Inching Slowly Forward

My recent sewing has been doing some paid alterations to 3 skirts. Now that they are finished I have turned my attention to my ongoing patchwork project.

I completed 2 more blocks this afternoon.

That leaves just 7 more blocks to do to have enough for the QS quilt. I need about 6 more squares but I have exhausted my supply of suitable colour fabrics so I will check out the op shop tomorrow when we are out and about.

I hope to be able to have the quilt assembled as pass it on to a contact who has a long arm machine to quilt it.

I have other sewing to work on as well as a germ of an idea for my next patchwork project but more about that another day.

Nothing New

In June 2014 I took my first tentative steps towards making a quilt using Disappearing 9 Patch blocks. I was finally completed nearly 7 years later as I finished sewing the binding on while I sat with my mother when she was in hospital. I am so glad that I was able to share the finished quilt with her as much of the fabric had come from her stash of offcuts from garments she had made for herself and various family members over many years. You can see it here.

Last year I offered to make one for our younger daughter. Her preferred colour palette was soft greens such as sage and olive. I wondered how on earth I was going to source sufficient scraps of these colours as they are not generally colours that I use. However, I have been remarkably surprised at the bits that have come my way from many and varied sources.

Initially, I made about 6 blocks but I have not made any since before we moved. I had been collecting and cutting fabric in preparation. So, the past couple of days have been a bit of a marathon and I now have 33 completed blocks. I have some squares cut out but need 42 blocks altogether so I need to keep a close eye on fabric in op shops.

This is a preliminary layout with the completed blocks.

I am confident that this quilt will not take 7 years to complete.

A Combined Effort

I have recently finished making this lap quilt.

Let me explain the ‘combined effort’ in the title.

The embroidered calico blocks came to me in a bag of salvaged textiles that had been donated to an op shop but were destined for landfill as they were deemed not to be saleable. The blocks were sandwiched between other larger pieces and may not have even been seen. They had been hand embroidered and I felt it was important to respect the love and care which had gone into the handiwork.

So, I trimmed the blocks to a standard size and set about sourcing some plain coloured fabric which would complement the embroidery colours. Some were from my own stash and others from a friend.

The patchwork top was finished earlier in the year before we left Queensland. Once we moved I needed to find someone with a long arm quilting machine as I wanted to make sure that I did justice to the work so far. I bought a king-size sheet from an op shop for the backing and the binding and handed it over to be quilted. My quilting contact did a marvellous job of highlighting the various elements of the embroidery and patchwork.

Then it was my turn to add the finishing touches with the binding which was also cut from the sheet.

You can see the backing and quilting detail in the photo.

I feel like this was a really worthwhile project and the only new materials were the batting and thread.

Sewing Success

Today I set about assembling a piece of patchwork for a small quilt. This one came about after I had saved the embroidered panels from the landfill pile at a thrift shop. They were clearly part of an unfinished project and I simply could not see someone’s handiwork discarded without a second glance.

Initially, I was unsure of how I could use them but I gradually developed a plan. Some of the plain fabric came from offcuts in my own stash and the remainder from a couple of friends.

In due course I will add batting and the backing and outsource the actual quilting as I do not have a long-arm machine.

The other project was much more modest. This is the second of a pair of potholders that I have made for a friend. They were both made from a discarded cushion cover and with 2 layers of flannel fabric for heat resistance.

I am really pleased to have achieved these and the patchwork will be packed away until we are settled in our new home.

Taking a Break

It has been a week between blog posts and that is primarily because there has not been much to share.

We are staying in a small house and there is no real organising to be doing. The household chores have consisted of preparing a few meals, sweeping the floor and doing a couple of loads of washing.

Apart from that we have been out to lunch, attended a film festival in the local town and I have been doing some sewing. I had barely touched any sewing for the last 6 weeks as I was entirely focused on packing. However, a few days ago a friend and I were gifted a big box of unwanted fabric so we have had some fun sorting that out and choosing what we can use it for.

I have made 6 Boomerang Bags. Here are some of them. They still need pockets and labels to be added.

I also found several pieces which will be suitable for a future quilt. So I have been cutting out 5 inch squares in preparation for that use.

My sewing machine has been packed and sent with the removalists but I have been fortunate to be able to borrow one from a friend. I have a couple more sewing projects planned in the next week and I will share more in the coming days.

From the Stash

Sometimes I get so involved in projects, I actually overlook posting about what I am doing. So, this is a bit of a catch up on my recent sewing endeavours.

The first was a valance to cover the ensemble base of our bed. We originally had a bedspread which covered both the mattress and base but that has not been the case for a number of years. I did buy an elasticised cover for the base several years ago, however, it was only moderately successful in my opinion. After lengthy consideration I finally decided to try making my own version. I used a piece of light-coloured upholstery fabric from my stash to cover the ensemble base and then joined some strong black cotton fabric for the fitted side panels.

This is a glimpse of the side of the bed once it is made. The black fabric-covered base is barely noticeable so I regard my mission as a success.

