More Summertime Fun

At the end of last week I finally was able to get through all of the fabric in the first tote filled with fabric for commissioned garments that I've been working on this summer.   After all the ironing and cutting I ended up with 20 garments cut out  -- the three piles of tops on my cutting table shown to the right.   So far this week I've been able to finish 2 flannel dresses, 2 cotton blouses and 1 flannel top.     Next up is another flannel top from the pile.  =)

To give a perspective of how much fabric I've been trying to work through - the pic to the left shows the tote that I have left with fabrics for more commissioned garments.  Dimensions of the tote are 25" long by 19" tall by 18 " wide.   At this point if what I've recorded in a spreadsheet is correct, there is fabric in it for 28 more garments.  

Now that figure may be adjusted a little downward because there were a couple of pieces that my customer said she wanted two garments made from one piece of fabric, but I'm not sure there is enough fabric for that to actually happen.   And i'm not in the mood to buy fabric to add to it.    If there is something in the stash that will work, then maybe - but I'm not gonna be buying additional fabric.   Once I get to start cutting this fabric out, I should be able to make a dent in the pile fairly quickly because 2/3's of it is flannel.    I'll be happy to see this all used up and out of my hair.    If she sends me more fabric I plan to work on it after all of the 'old' fabric worked up first and everything sent back to her.

In other 'fun' stuff this summer, I'm continuing to go through boxes of stuff here in the house.    I have a lot of boxes that I have not been through for 4 yrs or longer now and it all needs to be gone through and sorted out.    I've also been going through some of my quilting stuff.   Have sorted out a pile of books, magazines, rulers, quilt kits & patterns that I'll be putting up for sale when I'm through with training.     I need to work through the fabric that is stored on one side of the living room yet so that I can reorganize it and pull stuff that I no longer want.   But that has not been started yet.    I do need to have that area cleaned up so that once my niece gets home she can help me put my quilt frame together.   =)

In thinking of projects that I'd like to do in the future, i'm thinking of making a new quilt for my niece who is in basic training for the Army reserve.   The one she has now and uses is showing the signs of being much loved - to pieces that is.  .....lol....  I'm thinking maybe a patriotic quilt for her might be a good possibility.   I also need to make a new quilted cover for a pillow that my granny made many years ago for me out of polyester scraps.    I had made a cover for it yrs ago when I first started quilting (way back in high school) and had used poly-cotton fabrics in it.   This past few months has seen the cover start to disintegrate and it literally is falling apart.   So I need to replace it.   Haven't decided what I want to do tho for it.    And i need to make a new cover for my ironing board as well.    the one that is on there just barely fits onto it.   I'm planning on still using it but covering over with a piece of pre-quilted fabric that I have.   I guess this should really be done before the others.  

Gratitudes -
1. Rainy, summer thunderstorms make for cooler summer weather.
2. Success in getting commissioned garments sewn up.

Lots of Sewing Going On

It's been so nice to be able to get some of the accumulated sewing done these last couple of weeks (well when I haven't been running out to the doctor or dentist at any rate!).    I've had a lot of people ask what types of sewing that I've been doing for the gal I've been sewing for the last couple of years.

And thought I'd show pics of what I've been working on for her this summer.    The first pic at the right shows one of the scrub tops that I've made the last couple of weeks.   She ends up supplying the main fabric, and then I end up adding the black on the sides (and in this case the pockets.  The 2nd picture is an example of one of the muu-muu style tops that she likes to wear.   The ones that I finished up this time were a mixed bag of having enough fabric from her to get them made, and having to add fabric to get what she ordered done.

The picture to the left shows the stack of 14 scrub tops/blouses/dresses that I have finished off these two weeks.   The stack is approximately 15 inches tall as the garments are folded.  The box with everything in it and any extra fabric from them weighs about 13 pounds.   Needless to say, it is being shipped back parcel post and not priority mail!   I still have almost 50 more garments to go yet before I finish off all the fabric that I have from her at this point (well if my spreadsheet is correct at any rate).   And if past history is anything to go by, I'm sure there will be a box of new fabric coming back my way from her because I know she hasn't stopped buying more fabric.

