Fiber and Pulp

Wasting Time

Today has been mostly 'wasted' time ... cold, snowy and rainy, muddy and gray. I had the septic tank cleaning folks out but that turned into a waste, too. Apparently the plumbing lines leading to the tank are broken and holed to the point that they need replacing (the sewage is running into an open ground soil tank near the old apple tree which, I do not doubt, enjoys the extra nitrogen fertilizer). Sigh. Fixing the lines would cost around $2000 so that is out (especially since this is not our property any more).

Other than deal with them (and the nasty weather the poor guys had to work in while they were here), I've read a book (The Long War by Terry Pratchet and somebody S.B), roamed the internet, played some solitaire, cooked dinner, ordered myself a pair of rain boots (so muddy mucky here, I thought it was a good investment), and generally twiddled my thumbs.

I thought I might sew but could never focus on a single project to start on. Sigh. Some days my cricket brain just won't settle down.

I did notice (as the man with his big booted feet tramped through my mother's flower beds) that the crocus are starting to push up through the leaf mulch - hence the photo above. That little blue-puple flower bud really stood out on such a gray day - so brave!

:) Linda

Errands and Bees

Since I got my tools suitably arranged yesterday, I decided to do some sewing for my modern Bee today. Kathy S. is the Queen this month and she requested these four unit Flying Geese blocks in 'happy' colors for her month. I _think_ these are pretty happy blocks, myself. :) They are actually rectangular and even; my photo has a bit of 'key holing' due to the angle I held the camera.

Today was actually kind of busy (for my current life:). The auction house owner came by just after noon to set the final date for our auction and talk to me about ways and means. We decided to move the auction back to April 8th due to the squishy wet weather (hard to walk around the fields and look at goods when you need hip boots to negotiate the mud). Also, he will help me get duplicate titles to the various cars we need to sell off (I still have not been able to figure out where my brother, Alan, kept his important papers - not in either of his two briefcases).

The septic tank cleaner was supposed to come but he got held up in an earlier job. Is supposed to come tomorrow (I have my fingers crossed - is supposed to rain/snow). 

I got a call from our estate lawyer in the early afternoon and so had to drive into town. Got a check from his secretary and paid off the car loan to PNC bank - we now own the Town & Country van outright and I don't have to deal with those bank people any more (I won't say they were totally horrible people but I don't intend to _ever_ do business with PNC again if I can help it). Also stopped and picked up a prescription at Walgreens for my brother.

Once I got home, I decided to sew for a while. It took me a couple of hours to make those two blocks (finished them while I was cooking dinner for my brothers). I'll mail them off to Kathy tomorrow. Really felt good to sew something 'real' for a change. :)

Tomorrow I am going to venture into the small town of Beaver to wash clothing at the laundromat, visit the public library and look for a small shop my brother thinks he has seen there that sells yarn and fabric. We'll see. 

:) Linda

Thinking While Sewing

Here is a photo of the two Halloween themed fabric prints I purchased from Old Town Fabrics in Chillicothe, Ohio. I particularly like the 'bone-y' one. :)

I think I mentioned that I wanted to make a tool pouch from three of the fat quarters I bought earlier in the weekend. I have worked on the project over the past couple of days (sewing by hand:) and am finally finished. I thought I'd share here how I did this - at the risk of being terminally boring. Grin.

First, the concept:

I don't know if you can read Scribble and Math the way I can ... maybe you can see my (somewhat deficient) thumbnail drawing on the top of the left sheet above that shows what I had in mind. I wanted a boxy pouch with the top being formed by a zipper gusset that finished about 3" wide and 8" long (more on that size choice later:) ... the bottom being sewn to form the boxed base. Also I wanted a nice accent fabric band along the upper circumference of the pouch.

So, basic arithmetic jottings led me to decide on the following pieces to cut:

Lining and interfacing - 12" x 20" each

Front bottom - 12" x 14"

Accent for top - two pieces at 4" x 12"

Zipper mounts - Two pieces 1" x 3" and two pieces 8.5" x 3"

 

I used most of three fat quarters (one for bottom, one for accent, one for top zipper gusset and lining). I used #10 Sharps to sew with and Mettler thread (by default).  So, here we go. Bear in mind that if there is an easy way and a hard way to do any particular task, I almost always think of the hard way first and the easy way eludes me until I'm done with the job. LOL!

