New Year, Old Goals/Old Quilt, New Coat

January 3, 2021January 4, 2021 SewtropolisLeave a comment

Happy New Year! So glad we made it to 2021… things can only go up from here – right? I usually set a bunch of goals at the start of the New Year, I try to have a creative goal, a fitness goal, financial goal and spirituality goal. This year was no different… I set a bunch of goals – one of them to be to journal more. So I cracked open the journal that’s been sitting on my night stand for at least a year and see that one of my last three entries was from Jan 1, 2019…. where I wrote down the same goals for 2019 that I set for 2021!! I decided right there that I needed to find a way to meet those goals…. or let them go.

One of my sewing goals is to use up enough of my stash to make it more manageable. I’ve got fabric in two rooms … I would really like to get that down to one! So, to do that my goal is to sew smaller stash busting projects such as bags, totes, napkins etc. I”ll also make a few quilts… but I want to first finish up some of my UFOs before starting any of those. I’m also going to refrain from buying anymore quilting fabric … I will work through what I have ….or work on getting rid of it. (I mean it this time). So with that said watch my Etsy store for some bags, and bowl covers that I’m currently working on!

Speaking of my Etsy store – I made a quilt a few years ago as part of a Mystery quilt sew along with the Minneapolis Modern Quilters. Even though I liked it… it was not really my style nor my favorite so I listed it in my Etsy shop. I’ve been seeing all the quilt coats on Instagram lately and that inspired me remove the listing and do what I NEVER thought I would do: cut up one of my quilts.

However, I’m SO glad I did… because I made a quilt coat that I absolutely love! The pattern is the Jill coat pattern from Seamwork. The coat isn’t lined which means that I had to deal with the raw edges. I chose to add binding to the seam – which I learned was called a “Hong Kong Seam”. I’m so glad I had a yard of fabric left in this line in my stash … I used pretty much all of it! (Yay for using up my stash).

I added big patchwork pockets because … well… I wanted big pockets. I could have planned the collar a bit better, there is a seam on the outside, but that’s because the pattern calls for a facing – which I ended up not using because it would have been way too bulky! By the time I realized it I decided it was too much effort to rip it all apart – and nobody would notice anyway.

I was going to make a cuff for the sleeves, but after attaching them I realized that they were long enough that I could just fold them up and call it good. Overall, I absolutely love this coat – it’s the perfect house coat for 2021!

Quarantine and me: Week 4

April 5, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

What a week! It started off with me registering for Grad school. I am attending Washington University in St. Louis, Masters in Law program. All classes are online which meant that I needed to get logged into their system and store all my IDs and passwords – which I did. The next day, my computer crashed! It won’t even turn on!

I can’t say I am surprised. The computer is about 12 – 15 years old, and I have been waiting for it to crash… but a week before school starts?? Needless to say timing is not ideal and with the “Stay home, stay safe” order in effect it’s not like I can go out and pick up another computer! So I took a deep breath and ordered one from Apple.com and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it arrives before classes start on Monday.

On the sewing front I finished a total of 100 masks; 50 were donated to the Seattle Indian Health Board, and 50 were given to my brother and his co-workers. When my brother came over to pick them up it was sad not to be able to give him a hug. But I had to laugh that we exchanged homemade chocolate chip cookies – unplanned! Yep, we’re related!

Once I was done with the masks I finished this beauty! Which was mostly long arm quilting and binding it.

Quilt, pillow shams, throw pillow front, and smaller panel (pillow).

I saw this at the Quilting and Sewing Expo at the end of February… before shit hit the fan on this pandemic! I saw it hanging there and stood for about 5 minutes just admiring it! It was so pretty and unlike any quilt I’ve seen before…… so of course I bought the kit!

Image of full quilt! Love at first sight

It was designed by Sarah Watts for Ruby Star Society, and the kit includes a queen sized panel, two pillow shams, 18” throw pillow, an small panel to make a baby quilt (or wall hanging), and a extra panel which I made into a small pillow! The fabric is a beautiful sateen that is super soft and makes all the colors bright and beautiful

I bought enough backing fabric to complete all the projects, including the binding, but after I finished quilting it I decided that the pink binding looked better, and added an extra pop of color.

If I were 13 I would put this on my bed and never take it off….. but as it is, now that I have admired it, pet it, and added my ‘artistic’ touch to it, I will list it on my Etsy site. My hope is that someone who admires unicorns, owls, flowers, full moons and pretty birds will find it and claim it as their own.

Stay safe my friends,

Exercise · Projects · sewing

Quarantine and Me: Week 2

March 24, 2020 Sewtropolis1 Comment

As of 5:00 p.m. Tuesday the Governor of Washington declared a “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order that requires every Washingtonian to stay home unless they have essential activities. So here we are, week two of staying home and staying safe from the COVID-19. We are truly living in unprecedented times – well, not counting the Spanish Flu of 1918.

