Sunday Stash Report - January 31, 2016

I have had a great week!  This week I had a Tuffet making class at Tennessee Quilts. It was so much fun, and I have something to show for it!

I met many great ladies, and everyone's tuffet was creative and colorful. Here are just a few of the other beautiful tuffets. 

What good is a trip to a new quilt store, without a purchase, especially when the whole store is 20% off?  So I have a few purchases. First up, is the backing and binding for a quilt I am making for the lady I repaired the quilt for last week. This is one she can begin making new memories with now, and make it easier for her to retire the repaired quilt when the time comes.  The cream is the backing and is 5 yards, and the aqua is 1 1/2 yards.  It includes binding and a little extra for another project moving around in my brain.

I also picked up a few 1/2 yard cuts to compliment my black/white/gray/yellow stash for a retro quilt gone modern I want to complete later this year. The yard of white is to finish my tablerunner for a class I taught last year. Let's just say there were a few more student errors in cutting than we anticipated, and we ran out of fabric.  I gave part of my demo away, and this is just what I needed to make more blocks and finish my table runner.  Last but not least, is some red music fabric (2 yards) and a little green (2 1/4 yards) that will hang out in my stash until I find the perfect project.

While I was at it, I also bought a Bali Wedding Star pattern by Judy Niemeyer and extra papers for a quilt on my 'Planned Projects' list. Also pictured are the magnetic snaps needed for my Bionic Gear Bag, a spool of black to finish my tuffet, and a new blade for my cutter.

Since I want to have two matching tuffets for my playroom, I also purchased another tuffet kit. (The feet and button kit is missing from the pic.) Once finished, each boy will have their own tuffet.  The fabric and pattern pieces are already cut and waiting for me to sew them together.  I also bought the 2 1/2 yards of cheap muslin I needed to complete both tuffets.

Wow!  I've sure had fun shopping and making tuffets!  It put me back in the red for the week, but it was worth it!  Thanks to sewing each night in the hotel, I have a few other projects close to being counted out. I was hoping to have them finished before I got back, but this week will work too.

                            This Week           This Year
Used                              3.25                    9.91
Added                          16.75                  21.75
Net Added                   13.50                  11.84

See how others are shifting their stash at Patchwork Times.

Blessings until next week!

Joy

Snow Sew Quilt Repair

During my snowbound time last week, I was able to finish the repairs to a quilt for a friend.  When she first brought me the quilt in November 2013, I knew I would need to replace several of the diamonds, replace the batting, and put a new back on it.

When I unquilted it, I found more holes in the fabric than I thought there were.
As in ...253!  Many of the holes were at the seams. Some of the seams had just come unsewn, and others were torn at the stitch line.

The quilt had been repaired once before.  It had been hand stitched in red embroidery thread.  I don't know who the repair person was, but they were skilled with a needle.  The stitches were even and evenly placed.  Unfortunately, a little more love and use by the family meant the need for more repairs.

My first inclination was to disect the entire thing, trim all the diamonds down a 1/2 inch, replace the ones I needed to, and reassemble the quilt. I let several people talk me out of that option. The next option was to interface the entire quilt top, which would have helped stabilize the quilt. My friend didn't like that option, and said, "Just stitch it up."  One of the reasons the family loves this quilt is how soft it is.  So adding interfacing would have stiffened it up, and she didn't want that. 

So to repair the quilt, I utilized several different techniques.  The first was to simply restitch the seams that were just loose.  Since the fabric was stretched and out of "square" from years of use, I also restitched those that were just close to the seam.  It altered the tumbling block pattern for some of them, but no more than other blocks were already off.  That took care of many of the holes.

There were blocks that needed to be replaced as well.  Most of the blocks were white or a printed green fabric.  I was able to use the white that was originally on the back to cut the new white diamonds, and I found a piece of green that blended well from my stash.  I also used a piece of orange fabric to replace one of the diamonds.

In the photos above, you can also see another technique I used to fix holes, torn seams, or separations in the fabric that were along a wear wrinkle in the fabric.  I used a smocking stich to cover them.  I tried using a darning stitch, but it wasn't wide enough to connect the pieces of fabric.  By using a smocking stich, it was a little wider and the interlocking stitch made the fabric and hole a little stronger.

The final method I employed was to cut small strips of interfacing to cover holes or reinforce seams.  These were used as a compromise to interfacing the entire top.  It added stability to the places that needed it.

After the holes were repaired, I removed the old outer border and replaced it with a new outer border.  Then I added polyester batting and a used a sheet for the new backing.  The polyester batting had been gifted to me by another friend, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was 96" wide.  I normally use cotton, but since the quilt's original batting was polyester, I felt comfortable using it.  Since my friend really wanted a soft, worn feel, I wanted to use a fitted sheet that had a hole in it.  Although it was a king size sheet, the rip was in the wrong place. So I ended up cutting the flat sheet down to size, and requilting it.

For the quilting, I just followed the basic vertical lines of the quilt.  One of the reasons the top was in such poor shape, was the lack of quilting.  It was only quilted with about 4 lines horizontally across the quilt.  The large amounts of unquilted space meant the constant pulling on those quilting seams.  Since polyester thread had been used, the fabric gave away before the thread, causing many of the holes.  I'm hoping that using cotton thread and quilting it closer together will protect the quilt from some of the usage wear.

An finally, it was bound with fabric matching the outer border.  Originally, it had a knife edge binding.  I chose instead a bias french fold binding.  Again, I'm hoping this will protect the quilt a little and add to it's remaining life.  Here is the final result.

