The Wall Street Journal Comes In Handy

I've made some progress on my La Passacaglia project, my English paper piecing, extremely slow going, hand sewing project.  In my last post on this topic, it was this far along:

Now I'm here:

I've added three more rosettes to the upper left side.

Wondering what connection the Wall Street Journal could possibly have to quilting?   I used pages from the newspaper to make a template the size I want my finished quilt to be.  My plan is for this quilt to be a wall hanging, to hang in a specific space in my house.  This means it needs to be a little bit smaller than the original in the book with the directions so I need to make some modifications.  I taped newspaper pages together to the size I want (roughly 40" by 55").  

With the quilt on top of the newspaper template, I can see how much more work I need to do.  Importantly, I can see where I need to insert partial rosettes along the edges to square up the flimsy.  I don't want to piece a lot of rosettes only to wack off large parts of them. 

I'll use rulers to square up the final top but this newspaper template is a big help in the meantime.

The Quilt & Sewing Fest of New Jersey

On Saturday, I went to the Quilt & Sewing Fest of New Jersey.  It is an annual show put on by the Mancuso organization but a smaller operation than their fall show that is nearby in Pennsylvania.

I started with the exhibit quilts and this one quickly caught my eye.  Humor and quilting, so perfect together!  Fortunately, Mr. Main Street is no Brad; the Mister is pretty much oblivious to how much fabric I have (and how much I've spent on it).

Dottie"s Lament by Suzanne Bower, Dublin, PA

Here is another eye-catching quilt.  It is an abstract depiction of a flower bed at the peak of summer, pieced in half hexagons.  

Summer Peaks, by Irene Marchetto, Chatham, NJ

Summer Peaks, detail of the piecing

I'm afraid I'm getting jaded.  Perhaps it is the impact of the internet.  But I did not see many quilts I really liked this year.  The exhibits included the award winning quilts from the 2016 Mid-Atlantc Quilt Competition (another Mancuso show, it took place in Feb. in Virginia).  Yes, the award winners were spectacular but most were very densely machine quilted and I am not really a fan; I like a quilt that drapes.  The other exhibit quilts were  mini collections from various places.  For example, I saw several Kaffe Fassett quilts from Liza Priory Lucy but they look familiar, like I've seen them before at other shows.  

What made the show worthwhile for me was several new-to-me vendors with unique merchandise.  I picked up some Oakshott fat quarters from Pinwheels, purveyors of Daiwabo taupes from Japan, ball and chain zippers, wood buttons, as well as the Oakshott.  Her booth was very attractive and welcoming, lovely to browse.

Then I discovered Atelier D'Isabelle, selling her original design stitcheries in kit form, along with linen fat quarters and trims from France.  (Isabelle is actually French and her website is in French.)  Really cute and different; I bought two kits that can be made into small pictures or pillows.  

No, I haven't finished mine already.  These photos are from the booth.

Both L'atelier D'Isabelle and Pinwheels will be at the AQS show in Lancaster, PA next week.  If you are going, I recommend you check them out.

Organizing My Sewing Space

Have you ever been to Target and bought something that wasn't on your shopping list, just because you liked the look of it and the price was right?  Ha!  Do birds fly?  Here are my latest impulse purchases.  First, this wire basket (only $3!).  I thought I could put it on the floor under the table and use it to collect scraps, the ones that are too small to re-fold but too big to throw away.  Good idea but it is filling up fast.  Temporary solution but not long term scrap storage.

I also found these baskets that look like they are knitted but are made of plastic.  Also very inexpensive so I bought a few.  This smaller one is holding leftover binding I'm saving for a future unknown project where I just need a short piece.

I'm using the larger version to hold fabric I pulled from stash for a planned project.  I have two of these going now (but I have about 12 projects planned in my head).

As you may have surmised from my destash sale, I've been cleaning out and re-organizing my sewing space, or sewing "studio" as I've begun to call it.  Studio sounds so active and professional.  The gym I go to refers to their facility as the studio, which certainly sounds better (though less accurate) than torture chamber.

Getting fit and strong at OTF

Pulling my stash fabric out of the closet, refolding it, and putting it back in the closet was quite the workout.  Next up, the space around my sewing machine table.

