The Ultimate Draft Stopper

Each winter I create a "tent-with-in -a-tent" in my basement studio. The basement is a big space and I use about a third of it for my sewing. The rest has space for yoga when I have enough discipline to actually do yoga, a big bookcase and a second sewing machine I rarely use. 

 
I can close off the sewing part of the studio with hanging quilts and a partition/design wall my husband built for me. This makes the smaller space I am actually using much easier to heat and very cozy. Each winter the configuration may be a little different. This time I ended up with a space about a foot wide between the partition and the hanging quilt. 

I needed a solution. I created the ultimate draft-stopper, made completely of scraps from my box of "bitsy pieces"

It is a strip made of 7 large blocks that can hang from the end of the quilt stand and close the gap and cut off the cold air.

I made the blocks about 14" wide and most of them are 10-12" long. The strip goes from the ceiling, almost to the floor, effectively closing the gap and keeping me nice and warm.

It was lots of fun to make the blocks and mix fabrics with abandon. 

This is also a great way to use scraps to make place mats, table runners or even quilts.

Center section

In the picture below, you can see the draft stopper doing its thing, creating a cozy warm space for sewing. 

On the left is the design wall/partition, on the right, a quilt made of alternating simple blocks out of a huge variety of Asian inspired fabrics. For now, the barrier on the right is just a big piece of polar fleece I had laying around.

I always like playing in my scraps. Right now, I have a class called Samplers, Settings and Scraps going at the Academy of Quilting.I hope you will join me!

Hufflepuff Quidditch Spring 2014

FlandersQuidditch - Video Maker

I play knitting games in the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup group on Ravelry. 

In Spring 2014 all the players gathered for the Quidditch World Cup, in which different countries were represented on the pitch to battle for the title. I was a Beater, or cheerleader for Hufflepuff. Many Hufflepuffians supported Team Flanders. I created badges for our team to wear. Each badge was a badger wearing a hat from their country. This little video presents a selection of the badges set to music. So turn on your speakers for the music, or turn them off if you hate it. I thought it was funny.

Cicada bags

 These little bags are modified versions of the Cicada bags from Kumiko Sudo's lovely book, Omiage. I have added beads to their heads and simplified the wings. I like combining beautiful Asian-inspired fabrics to make these little bug bags.

These small bags are suitable for a cell phone or a bit of make-up or other small things you might need to carry. They are fun to make and they make nice little gifts.

Scrappy Bib

I've said before I like playing in my scraps. Here's a little patchwork bib I whipped up:

Basically, just sew together some scraps to make a piece large enough for a bib. Then, quilt this new fabric to a piece of flannel. Then find a larger leftover fabric for the reverse side. Sew the front to the back wrong sides together along the edges, making sure to leave a few inches un-sewn for turning. Turn right side out and press. Next, edge stitch, which also closes the opening.  Add a snap and you're done.

Project bag

I've made a few bags and totes in the past. Some of them are made from scrappy blocks.

 

I made this project bag using some Laurel Burch fabrics. It has pockets on the back and front and one inside pocket. 

I used some handle straps I had on hand.

This bag was a prize awarded to someone who played all the Rounds of Quidditch in the Fall 2014 term. I was so happy to be able to send it to my knitting friend and fellow Hufflepuff. 

Another Scrappy Day

More playing with scraps today.

I roughly sort my scraps by size. The first size is "chunks" These are square, rectangular or odd shaped bits, usually under 3". These pieces can be sewn to other similar sized pieces to begin a block. I might sew two three, or more chunks together to start.

Then I go to the strip bin. Once again, strips are sorted by size, depending on their length. I sew short lengths to the "chunk" unit. I can add a shortish length to each of the sides of my chunk, log cabin style.

Usually I will pick out strips to sew and pin them to the blocks. I do this all at once, maybe while watching/listening to TV. I don't really do random, although you could. I like to select each piece

I chain piece all my added parts at once.

I have a box with Blocks-in-Progress. All the pieces that have been sewn to at least one other piece go here until they get big enough to be considered usable blocks. Usable size is anywhere from 6"-10" on a side.

So with my scraps and blocks I made a quilted baby bib. All from scraps and leftovers.

Bitsy Pieces

When I don't feel like doing any other kind of sewing, I can still enjoy playing with scraps.
I have bins of scraps in different shapes and sizes. I sew them together in ways that please or amuse me until they are big enough to be considered "blocks".