I am a home body to begin with so staying home hasn’t really disrupted my daily life too much. However that doesn’t mean I’m not worried… I am. If I think about how bad this virus will get/can get I will head down a rabbit hole of anxiety really quick. Instead of doing that I’m doing my best to educate myself, yoga, running, and a whole LOT of sewing. Sewing has always been a form of therapy for me. – it relaxes me, it’s something I can control, and provides me with a huge sense of accomplishment when I finish something. win/win/win.

Virtual ParkRun — #virtualParkRun #RentonParkRun

This week I’ve been working on a Blooming 9-patch quilt, I’m not quite done, so I won’t talk about it too much. But suffice it to say that I love this pattern so much that this is the 3rd quilt that I’ve made using the pattern.

I’ve also been working on my Spring/Summer wardrobe. It’s coming along nicely. I don’t have too many pictures as I’m waiting on some photography equipment that should step up my game in that department – including a tri-pod! So stay tuned, and above all – stay safe.

Adventures · sewing

Please Excuse Me While I Geek Out!

March 1, 2020 Sewtropolis3 Comments

The Sewing Expo was in town this weekend and for the first time ever I decided to go! I’ve been sewing most of my life so you would think that I would have gone to a sewing Expo at least once in 30+ years… but nope! …. but I’ll be going again as often as I can for now on!

I took Friday off from work and drove down to Puyallup to attend my first class – which was a lesson on how to Brioche knit. I’m glad I took a class because I would have never been able to figure it out on my own.

After class I visited the vendors and gave myself permission to stock up on fabric – AND DID I EVER!!!! I’m working on some summer outfits and bought enough fabric to make all my outfits – and then some!

Cotton/Spandex border fabric for a t-shirt dress.

This is a poly blend, I think I will make a dress with it, at $5.99 a yard it was hard to pass up.

The next day I had an afternoon class (wax canvas tote bag), so I planned to get there in plenty of time to do more shopping. I bought the new Oliso iron – both the full-size and the mini since they were on sale (Expo special) My old iron was on it’s last leg so I feel like it was past time to get a new one!

I looked at sewing machines – this Tula Pink Special Edition Bernina is high on my wish list.

I would love to host another retreat, so I picked up retreat brochures to review for when that time comes.

Finally, I fell in love with this quilt and could not leave the Expo without purchasing the kit! It was the only quilting related item I bought and I can’t wait to get started on it!

I throughly enjoyed myself this weekend! I was completely in my element, being around and talking with people who love knitting, sewing and quilting as much as I do. It seemed everyone was happy to be there, and I met some very nice ladies in both of my classes … I’m SO glad I decided to go and am looking forward to going again next year.

Projects · sewing

A Scrap Quilt with Memories

February 23, 2020February 24, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

Last year I was determined to finish up some UFO (UnFinished Objects) in my sewing room – including this scrap quilt made with scraps from quilts I’ve made in the past!

Quality quilting fabric is expensive so when I have any scraps left over from make a quilt I tuck them away. I save extra blocks, fabric strips and scraps that are at least 2.5″ x 2.5″.

When I was ready to sew this quilt, I had enough scraps to make 64, 10″ x 10″ blocks. After sewing all the blocks together I had a full sized quilt that holds a LOT of memories.

There are blocks from the (Storm at Sea) quilt I made my dad, one block from the tea cup quilt I started and quickly decided I didn’t have the patience for, blocks from my Tula Pink Butterfly quilt, and plenty of Sewtropolis shop samples!

I don’t know what I’ll do with this quilt yet. I believe quilts are made to be used, but I love all the memories this one holds, so for now it’s sitting safely on a shelf in my sewing room.

Projects · sewing

T-shirt Quilt: Part 2

February 17, 2020February 19, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I made another t-shirt quilt this week for a friend of mine’s daughter!

I love how this one turned out! Once I had the t-shirts we scheduled a call to go over what her daughter wanted. She pretty much left the design up to me, but knew that she wanted the borders to be a gray… and that she wanted the backing and binding to match.

Some of the shirts were smaller (child size) so I had to ‘build up’ some blocks to make them large enough.

When laying it out I thought it would be cute to have Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse looking out across the quilt to each other.

I quilting it using a longarm, and super fine thread that blends in so nicely with all the blocks.

Like I said, I’m really happy with the way this turned out. this quilt is about 55″ x 55″ and I used about 15 t-shirts (a few front and back) to make it. I have my listing up on Etsy if you’d like to your own t-shirt quilt.

