Carbo Brain

Sunday was supposed to be my fun day. After a lecture, workshop, 2 days of hanging with Henry, getting ready for Passover and prepping lots of the food, I needed a day of fun. This fat quarter assortment, called Prisma Elements, was sitting in my studio calling my name.

The pieces were too small for the initial project that I was thinking about, so I thought it would be fun to make a ditty bag with a drawstring closure. I started out with a bang, appliqueing the Curvalicious strips, adding the circles and quilting it all, using Annies Soft and Stable. It's an interfacing that really adds body. The bag can stand on its own.

Then my plans went awry. I blame it on my brain that was overloaded with carbs from the Passover Sedar and the leftover goodies. I swear, my brain was in a fog. I wish I had taken photos of all my mistakes. And it wasn't just once.

My first effort resulted in an elongated basket shape. I was so confident with the second effort that I cut out squares of the main body to make gussets. HUGE MISTAKE!! My third effort resulted in the adorable ditty bag.

Don't look too close or you will see where the squares that I cut out for the gussets, are patched in. I didn't have to share that, but I believe in truth in advertising. Sometimes people think that I dream something up and just make it. I wish that were so. Sometimes the project goes together effortlessly and other times it's just an enormous amount of trial and error. The ditty bag was the latter.

I tried out a new foot for blanket stitching the appliqué curves, a #23, from Bernina. It's called the appliqué foot.

 

I was a little skeptical when I first put it on. The foot I usually use, #20, is open across the front, allowing for a clear view of the stitching area. This new foot has clear plastic across the opening. It's also short, which is different. What sold me on this foot was this little mark to line up with the appliqué. It worked perfectly.

So now that I have worked out the details, another ditty bag is on my to do list. Hopefully I will have learned from past mistakes!

 

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France and Fabric

You don't think I would go on a trip and not have fabric involved in some way.  We are traveling in the Provence region of France. Most people are familiar with the traditional Provencal fabric.I forgot to take a photo.

I found some other, quite colorful fabrics made right here.This was a shop in Arles.

Beautiful Jacquards manufactured here (and invented here around 1800) are primarily made into tablecloths.They are woven and heavier in weight.   I saw this one and I fell in love.  I'm a sucker for aqua and chartreuse.  The fellow who owns this store is also  a manufacturer.

He also had some other beautiful fabric of which I had to partake! Linen and this bright floral.  I have plans for both.

I had my own bit of drama on our ship.  The crew aboard this Viking ship will do anything they can to make you happy, but I found the one loop hole. Whenever I travel, I bring some type of handwork.  Often it's a project with fusible applique.  I don't fuse all the pieces down before I leave home because they will inevitably fray or fall off before I can stitch them down.  I rely on using the hotel's iron.  At most hotels there is an iron in your room and if there isn't, a call down to the front desk will bring someone to your room with an iron and ironing board in hand.  I figured I could rely on this logic for our river cruise.  Was I surprised.

After about 2 days, I needed an iron to fuse more circles onto one of my Curvalicious projects. There was no iron in my room.  So I visited the front desk to ask for an iron.  "No, I could not have an iron, I was politely told.  It is a safety hazard. We would be happy to iron your clothes for you."  But it's not clothes I said and of course she looked at me with a very quizzical look.  Also, keep in mind that English is not the first language of most of the crew.  I told  her that I would only need an iron for 5 minutes and I would be happy to go downstairs to the laundry or wherever it is that they iron.  I'm sorry she said, we can't allow it. Now I am getting pretty frustrated.  The driving force became less  that I wanted to finish stitching, but to get my hands on an iron.   I know how to use a damn iron and I only wanted it for 5 minutes.  She told me she would speak to Housekeeping.

The head of Housekeeping told me they would be more than happy to iron my clothes. They even left a note in my room to that effect.  IT'S NOT CLOTHES!!! After a couple of hours I stopped at the front desk again and was told this time that the Ship's Director would have to approve.  How hard could this be?  Walking through the dining room I saw 2 cordless irons that they use to iron tablescloths in place. " Please, please, please, can I use an iron?  I saw them in the dining room."

