wise craft

altering fabric

This has been on my list to try for a while. This seems like a natural progression for someone obsessed with fabric like I am, and apparently the crafting world at large is thinking the same thing, because there are some fabulous books currently out and soon to be out that can easily walk you through all you need to know to do this (more on that in a minute).

On Sunday, I decided to try bleach discharge. I pulled out a dozen or so fabrics, in a range of shades from dark to light, some blues and greens, some pinks and reds, to see how the different colors would react. I set up shop in the backyard with an empty plastic bin, and mixed a simple solution of 4 quarts water with 4 cups bleach. I added the fabric into the solution in three different batches (not sure this was entirely necessary, but I did), then set the timer for 5 minute increments. (Note I did not add soap in the solution, the bubbles could be from stirring.)

 

I have to say it didn't seem to alter the fabric at all for most of the time it was in the solution (although I'm sure it was), but when I did start to see a change in the fabric colors it happened fast, so my advice is to keep your eyes on it. This batch came out about 15 minutes later, I left the next fabrics in for the same amount of time. Then I ran them all through a wash cycle to remove the bleach, then pressed them out.

Here's the results-

 

 

All of these are quilting cottons, with the exception of the linen Lotta Jansdotter on the bottom right of the last photo. Some fabrics changed quite a bit, some not so much. But fun, right? The most interesting changes are when the dye washes away and brings out some undertone in the original color that didn't show up as much in the original. I think I'd like to play with this some more, adjusting the times the fabrics are in the solution, etc.

 

I started a new pillow, pairing one of the bleached pieces with its original (an Amy Butler print). This is very cool stuff. I am really excited that Malka's book is due out in November. If its anything like her blog and beautiful fabrics, it will only inspire me further. And Amy's book came last week, which sort of sent me off on this tangent to begin with, but more on that tomorrow. I'm going to try to blog every day this week, to get me back in the habit, plus I just have lots to talk about.

Oh! And today I have a interview up over at The Progressive Pioneer (thank you Amy!).

Have a great day!

quilty daydreams

 

Thank you all for your kind words on my last post. It all feels like our family has a lot of plates spinning in the air right now, we're just trying to take it all step by step. Every day is full of extreme highs and lows, which can wear a person out. I think all this bustle is precisely why I've been running to the quiet pages of beautiful quilting books every night before bed, and at other stolen moments during the day. Making a quilt for me is quiet work, solitary and reflective, and it symbolizes many things. Looking through the pages of these books, even though I am way too tired to even imagine the energy to make a quilt at that moment, I think of how unique each one is, how they are meant to last, how they are meant to be used. And how emotional they are to me. They are a refuge of sorts, a luxury (I always wanted one before I made my first one). When a tough day is over, there is absolutely nothing better to do than sit with someone you love under a quilt you made. But lately, the next best thing is looking at them. And if anyone in Seattle is looking for any of the Kaffe Fassett books at the public library, my apologies to you, I probably have the one you're looking for. I never really looked closely at his quilts before, his brilliant fabrics I have always liked, but in smal doses. But then seeing these examples, the top one from Quilts in the Sun and the others from Passionate Patchwork, gave me a whole new appreciation. I especially love the 4th one down because he used no sashing on it, I like the effect best when the pattern fades on into the binding.

I went to Amelia's for tea the other day and got to see the beautiful doily quilt she's working on. It is beautiful! What a treasure it will be when its done. I can just see her little one waking up in the morning, and studying all the different tiny embroidered things there are to see in every square. Its going to be a beauty Amelia.

OK, off to take the cooled jam thumbprint cookies off the sheet, Melissa and Sally are coming tomorrow. Thanks for the chance to ramble quilt things off to someone (Peter stopped listening to talk like that a long time ago.)

Oh! Did I mention I can't wait for Amy's book? Can.not.wait!

more patchwork

 

Another patchwork product. Are you tired of these? This time done in a long (28") rectangular pillow. Some accuse me of churning these patchwork things out. I assure you I'm not, it just looks that way, thanks to the magic of blogs. I'm really loving the way little bits of color and pattern come to life when combined this way. The length of the pillow inspired the patterning of the blocks (seen best in the 2nd photo). I didn't think too much about the fabric placement beyond making a stack of pale colors and one of more saturated colors. That's another thing I love about patchwork. You can get crazy specific on it, or just start piecing and see what happens.

We have so so much going on around here, our life is feeling kind of pieced and patchworky. The kids are enjoying the last bit of summer...Peter is preparing the launch of something very exciting and I can't wait to tell you about it (when he'll let me, soon)...and I am soon to be starting a new job, back in the fashion industry, after 11 years. I'm nervous and thrilled! Which means I have to buy some new clothes. I think that anything black (without stains) will work nicely to start with. I'm inspired to make myself a plain black smock/tunic (to wear over  jeans) and do a flower collar on it. Do you guys know of any good basic tunic patterns?

