The Joyful Quilter is Now Online!

The Joyful Quilter is the quilt shop closest to my home.  I need to give them a special shout out because of something really nice one of the owners did for me recently.  Why will you care?  Because they also have an online shop now.  You deserve to hear about a quilting shop that has all kinds of great sewing and quilting things AND outstanding customer service. 

The Joyful Quilter's latest email update shows some prewound bobbins in gorgeous colors.  I love prewounds.  They last so much longer than the ones my machines make.   Instead of checking to see if these particular bobbins would fit my machine, I mindlessly sent an email asking if the bobbins would fit my PC420.  I should have looked that up myself.  After sending the email, I thought they'd probably email me back to do just that.

Instead, Jim Helm emailed back that he tried to research my question online but could not find the answer.  He even apologized for not being able to help.  How many quilting stores would have bothered doing that?

He's so right about the lack of information online. I love my Brother machines, but the company does not have this information anywhere online!  My manual lists a couple of model numbers, but they never match any of the bobbins I find in stores. 

I went to the store check out the bobbins, but I don't think they are going to work for my machine.  Too bad cuz they are so pretty and 100% extra long staple Egyptian cotton!

 I did, however, find this:

I've been wanting to make a new robe.  I'm making the center version which has a terry lining.

I also got a few sets of the center panel of this collection:

After staring at these whimsical owls for a few days, I've figured out what I want to do with it (baby boy quilt, bibs, etc.) which will require another shopping trip to The Joyful Quilter for some of the other fabric in the collection. Considering that these photos show only portions of the store,

 

AND it is only twenty minutes away, I'll leave the online shopping to you guys.  If you're ever in the Capital District/Saratoga area of New York, this store is well worth visiting.

Master Bath is Finished!!!

 Finally!  Finished at last.  It's been at least four years in the making--yeah, I am serious.  It was worth the wait, though.  From the doorway:

Did I fool anyone by making the valance long and placing it up high so that the window looked bigger (or at least longer)? 

Behind the door is my husband's favorite part.

And my favorite part.     

I insisted on the excessive towel bars because I always forget towels and stuff.  My husband thinks that towel holders should NOT be over the tub.  He caved, however, when I reminded him that I would be calling him when I forgot towels.  Note the remote in the picture above, right within reaching distance for...

our second favorite thing in the bathroom--the flat screen hooked up to cable.  It's important to know that the water stays nice and warm through an entire movie--really.  I tried it.

Here are the sinks, etc.  I figure granite and brushed nickle should be going out of style now that I finally have them in.  I love those medicine cabinets.  They are set into the wall and completely mirrored inside and out.  Even the BACK of the cabinet doors are mirrored ! 

See the little cairn on the back of the toilet?  Is that not just so Zen, so spa-like.  Close up:

I have a thing for stones.  This cairn is from a shop in Clifton Park (NY) called Artique.  They sell small amounts of floor space to crafters which gives you  access to all kinds of interesting mini-shops in one big store.

These seem easy to make.  The middle stones are completely drilled through at the center.  The base stone is partially drilled in the center with a dowel glued upright, and the top stone is partially drilled to sit on top of the dowel.  I really want to try doing some of these.  I fear that I will spend more on drill bits than if I just went to Artique and bought a few more, though.  If you've tried this, let me know what kind of drill bit to use, please and thank you.

Making Napkins and Tablecloth

I have a really long table in the dining room.  Tablecloths that are long enough are usually hard to find and often expensive.  The fabric on these store-bought versions has never been that great either.  After making napkins using directions in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, I decided to take Martha's advice and make the table cloth as well.  I've posted about my Martha mitered napkins before.  I dearly love them.  They are so very easy to make.  You iron squares of cloth and sew some straight lines.  You just cannot make a mistake with these! 

I did a white-on-white embroidery design, but these look elegant without a design as well.  Here is a pic of those awesome and so easy mitered corner.  The fabric is a medium-weight linen blend from Joann Fabric.  It washes beautifully and comes out of the dryer without wrinkles--a real plus!  

A 50% off coupon for the fabric got me over being nervous about dealing with a large piece of fabric for a tablecloth. The fabric I used was wide enough to give me enough overhang on the sides even after hemming.  I squared off the fabric and used the same ironing, pinning, and straight-line sewing used to make the napkins.  It was finished while watching television in one night. 

I left a fairly large overhang on the ends in case I lose my mind and buy an even longer table someday.  I chose to go with white because it goes with everything and fits every holiday.  To bring in color for some occasions, I'm making squares or runners to put on top--or not.  I saw this colorful light-weight linen blend with poppies while shopping for the white fabric and decided to make a Springy looking square to center on the table for Easter.

 

This poppy fabric requires ironing, but it irons well, looks like pure linen, and is so freaking pretty. I used a wider hem on this piece.  It is 1-1/2 inches folded twice instead of the half inch and one inch Martha suggests for the napkins.