Well, finally, I was given permission to use the irons in the dining room with supervision after dinner service. Come back at 10:00PM.  If you know me that is way past my bedtime, but I managed to stay awake.   This was way too important.  The crew member, Palma, who supervised me was so sweet and was so curious about what I was doing.  I was told I could come back any time. Thanks Palma.

Ironing on the buffet!

More Silk Blocks

A couple of weeks ago I shared some dupioni silk blocks that I was working on during our drive down to Florida.  You can see them in my post titled "Hitting The Road".

I finished one of them and have made a couple more.

The blocks measure 14" finished.  I fuse the silk down with a fusible applique called Soft Fuse, stitching a few pieces at a time.  My plan is to make a dozen of them, all different.  

I  design another one as I finish the last one.  The plan is for them all to have a Jacobean flavor.

They will surround a center square.  The design for the square is still percolating in my head.

 It's a bit slow going because I started the first block with hand stitching and so I will continue that until the quilt is done. 

Hitting The Road

If you're an avid reader, you make sure that you always have a book to read - well at least one.  If you are going on vacation, you probably bring a bunch of books. If you're a quilter, you need a project to bring - a project that involves hand stitching.  I cannot rest easy until I have my project(s) ready for a trip.  I get it ready days before I leave.  I get it ready before I pack my clothes.  I get it ready before I clean my house.

For our 1,130 mile journey to Key West, my project needed to last me a while.  I made this dupioni  silk flower block using fusible applique a few weeks ago while I was stuck without a sewing machine.

 This is a close up of the handstitching

I originally created it for a friend's quilt show auction, but then I made another.

And then I thought, hmmmm, I like making them so much, maybe I have the start of a quilt. 

I did realize that I was committed to handstitching.

Here are the two blocks that I have prepped for the trip. 

 (Of course, I had to stitch a bit before I packed them into my travel bag.)

I'll add to them as we travel.

There's always an iron available at hotels along the way.

I think this is the start of a great quilt.  I'll keep you posted.

Mount St Mary's University

 

I'm spending the weekend at Mount St Mary's University in Maryland.

 

So what's a nice Jewish girl doing in a place like this?

In front of a case saying Holy Work?

I'm teaching 3 quilt workshops at the Mid-Appalachian Quilters retreat (MAQ).

It's a little hard to see because of the glare, but my vending space is right in front of

the case with Catholic relics!  I do like this embellished headdress.

 

I'm here in the middle of nowhere, at least it seems like the middle of nowhere.  It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from Philly and the last half hour or so was all on country roads.  I know I'm near Gettysburg, PA but there will be no time to visit. Why is it that so many colleges are so isolated?  I guess that's a good thing so our kids can focus on studying?

 

The campus  is beautiful and so bucolic.  I feel like it's wasted on the young.  I would love to go back to college, be a student and study something like graphic design or textile art with not a care in the world. Spend my days learning and designing and my nights socializing.   But, I would not want to be 18 again, not for all the money in the world. 

 

I'm here to teach 3 workshops.  It is very exciting to be an instructor instead of a student at a retreat. Yesterday it was all about fusible machine applique.  Secretly I call it boot camp, because I work their butts off.  But when these quilters are done for the day they have mastered the tension on their machine, learned new stitches and have added another tool to their toolbox. 

Another good name would be "Choose To Fuse".

 

Today I taught about how to work with silk dupioni. 

I brought all of my silk quilts and hung them in the classroom to share.

 

I didn't realize I have made so many.

My silk was well received both in  the classroom and in my sales booth.  The ladies were very interested in my quilt with the curves and circles.  It's the one on the top left side of the quilt rack, inspired by the fabric in the booth at the local deli.   I need to come up with a name for it, since it will most likely be offered at MAQ 2014. Let me know if you can think of one.