The next project was completed in less than a week once I set my mind to it. I have a patchwork knee rug which I made a few years ago for my mother. We have had some particularly cold evenings and GMan was rather envious as I snuggled under it while watching television. I set to work to make another one.

The first step was to select the fabric. As I sort through fabric I regularly identify small pieces which are suitable for patchwork. I cut them into 5 inch squares and sort by colour. So it was a simple process to grab the number I needed from the bag of blue fabrics.

In progress.

The squares were all salvaged scraps. The wadding was from an old polyester doona which I disassembled and reused. The plain edging was an old pillowcase and the backing came from a worn-out doona cover.

The final step was to add the binding. I cut and made my own bias binding from yet another piece of salvaged fabric.

Both of these items have been created entirely from fabric which was destined for landfill. We have so many resources already in circulation and it makes sense to utilise what we have.

Honouring the Handiwork

I am regularly given pieces of fabric, garments and bed linen to use for upcycling into Boomerang bags and other projects. In recent months I have acquired a large quantity of these items from a local thrift shop. These are pieces that are deemed to be unsuitable for sale for a variety of reasons. The process of diverting them to our group assists in saving these pieces from going to landfill.

We have discovered that simply washing some articles makes them usable again. Thrift shops are not laundry services so it is important that anything you choose to donate is clean.

Some stained and torn articles yield sections of good fabric which we are able to use.

However, there is one group of items we receive that can be a challenge. These are the partly completed craft projects. I have received pieces of embroidery, patchwork pieces and even fabric painting at times. I feel an emotional responsibility to utilise these pieces if at all possible. They represent effort and skill from an unknown maker and deserve to be honoured.

Here are a couple of examples I have recently completed.

A piece of calico with fabric painted flowers has become the front of this bag. It is complemented by plain blue handles and back of the bag.

A contrasting inside pocket completes the bag.

Several small strips of patchwork provided me with another challenge. I joined them in an acceptable pattern before making the rest of the bag in a matching navy fabric from a doona cover. The contrasting handles are a similar fabric to the patchwork and were lurking in my stash from another donation.

I am so glad that I have been able to give these pieces of handiwork an outcome which is so much better than landfill.

Lying Low

The past 5 days or so have been interesting to say the least. Despite doing our level best to stay away from people, GMan and I have both been quite unwell. I think it is likely that we have contracted Covid-19, however, we have yet to receive the results of our tests taken on Friday morning.

Today is the first day that I have felt well enough not to spend more than half of the day in bed. In fact, I even managed to do a few things. I did not push myself so sitting and cutting fabric seemed like a reasonable compromise.

I am slowly but surely working on sorting out the fabric stash in my workroom and little by little I am deciding whether a piece is really something I need to keep and how I might use it. Any pieces that I have earmarked for patchwork (5 inch squares) are cut and sorted according to colour for future projects. This is what I have been doing today.

A few more piles to put away.

This is some of what I need to sort out. There is some overall logic to the placement but it could be much better.

In the meantime, I like to focus on the successes. This cube is mostly patchwork. Blocks in progress on the left and squares sorted by colour in the basket.

Small steps do make a difference.

A Mixed Bag

The weather has been quite ghastly for the past couple of days so any kind of outdoor tasks were out of the question.

So, I settled myself into my workroom and decided to sew.

I made a top for myself from a remnant of fabric that had been given to me. The very simple pattern was taken from a top I had bought at an op shop a couple of years ago.

This was not the first time I had used the pattern. I made a blouse from a salvaged tablecloth a few weeks ago. It had some stains and was destined for landfill from our local charity shop. A quick soak solved most of the stain problem. I combined the pattern with a sleeve from a commercial pattern.

Back to today. I took the first tentative steps in making another quilt. This one is mostly muted green tonings. Four blocks done – about 45 to go. I will need a lot more fabric before that happens.

Finally, I made another Boomerang bag. As is often the case, I was feeling a bit ho-hum about the fabric colour combination but it turned out really well.

I have numerous other sewing projects underway but it is nice to be able to finish some and share them with you.

I am hopeful that the weather will improve in the next day or so and I will be able to spend some time outdoors.

Creating With Scraps

One of my longer term projects is to use up the many and varied fabric pieces I have acquired from multiple sources.

When I was tidying up a few weeks ago I found various pieces of denim offcuts. Once I collected them all together I realised that there was a significant pile. Many were pieces that had been cut off when shortening new jeans. Others were salvaged from garments that were no longer wearable.

Using an existing apron for a template I made a pattern then a patchwork denim apron for myself. The neck strap, binding and ties were all salvaged or remnants.

After posting this photo on my Facebook page I was approached by a friend who asked if I was selling them. Well, not exactly, but I did agree to make her one. This time I even included pockets. These were salvaged from a pair of GMan’s old gardening jeans that had been patched so many times that he had recently declared that they were only fit for the rubbish. That was the case for most of them but the back pockets were still in good condition.

I used flat felled seams to replicate the seams normally seen on jeans. This also meant that there are no raw edges on the reverse of the apron.

My pile of denim offcuts is now much reduced, although I do still have enough for the occasional mending task.