Repurposing

I started listening to Anne of the Greenstitch blog and podcast last year. Anne has inspired me to think before I buy. Now when we need something, instead of automatically shopping for it, I stop to think if I could make it and could I make it out of something I already have.

Case in point: My husband bought a new skillet for the camper and I gave him a griddle for the camper for his birthday. He wanted covers for them so they don't get scratched up while stored in the camper. He asked me where I thought he should go to buy some and I said, "don't buy any, I think I can make you some." I've still got 11 panels of our old curtains, maroon cotton velvet. I pulled one of those out, measured his items and made covers in about two hours.

The skillet cover.

The griddle cover.

The skillet cover has a drawstring. I had to use some green grosgrain ribbon because it was the only "manly" thing I had enough of on hand. I didn't think he'd like pink! I told him it would be easy to change the drawstrings later if he really doesn't like the ribbon. The griddle cover has a flap that folds over the end of the griddle and goes about 1/4 of the way inside the cover.

I think he really likes them! I was glad to make them for him and use up some of the old curtains. As I was making the skillet cover it occurred to me that these curtains would make luxurious Christmas gift bags. I think that is what I will do with the rest of the curtain panel I used for these covers.

Good Mail Day

Today, all the mail was for me. I received my paycheck, a contract for the courses I will teach next semester and a gift from Anne of the Greenstitch podcast.

I won the book in a giveaway on her podcast. I plan to move my sewing space to another room in the future and this book looks like it has lots of great tips and ideas for setting up a sewing space. For example, I know that you should have a work triangle in your kitchen between the sink, stove and refrigerator. But never thought to translate that into my sewing space between the sewing machine, cutting area and ironing table! She also included a morsbag with the book. Thank you Anne!

If you enjoy listening to podcasts you should check out Anne's. She talks about all kinds of sewing with an emphasis on projects using recycled materials (like shirts or curtains), refashioning and using your sewing skills to make things instead of purchasing disposable products, such as the morsbag.

I have begun quilting Hawaiian Hug. I'm doing a sun design on each block.

front

back

Goldie is feeling better today after her surgery on Tuesday. 

She thinks the safety pins I baste with are very interesting. They make an enticing sound as they scrape along the table. She couldn't resist giving them a closer look. Unfortunately, it is impossible to quilt with a cat on your project!

Satin Edge Blankies

I have signed up with Jean from the Quilted Cupcake to make some blankets for Project Night Night. I am making what we call boppies (pronounced bop - i ) at our house. My mom has been making these blankets for years and all of her grandchildren have received at least one. When Parker was not yet 2 he corrected me one day, telling me that his was not a "blankie" but a "boppi." You can't argue with a one-year old! So that is what we call them.

Anyway, these are just one yard of flannel with a satin binding. Very easy to make. I cut off the selvedge and just try to make the piece of flannel as close to a true rectangle as possible. Then using one package of satin binding, bind the rectangle of flannel. If you use more than a yard of flannel, you will need more than one package of satin binding. I have made three so far.

If you are interested in joining Jean and me in this endeavor, click on the Project Night Night link above to go directly to Jean's blog for the details of her effort. You can make any blanket or quilt that fits the criteria. You should also listen to Jean's podcast, The Quilted Cupcake, if you don't already. Look for it on iTunes.

Cutting

I have been cutting out stuff today. I signed up for Sandy's Holiday Challenge over at Quilting for the Rest of Us, so most of what I cut out today are going to be gifts. Click on the link to go see what the challenge is all about.

The first project I cut out is not a gift. It will be a zipper pouch for me to match the purse I made recently.

All of these will eventually be a purse with a matching zipper pouch.

I don't feel like I accomplished a whole lot, but that is only because I didn't actually sew anything today. The cutting was a lot of work!

I won, I won!

On Pat Sloan's Radio show last week the guests were Leah Day and Rossie, two of my favorite bloggers. I won the template set that Rossie was giving away! They arrived yesterday.

She sent me the circles set! Circles are my favorite shape. This was the set I was hoping she would send. Dreams do come true!

I can't wait to play with these. Included with the templates were directions for how she uses these both with dye and discharge processes. Alas, this will have to wait until next week when the @#$% class I am currently taking is over. In fact, I think this will be my last post until next week as a result of this class.

Just to give you an idea of how much time I have been spending on it - my son went to school with mismatched socks one day last week because he had no clean matching socks and my husband fixed dinner one night so that I could work a little longer. I use a laptop computer, usually I only need to recharge my laptop battery once every 2 or 3 days. I have yet to make it through a day without needing to recharge the battery since this course started. Not that all my computer time has been spent on this course, I do still have three classes I am teaching for which I use my computer often and I read blogs on my computer, but I have been spending a lot more time on the computer than I usually do.

On Sunday morning I had about a half hour to sew a bit. I made a little more progress on my wonky border.

Only the left border is attached in the photo above. I took several pictures of where to put the border on the right. I haven't made a decision on that yet so don't be surprised if it gets sewn on a different side, not used at all, or cut up and used in a different way. Who knows! I made both borders out of the wonky strip from the first picture above.

Well, that's all the time I have for now. Don't expect to hear from me again until next week when I can hopefully show you more progress on my Wonky NY Beauty project.

Works in Progress

I made a little more progress on my wonky court house steps project. I quilted it this afternoon with lines using light blue thread. I've got the binding attached to the front ready to be hand sewn to the back. I'll do that tonight, if the kitten will allow me to.

I have been making slow progress on embellishing my stitched project.

