messenger bag in a morning

 

i work best under pressure. sabin declared last week that she wanted me to make her a new gym bag for school.  she even got out a stack of fabric she wanted me to use, but do you think i started the bag?  this morning, she declared that i was going to be in a lot of trouble if i didn't finish it in time for her to use it tomorrow. and suddenly i was motivated. i got straight to work, making it up as i went along, using bits and pieces of natural linen and bright echino fabrics and here i give you the end result. a sort of messenger-style gym bag. i only used the fabrics she selected for the lining on the inside - i hope she won't mind! if she doesn't like it, i'll definitely use it myself.

what's interesting is that making it feels like it cleared out a creative block i've had, feeling a bit stuck on my cut out & keep quilt project.  while i was sewing this, the back of the cut out & keep quilt popped into my head, fully formed. i've had about six different versions of it laid out, but none of them seemed right, but now, i know exactly what to do.

i'm going to remember this the next time i'm stuck...i'll give myself permission to work on something else. sometimes i deny myself that pleasure because i have a tendency to be a serial project starter and a bit of a reluctant project finisher. but it seems my creative process needs multiple projects and quick wins. like a messenger bag in a morning.

finishing friday - take 3

as per usual on finishing friday, i had to start something totally new. in this case, i invented a chai cake (to be blogged soon on domestic sensualist). i got the idea watching that stupid ultimate cake off show and then went searching for a recipe, but didn't find one that i thought sounded that great, so i made one up myself.

chai cake batter - yummy

after i got that out of my system, i sat down to finish this french press cover. i am happy to say that i did, in fact, finish it! :-) finally- i finished something on finishing friday!

this cover should keep the coffee toasty warm if you don't drink it all in the first go. and it's tall enough to fit even when the plunger is still up. i'm pretty pleased, even if i do say so myself. especially with the quilting - i love how it turned out.

and these pretty little squares are set to be tea cozies. i'm still working hard towards that market april 9.

i've set up a little reward system for myself....i get to start on a new project every time i finish one of the old ones. there are some lovely fabrics just waiting for me to cut into them!!

happy weekend, one and all!

quilting pictures in my head

for a number of weeks now, i've had a recurring picture in my head of a patchwork tea cosy.  it was, in my mind, a project that would use up all those little scraps that you end up with after larger quilt projects. but i hadn't really had any other quilt projects going on until recently. it was getting more urgent and the past few days, i actually woke up thinking about this tea cosy design, so on sunday, i sat down with the scrap basket and started to sew.

scraps of anna maria horner's innocent crush line

and it began to come together, remarkably like the picture i had in my head. even down to the colors.

after a week of building quilts following directions from the marvelous fresh quilting book, it was quite liberating to take the experience i'd gained and forge off on my own. to do a bit more experimenting and to feel a bit more playful. i used malka's advice in the actual free-form quilting i did with my machine, so i didn't abandon her lovely book altogether. a project this size was perfect to experiment and get comfortable with the free-form quilting, as it's quite manageable to maneuver under the quilting foot. i had intended to back this with an old felted sweater, but the size was a bit wrong for the felted sweaters i had on hand, so i've used a thick cotton batting and a simple purple cotton on the back, more like a normal quilt.

side 1

i'm quite surprised how this project went from a pile of scraps and an (albeit rather clear) picture in my head to a beautiful handmade tea cosy that i'm now using with a smile as i make my morning tea. and i'm even more surprised how much it did end up looking like i had pictured it. it was one of those moments of inspiration that kept coming back to me - a picture, fully formed in my mind, flashing into my head unbidden at odd moments. i will definitely be working on those more often.

side 2

the shape ended up a little wonky on the top, but i'm ok with that - it just lends to the handmade charm. even husband really likes it - and it brightens up the kitchen significantly.

what are you going to create today?

a history in small squares

today the mailman brought me something wonderful...

it's a quilt top that my great grandmother anna hall barnhart made in the early 40s, or possibly even earlier. my mom remembers her grandmother bedridden at her daughter's house in sergeant bluff, iowa. mom remembers helping her sew quilt tops, tho' not necessarily this one in particular. mom also has a number of yoyo quilts that she made (and which i'm hoping to acquire at least one of, i'll admit).

this is a marvelous piece and although i haven't measured it yet it will easily fit our queen-sized bed when i finish it. i spent a long time today, just looking at it and imagining how to finish it into a quilt that we use and love and enjoy. it's completely hand sewn. i found myself in reverie, imagining the line of seamstresses i come from and the hands and sure stitches that created the beauty before me.

i imagine all of the stories that are woven into it, as it's surely made from scraps of clothes people had worn and cast aside. there are many different fabrics of different types and bright cheerful colors.

i spent some time just looking at it today and taking macro photos. there are many different fabrics used in it and i imagine that each of them has a story to tell. i can imagine stories for each of them and hope this will be a source of inspiration that takes me on a storytelling journey.

for something that's likely at least 70 years old, it's amazing that it only has a few holes in it from hungry mice or moths over the years.

otherwise, the fabrics are in wonderful shape. i think that i'll use some fabrics from dresses sabin wore as a baby and a toddler to repair it, so that we weave our own history into it. because that's what quilts are, aren't they? they're the history of a family in fiber form.

i wonder if great grandma annie ever imagined her quilt would find its way to denmark?

thank you, mom for sending this to me. i will treat it well and treasure it.

and if anyone can tell me how these might traditionally have been quilted, i'd love to know, as i'd like to do right by it when i quilt it.