Those Oh-So-Scrappy Stars

I've been feeling unsettled today and I'm not sure why.  Does that ever happen to you?  Something's not quite right but you're not sure what?  Today, for me, it could have something to do with the fact that my daughter, who's been so present in my life over the last several years, moved to South Dakota this weekend and I don't know when I'll see her again.  She has been such a support through last year's surgeries and vertigo, not to mention how much I enjoy her energy and bright spirit.

So it's been hard to focus for longer than a few minutes on anything today.  I have scrappy stars and little nine-patch blocks to sew, but they didn't capture my interest; and I have slow stitching and hand quilting to do, but neither of those hit the spot.  Then I remembered the oh-so-scrappy stars I made with Repro Quilt Lover Taryn's stitch-along last year.  Yes, the perfect thing.

Unlike me, who usually takes hours, days, weeks to make decisions, I pulled out some fabric, laid out the blocks on a piece of it, and began cutting alternate squares.

The original quilt has fabric that leans a little toward gold/light orange, but I thought this was good enough.

This is old fabric that I sewed into a dress which, when it didn't fit, I cut apart so I could use the fabric.  This is what it looks like with the blocks.  I think it's satisfactory.  (Though a light blue might have worked, too....)

The blocks have to be sewn together yet.  Maybe a finished top by the end of the week?!!

When I made these blocks I tried to recreate them using colors/fabrics as close to the originals as I could, and the layout is like the original little quilt, too.  But as I look at it, I'm tempted to rearrange the blocks.  Part of me says to leave them because the arrangement is like the original.  The other part of me says to rearrange them to create a little more balance. 

And what mom would want this quilt for her child unless she loves scrappy?!  It's just the craziest quilt!

I found the lost photos from a few days on Google photos where, I guess, my phone moves photos, or at least copies them.  Now I have to figure out how to move them from Google photos to my computer.  There's always something new to learn with technology!

Wherever you are, I hope you are safe, warm (or cool), and comfortable.

--Nancy.

Still Slowly Stitching

These are the next two pages of my 100 Day Stitchbook hosted by Ann Wood Homemade. The strip across the center of the one above is a piece of bark cloth.  I had an uneven yard of it and after squaring it up for a tablecloth, I had a long, narrow strip.  The other fabrics are ones I love but had only small pieces.

The pointed strip on the right is from a Cheri Payne sew-along which I decided not to use it as I originally thought.  The flower in the center is from an apron my daughter used until it was mostly worn out. 

I remember taking a drawing class in college in which the professor told us over and over, "Fill the page!"  I guess that stuck with me even when it comes to cloth pages, especially the first two that I posted last week.  These two sort of have borders.

I'm finding making these pages fun but I think they're more staid than creative.  I'm using leftovers from applique projects and other small scraps.  Prints are a little harder for this use, I think.  Maybe I need to dig out some other fabrics--maybe solids?--to integrate into some of the upcoming pages.

Our local library has a small bookshop where the friends of the library organization sell donated books.  They have also started making magazines available for free.  This J. & P. Coats 100 Embroidery Stitches was included in the magazine bin.  It's from 1979. I thought perhaps embroidery might enliven my stitchbook pages.  Maybe....

We had the most beautiful snow today.  It rained all last night but this morning, as we were getting ready to leave for church, the snow began.  Big heavy flakes that coated the leaves and branches of trees, twigs, shrubs, everything.  The day was so grey yet beautiful, too.  On the way home I pulled out my new phone and took some photos.  Being new, the phone and I are not well-acquainted  yet.  Moving photos from it to my computer is more complicated that with my old phone.  Wouldn't you know, I lost all the photos!  Gone forever.  (I'm spoiled with the ease of taking digital photos but challenged by technology.)

I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Thank you for hosting, Kathy.

--Nancy.

Tipping over the Edge of Halfway - One Monthly Goal

I'm so sorry for more photos of this quilt so soon.  When I'm working on only one or two quilts or projects it's hard to share something new with every post.

I finished hand quilting to the middle of this quilt today, or just above the middle.  In the photo below it's to the middle of the fourth row of blocks counting from the top of the quilt, the row with the pink and white skinny plus block. 

I considered quilting from the top down on the rest of the quilt so the fans would meet near the middle.  But when I quilt from an edge the fabric seems to shift forward ever so slightly, so I've decided I should probably keep going the direction I've been quilting.  Why risk a small mound of fabric in the center of the quilt?  I'm not sure why that happens.

My monthly goal for February is to hand quilt two rows of fans across this quilt.  I think I should be able to accomplish that.

