Encouragement for new quilters!

I am trying to encourage five creative, young women to become quilters..

Do you think these stacks of hand cut charm squares will help?? These great bags I received at Road from the Gammill dealer are just right for filling with some necessary piecing goodies. But, not so much to overwhelm..just enough to peak their interest.

And I am going to offer them a little workshop this summer, if they are interested. 

Note to self: add some chocolate..

Non-commital Piecing and Baked Goods

Here are some glimpses at a couple of projects I have on the go right now. 

The finished (yippee!) quilt top is called Garden Fence and is a quick, easy top to put together. I am not usually a repeat, multiple block kind of sewer, but this top really appealed to me for the person I intend it. I think Bali Batiks suit it very well, I had just enough of the sashing fabric, and the backing I picked up in Maine last summer will be perfect. Now, to decide how I want to quilt it..

The other project is an easy 2.5 inch strip project. So far I have cut a selection of green fabrics into this width strip and now I am sewing them together in groups of 3 and 5. It is non-commital sewing and just right for breaks from my other work. And playing with placement of the strips and the resulting blocks I cut from the sewn strips will be downright fun.

I quit the kitchen once my kids left for University and Rejean willingly picked up the slack, with great style I might add! He hasn’t expresses any interest as yet in baking, so every once in a while I indulge and that usually means muffins.

My well loved copy of Mom’s blueberry muffins

Today I made these super delicious blueberry muffins from my Mom’s tried and true recipe, using lovely New Brunswick blueberries picked by my sweet and talented sister-in-law, Pauline.

Today I am linking to the Needle and Thread Network.

House of Yards

Talk about irons in the fire. I have a quilt on my longarm. I have a top waiting for the borders to be added. And this is a simple quilt so the borders will be simple, yet I still haven’t managed to get them sewn on. Then I have to quilt it. And bind it. And I have a bunch of other projects that I want to do/need to do/ would rather be working on that will just have to wait until I find more time.

I know I will get everything done. I work best when I have a lot on my plate. But, I also realize that I am taking over the house once again. 

My longarm takes up part of the back end of our living room, sitting nestled close to my spin bike and our treadmill. Somewhere in my craziness, I brought up my ironing board and iron and they are still next to my machine. This weekend I didn’t want to hide away from my husband so I moved one of my domestics upstairs to the dining room (yes, our house layout is unusual - our kitchen and dining room are on the second floor). The machine is there still and  is kept company by a growing pile of fabric and tools. I have batts lying on the stairs heading to the third floor. I have a pile of Kroy yarn I just ordered also in the dining room. I have a wicker purse of my Mom’s filled with socks needing mates knit and half socks I need to finish that I carry from room to room. I have stacks of quilting books in our bedroom. I have taken over a closet upstairs for batts (I know my hubby reads my blog occasionally so now he knows where I have tucked them!). And of course, I have an entire room downstairs devoted to fabric, machines, materials and tools..

I don’t think there is anything quilt or fabric related in either bathroom. Or in the garage.

Sometimes I feel kind of bad about claiming so much space for my passions. I try not to do this because sometimes it overwhelms me, too. But, when who you are is so intertwined with creating, this happens. I am fortunate that I share my living space with a man who appreciates what I do and can be counted on for subjective advice just when I need it. Of course, he has no idea that “must be creative” was part of my criteria for finding my soul mate!

All this fibre action means I should connect to The Needle and Thread Network this week.

Coasting along nicely

I took the starfish pieces I stamped last week and made my sweet Simone some simple coasters. She will have 6 semi-matchy ones stamped on a dark blue fabric and one odd ball stamped on a lighter blue fabric. I am guessing perhaps she can used the oddball for her tea mug when she starts work.

The fabric they are shown on is another piece I dyed. It is from my snow dyeing attempts this past winter. 

I have soooo much thread, yet I don’t have a lot of metallic threads for my domestic. I did manage to find some blue and gold though and did some simple quilting which adds builds on the shine of the metallic fabric paint I used for stamping.

The hand dyed fabrics sandwich some fusible timtex which helps them keep their shape and adds an extra layer for protection against dampness.

Hope she likes them! Surprise, Mony!

May-be it’s not summer yet...

Our May 2-4 weekend, as I grew up knowing it, was not the best weather wise though we certainly faired better than the Tornado Belt in the US. Historically Oklahoma sure has taken a beating and you wonder about the strength it takes to live in an area that repeatedly suffers so extensively. As well, some of our neighbours in Newfoundland had a record 58 cms of fresh, wet snow fall on them. Ouch! So, I can’t really complain about a bit of snowy rain and cooler temps, especially when we still managed to eat one meal on our deck and enjoyed another lunch of freshly caught trout from the brook nearby.