I learned quite a bit through this process.  The most important of which, is that I won't fix any more quilts unless they belong to me.  The exception is another quilt repair for a charity, which is already in my custody.  No more after that!

Blessings!
Joy

Sunday Stash Report - January 24, 2016

Whew!!

The monkey is officially off my back and headed somewhere else.  Thanks to several snow days, I finally finished the quilt repair that I have had for years.  The only part that came out of my stash was the outer border, binding, and several of the diamonds that I replaced.  So, 1 1/3 yards out.  I'll post more about the repair later this week.

I also finished a ruler bag for myself.  It is a padded bag that is made to fit my 17 x 23 cutting mat and cutting rulers.  I made one several years ago, and my Mom liked it so much, I gave it to her.  I finally got around to making another one for me. Another 5 1/3 yards out.

Since I was snowed in, I didn't have much of a chance to purchase any fabric.  So that puts me in the black for the year!

                      This Week           This Year
Used                       6 2/3                   6 2/3
Added                          0                         5
Net Used                6 2/3                   1 2/3

See how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.

Have a great week!  Blessings!

Sunday Stash Report - January 17, 2016

Happy Anniversary to two of my favorite people...Mom and Dad!  Today marks 52 years of marriage.  Here is a picture of their 50th Anniversary.  We blew it out that year!  I can't wait to see them in March!

This week, I purchased fabric for my upcoming tuffet class at Tennessee Quilts, which uses the pattern by Tuffet SourceTM. This doesn't yet include the muslin I still need to buy to fuse the pattern to.  Since I will be making 2 tuffets, I purchased twice as much fabric as I needed.  Each tuffet calls for 2 1/2 yards, so it was 5 yards total.  The colors may seem a little odd, but I purchased them to tie together the colors that are already in the playroom.

I have denim curtains, a gray couch, tan carpet, and dark brown wood furniture.  I think this will blend some of the colors nicely.  I have also picked out some upholstery fabric to make some throw pillows for the couch and large floor cushions for the boys.  Unfortunately, it is out of stock right now, and they are checking to see if they can get any more.  If I can't find the upholstery fabric, I will use quilting cotton instead.  Then I'll incorporate some of the tuffet fabric into those and a quilt or 2 for the room.

Today, I'll be working on the quilt repair.  I just really want it done and returned to it's rightful owner. Then I can get going on moving fabric out of my stash.  So, my first stash report finds me in the red.

               This Week        This Year
Used                      0                     0
Added                    5                     5
Net Added             5                     5

Curious how others are doing so far?  Check out other stash reports at Patchwork Times.
Blessings until next time!

Welcome 2016!

A new year is well underway, and I am finally taking the time to welcome it on my blog.  With only a few posts last year, we'll see if I can do a little better this year.  My 2016 UFO Page and list is updated, and I am ready for the long weekend.  I have a little housework to do, and some lingering Christmas decorations to take down.  Once those are complete, my plan is to sew.

For this year's UFO Challenge, Aunt Marti has made January a "free" month.  That means we will only be numbering 10 UFO's this year, and January and December will be months we can finish any project we choose or just take off.  That works out well for me, because I have several projects that I need to get completed before my other quilts.

First is a quilt repair.  I have had this quilt for waaaaay too long.  Since it belongs to someone else, I just need to get it completed.  So today, my plan is to power through it.  Once I get it completed, I can get the monkey and chip off my shoulder for having had it so long.  I think knowing I should be working on it instead of other projects has kept me from my sewing room.

The picture really doesn't show the work involved.  In addition to putting new batting and replacing the back, I needed to fix several of the diamonds or replace them.  When I unquilted it and held it up to the light, I found 253 holes from where it was worn!  Oh My, what had I gotten myself into?  I've fixed over half of them now, and need to finish the rest and requilt it.

Once I get it finished, I need to finish the binding on my Cute Critter quilt.  I am almost finished with the binding, and ready to mail off.  Maybe just another hour or so.

In 2 weeks, I will be taking a Tuffet Class at Tennessee Quilts in Jonesborough.  To get ready, I would like to make a Pocket Full of Rulers Bag by Bella Nonna and Bionic Gear Bag by Sally Thompson to carry all of my stuff.  Completing these bags will have the added bonus of getting several more things off my project list.

I've made a ruler bag before, but my Mom liked it so much, I gave it to her.  Here are some pictures.  Now I need to make another one for me.

And this is a picture of a Bionic Gear Bag made by Sally Thompson.  See all the pockets?  I love those.  View her video to see all of the other features of this bag.  

And finally for the month, I plan to make 2 tuffets by Tuffet Source.  One will be completed at class, and the other will need to be completed when I get home.  I plan to have 2 matching tuffets for the playroom.  When I am sitting on the couch, I would like to have them for my feet.  When the boys are playing games, they would like to have them to sit on.  Here is a picture of one made by Sharyn Cole of Tuffet Source.  I'll post pictures of mine when they are finished.

All of that said, yesterday I agreed to make a t-shirt quilt for someone.  I need to decide on the layout for this quilt, and get started on it.  If I can finish all but the tuffets this weekend, I can get started on it this weekend.  Otherwise, my goal is to get started on it later this week.

That's my plan for this weekend and the rest of the month.  Come back to see my progress.  I've actually scheduled blogging time into my week, so I will hopefully be blogging once or twice more this week.  Until then...Happy Sewing!