Month: September 2022

I’m happy to report that my friend had another negative Covid test this morning. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that we’re getting a little stir crazy just hanging around in my back yard. We did go for a walk this morning after breakfast. Then I had a call I needed to sit in on. After that we hightailed it to a local fabric store to shop for some binding for one of the many (five, I think) quilts and quilt backs she brought with her to drop off with my long arm quilter. She just needed to figure out a binding for this Australian Aboriginal fabric quilt. She had brought that pale yellow fabric on the left, but I thought it was really blah. The fabric on the right is the backing.

So we played with some brighter yellow, red and orange Aboriginal fabrics and none of them worked. The woman at the quilt store pulled out Brandon Mably’s Crease in black and white and it’s perfect!

And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that piece of Crease is the ONLY piece of fabric that the two of us purchased today! That’s NEVER happened before!

Oh, and I used this bucket bag I made a few weeks ago to carry my friend’s quilt pieces to the store and it was absolutely perfect!!!

After we got home I was telling my friend about a packet of red KFC fabrics that I’ve had in my sewing room for at least a couple of years… just sitting there as I waffle back and forth about what quilt to make with them. I had kept a couple different patterns in mind… everything using a lovely solid purple as an accent fabric. But I could just never pull the trigger and get started. One was called Bold Proposition (I even purchased this book) and the other is called Cranberry Chutney.

But a month or so ago I saw this pattern and fell in love with it and thought it would be perfect for my red KFC fabrics with the purple solid.

The pattern is Fractured by Exclusively Annie’s. You can find the pattern for sale here.

My friend thought it was a great idea so we pulled my ironing board and iron out onto the patio and I brought out my cutting board, rotary cutter and rulers. But before we got started we had to pare down the red KFC fabrics I had selected. I had nearly 20 different half yards set aside for a red quilt, and we pared it down to 10 fabrics. I calculated that I would need 40 blocks for the size quilt I want, and that meant that ten half yards was nearly perfect. There was just a little waste in each piece. Good thing I have some ideas on what to do with scraps.

Then we dug in. My friend pressed and applied Best Press to each piece of fabric, and I did the cutting.

The pieces of fabric for the blocks are huge! Then you sub cut each piece and sew in the solid color strips.

Here’s all ten fabrics cut into their big blocks and stacked up. There are four big blocks out of each fabric.

Good lord, that’s a lot of gorgeous color!

And here they are with the solid purple that will be used for the strips… well, maybe.

I purchased that purple fabric some time ago as part of my plan for these red fabrics. Unfortunately, the two yards that I thought would be enough, won’t be enough for this project. So I’m going to have to go to plan B. So, tomorrow my friend and I will visit a local quilt store that has a good selection of shot cottons. I’m hoping they have the perfect color of purple for this!

And here’s some photos just because these fabrics are so freaking gorgeous!

I’m a bit disappointed that I don’t have enough of that purple fabric. I’m really ready to dig in and get sewing. And with my friend here to do all the pressing, we could whip through these blocks really fast. Maybe we’ll be lucky and find the perfect shot cotton tomorrow.

My dogs are loving having my friend and I out in the back yard with them all day. Bender was entertaining us after dinner tonight by flipping his torn up frisbee in the air.

They’re both exhausted tonight. It’s nice to see them so completely worn out at the end of the day.

I’ve been looking forward to my friend arriving this week to start our 16 days of vacation together. The night before she was supposed to fly in she called me to let me know that her husband had tested positive for Covid.

I just couldn’t believe it, after having my last vacation completely derailed by my own case of Covid.

So, what to do? She called the airlines. We talked several times. I messaged someone I know who professionally and educationally knows shit about Covid and she suggested that my friend get a hotel room for five nights, and that we hang out in my back yard keeping our distance, wearing masks when we’re indoors together for limited times. So that’s what we’re doing.

We were so bored yesterday, I brought out to my back yard piles of fabric from my sewing room that needed to be folded, organized, and put away. My friend sat and went through a sizable pile of fabric and got it all organized and put into bins. Today we drove to a friend’s place to pick black berries — both of us wearing masks and with all four windows open as we flew down the freeway! Raspberry picking was a bust but at least it got us out of the house for a couple hours.

She’s taking a Covid test every morning and is nervous as hell until she sees that the T line doesn’t appear. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can resume our normal activities and she can move into my guest room on Sunday. Send positive (or negative!) thoughts for us!

After I took my friend back to her hotel tonight I decided to hit my sewing room and get a little bit done. My friend had brought me some KFC fabric that she’d found on sale and I thought this piece would go really well with a nice blue piece of denim I have.

