Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Recycling "extra" quilt fabric into bags

To be able to match the border pattern in Molly's quilt, I had bought extra fabric (Molly's quilt was made for a friend's 35th birthday in 2010, with Julie Paschkis fabric I had found in a quilt shop in Michigan). It's a fabric that I still absolutely LOVE, and I finally found something to do with it: Another shoulder bag! I think it came out super-cute. It's a little bit larger than the shoulder bag that I made last month. This one has a pair of inside pockets, a magnetic closure on the flap, and "feet".
"Molly Bag", by Holly

Little Mr. Aerie Parrot sometimes like to sew with us. Here he is "helping" his Grandma-bird. Despite lots of input from him on the fabric selection and sewing, she managed to start and finish this pillow case in one evening(1) -- which is another "extra" quilt fabric recycling project.
Aerie Parrot and Mom sewing a pillow case, 8/24/2016.
And finally, we are making lots of shopping bags, which go together quite quickly now that we're familiar with the pattern. They are fully lined, with straps that go completely around. We're mostly using our long stored away "trash fabric" (cotton/polyesters), which should wash and wear well.
Shopping bag made by Holly.





Tuesday, August 2, 2016

We are WINNERS! ;-)

This year we (Mom and I) finally 'got our act together' and entered some of our projects in our Solano County Fair, which was held July 27-31, 2016 in Vallejo, CA:
This year's Fair theme: Play It Again Solano!
Holly with her quilted Owls vest (on right), which won a 1st Place ribbon.

Mom's black-and-white pieced jacket won a 3rd Place ribbon.


Holly's pieced Owls jacket won a 2nd Place ribbon.
Mom's Sunshine & Flowers quilted wall-hanging won a 3rd Place ribbon.
Holly's All-About-Birds T-shirt quilt. Each birding T-shirt is surrounded by a coordinating bird-themed fabric. The quilting is a bit distracting (although it looks better in person) ... but, I think I will have future T-shirt quilts long-arm quilted a bit differently.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Long-awaited finished bag project

After a long absence from sewing, I felt inspired this weekend to work on some quilted bag projects. My Mom had purchased and started this kit, about ten years ago, and today I finally finished it (another UFO converted to a FO!). I quite like the pattern (once I figured out the crazy directions) and may make more of these!
A large purse-sized bag, with three exterior pockets in each side.

The interior has one side with pockets, divided into three sections. Next time I might add some zippered pockets, and/or pockets on both sides.

The button is a whimsical piece out of fused glass, with lots of black knobs all around.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

1920's Wedding Ring Quilt

My coworker and cubicle neighbor (i.e., the person I spend the most time with!) is getting married this May, so when she decided on a vintage black-and-white 1920's themed wedding I immediately started looking for a historic quilt pattern. We have a large stash of patterns, which we keep in binders using hole-punched sheet protectors (a storage tip for other pattern-hoarding quilters out there!). So this one entitled "Wedding Ring" of course jumped out at me.

"Wedding Ring" vintage quilt pattern.
Upon further research this vintage pattern is also called "Crown-of-Thorns", and was made as far back as the early 1800s. And, I found a number of these "Wedding Ring" quilts that had been made in the 1920s, on The Quilt Index (examples here, here, and here).
Robert Kaufman fabric line "Beau Monde"
Her other wedding theme is feathers (in lieu of flowers), so the art deco inspired "Beau Monde" fabric line by Robert Kaufman also caught my eye. My Mom and I made a special trip to our nearby quilt store, Cotton Patch, in Lafayette, CA to pick out the remaining coordinating fabrics from this line. The white and black fabrics in the blocks have metallic-shimmer polka dots, similar to what's in the feather fabric. The black border and binding is a matte black.


Six months and many, many tiny triangles later (!), the quilt is now finished:
Art deco "Wedding Ring" quilt, by Holly Jessop, May 2016. Blocks are 10" and the quilt measures about 75" x 75".
Art deco "Wedding Ring" quilt, by Holly Jessop, May 2016. Blocks are 10" and the quilt measures about 75" x 75".
Quilt label (with imagery taken from wedding announcement), and gift bag.
I gave Carla & Joseph their quilt as a workplace wedding shower gift on May 11, 2016:
Workplace wedding shower May 11, 2016.