Tag Archives: sewing

Shut my mouth……

10 Tuesday May 2011

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As I walked through the doors to the Maury Quilters’ Guild meeting last Wednesday,  my jaw dropped open and I don’t think it closed until time to eat lunch.

We had a guest speaker, Jean Shaw, a well-known quilter and lecturer in the Tennessee area and probably outside of Tennessee.  She is a fourth generation quilter, raised on a farm and taught by her mother and grandmother.  She reminisced about using what ever fabrics were available during that time.  Her favorite thing to do was go with her father to the feed and grain store so she could pick out the sacks they came in.  She knew these would be turned into clothes and eventually into quilts.

She has an accounting and math background and talked about how that affects her planning and construction of quilts.  Her precision and color choices are breathtaking as well as jaw dropping.   Take a look!!!

Another amazing creation…..

For those of you who don’t quilt, paper piecing uses a paper template for each element in one block of a quilt.  In this case for example, each one of the points that makes up the starburst is on a template of paper and a piece of fabric is sewn onto to it and then the next adjoining fabric and so on to create one block.  This helps create the perfect points and really works well to create curves as in the circle of fabrics surrounding the starburst.  Paper piecing is probably my favorite method of piecing a quilt top.

Here’s another…..

The next few quilts are all made from 30’s reproduction fabrics.  These along with batiks and brights are my very favorite fabrics.  The 30’s bring back memories of  my grandmother’s quilts.

These next few are called “scrappy quilts”.  Now when you think of the word scrappy you probably think this can’t be good.  Scrappy means left over and throw away.  Not for quilters.  This is a chance to use those left over fabrics in your stash from other projects and create something like this…..

Aren’t all of these just excellent?  I obviously didn’t show the entire quilt of some because you couldn’t see the patterns and fabric unless I did a close up.  There are so many more that she brought to share but I would be on this post for days if I showed them all.

Someone asked her how many quilts she actually had and she couldn’t give us a number.  She said she decided one day to count them and quit after one closet because had 114 in that closet alone.   Most of them she has made over the years but some (which she doesn’t travel with) were from her mother and grandmother. 

If you ever get a chance to attend a quilt show or go to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY, take time to GO!!  You won’t be disappointed I promise.  Each and every quilt is a work of art in color and craftmanship.

For those of you who sew or even those who would like to learn,  if you haven’t attempted a quilt, you should.  It doesn’t have to be a large quilt.  It can be a miniature, crib or lap size.  Think you can’t do it, take a lesson. 

Now that I’ve shared all of this with you I will SHUT MY MOUTH….

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Threads of Grace……

07 Thursday Apr 2011

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A few months back a young lady from a local hospice came to our Quilt Guild and spoke to us about making something out of an item belonging to clients who had passed on.  Our finished product would be given to the loved who had provided the item. 

The program was called Threads of Grace and she brought an example  of what had been made by someone else.  The items provided could be a favorite dress, shirt, robe, blanket, handkerchief, tie,  gown, or pajamas, etc.  She asked for volunteers to sign up and she would give us a call when she had an item.

My call came a couple of months later and she gave me a soft yellow knit robe from an elderly lady.  The lady’s adult granddaughter brought it in along with a picture.

The hardest part to me was the deconstruction of the garment, not only physically but mentally.  What if I got it apart and couldn’t make anything out of it?  How do I make it represent the personality of the person who passed?  A lot of thought went into this and at times I didn’t know if I could do it!

The robe had a small inset satin embroidered collar, zipped up the front, and small scalloped trim on the pockets and sleeves.  After a few days or weeks of studying this,  I decided to make a small pillow with the grandmother’s picture on it and use some of the embellishments to add to it.

For those of you who sew, you know knit is not the easiest fabric to sew on, so the first thing I had to do after deconstruction was stabilize the fabric.  I used a fusible featherweight Pellon and adhered it with an iron on the wrong side of the fabric before I put the scissors to it.I then decided what size pillow I wanted and cut out the front and back of the pillow. 

The next step was to  transfer the picture to fabric using my scanner, printer and Printed Treasures fabric sheets for inkjet printers to create the cloth picture.  Then I sewed the trim to the picture and the picture to the front of the pillow.

 

I knew I wanted to use the embroidered collar in some way,  so here is what I envisioned.   

   

The next thing was to decide what else I needed to add and what to use. 

I love fabric roses and had made several for another project.  The knit fabric, being hard to control because of curling and raveling, gave me the idea to use the hem of the garment.  I cut it off  about an inch above the hem and ran a gathering stitch through it.  That way I had no raw edges on the petals of the roses.