 

First, I sewed the two accent pieces of fabric onto each end of the front bottom piece.

This photo shows the accent (orange dots on dark) print pinned on each end of the Zen Chic circles. Now I am sewing this all by hand - but you will most likely want to do it by machine (if you try this at home:). For those of you who have doubts about the strength of hand sewing - remember that all those elaborate, embellished and ruffle-covered ball gowns that Lady Pompadore and Marie Antoinette wore were sewn by hand. :)

I have two basic hand sewing stitches that I use for this kind of construction. One is what I call the utility running stitch - instead of using the simple running stitch which I expect most of you learned, each time I remove my needle from the fabric (after gathering up however many stitches my needle allows) I start the next set with a small backstitch - this introduces some elasticity in the seam and allows for wear and tear on the final object when in use. I use the utility running stitch when I am joining two layers of fabric together.

The second stitch I use for strength in construction is what I think of as a running backstitch. Instead of making a beautiful continuous row of stitches as with embroidered backstitch, I take each backward stitch about halfway toward the previous finished stitch in the row. Sometimes I overlap the stitches even, if I'm really worried about making a firm seam. This makes a very strong and elastic seam and will hold very well against tugging and usage (I'll demonstrate that soon:).

Here's what my outside looked like on each side after sewing:

 

Second, the interfacing I bought was a sew-in rather than fusible (if my Mom had an iron, nobody here knows where in heck it might be hidden - though I did find the ironing board:). After I seamed the accent bands to each end of the bottom fabric piece, I basted the interfacing to the back of this fabric - along the center (across the 12" width) and at each end - to hold the interfacing still and keep it from wiggling around while I sewed seams. I just used big stitches so the whole thing would behave like a single layer.

Next I got the lining piece arranged on the other side of this construction, right sides away from the interfacing, and basted it down along the center and about three inches away from each end.

Well, drat! Don't know where my brain was when I was cutting the lining piece but it was several inches too short. Sigh. I cut a compensating pieces of the orange batik and sewed it onto one end of the lining piece and _then_ basted the lining to the front/interfacing piece. You can skip this mistake step by cutting yours correctly. :)

Next I started working on the zipper gusset. I learned the method that I used here from Heather Kojan in a class at our recent modern guild retreat - mistakes are my own fumbling interpretation of what she taught, of course. :)  I used a 14" long YLI polyester-toothed zipper.

I started by sewing the ends of the top of the zipper (where the zipper pull stops all the way up) together with a few stitches to keep them aligned. Then I folded the two 1" x 3" orange batik bits in half crosswise, then folded the ends into the center:

I sandwiched the top of the zipper tape (the end I had just basted together) into the middle of one of these little fabric bits that will make a tab ...

... and I sewed it together all the way through all the layers.

Then I laid out my zipper and measured the length to 8.5" from the fold in this orange tab. Using my rotary cutter and ruler, I cut the excess zipper off (carefully - do NOT unzip the thing at this stage 'cause your zipper pull will come right off).

Now fold up and sew on the second 1"x3" tab to the cut end. I kept the rest of the zipper tape to use as a pull on the side of my pouch (photo later).

To make the sides of the gusset, I first folded the two 3" x 8.5" in half longways:

On the zipper tape itself there was a heavier thread woven along parallel to the teeth and about 1/4" away. I lined up the folded edge of my long strips along this thread line and pinned it in place (being sure to align the ends of the folded strip with the ends of the tabs), then sewed a utility running stitch along the fold to attach the gusset to the zipper:

Here is a tidbit of info fyi about using a ruler to measure your fabric vs using your cutting mat to measure it. At one end of the sewn gusset, here is what I found:

See how the ends of the two side strips are very slightly shorter than the end tab? I measured the end tab pieces with my rotary ruler ... but cut the side tab pieces by the cutting mat marks. Slightly different, eh? I don't particularly care about the small discrepancy on this particular project (it is all going to vanish into the side seam) but it is good to note that you should stick to one system or the other but not mix them - can't get accurate results unless you use consistent measuring devices. :)

At this point, I looked at my zipper gusset and had an UH moment ... in my calculations, I just assumed that an 8" finished zipper would allow for enough clearance to put my 6.5" rotary cutting square into the pouch ... but had never actually measured the clearance. Hmmm. Better check that before I go any further:

Just barely! I lucked out on that one - never actually thought about the measurements, just assumed they'd be ok. Dumb! If that ruler had not fit, I'd've had to go buy a new zipper and make a whole new (longer) gusset. :P Make sure you check the tools you want to put in your pouch BEFORE you sew the darn thing. LOL.