I've got buttons on about half of it so far. Here is a detail shot.

I just finished talking with Sandy from the podcast Quilting for the Rest of Us. She interviewed me about teaching kids to quilt. Sandy asked for resources and ideas in Big Tent about teaching kids to quilt several weeks ago. I responded with my experience in running Aunt Lynn's Sewing School and she asked if she could just interview me. I'm no expert, but I have taught my niece and son to do some quilting/sewing projects. I guess the interview went okay. At least Sandy said I did fine. She said the episode will probably air soon. I'll let you know when if you want to listen to me ramble on for about 20 minutes or so. By the way, if you don't listen to Sandy's podcast, you should. In my humble opinion, it is one of the better quilty podcasts out there right now.

Binding, binding and more binding

What have I been up to lately? Sewing the binding on my king size mystery quilt. I haven't posted in three days because this has been pretty much all I have done on the sewing front. While sewing on binding, I have listened to quite a few episodes of Radiolab  and I'm now totally addicted to the show. I've got 2 sides done plus a little on the third so I have several more days to go before I'm done. On the plus side, there are lots of Radiolab episodes to listen to in addition to all the great quilting podcasts. What I listen to just depends on my mood.

Tote Bag Swap

I have done a little rearranging on the blog. On the top right there is a new button for a tote bag swap being coordinated by Brye Lynn from Sew, Stitch, Create. If you click on the image it will take you to Brye's blog with the details of the swap. I am participating. Why don't you join me? You've got over about a month to make one and get it in the mail to Brye. They don't take very long to make and you can use one of the patterns Brye suggestions or a similar one of your own. You know you need another tote bag!

I'll also do a plug for Brye's podcast, also called Sew, Stitch, Create. Search for it on iTunes or you can get to it from Brye's blog. Warning: These quilty podcasts are addicting! And really fun to listen to while sewing or commuting or doing housework.

A Give-Away

I'm working today - no sewing - boo hiss. While taking a grading break I happened upon a great give-away. Head over to Jandi In Stitches and leave her a comment to enter. Who knows, you just might be the winner! I've recently become a believer because I was a winner on Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio show and blog. (The link is for the blog. You can get to her show from the blog). I received my book on Monday but have been too busy with "life stuff" to have time to read my new book or blog about it. Stay tuned ... I'll do my first book review after I've had a chance to actually look at the book.

Great Minds Think Alike

I made this little quilt about 2 years ago with left over fabric from another quilt and some great buttons. Yesterday on one of the blogs I follow, Ruthann posted about a little quilt she made also using left over fabric from a quilt and these same buttons. Click here to go the her blog and see her quilt.

I'll have to look and see if I have a photo of the quilt these fabrics are left over from. I made it for a baby quilt contest put on by Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine. I didn't win, but had a good time designing and making my quilt.

Happy National Quilting Day

My guild held a demonstration day today in honor of National Quilting Day. We had eleven demos, a boutique selling items made by guild members, door prizes and raffles tickets for sale for this years guild raffle quilt. I made these pin cushion/thread catchers for the boutique.

They all sold. I'm pretty tickled about that. I wish I had made more, but it is so hard to know what is going to sell on any given day. I didn't want to be stuck with a dozen of these.

Other exciting news - I won last weeks drawing from Pat Sloan's Radio Show! Click here to go to Pat's blog. Toward the top of the page on the left you can click on the link for her radio show, Creative Talk Radio. I'll be getting a book written by one of the guests on the show, Linda Poole.

Priming

The blogs I like to read all post photos so I feel like I need to post one every time too. This one is of Parker and his cousin Isaiah. Aren't they cute! It was taken in late 2002 or early 2003, so they are both about 7 or 8 months old.

I spent 4 hours this morning priming the laundry room walls. It's a pretty small room so I just bought a gallon of primer figuring that I wouldn't even need all of that. Wow! The walls just soaked up the primer. I was afraid that a gallon wouldn't be enough! I didn't have to dip the paint brush in the paint can to scrap paint off the sides to finish cutting in, but a gallon was enough, barely. I was tempted to run to the paint store and buy a gallon of the color I have picked out for the walls, but decided not to kill myself all in one day. My right wrist is sore as is my back, shoulders and neck. Nothing a couple of Advil, a cup of tea, a few pieces of chocolate and a short rest can't cure. So I decided to save the painting for another day. In a little while I will have to put the washer and dryer back in their places and hook everything back up. One of the hardest things about this project is that it is the laundry room - a much used room in our house. I can't be without a washer and dryer for more than a day or two. I don't want to have to lug everything to a laundry mat. I'm sure there is a laundry mat in town, but I don't know where it is! And this is a really small town! I can't do laundry and paint in the same day because I am a wet paint magnet. If I just walk into a room containing wet paint somewhere, I will get some on me. With my luck, I'd get paint on the clean clothes coming out of the dryer. I don't know how I would do that ... but I would.

By the way, the color I have chosen is called Sea Salt. It's a grayish green color. I think it will look nice against my white metal cabinets and the white washer and dryer. It is going to look horrible with the dark green painted floor, but that will be remedied as soon as I get new flooring. I'm going to get something neutral that hopefully will hide dirt. Maybe I should take some dirt from our yard with me to the flooring store!

While painting this morning I listened to several old episodes of a podcast called Within a Quarter Inch. Yes, I've started listening to podcasts. I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Pat Sloan got me started. I've been following her blog for a while and she recently started a podcast called Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio, so I thought I would give it a try. The good ones are really fun to listen to and there are podcasts in all genres.