I used the zipper pull to create the antennae of the butterfly and tacked it on with thread and a little Fabri-tac glue leaving the ends loose.  I attached the wings and the body of the butterfly so that it appeared 3-D.  Once all of that had been done, I sewed the back to the front and stuffed the pillow.  Whip stitched the opening and I was finished.

It gave me great joy and pleasure to make this for someone.  I know when my Daddy died, I got all of his ties and made pillows for my mother, my sister and my niece.  I never made one for myself and still have a few ties left.  Someday.

Log cabin, log cabin…..here it is

01 Tuesday Mar 2011

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Yesterday’s post was about how the cabin looked at first sight.  I guess I had on rose-colored glasses because I saw through all that.

To make the cabin ours and what we envisioned a cabin getaway should look like, we decided the walls needed to be board and bat.  The ceiling tiles made the rooms feel claustrophobic but we thought it was also for insulation and to hold duct work.

My great local guy (GLG) got a glimpse of what we might expect the ceilings to look like when he was re-wiring the electric panel in a bedroom.  Here’s a look at what he found…….

There was plenty of insulation above these ceilings so we decided to remove the drop ceilings in all rooms.  WOW!  Did that ever make a difference in the feel and look.

The dining room floor was a very dark wood and had a hole in it on the right hand side close to the fireplace.  Due to the problems with a leak we had in the kitchen, we thought it might be a result from that and had caused some rot.  GLG  said he would take a look and try to repair it to match the rest of the floor.  

Surprise, surprise, surprise……oh yeah, it was rotten because some brilliant person had laid the floor on top of the ground!!  Look around, are we on Candid Camera?

Along with GLG we figured out a fix.  He also took out the two large gas heaters, built a mantle out of another piece of wood found in the storage shed, took out the fluorescent lighting, and hung a chandelier.  It is cozy, quaint and somewhat romantic when the fireplace is lit.  Here’s a look…..

I found an antique farm table at a local antique shop, Loblolly Antiques, and the chairs came from two more antique shops, one between here and Atlanta and the other I can’t remember.  The churn is my hubby’s great grandmother’s, the little corner cabinet was his mother’s and the french grain sack on the table and the ones I made cushions out of were from an antique shop in Franklin, Tennessee.

Next are pictures of the great hall and family room. 

The ceilings and walls were treated the same way as the dining room. The floor in the great hall did not need repair but the one in the family room was repaired by putting a 3/4 inch subflooring with a finished side.  This made a world of difference in that room.  No more cracks and wondering what might come through the floor.  Actually nothing ever did except cold air.

The “great hall” substitutes as a part-time office and butler’s pantry.  The table is used as a desk when not needed otherwise and the buffet holds extra dishes. 

You may not be aware but I love roosters!  I have a collection at home and can’t seem to pass one up in a store, but it has to be special.

The furniture in the great room was left with the cabin except for a couple of tables, lamps and pictures.  Not really my choice of sofas and chair but we decided we could replace them some time later.

The little gas fireplace replaced the gas wall heater and when lit can heat up most of the cabin. 

The quilt you see on the small sofa was found in an antique shop, the picture above the large sofa we bought in the late 70’s or early 80’s from an artist at an art show in Brandon,  MS and is actually a cabin in the Tennessee mountains.  Who knew we would have one of our own some day.

The last two rooms are the bedrooms.  The walls and ceilings were treated the same as the other rooms and the floors were in good shape.  They each have identical fireplaces that are original to the cabin and gas log inserts.

The bed was left with the cabin.  I made the triple irish chain quilt along with the bedskirt and curtains.  They are blue and white toile from my fabric stash.  This is the bedroom my son sleeps in.  We decided to keep the fish pictures, lamps and a few other accessories to keep it a little more masculine.

 The ladder you see in this photo was one my daddy made a long time ago when he did carpentry work building houses.  It was actually more than twice as long, but we cut it in two and my niece, Orangie’s Attic, took the other half.  The chest, table and chair came from a local antique shop name Reminisce.

The last room is hubby’s and my bedroom.  Same ceiling and wall treatment as the previous bedroom.

The quilt on this bed is another one made by me.  I think the design is called “In Bloom” because of the fabric I used.

I wanted a somewhat old fashion, cut lace bedskirt but couldn’t find one long enough.  I decided I could use ready-made curtain panels and found some the exact length I needed.  NO SEWING required.  I used the little twist pins and attached the panels to the box springs.  I actually attach all my bed skirts this way.

The window treatment is ready-made panels of gauze with two more cut lace panels hung in between to give a cafe curtain look and lengthen the window.  This all soften the look of the bedroom.

The armoire and chest of drawers were purchased because the closet in this room had shelves only and we use it for storage of supplies. 

There are still some things I need to do or would like to do, but for now,  I’m happy with the way it turned out. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe got a few ideas for your own use.  Whoopee, now I have time for this……..

