Friendship Quilt Pincushions

I thought I had already blogged about this estate sale find. All of $1 - that's right - one dollar!
The quilt was in pretty poor condition but it was a friendship quilt.
Back in the 1930's, 40's and even into the 50's, these quilts were very popular.

Each lady hand-embroidered their block with their signature done in their signature embroidery stitches. Embellished or not.

This particular quilt was done mostly by ladies from Oregon (swoon) in the 1930's using feedsack fabrics and tiny little hand stitches throughout. No machine piecing done.

If I hadn't of bought it, it would have gone to a landfill.

I sat on it for about a year before thinking of a way to upcycle it into something 'new'. 

All of the blocks were the same, hand-stitched six-sided stars with hexagons created  in-between. There is a fancy name for this block . . .maybe one of my readers knows it?

Seaside, Oregon. Complete with fishing boat and fish jumping. A crab! and a seashell.
Some ladies embroidered their town in addition to the date.
 This block was age-spotted but I couldn't leave it out of my pincushion collection.

 Cutting out 6 inch circles, preparatory to making the pincushions.

I gave the remaining holey quilt to a friend. There is still some usable parts of feedsack but I was done with it.

I made 20 pincushions.
Stuffed with lavender and polyester stuffing.
Finished off with floss and buttons from my grandmother's stash.
For sale in the etsy shop.

 More information on Friendship Quilts.

Sewing Treasure Box

I found this nifty treasure box at a local christmas bazaar . I went one saturday after work and ended up taking photos of things I liked because it was  overwhelming with an inordinate amount of possible handmade gifts.

I kept looking at this monopoly box for my niece who is 17 years old. After work the following Saturday, I went to see if they still had some left.

It could be a sewing kit or a place to put her treasures.

In trying to figure out what I had in stash (from garage saling), I went mostly for what fit inside this box which roughly measures 9.5" x 7.5" x 3" deep.

The ziploc in front has all the pieces to the original Spiderman Monopoly game - good luck ephemera.

Clockwise from the pack of felt and embroidery floss::
treasure box, measuring tape, game pieces, pincushion (making explained), chocolate covered pretzel sticks, a FQ of Olivia the pig fabric (her namesake), snaps, needle book, 6" ruler/seam gauge, 4" quilting square ruler, pad of notepaper from Schmetz needles, red container with threads, pins, small items.

I am undecided about adding a crochet hook/ knitting needles, but need to let go of add one of my pairs of sewing scissors - for the cause.

What else would you add?


 Having a huge clean out sale  in my etsy shop right now.
RunningWithNeedles
Just use the code CLEANOUT2014 to get 40% off everything.

Pin Cushion

Simple Pin Cushion.
I'm putting together a sewing kit for my niece and a brand new pin cushion was in order.

I thrifted a cutter quilt earlier this year - I think it was an anniversary celebratory quilt. It was a grandmother's flower garden with the white centers embroidered with friends and family names.  Probably from the 50's. Although some of the fabrics are obviously feedsack quality.

I cleaned it as best as I could with Retro Clean but it was only a dollar for a reason.

This pin cushion is just a fussy cut 6" circle backed with a 6" piece of felt. The felt was chosen for it's non-sliding properties but more likely because the box of felt is still out from Christmas sewing.

You sew the circles RS together leaving 2" to turn. Stuff with fiber fill and lavender. I tend towards lavender because you want your pins and needles to smell good. Or is because lavender exudes a calming influence over your sewing frenzies???

Then you take some six strand variegated embroidery floss and knot it at one end of a very long piece. Decide how many sections you want. Come up thru the middle, around to the backside and back up to do the opposite side, pulling tightly as you go to get good definition of the petals. My pieced scrap lent itself to six sections.

Knot off.  Look in your button drawer and pick the first one with a shank and sew on with remainder of floss.

Done.


 

I need to make more of these for the Etsy shop. Having a huge clean out sale right now.
RunningWithNeedles
Just use the code CLEANOUT2014 to get 40% off everything.