In-between walks and getting some odd jobs out of the way, I made some headway on a project I am working on with my son. As I work, I am trying to maintain the integrity of his artwork without completing copying it, though to the naked eye it would look as if I have simply copied it. Enlarging a drawing always means some adjustments might be made and interpreting it in fabric means there will certainly be adjustments made.

In this process I have enlarged Gabe's drawing using my opaque projector, redrawn and filled in the lines with black marker, traced the design on Steam-a-Seam Lite, pressed it on the back of my fabric, cut out the individual shapes, placed and pressed them on the background fabric. Now it is off to my sewing machine!

I have also been spending some time on the longarm and completed quilting a few more tops that are eventually destined for various local charities. The tops were pieced by a local group of quilters who meet specifically to work on this project. 

The really fun part of quilting these tops for me is that I can play with my freehand designs or practice using a pantograph pattern I might be interested in using again.

A family interlude

We had absolutely lovely weather the majority of this week and with my son home, we couldn’t have asked for better! With a temperature of 28 degrees on Wednesday, we made a trip to Parlee Beach in Shediac. Although it wasn’t quite as warm there as it was in town, we relaxed on the hot sand on the side of the dunes with our toes and spirits wiggling free.

It felt great to breathe in salt air and hear the soft rush of the waves along the shore. Being a beach babe through and through, when I am near the ocean my heart settles into a lovely slow rhythm and I melt into the moment. Lying under those incredible blue skies makes me feel such peace; I search out sky photo opportunities wherever I am.

There were quite a few people with the same idea as us, coming to the beach to experience their first feel of summer after a long harsh winter. Some were already splashing around trying out the water, some were in their bathing suits soaking up the sun, and others were like us, just there to see for ourselves that summer would come again.

The boys also got a little fishing trip in, there were some movies watched and some sports followed. We had some great meals, some interesting chats, lots of relaxation and quiet time and an incredibly funny Skype session with our daughter who had to stay at school multi tasking like no one’s business as she prepares for exams, meets deadlines, organizes interviews, plans her future!

Though her career choice is Physiotherapy, Simone is a Drama Diva through and through and like the best comedians, she pokes fun at herself and keeps us howling. Her facial expressions and stories had me crying! It felt good to laugh that hard!

Simone in the midst of explaining the hardships of being almost an 25 year old wearing braces who looks 14 at best.....

While Gabe was home, we made time for some creativity. He and I collaborated on some artwork for his office walls. I printed his drawings on Jacquard fabric sheets, ironed some fusible interfacing to the back and then added fabric borders. We had picked up some inexpensive stretched canvases beforehand and these were our base. We stretched the fabric over and around the canvases, using a staple gun to hold the fabric in place. We were both pretty pleased with the outcome!

Cleaning makes me a little bit owlie

I had nothing but great intentions and a very long list when Friday arrived. I had the house to myself for the weekend and that usually means a very loose meal plan and lots of chick/artsy TV (total confession! I love LA Ink, NY Ink and Pimp My Ride!) as a background to whatever it is I am working on. That kind of schedule and environment gives me lots of time to get my “stuff" done!

After a busy day and armed with yummy beverages, I made a direct path to my longarm. I worked steadily and finished a quilt that had been on much longer than I anticipated. Tired and happy with my progress, I proceeded to fall asleep on the couch cuddling my bowl of popcorn aka supper.....

I still don’t know what happened Saturday. Early on I made my way to the kitchen for a hot cuppa and five hours later I was fully immersed in cleaning said kitchen. I never spring clean. Don’t get me wrong, I do clean. Just not on a regular basis, or following a schedule. My windows got cleaned when my Mom was here and gently suggested she and I should tackle them. Walls get washed when we paint them. Floors? You don’t want to know.

So. It’s clean now. I even sorted and re-organized my spices. This is big for me. I would clean for my Mom at the drop of a hat. For myself? Well, there is always something else that needs doing.

The thing with me is that once I start, the activity grows. I get an idea in my head and I can’t rest until it is done. Ideas I didn’t want to entertain were sneaking unbidden into my head. I started cleaning more of the house....sigh.

So, the weekend went by and granted, a lot of stuff round here sparkles now, but, I did finally manage to give my head a shake, move away from the scrub brushes and mops and back to my sewing machines. Finally I whipped up a couple of cushions for my son using his drawings. I have used my kids artwork in my quilting since they were able to hold pencils, so it feels really great to do this with current artwork! 

