1600 Inches with Mrs. Hilfiger

I am so very happy to have gotten back to my machine.  I have been mostly sewing on paper for a long while but my great love is quilting really and I had forgotten just how good it feels.

1600 Inches Quilt by Jemellia



I enrolled in an excellent class at out premier quilt shop Quiltworks, turns out the teacher was my best bird Jemellia.

The class quilt is made with a 'jelly roll' or 1600 inches of two inch wide strips packaged as a roll. I used Rouenneries Deux from French General, but of course.

Let's take a moment and be reverent...

Je was a great teacher, really, she is such an excellent seamstress and whisperer of fabric. and that's not just for the whoopie pies...handmade whoopie pies...

Dear Lord, thank you for my sewing machine, hands and time...

Here is my completed quilt top in the entry.

Oh Spencer, get offa that!

And finally, speaking of naughty boys...April 11 is my beloved father's birthday. What a great dad he was. I love this picture of him (middle) in the Armed Air Forces. He and a couple of buddies about 1941 "half-tight" before their European sorties during WWII.

That optimism is bittersweet.

Dear Amy Butler

Hello Amy Butler.

I saw you speak in September 2010 at The Creative Connection Event. You were darling and made a very good presentation. Your textiles are beautiful and you clearly have made a successful and long career that has impacted design in this country.

I bought your Style Stitches book so that I could participate in Jemellia's Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge. And it has been challenging as I have never followed a pattern before, having only quilted and made primitive dolls. During month 3 we were to make the 6 Origami Zipper Bags, my first attempt at sewing a zipper. I got all my zippers in and up to step 5. I then finished one bag, turned in right side out and your directions side to "smooth the sides." I had ghastly gaps with no fabric left to smooth, tuck or close. I saw on the Flickr group that people were hand stitching these gaps, or using alternative zipper techniques to finish these bags. It simply didn't work as directed.

I had no intentions of finishing these or any other "designer" patterns. After all, Vera Bradley sells a huge variety of well-priced, high quality bags that cause me no frustration whatsoever.  I am not saying I am intelligent but I have sequenced DNA and can follow a complex set of directions yet I could not understand what I was supposed to do with these instructions.  But...I hated to let Jemellia down.

For three weeks that stack of unfinished bags caused me grief. Now look, I do not want to feel negatively toward you Amy Butler, certainly not toward sewing. My machine is a kind of altar where I go to find peace. Life has lots of frustrations and drudgery, confusion and problems, I certainly don't need my time for creativity to be unpleasant. Not perfect, not without challenge, but these things could certainly be explained better, so that a novice who can follow reasonable directions can get a decent result.

After whining to another member of our group, trying to keep my issues from Jemellia, I researched and grinched through until I found a completely easy solution that closes the bag beautifully and is only a minor adjustment to your instructions.

I have to say, these difficult directions actually made me learn more. It, however, was not particularly enjoyable.

They are complete. I was challenged. I kept my word to Jemellia to participate. I just don't know how drunk I will have to get before I am willing to start month 4 which is designated "intermediate" level of difficulty.

Yours,

Robin Thomas
Barely Bitter

Big 'ol Reversible Shopper

Time for my monthly installment  for Jemellia's Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge.  February's bag is the Reversible Everyday Shopper.

Kinda' love faux bois.

Right?

Lots of cute bags on the Flickr group.

Next month zippers. I'm scared.

Frost On Your Pumkins

As much as I hunger for summer, my favorite season in Oklahoma is the fall. I love that cool morning smell and a backpack for school. It isn't as windy here in the fall which is nice. It is that weird time in the garden when pinks and blue of summer bloom alongside the russets and mustards of fall.

I have a special love for October as it is my birthday month.The only thing I ever want and have ever wanted for my birthday is birthday cake. I really look forward to that. I firmly believe that cake is the only reason to celebrate birthdays or go to weddings.

I also love pumpkins. I have made a few batches of this Pumpkin Annie Doll. She is one of the first dolls I ever made before making my own patterns. She is a Little Missy Primitives pattern. Missy's blog is Crafty Carnival where she has a few free patterns. Her partner Nicole still is doing dolls and if that's your thing you oughta see them.