Now that I had my zipper gusset made, I pinned it to the body sandwich of the pouch, centering it on one end against the accent fabric print:

You should have about 1.75" of space to each end of the orange gusset for the side seams of the boxy pouch. Place the gusset right sides toward the body with the zipper pull to the left side (if you are right handed). Pin back the orange lining layer so it doesn't get caught in this seam and sew the gusset to the body (or, if you are unobservant like me, sew the seam halfway then rip it out, fold back the lining and resew the seam correctly:).

NOTE that you should start and stop your seam at the 1/4" mark from each end rather than sew from raw edge to raw edge of the gusset - you need to be able to pivot at the seam line to sew the side seams of the box. Because I was sewing through the interfacing layer, I used a running backstitch for this seam. Press the seam allowances toward the accent fabric side.

Do the same thing to the other (opposite accent) end of the body.

You now have a kind of tube made of the pouch body/interfacing/lining piece sewn to each side of the zipper gusset section.

Make a short snip in the seam allowance of the body/interfacing piece at the 1/4" mark where the gusset attaching seam begins and ends so that you can swing the side piece of the pouch around and align it to the end of the gusset (where the little tabs are sewn). Sew this seam up to the center mark lines up with the zipper teeth on each side - but the front and back sides of the pouch body are not yet seamed together.

APOLOGIES - the photo I took of this step did not turn out. I could show you easily (in person) in a second but I have no way to take another photo. Sigh.

Once you have sewn the four half seams to create the boxed ends of the zipper gusset, you must sew the side seams. FIRST unpin the top of the lining and realign it with the top of the pouch outer body. (DON'T do what I did and sew part of the seam then have to tear it out, with real difficulty, and then resew it).

I used French Seams for my bag because I wanted it to be non-raveling inside for heavy use. The depth of my side seams was arbitrarily chosen by exactly where the sides fell in place against the zipper teeth. If you have never sewn French Seams, they are easy to do.

First, with WRONG sides together, pin and sew a 1/4" seam along each side of the pouch body, from gusset to bottom. I wanted to have a pull hold for my pouch so I set the leftover zipper tape into the left side seam (where the zipper pull falls when the zipper is closed):

After I sewed the first half of each French seam, I trimmed the seam allowance down a little bit (slightly more than 1/8" wide, finished). Then, open the zipper and turn the whole bag inside out, being sure to push out the bottom corners nice and square.

With right sides now together, sew the side seams again, enclosing the previously sewn seam allowances inside the new seam. For me, this second half of the seam ended up being about 1/2" deep. I used a running backstitch for these two seams (each side) for strength.

All that is left at this point is two things - to sewn the upper edge of the lining over the seam that joins the zipper gusset to the pouch body (thus enclosing those seam allowances) and to make the boxy corners for the pouch bottom.

Here I have turned down the upper raw edge of the lining and will hem it down to the gusset to cover the seam all the way around the bag.

Now to make the boxy bottom corners:

Fold the bottom corner of the bag, aligning the side seam with the center of the bottom, and pin it along a line that is 3" long (see the pins above?). Sew a strong seam along this pinned line to create a square corner. Repeat on the other side of the bottom.

I turned the sewn corners up toward the side seams and hemmed them down all along each of the two loose sides (I don't want my tools ending up stuck in some pouchy corner:). I could have cut the corners off and applied a Hong Kong binding to the seam allowance but my hands were getting tired. :) (I forgot to mention that in the process of sewing the second side seam I broke my needle in half - luckily I captured the little point before it flew into oblivion or ended up in my flesh). :P

At this point, my pouch is finished. I turned it right sides out and took photos:

Square bottom

Square top

Entire pouch with zipper pull on the side. I put all my tools inside the pouch and (metaphorically) patted myself on the back for creating something from an idea, by hand. :)

Tomorrow it's back to the lawyer-papers-errands grind.