Next on my agenda, is making some sets of these napkins to put aside for gifts.  Joann's has the medium-weight linen blend in a number of colors. Quick, easy, beautiful, inexpensive, AND good for the environment.  Happy Easter Y'all!

The Never-Ending Master Bath Saga

Is my master bath finished?  No, but I do FINALLY have a shower enclosure.  Yesterday I caulked everything else needing it.  Today I paint the trim and door.  I will not sleep until it is FINISHED!

So why am I posting today?  I was checking out a link party and saw what look very much like my own bathroom cabinet--right down to two green rugs in front of the cabinet.  That blogger asked for ideas on hardware for the cabinet.  I'm posting this so she can see what we did and to let you know what she did for WAY less money.

Go check out what 3krazychics did to update her old cabinet using some Rustoleum product.  It looks as nice as mine (Yes, I'm bragging about my cabinet.) for a whole lot less money (Yes, I wish I had seen her post before spending so much money on mine.).

Tammy Vitale: Sharing Insights and Inspiration

Tammy Vitale has some wonderful blogs and an email thing going that have been giving me an emotional and spiritual lift for a while now.  These are a few of the recent email messages that have been particularly enlightening for me. 

This message is one that I heard when I was young, but never in such a direct and succinct way.  I only wish that I had truly understood it years ago. 

"The traditional female ideal of assuming responsibility for the lives of those around her is not only egotistical but doomed to failure.  The myth that women are spiritually superior—responsible for saving men and children through remaining spiritually pure and selfless—oppresses both women and those around them.  The female hero, by electing to live her own life, automatically frees those around her to live theirs."

                                                                             Pearson/Pope  

I actually still benefit from this one because I STILL tend to feel as though I have to "save" everyone in the family.  This message has come to mind several times since receiving it when I start trying to come up with solutions to everyone's troubles.

As I read the following one, I thought, "Yes!  That is exactly what had been building in me. 

Nothing was working - not in my professional life, my private life.

As the months progressed, I could feel my panic rising

I was again at the beginning of a quest, a turning point

and I was failing it.

"What is it?" I shouted inside myself.  

"How Am I supposed to change?  What do you want?"

It's hard to not sound melodramatic

about these times of transition. 
                                                              Christina Baldwin

My AmeriCorps service has been far tougher than I thought it would be.  For every one I please at the nursing home, it seemed there were four more who are not pleased.  At home, instead of having fewer people as my last one was off to college, I have more and all the ensuing problems that come with meshing adults of varied personalities and cultures.  I tend to forget that life is like the tide continually changing and not quite as predictable as we would like to believe. I was seeing failure rather than transition.

Tammy sent this message yesterday.

"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.  It just keeps returning with new names, forms, and manifestations until we learn whatever it was to teach us about where we are separating ourselves from reality, how we are pulling back instead of opening up, closing down instead of allowing ourselves to experience fully whatever we encounter, without hesitating or retreating into ourselves."

                                                                Pema Chodron 

Once again--so fitting for me.  Too many times this year, I have chosen to ignore things rather than deal with them.  They didn't go away.  They eventually had to be dealt with.  Dealing with them was often uncomfortable.  However, not dealing with them merely delayed the inevitable increasing the time and level of discomfort!  

If nothing else, these quotes help me to see that I am not alone in my thoughts, feelings, and foibles.  More often, though, they also give me encouragement and direction.    

If you would like to find out more about Tammy, here are some of her links.

Blog: Women Art Life:  Weaving It All Together

Sixties Women
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Kite Flying Time!

With the warmer weather, I'm in the mood for flying kites again.  It's been a long time since I made these kites using David Michael's book, Making Kites, but they were easy for a novice to make and are as nice as the first day they flew about 12 years ago. 

 

Michael's book has a ton of ideas for making kites and spinners from all kinds of materials--poster board, shiny metallic wrapping paper, acoustic tiles, garbage bags, and, of course, ripstop nylon.  While the book gives clear and concise measurements and directions for some of the kites such as the Delta Star on the cover, sometimes you are on your own to figure out the measurements.  That can't be too hard, though, since I managed to do it easily for the two kites above!   

Want to start with something easy?  Try the Delta Star with all the measurements and directions.

  

  

Since I wanted to do a plain, old-fashioned kite, I used the Diamond Two-Stick pattern from  the book.  Unfortunately the books lacks measurements for this one.  Just in case someone else wants to try this one, I'm posting a semi-tutorial with the measurements I used.  My kites are about 31 inches across by 34 inches finished and fly just great.  Why those numbers?  No reason whatsoever.  It just kind of looked right and was smaller than the dowel length sold at the store.

Did I follow the Diamond's directions exactly?  No.  I don't think I am capable of that.  Rather than cutting out two triangular pieces and having to sew them together, I cut on the fold for one main piece.  I used a 35" line on the fold, slanted down and out 21" on the side, and drew a straight line from that point to the bottom on the 35" line.  All edges have a 1/4" seam folded twice for a clean finish.