Around The World Blog Hop

 Welcome to the Around the World Blog Hop making a stop today on Running With Rocket.

I was tagged by Marilyn  of Shades of Bold to participate today in this Around the World blog hop that is traveling through the blogosphere.  Hopefully you will discover more about myself and why I blog and also to find some new blogs that just might make it onto your Bloglovin' list.

Marilyn makes stunning bags and so do I (humble :-)).  I love to sew and craft and I have a dedicated sewing room that I  finished two years ago. I've been blogging since 2008(!)- writing about sewing, my auto-immune, my airplane.  Yes,  I  live on an airpark. When we want to go flying, we roll open the hangar doors and pull the plane out. The runway is at the edge of my backyard. Which I also like to play in. I live on an acre where I garden - both flowers and the edible things. The blog has turned out to be a surprisingly good place to put all those flower photos.

Yes, I have sewn the cockpit cover and the luggage compartment for this all fabric Stearman Biplane.

My name is Kathy. I started blogging because I like writing and I take lots of photos. This  blog has turned into a big rambling journal for flying and flower photos as well as documenting items I've made. I don't know about you but my memory is going and I enjoy backtracking once in a while to view what I've made or to find a recipe that sits well in my tummy with my auto-immune.

I work in a day job that  is usually less than 40 hrs/wk but in the last three years, that job has turned pretty demanding. I need the creative outlet that sewing involves and I've made a couple of really cool bloggy friends over the years.

I've been sewing since I was four. It wasn't until I started blogging that I found out this was unusual. I started off sewing garments and designed my Barbie's clothes - I still have the tiny patterns. When I got married, I sewed a lot of my children's clothing and this is when I learned to copy Ready to Wear (RTW). The children's patterns at that time were about a foot too long with gigantic ease. My family has always been frugal so we learned how to read pattern layouts in order to buy less fabric than the envelope suggested.

 I sewed for years without a serger and I only bought one about four years ago and I love it.
Love It.   How did I sew so much without one - my Bernina serger is probably my favorite part of sewing now.

I will sew just about anything that tickles my fancy. I am also very good at saying "No" without any hesitation. This is my creative outlet.


Anyway, the Around The World Blog Hop asks us to answer the same four questions and at the end, I'll tag two more bloggers that I think you would enjoy and they will post next Monday.




1. What am I working on?
That pincushion above - I finished it yesterday afternoon. My bloggy friend Benta over at SlikStitches posted a little teaser photo of a gift for someone and it turned out the rest of us wanted one to organize our needles too.

How many types of sewing machine needles do you use? I have a variety because I sew through thin rayon all the way through leather. I buy them at garage sales because the price of fifty cents to a dollar does not make me swear as much when I break a needle at ram speed.

 The back side which will always be down had a little patchwork zakka moment. You'll notice a few of my favorite fabrics - some airplanes, some japanese, some mini-stripes.  I wanted to do this Benta-gift justice and post a huge thank you to her for doing the machine needles embroidery.

What - you don't know what this pincushion is for???
It's for when you need to change out your needle for another project but you feel there is still some sharpness left in the needle.   --Instead of putting them willy-nilly on the cutting table next to the sewing machine - ahem.

My other project: I'm waiting for these beauties to ripen. Another 20 days?


 2.)  How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I have a genre? Good lord. I suppose my projects differ because I can't stick to a pattern as written even when I do the writing/measurements. I'm kind of a think-as-I-sew sew-er. Let's just say I need to make it more difficult than it has to be.

Snap Bag. Paper pieced Bee.

 3.)  Why do I create what I do? I am 100% committed to handmade gifts. I make what I like or what intrigues me. My brain loves engineering and I enjoy figuring out how something was made.  I make copies from RTW  a lot. I like the detailing that you cannot find on home sewing patterns.
Taking time to create balances out the stressful parts of my life.
I sew garments as well as dabbling in quilting (tedious).

