I am interestd in doing some more wearable sewing this year, and so played around one day this month with some bits in my stash to make a shirt. It is pretty baggy/ not well fitted, but it is wearable, and I enjoy the color scheme. The solid blue is an upcycled cotton curtain, and the colorful poly is a remenant from the Hintonburg fabric swap that I got for 2$--- what a steal! I self-drafted the pattern using a shirt I already own--- it also isn't super well-fitting/ is boxy, so I guess I should have guessed this would be the same. But I still like it, and did my best to take it in here and there to give it a bit of shape. While it is not the most fashionable, I do love the sleeve fabric (which I also used to bind the neck), and I enjoy the extra-long sleeve cuffs. Toyed with adding some pockets with the sleeve fabric but I think will leave it as is for now. I have already been wearing this, and look forward to more experiments as the year unfolds!
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Well... better late than never, right? I have been working on this quilt for Vanessa M. for a few months now, and in that time, I missed all three milestones for which it was intended. You win some, you lose some. But in the end, I got it finished and sent off to her. Vanessa and I have been friends for decades, and there were three milestones this year to celebrate: both of us turning 44 (#doubledigits), Vanessa getting married to her long-time partner in August (perhaps the most important), and celebrating the 25th anniversary of International Amy and Vanessa day in September (no wait, that is the most important).
It was a moment of milestones, and I thought it would be nice to mark them with a quilt for my dear friend two whom I have never actually gifted a quilt despite so many years together. We are similar in some ways, but not always when it comes to aesthetics. As one might notice on this blog, I am into COLOR, whereas Vanessa has a more minimalist aesthetic. So I did my best to honor that in this design. Using up-cycled batiks, I wove together a mosaic-inspired central panel showing off the navy and blue fabrics, and then like a supernova, slowly worked my way out from there and into the abyss of space (which is an upcycled bedsheet, also used as the backing). It is a small design detail but one I like for those who care to notice, at one corner the scattering of stardust leaks into the outer trim and into the binding itself. Not revolutionary or particularly dramatic, but i love that little detail and I feel like it is something she would notice and enjoy. After finally finishing the quilt top, I sandwiched everything and started the epic task of quilting this thing. I am not a huge quilting fan and usually keep things quite simple, but I felt like this quilt demanded the free-motion-quilting treatment to really bring it all together. It took a long time, but as usual, when I do make the time for it (like on my white whale quilt), I love the final effect on both the front and backsides. I made the binding from more of the navy backing along with some scraps from the center blocks to create the very subtle 'fading off into the edges' effect. I hope that this quilt gets many years of minimalist-design-loving snuggles! I had an emergency appendectomy in May 2021, and during my recovery I was exhausted, and couldn't muster more than staring at the wall for a while. But as I started to come out of the depths of the recovery space-- still not really ready to pick up a book but wanting to do something with my hands-- I started making hexies again. I think I needed some time away after making mom's epic hexie quilt a couple of years ago. And I was also craving a bit of eye candy I think. Either way, I started hand sewing them up, and eventually had enough to start sewing them together. And so I did. And then I had enough to make a pillow covering. And so I did.
Every stitch is hand done, including the construction of the pillow case itself (since I could not lift over 10 pounds and my sewing machine weighs much more than that). So once I had the hexies sewed together, I sandwiched them with some batting and did a very simple hand quilting job with some yellow embroidery thread. I then created a flapped backing (with the leftover fabric from one of my recent shirt experiments) and spent a bunch of time hand sewing the backing to the front to make the case itself--- first with a simple straight stitch to attach them all together, and then a blanket stitch to reinforce and contain the raw edges a bit. And so, this is my appendix pillow-- a hand-sewn souvenir from my adventures in healing. Slightly random, but I have been playing around a bit with making my own clothes. I have made several skirts before, but shirts are a relatively new endeavour. When we were able to go into stores, I used to love exploring the fabric section at Value Village to find random fabrics I could play with. And this spring I started playing a bit with the ones I have found over the years.
The blue and red shirts were made using a free pattern from Tessuti Fabrics and frankly isn't super well sized--- the body is pretty big and the arm holes are small even at the largest size. But I like the neck line, and it is super simple to sew together, so I will keep playing with it. The blue shirt is made with some very quirky velvet embossed with quotes and pictures from the little miss muffet children's rhyme. And for the sleeves I used some wonderful tablecloth remnants with scalloped edges--- not conventional and they don't really go together (and who needs a velvet shirt?!) but I love it! The red shirt I used the same pattern, but will take it apart to widen the arms so it is more wearable. The green and multi-colored shirts were patterns I just made up myself using existing shirts as a quasi-template. For the multicolored one I played around with adding a peplum which was something different to try. And for the green I had fun experimenting with collars and cuffs. Anyway, none are perfect and it is all a big experiment for fun, but I love having these random me-made pops of color in my wardrobe, and look forward to being able to go back to Value Village to trawl the fabric section for treasures again soon! I put together this colorful blast of puffiness for Kailee B. and Thiv T. as a baby quilt/ playmat for their soon-to-arrive bebe! (Did I mention I am EXCITED?!) For this quilt, I went for bright, juicy colors, but incorporated a gradient towards more pastels and cooler colors towards one end, just to have the option of a bit more peace if needed. :) I raided my stash and cut strips of some favourite fabrics (including a few that I used in Kailee and Thiv's wedding lap quilt), and also did up a few more scrappy strips for a bit of variety. Despite common practice, I decided to forego a border and just go with the end-to-end stripe look, which I have never done but really like. I sandwiched the top with two layers of poofy poly batten, and used some bright green contrasting polkadots for the back. Quilted very simply with horizontal and vertical lines in a square grid pattern, and then made some bright red binding to bring everything together. I really love how it came out, and hope it provides lots of warmth and colorful comfort to the whole family!
