Tag: bark cloth

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Not everybody sews

You don’t have to sew to play with indigo at my Indigo 101 class.  The next one in coming  right up on Sunday September 13th from 1 – 4 at Paradigm Gardens. You can call them at 608/242-3800 to register.  It’s $85 or $80 if you sign up with a friend.

I serge all of the fabric for my classes.  It’s a bit time consuming but I realize that not everyone who wants to play with dye, wants to sew.

I give students six Fat Quarters each and we learn at least six patterns.  Fat quarters are used in sewing quite a bit, they are basically a quarter of a yard of fabric.  They are 18 X 22 inches in size.  Awesome for quilting or making into little projects.

They also make fabulous and generous napkins or small but useful furoshiki wrapping clothes.

IMG_3241

Furoshiki clothes a a whole ‘nother rabbit hole to fall into but also way fun to play with.

 

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Labyrinth

Totally and completely finished!
I kept in a couple of pockets but cut them up for fun. 
I made sure the stitching was just on the outside of the pockets so they’re still somewhat usable.  I went over the back side of the quilt with running stitch so it wouldn’t have a blank space. 
Here’s some gratuitous closeups.  Note the red wheels in the back ground.  That’s my tree trunk table, pushed off to the side.
And yes, before you even ask, I did walk the labyrinth.  Several times.  It’s a short trip.
When I turned it over I realized that the backing is upside down.  D’oh.
Nothing to do about it now except call it quirky.
I added a sleeve for a hanging rod at one end but I don’t think it’ll get use much.  Why would someone take up a giant hunk o’ wall with this when it could be keeping you warm and toasty on your couch?
Also, check it out:
Someone else’s picture of my OCD quilt up at Absolutely Art for the Habitat for Humanity ReStore benefit.  …tee hee…
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Queen of Corners

I’m soooooo close.  I attached the binding last night.  I had to stop though because of the corners.
I am not the Queen of Corners.
It’s this double binding thing that I did for the first time on my last quilt.  I never looked into a better way to make corners – which I totally have down on the other way to make binding.  So, today my royal responsibility is to figure it out. 
I hope to have a finished quilt to show you tomorrow.  
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Finally!

I’m done with the quilting!  
That’s really all I have to report.
Second picture because the lighting isn’t great.  But it’ll be days before we get actual sunshine.  
By then, it should be all done.  
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Lucky Happy Perfect Quilt

This quilt is actually the full catastrophe.  Remind me next time I name a quilt to go with something like Happy Days or Lucky Me.
I’ve never added on to a quilt that is already a sandwich.  It’s a real pain.  
I had to unpin the edges, add the denim on and hand sew some batting on.  Luckily, the backing was big enough, I didn’t have to add any of that.  I don’t think that would have looked right.
I know people machine quilt with machines like this and are used to it but I found it to be a pain.  The quilt is so heavy and bulky.  
But enough complaining, I like the way it’s turning out.  I added a strip to the top (just to be safe) and then the edging on the left.  I decided not to just add the path part, I like that strip on the left too much to cut it up more.  
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Happy…Unhappy

I bought all 12 skeins of the ecru embroidery thread at Wisconsin Craft Market.

They sold it to me – with a smile – in a cute little paper bag that reminded me of the bags I would get when buying penny candy as a kid.  Happy.
It’s full body sewing.  I often need pliers to get the needle through all the layers.  I think it’s because I’m using the whole 6 ply thread – I usually split it in half and use three plies.  Many plies = pliers.  Hmm.
At this point, I caught my fatal flaw.  Unhappy.

You saw me lay out the yarn template, right?  That was supposed to save me from myself.

http://labyrinthsociety.org/

Remember this?

