Fabric Friday - American Made Brand

I couldn't be more excited. This week I received my first shipment of American Made Brand fabrics. Have you heard about them? 

American grown cotton, spun into yarn here in the United States, woven into greige goods at one of our oldest weaving mills, and then on to an American dyeworks. I notice their latest marketing materials read "farm to fabric" and "not just made here, grown here", but I really love an earlier tagline.. "from dirt to shirt".

This may not sound so impressive until you realize how dramatic the decline in our textile industry. This may well be the only all cotton product (farm to fabric) produced in the United States. Oh we still grow lots of cotton. The South was built on cotton. But now over 70% of the cotton grown here is shipped overseas to textile mills with cheap labor, and (in some cases) questionable work practices.

Making the fabric here must make it really expensive, right? Not the case. Hawthorne Threads is selling it for $7.25/yard. Some high volume online stores have it for even less!

American Made Brand has a challenge on right now for quilts that will be displayed at International Quilt Market at the end of October. Unfortunately I just saw the notice and submissions (i.e. photos of finished quilts) are due by August 15th. Ah well. I didn't really need another deadline. 

What am I going to make with my treasure trove? Well a few more fabrics showed up that tell more of the story, and it might have to do with a couple of adorable youngsters that need more "grown up" sleeping bags.

And what girl doesn't need a pink camouflage flannel lined sleeping bag. I'm also going to have to incorporate a figure skate into this somehow. Hard to believe, but I searched high and low and couldn't find any figure skating themed fabric that would work with pink - hardly found any period.

I'm planning to use Kam Snaps instead of a monster zipper. That way they can open the bag out flat and use it as a beach or picnic blanket for years to come.

I thought this Amy Butler print might work too, but you know what? I'm just not an Amy Butler kind of girl. 

For the grown up young man, I'm thinking Star Wars. After all, even my 40 something husband still thinks Star Wars is cool. Might have to applique an X-Wing Starfighter on the carry bag!

And the best news? Thankfully these gifts won't be due until Christmas!

Pouch Crazy

Last week I wrote about the pouch I made for my sewing buddy. Well it didn't end there.

I made a three pocket pouch for my grandniece for her birthday. 

See... three lined pockets with matching zippers. I followed this tutorial with a few modifications.  I don't usually sew from other people's patterns as I like the design component so much. However, I learned some really neat tricks working with that pattern, which I was able to incorporate into the pouch for the guild swap.

And as my reward, I received this adorable thank you note. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that there are still kids who write thank you notes.

I had no sooner sent this pouch off and received the sweet note when my guild announced - you guessed it - a pouch swap. Because it was for someone in my guild, I wanted to make something original, so I went to the drawing board.

First I tried to think about a type of pouch that I would really use, and hope I've hit on something others will appreciate. 

Here in Atlanta it is festival season. Every neighborhood has their own festival to raise money for parks, and other improvements that taxes just can't cover. Ours is called Summerfest. Typically a festival is held on Saturday and Sunday and kicks off with a parade and road race in the morning. Key streets in the neighborhood are closed off to set up an artist market, food trucks, a stage for bands, beer sales, and did I mention an artist market? You get the picture. Me wandering around listening to music, sipping a beer, and needing a place to keep cash, ID, and a credit card - 'cause did I mention the artist market? 

Based on that need, I came up with this idea for a zippered pouch with a very long strap so it could be worn cross body.

As you can see, I used English paper piecing to make a fabric piece about

nine inches wide by 20 inches tall. The finished bag is closer to eight by nine. 

There it is all pieced with the papers still attached to the back. You can see that I used two different shades of orange combined with some gray scraps all left over from another project. The fabric shown here is from the Spot On and Metro Living collections from Robert Kaufman, and they differentiate the colors as orange and tangerine.

After I removed the paper templates, I fused a lightweight piece of interfacing to the back of the fabric to give it a bit more body and stability - I don't honestly trust my hand stitching all that well, but fusibles can fix anything.

Next I squared up the fabric, 

and cut it in half. 

Fortunately I had purchased a bulk package of YKK zippers a couple of months ago, so matching zippers were in my stash. You can see with this photo where this is headed.

I love this neat technique found in the triple zipper pouch tutorial for finishing the zipper ends. 

