My first queen sized quilt!

 This one has been a long time coming. After my recent quilt class at Thread Bear in Las Cruces, New Mexico, I decided I really need to get all the WIP quilts out and complete them.

I took a Jelly Roll race class at A Quilted Heart in Vacaville, CA, January 5 of 2016. It looked like this at the end of the class:

Because I wanted a queen size quilt, I had purchased two more jelly rolls of the same fabrics, but I had no idea of how to use them to make it sufficiently large to go on my bed. After my recent class where we learned about putting things together, I went kind of hog wild. I wanted this one done, so just went for it, sewing strips together and cutting them apart, and then resewing them in random squares. 

As an aside and note to self, it would have been better to do some planning instead of my random  putting things together which made a kind of crazy quilt design. But, moving forward, lesson learned. For the last couple of weeks, my sewing time has been taken up with trying to get this to a large enough size for my bed. 

I finished up this morning, and it has gone to the magic man with the long arm quilter. I'm looking forward to having it completed, but he's quite backed up, so will be a while before I get it back. Then just bind the edges, and I've got a new quilt, after only seven years!

Here's the a portion of the finished quilt top:

Now I'll get back to garment sewing for a while, but we have a new great grandson on the way, so there will be quilting in betwixt and between. I think the quilting bug might have bitten me!

More soon, hopefully!

Can't believe it's mid September and fall is arriving soon.

 

Moving along slowly but surely...

Luckily for me, about mid July when I had a new great-grandchild about to be born, I found a beginning quilting class at my local quilting-yarn shop, Thread Bear. It was an eight week class, and it went from the very basics to a completed quilt suitable for a crib or wall hanging.

Since this child’s parents did not choose to know the sex before the birth, I went with a non-binary color scheme, and my central piece has adorable little hedgehogs. Ann helped me to select the additional fabrics imitating colors found in that fabric.

The child was born in early August, and the quilt got finished and shipped off about three weeks later. I enjoyed the class and camaraderie as well as having a very patient and helpful instructor, who took us from the basics to completion. If she was frustrated with any of us, she didn’t show it, which I am thankful for.

Here’s the quilt finished, washed, and ready for shipment.

 

I’m looking forward to our next quilting class, which will build on the skills we’ve learned, starting probably mid-October.

 In the meantime, I’m working on some tees and culottes for fall.

 More later,

 

Quick-ish wall hanging.

 My granddaughter, her husband, and great granddaughter got their permanent professorships, and purchased their first home.

Since my great granddaughter has a new bedroom, I made a quick-ish wall hanging for her. She's learning everything right now, loves books, and I figured you can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss. 

I got an alphabet wall panel, backed it with The Cat In The Hat fabric, and the border is hot air balloons from "Oh The Places You'll go!" It's certainly not perfect, but as her mom says, she's really little and loves it.

Sorry for the laundry in the background.

Now I'm working on another quilt from a class at the local quilt shop, Thread Bear, for our newest great granddaughter, born last week. The pattern is one designed by one of the owners, and I think it's going to be really cute. Since I didn't know whether it would be a girl or boy when I started, it's what they call "nonbinary."

More soon.

And so it goes…

 Well, the best laid plans. Hah!

 Based on a typical tax season, I was sure I’d be able to work through the In House Patterns Kayla fitting class this year. And then a perfect storm hit.

 The Company I had been working for decided to implement a new “Business Model,” with complete new software systems for everything from incoming telephone calls, appointment scheduling, to tax preparation, all Beta programs no less, being used on an insufficient band width to handle the load; and insufficient testing and tech support. We had software outages as much as it was up and running, sometimes with no notice, and no idea when or if it would be working again. In addition, we lost two of our most experienced preparers to health issues; another one died due to Covid; his (less experienced but still with a few years) spouse moved across the country due to his death; we got a semi-experienced preparer from another area of the country completely unfamiliar with our culture and unique set of circumstances, leaving us with two full time preparers instead of the usual four, and two part timers instead of the usual three. And to top it off, I’m a stress eater! So, my initial measurements came nowhere near close by the time I put my muslin together. Shoot!

 I still have all my work waiting to be readjusted and done and will be re-starting the process when my brain recovers enough to do in-depth calculations and fitting! Luckily, Alexandra leaves the information available forever for her students.

 After tax season ended, I was lucky enough to get to fly to California to meet my new Great Granddaughter, help celebrate her first birthday, be there for one of my other Granddaughter’s engagement and party, and relax with my oldest daughter’s family. It was lovely.