Scrap bins:

This is one of several boxes o' scraps

Scrap Blocks in Progress

I can make quilts or smaller objects.

Recently, I made a case for knitting needles.  I found six small (about 7") blocks that I liked with one another. I sewed them together to make a single piece of fabric that was about 13" x 19". I found a half yard of fabric that had been sitting unused in my stash for who knows how many years and used that for the backing.

Outlined blocks

I sandwiched together the scrappy piece, a batting scrap and the backing and quilted them together.
Then I trimmed the quilt to size: 18.5" x 12.5".

This picture shows the finished object, but I think you can see the quilting.

A needle case needs pockets. So, I found a piece of fabric with sun, moon and stars that was leftover from a failed border and made an inside pocket.

 

I also made a flap out of leftover backing fabric to cover the tops of my needles so they don't fall out. 

The whole thing folds and closes with a ribbon. 

Now I have three homemade needle cases: one for size 0-3, this one for size 4-7, and a bigger one for longer needles and sizes 8 and up. 

Why a Craft Blog?

Certainly there are plenty of craft bogs out there. Here's another. I wanted to start this blog as an easy was to store some photos and make them accessible.

I knit,  I sew, I quilt, I teach. So here's my craft blog. I will not be posting every day, but it this is a good way to track Works in Progress.

So what's on/under the needles today?

Knitting:
I am making some clogs. They will be felted. I'm feeling a little intimidated, because I have not felted anything except by accident. Here is a clog in progress. 

 
Everything looks OK, right?

That is until you see how a clog looks compared to an actual well-fitting sock:

Hence, my trepidation. Will they felt down enough to fit my feet? Stay tuned. I have another clog and two additional soles to complete before I find out if this will work.

I am also working on one lace scarf, two stalled shawls and various socks. But those are posts for another day.

Sewing a Dust Cover and the Pillow from Hell

When you sew, or knit or do crafts of any kind, sometimes people like to come up with little tasks for you to use your skills. I used to have a quilt studio open to the public in Roanoke, VA. I dyed fabric and made art quilts and art garments. One day my landlord came in wanting me to do some alterations and repairs on a pair of pants. I told him, that certainly, I can do that for $20 and hour and I think it will take me about 2-3 hours. Happily for everyone, he left and never asked me to do repairs again.

But that doesn't work for spouses. In the 30+ years we have been married my husband has brought me various odd sewing jobs to do for him. These tasks have varied from putting a new zipper in a snow suit, turning collars, repairing a flannel shirt, to sail repair. Once he brought some dirt encrusted THING in from the garage wondering if I might fix it on my fancy-smancy Bernina. That request got a resounding "No way!" But generally, I try to accommodate his requests.

This was an unusual week. I received two sewing requests. One was a dust cover for the new Yamaha electronic keyboard. I tried to pass off some gnome fabric I had on hand for this but it was a no-go. 

Gnomish rejects

We decided on some very pretty underwater fishy fabric instead. This is the finished dust cover.

I was especially pleased with the form fitting ends, custom shaped to fit the machine.

So that project turned out fine, wasn't too much trouble and is a little like having an aquarium in the music studio.

But then there was the PILLOW. This isn't the first time this %&%$# pillow has raised its ugly head in my sewing room. The story is long and horrible, involving a succession of overstuffed feather pillows and one goose down pillow that wouldn't stop smelling of goose fat, a grisly, feather-spewing "let's use an Exacto knife to open/stab a package containing a pillow" incident and many nights of "down-in-the-mouth" from a pillow that just wouldn't stop coughing out feathers.

So the overstuffed, hard as a rock, down pillow comes out of storage to replace the flying chicken feather pillow....but....it is completely unusable as it is. This is one hard pillow. I tried it for awhile and it was like trying to sleep on a brick.

The solution: sewing skills. Open up the pillow, remove some feathers and sew it back up again. Easy, no?

Definitely, NOT! Sadly, I had been through this process once a few years ago and failed to remove enough feathers on the first go. Hence, the pillow taking up residence in a closet.

I suppose it is too late to make a long story short, but it took about 20 minutes of ripping out teeny tiny stitches, followed by the actual messy feather removal. Next, I perform the reconstructive surgery. Let me just say it is nearly impossible to shove the edge of a fat feather pillow under a sewing machine, especially with pins sticking out all over. After one bloody wound, much hissing and cussing, some hand sewing and more cussing, the pillow is back together again. 

If I ever see it in the sewing room again, I'm going to get stabby.