Good Afternoon! Well, as you can see my life has been very busy lately, October is gone and we're halfway thru November, and I'm still not making great strides in the quilt making department! But we got our offices moved at work...(yuk! there are more mice and rats where i work than citizens of Plainview!!!!! can you say Hanta Virus???)...we finished up a huge fundraiser for my husband's work that lasted 9 days!!...and tonight is opening night for the show he's directing, and I've been helping out with costuming again! So i am 100% guilty of using my sewing machine...just not for what I want to use it for!!!
I am planning on working on this project this weekend, but not how you may think! I'm going to Dallas to celebrate my birthday!!
And the best part is that my wonderful friend from Little Rock is meeting me there, along with my sister and her best friend (who is having a birthday too!!) It was all my sister's fantastic idea...YEA!!! Two of us are flying in, and the second two are picking us up at the airport, at which point we are heading straight to a fabric store unlike any fabric stores in these parts!!! Three of the four of us sew, sew we may be in there for hours!!! I'm so excited!! I hope i find some really great stuff to bring home.
I was talking to my husband about the work I've been doing helping out with the costuming at the theatre, and i think i've figured out why it's not as fulfilling as i thought it might be. Normally, the costuming process for each show is like this...costumes are pulled from the shop, and i make any necessary alterations. If it's a very elaborate costume, we normally rent it, because it's either above my sewing skill, or even though i could make it, there is not enough time. So i get really no creative expression doing it, which is why i decided to take on the costuming it in the first place. I've got numerous yards of fabric for costumes that I had planned to make, only to run out of time and end up at a local thrift shop or calling a professional costume company for a rental. So, perhaps working a full-time desk job and costuming on the side is going to take more effort from me!! Okay...enough soul searching...just wanted to pop in and say that things are looking good for some progress on the Gus and Fiona project!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Fabric.
Here is the fabric i'll be using. I actually have possession of the shirts that each of my friends was wearing the night he proposed...an i'm going to use them in the quilt...along with a shirt i just went and bought at the coffee haus where the proposal happenend...(THANKS, JESSIE!!! LOVE YOUR HAIR!!) The groom also worked there for a long time...so it's got double meaning! Anyway...here is most of the fabric...
Well...i talked to my brilliant little sis this morning, and got some great hints to making my project easier!! Thanks Sister! I printed out graph paper, and ummm...tried to transfer my pattern to graph paper...didn't she say this was easy??? Okay...she is not only the brilliant one...but the talented one too...i'm, i'm something's not working...
Yea...so many lines...i was dizzy and confused...this ruler is so demanding...it wants me to go this way...but i need to go that way!!! AARRGGHHH...why can't it just scoot over so I can go where i want???? There...THAT'S where i wanted to go...but then...maybe not...okay...new page...try again...this time...NO RULER!!!
Okay...i only got lost once this time!!!
I guess what I’m making here is a tacked quilt. I am sewing pieces together, then, instead of quilting the front to the back, I am tacking it with one stitch in every piece. Here is a scanned drawing of what I mean…not perfect of course…
The back of the blanket that we slept under was just a solid piece of material that was satiny. And the tacks taken in the center of each triangle, when you flip it over, make circles all over the back!! (you can kind of see where I’ve drawn them in on the back of the paper!
There is probably a name for this type of blanket/quilt, and I’m certain there is an easier way to put it all together than I will…but this is it nonetheless. And I’m jumping in head first!
I don’t know if making this quilt (okay okay I’ll call it a quilt) can possibly be any more fun than it already has been. My husband and I went fabric shopping one day this summer for material for this particular project. We took a couple deep breaths outside of the fabric store and took a moment to concentrate on our friends. We whispered their names and with only one goal in mind…charged in full force. It took a few moments…but we split up, each with a basket…and began our search for fabric that sang songs of our friends, Gus and Fiona. My husband and I have only known them for a few years, but they both work with my husband, and have acted and sung in many of the shows my husband has directed. They are much younger than we are, but are both so incredibly talented, and we expect they will both be very successful in their chosen paths. Sssooo…after at least two hours of rummaging through bolt after bolt of fabric…digging through remnant bins…and knodding and grimacing at each other across the store, we finally met and compared and combined our selections. Yes, I de-selected a few of his…and re-thought a few of mine…but I knew in my head what I wanted…and some of our picks were just a little “off”. I was happy with our bounty of loot, and we were off to do more running around.
I am currently sewing with a singer machine that I purchased at Wal-Mart a few years ago. I suppose all girls dream of a Bernina…my sister has one, my mother has one…and I hope to have one too someday, so, just for fun, hubby and I dropped by the Bernina store, which neither one of us had ever been in. Oh My…that’s really all I need to say…Oh My…the good news is…THEY SELL REALLY GREAT FABRIC THERE!!! We found our very favorite material there for this project…fabric that told the story of our friends so well!! What a jackpot! Our day was complete!! And we managed to leave the Bernina store for less than $40. YIIPPEEEE!!!
