Indian Feathers Update

When I started this project a year ago, I had hoped to have it finished by around July. Sure missed that goal! But at least I have finished hand-piecing all the little diamonds. Whew!

Since I got this idea from a picture of an antique quilt, I'm having to draft the patterns myself and my first attempt at a pattern for the plain wedge corner pieces was a bust. The whole project is currently wadded up in a big ball, out of sight and usually out of mind. I'm just about ready to bring it out, take a deep breath, and have another go at the wedges.

Where it all started....

My mom was quite a prolific seamstress. When I was very young, she made most of her clothes, and many of mine. We had several matching dresses. When I was in Kindergarten, it seemed like I woke up to a newly finished dress just about every morning. I was fascinated with her sewing machine, a green and white Singer Touch & Sew. A little later, she got one of the Golden Touch & Sews, quite the machine back then. I still have it but all the cams and accessories got lost in its last move, and I haven't even tried to see if it still works. I just like having it around. The amount of sewing done on that machine is amazing. And it never grumbled about what it was asked to do, even stitching on heavy, multi-layered horse blankets.

I got a Singer "Little Touch & Sew" sewing machine for my 6th birthday. Here it is. It's tiny--only 10 inches long. It still works, although I'm missing the bobbin shuttle.

And here is the first item I sewed, made with my little machine. This is also very small, the perfect size for a 6 year old. The sides and hem are all turned under nicely, with straight stitches. (I was actually impressed, when I found this again not long ago). And, as you can see from the stains, I did use it to help with the baking! (My guess, is that was from chocolate chip cookies)

After making my apron, I moved to using the big machine and started making my clothes within a short time. I'm sure I was making very wearable blouses by the time I was 8 and made almost all my clothes through High School.

In college I studied Fashion Design. My favorite classes were pattern drafting and the haute couture construction techniques. I did custom work for many years, but stopped sewing garments entirely about 12 years ago, until recently when I re-made a suit for my neighbor.

I have stacks of really nice fabrics to make some new clothes for myself--some wonderful linens, soft rayons, and many others. But all my garment sewing supplies are buried in so many different places in my house, I'd have to hunt and gather them all together. What a chore. It's really a shame though, to have all my fabrics and patterns just sitting around, so I should make it a priority.

My first quilt...

I have no news, and no finishes on the near horizon, so I guess it's time to dig in the dusty archives.

My first quilt. The name of this quilt is WOLUFO (World's Oldest Living UFO)

I started this in about 1982. It was cut using tissue patterns and scissors, and I don't think there's a single triangle the same size. I only got as far as cutting the pieces, then stuffed it all into a shoebox for about 23 years. Colors had changed in my house, so the colors in this were really hideous! And at that time I was much more "into" making clothes, than quilts.

So....fast forward to just a few years ago, when I decided I was going to really start quilting. I found that old, battered box, pulled out the pieces, and put the blocks together. Then I was faced with the challenge of finding fabrics for the sashings, borders, and plain blocks that would look OK with those 1980's calicos. I had no idea what I was doing when I went to cut the sashings, so I just winged it. I spent a ton of money for some cream, green, and gold. Cut, made some mistakes, bought more fabric, re-cut, and finally had a finished top.

I wanted to learn how to handquilt, so I figured that since everything else about this quilt was goofy and beginner-ish, that it was the perfect place to practice. I handquilted all the pieced blocks, outlining each piece, and the cream blocks are quilted with a very intricate "knot garden" type of design. I sent to a long-arm quilter who finished the sashings and borders.

Technically, this quilt is very bad. As a perfectionist, I'm shocked that I'm not terribly bothered by the all the "bad". But I love the way it looks, and I love it for all the learning that came from it. Now that I know what I'm doing, and how to cut the pieces in uniform size, I'd love to make this design again.

Now all these colors are "in" again. Go figure.

A Finished Top...Woohoo!....

I'm a very slow and easily distracted quilter. Or maybe it's just that I like to take the scenic route! Yes, that's it!

I started this top five years ago and had no plans for it to end up so big, but it kind of had a mind of its own. I've worked on it, put it away, pulled it out again, set it aside, and finally decided to ignore all my other machine-stitched projects, and push through to finish it. So I did, at 4 a.m. Sunday morning. Yippee! Not sure if I'll have it quilted, or handquilt it myself. So, for now, it'll go onto my "pondering" pile.

Now to continue with my Indian Feathers (see March 20 post), and my next "get it done" machine-pieced project, a partially-assembled queensize-plus top in pink and brown 19th century prints. This next one I definitely will be hand-quilting, and would love to have it finished and in use this year.

A peek:

Three projects...

Three of the projects I'm currently working on are hand-pieced, using 19th century reproduction prints.

The priority project is my Indian Feathers. I need 36 of these "feather" triangles. I've just finished the 26th one. Yeah! Down to the final 10 countdown! The blocks will be finished with unbleached muslin, sashings and borders will be a dark brown wavy "bark-like" print. I'm also going to add some beading--most likely using carved bone, or shells. I'm so excited about this one!
Next is Tumbling Blocks. Another project I have a hard time putting down! Plans are for this to be a very generous queensize, when it's done. Here are the blocks I have made so far....



And when I need a little break from the other two, I sneak in a few stitches on my Martha Washington's Flower Garden, which I'm English Paper Piecing. I was always intimidated by that technique, but WOW how much fun it is! And so easy! Another one that will end up a generous queensize.

These will all be hand-quilted so, between these three and a couple more machine-pieced queensize tops I have almost assembled (which will also be hand-quilted), these will keep me busy for a couple years.

