Starfish Alley

Page 15 of 19

It’s a car Mom!

September 12, 2011 /

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!

Sewing with Snoopy

September 8, 2011 /

Yesterday I went to Tacoma to celebrate with a good friend who had an 80th birthday.  This “young” man lives in a nursing home and doesn’t have much space so I’ve been thinking about what to bring to celebrate the big birthday.  When I was in Joann Fabrics a couple of weeks ago I found a piece of flannel in the remnant bin (I always check out the remnants) and knew this would be perfect for a pillow case for Don.  He loves Snoopy and Charlie Brown and whenever I find something Snoopy related I buy it and save it so I can send it off to a new home.  I also had some Snoopy post it notes, magnets and some pens.  The next thought of course was what to put them in.  A bag certainly was the answer and I found this really cute Peanuts fabric so I made a bag.  It’s light weight and rolls up so it can be stored in a small space or tucked in a pocket or the basket of the walker and it will be ready when he needs it.  Very compact and easy to take when he goes to the store the  bookmobile or on a short visit to friends or relatives.  Happy Birthday Mr. B!

Oilcloth market bag

September 6, 2011 /

One project I always keep material on hand for is oilcloth bags.  I love sewing with oilcloth.  The bright colors, the pliability of the fabric and it never ravels.  I have learned a few tricks when I sew with it however.  I always use a walking foot and I like to use painters tape for holding things in place.  I also use big vinyl coated paperclips.  One of my current favorites is making market bags.  This pattern is the same size as a paper grocery bag and is perfect for so many things.  I use it at the library, at the store and just for carrying stuff.  They fold easily when I’m done with them and make a satisfying pile  when I have finished making them.  I think I’m going to make a bunch up and sell them.  I have both laminated fabric and oilcloth.  Maybe that will be my next project.

 

The foot foot quilt

September 4, 2011 /

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.

 

In the mail.

August 31, 2011 /

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.

No more dripping glasses

August 26, 2011 /

I love cold water with lots of ice but it makes a mess on the table. so I guess glasses will still drip but they won’t leave a mess on the table any more.  It finally occurred to me that I didn’t have to keep using napkins or towels to clean up the mess but I could make coasters.  When I was walking through the fabric store today I saw this print with apples. They were about 4″ squares and I knew I could cut them apart and they would make great coasters so I took a few minutes tonight and made a couple and now I’m off to try them out.

Quilting in progress!

August 23, 2011 /

I’ve made it this far.  It’s in the machine being quilted.  It’s a bit bulky to fit through the machine but so far so good and I think (hope) it will go quickly and without too many problems.  I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s ok if it’s not perfect.  I’m not entering it in a contest to be judged, it’s just going to be used to cuddle on the couch with and that will be fine!

My seam ripper is my friend!

August 20, 2011 /

My friend the seam ripper (unfortunately)  has been used several times in the last few days. First it was the iron spitting brown stuff on one of the sashing strips.  I was able to sponge most of it off but after a good night sleep, I decided it really did need to be replaced.  First thing this morning that’s what I did.  I also started some clothes washing, washed the sheet that I am going to use for the backing, cut all the sashing strips for the rows and cut all of the binding strips. That is after I checked my measurements many times.  I’ve now started to sew all the rows together and guess what I discovered.  I sewed the nine patch square to the wrong side.  In other words upside down which meant that I ended up with two squares of the same fabric together.  I was going to start ripping off the sashing and flip it around when I realized that if I chose a different seam, I would only have to rip or unsew as some say, one seam rather than two.  So I’m sitting here ripping seams and ripping a book CD to my computer so I can put it on my iPod and listen to a story while I sew.  I do have a tv in my sewing room and do watch that but when I’m sewing it’s really more about listening rather than watching.  So hard to watch the seams and the TV.  Now I’ve finished the seam and ready to head back to the machine before I have to go and help my mother.  She’s then going to come here for dinner.  Ribs and corn on the cob.  Should be yummy!

Another WIP (work in progress)

August 14, 2011 /

I’m on to another project before I finish my own lap quilt.  I have another wedding gift to make.  I almost have the top pieced and then I can add the batting and quilt.  I think it will look fine once I have the sashing on and the binding but as with all projects… time will tell.

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