew that runs 4x per year. It looks to be set up for quilting but I'm sure they wouldn't object to us stitchers. There is also The Gathering Threat Retreat from August 14 - 16 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Ottawa that looks even more appealing. Of course, we would pop into the Paisleys Quilt shop about 30 minutes away in Carp. Looking at all the William Morris and French General fabrics on their website intrigued me very much - not that I need any more fabric - LOL!

It's so fun to plan and have these crafty events to look forward to.