The main other project that I've been working on this week, has been to start my challenge quilt for the annual art challenge that I take a part in.   The theme this year is "Who am I?" or something close to that.

To make this quilt, I started by making quilted strips of fabric using two different batiks.  The fabric that looks white in the picture is actually a white background with light teal green dots on it.   Once the strips were completed, I then wove them together .   After pinning them to strips of stabilizer to hold them together I then added the fabric for the borders.   Still to do is to insert batting into the borders and quilt them, and then bind.   Final step will be to add embellishments (buttons, beads, silk flowers) to hold the woven strips in place and then write all of the words that i want to put in the piece on the light colored sections.   Haven't decided what fabric I'll use to bind it in, but I've got enough of all three of the ones that I've used in the piece.

The description that I've written for this piece and that will be printed in the show program is below:

Materials: Commercial batiks, buttons, beads, embellishments. Raw-edged strips of batiks have been quilted and woven together to form the center of the quilt, with a quilted border holding them together. The strips are not backed with any other fabric so that the viewer can see through the spaces in between them. The raw edges and spaces in between the strips, and the knots on the back of the quilt represent the times in my life when things have been difficult, the colors in the fabrics and the embellishments show the beauty found in my life. The overall composition shows the beauty that God has brought to my life. The words written on the strips are ones that I or friends have used to describe me.

Gratitudes:
1. Time to sew and success in getting things finished!
2. Good news so far from doc appts.

Back in the Groove....aka Summer Vacation

Yippee............now I know how my teachers felt when it was time for summer vacation.   It has been really nice to not have to get up at O'Dark Hundred to get ready for school......of course that doesn't mean my body has cooperated and not woken up at it's habitual time, but that's totally beside the point.

I'm thankful for my job as a teacher, but I'm also thankful for summer vacation!    So far this summer I've made a trip to TX to visit with friends and family there.   And now that I'm back home I've started the summer cycle of dentist/doc visits/medical tests interspersed with lots of sewing.   =)  Have a couple of weeks of training to also get through but that's ok.     And need to get a bunch of stuff listed on ebay to sell as well.........so needless to say I'm gonna stay busy this summer.

So far this week I've finished off a quilt top for American Heroes.   In addition I've caught up on the blocks for the two different versions of the BOM that I'm working on with friends from an online group.  The block patterns can be found on my website on the Block of the Month Page.   Both of these are being made with fabrics that I've ended up collecting but are not my normal colors.   The plan is to finish the quilts and then donate them.    Haven't decided where I'll donate them to, but ultimately that will depend on what size they end up finishing at.   I do plan on designing new settings for both of these and then will put that up on my website to go with the block instructions.

In addition I've finished off a quilt top for American Heroes.   The inspiration for this quilt was taken from the Falling Charms pattern by Missouri Quilts.  The difference in what I did and the original pattern, was to first start with 6.5" cut squares of the blue/white fabric.   I then added two 'rounds' of the scrappy reds on two sides instead of just one round.   I used assorted sized of the strips and everything came from my scrap bin for the reads.   The quilt finished out at 60" by 80".    This will be sent off with three other tops that I've had ready for American Heros for about a year, but haven't gotten in the mail.  

I've also started working hard at making a big dent in getting the commissioned clothing sewn up. It's been a year since I've been able to do much towards getting these worked up and I'd really like to get them done and outta here.   Am also hoping that I don't end up with a lot more fabric that she wants sewn up in return, but will cross that bridge if or when i get there.

Gratitudes:
1. For safety in the drive to/from TX, and the honest car dealer who found the problem and fixed my car.
2. For the health insurance that I have through my Job.

Woohoo............

Over the last year it hasn't seemed like I was able to do much in the way of quilting.   Between FT grad school in the spring and summer, then starting to teach in the fall of 2012, working a PT job, completing the next to the last course for my master's degree, and working on commissioned sewing there just wasn't time for quilting.   This of course was much to my frustration.     I did manage to get a couple of blocks designed and submitted to QuiltMaker for two different issues of their 100 blocks from Top Designers.      The first block was not accepted, but I just found out that the second block has been accepted and will be in the fall 2013 issue.   Later in the year there will be a blog tour and I'm planning on doing a post for that to show the block and how it can be made, so I won't be posting a pic of it now.

