Halloween

It's Halloween season! I have always loved making the costumes, but I thought this year the girls might be too old to want them. Alexandra outgrew this a few years ago, alas, but this year, being on her strict budget, she asked me to make her a tutu for her Nicki Minaj costume. Yea!! I get to buy tulle!! We spent a few hours in Joann's having a really good time...the Halloween decorations are 60% off, which is still more than most are worth, but we found some cute stuff. Oh! and you should see what I didn't buy!

Here's the count:
Stash used: 5 yards
Stash used total: 9.5 yards
Stash acquired: 7.5 yards
Stash acquired total: 7.5 yards


This is not the whole costume, don't fret. The devil horns are just for her to wear to classes for this month. She got an outrageous pink wig with bangs. It's horrible and very Nicki Minaj, if google photos are to be trusted. I will try to get pictures but she won't be anywhere near home on Halloween, so I'm at her mercy in that way.

I bought some microfleece and knit for pajama pants. The giraffes were a hit, though the rise was STILL too long based on where they like the waistband to sit. They told me the term for the bump that shows below the waistband is called a camel toe. OK. I'll shorten the pattern by exactly one camel toe. Now where did I put that camel?

Electronics Junkie

I am hopelessly dependent on electronics. I also love to make great soft cases for my electronics and everybody else's, too. Here are some of the iPad and laptop cases I've made:

 Oh! and if you could only see the linings. Always sew things that make you happy.

 

 Mostly, I've used the pattern from the book, "One Yard Wonders," which allows you to custom fit to any device. I once made 12 iPad covers all at once because I got, well, carried away. They all found homes with my friends and relatives.
If you don't have that book, and you have a fabric stash that looks like this:

times about 10 or maybe even 20, then this book is a very small start at using up that stash.
All of this fabric sort of showed up in my sewing room over the last few years since I started quilting, but guess what? Even a big quilt does not require very much fabric.
iPad cases use even less.

It's a good thing that fabric makes me feel good. I love to look at it,
touch it,
wash it,
iron it,
fold it,
unfold it,
sort it,
cut it,
sew it,
photograph it. And it goes without saying, buy it.

My favorite place to buy fabric is Hawthorne Threads, but one can't achieve this level of obsession without Hancocks of Paducah, Fabricworm, and lately, Connecting Threads.
I have added knits to my collection lately, as previously I really couldn't find knits worthy of my time and effort. Go to Fabric Fairy and Girl Charlee for those terrific knits that make you feel like doing that again. (I learned to sew with knits originally. My mother worked at a place called Stretch and Sew in Hartsdale, NY, where she collected most of her stash. It was mostly polyester double knits. 'nuff said. One day, I'll do an homage to Maboo with funky pencil skirts in PolyDK and show you all what retro means to me.)

Locally, I love Quilted Threads in Henniker, NH. That's where my people are. I believe in supporting my local quilt shop, but I also believe in shopping in my pajamas. The internet is good, even if I didn't invent it.

Random Finished Projects

 Fresh Squeezed, #2, 6/21/08
This was the second quilt I finished. I used Sandy Gervais' Fresh Squeezed fabrics, which were in large part responsible for my re-entry into the fabric world. Great designers like Gervais, Tula Pink and Heather Ross brought me back to sewing. Who could resist when there were such artful, creative and beautiful fabrics available? The pattern was Pathways Batik, which I modified a little to accommodate the fabric I had stashed. I love this quilt to this day. For a long time, it protected my mother's grand piano from danger, a worthy cause.

 Posh Twin Big Flower, #51, 7/20/2011

If you've  ever used the Posh Tot pattern, you know that this quilt goes together lickity split! The thing that took me the longest on this quilt was doing the math to convert it to a twin, and figuring out yardage of a giant print. The inspiration for this fabric combination came from Peggy Anne...she inspires much of what I do!

Undercover in Chicago, #57, 10/5/11

This was a Debbie Caffrey Mystery Quilt, begun in a class at Quilted Threads. I used the Sweetwater fabrics from their first line, (I think,) Authentic. I still have a lot of stash of this, because I loved it so much. I'm not sorry! Looking that up, I discovered that Sweetwater also created the "Lucy's Crab Shack" line of fabrics, too, which I've hoarded a bit. I love that line. It speaks to me. In fact, I made a bag for Valerie from it, after she told me how meticulously Nick hung their laundry, one piece at a time, in and out of the house, while vacationing together. Here it is:

 So, now that I've opened the subject of bags, want to see some more?
I thought so, and thanks for asking!

Also for Valerie, Gallery Fiore Bag, using Peggy Anne's pattern and oh! I love that Soft and Stable batting from ByAnnie. It makes the best stable bags I've ever done. I'm planning on re-making some of my old favorites with it because the difference is THAT significant. It's expensive, and the shipping is outrageous, but I'm going to try to convince my local quilt shop to stock it; I'm thinking a whole roll, (15 yards,) would be so crazy that my loved ones would be justified in looking into some sort of institutionalization for me. Unless someone wants to share a roll with me?

These were for Mary, who is so good at being green, I think of her as the best combination of Yankee frugality and environmentalist. She has a heart of gold, and I absolutely adore her. I made these shopping totes from Alexander Henry's Natura, (I think) collection. If you can't tell, it has brightly colored peas in green beans. I love this fabric so much that I had to hoard some more after using some for these bags. I know, I know, but it's cheaper than therapy.

Two Mini Quilts

Mini Sawtooth, #32 8/3/09

Starry Nine Patch Mini, #59 11/26/11

Stash Project Begins...Inspiration!!