La Passacaglia Update

I have more progress to show on La Passacaglia.  In the past week, I've taken it from this:

To this:

This is the lower section of the eventual quilt. I need to add a partial rosette to each side to square it up but will do that as I get closer to finishing.  I'm thinking of making some kind of big template the same size as the eventual quilt, to use so I can identify the outer edges.  I want to minimize the amount of time spent piecing sections that will be lopped off when I square up the top.  No rush though; next step will be the upper left quadrant.

Destash Sale - Charm Packs

One of my habits is to buy a charm pack or two whenever I see a collection I like a lot.  I figure they make a good reference for the prints in the collection and I can refer to it later if I need to order yardage online.  The problem is that I rarely use the charm packs!  So here are  few orphans I'm destashing in an effort to make room in my sewing closet for more recent fabric purchases.

Lot of 4 charm packs including:  

1 Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille for Moda (upper right, bright, clear colors), 

1 Vintage Holiday by April Cornell for Moda (lower right, mostly floral 

prints and mini blenders in jewel tones), and 

2 Friendship by Howard Marcus for Moda (left side, traditional prints in shades 

of deep red, dusty blue, and tan)

Price is $35, which includes domestic postage  SOLD

If you would like to purchase these charm packs, leave a comment telling me and I will send you an invoice via Paypal.  Just be sure you are not "no reply" in Blogger/Google so I can respond to your comment via email.  

Destash Sale - Beach House by Blackbird Designs for Moda

I liked the Beach House collection by Blackbird Designs for Moda so much when it came out, that I bought and bought.  I made one quilt out of fat quarters but have a lot of the fabric left in my stash and given what I have planned for my next 5-7 projects, I think I better let this go to a new home.

The photo above shows the colors in the collection -

muted shades of red, green, tan, ecru, blue, and brown.

Note, I no longer have a full fat quarter bundle.

If you would like to purchase any of what's shown below, leave a comment telling me and I will send you an invoice via Paypal.  Just be sure you are not "no reply" in Blogger/Google so I can respond to your comment via email.

A layer cake with one 10" square of fabric from each print in the collection.  

Price is $35, which includes domestic postage.  SOLD

Set of 12 fat quarters, including the cross stitch sampler print in each of four colorways, 

the large floral print in each of five colorways, two ticking stripe, and one mini blender.  

Price is $25, which includes domestic postage.

Additional yardage, includes tan ticking stripe (1 inch short of 3 yards), red and white shirting print in upper right corner is from Collection for a Cause Legacy but coordinates well (1 yard), 

red ticking stripe on lower left (1 yard), brown mini floral on lower right (1/2 yard) 

and light floral in center from Aviary collection and coordinates well (1.25 yards) 

6.75 yards total

Price is $60, which includes domestic postage.

Large floral print on Wedgewood blue background, 5.66 yards

Price is $50, which includes domestic postage.  SOLD

If one person wants to buy all of this, I will sell the whole lot for $160, including domestic postage.

If you want to buy anything shown, leave me a comment here indicating what you want and be sure I can reach you by email.  

More tomorrow!

La Passacaglia Connecting Stars

I've been sewing the stars that connect the rosettes together in La Passacaglia.  This is not the most interesting part of making the quilt, mostly because I decided all my stars would be white (Kona Snow) with green centers.  Each white triangle point on the star is about the size of my thumbnail so there's lots of sewing with little square footage being created.

In the photo above, the stars on the far left are already sewn into an arc that will go around one of the rosettes.  Still much more to do but I plan to use these stars to get a few more rosettes attached to the main body of the quilt this coming weekend.

This past weekend, I started cleaning out the closet in my sewing room.  My sewing room is the fourth bedroom in our 4-bedroom house; it doubles as a guest room.  Half of the closet has a hanging bar for the use of any guests (it also holds my formal attire in a garment bag) and the other half is shelves on which I store my fabric and some tools and equipment, box of thread, bottles of spray starch, and so on.

I've piled recent fabric purchases on the floor, due to lack of room in the closet, and am now culling the closet contents to make room for the stuff on the floor.  I had good intentions last year when I read Marie Kondo's book and made progress in my clothes closet and drawers but never made it out of the bedroom.

But 2016 is the year for the sewing room to get the "joy" treatment.  Check back tomorrow for the start of my destash sale.