Rummage Sale Two

I've been designing another quilt from the box of scraps that I got at the Methodist church rummage sale awhile back. The colors of the vintage 60s and 70s fabrics in the box remind me of earlier times and styles. Aqua was pretty popular in the 60s, and now you don't see it very much. I remember when I was a kid my mother made matching a-line polyester dresses for me and my sister one year. When I was in high school in the early 70s, the choir I was in wore identical long aqua polyester dresses. There must've been 25 or 30 of us, so you can imagine how it looked. The justification for the color choice was that this color looks good on everyone. I wonder how true that is.
I cut up some of these old fabrics and they decided they wanted to be paired with pink. Most of the center fabrics are from the rummage box, and I pulled some others from my stash that seemed to play well. I also threw in a bit of lime green for accent.
I'll have to think of a cool 60s movie name for this quilt. Any suggestions? Maybe something with Doris Day.

I guess the aqua vibe is in the air.

I got this beautiful necklace from Debra
as part of a swap. I just love the colors, and of course the little Virgin Mary beads are a reminder of our quilt series on the Madonna.

Finishing Up

When I finished this little quilt, "Asiatic Lilies," Allie left me a comment asking if I was planning to quilt the background. This struck a cord, because although I wanted to be done, I did have this nagging feeling that something was missing. So I hand quilted the background and scattered some tiny glass beads. I also embroidered over more of the leaves and stems printed on the fabric. Now it feels complete. Thanks Allie!
I'm on a campaign to finish up some UFOs. For a long time it hasn't bothered me to have multiple projects going (or not) at the same time, but now the backlog feels distracting. I finished this little piece, which is about 8 x 10 inches. When I first began to work with photo transfers I transferred this image of a painting by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. This is a painting she made after she cut her hair in response to her husband's infidelity.
I made this for Leslie my hairdresser. She is an accomplished painter and she likes Frida Kahlo, and especially this painting. She also has a faux-vintage sign in her shop, "We Repair Homemade Haircuts," so I combined that caption with the image of the painting. I hope she likes it.
I machine quilted this recent scrap quilt. The center blocks got spirals and I made these eucalyptus leaves in the border. I realize that there is nothing between me and acceptable machine quilting but practice. I'm slowly layering my finished UFOs and lining them up for practice.
I may even have some finished quilts for Christmas gifts when all is said and done. Oh my, did I mention Christmas in October? Sorry!!!

Farmer's Market

Today I'm bringing you images of the other kind of fiber.


I took these photos at the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago. The colors were a real visual treat. I love the purple bell peppers.
You can see how small these eggplants are next to the peppers.
This red and green combination is the essence of summer.
I grow cherry tomatoes in my yard since they have a short growing season, but they've only just recently begun to give fruit. This is the one downside to living on the coast. The farmers who sell here are from the inland areas. Just 5 or 10 miles to the east, the weather is much warmer and sunnier.

They sell flowers and plants at the market for good measure.
These beauties remind me that the fall is upon us.

Rummage Sale

A couple of weeks ago I hit one of my favorite church rummage sales. They always have great stuff and tremendous bargains. I picked up a box of cotton fabric scraps, which of course to me is like treasure. I whipped up this little table top quilt, inspired by Finn's similar little quilt. I used the stretched stars setting on mine. All these fabrics, except for the black inner border, were from the scraps. Here are a few closeups:
There were scraps with a cute "State Fair" motif.
I love this little farm couple.


There were only these tiny pieces of the little clown faces. I like the way the second one has his tongue sticking out.

The whole quilt is 33x33. The inner squares are 4" and the outer ones are 3".


I've also resolved to finish some of my UFOs. I've got a few quilts hanging in the closet that need borders. I seem to poop out when it comes to putting borders on quilts. I've been designing and sewing the border onto this quilt in fits and starts. I want to finish it just so I can get my design wall back.

So what have I accomplished with this resolve?
Yep, I've been playing in the scrap drawer and I've started a new project.

Asiatic Lilies

Here's the latest 12x12 piece in my series pairing bird and flower images. This piece began as a home dec fabric sample. I've been looking for fabrics on which I can embellish in order to create a new composition. I was attracted to this lily fabric, and I found some clip art pieces to add both more flowers and a bird.


Both lilies and Stellar's Jays are prevalent in the region where I live. The Stellar's Jay is a bird common to the west. Though the Blue Jay is more well known, they're not native to the west.


I used a drawing of a Blue Jay for the basic body shape, and then studied a friend's photos for the Stellar's Jay coloration.
I drew the shapes on water-soluble stabilizer, and then stitched through the whole thing.

The embroidery is almost all chain stitch. I like the idea of using one stitch for the whole composition. I did add a few bullion stitches for the pistils of the flowers.

I'm looking for ideas for my next composition. It's fun to choose the bird, flower, and background fabric for the next project.

Making a Messenger Bag from a Skirt

I made this messenger bag from a recycled skirt. Here are the instructions for a really easy project



Use a knee-length straight skirt. I found my skirt at a thrift store. The skirt will form the body of the bag. Sew up any side or back slits, remove the waistband and cut off the hem.

Sew the skirt closed at the bottom edge and then fold the bottom corners toward the side seams. The width of the bottom of these corner triangles will establish the width of your bag. I chose a 4" wide bag. Top stitch the triangle sides to the bag.
Mark the back side of the skirt about half way between the top and bottom, depending on how tall you want your bag to be. The top part of the skirt will form the flap, and the bottom part will be the body of your bag. I decided to keep the zipper in the skirt, which will form a zippered pocket on the inside of the flap.

Carefully cut across the marked line, through only one layer.
Turn right sides together at the top of the skirt, and stitch. I took the waist darts out of my skirt, but would leave them in next time. This way your flap is narrower than your bag. Now you should have a completed bag exterior. To make the lining, cut a piece of fabric the size of your bag, exclusive of the flap. I used a piece from an old corduroy skirt. For the pockets, stitch some rectangles with right sides together, leaving an opening for turning right side out. Turn the pocket and stitch it to the lining on three sides. Top stitch across the pocket to make sections.

Now run your bag by your feline design consultant. Bunny is channeling Coco Channel for me. I cut the bag strap and hardware from a worn out messenger bag and attached it to the new bag using a loop made from the skirt's waistband. Pin the loop between the lining and the bag and top stitch the bag opening all the way around. You will be attaching the lining to the bag and to the inside of the bag flap.

Reinforce the strap loop.
To stabilize the bag bottom I taped two layers of cardboard together with mailing tape. I wrapped the cardboard in an envelope I made from a piece of denim.
Voila, a new bag.

Boy this tutorial writing is harder than it looks! I hope these instructions were clear.

Loaves and Fishes

I haven't quite fallen off the edge of the world, but the school year has started again and I'm back at work. I have less time for fiber work, but I'm fortunate to have a job where I can be creative in other ways.

Before I went back to work, I decided to clear out some Christmas fabrics that I had in the drawer. When I combined them with some non-holiday but matching fabrics in my stash, I almost miraculously had enough to make these two quilts. The first one is about 30x30 inches, and the second one is larger, about 50 x60.
These photos are a bit blurry, but the close-up is clearer. I think I'll quilt these for gifts.
One of my favorite thrift stores is moving to another location so they marked almost everything down so they don't have to pack more than absolutely necessary. I got this wonderful batch of buttons for 35 cents. There are some wonderful large vintage coat buttons.

I like that some of them are not round.
In this batch, the little green buttons caught my eye. I like the metal buttons, which I use for sweaters and other garments.

Some days I just get lucky. I love getting these little gifts from the universe.