And I was able to line each pocket (one shallow pocket on each side and a large full sized pocket down the middle) with more Spot On (snow on white). The instructions for how to insert the zippers and line the pouch pockets in one fell swoop are included in the tutorial from Debbie at A Quilter's Table mentioned above. And yes, Debbie is a much more prolific quilter and blogger than me. Hats off to that, and to her awesome quilts.

The exchange happens on Thursday, so I really hope whoever gets this one likes it. And I have full plans to make another for myself. I'm noodling with using up some prized selvage strips for mine instead of the hand sewn hexies. What do you think?

Until next time!

Kay Stephenson for Stitching Times

Sewing Buddies Pouch Swap

Sewing Buddies is a program put together by Deborah Moebes over at Whipstitch which I've watched for a couple of years, but finally decided to join for 2014. She describes it as, "a fun opportunity to meet other folks who love sewing.  That’s it, in a nutshell.  I hope you’ll find that the videos, challenges, giveaways and other fun stuff that comes along as 2014 unfolds adds to that for you, but at the core, the Sewing Buddy Project is about making this virtual sewing community immediate and tangible for each of us, by giving us a friend to share ideas, make nerdy sewing jokes, challenge us to keep our goals, and to grow our sewing with."

One of the challenges this year was to make your buddy a pouch. My buddy needed a pouch for her iPhone, and she asked for, "one with a zipper. That would be really useful. And maybe the pouch could have an inside pocket for the ear buds. I like most colors but prefer that it not be pink - pink has never been a favorite. When you choose the fabric, think "fullness of color" ...I like color, color, color! (I think that is why pastels are not my favorite.)

I think I nailed it with this fabric. Nothing pastel here :-) The fabric is called Effervescence and is by Amelia Caruso for Robert Kaufman. It was screen printed in Japan with 15 different colors. 

The pattern runs the full width of the fabric with an awesome border that I thought would look great for a skirt or dress hemline. I've no idea where or when I bought this, but it's been in my stash for awhile, and I was happy to use a bit of it for this gift. 

As requested, the pouch has a zipper

and a little internal pocket for ear buds. I sort of used this pattern, with some modifications.

This was a fun swap and project, though I've got to say that if I was making this pattern again, I would rework it so I didn't have to put the zipper in by hand. That was a serious pain, and I wasn't happy with how messy the stitching looked. Ah well. "Tomorrow is another day"...

A Gaggle of Geese

I might have mentioned that I've been a bit obsessed with hexagons. Well add flying geese to the list. I'm working on a block quilt where each block is made up of a different design using flying geese - those cute triangles that veer in one direction and another.

I've also done quite a bit of experimenting with making the geese fly in a circle and paper piecing is my savior. I made three gifts with a similar theme for three friends who had birthdays in January and February.

Jim was gifted with a two bottle wine carrier and a pouch that holds a reusable ice pack in case the wine is white - or in case room temp is just too hot as is often the case of a Southern summer.

Alice, an inveterate knitter who seldom ventures out without a project, received a project bag along with an accessory pouch to hold all the etcetera that usually floats around in the bottom of a craft bag.

Here is another view that shows detachable shoulder strap.

And Joan received this table topper/hot pat/wall hanging. Yeah, I know, but it really could work as any of those. It has pockets for hanging, is insulated, and could be just decorative on the table.

Each of the circles is made up of four paper pieced sections, and though it looks a bit complex, it really is easy peasy. Paint by numbers for quilters!

Here you can see how the sections were assembled for each piece.

This is the template I drew up. I made my template at 6 1/2 inches so that the finished circle would be 12 1/2 inches, but you really could make it any size. Feel free to reproduce it either by copying the picture and inserting it into another document or application, or by using this as a guideline to draft your own.

And if you aren't an expert paper piecer, by all means take Amy Gibson's free class on Craftsy.com. In the 2012 Block of the Month class she gives and excellent explanation of how to paper piece. 

The only thing I would add to her instructions relates to perforating the paper. Amy recommends that you use your sewing machine without thread to quickly perforate the paper along the seam (and future tear) lines. While this works really well, it is hard on the sharpness of your needle. 

I recently learned a new trick and now I use my tracing tool to quickly perforate the seams. I like this one from Dritz. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Soothing Shelter Animals

 Pet lover?

My friend Alice isn't a woman I would have described as either a dog person or a cat person. When I first met her our whole circle of friends had dogs and/or cats, and though she never seemed afraid of them, and was concerned for their welfare, she had no real interest in petting or playing with them. Over time that attitude has changed, but I still never expected to hear that she had adopted a trio of stray kittens. Life does indeed still hold surprises!

