String Backpack

As I was making my new dance bag, I realized how shabby my little string backpack was.  It was some freebee from Rob's work years ago that happened to be a really useful size.  I've used it a lot over the years.  It's faded, dirty and is starting to develop a few holes.  Time to replace it!  

I dug through my orphaned blocks for inspiration and discovered a handful of blue and green four-patches that I don't even remember putting together.  Must have been some experiment that failed to launch.  There were enough pieces to make the bag with two four-patches left over.  Perfect.

The pieced sides by themselves could easily pull apart so I backed them with some fabric and ran some wavy lines of stitching over them to hold them all together.  Then I stitched the sides and the bottom and rolled over a sleeve on top for the string.  I bound the inside seams so there were no raw edges.

Dance Bag

The tote bag that holds my dancing stuff was starting to fray.  I could have repaired it, but bag was both too big (for regular dances) and too small (for dance festivals) and didn't have enough pockets.  This was my chance to design a new one:  a single bag that would work for both situations so I wouldn't need to move the odds and ends from one bag to another.  

 

Goings On

A trip to the Cape for Family Weekend had me return with a trunk full of fabric.  Literally - the whole trunk stuffed.  Unfortunately it smelled of moth balls and smoke.  Ugh.  It took days to get the smell out of the car.  I brought the majority of it to Swanson's fabric (they couldn't sell it because of the scent, but they could give it away).  I kept a tiny bag of it - maybe a 10th of the overall haul.  It took me a whole evening to iron the stash.  I will likely keep 13 yards of it, the other eight I may not keep - which will go to Swanson's, of course!

Local Happenings

I never have enough time to do all the things.  So I currently have a handful of photos I wanted to share but never got around to posting.  I'll try to squeeze them in now!

Our local porcupine greeted us on our walk a few weeks ago.  He was a little camera shy - when I approached to get a better photo he ducked for cover.  
 

Project Quilting 17.6 - A Handful of Guinea Pig

One last challenge for Project Quilting this season - something that could be held in my hand.  I've done my share of post cards and mug rugs for small projects, so I wanted to do something different.  Hmmm... might be the perfect time to make a guinea pig?  Years ago a blog reader brought this Gertrude Guinea Pig pattern to my attention; I bought a copy.  It's been sitting on the shelf ever since.   

The pattern shows the guinea pig in colorful prints but I wanted more realistic colors.  I pulled a bunch of browns, blacks, white, greys and tans from my stash and Rob and I picked the ones we liked best.  I've been hording that brown fabric for ages - I loved it but never quite found the right project for it.  The black fabric and the funky white fabric were both excellent finds at Swanson's (the amazing "no-kill shelter for your fabric stash").  I didn't have any ¾-inch buttons for the eyes, but a trip back to Swanson's yielded a pair of shiny black shank buttons.  How perfect are those?!?  What a score.

Blogiversary #15

Another year of blogging my adventures.  Fifteen!?!  

It was a quiet year - I had one big quilting project, not a lot of foster guinea pigs and some of health issues.  All those things slowed down my writing topics.  

Regardless... I managed to have plenty of good times with family and friends (I love you all), got out dancing (whee!), snorgled a few piggies (when can I foster baby piggies again?), and finished Winter Stars (huzzah!).    I even worked on the Drapes of Doom!   I am so lucky to get to do the things I do.  

Thanks for reading (I'm always surprised when someone comes up to me and says "I saw that on your blog").  I appreciate the comments!  I look forward to another year of sharing stories. 

 

I Like Thursday: Some History - Ancient and Otherwise

When am I not busy??  It's time to catch up with LeeAnna's I Like Thursday with some good things that happened recently (distract you from your doomscrolling for a bit).

My mother and I met up with some friends at the Harvard Art Museum a few weeks ago.  I was impressed with the size of the Grecian wine cups.  How full did they fill them?  I guess if you're too drunk you couldn't drink out of the flat ones?  You may have to enlarge to read the quote that was on one display - but I found it rather humorous. 

Doomed... Yet Again

I guess visiting the Drapes of Doom (a set of sound curtains used to dampen reflected sound in a dance hall) in February wasn't enough.  I invited five of those drapes into my home this week to add jute strips to the side.  The modification will allow the 17-foot tall velvet curtains to be hung on their side.  I spent Friday afternoon working on them.  

I was still living in Rehoboth the last time I took delivery of any drapes.  Time flies! 

Project Quilting 16.2 - Ombre Apron

I have a handful of back-burner project just waiting for time or a reason to start them.  This week's Project Quilting Ombre challenge turned out to be an excellent opportunity to make myself an apron. 

Sunday I measured Rob's apron, looked at some patterns and dug through my stash.  I was tempted to go for a black and grey ombre... but I don't DARE touch any of the potential leftovers of my current project.  Not until it's done!  I pulled out some greens, blues, neutrals, reds.  I ended with a set of 15 pinks and reds:  several quilt leftovers, a couple of quilt rejects and a few that simply caught my eye.  

My next thought - why do plain stripes when I could do waves?  I had to laugh at how similar this was last year's second week challenge.  Really, I was going to do something different.  Oh, well.

Fall Flowers

Years ago I "fixed" a stained tank top by adding flowers all over it.  It was a fun project and I get a lot of compliments on it at the dances.  The flowers were fun to make and I had always hoped for a reason to make more.

Lo and behold - an occasion presented itself.  Several of my dancing hair clips are falling apart and I could use more that match other outfits.  I thought these little flowers would be cute!