I have to admit, it took a good bit of time after I got home to get back into the sewing room. I set up several raised bed planters, have tomatoes coming in, and am learning rapidly that many plants will not survive in full sun in New Mexico. Most days it was 90 or above at our house in June, and it has continued in July with many days in the triple digits. Before next year I hope to get several shade trellis’s set up to shade the plants and me.

 I have returned to the sewing room for a few “quick and dirty” items which have become my summer six pack. I used my favorite colors of blue and red, and my now TNT patterns~ the In House Patterns Lila for three tops, two sleeveless where I bound the armholes with bias, and one with sleeves. I also took the Loes Hinse Oxford pants pattern, cut it into shorts, and made three pair of those with the hopes that by the end of the summer, I can shorten the waist elastic. We’ll see about that.

 

The heavy dark linen (a little hard to see on the right of the photo) for one pair of short is old stash and I used every bit and had to cut them cross grain to fit on my remnant.  The lovely flowered top is a viscose crepe from Sew Much Fabric purchased last August. The light blue is also old stash and is either linen or a linen rayon blend. It’s a much lighter weave and comfortable even when it’s scorching. The third outfit makes me smile because in my head I call it the “blue bird of happiness” outfit. It is a red background with blue flowers, blue and yellowish birds and yellowish green leaves. The fabric was purchased in March of 2010 from Denver Fabrics.com and looks like it was a bolt end because I got a 5 yard piece for $17.50. It’s a poplin shirting, 97% cotton and 3% lycra.

 I also found a lovely new shop in town that opened in May 2022 and was thankfully able to hold on during Covid. It’s called Thread Bear and is a quilting and yarn shop that offers lots of in store classes. I signed up for two. One was knitting socks. Unfortunately, I realized I don’t have the manual dexterity to use three, size 2 double ended needles, and so that was a bust. The other is a quilt class, which I am enjoying and is timely as another Great Grandbaby is due in a few weeks. The quilt won’t be done when it's born, but hopefully soon after. We’ll see.

 I’m also working on a Dr. Seuss themed alphabet wall hanging for the first Great Granddaughter. Their family has just purchased their first home, so it will adorn her new bedroom.

 Hope you're enjoying your summer and the scorching heat hasn't affected you adversely. More later!

 

Learning to actually fit patterns for anyone!

 You would think that for someone who has been sewing for over 55 years, a person would have the entire fitting process ingrained into their head. But that wouldn't necessarily be true.

As anyone who knows much about me is aware, my body changes on a regular basis with weight fluctuations, both small and large, and as I am learning all too well, body composition changes dramatically and regularly every year after the age of 60. Then to add to the mix, with the combination of age and surgeries to replace my knees, I've shrunk a few inches. And I always wanted to be taller, NOT shorter! All that has added to a real want and need to learn to fit multiple bodies.

To be absolutely honest, I have multiple fitting books from a vintage book by Vogue on fitting to many more recent ones with photos to help guide you to a solution for a specific issue, which may or may not cause additional issues.

To my absolute delight, I believe I have finally found an answer that will guide me to the answers, not just for my particular issue of the moment, but allow me to make garments that are custom fit to the wearer, whether it be me, or another person for whom I chose to make a garment. 

Once a year, Alexandra Morgan of In House Pattern Studio has an online class where with videos, worksheets, question and answer help, and a community of sewists who all have an intense ten week class that I was lucky enough to get enrolled into this year. 

Along with registration for the class, there is a pattern for a classic shirt, the Kayla, only available with the class registration, which is used to learn the fitting techniques and alterations. It comes in both a standard shirt pattern Via A, with a collar, collar stand, three quarter sleeve with cuff, and bust and waist darts. View B is an armhole princess seamed front with a yoke and back princess seams and a short sleeve, collar and collar stand.

I wasn't sure I could work the class into my schedule during my annual work period of January to April, aka tax season, but I am going to do my best to keep up with the class in my non-working hours. It has only been offered once each year, and I signed up for the waiting list last Spring, and made sure to register the first day registration was open so I didn't miss out! I am very interested in this class, vested in learning the fitting techniques for now and the future, and the vast extent of Alexandra's knowledge she is so willing to share, plus you do get lifetime access to the class once registered. 

If possible, I'll check in through the next few months and try to share my delight with the class.

Wishing you all a fabulous Spring!