Excited for a New Week!

Granny D here.  It's Make It Monday and I thought I'd share what I have going on in my head this morning.  Of course, it'll take me all week to get these all completed but, oh, the fun of creating.  Right.

I finished this cute little patcwork bag Saturday.  It can be made out of a 10" square so that gives you an idea of the size.

And last night I cut out the little Flower Power bag you see in the picture next to it.  I like that funky little flower and all of the different colors together

Even though the possibilities are endless, I get tired of making the same old boxy totes sometimes.  So I found another bag that I like.  It's softer and rounder.  Instead of the corners, it has darts to shape the bottom corners.









And I think I'm going to try something different by using interfacing in the top part and batting in the bottom part just to add to that soft, feminine, curvy look.  The fabric you see here is curtain fabric from that earlier fabric haul I spoke about.  Once I get this perfected, I'll probably use a pretty floral or something a little more dramatic to make it look a bit dressier.







Since purses and bags are mostly rectangles, I like to make my own patterns.  I have a big roll of paper.  Not sure if it's butcher paper or not but it's flexible enough to pin to fabric.  Here's a messenger bag pattern I cut out last night.
As you can see, it's not complicated at all and I did a little something with the strap.  It's 4" wide but I went ahead and cut the pattern 36" long.  Then I marked off like 22" and 29", you know, different lengths you'd use for different projects so I don't have to keep cutting out strap patterns.  Same goes for pockets.


That about does it for today.  Do you have any tips or tricks for cutting out your own patterns?  We'd love to know.

Slow Sewing Week

Granny D here.  It's been a slow sewing week for me.  To much real world stuff to do and I don't like it one bit.

If you'll remember, Monday, I had a beautiful blue and yellow bag prepared to sew.  Remember, I was trying to decide whether to make the back blue or yellow.  I ended up going with blue.








Well, I did manage to get this one completed.  And it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.  And I love the little daisy button I found.

But take a look at what I put together just yesterday.  I'm calling this a picnic purse and the body can be made out of a 10" square, well two 10" squares.  I've got some great ideas for that.  It's just big enough for car keys, lipstick and your cell phone.  Maybe some tissues and breath mints.  You know, those essentials you'd take on a picnic.  There are pockets inside and a magnetic closure just inside the top to keep everything safe.  (I learned a lesson about those little guys I'll share with you later.) The strap is long so it can be worn across your body.  Or tuck it down inside if you like and use it as a little clutch.

I think, the first time I saw a picture of this purse, was in a magazine around Christmas time.  They were calling it a party purse.  And, with the right fabric and glittery embellishments this would be the perfect little purse to take to a party.  Of course, I set about making my own pattern but this is the first time I've played with it at all.

So, tell me.  Do you prefer big bags to carry everywhere?  Or do you think, every once in a while, it's nice to just take the bare necessities in a small bag whether it's a picnic or a party?

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Granny D here.  It's a dreary, rainy Monday here in Virginia.  Maybe that's why I focused in on this beautiful blue and sunny yellow combination.  As you can see, the front of the bag is already pieced.  The straps have been cut from the navy.  The back is going to be that navy Majestic fabric we have in the eBay store...I think...

As you can see, after a little contemplation, I'm still having an argument with myself.  Should I make the lining out of the navy and the back of the bag out of that yellow?  I'm thinking practical here.

 The yellow will show dirt quicker (these can be washed, by the way) but who wants to wash their bag every day or every week for that matter.  However, the interior might be even worse.  Lipstick comes open, pens leak.
Sigh.
As Jimelle posted earlier today, oh, the possibilities.  Well, at least between blue and yellow.
What do you think?
 

So Many Possibilities!

I don't know about you, but I spend my Sunday afternoons drinking coffee and deciding what kind of quilt I want to make this week. I choose simple quilts, partly because I'm new at this stuff, but also because I really, really need a sense of accomplishment by the end of the week. My other "job" is writing novels, and, as much as I hate to say it, I just can't finish a novel every week. So I turn to quilting to get my 'finished' vibe.

This week, as it turns out, is a pretty hard decision. I have loads of gorgeous fabric! I have apparently been collecting teals and blues to the point that my sewing room looks a lot like the ocean. I have a Lily & Loom layer cake for two kid quilts in purple and pink, but I'm just not feeling those candy colors this week. Also, thanks to Joann Fabrics BOGO sale last week, I have two new jelly rolls to play with. Sigh. Life is good.


I'm still fascinated with jelly roll strips, and I love the symmetry of coin quilts. So I picked out these:

and these:

I have a pattern in mind, something like a mix between a coin quilt and window squares, but I'm not going to bother posting it today because I know - FOR A FACT - that I will change my mind sometime during the piecing process. It's happened every single time I try to follow a pattern.

Do you follow patterns or make it up as you go along? Maybe a mixture of both?