In addition to our interest in animals, we share of love of crafts. Alice is a bit of a knitting addict, and, as this blog will attest, I'm more than a little obsessed with quilting, and crochet, and, and... This has led us to share back and forth little snippets of interest we find on the Internet about projects and the work of other crafters.

Comfort for Critters

A few weeks ago, Alice circulated a story amongst her crafty friends about Comfort for Critters. This is a wonderful organization that in their own words, "is a 100% volunteer program that creates handmade blankets to comfort homeless pets living in animal shelters. While these animals await adoption, the blankets provide a comfortable bed year-round. When they are adopted, their blanket goes with them, providing something familiar as they adjust to their "forever family." Now don't worry, there is plenty of yarn and fabric in the future of this post, but first a bit more background.

If you have ever volunteered at an animal shelter or rescue, or just visited one to pick out a new companion, you know that a shelter can be a terrifying place for an animal who is lost or has been abandoned for one reason or another. The noise of dogs barking can be deafening, and the smell of chemicals necessary to keep such places safe and sanitary can be overwhelming. Add to this the fact that dogs and cats may be housed in close quarters with animals they do not know, and moved from cage or kennel to kennel as cleaning and adoptions take place. Though shelter staff make heroic efforts to give these unfortunates the care and loving attention they need, it is not uncommon for formerly well adjusted animals to become shut down and depressed.

How do blankets help? 

These blankets are given to an individual animal, and move with them from cage to cage, providing a bit of something soft and warm, and that smells like them. This can be a great comfort in that stressful situation. And when they go to their forever home, the blanket goes with them to ease the transition to yet another new environment.

Comfort for Critters gathers the donated blankets and distributes them to participating shelters, which makes it easy for volunteers to just make the blankets - knitted, crocheted, quilted or sewn of soft fleece - and leave the logistics to someone else. Unfortunately the only shelter on their list in our state (Georgia) isn't all that closeby, and we wanted to do something local.

Act Local

Enter Audrey Shoemaker, the Volunteer Coordinator at Fulton County Animal Services. Fulton County runs a huge shelter with as many as 100 cats and 250 to 300 dogs at any one time. We decided that was much too large a commitment for our small group. However, right now there are only about 30 cats and kittens at the shelter. Finally we decided that we would try to make enough blankets for all of the cats and puppies, plus a few larger blankets for the dogs that are going out to adoption events. And we want to have them all done by the end of February.



We are making progress. Here is the first batch



the blankets for cats and puppies are small - just 20 by 20 inches square. This one is crocheted in a cushy basketweave and used up a bunch of leftover yarn from other projects



This quilt will be for a larger dog, and uses a cute animal print with some flannel borders



Another large dog quilt made out of fleece



Fleece is the obvious choice for a person who wants to participate but doesn't have the skills or time to make something. Just cut fleece to the right size - perhaps use a rotary cutter to make a wavy edge as in this example - and you're done. Fleece doesn't ravel, so no hemming required.



I'm repurposing an old quilt top that I originally pieced as a queen size quilt to be sold for charity. I kind of hated it after it was pieced, so never finished it. Now I'm cutting it up and should have about ten of these puppy quilts ready in no time.



Cute quilt back right?

Join in the fun!

Are you interested in joining us? Shoot me an email at stitchingtimes@gmail.com and I'll coordinate with you on what to make and how to get the finished blankets to me. This really is a labor of love, and something that is so easy to do.

Finishes

Yes I know it's almost February and everyone else did their 2013 round-up blog weeks ago. Better late than never? It does feel good to look back on the year and realize how much has been accomplished. Sometimes it seems like I have a dozen projects going at once and none will ever be finished. Anyway, today the weatherman says we may get a tiny bit of snow here in Atlanta, so it seemed like a good day to stay inside (away from all the Southerners that never learned how to drive on snow and ice) and cozy up with the computer and a bunch of photos.
First off, I had a few projects that have been sitting around for a long time waiting to be finished. This was an insulated table runner I pieced for myself but never quilted or bound. I did finish it this year, though I have to admit I no longer love it and don't know how often it will be used.

Front of Table Runner

Back

I also had planned to make this whole cloth baby quilt for a new addition to a friend's family a couple of years ago. Oh well. Now I'm thinking I might just donate it to a worthy cause

Zoo Animals Baby Quilt

Now for a few projects that were started and finished all in the same year. I know right?

