I Went A Little Crazy...

...in the fabric purchasing area.  First, I bought Etsuko Furuya cameras, glasses and scooters.  Some of every color.  I just couldn't resist.  And here they are:

 

 

Thank you Pink Chalk for carrying this wonderful fabric.  Now, what should I do with all this wonderfulness of half yards of this super cool fabric...any thoughts?

 

Next, a box arrived from Hawthorne Threads full of yummie fabrics that I want to use together in a new dramatic quilt.  Much of it is Johari (Alexander Henry), but I also used the Hawthorne Threads web site to find complimentary solids and prints.  Don't know that I will use all of them and I may add from my stash.  Here are my new goodies:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right after the box from Hawthorne Threads arrived, I received a box from Julie at The Intrepid Thread.  A box full of Collage by Carrie Bloomston filled the box - yahoo!  Thank you Julie!

 

Here they are:

 

 

 

Sew, the subject of fabric hoarding comes to mind.  I consider myself not only a sewist but perhaps a "collector" of fabrics.  That is much better than worrying about whether I am really a fabric hoarder.  If I'm a fabric hoarder, I might show up on a reality TV show where someone films my sewing room with fabric all over the floor and falling out of the closet and cabinets.  Bags and piles of fabric escaping the room and moving down the hallway - eeek!  I have to stay organized:)  Organization must mean I'm not a hoarder. 

 

Note to self:  "I must stay organized.  I must stay organized."

 

On another note, how is your garden growing?  I believe this is a great tomato year here in the Bay Area.  Are you growing anything?

Canning anything this year?  I have a new batch of strawberry jam and a wee bit of blueberry jam.  I'm now moving to tomato sauce.

 

Hope your summer is going wonderfully.  Let me know what you're up to, whether sewing, growing or cooking.

 

Aaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.  

 



Left Overs

Have you ever gotten up one morning, walked into your sewing room/space and realized that you had no new projects to work on...and had a few bits and pieces sitting around that you had always planned to do something with, but never got to it? 

Well, I had exactly that this morning.  I have not been sewing alot recently with all the moving I have been doing, but I finally had a weekend here in the Bay Area without significant commitments and a real desire to get back into sewing.

So in I went and sat looking at my table wondering what I should work on.  The thought of an entirely new project seemed to be beyond my mental abilities, but I still wanted to sew.  So I pondered and puttered and cleaned up the clutter on my sewing table.  When I finished doing all of that, I had sitting in front of me the same 5 wonky star blocks that I have been staring at for the last 8 months or so, wondering what to do with them when they didn't fit into the improvisitational piece that they originaly were destined to be incorporated into.  But they were in shades of aqua and orange that I have moved away from...

I couldn't throw them away - they were way to cute.  As I sat at the table this morning, I decided I would challenge myself to make something great with these little blocks using only my stash and what I had in my closets (that included pillow forms).  That's where the idea of Left Overs came from.  Turns out I have/had 4 pillow forms to choose from.  Two rather standard 18"/20"; one circle and one rectangle.  I chose the rectangle and took 3 of the stars and began to create a pillow.  Not that I need another pillow, but I thought for a gift it might be something fun to do with the end of my project.

I also decided that I would practice with an invisible zipper so that I would be comfortable in the future with invisible zippers.  I have sewn many an invisible zipper in the past, but always in clothing, not a pillow.  I used the zipper I had (white) and put it into the pillow. 

Just a few short hours later, I completed this:

 







I may need to work on the pillow to polish it up.  It's a bit too pointy towards the corners.  I don't want to be able to see the zipper (although the white zipper makes it rather obvious as a teaching/practice experience - if it were an appropriate color it wouldn't be visible).  Over all, I am happy with it.

I did learn an important lesson - seam ripping when you are working with shot cotton is problematic!  I hate seam ripping in the first place but shot cotton is so fine and so difficult to deal with, it was a little more problematic when I got to seam ripping. 

It was a fun opportunity to utilize something that I had already made and incorporate it into things from my stash.

Have you had this experience?  Do you look at some of your "little" pieces and wonder what you are going to do with them and then work on it at some point?  If so, what have you done with your "little bits"?  Think about Left Overs and let me know if the concept works for you.

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household. 

Catching Up

Well, I thought I should catch you up on some of my projects.  As I mentioned, I decided to make myself a pillow a little like the one I made for my Pillow Talk Swap partner.  I showed you the work in progress and now, here is the pillow itself:

 



I kept the back rather simple since it was for me from me!  There's just something about that purple/citron color combination that I love.

