National Sewing Month (September)

September is National Sewing Month.  I'm not big on sewing, but I do occasionally sew.  I leave that to Froggy and Otter, and occasionally to Bill.  I am planning a lap quilt for Bill, but I'm looking for fabric that fits him.  I have a lot of patterned fabric, such as tools, chocolate chip cookies, many TEXAS related items and also bandaids - if you know him, you know why bandaids are appropriate for him.  I'm trying to find fabric that at least resembles pachinko/pinballs but that might be a wasted effort.

Sewing machines have changed a lot since this, but the basic principal is the same.

This was one of Otter's early sewing projects, she made a fleece scarf.

She also made the pants in the pirate costume she's wearing in this picture, after she'd had a little more experience sewing.  I think it was originally a pattern for pajamas but it worked for what she needed.

Bill made this quilt, it's the one we refer to as mine and we use it in the spring and summer.  His quilt is the camo pattern and we use it in the colder months.

This was also one of Otter's early sewing projects, zippered pouches.  She made this one for me to keep my crochet hooks in and that's what I use it for.

So, get busy sewing!  And have fun!!

March is International Quilt Month

(As I was reminded today!)

I do sew some and I have made a quilt, although it took me something like 18 years!  Actually, it took me closer to 13.  I have another one planned for Bill, but it's still in the planning stage because I'm looking for fabric that fits him.

Bill made the following quilts:

This one is bigger than our king size bed.  It's very lightly batted but it is very warm.  The top fabric is all official Army camo, it came from some uniforms that were surplus.  The backing is a forest-type pattern.

This one was made for his step-mom for Christmas a few years back, it's slightly larger than a lap quilt.

He made two that year, this one was made for his mom.

This is the one he made for me, it's not quite as big as the camo quilt but it is probably slightly larger than actual king size.  It's got a fuller, fluffier batting.  It's warm but not as warm as the camo quilt and we use it in the spring and summer.

This one is the 13 year quilt!  It's backed with solid blue fabric.  The top fabric is a combination of types of fabric, some of it is stuff that Otter liked and some of it means something specific.

Quilting is something that Froggy does, it's her specialty and she makes some really spectacular quilts.  It's her chosen art form, really it's her Gift.  But I discovered that I don't have any pictures of any quilts she's made, or I would post them here.

March is International Crochet Month and International Craft Month!

 I usually do carry yarn.

The next one is for Otter:

The next one is me 100%!

(Yes, I will crochet in a park, the dark, on a plane, etc.  I haven't found a place yet where it would be inappropriate.)

That describes Otter 100%

(That one is me all the way.  Probably nobody is surprised!)

So, get busy crafting!

That one could be re-worked a bit, to include quilting.  Right, Froggy?

So, crochet IS special.

The next one is also me.

Intervention not needed!  Also, that could be reworded to crafting or sewing, just change a couple of words.

March Is International Crochet Month & International Craft Month

So you'd better get busy, either crochet or crafting!  It doesn't matter, as long as it's craft-related. :)

(Obviously, crochet is my first choice.  But it doesn't really matter what you choose.)

Otter's 13 Year Quilt

So named because it took me about that long to make it!

It's slightly larger than her double bed.  The backing isn't in any of these pictures, but it's a solid dark blue.  Somewhere between navy blue and cobalt.

Some of the fabric is from specific things, like the carousel horse curtains that Grammy (my Mom) made for Otter's room when she was a baby.  There are also some pieces that are from flour sacks, which has to do with my previous employment.  Some of it is excess from Christmas ornaments with Otter's picture that we made for grandparents a few years.  And some of it is just fabric that we liked, or Otter picked out.

The starry fabric was a cover for the small table that held Otter's pet mice.  To the right is a floral print, that's one of those flour sacks.  To the left is part of the carousel horse fabric.

The cow print might be left over for something we made for Froggy when her kitchen was black & white cow decor, but I'm not positive.  The blue is just a color that Otter liked, the blue background with a pattern was left from the beanie baby holders that were on Otter's wall when she had a million beanie babies.  I think that the floral pattern next to the butterfly pattern might have been something of Grammy's.

The yarn is one of my favorites, it's called Mexicana and is a very bright multi-color variegated yarn.

Otter reports that the quilt is very warm.

Froggy's Quilted & Appliqued Wall Hanging

This is what Froggy gave me when I visited her last week.  It's machine and hand sewed as well as appliqued.  It's a wall hanging, about 20" x 15".  It has a polka dotted background, the edging is bright  yellow with assorted colors on the front.  The center attraction is an appliqued armadillo with a heart on his shell, a Texas flag and flowers including bluebonnets.  The corners have a button, the bottom two are lavender butterflies and the top two are yellow stars.

Froggy obviously put a lot of work into this and I've very happy with it.  Now, we just have to decide where to hang it.  Bill wants it on one wall and I want it on another one!  We both want it in the bedroom, it works really well in there with the quilts we already have and we both like it a lot.

Here's the full piece.

Armadillo!  They are very special creatures to Texans.  Yes, sometimes we do call them speedbumps!  But this little guy is so cute.

Sorry about the string that shows!  It is a stray thread that I didn't notice until just now.  It's not attached, it just landed on the star.

The flag!  And a close up bluebonnet.

Bill Sews!

All three of us sew to an extent, Bill had made kites and a few things like that and then a couple of years ago he decided he wanted to make a quilt. We had several large trash bags full of military surplus camo uniforms and we sold several on eBay as well as donated quite a bit of them to Goodwill, etc. But there were still a lot left over and he decided to use them as quilt fabric. That was just the start. Here are a few of the quilts he's made.

This one was made for Bill's step-mom, who we refer to on the blogs as Sweetie, for Christmas a couple of years ago. It's a little larger than a lap quilt. I'm not sure exactly what stage this picture was taken at, but I think it was completed here.

Here's a close-up, which includes a picture of the backing.

This is the one he made for me, it's big enough for our king-sized bed and we use it in the spring & summer. I just put it back on the bed a couple of weeks back. It's very warm, but Bill made another quilt (the first one with the camo fabric) and he wants equal time for it so it is our fall/winter bedding. This one was made with some of the fabric left from the two lap quits, some fabric that I had in my scrap bag including the left over fabric from the kitchen curtains I made and also quite a bit of it came from shirts we bought at an auction. We sold a lot of the shirts, kept some to wear, donated a bunch and then turned several into quilt scraps. Creative recycling at it's best!

This is my quilt, on our bed. The bed is king-sized, as I mentioned before, but it's a sleigh bed style and is very big. The quilt fits just perfectly on it.

This is the other lap quilt he made, this one is for his Mom (referred to as Nana on the blogs). This was her Christmas present the same year as Sweetie's, and it was almost impossible for me to keep the secret of what Bill was working on for his two moms that year! He started them several weeks in advance so I had to be quiet for a long time.



This is the backing and a close-up of Nana's lap quit.

This is the first one he made. It's not really a standard size, it's actually bigger than our bed (a lot bigger). It's a heavier weight fabric than it looks, and it is extremely warm. Which is why it's the fall & winter quilt! He got the pieces sewn together to a point, then he realized he needed a backing fabric so he went to our favorite fabric store. And he made a few older ladies day, because they got to "take him under their wing" and help him find fabric! The backing is a green leafy pattern and is very pretty.

If she didn't have on socks, you wouldn't be able to see Otter in this picture! She's holding a sign that says "I'm invisible" in front of her face. She's wearing her own camo clothing, she has a pair of camo pants that she wears pretty often and one of the shirts that were in the surplus that the quilt is made from.