On a health note, my vertigo seems to be gone--has been gone for longer than a week.  I can't tell you how happy that makes me.  The physical therapist recommended that I continue the eye and balance exercises the rest of my life!  Vertigo is one of the maladies that, once you've had it, can return unexpectedly at any time.  The exercises aren't so bad and they only take a few minutes.

I'm linking this post to
> February One Monthly Goal at Stories from the Sewing Room and
> Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia's Quilts.
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.

Help for Mending Clothes (or, To Mend or Not to Mend?)

Two things about me.  First, when I find clothes I love to wear, I wear them until they are almost threadbare.  Second, I really dislike repairing clothing.  These two facts are in opposition to each other, but I do mend clothes sometimes.  Until lately my thought was that mends should not call attention to themselves, should be as close to invisible as possible.  These days, along comes the idea that patches on clothes can be an accent, a point of interest, a fun way to show individuality.  I'm not quite there yet.  After all, how can a 75-year-old lady not look like a bag lady when she's walking around with patches covering her clothes?!  But I'm game to give obvious mends a try on the clothes I wear only at home.

I think these three books I found at the library are very helpful.  Mending is a popular topic these days!

Disclaimer:  To be honest, I did not read every word of every page of these books.  I used them more as reference manuals.

Make Thrift Mend. Stitch, Patch, Darn, Plant-dye & Love Your Wardrobe by Katrina Rodabaugh

Topics include 

• making new, embellishing, making something new from used fabric
• making natural dyes and dying clothes
• mending, tools, techniques; darning knit clothing (socks, gloves, sweaters)
  

There are well-explained examples, clear photographs, and detailed how-tos for every mend and every process.  I was pleased to see she included mending holes, rips, or tears in crotches and underarm seams.

The author's choice to make, thrift, and mend is based on sustainability, ethical soundness, and creative satisfaction.


The Mending Directory. 50 Modern Stitch Patterns for Visible Repairs by Erin Eggenburg

Eggenburg's reason for mending is to honor the work of the many  hands who grew the fiber, wove and dyed the cloth, cut, and stitched the garments we wear. 

Yes, this book is primarily stitch patterns for both woven and knit clothing.  She moves from planning the mend, explaining how to patch, the tools to use, and then explanations of how to mend.  Following those explanations are large photographs showing the stitches and how to create them.  

Also included in a pocket at the back are iron-on transfers for each of the stitches. 


Mending with Love. Creative Repairs for Your Favorite Things by Noriko Misumi

The author says, "Mending is love."  She makes sketches of ways to mend items of clothing.

She covers

• Mending socks.  My mom taught me to darn as close to invisibly as possible.  These socks have bright, colorful heels, toes, and balls of the feet.  Lots of detailed instructions.
• Mending holes and frays and to cover stains in ways that they seem natural to the item of clothing and blend in or enhance the item of clothing.  In this section, she covers felting to repair wool clothing.
• Basic patching techniques
• Covering stains with stamps
• Remaking old items into some other useful thing
  

All of these include directions, photos or illustrations, and refer to the appendix of mending techniques.

Of all three books, this is the book that encourages me to mend the old clothes I have that I so dearly love to wear.  I have a silk/wool blend sweater that I've worn for years.  I've mended it many times, but finally, a year or so ago, a worn place from just below my collar bone and about six inches long appeared.  Do I dare try to mend it--a large mend right over my breast?  The sweater also has holes in the sleeves....   My underwear wear out after a few years and I can't buy the style I like now.  They are starting to have patches on patches.  Cotton socks, elbows in knit shirts,....

The most fun mending I've seen among bloggers is in this post (scroll down) at Cynthia's blog.  She's shared other mends but I couldn't find them. 

Do you have favorite clothes that you don't want to let go, and do you mend them?

--Nancy.

Slow Stitching Today

After debating with myself for a week or so, I decided to participate in Ann Wood Homemade's 100 Day Stitch Book.  The idea is 15 minutes a day of slow stitching for 100 days (or 5 days/week) on 20 pages of fabric cut to 5½" x 7".  I like the idea of play and lack of rules.  And small.  No grand effort to make a whole quilt.  I thought, I can stitch 15 minutes five days a week.

I've finished two pages (the second of which is a little too pink in the photo),  and am in progress with the third.   Changes will happen to this page, below.

Ann works improvisationally, places fabric, stitches it, then adds to it.  (But participants can create by whatever method they like.)  I like her idea of "yes, and?"  No mistakes, no pressure, just visual and needle play.  I'm not second-guessing myself, not removing stitches, just choosing, cutting, and arranging fabric, then stitching, and there's lots of play involved with the choosing, cutting, and arranging.