 



I also wanted to show you my ABC quilt hanging at the San Mateo County Fair with other ABC quilts from our guild.  It was really fun to go to the fair and see my quilt hanging there. 





It took second place in our challenge category.  I think you can see the quilting a little better in this photo.  Dee Small (THE most wonderful long arm quilter) quilted it using letters of the alphabet.  

 

 

I think that officially catches me up on posts.  Now I just need to get to work and finish some other projects!

 

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.





Finally - I'm Back From Vacation and Sewing Again!

I thought I would get so much sewing done on my vacation - I took so many projects along with me to get started on and then...nothing!  I didn't even set up my machine. I also took my camera intent upon taking wonderful photos of my grandkids, birds, Boo, etc.  Never even touched it!

So here's what really happened:  I went to my new vacation home in Reno and gave myself a generous 10 full days to pull some organization out of the chaos of the boxes and get things set up.  I then proceeded to organize myself into paralysis.  I made lists and went to Home Depot.  I made lists and went to Costco.  I made lists and went to Lowe's.  I made lists and met with the gardener.  I made lists and met with the appliance repair guy.  I made lists and put up the bird feeders.  I made lists and met with the ScreenMobile guy.  I made lists and bought plants and then went back for trees.  Well, I think you get my point!  Why is it that each new project seems to require a trip to a store? 

I still don't know what is in some of the piles of boxes in the garage - will have to wait until the next trip when the new shelving units are put up and I can empty and put away the contents.   

I did take time for some fun.  Spent a lot of time with my grandkids.  It's amazing what fun a 3 and 5 year old can have with hot weather, a blow-up swimming pool and a sprinkler!  They never got tired of this activity.  Boo also enjoyed the splashing and cavorting around the yard.   

Now I'm back to work and the Bay Area.  (Gosh the weather is nice here!)  Time for me to get back to my sewing room and get to work. 

What are you working on?  Have you taken a vacation yet this summer?  Will you sew on your vacation or do what I did and bring it all along only to be ignored? 

Aaaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.

I Was Just Thinking About...

...how much I liked the PTS10 pillow swap pillow that I made for Kettleboiler (otherwise known as Moira of Nottingham, England).  It looks like this:

 

 

After getting the pillow and some goodies into the mail, my brain was still hovering over the idea of making one for myself.  So I did.

 

My favorite colors right now are purple, citrine, black and gray.  I thought you might like to see some of the steps of getting this quilt as you go top made. 

 

I decided on a 16" pillow for myself.  I cut the backing and the batting about 18.5" and chose my focus fabric.  This Echino owl just cried out to be IT.  This photo is after a few rounds of fabric had been added:









 

 

I was trying to preserve the rectangular frame of the owl resulting in longer strips of fabric on the longer side of the owl that created some visual design issues for me.

 

Here she is after all the fabric has been applied and quilted but before I squared her up and cut her down.



 

 

Lastly, here she is ready to be bound.  I've decided on a purple binding for this gal.  I learned alot from making this second pillow top.  Made fewer technical mistakes but have learned more about the design issues that come along with this technique.  For example, if I were to do this again, I would move the owl farther to the right and down a little, so that I could have more room for wonkiness and shorter strips.  Maybe I would plan the layout a little more rather than being surprised with the end result.  Maybe I wouldn't run out of black fabric leaving me with a section that has no black at all and no black binding...hmmmm, doesn't sound much like me.  I suppose that's an aspirational thought that has little chance of being actualized!

 

Other news in my little quilt world:  our guild challenge quilts are hanging at the San Mateo County Fair quilt show right now!  A few of us are going over tomorrow afternoon to check out the show, see the challenge quilts and also look at all the other quilts, mostly traditional, but some art quilts and some modern.  I'll take some photos for the next blog!

 

What's happening in your quilt world?

 

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.  

Here, There and Everywhere

I've been a little quiet in the blogging realm as there was much on my plate that had hard deadlines - as in I sold my vacation home that is in the foothills of the Sierras and had to move everything that wasn't going to be donated, gifted, or sent to the dump to my new vacation home in Reno, Nevada.  Everything had to be accomplished by May 22 at 5:00 p.m. - the magical hour when the new owners took possession. 