Trust me, I have plenty of other projects--I love that term "WISPS" (Works in slow progress)--waiting for some attention, too. If unfinished projects give us a reason to keep going, I'm set to live to at least 147.

New dishcloth...

I felt like being creative and productive tonight, but didn't feel like doing any quilty stuff. So I brought out my cotton yarn and made a new dishcloth. I've made several over the years, but have kept only one for myself, it's about 15 years old and looking pretty ratty. I just love using these, especially after they've been used and washed a few times.

I used to crochet almost every evening--before I took up quilting--but I haven't done any in several years. It felt great to make this, and I'll be making several more. I have stacks and stacks of "regular" dishcloths, but there's just something about these crocheted ones that is irresistible.

**And now, after having written about this and looking at the title, I'm getting quite a giggle from the thought that something as mundane and ordinary as a new dishcloth is exciting enough to share with the world! hehehe. Then again, what got me even thinking about making one, is having seen so many people sharing homemade socks, so I guess I'm hanging out with the right crowd! :-)

Just another Thursday...

We had snow here last night. It was still chilly this afternoon but sunny....which I'm thankful for, since I had to catch the bus and go shopping. Got off at the post office, then walked to the store. Tried to take my time shopping, to waste most of the hour until next bus, but still I ended up out there waiting for a long time to catch a bus to come back home. I just barely got back before it started raining. Spent a few minutes playing with some quilt pieces that came in the mail, then snuggled up with a heating pad and took a nap. Had leftover spaghetti for dinner, and now it's time for Grey's Anatomy, I'll finish off my chocolate peanut butter cups, and I think I may actually go to bed early tonight. (Won't happen, but it sounds virtuous)

I was just sitting here thinking I can't forget to do my exercise tonight, especially after I had a mental boost today when I stepped on the scale and discovered I'd lost 5 of the 10 pounds I've regained since Thanksgiving....but then I remembered I've HAD my exercise for today! Since it was sunny and not too windy I walked a few blocks up the road to catch the bus (instead of right outside my yard), then walked from post office to the store, and back from bus stop to my house with my groceries, then I went out and split some firewood. Gee, I'm all tuckered out.

Wow....is that an exciting day, or what!

A Feathers update...

I have the most boring life imaginable so nothing much from me at the moment, except an update on my "feathers" project. 20 completed triangles, of the 36 I need. I'd love to get the diamonds all pieced by the end of March. Need to get a pattern drafted for the plain corner pieces and start thinking about a quilting design! A reminder--these are being made with 19th century reproduction prints, handpieced and will be handquilted.

Feathers...

Taking a break from a battle with my current project, to give you a sneak peek.

I had my 12th triangle all pieced, then noticed I had two fussy cut diamonds upside down....and, being a perfectionist (it's a curse) I just HAD to take it apart and turn them rightside up. Well, I've restitched, ripped out, restitched again, and find one (previously correct) diamond is too small, and I'm thinking maybe I should've just made it my "humility block" and moved on. But there'll be plenty of "humility" in my handquilting, so I shall persevere! Oh....I should mention, this is being all handstitched.

Now...back to fight with that feather....

Update, 2 hours later: I won!

Living at the edge...

I live at the edge of the earth.....no, truly....I do! My house is a few hundred yards from where the land ends and the Pacific Ocean begins. I came here for "a few months" when my husband and I divorced. That was eight years ago. A few times I thought I'd be leaving, but "life" had other plans. So this is where I am. For who-knows-how-much-longer?!

A sunset over the ocean...

There are two lighthouses nearby. This one is my favorite.

It sits far out on a very high cliff, down a long, winding pathway.

Along the trail leading out to the lighthouse...

The view to one side of the lighthouse...

The view to the other side of the lighthouse...

On the other side of that cliff, the beach is nothing but sand for about 30 miles.

The big crash....

Just quickly, for now.... I want to thank everyone who has stopped by and left me a "hello" and "welcome". I've been reading a bit in your blogs and look forward to getting to know you. I've enjoyed "meeting" some of you on the Hexagon quilt-along.

I had been sorting through my photos, gathering some to put on here. A few nights ago I was, in fact, in the process of adding some.... and then without any warning, my computer crashed and I have no access at all. Everything I've put on there in 10 years (yes, it's lasted that long!) is hiding inside that box, and I'm not sure I will ever see any of it again.

How ironic that I was planning to sit here this coming weekend, to do a marathon session of sorting, saving, and transferring files to the new computer I've had sitting here on my desk for nearly 9 months, untouched.

OK, I won't bore you with any more of the details. But I'm starting completely over with this new computer, and hoping that all the info inside that other one can be salvaged.

I will have some pictures soon, of the projects I'm working on at the moment. One of the first things I did on here was make sure my camera could "talk" with this computer :-) Haven't quite figured out the new photo editing stuff yet, but I'm working on that.

And so it begins........

Well, I finally took the leap into Blogland, and here I am! And trying to think of something halfway interesting to say. You know how that goes.

I'm sitting here with a quilt wrapped around me at 3:30 a.m. in the dark, listening to the ocean churning violently, with a storm pelting rain against the roof. It's very relaxing, as long as the wind behaves. Not so peaceful, when there are tree branches bouncing across the top of the house.

My birds have been asleep for hours, the dog has settled onto his pillow, and the cat has curled up in one of her favorite spots after a late-night game of "push every last piece of fabric from the table onto the floor!".

This cat adopted me about a month ago, when she suddenly appeared at my back door on a very cold night, and has been content to stay ever since. Why wouldn't she, when she has a matching quilt to sleep on?

Princess Sophie