I've spent the last several days making these.  I rummaged through my scrap fabric for colors.  Then I had to recall how I made the first set of flowers.  Now have a dozen flowers.  Even though that's plenty, I'm ready to make some more!

Big Floppy Sun Hat

I saw a sun hat made of strips of fabric.  I loved it!  The concept seemed so simple, like a coil rope bowl.  I wish I had taken a photo of it (I may have at the time, but if I did, I accidentally deleted it).  It seemed so obvious that I thought I could find some tutorials or examples online.  Nothing.  The closest one was a tutorial that twisted fabric, but nothing that showed a flat, shiplapped design.  I did some random research, tried to remember as much as I could about the hat, and struck out on my own (no surprise to my regular readers).

Trying to Wrap Up

 

I'm close to wrapping up a couple of projects.  

Getting this jacket finished has been rough.  I wanted to put pockets on the front of it, but I decided it was too short  - the pockets would be just too high to use.  So I've sewed up the sides and have most of it bound.  I need to pick a binding for the sleeves since I ran out of the purple I used for the rest (oops).  I plan to add toggle buttons, hoping to find some at Swanson's.  Then that will be done.

Sidetracked

Just as I was all set to start some serious work on my sweatshirt jacket, a few things jumped ahead in priority.

Years ago I some amazing paper-pieced greeting cards; I wanted to try making some myself.  So I bought windowed cards but never got around to piecing fabric to go in them.  Then I made a handful of postcards (most of them during this year's Project Quilting).  They're a bit bulky for the cards, but I can squeeze them in.  This lets me send the card with a personal note, then allows the recipient remove and keep the artwork, or pass it along to someone else.  I've added a sticker to the card:  Mini quilt is a postcard.  Keep it! Regift it!  Extra envelope provided.  Now I need to start sending them to people!

So Close!

A post not about baby guinea pigs?!?  Yup - let's briefly go back to the Crafts portion of my blog.  In between watching Snap, Crackle and Pop's goofy antics, I'm trying to finish up some projects as the next Project Quilting challenge drops.

My favorite second-to-last step of a quilt is cutting off the edges after machine stitching the binding.  Oh, look at those clean edges!  The only thing that looks cleaner is a fully bound quilt!  The recipient arrived into this world last week - so it's time to get this done and delivered!

Lots of Little Leftovers

Lots of little leftovers from two recent quilting projects.  First are my small citrus sections from the Project Quilting challenge.  I'm thinking of making another small wall hanging with it.  Right now these layouts measure about 14" across and 25" long.  I think 1, 3 and 6 are my favorites.  A couple of those layouts remind me of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

The other leftovers are from the rick-rack quilt.  I was left with a pile of ¾-inch strips from trimming down the fabric rejects to make the squares I used in the backing.  The colors went together so nice on the backing, I decided not to throw the scrap away, but sew it all together.

I Like Thursday: Winding Down 2023

December has been enjoyable, with lots of likes to brighten my month!  I met up with three of my friends to swap goodies and stories.  I also met up with my hiking buddy for a hike around Tully Lake.  The best part - being introduced to the fun of skipping stones on the ice.  I had no photos or videos of our experience, but check this one out.  The sound the stones make were really cool!

The family cookie party!  So good to see aunts, uncles and cousins.  Making the gingerbread houses is a hoot.  So many different designs.  The one in the upper left makes me laugh - the roof has two big bites and the gingerbread man is missing both his head and a leg!

Holly Sweatshirt

Last year I had promised my mother an embellished sweatshirt.  I bought a couple of sweatshirts but both were too big.  Mom found a sweatshirt that fit her, so I appliqued leaves on it.  Of the extra sweatshirts, I made a wonky Dresden design for one sweatshirt.  The other was a little smaller and I wondered all year what I wanted to do with it.  It seemed a shame to just get rid of it. 

 

Oil, Polyurethane, and Elbow Grease

My sewing projects are on hold as I've been repairing and conditioning two sewing machines and refinishing the sewing machine cabinet that came with the Singer 201.  I wish I had taken more photos of the cabinet before I started working on it.  I suspect it was recently used as a plant stand given the water damage.  You can see how bad the left side was, and the right side (which I had already removed) was no better. 

A sorry start, pulling apart the top, and after a little light sanding

Singers and Guinea Pigs

I once heard that guinea pigs are like potato chips - you can't have just one.  It appears that old Singer sewing machines are the same.  I had a single one for years and years.  And today?  I'm embarrassed to say there are six currently residing in the house.  Sewing machines, that is.  Not a guinea pig to be seen.  I need to start reducing the Singers and fostering guinea pigs again.

My experience in buying a Singer feels similar to adopting a guinea pig.  It doesn't matter if it's in bad shape (like Mabel) or has a bad attitude (like Willow and the Newbies).  Once I see it and have introductions, it needs to come home with me.  I'll give it love and affection while it's here.  (Including when it causes me to pull my hair out.  <sigh>)

Rounded Bowl Cozies

A request for bowl cozies piqued my interest because it was for a rectangle container rather than a round bowl.  The timing was good, too - having finished my latest quilt I change gears to work my clean-up projects.  It was a good time to jump into this.

I dug up my original bowl cozy pattern (from a tutorial here).  Then I adjusted it by rounding the corners and moving the darts to accommodate a 5x7" bowl.

These cozies ended up a bit flatter than I imagined, but even my original bowl cozies aren't that deep.  I started with an 11" square, then rounded two corners with 4" and 2" curved rulers.  No bulky sharp corners to turn out!