The block that wasn't accepted I'm planning on using as the start of a quilt that I'll use as a mystery quilt on either my website on here.   Haven't decided that far ahead though.   I'm hoping that I can work this in the first part of the year, but it might wait until this summer because I'll be going nuts with my final semester in grad school.

Meanwhile this year it looks like a lot of my sewing will once again be commissioned sewing as I work to get all of that made up and outta my hair.   I am thankful for it though because it has helped pay the bills.   I'm also working on ideas for what I want to do for my Pay-it-Forward gifts this year.   I've got some ideas but nothing concrete in mind at this point. 

I'm also thinking about what I want to do for my quilt for the Stretching Art Challenge that I've been a part of for 10 yrs or so.   I love being in the challenge because it always challenges me in my designs and I like being able to continue growing as a designer and quilter.

Gratitudes:
1. Only one more semester before graduation!
2. God's perfect provision that is allowing me to pay off some of the smaller bills.

2012 Year End

It's been a long year for me with the first 5 months of the year consumed with student teaching, classes and working part-time.   Summer saw me scrambling to survive 3 summer school classes, a 2 week training class in Illinois, packing and then moving 3.5 hrs away from Lafayette, and starting to teach full time.  

The last 4 months of 2013 has seen me complete my first semester of teaching at DeKalb High School as an Engineering teacher, working part-time at Joann Fabrics to help make ends meet, trying to stay up with all of my class work in my last year of grad school, and working on commissioned sewing (clothing of various types). 

Notice that there's no mention of being able to do much quilting in there.............sigh................that would be because I haven't been able to do much quilting at all this year, and I really miss it!   I'm hoping that will change in the coming year, at least after I finish defending my master's portfolio the end of April.  

Some of my goals that I have for the coming year is to work to get one or more of my quilt patterns written up and out for testing.  I want to start listing them for sale on my website and etsy, but know i have to do the prep work for that before hand.   I also plan to start working on more block patterns and quilt patterns for submission to quilt magazines for publication.    I also hope to actually

And if you're looking for giveaways to enter, check out the one that my quilting buddy Susan is hosting on her blog.  =) 

Gratitudes:
1. Being able to spend time in sunny and warm Phoenix over Christmas.
2. Having survived my first semester as a teacher.  =)

New Block Design

This has been a long, and sometimes (mostly?) hard summer as I dealt with difficult summer school classes, extra training classes that had to be taken, packing, and a move across the state to where I'm now teaching.    With everything that went on there never seemed to be anytime to actually do any quilting, sewing, designing.  

Thankfully this week and last I've been able to do some designing and sewing.   Last week I made a sample of a quilt block that I designed for submission to QuiltMaker for their Spring 2013 issue of Top 100 Quilt Blocks.   That has to be sent in before the end of September.   Because it is being submitted I can't post a pic of it here at this point.   

The next thing up I designed a pp'd block of a rocket for a friend who wanted to make a baby quilt with rockets for a friend of hers.  When I went to make a sample block I was reminded of how long it had been since I'd made anything because I found I'd forgotten one seam allowance and had to redo one of the blocks sections.....OOPS!    Redid that section and everything went together w/o problems.      I think it turned out cute.   =)

If you're interested in using the block (6" finished sized), you can find the pattern on my website by clicking HERE.  Look in the "New Patterns" section of the page for the link to the pattern.

Next up I'm working on putting together 12 of the orphan blocks that have been around here for several years into a lap quilt.    Am putting sashing on the blocks now and thinking about what I want to do for the border.   This one will mostly be sold after it is finished.   Then it will be onto the commissioned tops that I have here and need to get done.   Probably should continue to unpack and shift boxes and totes around so I can set up my quilt frame as well.  =)

Gratitudes:
1. For teaching at a great high school with supportive administrators.

2. For a great class of middle-schoolers - they give me hope for the future!