WE-ACTx

 

 

These beautiful handmade dolls were a gift from our friend Shelly, brought back from Rwanda, (she divides her time between there and Seattle). The women that make these (and many other handmade items) are part of the organization WE-ACT. They are all survivors of the genocide, as well as HIV-positive. Straight from WE-ACT's website, "Our primary mission is to increase women’s and children’s access to primary health care and treatment in resource-limited settings at the grassroots level." When Peter and I worked with a client in Rwanda, I wanted to more about this place, so I read material on the genocide, saw this movie, and, now that the genocide is in the past, how life in Rwanda continues to improve today. These people have been through so much. It is amazing to hold this handmade doll in my hand and think about what the person who made it has survived. Just had to share.

back to school

We are in back-to-school mode here, so I (reluctantly) need to take a break from the lovely, oblivious patchwork world I was happily living in. I am cleaning out rooms and closets, clearing out clothes that no longer fit, finally putting away or recycling all the paper brought home from last school year. Its not a task I look forward to, but powering through it makes us all happier in the end. We were only given a short list of required supplies by the kid's school, so I will supplement with lots of cool pencils, erasers, and things like that. Because the geek in me loves buying school supplies!

 

(photo from Graze Organic)

*I love these snack bags (isn't the "surprise one fun?). I'm really trying to make the kid's lunches full of less waste, which will mean sewing up more cloth napkins so we have plenty on hand. I'm also making some of Betz's sandwich wraps. Knowing my kids will not carry any fabric snack bag made with prints that they deem "too silly" or "not cool", my choices will be extremely key in all this reusable stuff (and having plenty on hand, because the laundry can never seem to keep up).

 

(Photo from Camp Creek)

*This wonderful writing nook is good inspiration for me to keep on cleaning and clearing. Emma is entering the 5th grade, a year of big preparation for middle school. Good study habits learned now will be key for her, and to have a place where she can peacefully study and perhaps feel inspired will help her focus.

I will be making some things here and there, as time allows, to supplement our back to school shopping. I'm really interested in making a lap desk for each of the kids. After tackling the beanbag, this sort of project seems completely doable to me. I also want to finally make the kids some bed pockets for their beds. I did a completely botched version of this once, deep in the recesses of this blog you will find it. Bleh. Ian's bed is a loft bed, so no bedside table and this would be good for him to put his books in. I have some cute book lights stashed away that I will stick in the bed pockets as a surprise. Aaaaaand, we'll be redoing our morning routine rules again this year. This is good, and so simple, visuals are everything to most kids, and it works to keep my kids on track. Plus, our school days start 15 minutes earlier this year, so staying on track in the morning is more important than ever. 

Alas, I must get back to the cleaning out part. What are you guys doing to get ready for back to school?

the valley of the lillies

Our neighbor left a bouquet of lillies on our front porch, picked from her beautiful garden. I decided to put them in separate vases on our mantle. Their wonderful smell fills the entire downstairs (I didn't know lillies could smell like that!). Several of you have asked about that mirror before. I thrifted it, then painted it, for Peter for Christmas the first year we were dating. So...16 years ago. I went a little nuts on the faux finishing (what? it was big then), but we still like it even now. The vases are a mixture of new Jonathan Adlers (the second from the left is an J. Adler toothbrush holder) and ones I've picked up thrifting.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments about the quilt (and about Ian's birthday) you've left me! Brightens my day as much as these flowers.

stash value quilt

I spent most of Friday and Saturday stitching and binding this quilt. I was completely ready to finish it, no matter what, and we had no commitments this weekend. I machine stitched in the ditch around all the blocks, then made binding for the edges in a Kona Cotton Grass Green. I handstitched the binding on Saturday morning, removed the basting stitches, then washed and dried it. Done. Whew!

 

As I was making this quilt, I was thinking about all the fabrics I used in it and where they came from. Several of these fabrics have been in my stash for a while, and they really are like snapshots... I remember where I got them, what was going on in my life, other projects I used them in, etc. Many came from friends, literally from all over the world.  Aside from a few small cuts of yardage, I didn't buy any new fabrics for this quilt, I really wanted to use what I had (which was the same goal I had when I made Emma's quilt). As I was cutting and assembling the blocks, I kept finding forgotten fabrics, shoved in the back of the stacks, that looked pretty to me again. Like the vintage feedsack fabrics I collected a few years ago during a fairly healthy obsession with finding them on ebay, mixed with pieces like thrifted curtain panels that I've been holding on to simply because I loved them, leftover scraps from other projects. This quilt is really special to me for these reasons. You can look at my Flickrstream to see notes on where the individual fabrics came from.

