An Addiction Begins

Last Saturday I taught my daughter to use her sewing machine. Somehow I had it in my head that I was teaching her to make a tote bag, but it quickly kicked in that I had to teach her to sew first. From where to stand while rotary cutting (get your butt around this side!) to how far apart pins can be spread, we went step by step.




The results were amazing, don't you think?










She caught on to rolling the seams to seat them together, then pin, for a perfect joining.











On Sunday, she made a bag for her sister and added pockets, all with a few instructions over the phone by me. Talk about a quick study!





Monday night over the phone I introduced her to fabric acquisition. I gave her the URLs to my favorite fabric search engines, the FabShopHop and Quiltshops.com. Then I sent her over to Fabrics.com to check out sales. She ordered fabric for several Christmas gifts - tote bags, of course!

I don't know if I'll ever get her into quilting, but it is so fun to share my bag fetish with her. Watch for us to get an Etsy site soon, as our family isn't big enough for what we'll produce!

Quilters Helping Flood Victims

I heard about how quilters are helping Iowa flood victims to replace their stashes. Some are raiding their own supplies, and others are buying their favorite lines/designer fabrics and patterns to send. I just got a newsletter featuring my favorite Bohemian Manor fabric at less than half-price, I think I have a new excuse to go shopping!

Read more about how you can help here.

Flower Quilt Motif

See the pretty flower? It's centered on the dark purple square. I left paper here and there to make it easier to find the stitch lines. You'll probably have to click for the larger photo to see it.

This is a motif out of the book, The Art of Feather Quilting by Judy Allen. Love this book!





The borders on this quilt are free-motion feathers ala Sharon Schamber. All four of the purple squares have the flowers, as do the small pale squares within the wheel.

The four lighter diamonds have an enlarged version of the flower surrounded by feathers. In the center, there is an 8-pointed star, each point of which will have a feather motif from the book.

The outer light area is free-motioned with the curls seen in the first photo.
I have to decide tonight what to do in the wheel itself. I would like to do something that winds around the circle but am limited in the amount of room I have to work in. I'll probably do a vine with heart-shaped leaves, since it's something I know I can do. I am hoping to get this done and in the mail this week, so it can be displayed at a show, advertising a cancer auction coming up in October. I just hope it turns out good enough.

Flamboyance

Pat Sloan asked in her blog what we are doing to add flamboyance in our lives. I thought it very apropos, since I have been trying to do just that since my friend Jennie lost her battle with cancer.

I've shown some of the photos here, but I have a stack of fabric waiting to be molded and shaped into the magic my muse has in store.

The most recent step was to make curtains for the little windows in one wall. The big windows all have white wooden blinds. I couldn't do anything that drab for these little ones.



Aren't they loud and wonderful? I want to do one project a week or so (it might take longer to figure out a slipcover for my chair) and I promise to add photos as I do.