I have two friends with birthdays over the holiday season, so I decided to make the holiday babies matching altar mats. Inspired by fractals, I used some of my batiks as a base, and then broke things up with strips and triangles from different fabrics to (hopefully) create some evocative fractal patterns. I also used some upcycled silk sari fabric for the border, and made some matching binding. I quilted both mats with loops and swirls to contrast with the angular fractal piecing design. I backed Jenn C.'s with some of my urban city scape fabric, and Katherine K.'s with some of the batik elephant fabric I have in my stash. I really enjoyed experimenting with the piecing for this project, and love how they came out in the end!
I always feel mildly awkward about taking things from the curb, but my sister saw this footstool out on the curb during her run and texted me to go grab it. I did (since I have been wanting to get a stool for my little balcony), but with much reluctance-- not because of its condition but because I am always nervous that people didn't actually leave it there to be taken and they still wanted it.... But in the case of this beaten up stool, in the end it was a pretty safe bet.
Obviously was in rough shape, from the "before pictures"--- so to transform it, I basically used a butter knife to remove the finishing nails and took off the trim, and then slowly pulled out all the staples and removed the existing covering. The foam and springs underneath were in not too bad of shape, so I just used what was there. Luckily I had a weird piece of graphic broccoli canvas fabric that I wasn't sure what to do with... so voila! I cut it to fit and stapled the new piece on to the wooden frame as before, and hammered back in the finished brads with the old trim--- why not! My sister is disappointed in my fabric choice, but I think it is a charming (if slightly unattractive) upgrade. And my balcony is a lot more comfortable as well! It is not weather proof of course, but since it was free, I am not too emotionally invested in its long term beauty-- as long as it stays comfy to use, I will be happy. An elaborate, multi-medium wall hanging I did for a university class I was taking in Winter 2020. Luckily they gave an option to do a creative project instead of a paper, so I leapt at the chance.
This is essentially my representation of Gaia or Mother Earth. We have the four elements represented (wind, fire, water and earth, from top to bottom) made up of mosaic panels of color-coordinated upcycled fabric scraps, and rimmed in a pebble-esque black and white border, representing the static of electronic/digital life that surrounds us. The panels are connected throughout by various ropes and vines, sometimes with feathers (for air), glass (for fire), shells (for water) or bark/moss (for earth). And each panel is connected with a small rainbow strip of ribbon, which spills out at the bottom along with the rest of nature, representing the spirit of the earth and how it spills out despite us trying to keep it contained. To the left, there is also a jute strand coming out of each panel that are braided together as the piece unfolds, and shows the interwoven connection between the elements. I planned it all out rather meticulously, backed it in a yellow fabric, and then used a quilt-as-you-go method in order to embed the ends of the ropes at different places into the piece. It was a bit time-consuming but paid off in my opinion. I then trimmed it all up and bound it in binding made from the "static" fabric. I added some final elements hanging from he bottom of the hanging (stick, etc...). To display, I made the hanging tabs at the top, and found a branch to hang the final piece with. This is now living in my dining room, and I am kind of in love with it. A fun project to have done, and am appreciative of having had the opportunity through taking a class-- not sure I would have made it otherwise. A very interesting project to plan out and execute. And interestingly, I based the design on some experimenting I had been doing earlier with mosaic panels before even taking the course and contemplating doing an art project--- serendipity worked out well! Using this helpful video as inspiration, as we are now in COVID mode, so I have started making some of these fabric masks for people to wear. They are only about 50% effective compared to official ones, but those are better used by medical professionals. And the fun fabric choices can be a small silver lining. This was an easy pattern, and includes a pocket to insert a filter if you can get your hands on some. Threading the elastic through the binding was the most tedious part, and even that was not a big deal. Made a couple of Abe G. for his COVID-themed isolation birthday. We do our best to celebrate in these chaotic times!
Abe G. gave me some ridiculous Trudeau socks earlier this year. So for the holidays, I decided to turn these socks into cool wrist bands and re-gift them back to him with a new, more useful purpose. So now he can wipe his dainty brow with our nation's leader. Enjoy the sweat-mopping power of Trudeau!
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