This is a static export of a blog I put on ice many years ago, that still has personally relevant content. No promises can be made around linkrot, styles, or working functionality.
I really wish I were an illustrator, so that I could draw something out to show you the image that pops in my head every time I read the word āsewerā. For now, words must suffice. Picture this, if you can:
Michelangeloāno, not the painter, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtleāchillinā in front of a late ā70s Singer Touch and Sew, chain-piecing HSTs in the TNMTās sewer lair from the ā80s/ā90s animated show. He keeps screwing up the corners and is getting increasingly agitated.
Splinter looks on, counseling āPossess the right thinking. Go slow, it is not a race.ā
Mikey gets one right and yells, āQuiltablocka, dude!ā
Okay, so maybe we shouldāt go into my head all that oftenā¦ (more…)
I have a new sewing space! My hobby is no longer relegated to a corner of the living room in our small one-bedroom apartment; I now have an entire room to myselfāin our new house! We finally closed on Friday, and were moving in/starting to unpack for most of the weekend, but I managed to get myself set up a bit, so that I could work on our nephewsā presentsāChristmas is coming too soon! Hereās a horribly grainy cell-phone photo of my space, since the good camera is still in a box somewhere (with my laptop charger š )!
One nephew present finished, four to go. Not to mention much more unpacking, and needing to haul my bookcase upstairs to the room so that I can organize.
That is the smallest of our three bedrooms, but it should be more than sufficient (for now, mwahaha). We keep going back and forth about which room I should useāthat one or the other spare bedroomāand which should be the guest room. (more…)
ā¦ or why I havenāt been/wonāt be productive for a while.
What was once the corner of my living room that housed my sewing machine, cutting table and everything else is now all packed up:
Scary note about my unwillingness to throw away scraps: that JoAnn bag is mostly full of scraps and various bits of things from my high school yearsā¦ I just keep carting it around. Perhaps when I settle down in a new sewing space, Iāll go through it.
Saturday afternoon, I finished the last bit of machine stitching on presents for my five oldest nieces, and put my machine in a box, ready for a move. (Itās handy to keep ahold of your original box if you have room to store it.)
It has been an amazingly productive weekend. After work on Friday, I pulled out the 1812 quilt challenge fabrics with the decision to finally start and at least get the first border on the medallion and sew some quarter-square triangles. By 1pm on Saturday, I had the top done, and by 1pm today, I had this:
which, if you canāt tell, is a sandwich ready to quilt. (more…)
My copy of the Mantua Maker 1800 -1820 Regency Corset Pattern came, so I started working on my first mockup of the corset to wear under a regency gown at the 1812 Quilt Challenge show in March. When I was in highschool (the last time I really did a lot of garment sewing), I could somehow get away with cutting straight into my fashion fabric, but now, eight years and 40lbs later, that would have been a very dangerous proposition. So here is what happens when you try to make the pattern with no alterations for someone with size 16 measurements, larger-than D cup breasts, a short waist and a lot of squishability. (more…)
Iāve been working on sewing down the binding on the Strip-pieced Lone Star/Star of Bethlehem quilt over lunch this week while watching episodes of Eureka on Hulu, and thought Iād take a break from that today to review the batting I used on the quilt: Pellon Nature’s Touch Cotton Batting.
Hereās a grainy cellphone photo of the Lone Star draped over a chair in my living room, showing areas that are relatively densely quilted and not: (more…)
Though I havenāt been able to sew much lately, Iāve been thinking about my 1812 Quilt (and the fact that I really need to get started on it) quite a bit. I finally have all the fabrics I think Iām going to use, a plan, and after a bit of tea-dying, my medallion is a bit closer to the color Iād hoped to have.
And, since Halloween just passed and we didnāt really celebrate or dress up, Iāve had costumes on my mind. Since the organizers are encouraging you to come in regency garb, Iāve been looking into patterns and general fashion plates for Regency fashion. (more…)
This past weekend was the one year anniversary of completing my first quilt. Iāve now completed a grand total of seven, and have five more in various states of progress (plus another one or two packed away for some rainy day).
Life has been busy, and I havenāt sewn much latelyānor did I finish the Devil in a Blue Dress for Halloween for the third year running.
But I did pull out the scraps left over from the Baby Quilt to make a first birthday present for its recipient:
The awesome people over at Generation Q Magazine and Thomas Knauer put together a bit of a challenge for 30 lucky peopleāincluding me. Thomas sent us 40 2.5″ squares and challenged us to create whatever we wished using all 40 squares, adding only solids.
My brain has been in organize, organize, organize! mode, so rather than a quilt or pillow of sorts, I ended up making an organizer for notions, so that I can easily tote around the ones I use regularly. Itās approximately 7″×11″ when folded closed (but a bit bulging, when full). (more…)