I think one of the best things about this quilt is the process of free piecing and not having to give too much thought to color balance, fussy cuts, or anything complicated. I sorted the fabrics, decided how many blocks I would need, cut them, sewed them, placed them on my removable quilt wall to find a pleasing arrangement, then stitched it all together. It sort of freed my brain to do a little paper piecing on the side, which is really fun (honest!) but in a completely different way. More on that later. The quilt rumpled up perfectly when it was washed and dryed. The backing is cream flannel, and I used Warm & Natural Cotton batting, my current favorite because I love how rumply it gets when its washed. And, yes, it is warm (but not heavy).

 

Okay, seriously, how satisfying is this image for a quiltmaker?? Emma grabbed it the minute it came out of the dryer. This is exactly why I go to the trouble of making quilts. (And Gracie's tight with Emma, so she's willing to share.)

If you're thinking of making a quilt like this, you can follow Katie's tutorial here. Its one of those projects that big, but not overwhelming. She sent me a stack of pre-cut blocks for my version of this quilt a month or so ago, I don't think she realized how I quickly I would jump in, I didn't either. It was the right project at the right time. Its a fantastic project for a beginner, the biggest challenge would be accumulating enough different fabrics for it. Although it would be just as interesting to try making this up in just a few prints repeated throughout the quilt.

OK, onto my next project. Floor pillows for the family room. The beanbag is in such high demand, we need to supplement. Have a lovely day!

a cat and (apparently) her quilt

 

This quilt has been taped down on our living room floor, partially assembled, for 3 days. (By the way, no one in my family questions why its there.) I took a smallish break from basting it to nurse a blister that had formed on my finger from the pushing the needle through all those layers, and we even left town for an overnight trip while it was living on the floor. When I came back in town I realized Gracie had probably been laying on it pretty much the whole time we were gone. (Good thing quilts get washed in the end.) She seems to have taken ownership of this quilt. Maybe its because its new, maybe its just because. Whenever I work on it, she sits with me and watches. She's smart, that one. Because it will definitely be cozy. The backing is cream flannel. I don't usually back my quilts with flannel, and every time I touch the back I think about how nice it will be to curl up under in the family room this winter.

For those that may be wondering why its taped down on my floor? I tape the quilt back onto the floor (the living room floor has always made the most sense for this), then add the layers on top (batting, then quilt top itself). This is about an hour's worth of ironing, smoothing, and checking for unwanted wrinkles. You can't rush it. From there, I hand baste a running stitch with the ugliest, brightest thread I have (so I can see it later) to hold all three layers together smoothly. My vote is all for hand basting versus pinning, hands down. I have done several quilts using both methods and the thread basting (which takes more time) always makes everything easier in the end. A well-basted quilt can almost be treated like one piece of fabric because its quite secure. (Gracie also seems to approve of this method, that little thread is so fun to play with.) I hand baste starting from the middle and going out, making a "star" shape coming from the center, then I continue on, basting at right angles all around the quilt, sitting in the middle of it and turning clockwise around the quilt. On the back, it ends up looking something like this-

The weather is Seattle right now is reminding me that Fall is right around the corner. I am just not ready in so many ways. I did order myself a copy of Make Your Place zine on Amy Karol's recommendation and I'm so glad I did. (A reason to collect more essential oils helps just about anything.) When our niece Kate came through town she left us with lots of new music to listen to. We are currently pretty stuck on The Last Shadow Puppets.

I'm going to go work on finishing that quilt. I really need to see something finished around here.

eight

Well, I didn't mean to just take off like that without a word, sorry for being rude. Seems like time just got away from me before we left for our annual summer trip to NC. In a way I'm glad, because you continued to leave some great cleaning suggestions on that last post. I have read through them all and plan to do adapt several of the suggestions. I'm excited to clean! (Well, okay, a wee bit excited.)

We got back home last night (and Seattle, thank you for resuming your normal 65 degree summer nights just in time for my return). Today, we have been celebrating Ian's 8th birthday, which involves nibbling on his favorite birthday cake (Chicken's gingerbread cake has been his official birthday cake every year for 3 years now) and stepping over the new giant Lego sets that he has been gifted. I can't believe he's 8. I've been thinking so much about his life today . Went digging through our old photo boxes to pull out some pics (and became very annoyed at the fact that everything after a certain point in our lives is only digital.)  I keep saying to myself that we are beyond lucky to parent this kid. Beyond. He is absolutely, unapologetically Ian in every way (and those that know him know what I mean), and I am often told by friends that he seems to be so completely okay and content with life in general. You can only imagine how that makes me, as a mother, feel, I so hope its in fact true. In Ian's world, you can be loud, play Legos, play with friends (girls or boys, doesn't matter), read graphic novels, and eat often. He is a homebody like his dad and me, but he also enjoys the occasional new and different (with a little coaxing from his sister).  He thinks his sister "hangs the moon" (to quote the south) and actually looked depressed when she went away to camp this summer. He constantly reminds me that most things which seem problematic at first glance really aren't ("mom, don't worry, we'll find your keys"- and then, of course, we do)... that sometimes it really is just better to be by yourself for a little while... that sleeping in when you can is good...and that everything is better with a chocolate chip cookie. Happy birthday Ian, how lucky we are.