Some things I learned along the way:

• See that little green square between the two green circles above?  Don't do that.  I thought I would sew some of these squares on to thread the dowel through.  I actually had another one 3/4 of the way down.  They make it difficult to bend the dowel to fit into the pockets--very bad idea. After breaking a few dowels, I removed the one I had put on toward the bottom.  Putting on ties is a much better idea.  You absolutely need the tie at the point where the dowels meet anyway. 
• I  also tried using 1/8" dowels figuring they would be lighter.  They are but they also break easily. The book says use 1/4" dowels and now I do!
• Buy extra dowels and carry them with you.   Cutting the kite flying trip short because of broken dowels is so annoying!
• For the side dowel pockets, make them rectangular rather than square.  Some of mine are square, and I think it gives the dowel room to move around.  I ended up sewing another line to make them narrower. And, don't make them too long!  It just makes it harder to bend the dowels into place increasing the chance of breaking them.  An inch and a half finished length is more than enough.
• Use button or even upholstery thread to sew on the plastic ring for the kite string.  Those rings take a LOT of punishment from the wind.
• Carry a needle, thread, and a couple of small rings to make repairs if needed.  You may never need it, but it's nice to know it's there. 

Back to the construction.  The fin is attached in the middle as you will see in the book (and in the pic below), down 3 1/2" from the top.  This is the piece that will hook to the kite string.  I used a 26 1/2" long  piece of fabric for the fin, slanted down a bit and out 16".   (This is not on a fold--you only want 1 triangular piece not a diamond shape.)

You don't want to come all the way back in at the 26" mark, though as you would on the main piece.  Square that off by drawing a line 2 1/2 inches down at the other end and drawing the line from the 16" point to the 2  1/2 inch point.  I think this picture shows how the end is squared off as opposed to coming to a point as on the main kite piece.

 

Sew on those corner pocket pieces and a circular plastic piece on the tip of the fin.  You are ready to tie on your string.  I used the plastic pieces they sell at Joann's for making Roman shades. You do need a tail--just a long strip with smaller rectangles spaced down.  I took a tuck in each of the small rectangles to make them look a bit like bows.  My tails are 30" long with five 5 1/2" long "bows" about 6" apart.

Last, about all those geometric shapes on my kites--I was just in the mood for doing appliques.  I cut out shapes, pinned them on, and did an applique stitch on the machine.  Then I cut out the main fabric on the other side to have the shapes show on each side.  

Next on my sewing list is to make bags for toting these around.  Why didn't I think to do that before?   I'll post a tutorial.  UPDATE:  Click here to see my version of a kite carrier.

The Reading Boat and Book

I made this a while back with my niece when she was working on her master's in education.  She wanted to make something for special needs kids who needed help in defining where they should be during a given activity.  While is is great for these kids, really any little guy will enjoy and benefit from it.

The boat is a really simple design with a back V-shaped panel that gives it depth. There were no little people around to demonstrate it,  so my plushy monster, Elliot is in there.  There is a pocket on the center where the lifesaver is for the book that goes with this.

The book was done with appliques and iron-on transfers for the lettering.  I covered the binder clips with cloth tubes to prevent the shiny chrome from vying for the kids' attention.  The overall purpose of the book is to teach the child about patience and the value of staying focused and on task.    It also, as you will see, contains a number of learning activities as well.

Inside the cover is a long poem that is probably NOT going to be read in one sitting at first!  It can be read  in part as the child is being introduced to the idea of using the boat, getting the boat out, and as the child gets settled into the boat.    The poem explains how another child named Patience Bean learns about being patient.  Over time, as kids pick up the rhymes, you should be able to read more and  more of the poem.  If the little one is getting impatient, read the important parts, explain the gist of the it, and move on to the rest of the book.  Click on any of the pictures to enlarge it for reading.

The actual story has few words and lots of activities.  Our "Patience" was drawn by my niece and painted on a little stuffed pillow form, but you could use a photo or scan in a picture for iron-on transfer.  That dot next to her is a Velcro dot.  Kids can move Patience from page to page as you read.

Here Patience asks the reader to look in the pockets for her treasures.  The pockets have different kinds of openings--button, snaps, Velcro--for practicing those skills.  Each treasure is a different shape and primary color so you can get some practice in on those.  Be sure to change up the placement on occasion.

The next page has zippered pockets.

Here a plastic side pressure buckle closure is used to hide the treasure.

 Last is a bottle with a message tied with a ribbon (tacked to the back) that has washed up on the beach.  Plastic cut in the shape of a bottle is sewn on with a zigzag stitch just as the appliques are.

How cute is that!  My niece is so creative!  The message in the bottle for the little person congratulates their patience and perseverance.

If you can't read it, again, just click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

We thought about making oars for the boat but decided against it.  Kids can make imaginary oars that won't accidentally hit someone.  The whole thing folds up nicely and goes into this tote with Patience Bean's name embroidered randomly across it.

If you want to give this a try for personal use and need any information, let me know. ( Please don't make these items for sale.  Thanks.)