:) Linda

Muddy Travels

I spent some time this evening (as I was making supper - yes, those of you who know me, I have actually been cooking!:) working on the design for a small pouch to hold my new sewing tools. More of that in a moment.

I promised I would show you what I bought on my quilt shopping trip the other day. As usual, not really great photos (but good enough for my visual record:). At the first shop (Creations Sew Clever) I bought these fabrics and notions:

Two fat quarters of Zen Chic and an orange batik I liked to go with them - this is what I will make my tool pouch with.

 

Some 'happy' fat quarters for Bee blocks

A knock-out gorgeous batik from Kaufman that I could not leave behind. Wish I had the space to really lay it all out - has greens, red and blue purples, blues. Mouth watering! :)

Notions - straight pins, sewing needles, add-a-quarter ruler, small rotary cutter, two colors of thread (Mettler, sadly; neither shop had Aurifil which is my favorite), a 6.5" square Creative Grid rotary ruler, a purple 14" zipper for my tool pouch ... a copy of Simply Moderne magazine ... and a pattern for a zipper pouch. Oh, the grey rotary mat and medium sized Fiskar rotary cutter came from the local Walmart (sigh) - neither shop carried small mats 'cause JoAnn's does. I was annoyed to have to buy yet another 45mm cutter (I already own three or four:), but what the h* ... at least it will get used. :)

Now, why oh why did I spend $11 on a pattern for a very simple zipper pouch? Good question. I have made at least a dozen of the things, in various sizes and designs. I guess my brain just wanted a visual reminder ... 'cause the one I'm making bears no resemblance to this pattern.

It _is_ an interesting pattern (The Becca Pouch by Lazy Girl) - the instructions include directions for a completely different way to use/install the zipper than any I have ever seen or used (they disassemble the zipper and use only one side, doubled and remounted on the pull). Might actually try it some time. :)

At the other shop (Old Town Fabrics), I bought two really cool Halloween prints which I apparently did not photo. Sigh. Who knows why (just plain forgot:)...will try to remember them another time.

I went out this morning just before lunch time to visit my Aunt Jean (and Aunts Janis and Joyce and Uncle Jack) who live a ways to the east of the farm here in Ohio. I _thought_ it would be a half hour or so away (I have been there before though my memory for distance is kinda iffy) ... but it turned out quite a bit longer because I trusted my maps app too much.

They live 'way up on the ridge line' as the locals say, north of the main highway. The road to get there is paved but very winding and hilly. About two thirds of the way there, my maps app insisted that I turn onto a gravel road. Now I don't remember it ever telling me to do that before and I will be sending them feedback to never do so again! There was a UPS truck driving off the road as I was entering, so the fact that it was a graveled road didn't cause me to pause - surely, if a big delivery truck can go along the road, so can my car? WRONG!

That track resembled a road about as much as a game trail resembles a sidewalk. :P  Barely wider than my car, dirt only, deeply rutted, going up and down the heavily wooded, steep hillside with places completely washed out by rain and/or washboarded by big rocks. I made it up one steep muddy section and stopped to think. No way - if I got stuck on that trackway, the tow truck would not even be able to get in to pull me out! I carefully backed up along the twisting path about a quarter mile until I found a slightly wider part of the road to turn around in (careful backing and fro-ing in several segments) and drove back down off the hill. White knuckle time indeed!

I _think_ the map app thought this 'road' was supposed to be a shortcut to skip some of the many, many up/down/tight curves along the paved road ... no way, again, will I go there! 

My aunts and uncle (my Mom's younger siblings) all seem to be doing reasonably well and it was a nice visit ... but I was truly grateful to get there in one piece. Shiver. Much too dangerous for me. :P

I started working on my tool pouch this evening. I am taking photos as I go along so I think I will post a tutorial when I complete the thing, just in case any crazy person wants to try making a similar one. :)

Tomorrow, besides hand sewing, I am thinking to take my brothers to a matinee showing of Deadpool.

 

:) Linda

 

 

Revival?

Today I visited the past in a  big way! :) I found two really good quilt shops in Chillicothe, Ohio - a historic place with pride in its past.

