Listening to an audio book while sewing

This last week I have been listening to The Women on Hoopla. The book is almost 15 hours long!

At the same time I was working on a mini quilt for an online modern quilt show.

I made this with some 2.5 inch squares and some 5 inch white squares.

I had limited colors and only one square of each color.

 

At first I tried placing the colors on my white table to make a pattern.

Then I used graph paper and things were much better.

There were only three squares of shades of green.

I thought alternating with white squares would convey a stem.

After looking at this photo I could see that didn't work.

I ripped out some seams and turned the sections around to get the greens together.

The flimsy is done. 

Now I'm thinking about how to quilt it.

Many ideas but we will see how it finishes.

I know I'm going to use facings instead of binding.

I love irises.

These are in our tiny backyard.

We have two types of yellow irises, two purples, and a white.

They came from my mom's yard.

She had so many more colors.

Maybe one day I will have more colors, too.

Last Tuesday at quilt guild I picked up a charity quilt kit.

This was a quick finish. 

Should have it quilted and bound by next meeting.

This week I will be working on blocks for our Color Theory group zoom on Saturday.

Happy Sewing!

 

More April Finishes

A couple of recent finishes.

This was in an earlier post but now it is finished.

The pattern is "Fetch" from the All in a Row book. 

The orange fabric is for the binding.

Here it is quilted and bound.

Since it is a piano runner it has very little quilting.

The back is one of my favorite floral prints.

The binding was sewn down by hand.

This is the second Ava dress for Ava.

I made the buttonholes in the bodice before I attached the skirt.

That makes it much easier to sew.

In this version I added fusible interfacing before I sewed the top together.

I think interfacing makes the buttons and buttonholes more stable.

The pattern does not call for interfacing.

I put the cap sleeves in before I sewed the sides together.

It is much easier to sew the very small sleeves in when the fabric is flat.

I zigzagged the trimmed armholes to keep them from fraying.

Most of the seams are either inside the lining or French seams.

It takes a little longer but I think it is a better finish.

The front of the dress above.

The back below.

Close up of the covered buttons.

Covered buttons are easy to assemble.

Another finishing touch that is above ready-to-wear garments.

All caught up.

Next - work on Color Theory and maybe a mini quilt.

Happy Sewing!

 

Spring Dresses etc.

Here is the finished Sadie dress for Ava.

The outer panels are Kaffe Wobble fabric and the center is pink lightning bolts.

Very Ms Frizzle combination.

The back was changed from a button closure to a zipper.

When we bought the fabric I didn't take into account that Wobble is directional.

So the back center lining was the only place to put this sideways piece.

The pattern calls for a wide facing at the hem.

I didn't have enough of either fabric to do that.

I was able to cut a bias strip for the hem.

I think it worked fine.

All the seams are finished or enclosed in the lining.

Here is my new blouse made from the Liberty lawn I bought in London in October.

I'm pleased with the finish. It will be perfect for our hot summer days.

I have two thread cases of my mother's thread.

After dropping the opened cases several times,

I decided to dump all the thread out and organize by color.

Now it's so much easier to find the thread I need.

Working on one more dress for Ava from the Children's Corner pattern -Ava.

Photos next time.

Happy Sewing! 

 

Sewing for Ava & other finishes

A few weeks ago Jessie, Ava, and I visited The Sewing House to choose some fabric for Ava.

She found a pattern called Ava and had to have a dress made with this lovely Liberty Lawn.

The pattern had multiple sizes but the largest was one size too small, so I added some to the length and width. I wanted to remember how I finished the armholes and gathers of the skirt.

The pattern instructions were confusing for the version Ava wanted. 

I looked for more information online but didn't find anything.

I made French seams for the side seams and zigzagged other seams.

I chose white shank buttons for the back closure.

I tried two buttonhole stitches on my sewing machine.

I found stitch #152 was better for this pattern and fabric.

Here is the Ava dress for Ava. It has cap sleeves. 

I used width of fabric for the skirt panels so it is very full.

Lawn is light weight and will be perfect for spring and summer wear.

The dress above has two skirts.

Ava chose the moth fabric and Jessie suggested the peach stripe.

Above is a new Violet Fields pattern - Sadie.

It is fully lined. Ava wanted the rainbow fabric - Kaffe's Wobble pattern.

Jessie paired it with the pink print.

The pattern has buttons down the back but we decided a zipper would be more comfortable.

The pattern calls for a facing for the hem. I'm going to cut bias strips instead of the pattern pieces.

I will share the finish in my next post.

In other sewing, I made some little felt bunnies for my little choir friends and grandchildren.

