Another fun project that I did was pillow cases. Joann Fabrics had their flannel on sale for $1.49 a yard after Thanksgiving. I’ve always loved flannel. I’ve made pajama pants many times but this year I decided to make pillow cases. They’re fast and easy and I think the kids will love them. So soft!
My Slice die cutter has been fun to use. It will cut the objects in incremental sizes from 2″ to 4″. It will also cut them so you can create a shadow effect, a detailed layer on top of the base and a mirror image. After thinking about it I decided it would be fun to see if I could create ornaments. I was successful without too much trial and error. I put Wonder Under on the back of all the fabric before I cut it out. This made it easy to layer, use a thin layer of batting and a hanging ribbon and well as having a mirror image back. This was so successful and so much fun I’m thinking of all sorts of other shapes or things I can make. I also turned the little houses over and dated them and put names on them. More fun times.
I’ve been working some on finishing Christmas gifts but haven’t had as much time because my mother has been in the hospital for five days. Thank goodness she has been able to return to her home with some extra care giving and I’m going to try to catch up on work and get ready for Christmas.
Tonight I’m working on another project made with my Slice Fabrique which is a die cutting machine. I’ve finally realized that the biggest key is having enough tackiness on the cutting mat so the fabric is very secure. These are going to be very cute and I’ll post some more pictures as I finish them and they are gifted.
A friend was cleaning out a closet and came across a package of old fabric. One of the pieces was orange silk and the other was a panel of fabric that had been fashioned after vintage rag dolls and was printed for “Her Majesty’s Stationery Office” and came from the Bethnal Green Museum in London. ” London’s Bethnal Green houses the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection of childhood-related objects and artefacts, spanning the 1600s to the present day.” I have been looking at their website and it looks like a very interesting place to visit. I’ve also checked out the gift shop link and there are many interesting things here as well. I wish it was closer because I would love to visit.
These dolls however will be fun for my friends granddaughters to play with. I applaud her for the decision to make them up and let the kids play. So often I find myself bringing this kind of stuff home and then feeling I should save it for a special occasion or day and then the kids grew up or lose interest and here I had this very fun whatever and never got used.
Here are pictures of the panels. After they have been stuffed, I’ll ask Sally to take a picture and send me so I can add it to this log of projects.
As it’s getting closer to holiday time my family starts to think about lefse. If you’re not Scandinavian, you might not know what lefse is. For those that don’t know or haven’t heard of this delicacy it’s like a tortilla that is made from potatoes. Most people eat it rolled up with sugar and butter. Some like cinnamon added however and my dad liked it plain with potatoes and gravy. Now lefse is made from mostly potatoes however it does have some flour and butter and cream added. This creates a problem if you have Celiac disease and need to eat gluten-free. My youngest brother is a diabetic and also has Celiac disease so food is a challenge for him. He loves lefse and can eat some sugar if he’s careful so I’m on a mission to make some lefse he can eat. Dale and Jill have been eating gluten-free for 3 or 4 years now and they have much of the diet worked out. They make bread every week, have a list of recipes that work for desserts and have started to eat pizza again and more. There are so many more options for gluten-free diets that it’s becoming easier all the time. We even had adults and children at camp that needed a gluten-free diet so it’s been a part of my life for a while now. I have been searching the internet for people who have successfully made lefse with gluten-free flour. I have found many adaptations of the recipe but there has been not consensus about the best type of flour to use. This lead me to my local store to see what was available. We are fortunate to have several large stores and options in the immediate area. I chose the local grocery type natural food store and they had many options. I ended up with a new flour make by King Arthur Gluten free flour. I know this brand is preferred by many bakers so I decided to take a chance and see how it turns out. I suspect that as long as it tastes remotely like lefse and it stays in one piece that Dale will be a willing subject to try out the end result. I think this might be tomorrow’s adventure.
Yesterday was shopping day with Mom. Every few months the Macy’s coupons have piled up and it’s time to go shopping. You know how clothes get “closet worn” don’t you? That was my Grandma’s term and Mom has adopted the philosophy. In any case, Macy’s always has some good buys and they have great coupons so off we went. We bought several sweaters, a couple of sweatshirts and a tee-shirt. Oh yes, we also bought a birthday gift for Mom’s sister who lives in a nursing home in North Dakota. She doesn’t have any daughters to take her shopping so Mom often sends her new clothes. It was a successful morning and then we went to lunch. The food at the retirement community starts to taste the same after a while so she likes the opportunity to have something different. Yesterday we went to Applebees. Mom had some pork sliders which are the perfect size for her. I took a picture with my new phone and posted it to Facebook. New technology makes this much easier than with the old phone!. I put the picture there thinking it would be nice for all the out of town relatives to see a picture. What surprised me were all the comments on the picture. These included comments about how good she looked to how fortunate I was to be able to have lunch with my Mother. It made me appreciate the opportunity and was a good reminder that yes, I’m lucky that my mother lives close by and is well enough to go out and shop and have lunch. It was a good day.
