The time has come.

After a long time of debating, I'm making the move over to wordpress.  So if you're one of the couple people who follow me, that's where I'll be from now on ( unless I move back ). Same name, but with the '66' added to the end (sixty-six is the year of my pretty little car ) as it told me that 'fabricgirl' was reserved (though a search came up empty ). 

I do like the community aspect here at lj, but I can still use that when I want. 

So, I hope to see you in the new space!

renee

 I'm part of a small guild, with about 55 members. Our show this past weekend ( exhibition, really ) has about 110-120 quilts featured each year, of every style and skill level. It is held at the museum in Ilwaco, and we don't charge admission ( which helps the museum boost their visitor count ). We had over 750 people sign the guest book, and for the second consecutive year the 3000 raffle quilt tickets sold out - the proceeds of which all go to local charities. This year and last there were also a couple of glass cases with small sewn items of every variety, and there was a call for pieces to feature. I decided at the last minute to make a couple things:      plus
   plus      equals     I know I had a song version of "the Owl and the Pussycat" but I cannot remember the name of the woman who sang it, nor can I find it and it's driving me batty. A google search was equally futile, so until I remember it will be going round in my head.
Now, I'm not sure what to do with them; possibly put them in the etsy shop. Which needs a total re-vamping ( soon, very soon ).  

I got the news on Sunday evening that I took second place in the Large category  for 'Dressing the Part'   AND
second place in the Small category for 'Room With a View'   This was a bit of a surprise in that this is by and large a pretty traditional guild. The voting is not judged ( thank goodness! ) but is a people's choice ballot with spaces for small, medium, and large. I received so many compliments while there it was a little unnerving, and lots of requests for a pattern for the little dresses quilt.
Looks like I need to edit my to-do list, again.  

Now that it's all over, it's time to get back to some client work.  But this weekend of inspiration has me wanting to start a new quilt. 

Edited -scroll down for a picture of the special tape.

Last week I made a quick trip into Seattle ( Puyallup, really) to go to the Sewing and Stitchery Expo. Billed as the largest in the country, though somehow I don't really think that's the case, it's pretty big. However if you're not in the market for a big ticket embroidery machine, then you can easily move fairly quickly through the booths. 
That is, if you don't look for fabric, either. 
Which means that of course I need to look through any and all booths that have fabric. Not just quilting cottons, but wools, silks, linens, and beautiful cotton shirtings and lawn. And I always peruse any notions. I leave out any of the trendy customizing items, like the rhinestones, paintsticks, and the embroidery. 
There is a vendor that has trims - vintage, imported, beautiful buttons, in every color and style. All organized by color and displayed on pretty shelves and tables. I dream of bringing the entire booth home with me.  But this year I left it all there. I also left behind some amazing wools - both cashmere and vicuna - the softest wool ever and the most expensive (which sells for upwards of $2000 per yard, though the salesperson told me I could have it for a steal of about $95). Well, no.
I did buy some fabric - two pieces of lightweight cotton lawn
 and    Also a cute piece of  semi-sheer dobby type shirting: .
I bought one piece of Kokka linen 

All of these are destined to become blouses. Now to decide on patterns; here are some of the candidates. I think it's really funny that in three of these patterns, the one I'm liking is the version in yellow.     
      Yes, I know that two of them are dresses; I'm just thinking ahead a little.  

The other big score was a tape measure that I've been looking for for at least thirty years: it has one inch markings at each end. This is such a simple thing that I've been stumped as to why no one made one until now. That alone was worth the trip.  

ETA: here is a pic of the old tape ( white one ) and the new one -    because I'm a garment sewer, I wear a tape around my neck all day. I invariably grab the wrong end - the one with the blank / 60" and have to fumble to quickly grab the correct end -with the one inch. Now, either end that I put my hands on is the right one!

 We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on Monday. Not a lot of celebration with a teenager in the house, but we gave it our best.
A couple of good steaks, perfectly done, artichokes, beautifully roasted potatoes, champagne, chocolates.
We spent some time wandering through a few antique shops during the day; doing nothing really, but looking for a couple of items on my current 'want  list': an aluminum cake safe/carrier, or one like mom used to have; some silk-screened everyday drinking glasses, just the 'perfect' cookie jar . I did find an old knitting basket that I can recover to keep a project in for a song. 