I want to thank Audrey for finding this gal on Etsy. She is featuring my dolls on her blog. She is all about promoting Etsy sellers and must spend many hours each week on her blog. I really thank you Audrey, that was just so nice. Nice is good. I love all this good stuff between all us otherwise strangers. I am really amazed by this internet love. Women will find a way to connect. Connect or die.

Back to my sweat shop. Gotta make the dolls. And they are a bunch of witches...

Oz

I always donate a doll or three to the school auction. A few years ago the theme was The Wizard of Oz. I made up three items for that and thought I'd show you.

The whole lynch pin for Dorothy's problem with the witch is the unseen dead sister. This is all we glimpse of her. I thought I would honor her.

Of course we love Dorothy and the Wicked Witch because they represent the classic struggle between good and evil, virgin and naughty girl.

The three dolls brought in some good money for the school so I was thrilled. I then sold all the witches I had made. Since fall is upon us, well, it will be, thought I would make some more.

Dang this is the part where I rethink how much I charge for these witches. Each doll takes about 6 to 8 hours to create. I feel the textile arts are so under-valued. I have to keep reminding myself at times why I enjoy this. Then the faces start to come to life and I love them all over again!

Framing the View

We built the house we live in and moved in 15 months ago. I had schemed all the colors, textures, hardware, lighting, flooring, ad nausem, down to the thread colors prior to moving which included buying all the window hardware and most of the fabric.



I set out to sew the first panel for the front room. I am used to sewing quilts or dolls which involves inches of straight grain cottons. Then I selected this linen and rayon or some slinky thing and there were miles of it. I made the first puckered pathetic panel. I gave in and called someone in who gave me a bid, took my fabric and returned with the panels. And a bill. The panels were not quite what I had in mind and neither was that bottom line. What is the point of bidding a job if the final bill is a different number? Anyhow, they were done and we had some privacy. Now a year later I still don't have the drapery on those windows. The ceiling is really tall and those windows need some drama. Strike that, they need something dramatic, I really don't want drama. I am trying to avoid drama, that is why I have had this fabric waiting for so long... but it is just two windows.

I have now owned the striped fabric below for a year and a half. I went looking for a nice taupe lining fabric and came home with this dramatic heavy tapestry in green, hmmm. I started thinking how cool for the panels to be reversible. Perfect plan for one who really doesn't always even remember how to thread the machine.

This is a really nice room and I have substandard skills. But I have a particular event that I am using as the deadline. I think I am ready.... I have done my figuring.

I'm scared. There are 24 yards of fabric.

The first cut is the deepest.

So I cut one and hem it, cut another and hem it then cutting the reamaining fabric, I realize Hancock Fabrics has shorted me one yard. So I have 23 not 24 yards of fabric.

I spend the morning driving to different Hancocks looking for the fabric. There is none.

I have to start again looking for lining fabric. Not today. I am frustrated.

But....

It is Memorial Day. There are dead soldiers. And its only fabric.....

Hand Maids

The Internet with its fantastical technology has given rebirth, paradoxically, to things handmade. As soon as that opposing digit sprouted, we primates have been tool users. Further, our big 'ol brains have the capacity for great creativity. Now we can photograph, market, sale, and connect to others who do and enjoy the same. Its a bit of tick picking satellite style.

Our Etsy community is called the Disciples of Etsy as we Oklahomans are in the buckle of the bible belt. Pack your pistil and the Good Word and don't go backsliding, ya'll. Some very industrious little OKC gals put on an Indie Craft Bazaar named Deluxe. The first one was December 2008 and was a smash. This spring model is bigger, better and scheduled for this coming Saturday, 9 May 2009.

Because I am so productive I rarely have to make anything just for craft shows. I was however trying a few new things. These pillows represent an amalgam of sewing, embroidery and knitting. This Couch Corsage Pillow is so named because the flower is a pin or corsage that your sofa wears.

In an effort to knit for a warmer season I made these wrist cuffs accessorized with a rose. I can just see girls wearing these to their dance while no flowers are harmed to embellish their outfits.

So that I can display my shrugs and stoles, perfect for the prom and wedding season, I asked my husband to help me with display stands. The second set is seen below. There was a brief period of not speaking between the prototype set and this finished product.

My table cloths are selected.

My inventory awaits packing. Hold on girls, I'll be right there.

We will see who gets selected and who comes back home with mama, the hand maid.