The first shop was called Creations Sew Clever and is in a beautifully refurbished Greek Revival style house at 192 Paint Street (a few doors down from the public library). In the entry way there is a photo showing the house when new and the folks who lived there:

I did not read the caption on this photo so I'm not sure who these people are. Chillicothe was the first capital of the state of Ohio and was quite prosperous early on with railroad, canal and river transport to the farther midWest (I drove under a Chesapeake and Ohio railroad bridge as I drove there; a familiar sight since the beginning end of that rail line is near my home in Maryland:). Now the whole town has that slightly shabby chic appearance of well preserved historic-but-still-lived-in areas.

The shop was a delight - full of inspiration and a range of beautiful fabrics (and, thankfully, a good collection of notions as I needed to buy an assortment of tools as well). Here are some photos of the inside:

 

The last three photos are of the large classroom area (and some of the sales staff working:). There was a very nice collection of batik fabrics, a modest Civil War repro collection and some pretty modern prints. The front wall of the entry/checkout area was a vast display of fat quarters - very enticing. :) 

The staff was uniformly friendly and welcoming. The shop hosts a sew-in every Friday and I'm thinking I might try to attend one of these days. :)

After my visit there (and spending some money to help the local fabric economy:), I drove about six blocks south to the second shop, Old Town Fabrics on Water Street. Yet another very nice shop. By the time I got there, I was getting hungry for lunch and did not think to take any photos. (sigh!) The first thing I saw as I walked in the front door was a Patchwork of the Crosses (very nicely made). Lots of Moda fabrics, some wonderful novelty prints, an excellent clearance section, a wide variety of model quilts which included several 'modern' designs and a Bernina franchise. I will definitely be visiting them again, too. :)

The drive (to the northwest) to get to Chillicothe from here on the farm takes about an hour ... through rather pretty countryside (even on a gray, overcast day with snow and slush all around), past the river and railroad bridges. I saw a beautiful hawk hunting at the verge of a field full of corn stubble (can't imagine why some crazy rodent would be out on such a cold day)... very country and lovely. :)

Tomorrow I plan to lay low and start sewing. I have some Bee blocks to make. I'll take photos of my goodies from today's trip to share tomorrow.

:) Linda

 

Beginning of the End

I'm still coloring from time to time - this little bit above is part of the name plate for Enchanted Forest. I worked on it last night when I did not have the energy to knit. 

Yesterday I took both my brothers for their quarterly doctor's appointment (they both see the same g.p.). Happily, their doctor told me that he can recommend one or two very good internal medicine practitioners if they move to Kansas (friends and colleagues from his medical school days). That solves one part of moving that I have been puzzling over in my back-brain. :)

Today was a big day, personally. I attended the closing sale of my mother's farm here in Beaver, Ohio - to a good friend and neighbor of my parents. It was much shorter and easier than I remember closings to be in Maryland - fewer papers to sign? Afterwards, I spent more than an hour with my Mom's lawyer, going over all the things that still need to be done to finish up her estate affairs. The sale of this farm (the last bit of real property I have to deal with) sets in motion the completion of more than two years of work - the end is in sight! :)

After the lawyer visit, I had to go back to the farm, pick up my brother for his weekly appointment at the Wound Clinic, take papers back to the lawyer (forgotten earlier), take prescriptions to the pharmacy, mail letters and then pick up my brother. Whew! He has been having a visiting nurse come to help him with his edema issues every other day for several weeks. The extra care seems to be doing him quite a lot of good - his wounds are officially healed (YEAH!) and his legs are reducing in water swelling. There is the possibility in sight that he might be able to walk without trouble again by spring if he keeps up the good care. I think that is giving him a lot of hope that life might be good again. :)

The weather was mixed rain and snow last night and today the roads are slushy and messy. So are the sidewalks and such - tough on unsteady bodies and somewhat more tense driving conditions. :P Dinner is finished now and I'm off to read for a while before bed. On the whole, a very satisfying day.