I made my sweetie a new pair of pj's that he was needing, and a couple of pillows for our bed:   and this one        
This drafted version of Love is so pretty, without being too fussy.
Well enough that I just might make a couple to put up on etsy, since the company that I got it from encourages people to make and sell things with their designs. Now that I think about it, everything that I've embroidered in the past year has come from Urban Threads.

I'm happy with the fact that I can download a design (sometimes free, no less! ) and pull out the linen, the pillows and stitch it out, and put it all together without leaving the house. That must be why I have the huge stash of fabric. Actually, I don't have many options since I live somewhere in the middle of nowhere, so it works out well.  

But I digress; my husband is living proof that sometime it takes more than once to get it right. Here's to another 18 years.

 That is the beginning of the process - lots and lots of selvages I asked friends and guild members to save selvages for me, and they just keep coming. Still. I have a much bigger box stuffed full of them than when I began these selvage projects. I keep thinking that maybe I should call off the saving of them, but just maybe I'll attempt another 'something'. 
This  is what became of all those bits. And a pic of the back  
It measures about 70 x 60 inches.
I had one block of the border leftover, and made it into the label. I'm calling it "Mrs Spider Served Up Leftovers". The top of the back looks a little off, but it's just an illusion; I used the cut off from the backing and sewed it on to make the hanging sleeve. I used a stripey fabric for the pieced inset on the back and for the binding. 

Many years ago I got my first sewing machine. It was a Singer Futura II. It was in the era where Singer started going downhill, in the mid seventies. A friend at the time had one, and I used it to make her husband a suit ( to try it out, I guess). Hers had a few issues, but not long after I found one used at a sewing shop for a bargain and put it on layaway. By and large it was problem free for me, but the fact that they had begun to use nylon gears and parts gave it a somewhat shortened life span. Especially for someone who sewed as much as I did ( even back then, with three small kids ). When at last it gave up (maybe ten years later), and parts were not available, I bought a new machine.      A Bernette 200, which was the first machine that I had that had a free arm. It was a work horse,  sewing countless bridesmaids, prom, and wedding gowns. Ultimately it just got really slow and stopped. I took it in, and to the repairman's surprise, I had worn the motor out. Not wanting to give up on something that had served me so well, I had a new motor put in ( which never had the oomph of the original ). Later on, it became my machine to take to the studio or on set. Next was my first overlock, a sweet little Viking, then the first embroidery machine, a Brother 8500.  I was working 10-12 hours a day plus, and bought a second embroidery machine, a Viking Designer 1( it took floppy disks). That one got traded in for my Viking SE, which is the machine I love and use daily. About seven years ago I bought a new Elna overlock in order to be able to do a cover hem. It's a great serger, but making the switch to the cover hem stitch is a PIA.  Within a year the show I was working on needed a few hundred t-shirts shortened, and I bought a dedicated cover-hem machine ( which has been relegated to the idle shelf ).
Somewhere along the way, I picked up my first yard sale machine, a Kenmore from the late seventies. It was just after we bought this house, and I thought it would be sweet to have a machine here for when we were visiting. During one trip here, I bought another older, late 50's singer in a odd corner type cabinet cabinet for 10 bucks ( it currently serves as a plant stand in my living room ).Then after we moved here I thought I might do some sewing teaching, and picked up yet another machine at a yard sale - that one is a late sixties / early seventies Brother. I am revisiting the idea of teaching, now that there are two shops here on the peninsula. 

A year ago I bought a nice old little Singer 99K    from the guy across the street. It is sweet, shiny, in it's case and it works well ( it was his mom's).
And a week or so ago, I got it's little sister - a Singer 221 Featherweight  complete, with all the attachments ( minus the optional buttonholer, but the one that my sister gave me a year ago might just fit ) in it's hard case. From a friend of a friend, for free. It was her mother's and no one in her family wanted it. She just wanted it to go to a good home.
It has plenty of company here.  

Today I plan to finish the spider web quilt. There's just the border quilting to do, then bind, label, and sleeve it for hanging in the show. Pictures will follow.