The denim is much bluer than it looks in that photo. It really looks much closer to the blue in the lining fabric.

I decided to cut out the pieces for a shoulder bucket bag. I got the outer bag and lining pieces all cut, fused and sewn. I decided to stop there for the night.

And what’s that brown strip across that photo you may ask. Well, I decided to try some of the biothane I purchased a few weeks ago for the handle of this bag.

But in looking at the bag pieces I realized that the denim with the woven interfacing was pretty thick. It would be VERY thick at the point where the side seams of the bag and lining all meet. And in looking more closely at the biothane I could see that, although it’s about the same thickness as the handles I make for my Frankenbags, it’s much more dense.

I was worried that it wouldn’t all work out very well with all that thickness. I decided to do a test handle installation. I grabbed the small squares I cut out for the gussets, and I mimicked the handle installation to see how it would go.

I was right. That denim is really thick. I was pretty happy with how my machine sewed through it all. But I could see that I’d never be able to do the topstitching at the top of the bag that would go over the handle. There was just too much thickness.

So I did the topstitching about an inch from the top of the test piece, which put the line of stitching below the interior end of the handle.

The stitching isn’t very straight. I will do a better job on the actual piece.

Here’s a photo from the lining side so you can see it better.

It feels strong and sturdy. I’m very interested to see how it turns out and how the handle feels. I’m thinking it might be a little narrow for a shoulder handle. We’ll have to wait and see. (As I’m typing this, I just realized that I should use my quarter inch foot to get that stitching just a little closer to the top of the bag… it will allow me to put my line of stitching much closer to the interior end of the handle. Oh, maybe even use my zipper foot to get even closer!)

My dogs have been quite happy to have my friend and I hanging out in the shady part of my back yard all day. Rico keeps bringing toy after toy to my friend who is more than happy to indulge him.

Bender has found new and interesting things to do with a nasty old frisbee.

I left the boys at home while I ran to the grocery store the morning of the day my friend arrived and came home to this.

That kid really knows how to keep the heat at bay. He’s a cool dude.

My boys are exhausted tonight. They didn’t sleep at all today. They usually nap quite a bit during the day. It’s nice to have them ready to sleep in the evening!

I’m officially on vacation. Two-and-a-half glorious weeks off coming up!

Work has been crazy this last week because of getting ready to head out of the office, and when that’s happening, more people need my time. So I’ve been working long hours and haven’t had much time to do much else. I’m really looking forward to vacation. A friend of mine who I haven’t seen since before the pandemic hit is flying in to stay for the entire time. We have catching up to do!

I finally got some time today to hit my sewing room and finish up this little shoulder bag.

It’s nearly identical to the one I made last week. The outer orange fabric is just a little lighter. But it still looks good with that lining.

This bag plus two others will be going to a friend in California.

I walked over to a friend’s place on Friday to pick up some of their tomatoes. They have an impressive crop!

compare that to my little gems.

Mine are really good but it’s hard to make a BLT out of dime-size tomatoes.

Look how incredible this plant is! The main stalk is at least an inch in diameter.

I’ve really been enjoying my Rose of Sharon. It had several blooms on it in last spring, and it’s blooming again.. but this time it’s really going to town!

It’s covered in these blooms already and there are a bunch starting to open.

And this thing is covered in buds that aren’t anywhere near opening yet.

There are clusters of buds like that all over this plant. It’s pretty amazing.

The boys have been pretty bored with my work schedule the last week. Bender fell asleep in this position with a toy in his mouth!

This was Rico right after I asked him if he wanted to go outside and play Frisbee.

I’m thinking the answer was yes!

Since it’s Sunday, it’s Frankenbag time. This first one was made by Elaine Samborski. I love the color and that huge cabbage bloom! The black and white is so good!

Thisnext one was made by Marion Wolf. She’s made other Frankenbags. This one is for her personal use. I just love the dark fabrics with the pop of color in the lining. The decorative stitching on the handle is a nice detail.

Next up is a whole bunch of bags made by Sandee Henricks. She’s really been busy! Great fabrics, very nicely made, and a riot of color! Nice work Sandee!

My friend and I are going to do some sewing related things while she’s here. First, she’s going to help me figure out where to put all the piles of fabric in my sewing room. Then we’ll make a trip to my long arm quilter to get some of her quilts started. She shipped three of them to me this week. I’ll take in one or two of my own quilts while we’re there.

One more day of getting my house ready for company and then adventure will begin.