I joined a the West Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild at the beginning of 2013 and I have to say that the gang inspired me to get quite a few projects finished. We had a few cute swaps including mug rugs, pin cushions, and holiday ornaments. I have to admit that we did the ornament swap in November and I just didn't have my act together for the holidays yet, so I swapped an ornament I made a couple of years ago. And, of course we made name tags to wear at meetings. I had a few too many ideas, so I ended up making four.

Mug rugs

Pin Cushions

2011 Ornament

name tags

Most of us also participated in the Blend Hip Holiday Challenge. What luscious colors for Christmas. I designed another table topper with lots of flying geese. I became a bit obsessed with flying geese this year, but more on that later.

Front

Back

Speaking of the holidays I made some cute "wonky hash tag" place mats (thank you Amy Gibson BOM 2012), and complimented them with a set of matching napkins. They made just the right touch for our holiday beer tasting dinner with friends.

Place mats

Napkins

Table Setting

And I did finally get around to designing and making some Christmas ornaments

2013 ornament

And then there were "the niece quilts". Somewhere along the line last year I realized that I had made quilts for me, quilts for the babies of family and friends, but I had never made quilts for my nieces. All of them are grown and live far away from me, so I didn't have as good an idea of colors and tastes as I would have liked, but what the heck.
For Coleen I designed "Floating Frames", which is bold and geometric, but also improvisational. I didn't even make a pattern for this quilt - just started cutting strips and let it grow organically. That led to a few fits when bias edges wanted to stretch out of shape (all of those square frames are set on point), but in the end I liked it. And luckily she told me after she opened it that her bedroom is red. Win!

Front

Back

For Cindy, I wanted something a bit more orderly, but warm and making you think of home and family. I called this "Urban Map" because when I looked at it the colors made me think of city blocks with green parks interspersed. The big bold flowers on the back gave me pause, but it did make me think of the riot of color that was my grandmother's rose garden (carried on for years by our grandfather after she passed). That seems like a fitting tribute to family, home and hearth. The pattern for this quilt is available here.

Front

Back

Front

Wendy, the youngest, was the biggest challenge. "Tetris Hex" speaks to me of a young woman with so many talents. The falling hexagons reflect both an orderly mind, but the ability to try and succeed at many things. I wasn't sure about the yellow. I mean it is YELLOW. But Wendy is a ray of sunshine AND a strong individual that others can and do lean on. Whether it matches her house or not, it did seem to suit her. The pattern for this quilt can be found here.

Back

Of course there are plenty of projects still sitting around unfinished. There is the Craftsy BOM for 2013. I've been noodling on adding some borders and making it bigger.

Craftsy BOM 2013

The larkspur quilt which I've been working on since 2012. I had a good bit of this quilted before I realized I had a HUGE pucker in the back. So it all had to be picked out. I kind of lost heart after that, but I will start again soon.

Larkspur Queen Bed Quilt started 2012

I also had an idea to make a quilt with all blocks using flying geese. I am in no way drawn to the color purple, but I have another niece, Robin, who passed a few years ago from Cystic Fibrosis. She loved purple, so this seemed a fitting tribute to her. I'd like to finish this one up this year and perhaps give the quilt to her mom.

Gaggle of Geese Quilt Started Summer 2013

The hex quilt that I've been working on for a couple of years is finally all pieced too, and that needs to be quilted. The idea was to use up scraps from all of the different projects since I started quilting ten years ago. The rounds are organized with the colors of the rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) and in the manner that my mom used to sort laundry (darks, brights, and lights) with a few blacks and browns at the center and whites around the outer edges. I'm really struggling with how to quilt it as I don't want to take away from the geometry of the hexagrams or the color gradient.

One Quarter of Quilt Top

A Rainbow of Brights and Lights

Finally, I had fun in 2013 with Amy Gibson's Sugar Block Club, so that one needs to be finished up. This picture doesn't show it, but in addition to the dozen twelve inch blocks from the club, I drafted and made half and quarter size blocks with the same designs. I just have to make a few more and I'll be ready to think about sashing.

What else is on the list for 2014? Well I have three gifts I need to make for birthdays in the next couple of weeks, a play mat for the new baby of a friend, my quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild / Riley Blake challenge which is due in February, and I want to make quilts for my two brothers. Plus I have three different bags cut out that need to be assembled.  Not enough? Wait until I tell you about the cat and dog blankets my friends and I are making for shelter animals...

Until next time.