Middle daughter was home this weekend to celebrate her birthday. The actual date was almost a month ago but with her work travel schedule she wasn’t able to come home until this weekend. It’s always good to have her home and the other kids came and joined us for dinner. We had great conversations about jobs, activities and QR codes. If you don’t know what a QR code is, it’s the little box with squares that you find on advertising that can be read with a smart phone. This link will give you more information about a product or take you to a web site with more information. After a yummy dinner she opened her gifts. I had to do some sewing of course so she got this little snap pouch and a covered pillow for her bed. After looking at the pictures I wish I had thought about design placement on the fabric before I cut it but I only had a small piece and not much flexibility as to where the pattern was on the fabric. It is cute however and because she is a transportation planner it seemed appropriate. She also lives in a studio apartment so her bed is a focal point and she has started a pillow collection on her bed. This one I used some really soft cuddle fabric and made a slip cover for it so she could use it as a decorative element or it could be used for guests and still look not so bed like when it’s not being used for sleeping. All in all, another successful weekend.
Well, well, well, finally number 1 son has purchased a car. He was in school and then started his first adult career job, moved into a new apartment and now has a new car. Whew.. It’s been a busy year. He’s been driving old cars with problems for many years. Last spring when the last one gave up the ghost on a neighborhood street, he called the donation place and had it towed. For the last 6 months he has been car free and relied only on his bike for transportation. Now in Seattle, this can be a challenge because of all the hills but he kept with it and rode the bus or his bike wherever he needed to go and paid expenses to his carpool for work which is in Redmond. Now once again, he is a driving contributing member in his carpool, can get to the grocery store, to the laundromat, go shopping and purchase more than one item and even visit Mom and Dad! Congratulations Aaron!
One of the first quilts I made was from necessity. We had just moved daughter #2 into a big girl bed and didn’t have a bedspread or anything that would fit. We bought an imported bed, these were pre Ikea days, and it was a bit narrower and longer than a conventional twin bed. It was also closer to the floor. Perfect for a toddler and a fitted bottom sheet but I couldn’t find anything that was toddler friendly for the top. I can remember putting the sewing machine on the dining room table and spending the day sewing. This was after shopping for a pattern and fabric. At that time we had a wonderful quilt store here in downtown Edmonds. I loved to go in there and just look at all the fabrics. It was housed in cute little older home in the downtown area. I picked out a sunbonnet Sue pattern and a few fabrics, came home, cut them out and sewed them together. Those were in the early days of fusible web so I think I cut them all out, layered them and appliqued the pieces by machine and then layered the quilt all with straight pins and tried to stitch it all together. I used a white flat sheet for the back so that dictated the size for the front. Kim loved it and loved playing with the feet which were not stitched down but were loose, hence the name the foot foot quilt. It was used for many years but actually still looks good even with all the daily use. I’m thinking about putting it back on the bed and remembering all those fun years of little girls.
Well, the wedding quilt is done. Not without some angst however. It’s not perfect but I doubt anyone but me will care and probably will not notice. The real challenge came when I washed the quilt after taking some lovely pictures. Into the wash it went and along with the quilt I tossed in some of the Shout Color Catchers. I know that the batik has such bold colors that there was a possibility of bleeding but I didn’t know how many times they really needed to be washed before the color wouldn’t bleed. After the first wash and tossing in the dryer I thought it was fine. The color catchers really did catch some color. It was not until I pulled it out of the dryer however that I realized the many of the dark purple squares had bled all over the white. It made me feel sick to think that maybe this fabric hadn’t been washed and now ruined all my work. After thinking about it for a while I decided that I wasn’t out anything if I tried to remove the purple from the white. I used stain stick and Clorox2 and washed it three more times. I ended up adding 3 color catchers each time as well. After the third wash I put the quilt in the dryer. When I pulled it out it was warm and dry and for the most part the purple was all gone and the colors were still bright. If you look closely and you know it’s there on a few of the squares you can still see a bit of duskiness but it really looked ok. What a relief! I’m not sure if that purple fabric never got washed or if the color was so dark that there was more color to bleed out. I guess I’ll know that next time I use such a dark batik that I need to be more careful.
The next challenge was how to wrap it and send it. Now these are young California professionals and transplants from Washington so they believe in a “green” lifestyle. This was a soft and squishy quilt and it was going in a box so I decided to pack it in a market bag and add a bow and now they will have two gifts. It’s in the mail and I’m on to different projects.
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