Okay, I'm back in life, so I'll be back here in this space with regularity again.

the art of cleaning

Today, as I was doing my almost weekly deep cleaning around the house, I started thinking about the whole business of keeping a home clean. Actually, this started last week, when my sister-in-law Jen and I were talking about housecleaning. She and I both share a love of the book Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson. Cheryl goes a little overboard in her housekeeping details, but the depth is not lost on me. I have learned so much from this book that I actually keep it in my kitchen, with my cookbooks. If I ever want to know the proper way to clean something, Cheryl has the answer. Anyway, I have stumbled through the whole subject of housekeeping my whole adult life. It wasn't something I was brought up doing a lot of, I was a horribly messy college roommate (sorry girls!), and as a young adult with a demanding job...well, we hired a cleaning person to do it.

But these days, its entirely up to us, and mainly to me, to keep our house is clean, working order. This is not a bad thing at all. I've taught myself a lot and learned a great deal from the women in my life who have done it much longer than I have. I've taken little bits from here, a good tip or two from there, combined it with instinct, and made a simple system that seems to work for our family. I thought it would be fun to start a discussion about what works for each of us.

A short list of what works for us-

*A quick 10 minute tidy at some point of the day, usually in the evening. Things get put back in their place, pillows are fluffed, the dishwasher is usually turned on, maybe a quick kitchen sweep. I keep one of the buckets I made at the bottom of the stairs now and its been a huge help.

*White towels. I wash them with detergent and Borax (I LOVE Borax), and add bluing to the final rinse and they come out great. If they are ever in need of more than that they spend a day in the sun. I love white towels as much as I love white dishes.

*I change the pillowcases a couple of times a week, and air out our pillows in the sun on occasion. The sun has its own unique way of cleaning.

*I love any housecleaning project that smells good. There was a time I bought Caldrea products, but I think I cleaned less simply because I didn't want to run out of what I had. Its too pricey for me. Now I am thankful for less expensive products like Mrs. Meyers (their Basil scent is my favorite), Method's almond scented wood floor cleaner (would drink it with dinner if I could, heavenly), and essential oils that I add to homemade cleaners (my current favorites are citus scents like grapefruit and orange, and tea tree oil, which has antibacterial properties). I make up a white vinegar/water solution with a couple of drops of essential oil in it and let the kids use it to clean their bathroom, a small bottle of essential oil lasts a very long time.

*We are lucky to have a great place for bulk lavender and essential oils, etc in town, Zenith Supplies. I've mentioned them before, if you live locally and have never been there, you should really go. I buy a bag of lavender, which I tie handfuls of in cheesecloth drawstring bags (used for herbs) and put them in our closet, between our sweaters, for moth control (you can also use cedar shavings sold for pet bedding and mix it with the lavender). I also buy these hunks of solid amber for about $6 that a break up into smaller hunks, put in a small bowl, in an out of the way place, and it gives off this absolutely incredible faint scent that lasts for a long time and fills the space. I think the scent part of homekeeping is really important to me. When I like it, and things around me are clean, my mood is immediately lightened.

*I'm not always dependable when it comes to regular mopping, but I do vacuum our floors regularly, and think this is especially important for our tile and wood floors. We are a mostly no-shoe household, and I've read this keeps lots of toxins off your floors and in general keeps your house cleaner. (We picked up this habit when we moved to Seattle, and its stuck. Its the first thing the kids do when they walk in the door).

*One day a week (usually Sunday these days), we all chip in and clean. The kids clean their rooms ("Dad clean" is our Sunday standard for them, meaning Dad will be inspecting), sheets are changed, laundry is put away, a little attention is paid to every room. Today, as I scrubbed the downstairs bathroom, Emma swept the front porch, and Ian was on Lego maintenance (because, as I have told him, there is nothing worse than coming in to say goodnight and stepping on a Lego- ouch!). Peter was trying to do some maintenance on the dishwasher. We do not spend all day doing this, I like to use the term "blitz through". But it gets done.

I would love to hear what works for you guys.