The Lowly Thimble

Granny D here.  Thimble is such a funny word.  It's origin is thought to come from the old English word thymel, meaning thumbstall. The official term for one who collects thimbles is “digitabulist.”



I have to admit that I have never used a thimble.  They always feel so heavy and awkward.  And they make my finger sweat.  But my grandmother used one while piecing her quilts or hemming a dress.  It always seemed to me to be on the wrong finger to me, not the middle one I use to push the needle through but the one beside it, next to her pinkie.  Yet, she never sat down to sew without her thimble, the working end pock marked and pitted.

While thinking about that today, I began to wonder about thimbles.  I know they've been around for centuries and have been made of many, many different materials like mother of pearl, sterling and plated silver, brass, bone, and even gold. There are porcelain thimbles, wooden thimbles, and thimbles made from carved stone. Among the most legendary are Fabergé thimbles from the 19th century. Some of these had polished agates or other types of semi-precious stones set in their tops. The sides of others were decorated with colorful enamel patterns or bands.

Here are a few interesting facts about thimbles that may surprise you.

• Nearly 30 lots of Meissen porcelain thimbles fetched a total of $189,813 during the Ann Blakeslee Black Collection of Thimbles, Needlework Tools and Vertu auction presented by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on May 21, 2014. A Meissen porcelain thimble, circa 1730, with a landscape scene painted on the band, sold for five times its low estimate, finishing at $20,000.
• The Thimble Collectors International (TCI) group formed in 1978, and lists more than 35 regional clubs in the U.S., Australia and Europe.
• Examples of the precursor to the thimble date back 10,000 years, with metal thimbles coming into use outside of the U.S. as early as 1150. The first American thimble factories opened in the 1830s with Ketcham and McDougall of New York paving the way, followed closely behind by Simons Bros. in Philadelphia in 1839 — a company still manufacturing thimbles today.
• In the past, thimbles were popular advertising vehicles, especially in American culture.
• The Fingerhut Thimble Museum in Creglingen, Germany, is reportedly the world’s only museum devoted entirely to thimbles. It opened in 1982 with some 800 exhibits. Today the museum showcases more than 4,000 exhibits from around the world.

To read more about interesting thimble facts, go to http://www.antiquetrader.com/antiques/antiques-americana/ten-things-didnt-know-thimbles/

For more information on thimbles and to see some truly beautiful works of art, check out http://www.thimbleselect.com/learn.

I'm sad to say that I don't have even one of my grandmother's thimbles but I wish I did. Do you use a thimble? t would be interesting to know just how many people still use thimbles.

Two Tone Tuesday

I think that what attracted me to quilting in the first place was the vast and delicious fabric colors. Giant swathes of rich color, in any medium, are my thing. Paintings, quilts, clothes, it doesn't matter. I love love love color, and I'm so happy that new fabrics offer jewel tones and crisp pastels.

My love of color is how I ended up with this:

My first real quilt!

I just put together all the colors I loved and went with it. (You'll notice that I have no idea how to take a proper quilt picture). 

Since making it, I've found that lots of times, I have color paralysis. Even within the same color scheme, there are SO. MANY. CHOICES, and the problem is that I like every single one. I stare at fabrics until my head hurts and then I just have to stop looking before I drive myself crazy.

Then I got to nosing around and found this:

This is a very helpful way (for me, anyway) to decide on color, especially when I'm stuck with too many choices. I don't always follow it, but at least it gives me a starting point.

How do you use color? How do you decide, when there are so many gorgeous fabrics out there that you just have to have them all?

A Table Fable

Granny D here.  Next to my fabric stash (and it is a STASH as you'll see in the pics below) is my beloved sewing table.  I used the dining room table for a while with my sewing machine sitting on one end.  You can get away with that when you live alone.  I've even cut out things on the bed which is dangerous.
 But, oh, let me tell you the story of my table.
I came home from work one evening only to find this...well, this monstrosity sitting in my back yard.  It was a table, at least that's what it appeared to be, probably 8 feet long, about 40 inches wide.  It looked like it weighed a ton and I found out later it felt like it did, too.  The top was covered in old curling, peeling linoleum with rusting metal trim around the edges.  Some of the pieces looked dangerously sharp.  The wooden legs were peeling and the drawer handles were all rusty.
I stood there on that late summer evening and thought, "Why does everyone bring me their junk?"
About that time, the friend that 'donated' the table drove up, held up both hands in surrender and said, "Wait, let me tell you about this table."
Against my better judgement, I waited.
The table currently gracing my yard was built in 1953 specifically for the ladies at Verona United Methodist Church (Verona, VA) to use to make their famous apple dumplings.  It was made a little short just to fit these busy little ladies and it was in use up until about 1980 which was when my friend's father bought it from the church to use in his workshop.  It was so short, he had to put bricks underneath the legs to bring it up to the right height. In 2008 he decided he didn't want it any longer and it ended up in my friend's barn.  It got in the way there and they just moved it outside where it sat out in the weather for two years prior to being given to me. 

