To be a bit cliché, this shoemaker is a professional Web Developer and her child is this blog, but it was past time to launch what I have of a new design. All the content is still here, everything else is a work in progress (kind of like most of my sewing projects)!
These are my youngest sister’s presents for her birthday/college finals week/Christmas (she get to go on a cruise over Christmas with her boyfriend and his family, so I won’t see her this year). I’ll post more about the bag soon. The other is a hot iron sleeve for hair straighteners/curlers. I posted about it back in July.
The bag didn’t turn out half bad for something I made up as I went along. I never thought I’d use more than a 100m spool to quilt something so small though. I hate last minute runs to the store to buy thread for those last four inches of quilting. Happens to me all. the. time.
Now I need to remember to put them and the rest of the care package in the mail tomorrow…
…and then maybe get a gallon of paint for our window seat 😉
At least from this angle (although I still need to build my new sewing machine desk, but don’t know what to do with the old one until I can get rid of it)…
One of the major problems with the old setup was that I didn’t have any good organization for my works in progress—they’d get tucked away into boxes and what was out of sight was out of mind. Also, while I liked the idea of beautifully organized fabric in little cubbies, in practice, the shape of those cubbies just doesn’t work for me. So now, the old fabric shelves are going to be used for WIPs so they are in sight and easy to access (you can see my sticky note labels on them in the foreground). Meanwhile the old bookcase that had bins for some WIPs, supplies, books, and some fabric is now going to be all fabric, books, and supplies, as will the second one once I build it.
Just don’t look at the other half of the room…
All of that needs to be sorted, filtered, and put in a new home on the bookshelves (or in the trash, as is the case of the giant box on the right). I plan on tackling all that organization after I finish up this time-sensitive project this week (since at least I have a nice workspace again):
Also, is this a good time to mention that since I’ve only gotten as far as partially finishing the divided skirt and that half of a corset pinned to the dress form that I may not complete the Steampunk costume in time for my sister to model it at Christmas? Well, that’s what it looks like. But, maybe some organization will get me interested in working on it again.
I’ve been unproductive and messy and it has all culminated in my sewing room looking like this last night:
To be fair, it’s because I’m trying to reorganize everything and had just removed the desk that served as my cutting table to make way for a new cutting table with storage (also known as a dresser), a new bookshelf, and a new desk for my sewing machine (anyone want a Singer Touch and Sew c. 1976? It needs service, but it comes built into a desk and has all its parts to the best of my knowledge. Free to anyone willing to cart it away from my house in Utica, NY. Ferris? Bueller?).
But, it was quite a mess to begin with and really has been for about 9 months since I originally set it all up. In that time, I’ve found some things that work, and some that don’t, so this week seems like a good time to start over, particularly because I’m sort of in-between projects and bouts of creativity (I do have projects that my brain wants me to be working on, but artistic me just isn’t feeling them).
In the past few weeks of non-posting, I’ve only made a couple of things. One was a present for my friend’s son, which in now late and still not mailed. I decided to pull the embroidery unit out for it.
I downloaded this free (at the time) Pirate Octopus from Daily Embroidery a while back, and thought it was perfect. Because I don’t entirely trust designs I find on the internet, I stitched out a sample on a scrap.
Awesome (ignoring the jump stitches I didn’t snip cleanly). The final one is in different colors (but same thread types). It is stitched directly onto the bag. It isn’t nearly as awesome, because when my bobbin ran out halfway through, I grabbed a normal-weight white bobbin, not the spare bobbin-weight one I thought I had. Using bobbin thread really does make a difference—with normal-weight thread, the bobbin threads pulled up in certain areas.
Bummer. But, it is ok. I just need to remember to mail it.
The last thing I finished is a bag that will be filled with craft supplies for my quilt club’s service project. I made a pattern for them, which I hope to turn into a blog post later this week (I finished the pattern for the club about 30 min. before the meeting yesterday).
Now, I need to get everything back in order post haste, because I promised my sister a “Rachael Arnold” zippered bag in lieu of the “Vera Bradley” one she keeps asking our other sister for. Her birthday is tomorrow… I’m a bit behind these days.
Baby quilt two of the fall rush is complete and delivered.
I was inspired by all the diamond HST quilts in blogland, and decided to throw in a heart just for good measure. It finished at around 41″×45″.
It’s backed with a solid piece of Minky fabric. It’s wonderfully soft and cozy.
Because of the Minky backing, I didn’t want to quilt it too closely. So, I just echoed the diamond inside the middle of the HSTs, and made a couple of echo lines inside the heart. Her initials are also in the middle of the heart. The density (or lack thereof) is pushing the limits of the 80/20 batting I used, but I think it will be ok.
Because of the lack of pieced backing, I didn’t make a custom label. I just used one I had printed from Spoonflower, and added a few details in handwriting.
To complete the set, I made another modified Simplicity 2613 dog out of the leftover Minky, along with a small scarf of leftover top pieces and some other fuzzy purple fabric I had in my stash. I like how the pattern goes together with the Minky… it will be used again, I’m sure.
I haven’t sewn much in last couple of weeks. My motivation is about as deflated and floppy as this not-yet-stuffed dog I made to go with the baby quilt I have yet to photograph for you. Time got away from me—I need to get it in the mail, ASAP!
I’m working on a bag in which to cart around my EPP project. I decided it needed something on the front, so I (normal) paper pieced this small (4.5″) Mrs. Bryan’s Choice block variant.
I don’t really know how to paper piece, so I made it up as I went along. I think it turned out okay. I hope to show you the bag next week. The shell is done. I wanted to do the lining tonight, but I’m traveling all weekend, so it will be a while.