Tomorrow I am thinking of taking an adventure to Chillicothe (west of here about an hour's drive) to find two quilt shops. I am in a monthly bee in my modern guild but I did not bring any fabric or sewing tools  with me (not knowing, when I packed, what would be required). I think my modern buddies are going to get hand sewn blocks. :)

:) Linda

Westward HO

Yesterday I spent much of the day driving from my home in Maryland (near Baltimore) to southeastern Ohio - to stay with my two brothers on the family farm in Jackson County. The photo above is one of many I have taken over the months from the exact same spot at the rest stop near Sideling Hill in western MD. I had feared the traverse of the mountains (the path runs right through the middle of West Virginia, north to south) but it turned out to be an easy trip. It was sunny most of the day (there were snow flurries from Cumberland, MD to the WV state line) and cheerful with lots of snow on the ground.

It must have been wet snow because every tree and bush was outlined in white. Quite pretty. :)

I left home at 10:30 a.m. and arrived at 5:45 p.m. - pretty good time (the speed limit is 70 mph for most of the trip). It felt good to get out of the car and relax when I arrived. :)

Today I drove into the nearest town (Jackson) in the early afternoon to do errands. Stopped to see the lawyer (to deliver the collected papers from the last three weeks of mail that arrived at the farm while I was gone and to pick up another check), go to the post office, visit the bank to make deposits and transfers, and eat lunch (was pretty hungry when I got done traipsing around).

The sky was heavy and gray the whole day and it snowed - sometimes lightly, sometimes heavily - the entire time I was out. Definitely winter in the near midWest! The temperatures are fairly low for this area (in the teens during the day, down to zero at night). Brrr! Makes all the quilts on my bed here feel good.

:) Linda

What Now?

What have I been doing since I got home from Ohio? Well ... let me think.

I have been to 7 doctor's appointments. Taught 4 quilting classes. Went  on a four day quilting retreat with my modern guild. Got my hair cut. Helped my son clean his room and register to vote. Reconnected with two long-time friends I haven't seen in ages (Hi, Cindy! HI, Sherry!:). Lived through a HUGE snowstorm (by Maryland standards - 26" of snow is a LOT of white stuff in coastal MD). Spent a lot of time being lazy - sleeping, reading, petting my poor, neglected cat. :)

I did managed to make a birthday present for my friend Barbara (photo above) - I used some lovely wool/silk blend yarn I picked up at Cloverhill Yarn (when I went to get my haircut, just up the street).

Retreat was a blast - as retreats always are. :) Pearlstone Center is a wonderful place to stay - great food, decent-hotel-quality rooms, great lighting. Here are a few very random photos I took - most of the time I was sewing. :)

These two pictures were taken standing in front of my table, looking toward the front windows of the large sewing room. Wonderful light! I got there around noon on Thursday (got lost along the way or I would have arrived sooner - my Maps app had trouble finding the exact place, way out in the country part of northern Reisterstown). By Saturday morning the place was jammed with hard sewing and laughing quilters. :)

Some random works-in-progress:

This one was a group project - I made 11 of these 6" blocks myself - to create a prize quilt for our Quilt Bingo on the fall.

What did I work on? Well, I had it in my mind that I would finish up the edge rosettes that I still needed to make for my Millifiore quilt and then sandwich all the  pieces for quilting. I did not get that much done - but I did manage to finish all the remaining sections of the quilt:

In retrospect, that does not seem a lot to have accomplished for three days of sewing ... but there are a lot of decisions to make with those bits. I think I've never been aware before of just how long it takes to make these babies - I'm usually so wrapped up in the proces and so rapt with color that I lose track of time. :)

In addition to sewing on these pretty bits, I took two classes (one on using Elmer's school glue to baste quilts and the other on sewing with that pet mesh stuff to make tool pouchs). OH, I did sew three good sized pouches, too - one about 9"x12" (finished) and two about 13"x15" (finished). I also mostly made a key fob using the selvege of the pet screen roll I got in the class - have to finish trimming the fob and hammering the bracket-with-swivel-hook part on the end.

Next time I get to work on the millifiore project, whenever that will be, I will sandwich all the rosettes and commence to finish the quilting (I have already quilted two of the largest rosettes) ... and then to assemble the quilt. I set myself the challenge of quilting it by the rosette and then joining them together. :)

Tomorrow I am driving back to Ohio (with my fingers crossed, hoping that it is not snowing in the mountains) to be with my brothers.

:) Linda