It’s hard to describe and harder to get a decent picture of but I have two ends left to connect which would make two more paths…
And only room for one more path.  Sooooo…  I f-ed it up.  
I’m not one to beat myself up at any length, though.  That’s boring.
  I had a choice to make and it was actually really easy to make it.  I could either make the last path continue off the edge of the quilt so that you would have to imagine it there or widen the quilt.  
Imma widen the quilt.  The imaginary path off the edge really defeats the purpose of the labyrinth.  I was halfway tempted to only add that part of the quilt that will have a path on it… actually, I still am tempted to do that.  It might be too complicated for someone who couldn’t fit a labyrinth on a quilt even using a template.   Only one way to find out.
I did have a place for the path there at one point but took it out thinking it was extra.  
Enough typing..time to do some improvising!
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Hooh Ah

After futzing about a bit, I picked my stitch for the labyrinth quilt:

Chain Stitch.  
Every time I think of it I get the song “Chain Gang” in my head.  
It looks solid on the denim side.  
If you clicked play, you are now enjoying this post with musical accompaniment and this will make sense:
Hooh ah
It’s like a close running stitch on the Bark Cloth side.  The chains are kinda large but with the fabric being so thick I feel like it works.  
Hooh Ah
Now the decision is made I’m moving pretty quickly.  I ran out of thread already, I’m not used to using so much, running stitch takes very little thread.  
Hooh Ah.
It’s pretty primitive looking at this point.  I’m hoping I still like it when it’s done because at that point, it’ll be done, ya know.  I’m so short on time, they’ll be no revisions.  
Hooh Ah.
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Dang!

I know the answer to this but who’s job is it to keep me from doing stupid things?
And if it’s mine I’m screwed!
So, quilting a labyrinth.  Great idea for someone who isn’t afraid to do the math.  Getting the labyrinth to fit took some figgerin’. I measure and divided and T-pinned where I thought the different parts would go. 
Then I stood there scratching my head.
For a while.
 Finally I gave up and cheated, just like I used to do in 9th grade algebra.
I laid out some yarn to see where it should go and just fudged the placement a bit till it fit.
There was a lot of empty space at the bottom here so I just shifted the pins down and I’m hoping for the best.
I didn’t start this as a place to practice stitches but it’s worked out that way.
I’m still figgerin’ on how to quilt it.  I need a more solid line for the labyrinth to really show so I tried back stitch instead of running stitch.  It worked on the front.
But not really on the back.  
More figgerin’ for me.  
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Jumps Into My Wet Head

All of my best ideas come when I’m in the shower.  Just sayin’. 
I should shower more often.  
Anyhoo, I got this all pinned and all that’s left to do is quilt that sandwich!
But I always (well, almost always) struggle with how to quilt it: Should I just do simple lines across? Should I do a fancyish pattern? Should I use multi-colored thread or white or something else all together?  Often, I enjoy that part but not as much when I’m in a rush.  This one is hard because the fabrics don’t really match each other stylistically- they often don’t.  
So, skip ahead to the shower when the idea of making a labyrinth just jumps into my wet head.  How cool would that be?
http://labyrinthsociety.org/
Totally cool, that’s how cool.
The following are simply close ups of the pins in the quilt.  
I don’t know why I get such a kick out of the patterns they make.
I just do.
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But I Know Better

The library quilt is coming along.  
I actually changed it after taking this picture   It was too long and skinny so I took the bottom panel off, lengthened it a bit and sewed it to the side.
This is the bark cloth curtain I’m using for the backing fabric.  It’s so funky and 50’s.
It was awkward to get a picture of it all.  I’ve since cut the backing fabric down.  I’ve never really liked the staircase leading from my living room to the basement except for when I’m working on large projects like this.  Then it’s very useful.
I’m actually liking this denim park better on the unfinished back side.  But I know better; that’s too impractical for the intended recipient.  Maybe next time I’ll sew it all together with enclosed seams so both sides work.  Hmmmm, like a denim pojagi.  I’ll file that away for later.
I’m hoping to have it all sandwiched today and start quilting.  As always, when I’m on a deadline, I’m tempted to machine quilt it but the end result just isn’t lovely enough so I’m pretty sure I won’t.