I won't be stitching on the stitch book today but I will likely be quilting a few more fans on Everyday Patchwork.  I'm nearly half finished!

I'm linking this post to Slowing Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Kathy.

I hope you all have a great Sunday!

--Nancy.

Marking was the Right Thing This Time

I lost momentum on Everyday Patchwork about a year ago and the hand quilting stalled. 

Now that I'm using colored pencils to mark several fans, I can just sit and quilt without the interruption of having to mark as I go.  Yes!  I'm no longer stalled on this quilt.

I love using these homemade templates, imperfect as they are.

I'm almost halfway finished.  I started quilted rows from across the bottom, upward toward the center.  I'm thinking of turning the quilt around and marking from the top to the center, then finish by quilting the fans in arcs from the sides to the center.  If anyone notices, it will be something interesting for them to wonder about.

My vertigo has been gone for a week!  Hooray!  I'm so very grateful.  I hope it doesn't return.  Having vertigo after a knee replacement prevented good improvement on my balance and gait.  Physical therapy will help so I will finish the few weeks of appointments. 

I continue to have the months-long headache.  The doctor thought it might be one of my prescriptions so she asked me to stop it for two weeks and see.  It's been 10 days and the headache persists.  It may be that my eyes need a new prescription for glasses (appointment scheduled).  Since nothing else has helped, I hope that's it.  Also, sadly, my body chose stress-induced sciatica for the next challenge.   Ouch!  It's not as painful as the last time I had it but still painful.  If I can manage the stress the sciatica will go, and it has been slowly decreasing.  One of these days I should be back to or better than the old normal.

I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Thank you for hosting, Kathy.

--Nancy.

Links to Enjoy #29

Here are a few links that I thought had some interesting content.  Maybe you will enjoy one or two of them.

How many times is a book's bar code scanned from the time it comes into the library, goes out, and returns again?  (And how many times is a book handled even before it reaches the shelves for a patron to borrow it?)  This video gives a glimpse of the travels of a book from library to patron to library.


These are photographs of junkyards for airplanes, ships, old rail cars, etc.  Many of the objects are artfully arranged, and the aerial views reminded me of maps.  We throw away cans and bottles (or hopefully recycle them) but how do you dispose of these huge objects when they have outlived their use?  More photos here.  From the photographer, Cássio Vasconcellos, "...objects do not cease to exist in the world when we throw them away.  Rather, they inhabit other places."

What do you think of these quilt sculptures by Emily Van Hoff?  I like the bright colors (in the dead of winter).

This article, Embroidering a life, one day at a time reminds me of temperature quilts but a whole lot more interesting.

Can you imagine sending a baby in the mail?!!!  I don't know how common it was but yes, it happened.

There are two auctions in progress that I thought you might like to know about.  For both, the bidding seems low, but it's early days.

• First, Homestead Hearth is going out of business and is auctioning their fabric through an online company, Marquette Auction Services.  The first of three auctions, this one ends on January 24.  You can see what's up for bid here.
• Second, Dana Auctions is hosting an antique and vintage quilt and textile auction here.  There are antique and vintage quilts, antique fabric, feed sacks, magazines, etc.  This auction supports AQSG 2025 Seminar in Maine and ends on January 25.

--Nancy.

Quotes and Thoughts on Creativity

I used to be an avid collector of quotes but I'm not so much anymore.  Occasionally, though, a quote or two will come along that I want to save.  I thought I'd share with you, too.

From Kevin Kelly at The Technium.

• You have 5 minutes to act on a new idea before it disappears from your mind.  [This is often true for me. A half hour goes by and I find I'm scrating my head trying to remember what that wonderful idea I had was.]
  
• When you are stuck or overwhelmed, focus on the smallest possible thing that moves your project forward.
• When you find yourself procrastinating, don’t resist.  Instead lean into it.  Procrastinate 100%.  Try to do absolutely nothing for 5 minutes.  Make it your job.  You’ll fail.  After 5 minutes, you’ll be ready and eager to work.
  

From Miss Mustard Seed, who shared these thoughts after a relaxing, creative retreat with a like-minded artist.  Of the experience she wrote,

    . . . it was a time spent mulling over little things in my business, simmering on new ideas and thoughts, and, probably most importantly, it gave me time to plug in to a lot of creative encouragement from authors, podcasters, and [her friend] Shaunna.  People spoke into things like time management, the energy required for good creative work, cultivating a flow of ideas, ways to prevent or deal with burn-out, some of the pitfalls of social media, failure, and more.
   It was all a good reminder that rest is a crucial part of work and input is every bit as important as output.”

I love this gentle reminder that creativity needs time, encouragement, energy.

--Nancy.