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.
As a gift giver for Carl, Iām kind of lame: I usually get him things he needs but doesnāt want to spend his own money on (like jeans, sandals, etcā¦). For his birthday this year, I decided to supplement that with yet another item he maybe needs: a bag for his cycling stuff so that he doesnāt have to use our reusable grocery bags. This way he has a dedicated bag that wonāt get co-opted for other uses.
Bijou Lovely has a great tutorial for a market tote that I based his bag on. Her instructions are clear, she has plenty of photos to illustrate what sheās talking about, and the result is a very roomy, practical, quick tote. For most purposes, it needs no changes.
Modifications
That said, it is a little feminine and has no pockets, which were two cons for my purposes. But both were easily modified. (more…)
āIn for a penny, in for a poundā seems apt for my current participation. I wasnāt going to start for a while, but then I needed a break last week, and found myself doing another set of three last night. These were all simple enough to finish without diving into the templates, so I have some notes to share on measurements. (more…)
To my knowledge1, my content has never been stolen and posted with attribution to someone else. However, a Twitter friend recently retweeted a message from another crafty blogger who found her tutorial and photos copied in their entirety on a blog full of egregious violations of copyright.
Luckily, thanks to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), US bloggers have a clear recourse to having their stolen content removed. Unluckily, DMCA claims can be made only by the copyright holder2 and relies on the copyright holder knowing that their content has been stolen. Bloggers in other countries may have some recourse as well (such as the EUās EUCD), but youāll need to research your own laws. (more…)
Iām already four weeks behind the group, and wasnāt planning on starting for another couple yet, but I needed a change from another project that is making me tear my hair out. Here is my week one. For these three blocks, I didnāt use templates. They were easy enough to figure out the size of the squares and rectangles. Plus, they can easily be simplified so that you arenāt working with as many small pieces (and are potentially able to sew them faster). Iāve added my notes about simplifying the cutting and piecing, including some of the measurements, but youāll have to get the book for clarification on anything I left out. (more…)
Blogland is abuzz with talk about the latest Farmerās Wife Sampler Quilt QAL, started by Angela of {fussy cut} and Amanda of msmcporkchopquilts. Not only is the Flickr group busy, busy, but Twitter is constantly updating with tweets tagged #FWQAL.
Essentially, everyone is trying to do two blocks a week, in any order, out of The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird.
Hereās the code for the four buttons members have created so far (in no particular order):
Copy the provided code and add it to your site! If you have questions about how to do that, leave a comment with the type of blog you have or email me at rae@raevenfea.com and Iāll help you if I can.
Iāve been assured, based on my quilty-blog browsing, that many quilters tend to gravitate toward filling their stash with a specific color (or a couple of them). Mine has been inundated with blues and greens from the start, but after my latest shopping spree, the greens have pulled ahead in the race (and other colors have gained no ground at all, it seems).
All of theseā¦
I present (in no particular order) some prints from Prince Charming, Aviary 2, Delovely, Alhambra, Dolly Dresses 2, and Silent Cinema; Kona Solids; Moda Bella Solids; a bit of butter-colored linen and some green corduroy for good measure.
ā¦will be going into one particular quilt, though (well, thatās the current plan, at least. Maybe not all will make it in). I have a feeling there will be lots of scraps leftover, due to the project calling for two layer cakes and the fact that Iām not using precuts. (more…)
My youngest younger sister Kaite is a very talented singer/actress/theater person who landed the role of Velma in her local theaterās production of Chicago. So, we visited MO to see the show, and I decided to make her a quilt (because making one for Mom wasnāt enough during May, or something).
Note: I was a total doofus and forgot to take photos (to be fair, I finished the quilt about 2 hours before we arrived, doing the last bit of quilting at the hotel on the way, and sewing down the binding in the car). Kaite provided these photos so I can tell all you blog reader friends about it.
I lost a block for the Birdās Nest Quilt at the beginning of May. I think maybe the dog ate it, but I didnāt want to comb the yard for evidence. It was a show-stopper; I didnāt have fabric to make a replacement. So, to console myself, I went fabric shopping at JoAnns. After all, Motherās Day was a week away, and the missing block was for my gift to Mom. Luckily, I had the excuse of visiting this past weekendā3 weeks laterāto give myself extra time to finish.
I knew of a fabric line at JoAnnās that I really liked and thought my mom would too, and ended up with this selection:
to which I added Moda Clover (Bella Solids) from my stash and a light blue faux-batik print I have yards of in the stash to use on the back (75% off because of a streaky/splotchy print issue that went away in the washer. Yay).
Since I was down to the wire, I needed a simple quilt idea, and nothing was coming to mind, but I found this pattern on allpeoplequilt.com that has 19″ blocksāsuper simple and interesting to boot. (more…)
Todayās public service announcement is: pictorial evidence of failure to remember to change needle as often as should be done.
Well, one of a few things that can happen. So, remember to change them, ladies and gentlemen, else youāll get rather familiar with your seam ripper.
Luckily, I caught that one early. I also sewed an 80″ strip with no bobbin thread the other night while trying to sew and pay attention to Talkinā Tuesdays at the same time. Brilliant, that. At least there was no seam ripping involved, since there was no seam.
Quilting tip of the month: wind a lot of bobbins of neutral cotton thread, so when you do run out, you can just pop a new one in. Piecing is pretty forgiving about thread color, within reason, so I just throw whatever is handy in. I almost always have some grey, beige, tan, light blue etc. bobbins around. It seemed so foreign to me, coming from sewing clothing, but now it makes a lot of sense.
To make up for a lack of real updates, here are a couple quick photos of works in progress. Iāll talk more about them at the end of the month, once theyāre both finished and delivered. (more…)