I washed and dried some of the knits I just bought, which got me in the mood to sew with some knits I already had. I was wearing very comfortable pajama pants...hmmm, they fit so well, and had the newer low waistband that my old patterns don't. Ma's old patterns have waists that go up to about my nipples. Not cool, not hip. So I stripped those babies off, threw them on the floor, and laid some Do-sew on them. That's the poly pattern making stuff I got probably when I was a teenager for tracing the old Stretch and Sew Patterns, (think waistbands at nipple height.)

Here's the miraculous, liberating thing: I traced the pieces and made a pattern, then gathered my fortitude and cut them out of some of my least favorite knit fabric, which I had thought about donating since I wasn't inspired by it. Serged up the seams lickety split, and those pants fit me perfectly! I'm feeling pretty smug about now. I used up the rest of that buffalo black plaid on pj or workout shorts which don't have elastic; just the knit fabric folded in a wide waistband.  I'm making two pairs of giraffe knit pj pants, one a little longer for Alexandra, and one for me or Sophia, who by the way is now 2 inches taller than I am and 1 inch taller than her big sister. I guess the longer ones are for her, yes?

So much success inspired me to trace a pattern from the skirt I bought in Boulder, where I was thinking cowgirl thoughts, (as if that's even remotely possible!) That baby has 6 panels, a waistband, and a waistband yoke. So I did it. I'll try that pattern after finishing up those giraffe pjs.

Stash used: 4.5 yards
Stash used total: 4.5 yards
Stash acquired: 0 yards
Stash acquired total: 0 yards

Whenever I go shopping, I always make a point of telling Constantine, "You should see the stuff I DIDN'T buy!!" Well, you should see the fabric I didn't buy.

Stash Happens

There's a woman named Nancy who writes and shares quilt patterns in small steps, called Mystery Quilts, for quilters who wish to donate their time, effort and stash to military service people who are injured while serving our country. Her quilt patterns are available only through the yahoo group, MysteryQuilts4Military, and she also writes a blog, http://lifetakesaturn.wordpress.com/category/stash-report/ on which she frequently reports how much fabric she is using from her considerable stash. She also blogs how much she "stashes," which to me means how much fabric she acquires.

As anyone who knows me knows, I have a little, ahem, "problem," with the acquisition of fabric. My other problem is that even though I quilt and sew a lot and am relatively prolific, the projects just seem not to use enough fabric to make a difference! Also, when I am very productive, it inspires me to buy more fabric. I make stuff and give it away, I make stuff and keep it, I make stuff and leave it sitting in a pile, and the fabric piles just seem to grow. They're neat piles, and they are really beautiful, but they do grow and grow.
I would estimate that I have thousands of yards of fabric in my sewing room and the adjacent bathroom. I realize how that sounds, fabric in the bathroom. It's not as bad as all that, but there IS truth to it. Nobody lives up there, so nobody has to use a bathroom also being used for overflow fabric storage. Still though, now that I've made that confession in writing, I am going to remove the stash from there. It's not acceptable. One day, I will have to move it to wherever I move next. That is not going to be easy, and it is not going to be funny to whomever has to haul it down from the third floor. I am going to make it my goal to stop the growth of the fabric stash in the year 2013, and to begin the downward spiral in subsequent years.

I would like to carve out an exception for the fabric that my mother has acquired in her house; I've already given away bags and bags, hundreds of pounds of fabric from her old stash, (seriously, how much polyester double knit does anyone need?) When she dies, I will be partly responsible for the cleaning out of her house, where she no longer lives, and I will merge her good fabrics with mine. I won't count her fabric as acquisition. Maybe I should limit their impact by choosing only as much as will fit in the shower in that adjacent bathroom.

Anyway, I'm going to try to start tabulating a stash count. Starting now. So the 4 skirts I made this past weekend from stash don't count, (That was 6 yards!!) but neither do the fabrics I ordered last night from Connecting Threads, (14.5 yds). Deal?

Next stash busting project: knit maxi skirts, this weekend. One in the Olive and Purple stripe, another in the blue heather stripes. That fabric is reversible. Could make a matching cardigan, preferably reversible. Need to find out how to make the serger do flat seams for reversible clothes. That will be in my owner's manual.
The knits I bought from Girl Charlee, (9 yards,) a few days ago haven't arrived, but they don't count. Also, pajama pants for Maboo and the girls. Giraffes for Alexandra, Otters for Sophia, gray waffle weave for Maboo.

It's becoming clear to me that I have to get there and start sewing, and fast!! I found great tutorials for making the maxis, as well as the cardigan. Check out my pinterest board for those links.

Lolita Skirts!!

I went Lolita crazy this weekend!

I have this pattern, recommended by Peggy Anne Klinker, of Peggy Anne's, and I'd made an adorable skirt many months ago. Sophia needed new clothes, since suddenly hers didn't fit her. She was not happy about the new brace for scoliosis that gives her "Barbie hips." I don't know about you, but last time I checked, Barbie's hips looked pretty good, but you get the point. It didn't help matters that my clothes fit her. She wants her own clothes, not her mother's clothes. Now, mind you, her mom has clothes like this:

The original Lolita, meant to be worn with cowboy boots.

which begs the question, "what's wrong with wearing your mother's clothes?" But of course, she has her own taste and who wouldn't rather make her own combinations? Which she did...

Lolita 2: Sophie's summer choices

Lolita 3, my personal favorite

Lolita 4, How 'bout them ruffles? Thanks, Peggy, for getting me hooked on the ruffler attachment!

Lolita 5; this one is mine. Sophia wants nothing to do with this one. Shouldn't the seamstress also get another Lolita?

So, it's cowboy boot weather here in NH, and I'm going to be showing off my knobby, scarred knees, (sorry 'bout that,) until it's time to put on the leggings. That'll be when the snow sticks.