Aaaaah!  Iced tea or lemonade please?

Log cabin, log cabin….Bathroom renovation

21 Monday Feb 2011

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Okay time to get to the next most important room in the cabin…….the bath.  At first glance all I could think was EEEK!  It was screaming ” help me, help me”.

It had vinyl paneling on all the walls and ceiling that was supposed to look like tile with black grout, an old wall mounted sink in need of refinishing, an old tub with a “sneaky snake” looking shower head and that dark marble looking vinyl floor. OH, and guess where the electrical box was… yep… in the shower……ZZZAP….sorry for the shock!!!  Another great feature, a window located in the shower.  Not only did you have the “sneaky snake” to deal with but creatures both human and non, could look in and watch. Out, out I say!! 

Well, our GLG, had a “ripping good time”…..sorry.  Hey, you never know what you might find behind those walls and floors.  Buried treasure??  Well, we did find some things, like the commode leaking under the floor and the shower leaking behind the wall and the tub as well.  But wait, the wall to the right as you walk in revealed the original logs………YAAAY!!!!  What a treasure!  It’s gold, gold I say!

After repairing floors, walls and plumbing, we decided on no tub just a shower, a pedestal sink and an ADA approved commode.  We installed a slate looking vinyl floor (remember no level floors, no square walls), white subway tiles around the shower stall and board and bat on the walls, except for the log wall which we left exposed.  We put the bead board paneling on the ceiling and took out the window and replaced it with glass block.  It was clear block, the patterned or textured blocks were expensive and had to be special ordered…no time for that, so I got etching cream and etched them myself.  It still let light into the bathroom and looked great.  Added an overhead light, new mirror with medicine cabinet and a light fixture over that.  The electrical panel was moved to the room that backs up to the bathroom.  Now no added shock to the daily shower.

I found a small cabinet in a little shop in Spring Hill, Tennessee called Backdoor Antiques that holds our towels, and has a drawer to hold my makeup.  I had the fabric in my stash and made a surround for the sink, which I attached with industrial strength velcro and made a matching shower curtain.  By the way, we replaced the bathroom door, that was made of plywood and opened to the opposite side against the commode.  We found more old planks in the storage shed and my GLG made a plank door and hinged it on the opposite side.  No extra maneuvering around for our son. 

Whew!!! One more room done and more to come.  I know you are all thinking, this is costing a fortune but I really have searched for the most economical appliances and fixtures.  Some of the things I have purchased have been in the closeout section and I love getting bargains.

I will step away from the log cabin for a while to post on other subjects but will be back with more log cabin……be ready…. more AMAZING uncovered finds.

Pillows and Pillowcases……

16 Wednesday Feb 2011

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A few years ago,  I had a small booth in a local Antique Shop.  The owners were also agreeable to put in handmade items.  I decided to put together my sewing skills with my painting skills and create some pillows and pillow shams for children’s rooms.  I had several yards of blue and white ticking as well as red and white ticking.  I don’t have pictures of the actual steps I used to create these but I can give them to you and show the final results.

First I decided what size and shape of the pillows I wanted to make.  Then I played around with a design until I got what I wanted.  Once that was done, I put the design on tracing paper and pinned it to the unfinished top of the pillow.  I used a temporary adhesive to attach the fabric to a piece of foam core so I would have a hard surface to paint on.  I placed a piece of  graphite paper under the tracing paper and I transferred the design to the fabric.  Using acrylic fabric paint and a fairly stiff brush, I blocked in the design and added a few highlights and some shading.   When this was dry,  I used a permanent marker and outlined the design and added some words.   Once they were completely dry, I finished the pillow sewing the front to the back and adding trim if needed.

These are simple patterns and you could even get patterns from children’s coloring books and use most any fabric, however, smooth surface fabric would be best, like cotton.  If you choose cotton just wash and press it first to get the sizing out ( so the paint will adhere better) and to preshrink it. Here are pictures of the results.

 These are obviously for little boys.

These are for little girls.  In both cases I also show a couple of pillow shams.  The flowers on these were painted freehand without a pattern, along with the vases.

Here are some photos of individual pillows.  This one of the bunny was created for a good friend of mine for her granddaughter.   It, of course, is on a different fabric and was a little more involved with shading and highlights.

I am showing you the back and front of this pillow, because I added some writing to the back.

On this pillow, I added some writing on the front and some waves to give some added interest to the tug boat.

 This is the last picture, I used a bright fabric for the back as well as for the flange on the sides along with some rickrack.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and it has given you some ideas on creating fun and decorative pillows for the kids in your family or friends.  Deciding on colors and fabric is the hardest part of this project.  Enjoy!!!