Cotton Constellation

Cotton Constellation

My little quilt galaxy is complete!

This weekend I completed the final two "test blocks" of the Texas Star template and pinned them to my shades in the back room for a colorful constellation. A few things I learned:

Allowances

The seam allowance contraption was incredibly helpful at keeping the seams to 1/4". Training wheels, I suppose, but well worth it.

Get to the Point

Sewing on the bias is tricky. Much easier if the fabric is starched and precisely pinned. I also learned you can burn starch, and in turn, burn the fabric. Following the written instructions are important; someone took the time to write and illustrate them for a reason. On the last two blocks (the green and blue and blue and yellow two, on the left) my seams were much straighter and the blocks went together a lot easier when I followed the pressing, pinning and sewing directions.
 

Reality

I am a messcat. This isn't news, but I had barely finished trimming, pinning, sewing and installing before my work table was a complete mess. My next two projects are scattered about, waiting impatiently for me to get on with it.

Three Wishes

The experiment was a delight! Now I'm ready for the real thing, with some favorite fabric pieces. Stay tuned!

XO Terez

Go Big or Go Home Dresden Plate

Dresden Blades

Ever since I started fiddling around with fabric I've wanted to make a Dresden Plate quilt but it was always in the "someday" column of my wish list...until today.

Dresden plates are made up of 20 individual "blades" that form a flower around a circle center. Most folks make them small enough to applique on to a 12 or 15 inch quilt block and then sew a quilt of many blocks, many plates. I am not most people.

I found a terrific template for the beginning quilter at a tiny shop in Wakefield, Mass. I've seen small wedges you can purchase to make the standard size block, but I wanted something spectacular, and I found it, in this Trace'N Create Quilt template from Clover:

Trace 'n Create Quilt Dresden Wedge

Yahoo! This thing is game changing, even magical. Simply pick out the size of Dresden plate you want to make, trace out the easy pattern on to fabric, rotary cut, pin, sew and go! Sizes range from 12" blocks to 40" blocks! Start to finish this 40 inch wonder took about 6 hours. That includes cutting a lot of other fabric for pending niece and nephew quilts and ripping apart the Singer 301 five times due to feed dogs/bobbin case/throat plate issues--so I could probably do it again in three. But I prevailed, and now have this to show for it:

Go Big or Go Home Dresden Plate

You can see my BlackBerry in the lower right corner--I tossed that on the full-sized bed to show the scale. Now I just need to pick out a center and figure out what in the heck I am going to applique this to! I'm thinking either white canvas or flannel to make a nice opaque window treatment for my kitchen, or heading to Marshall's to find a twin-sized simple white cotton quilt or throw and then applique right on it.

I'll keep you posted.

Until then, try strawberries, They are just coming into season and taste amazing right now:

Summer Supper

Also, here's a hint of what's to come:

Tangerine Dream

XO Terez

A Quilt for Grandpa-Grandpa on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday

One More Row to Go

Yesterday I spent some quality time stitching in the studio with the Norwegian Knitter. Now that the new window treats are up it is so much cooler and enjoyable to be back there this time of year and it's really hard to pull myself away.  For all of the hours I spend in there,  I can never seem to finish anything because I am too distracted/discouraged by the Black Hole Craft Closet.

This abyss holds all of my fabric...and most of my beads...and most of my carving materials...and all of my holiday decorations...and all of my empty shoe boxes I might need someday...and three unused yoga mats...and a broken Hello Kitty sewing machine...you get the idea.

At 7:30 a.m., after an hour of birding, I was fed up with the looming closet.  I was getting sucked in by the magnetic-color-wheel-explosion-pull and order needed to be returned.

I pulled everything out of the closet and was determined to regoranize so I could actually get to my fabric stash. That left me facing this:

Reality

What a mess! I post this to show you I am not Martha by a long shot.


And then I unearthed a real treasure.  Something I had started last summer.  Something that I had been meaning to finish and never got to after Hello Kitty gave out:  A Kaffe Fasset charm quilt.  I had five nine-patch blocks finished and just needed to complete four more to have a finished top. I dusted off and oiled the Singer 301 and got to work.

One More Row II

I kept sewing and sewing...and guess what? I came to the conclusion I am not a great sewer...yet.  My seams are crooked and I have no idea how to nest properly when I iron, but once I got the top up in the window to take a look, I was thrilled (big reveal in a moment).

I love how the colors and the prints play, and the way the rows trickle down like the seasons--pale winter/spring bursts at the top, failling into bright spring/summer patches and finally the saturated summer/autumn tiles complete the cycle.