Projects · sewing

Sample Seahawk T-Shirt Quilt

February 8, 2020February 24, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I posted earlier that I am taking custom orders for t-shirt quilts. I’ve done a few in the past, but unfortunately didn’t have pictures of them to post on my Etsy site to ‘advertise’ my work. Unfortunately, I don’t own a lot of graphic t-shirts … so I took a trip to Goodwill and picked up a few Seahawk t-shirts to make this Seahawk themed lap quilt.

I think it turned out okay considering some of the t-shirts were “V” neck and I didn’t think of how hard it would be to ‘center’ in a block. I also included some kid-sized t-shirts that needed some ‘building up’ to make the block larger. The quilt measures 45″w x 50.5″ L … so not quite square, but plenty big for a lap quilt.

I had the green fabric used in the sashing and the binding in my stash, and the Seattle/Seahawk themed blue fabric was purchased from JoAnns.

I’ve taken pictures and listed it on my Etsy store as an example of my work AND listed it for sale here. As much as I like it, I have a house full of quilts and like I said – I’m determined to get out of debt.

Happy Sewing

Projects · sewing

Sewtropolis Signature Quilt

January 6, 2020December 30, 2019 SewtropolisLeave a comment

2019 was all about finishing up some of my many UFOs (UnFinished Objects)… including the Sewtropolis Signature Quilt. I started this quilt about a year before I closed my store… not knowing at the time that I would be closing. It was intended to hang in the studio portion and I thought it would be a fun way to have my customers assist in a quilt. There are 100 signatures most from the kids who took my summer sewing camps, but also from my adult students, employees and customers.

I managed to put the top together and that’s about the time I realized I needed to close my store… and this project and so many others went into the UFO basket for the time being.

So here it is six years and a cross-county move later and I’m finally tackling that that UFO basket. All I had to do to finish this quilt was to quilt and bind it so I waited till I had a few tops to quilt before reserving time on the long-arm. After quilting the first two with no issue, I loaded this one and started doing my thing… and about 3/4 of the way into it I realized that the backing had somehow creased and was getting worse as I went along.

I can “live” with a lot of mistakes, but this crease was not one of them. I took it off the machine, brought it home and took out most of what I had done. To be honest with you – I had heard of people doing this and thought to myself NO WAY would I ever do this – I don’t mind a mistake or a few, I think they give a quilt character – but this crease was in a league of its own!

Once I was done unstitching, I re-quilted it on my home machine, putting a heart in each of the blocks, and a wavy pattern on the boarder – which is kind of a metaphor for my business: I loved my customers, but it was definitely a crazy ride!!!

Overall I’m really happy with how this quilt turned out – I loved seeing the signatures of the gals that worked for me (miss you ladies), the signatures of the camp kids – some who were seriously SO MUCH FUN, and I even teared up when I saw Skilo’s block.. God, I miss that dog!!!

Eventually I will pick off all the stray threads, but for now they are a reminder of the difficulty of my owning my own business and of finishing this quilt.

Happy Sewing

Projects

Falling into September

September 2, 2016September 2, 2016 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I can’t believe it’s September already! I see all these ‘first day of school’ photos on my Facebook feed and it makes me miss my boys! When we moved into our house in Minneapolis I would take a picture of them in the back yard on the first day of school! I look back at those pictures now and can’t believe how little they were! Time flies by so fast!

So other than looking at all the back to school photo’s on Facebook I have been sewing up a storm! (BTW – did you know September is National Sewing Month?) However, I haven’t finished anything! I suppose if I were working on just one project I might have – but this week had three going: a bra, a shower curtain, and the fusion quilt. I had to order the bra fixings on-line so I didn’t get started on that till Tuesday night – I cut out the pieces and have the cups sewn together. I can tell already that I ordered the wrong lining fabric, but I’m not worried about it. I am expecting to make lots of mistakes on this one – if it actually fits it will be a bonus. I’m counting on the next one to be perfect.

Before the bra I had been working on my shower curtain I had all the rows sewn, just had to join them. But I got so excited when the bra fixings came in that I set aside the shower curtain. I finally picked it up again tonight and got it all sewn together. All I need is to add grommets and hem it and then I’ll be done. As for the fusion quilt I’ve crocheted edges to all of the squares and have started to join them – which amazingly is going pretty fast.

My hope is that by this time next week I’ll be wearing a new bra, have a pretty shower curtain and a new lap quilt to take me into Fall!

Speaking of Fall, nothing like Pumpkin scones to transition from Summer to Fall! I made these one day last week when it was cool enough to turn on my oven! I thought I would be clever and try and make chocolate pumpkin scones , but I didn’t add enough chocolate powder so they ended up looking like dirt. But they tasted SO good! Just ask the guys I work with! Scones tend to be on the dry side which is why I added the glaze on top. So, so good!

Until next week!