I give away most of what I make. The few remaining items get placed on Etsy. I am unable to make duplicates - just sayin'. Once I've mastered a skill, I'm ready to move on.

I made this tote bag for my niece. 
I had some internet inspiration but I did a design as you go construction.

4.)  How does my creating process work?
2 am. Seriously - don't you have the best thoughts at 2 am?
For instance, in the bag above, the reverse side is the reverse of the van - the back window flips out to feature a cell phone pocket.

I hope you enjoyed visiting me.

And now the Around the World Blog Hop goes on.  I have picked two great bloggers to be my taggees for next Monday:

 

Kyle from Vacuuming the Lawn is a great garment sew-er as well as bag maker. I noticed Kyle a couple of years ago commenting on the same sewing blogs I was reading.  She just sewed two stretch lace gym tanks and they are awesome. She blogs about her fitting intrigues and posts great flower photos from the Princeton Farmers Market. She recently made this gorgeous dress - go look at what she sewed!

 

Janine  of Crafty Tokyo Mama is someone I met during a SewMamaSew giveaway day. I was intrigued about her haunted house in Amity (oregon) and come to find out - she is from Oregon. She has lived in Japan for the last 25 years - most recently Kyoto. She sells her creations in her Etsy store - she is definitely good at making 1000 bags! and blogs about life in Japan and her sewing adventures at CraftyTokyoMama. She shows stunning photos of the different shrines and festivals that  make up Japanese life. She made this Patriotic Table Runner last month that I love.

one last airplane picture - 'cuz you know how cool it is to own one!
No - I am not the pilot - just the navigator. My hubby has his license. . When times are rough at the day job, flying in an open cockpit biplane is positively guaranteed to blow out the cobwebs. Or as we say, "reach out and touch the hand of God."

More random facts about kathy:
Worked in Southeast Alaska as a cook in a gold mining camp. Got to fly in a Beaver and a Huey.
I almost got my flying license.
I love small towns.
I've been sewing all my life.
My juicing/blendering supports my garden as well as the produce manager at my local Thriftway supermarket.
I like to embroider but I'm so done with cross stitch.
I require my daily Sudoku fix {or else}.
My favorite flowers are Iris's.
My old gardening goal was to be able to pick flowers any day of the year.
I love to travel and I'm headed to Kyoto next Spring.
Yes - you can travel with an auto-immune to a country that breathes in soy (#1 bad guy).
I won three blue ribbons (and one white) at our county fair this year.
I can remember four jokes at one time instead of three - making progress here!

Sewing:::  1. Why should you never iron your four-leaf clover?
You don't want to press your good luck.

Flying:::    2. What do you call an alligator who uses a GPS?
haha - a Navi-gator!

My Mega Pinnie

I saw this Mega Pinnie a few months ago and I put it on my list.  I needed one. I am forever tossing my sewing room looking for a sewing tool I just had in my hand.Then Hadley over at Flying Blind On A Rocket Dog won one.  Then Benta over at SLIKstitches made one. This project jumped to the top of my list.

I figured this caddy/pincushion would be great for hand-stitching times as a way to corral those pins that seem to get stuck in the couch arm (as a surprise!).

Benta made a couple of modifications. I loved her idea for the elastic to keep the thread from rolling onto the floor. She also mentioned wishing for a handle - because this caddy/pincushion is large. I added two D-rings with the idea of a detachable handle but just having something to grip while carrying seems to be enough.

This was a fun project.
I was only stupid once!  

There are six sides which are obviously square but I still read it as cut 6 x 7 squares. I know, I know, it was six 7-inch squares but my brain ignored the square part.  Four sides have pockets covering them up so I just added another inch. I also only quilted halfway on those side squares.








Tutorial from Bluepatch Quilter for the Mega Pinnie is here.


***Update:::Won Blue Ribbon at 2014 Clackamas County Fair.
This is my most used make of 2014. Extremely handy at corralling sewing tools and also for taking to the couch for hand sewing.