The back of the blanket that we slept under was just a solid piece of material that was satiny. And the tacks taken in the center of each triangle, when you flip it over, make circles all over the back!! (you can kind of see where I’ve drawn them in on the back of the paper!
There is probably a name for this type of blanket/quilt, and I’m certain there is an easier way to put it all together than I will…but this is it nonetheless. And I’m jumping in head first!
I don’t know if making this quilt (okay okay I’ll call it a quilt) can possibly be any more fun than it already has been. My husband and I went fabric shopping one day this summer for material for this particular project. We took a couple deep breaths outside of the fabric store and took a moment to concentrate on our friends. We whispered their names and with only one goal in mind…charged in full force. It took a few moments…but we split up, each with a basket…and began our search for fabric that sang songs of our friends, Gus and Fiona. My husband and I have only known them for a few years, but they both work with my husband, and have acted and sung in many of the shows my husband has directed. They are much younger than we are, but are both so incredibly talented, and we expect they will both be very successful in their chosen paths. Sssooo…after at least two hours of rummaging through bolt after bolt of fabric…digging through remnant bins…and knodding and grimacing at each other across the store, we finally met and compared and combined our selections. Yes, I de-selected a few of his…and re-thought a few of mine…but I knew in my head what I wanted…and some of our picks were just a little “off”. I was happy with our bounty of loot, and we were off to do more running around.
I am currently sewing with a singer machine that I purchased at Wal-Mart a few years ago. I suppose all girls dream of a Bernina…my sister has one, my mother has one…and I hope to have one too someday, so, just for fun, hubby and I dropped by the Bernina store, which neither one of us had ever been in. Oh My…that’s really all I need to say…Oh My…the good news is…THEY SELL REALLY GREAT FABRIC THERE!!! We found our very favorite material there for this project…fabric that told the story of our friends so well!! What a jackpot! Our day was complete!! And we managed to leave the Bernina store for less than $40. YIIPPEEEE!!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Hiya, I’m dede and I wanted to start a blog about a blanket I’m making for some friends of mine. I have made a few baby blankets in my life…several, in fact, for my amazing Grandson who is so adorable it hurts! I’ve quilted some (machine), and made some with trim and tacking, but they have all been small, yet made with love.
My hubby and I were with friends one weekend back in the early spring, and we were taking a tour of a new/old place we’d been hearing a lot of great things about. The place is Marfa, Texas. We were in for quite a long drive…but it was worth it, as this little place is an art explosion! We toured galleries, went to openings…ate great food, and even did some shopping at an amazing grocery store (Red Fire Ice Cream rocks-Mexican ancho & chipotle chilies + Ceylon cinnamon + dark chocolate ice cream!!) My recommendation to anyone wanting an artful weekend getaway is to head to Marfa, TX!! Anywhoo…while there, we stayed at a fascinating rental that is a renovated old adobe type home. The room my hubby and I were in had a beautiful blanket/quilt on the bed that I fell in love with! And my hope is it to make one like it for some friends of ours who were married this year.
Now, let me take this moment to say, that I am not a seamstress…I feel more like an inventor. I know my way around a sewing machine just enough to be dangerous. So please don’t expect perfection from me…because I certainly don’t expect it from myself. My goal is to create something from the heart, and not worry that I’m making up instructions as I go along. Now…that’s not to say I wouldn’t welcome your comments and suggestions…because I’m all about that!
My hubby and I were with friends one weekend back in the early spring, and we were taking a tour of a new/old place we’d been hearing a lot of great things about. The place is Marfa, Texas. We were in for quite a long drive…but it was worth it, as this little place is an art explosion! We toured galleries, went to openings…ate great food, and even did some shopping at an amazing grocery store (Red Fire Ice Cream rocks-Mexican ancho & chipotle chilies + Ceylon cinnamon + dark chocolate ice cream!!) My recommendation to anyone wanting an artful weekend getaway is to head to Marfa, TX!! Anywhoo…while there, we stayed at a fascinating rental that is a renovated old adobe type home. The room my hubby and I were in had a beautiful blanket/quilt on the bed that I fell in love with! And my hope is it to make one like it for some friends of ours who were married this year.
Now, let me take this moment to say, that I am not a seamstress…I feel more like an inventor. I know my way around a sewing machine just enough to be dangerous. So please don’t expect perfection from me…because I certainly don’t expect it from myself. My goal is to create something from the heart, and not worry that I’m making up instructions as I go along. Now…that’s not to say I wouldn’t welcome your comments and suggestions…because I’m all about that!
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