Below are the ones for choir and some tea towels for the choir workers.

The tea towels used leftover fabric from spring napkins and some stash muslin.

I made 16 bunnies and 10 tea towels.

Uncommon Threads Quilt Guild's monthly challenge is to make two blocks and share them each month.

I'm making runners for the piano.

I found this pattern in the book All in a Row.

I changed the layout a little. 

I will share the finish next time. 

Below are some Kaffe squares.

I'm trying to decide what to do with them.

There are so many possible patterns, I can't decide.

The irises are blooming here.

Martin put these on the south facing wall.

This seems like a great place for iris and dianthus.

Yellow iris in one bed, purple in another.

I'm making one more dress for Ava, then a blouse for me.

Happy Sewing!

 

Finish Reveal for SAHRR 2025

I had fun with the SAHRR.

The final finish is at the end of this post.

I hand stitched the binding, something I rarely do.

Total machine binding is my go-to finish.

But I was concerned that the thread would not match, 

so I hand stitched using clips, size 10 straw needle and the cranberry thread.

Above I checked that batting and backing before pin basting the layers.

During construction I tried out different block configurations. 

Half square triangles make so many different patterns.

Which ones to use?

A quarter square log cabin block.

The label for documentation.

The back is an 18 inch width of fabric from the Cats of Paris collection. 

Ta-Da! The finished wall hanging.

So pleased with it.

Kaleidoscope blocks, stars, hour glass, Johnny in the Corner,

Crown, more hour glasses, quarter log cabin, sliced block, and pinwheel.

Thank you Gail and your team for helping us create our own quilts.

Happy Sewing!

 

SAHRR Round # 6

SAHRR Round #6 is in progress over here.

I decided to do Kaleidoscope blocks instead of Kite blocks.

Here is the first one.

It is paper pieced.

I found the free pattern on Quilterscache.com.

I'm linking up with the group.

Look for the finish soon.

Happy Sewing!

Janice

 

Tell Me a Story "Raining Cats and Dogs" team 7

This January I joined the Tell Me a Story block swap again.

My group had 9 people. We each made blocks to swap and received 2 blocks from each team member.

I made two extra blocks so I had 20 blocks total.

Below is the final layout.

Each block tells a story.

Here are the stories by row (A, B, C...)

and column (1, 2, 3, 4)

A-1 Happy felines partied the night away, not troubled by the rain outside. 

Each kitty was given a pretty striped umbrella as a party favor.

A-2 Kitty sat in the hard chair because she couldn't decide which pillow was coziest for her nap.

A-3 Fancy Cat is playing with a butterfly before the party. Which crown will she wear?

A-4 In Hawaii some cats play the ukelele.

B-1 The rain poured softly as Willow watched the butterfly dance through the droplets.

B-2 The black cat family is having fun at the beach. Look out for big waves!

B-3 Scottie enjoyed soaring in the sky carried by balloons. The clouds looked like tasty bones.

B-4 Leah loves watching the fishies in the bowl and dreaming of how they would taste...

C-1 Kitty loves to explore and run in the garden. When she was caught in the rain she hid in the flowers.

C-2 In Hawaii some cats dance to ukelele music. 

C-3 Kittie is an outdoor cat who loves chasing squirrels. 

When he escapes the house, his owners post his picture on telephone poles.

C-4 Sammie was tired and hungry. The flowers made him think of yummy canned tuna.

D-1 Charlie turned away for a second and when he turned back a bird was eating his food!

Time to teach that bird a lesson...

D-2 As rain drizzles against the glass, the cat tugs the needle through the fabric, 

sewing tiny flowers with each stitch. Admiring the work, the cat knows 

even the gloomiest days can be brightened with a  little artistry.

D-3 A cloudy sky promised long awaited rain but the next morning kitty saw it had 

not even sprinkled and his carefully planted catnip had not sprouted.

D-4 The big orange cat is chilling at home in the city.

E-1 The little puppy liked playing at the park with his friends 

until the gray sky let him know it was about to rain.

E-2 Sarah's dog was praised every time he did something good. 

Sarah loved when he curled up beside her while she did her homework.

E-3 Bully and his friends played in the dark, hiding in the thick bushes.

E-4 Duke pretended the muddy paw prints all over the carpet were NOT his.

The modern kitties backing fabric was bought at Keaton Quilts in NYC.

The birds and butterflies fabric was some of the last fabric I bought for mom.

She wanted to make a table topper quilt.

The quilt has facings instead of binding and a hanging sleeve.

It was fun to get blocks from sewists in Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,

Oregon, Idaho, and California. 

Special thanks to Amy for hosting and setting up the groups.

Happy sewing!