Quick and Not-so-quick Finishes

Today I have two finishes: a quick one that I made this afternoon, and a not-so-quick one that I worked on over the course of several afternoons.

 First the quick finish...a little sewing assistant for when I'm sitting in my recliner with some hand-stitching. 

I have been working on the Quilty 365 circles for a couple of months now and often find that I've lost a pin, or the scissors, or papers. It's been making me a little nuts. So today, finally, I decided that I'd try to end some of the nutty problems. I pulled out this pretty piece left over from a pajama pants project of a couple of years ago and left-over muslin from who-knows-what project.

A small pincushion on the topmost section, two pockets on my side of the arm and another pocket on the outside of the chair arm to slip the freezer paper patterns into will keep most of my things tidy and organized. Or so I hope.

The second finish, which took quite some time at school, is a painting of a cotton plant. Our students are very lucky since we have a wonderful art teacher. However, Leta's strongest skills are in drawings and graphic arts. 

Leta readily admits that painting is not her favorite or best medium, so she asked a painter to come in and teach a class or two. Since I know Kay, I asked to sit in on the lessons, and Kay graciously encouraged me to do so. Unfortunately, that couldn't happen because I had testing duties and a meeting to attend. 

Leta helped me out by applying the gesso and texture mediums to the canvas. I dropped in one afternoon to block out the painting and begin the background. I had the idea of painting the background blue, purple and yellow, but that did not turn out as I had hoped. 

It was pretty bad. The blue/yellow mixed into a greenish color and the purple/yellow made a horrible greenish color. I did not like it, so when I was able to get back into the classroom, I covered most of the green with shades of blue, leaving small bits of the original colors. 

A few days later, I was able to get back to the painting and enjoyed playing with the cotton bolls.  It took another afternoon of tweaking and cleaning up the painting. I'd have liked another class to get it closer to what I planned, but I decided to stop on Wednesday so that I could bring it home when we began our spring break on Thursday. 

And there we are. Two finishes, both of which I really like and hope you like them also. 

Linking up with

Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF, which is at Anja Quilts this week

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: vintage sewing

Before I start showing photos for today's quilt inspiration, I have a special photo to share.  My mother-in-law is raising three baby goats in her living room.  Three mother goats have had two kids apiece, but a few of the kids are not strong enough to stand up for nursing, so the in-laws are milking the mothers and bottle feeding the babies.  As the babies get stronger, they go back to the mothers.  I guess raising two sons and helping with four grandsons and 11 great grandchildren may have given her some insights on how to handle this.  Either way, she's been wildly successful with these babies.  Aren't they just too cute?

Okay, so on to our inspiration for the day (or actually, night) which is vintage sewing because I happen to find a few great photos.  

Aren't these beautiful?  I had no idea that Pfaff made sewing machines so early.  I always thought that they were a more recent company.

The center pole on this dressmaker's form can be removed so that everything collapses down into the bottom of the box.  Add the top and you're ready to travel!  Brilliant!

   

Happy Quilting,

Mary

Merry Christmas

Here's hoping you had a wonderful Christmas.  We had a quiet, uneventful day.  Our children came for the annual gift-giving last weekend because they all had plans for today.  That meant mass this morning and a visit from Richard's parents after lunch.  The rest of the day was free and quiet, so I even got to sew a little.

But let's talk about Christmas gifts.  Richard is such a sport.  He not only came with me to the Quilt Show in Houston in November, but while there, he picked up my Christmas gift.  I found a sweet little vintage button shop and fell in love with a particular button.  I didn't want to spend quite that much money, however.  Rich was with me and, after I decided to walk away, he returned to get the button I liked the most.  He also picked up a couple more buttons!  

I'm really a very lucky girl and have the best of husbands.    Aren't these beautiful?  

I could not have done better if I'd chosen them myself.  They are just beautiful.  The largest is about three inches across and the others are about one and a half (black) and one inch (gold).  I will use the single one to make a beaded brooch.  The others will go into the stash until I figure out how I want to use them

  
Rich also gave me two pairs of scissors.    The yellow pair is a new design from Fiskars called Amplify RazorEdge.  They are supposed to be the best and newest.  We'll see.

Finally, he also gave me a bolt of white bleached muslin.  It's my favorite backing fabric, so he knows it will be a hit.  

I gave him a belt, a pair of jogging pants and a watch.  He had asked for both the belt and the watch, so they really weren't a surprise, but surprising him is almost impossible.  He can read me too well.  So instead, I shoot for giving him what he needs but won't buy for himself.  All in all, we had a lovely Christmas.  I would have enjoyed having the children and grandchildren over, but we'll see them all again this weekend.  Besides, knowing that they are safe and happy is enough for any momma.

Merry Christmas!

Mary

Linky Party and keeping scissors

Click here to go to
Quilter's Favorites

Oh my, this Quilter's Favorites Linky Party is turning out to be some kind of fun!  Thus far, I've read several tips and ideas, found four quilt blogs to follow, and met some of the nicest people.  

Geta has done a great job of pulling in some inspiring bloggers with useful ideas and tips. 

While reading one of those blogs, I realized that I have another tip.  I have a pair of scissors, a pin cushion, a seam ripper and a tape measure at every work station: sewing, cutting, pressing, and so on.  This way I don't have to remember to take the items with me from one station to another. 

The problem I had, for a while anyway, was remembering to leave the items in the designated station, especially the scissors.  To solve that, I tied the scissors to the area using a long string.  Once I got used to leaving them there, I removed the string.  It worked!  Now I just carry the project pieces as I move around the room.

Of course, this means duplicates and triplicates and quadruplicates of some expensive notions, so I don't imagine that it's affordable for new quilters.  But those of us who have been in the biz for a while already have many of the items we need: it's just a matter of figuring out where each particular item is best kept.

Managing my scissors was most difficult and took some trial and error.  In the end I've put the biggest, best scissors on the cutting table.  These babies cut 6-8 thicknesses of fabric at once.  I rarely cut that many, but it's nice to have them when I'm cutting many of something.

Another good pair of titanium scissors is near the Studio cutter to finish off the little threads that don't quite make the blade cut.  And since I cut lots of applique pieces, I use them for that as well.

An older pair is near the ironing board.  I sometimes need to snip or trim while pressing a block or applique pieces.  When sewing garments, I also often need to snip around arm holes and such.  These scissors are older and no longer razor sharp, but the point still snips very well.

At my sewing machines I keep little snips or scissors that will quickly cut thread or trim fabric.  My husband gave me this little pair and I love them--no problems with my fingers getting stuck in the finger holes.  

If you look back at the first photo, notice that I added a plastic hook to hold a pair of scissors on my machine.  I've done this on every machine.  It's one of my best ideas yet.  The long arm doesn't leave the scissors behind and I can always find my scissors at the serger or the Bernina. 

Now quickly, go visit Geta's blog and link up with the many quilters who have more great ideas to share.
Happy Quilting,
Mary