I was pretty happy with my 81 patches. And then I got to thinking...Grandpa Grandpa is going to be 90 years old next Saturday. If I added one more row of nine patches, I'd have 90 squares. And I have been wanting to make him a lap quilt.

Bam! Brilliant! Of course--this will be a lap quilt for Grandpa-Grandpa on the occasion of his 90th birthday!

I got to back to work. Brewed a pitcher of Passion iced-tea for sustenance. Ate some yellow and chocolate cake. Got back on the sewing machine (oh how I have missed her!)

Passion Tea

A few more pins, seams, tucks and 'oh shoot' s later, I finished this:

Grandpa Grandpa's Quilt

Now: I have to beg Mamacat and HH to back and bind the thing, because I have no idea how to do that...yet. I've got to get to the Post Office and Priority Mail this sucker! I'll keep you posted. And for the record, I hauled down about 20 cubic feet of junk to curb-cycle, and it's all gone. But the studio is still trashed, and that's ok.

XO Terez

Bless you!

Chez Terez tissue cozies from AMH Folksy Flannels collection

Achoo!

Bless you!

And bless my soul, aren't these the cutest little tissue cozies you have ever laid eyes on? 

Last week I decided to take my shears to my beloved Anna Maria Horner Folksy Flannel fat quarters and to start cutting. Once I started in to the butter soft fabric, I couldn't stop.

Before I knew it, I had cut 16 fat quarters into 6 pieces each and after a few hours of ironing and folding, came to this:

Chez Terez State of Affairs II

 32 down, 64 to go! All the hard work is done--the measure/cut/fold/ironing. I just have to stitch the sides up and pop in the tissue packs. Consistent with my wanting one of everything in ever color, I want to keep 16 for myself (greedy girl). But instead I will show poise and inner calm and have them available at the Holiday Bazaar in one week. One week! Oh how time flies!
 

"Dancing" deer

I love the above little guy--it reminds me of home. Little houses printed on dawn colored solid with, wait, look closely, little white deer. Precious!
 

Diamond Mine print in pink

They'll be at the sale, $3.50 each or three for $10. Be prepared to be bowled over but cuteness at this sweet stocking stuffer (or keeper) idea.

Can't wait.

XO Terez

There she is in all her glory

Sometimes if you wish for something hard enough it Just Might Happen.

Case in point: my miraculous garage "sailing" feat: the purchase of a 1952 Singer 301 all metal, mint condition, cabinet sewing machine a few weekends ago during a Cape weekend.

My friend and I got up early on Saturday morning in search of bargains; circled classifieds and in hand mapping our route for the day. Her husband told us to not bring back too much junk, and I said, "the only thing I'm looking for is a vintage metal Singer Sewing Machine that still works." Ask, and ye shall receive.

At our second stop of the morning (out of ten!) my garage sale Partner In Crime (PIC) found me in a bedroom at an estate sale, poking through a box of vintage sewing notions. Just as I was forming the thought in my brain, "hmmm, if there are vintage sewing notions, there might be a machine around here somewhere," PIC found me and with a whisper tipped me off to a sewing machine I might want to look at in the other room.

I tried to restrain myself from running, but it was difficult. I saw the closed cabinet and knew right away what it was. My mother used to have an old Kenmore machine from the 70s in a cabinet so I knew just what to do. I flipped open the lid, pulled up the metal machine on its hinge, flipped the lip back down, found the knee pedal and the power source. It took a little bit of figuring out to determine that there was an extra electrical socket that needed to be connected but soon we had it all together and voila! The light clicked on, a test piece of fabric was inserted and the needle and feed dogs chugged chugged chugged with a satisfying rhythm.

I was speechless. Who wishes for a metal Singer Sewing machine and then one hour later finds one for the bargain price of $25?

I refused to leave the machine until I paid for it and carried it out of the home.

Even more special were the items I found stowed in the seat of the included bench. Another box of notions. The original owner's manual. All of the foot attachments. Two one-dollar bills (so it really was only $23!). Receipts for recent service appointments. The original paperwork for the purchase of the machine: a yellowed and fragile handwritten mortgage for $357.25. In 1952.

Mamacat and I serviced the machine on her visit this weekend, carefully oiling the machine and greasing the metal gears. Did I mention there isn't a speck of plastic or rubber in this machine? That it is all metal? It is awesome.

Dear Elanor: wherever you are, I hope you know that your machine will be cherished and put to good use. I hope I get to enjoy it for as many years as you did.