While he talked, I walked around the table, this time really looking at it.  And I saw something...something beautiful. 

 Instead of an old table, I saw what a beautiful lady she could be.  She had 6 nicely sized drawers, 6 outlets which were still wired and three pull out cutting boards.  And a full shelf underneath.  Whoever engineered that table, knew that when a woman's working, either making apple dumplings or sewing, she needs everything right at her fingertips.
"So why did you bring it to me?" I asked.
He shrugged, "You like to sew.  I thought it would be a great sewing table."

Turns out, he was right.  I peeled off the ugly linoleum.  The top was trashed but I could fix that.  The rest of the table was sturdy and just needed a lot of TLC.  And paint.  I scraped and cleaned and scrubbed and then realized, it was too long to fit down my basement steps.  Another friend came up with a plan for that.  We cut that table into two pieces, created an L-shaped table and he removed a drawer and made a place for my sewing machine to fit right in.  We covered the top with really good plywood and trimmed it out neatly..  I painted and painted and painted. And now, it is the most beautiful table in the world.  Since I'm short, it fits me just like the apple dumpling ladies back in 1953. 
Ah, but it's not just a sewing table.  It's more of a magical place that sparks my creative fire.
I've neglected my sewing and my table for the past few years. But now that retirement is right around the corner, I can slow down and think about sewing again.  Do you have  a special place where you can just let your creativity run wild?  We'd love to hear about it.

Fabric Fabric Fabric

Nanners here! In case you are getting lost, there are three of us - my mom (GrannyD) is the oldest of us, I (Nanners) am her daughter, and Peach (my daughter) is the youngest in her mid-twenties.

What started out as mild interest has become...something more. Something that has taken over my world. I see fabric everywhere. I mean everywhere. I was looking at a t-shirt at Walmart the other day and wondering how many five-inch squares I could get out of the fabric. It's getting to be ridiculous.

This is the fabric I started with:

The 5" squares at the top are four packs of Crafty's charm squares (from this line and this one). I love this fabric - it's so dramatic. I'm still trying to decide what to do with it. The bright, big squares below are a monster pack of fat quarters that GrannyD bought me as a surprise. (*These are affiliate links to Amazon, btw.) Ohmigosh, the colors are so gorgeous!

So I started making this:

All you experienced quilters out there - I know some of the points aren't perfect, don't point (heh) out my flaws here. I do enough of that myself. The point (heh) is, I'm having so much fun! (OK, I'll stop.) Now I'm finding fabric everywhere - the Salvation Army, Walmart discount aisles...I even found plastic totes full of someone's scraps at the Goodwill store yesterday for eight bucks. I was so excited! I had to find shelves to store it all neatly!

How did your stash get started? What made you stop and think, "Hey, I could make a quilt?" We love stories around here, so tell us yours in the comments!

My First Fabric Haul

Diana here (aka GrannyD)

For about a dozen years, I worked at Lowe's Home Improvement Center here in town.  I managed the Paint and Home Decor Departments (paint, blinds, wallpaper, curtains, you get the picture).  So, one day I came around the corner and saw several vendors pushing two carts full of, well, sample curtains.  Turns out the Spring line was being put up and these were no longer needed.  I stopped dead in my tracks and, I swear to you, the spirit of my grandmother took over.
"Where are you going with all that?" I asked, trying to act like it really didn't matter.
"The trash," one of the vendor's answered.
I stood there for a moment and then shook my head.  "Um, no.  No, I don't think so."
"What would you like for us to do with them, then?" he asked.
"Why not just leave them here and let me take care of it?" I responded, still trying to keep my distance.
They looked at each other and shrugged.  "Whatever you say."

I hid those carts full of curtains (fabric) as well as I could until my shift was over all the time wondering what had possessed me.  I hadn't sewn a stitch since my girls were little.  And I certainly didn't have time to sew now.  But I knew I could not let that fabric (curtains) go to waste.
When my shift was over, I found as many boxes as I could, folded the curtains into them and took them home.  Where they sat.
For a couple of weeks.
Maybe a month.
Then,  one night, I was closing with one of my employees and saw her purse.  It was one someone had given her and the name on it was Vera Bradley.  I looked at it closely, just to see how it was made and that's when I knew what all of that fabric (curtains) I'd drug home was going to become.  It turns out curtains are made from really, really good fabric.
After that, every time the curtains changed out, I brought all of the samples home.  My daughter, you've already met her), helped me organize them in the closet but it's gone way, way beyond that.  Shhhh, don't tell her.  It got to the point that when the discontinued curtains were marked down, I was sometimes given the option, "If you take all of these, you can have them for .10 each."  What do you think I said?
This just goes to prove that will a little imagination and 'out of the box' thinking, you can find 'fabric' anywhere.