UFO: Hawaiian Print Scrappy Quilt

A friend asked me to post pictures of this project:



I only have these nine blocks completed, but I have plenty of fabric to make more. These fabrics were discontinued samples that a salesman gave to me. If there are any other salesmen/women trying to get rid of their discontinued samples, I'd be happy to volunteer for that arduous task! ;)



Each block will be nine inches finished. I picked that size for really technical reasons...I have a nine 1/2 inch square ruler.



I actually use muslin to back these blocks. The idea of having two layers of fabric over the entire block except for the center irritated me, so I added this strip of sky.



I really like the diamonds. By the way, this is probably the easiest quilt ever!

The Swamp Quilt

YAY!!! HORRAY! I finished a quilt top! I even put together the backing! Now this quilt is ready to be delivered to mom for quilting. One New Year's Resolution down, two to go! Yay!

I consider this my very first quilt. When I began this project about five or six years ago, Mom had opened her shop the month before with a promotional block-a-month program. I can't exactly remember how it went? Maybe people paid $5 for the first block, and if they brought that block in completed, then the next block was free. The idea was to get people coming into the store at least once a month. Then we'd have demonstrations that morning as we handed out the new blocks. The second block of this program was this combination Snowball and Nine-Patch square. I made the block, and was thrilled with my success. Then the magical swamp fabric came in, and I instantly fell in love with it. Since the Snowball & Nine-Patch block was the only one I knew how to make at the time, the combination of this fabric and that quilt block seemed perfect! Actually I think they were, because the effect of the darker nine-patch is to create little windows, port holes, into the lighter fabric.

More than any of my other quilts, this quilt shows my progression as a quilter. Every square has at least one mistake. I'm glad for these mistakes though because I had to make them before I could move on. I learned on this quilt about making points and seams match up. When I first began working on these blocks, the idea of getting the corners just right had never occurred to me. Many of the blocks are very irregular. I also learned that it was better to take my time and get a neat looking block rather than to hurry-up-and-finish because my hurry-up-and-finish meant a sloppy quilt. When I began making the snowballs, I didn't take the time to draw lines on the back of each corner square. I foolishly believed that I could just eyeball a diagonal line. Despite all of the mistakes, I like the overall effect of the quilt.



The Swamp Quilt is actually called a the Midsummer Night's Dream Quilt (which is just too much to say thus the nickname). A friend who used the same fabric in a quilt called her quilt Brigadoon. The green print has that feel to it, as though at any moment something magical will happen in that place. I still love the swamp fabric, and in fact all of the fabrics I used for this quilt. The swamp fabric is a Hoffman print, and the red at the center of ever Nine-Patch is actually a Cocheco print.



For the backing I ended up needing to add an extra fabric, so I took the Navy batik that borders the top and will be the binding, and put a stripe of that down the middle of the pale green backing.



I tried to get the color on the pale green to come out right, but my camera/computer wants to read the pale green as off white or gray.



Now it is back to trying to make clothes. I'm glad that I finished that quilt. It gave me a real boost of confidence! See, I do finish projects every once in a while!

What have I got myself into?

I guess it began with the Dress a Day blog. I began imagining how nice it would be to have clothes that fit perfectly and were in the styles and colors I liked. I reasoned that since I know how to quilt and I have made clothes before, a dress and a vest, I could make clothes again if I just carefully read the directions.

But now I find myself at the beginning of several sewing projects and I'm thinking...was I insane? Patterns were 99cents today so I bought three. We won't even talk about the dress yet that I bought the scary slippery fabric for (though I will say that I bought the cheapest fabric in the store, so that if it goes horribly, I can throw it away without remorse.) For the blouse pattern, I bought some muslim so that I could make a practice blouse first before I cut into some of my quilting stash. I hope that works out.

I bought some silk brocade for pillows and purses. I'm finding though that when I sew it there are big stich marks at the seams? This is freaking me out. Maybe I'm not used to sewing with this particular fabric, so I'm being too sensitive? I'm using a Sharps 80/12 sewing needle and polyester wrapped cotton thread. Does that sound right?

I'm very nervous about this sewing all of a sudden, but I think I'll try to get the muslim blouse done this weekend since that looks to be the easiest thing. Then maybe I'll feel confident enough to attack the scary slippery fabric.