So my youngest brother came and took some furniture and other items.  My older brother came and took a few bits and pieces of things.  I gave stuff away to just about anyone I knew up there, and when that pool ran out, I got things ready for donation or the dump. 

Then the movers came and packed and packed and packed.   





They came back the next day and loaded the truck.  That was May 22nd.  I left at 3:30 p.m. to make the drive to Reno, which is about 4.5 hours.  The next morning they showed up in Reno with the "stuff" and unloaded it all into the new house. 

I have no pictures of the move-in because by that time I was pretty much exhausted and thinking only of being finished!  My son and DIL then helped me with the unpacking and setting up of the kitchen and other rooms. 

I am happy to report that my 2 grandsons are thrilled that I have a house so close to them (about 14 houses away) and have already had a sleep over at my house.  We stayed up until 10:00 p.m. and rose at the crack of dawn - 6:00 a.m. to begin the new day. 

Boo has already gotten out of the yard when the gate blew open and I thought he was gone for good.  I assumed that he would not be able to find his way home since we had only been there a few days.  I rushed out to look for him when I discovered the side gate open only to find him running up the block towards the house where he zipped into the backyard like he'd done it a million times!  Note to self:  get latch on gate fixed so it doesn't happen again. 

I returned to another deadline - the Pillow Talk Swap 10 pillow deadline is due June 3rd.  I think this is the 3rd time that I have participated in this swap.  I started the pillow top at the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild retreat (May 17-19).  I almost had it finished but then had to put it down to get the move accomplished. It is due today and it is finished (Yeah!!!!!)  Here it is:

 
It's a quilt-as-you go technique that I had never tried but now simply adore!  I saw a pillow made by Cori (www.letseatgrandpa.com) and went to her website to check out her tutorial for Blooming Quit As You Go.  Here is the link to the tutorial for this pillow top, should you want to try it yourself:  Here   

My PTS10 swap partner didn't give me much in the way of color preference, so I was able to choose a focus fabric (the Melody Miller clocks) and run with the colors as I put the pillow top together.  I really like it when my partner isn't restrictive about colors or fabrics.  I do worry, of course, that she might not like it, but hopeful that she does.

This little beauty is headed overseas.  Can't tell you where just yet as it will take about 2 weeks or so to get there and the recipient doesn't know she is receiving it.  Ssssssh - I've said too much already!

Speaking of finishes (or near finishes), my wonky log cabin is with my log arm quilter who is poised to put it on the rails.  Now I have to turn my attention to the quilting of my string quilt and making Steam Punk blocks.  What are you working on this week?

Aaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household. 

Steam Punking Along and the BAM Retreat

My steam punk blocks are not multiplying as quickly as I would like.  I have 2 more, but haven't managed to take any photos of them.  Soon, very soon I'll get that accomplished!

I think I have now identified where I am having trouble with the blocks - it's the outer curved corner piece. Someone in the Steam Punk Flickr group was also having a problem with this piece and suggested cutting that part of the block a little bit larger.  I will see what comes of that idea in my next block.

I hope to get several more blocks made at the BAM (Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild) retreat this weekend (technically not a UFO, but I consider this UFO prevention).  We are headed to The Presentation Center in Los Gatos.  I understand the site is absolutely gorgeous.  We can check-in at 2:00 on Friday and check out at noon on Sunday.  The focus of this retreat is UFOs - yeah, I've got them and I want to transform them into wonderfulness.

So what do I have planned to work on, you ask?

1.  Quilting and binding my String Block quilt top.
2.  Making a sleeve and attaching the quilt label for my "Black and White and Red All Over" ABC Challenge quilt (of course this means making the label first, which will contain the names of all the alphabet blocks that are in the quilt).

     I brought it to the meeting last weekend.  Here's a photo of it at show and tell:

3.  Completing the back for my Wonky Log Cabin quilt.
4.  Make my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap.
5.  Make 2 blocks for the BAM mini-group that I should have brought to the last meeting with me but completely forgot to make!
5.  Make more Steam Punk blocks.

I think this is more than I can actually accomplish, but #2 and #4 must, I mean must happen, so that will be the first order of business.

I haven't really gotten organized yet, so I will need to do that tonight (I wrote this on Wednesday - now it's Friday and I'm still not organized!)  I need to make the quilt label at home because I need my computer to do that. (Oh, I got this done - yea!) 

I did,  however, purchase a new pair of pajamas!  Nothing like sewing in your pajamas to feel right at home. 

Aaaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.