A Row Quilt, and a Non-Row Quilt

I whipped up this row quilt from some coordinating leftovers.  It was so quick and easy, I tried to group another batch of leftover strips to do a second one.

But these strips made for a more lackluster grouping, so I decided to make blocks instead.

Star blocks are so cheerful, especially for a baby quilt.  I press my squares in half on the diagonal en lieu of marking them with a pencil, and add them to squares for the star points.

I mixed up the yellow background fabrics, and even went further into stash to find enough for the blocks for this small quilt.

 

 

Another top is done!  I love the yellow and aqua combo.  This one will get quilted and go into my donation pile.

 

Vera Neumann

 

I love all things Vera, mid-century designs by Vera Neumann, the iconic American designer.  Some people collect her scarves, but I have a weakness for her napkins. If you love her too, check out this website with many images of her fresh and modern designs.

I was so happy to run across this bundle of Vera napkins recently at the Goodwill.  I love the big orange flowers.

 

 

I put them on my design wall with a set of brown Vera napkins I already had.  Wouldn't this be a nice quilted table cover or small quilt?  On second thought, I decided to just use the napkins as they were intended.  It doesn't look like any of the orange ones have ever been used, and I think they'll look nice with my blue and white dishes.

 

This pair of napkins in my collection, on the other hand, are fraying, and I only have two.  I think they'll be a nice table runner interspersed with some small pieced blocks.  These will go into my future projects list.

Crumb Quilt

Crumb quilts are one of my favorite kinds of scrap quilts, and I keep a drawer of small pieces and wait for the inspiration to strike.

For this one I especially liked using up triangle bits to add some interest to the squares and rectangles.

I pieced this quilt in 12" blocks, which I think kept me on-task.

 

The finished top is 36 x48.  I may decide to add a  border later.  I had a lot of pink scraps, which I think makes this quilt especially cheerful.

 The bits drawer is almost empty.  For now.

A Knitted Shawl

 

I'm always knitting.  These days I try not to work on more than 2 projects at a time, lest they drag on forever, but I'm always knitting on something.  

This recent finish, the Luz de Otoño Shawl by Keka Guillén, is a nice balance of lace and garter stitch, and is the perfect foil for some special yarn.  I bought two skeins of Sock by LL Yarn Co, a special purchase at this year's Stitches West in Sacramento.

 

This pink called out to me from across the room, and it was my souvenir of a special day with my daughter at Stitches, followed by lunch, and a visit to a great Sacramento book store, Capital Books.  I was hoping for days like that when we relocated, a chance to spend time with family doing fun things we love.

 

This is a great pattern with just the right amount of challenge in the lace sections to keep my interest.  This shade of pink always makes me happy when I see it.

Garment Sewing

 

At about the time I was thinking about sewing a few summer basics for my wardrobe, I ran across Sonya Philip's lovely book, The Act of Sewing.    This book a good introduction to garment making and includes patterns for four simple garments: pants, top, skirt, and blouse.  It also includes some great information on adjustments one can make to these garments to make them fit better, as well as to add stylistic complexity: different kinds of hems, necklines, etc.

I decided to start with the pants, which are loose-fitting and cropped. With an elastic waist and two pattern pieces, they made up quickly.  I didn't realize how much ease is built into the sizing, and next time, I'll make one size smaller.  

The cropped top was made from a silk wrap-around skirt I'd been saving for a long time. 

I centered the existing button band (more or less) on the front when I cut out the pieces.  The top is loose, though I made a smaller size than I made for the pants.  I think I'll add some darts so it's a bit more fitted, and like with the pants, I'll make a smaller one next time.

 

All in all, I scratched my itch to sew something to wear.  I don't need more garments right now, but I will turn to this book again when I decide to sew something up for myself.

Thrift Store Fabric

 

 

When I visit my parents and my sister, my sister and I usually make a thrift store run.  These days, this is both entertainment, as well as how I've expanded my wardrobe for the warmer climate where we now live. On a recent trip I picked up and put down this bag of scraps at least three times.  I reasoned that I don't need more scraps, but there's something so fun about getting NEW scraps, scraps that you don't already have a ton of.  This was a bag of VARIETY for 95 cents.  Actually, it was half price, so it was even cheaper.

 

There was a nice mix of fabrics in this bag, it was clearly from a quilter.

 In the end, I got a pile of strips for my strip blocks, a nice pile of cotton pieces, and a good sized pile of flannel pieces, that will make up at least one, maybe two baby quilt tops.  Not bad for 48 cents.  The entertainment of sorting and pressing alone was worth the price.

Mother and Child Quilt (66 x 90)

One thing I've been doing since I retired is to sew up projects I had bundled supplies for in my stash.  Most of the fabric in this twin-sized quilt top has been around for awhile.  The central Mother and Child panels came to me from Debra, (I'm pretty sure, though she doesn't remember).  I found the earth toned squares in a long-gone thrift store in the early 2000s.  They had been roughly cut, some looked to be from a garment, so I trimmed them to a uniform size at some point.  The half square triangles were mostly made up of a charm pack of Hoffman Challenge fabrics from 2007.  The fabric has history.

 

I'm very pleased with how this long-delayed project has turned out.  It will go to Debra for quilting and donation.  I feel like I got this one out of my system (and out of my fabric drawers) and that it will go out to do its good in the world.  

Note: that's blue painter's tape on the sewing machine desk.  I used it to quilt a small quilt, and now it's waiting for the next project.