I'll post pictures if it comes out...if you never hear about this again...well then you'll know these projects tanked!

Sewing Room à la Hillary Duff

I couldn't resist watching My Celebrity Home last night when I found out that they were creating a sewing room based on Hillary Duff's sewing room. It's not so much that I'm a Duff fan, actually, I'm not a fan at all, but I am insatiably curious about other people's sewing rooms. (If you missed it, don't worry, it will be playing again all weekend: schedule.)

Duff's room was kind of disappointing, but after about ten minutes into the show it became clear that she was still starting out. Two walls were lined with floor to ceiling cabinets. The tops of the cabinets were open like bookcases while the bottoms had doors that hid the contents. Various knickknacks such as decorative boxes, colorful pillows, an old sewing machine and vases all filled the shelves. There was a small idea wall, a cork board in a beautiful frame, where Duff put up pictures and drawings that inspired her. A large and intricately carved desk dominated the room, and a very nice embroidery sewing machine sat on the desk. I caught a brief glimpse of rolls of fabric in one corner, but otherwise no fabric was in view. Duff had a small side table, the purpose of which is still unclear to me, and a pretty beaded lamp sat on the table. Finally she had a clothes rack that had some really pretty curls on it. All in all, I would say that Duff's sewing room bore a greater resemblance to an office than a sewing/craft room.

Apparently for this show, the designers try to replicate the celebrity room as much as possible, though of course on a smaller budget. This meant, especially on the show that I watched, that they passed up many interesting things that would have improved the room because they were trying to make the room exactly like Duff's. I think that is a real shame though because they could have made better choices in many cases. I think it would have been much more interesting to take Duff's sewing room as a starting point for ideas and then made changes and improvements to reflect the contestant's personality and needs.

So I decided to do just that. Here are my suggestions on how Duff's sewing room could be improved.

Reflections on Hillary Duff's Sewing Room

1. Knickknacks--No room! Except for those few things that have personal signifigance or meaning, I think putting knickknacks in a sewing room is a waste of space and resources. Some things, like decorative boxes, that serve a purpose as well as enhance the room are worth including, but otherwise that space can be better used.

2. Fabric--The number one reason why sewing rooms don't need knickknacks to make them pretty is that Fabric is Beautiful! Having fabric around me, inspires me and pushes me on. Of course, if said fabric is cluttered or messy, then that isn't too inspiring. For me the fabric does need to be neatly arranged...Something that I've NEVER managed, but I live in hope! Clear boxes are a great way to see what you have and brighten the room.

3.Books--What is a sewing room with out sewing books and magazines and patterns? A few pictures are cute and they can be inspirational, but books, books are portals to creative ideas! Those bookcases need to be heavy laden with inspiration manuals! And if we must have kickknacks for the sewing room, book ends could be useful since those skinny books never stand up by themselves. I also buy tons of those plastic magazine boxes.

4. Cutting board/table--The desk was beautiful, but it would totally be scratched up if it were part of my sewing room. A good sized cuttting mat is a necessity. Quilters use these all the time of course for rotary cutting, but even when I cut out a dress pattern, I like to have a cutting mat underneath. By putting a large piece of glass over the top of the desk, the pretty desk would be safe and still pretty.

5. Functional Furniture--What's the point of a useless sideboard? Why not get something more practical like an ironing board? The clothes rack was cute and a good idea, maybe the same person/company that made the clothes rack could make an attractive ironing board too? Personally though, I'd want a cabinet that had and ironing board top...more storage for fabric!

6. Something Missing--The one thing that really surprised me about Duff's room is that she didn't have a dress form. I'm wondering if the producers went through the room ahead of time and took out anything that they didn't want to buy the contestant. A dress form for a clothing designer seems like such a must have!

6.5 Something else?--I don't sew many clothes, so I'm not sure, but I thought Duff's room needed a design wall where she could lay out fabrics and play with them before she sewed them together.

I haven't really been sewing very long either, five or six years seriously. Living with a Quilt-a-holic for most of my life has influenced my thinking, which is why I'm so opinonated. Seeing these rooms has inspired me though, and since I'm between semesters and not taking as many classes during the summer, I think I will set up a little sewing station again in my itty-bitty apartment. It won't be anything like as nice as Duff's, but I promise, they're be fabric and books galore! ;)