Last week I was in one of those moods. Sort of like this: 
Maybe you have no idea about this. But the above picture is damn close to describing it for me. I sort of want one of these to crawl into, but that would not be a good idea for lots of reasons.
I've been up and down before, and I know that it will pass, but while I'm there............not good. I've also learned to just do something to move forward, which for me is sewing. I'm so grateful that I have that to pour myself into - both good times and bad. 
I got a lot done - more items for the salon, work for a couple of clients, and got the three quilts done enough to get my entry forms filled out for the upcoming show. Thank goodness last week and it's 'bleh' is history. 

One of the highlights of the week for me was finding this:  in a jar of buttons while searching for something else. I swear I know the hundreds ( thousands?) of buttons that I have, at least the unique ones anyway. But where did this come from? It is plastic, and less than 3/4 inch high. I pinned it to the edge of my design wall, which causes me to smile each time my eyes land on it. 
I also made this baby quilt as my contribution to the WIC program that the guild collects for a few times a year.
  All of the fabrics and batting came from my stash, and I sort of made it up as I went along. It was going to be a nine-patch, but instead I did a sort of a flip and sew with each row that quilted it to the backing as I sewed it together. I 'almost' decided to put it on etsy to sell, but thought I should stick with my original intent (and I didn't want to come up with something else ).  This time there were a a total of twenty-two, which was the best collection to date. Pretty nice for our small guild of 55 members. 

Now I'm on to finishing the wall hanging - I got nearly done yesterday but we had a power outage late in the afternoon. Then it'll be on to the spider web quilting, and, and, and..........

 Let me begin by saying: I am NOT a wall hanging person.

First, there was this little thing I did as a gift, and because I liked it so much, I made one for myself to keep. Why? I have no idea.  (but I am still NOT a wall hanging person )

Then, last year I made this small piece to try out the quilt-as-you-go technique (that I just used on the big quilt):
Both of these things have found a home in my sewing room.( but really, I am NOT a wall hanging person )

Then, at the retreat I went to last fall, after I had pretty much done all I could on the selvage spider web quilt, I began a project sort of on the fly. I had the box of selvages with me, so it seemed like a thing to do. I came home, put it away, and the other day I began working on it again, with the idea to finish it up to put it in our guild show in March. All that's left is to finish the quilting -- I'm once again attempting to do some free-motion work --and bind the edges.  It's about 44 inches wide x 38 high.
   ( but really, I am NOT a wall hanging person ) This one sort of began to take on a life of it's own. While looking through my (huge) scrap bin, I'd find another piece of fabric that would make just the right detail. Then parts started looking empty so I added a bit more. The detail pieces are all appliqued on and I used some machine stitching to define a little more.  
( a confession of sorts, I like it. )
 But what am I going to do with it???
I don't want to walk into my house in a year or two and find quilted wall hangings in every room. I will be vigilant, and no more wall hangings.

For now, anyway. 

 The quilt is finished.  well, except for the hanging sleeve and a label.  Those can go on later, but for now, here is the finished project:

 I got the blocks all quilted, and like I said, got faster as I went along. By the middle of the bunch, I got it down to just over four minutes each. My quilting is not fancy free motion, but simple echo stitching. 

   

I count things: times, turns, strips, stops, steps, stairs, and sometimes stars.
In the quilting of each block there are 37 pivots. The only thing that made that do-able is my machine, which has an automatic pivot function. No presser foot lifter; you simply tap the foot pedal and the needle goes down and the presser foot raises slightly and you can pivot your work. That feature alone is the golden ticket. 
Then it was time to trim them all up before sewing them together with the sashing. I set up a little guide to make sure they were consistent.    

Then, I attempted to lay out all of them - on the floor - as the whole thing is too big for my design wall.  
Too big for the camera angle as well. But it worked out to nine rows of eleven blocks. I've gotten the blocks sewn into rows, and am now hand-sewing the back sashing down between each block. Then the rows can be joined and more hand work. Then the binding and voila! - I'll be finished. 
I can't help wonder what the heck I signed myself up for here. Once upon a time I hated handsewing.  I would do anything and everything to avoid it. Thank goodness thats not so much the case anymore. Though my fingers are starting to get a little sore, I may be back to that mindset before this project is over.
"Endeavor to Persevere"  
It is windy and rainy again. I think I should find a good movie and set about to the needle and thread work.