I printed the drawings on Jacquard fabric sheets, backed them with fusible interfacing and then added some borders. I found it fairly serendipitous that fabric I painted in the last few weeks was perfect as a border. 

Jacquard offers two methods for securing the color on their fabric sheets. You can rinse out the excess ink with cool water, or use Scotchgard spray to seal it. I tried both and the result is that the owl on the right is lighter in color. Next time I will just use the Scotchgard without rinsing.

Text Me! Not

So now that I know my pieces were not accepted in the latest Quilting Arts magazine Reader Challenge, I feel comfortable showing them here. The theme was “Text Me!” and I really enjoyed creating these. I have them nearby so I can enjoy the warmth they bring me. Funny thing about being rejected, or not chosen; I know they set guidelines for their publication, but when push comes to shove, the choosing is subjective. My pieces may not have been picked by the editorial board, but those who have seen them have given me very positive feedback so I know I am on the right track as I continue creating in my own special style.

I titled this one, “O” Baby, I love your curves! 

I know it is very trendy right now to use text in your designs, whether as part of the fabric, or as part of the design, but I have been doing this for a long time. Some of my earliest pieces were based on phrases and words. This time I decided to hi-light one of my most favourite letters!

When I started studying signwriting we had to draw pages and pages of letters. We had to draw them thin, thick, elongated, squat, with serifs, without and on and on......over and over till we got the dimensions perfect. When I worked for my Dad and computer generated letters were still far in the future, he would handcut vinyl letters, then adhere them to another color of vinyl and I would cut a 1/8" or 1/4” border all around. These letters were generally black with a gold outline and used for window lettering and it was great practice for learning their shapes. So, I love hand drawing letters and I love cutting them out almost as much! 

In “O” Baby, I used my hand dyed fabrics and I even cut those tiny, tiny yellowish dots out by hand! I used a few gold seed beads for embellishment and then twisted three different strands of decorative yarn and hand sewed it along the edge.

My second piece is called, “Summer Alliteration”. I love the curves of “S” as much as “O”’s!

I used my hand painted fabric for the background and then cut the letter “S” and all my “s’ words from my photographs that I had printed on fabric. I really like this concept, have used it in larger pieces, and plan on doing a lot more with it. I take a LOT of photos and I spend even more time editing them. So, using them in my fabric pieces is a natural progression for me. The shells are actual sea treasures and I have devised a method to sew them directly onto the fabric without making any holes in them. I didn’t take a photo of the back but it is also a photograph of gull tracks in the sand.

My history with letters led me to this more literal interpretation of the challenge. I know that “text” has taken on an entirely new meaning to this generation, but to me, the beauty will always be in the individual letters and the words you can create.

I am connecting to The Needle and Thread Network. Check out what Canadians all across this chilly country are up to this week. 

The faster I go.....

I was determined that this was to be a productive day. And it was, yet I was plagued with dumb mistakes every step of the way.

I have hand dyed and painted fabric for a very long time and although I use these fabrics, I still have a small stack of my favorites that I have been hoarding. This photo doesn’t do this fabric justice - you will have to trust me that is a beautiful, rich red and until today, I have only snipped very, very small pieces off the outside edges. Finally I decided it was the perfect background for a small piece I am working on. Pleased with my choice, I pressed and cut.....and in doing so, cut a hole right in the centre! Yes, I will work around it, but still it made me shake my head in disgust at myself. 

That seemed to set the tone and I proceeded to break machine needles, drop hand sewing needles, chase bobbins across the floor, get paint where I didn’t want it, and on and on.....what is that saying about the faster I go, the behinder I get? I finally got smart, walked away from my work, baked some muffins, went for a run, regrouped and started again. 

Things went a little better after that. Thank goodness.

Because other people have been much more productive and made less work for themselves than I have, I am connecting with The Needle and Thread Network. Check them out!

A bag for memories

For many years my sister was a production weaver and after leaving university, I joined her in the craft show circuit. We spent long hours weaving, sewing and creating and from her I learned a freer, less structured way to design and construct certain items. One of these such items is bags. Over the years I have made many, many bags of all shapes and sizes, for all purposes. This is one of the two I have made most recently, both for my sister. Both bags feature photos she took of our Mom.

Mom loved flowers and gardens and she also loved coordinated dressing! Jo captured her in front of her tiger lilies this past summer as they made their way to yet another appointment. I love these photos of Mom and considering Jo took them with her iPhone, they are great quality.

I enlarged the photos via the printing process on my Mac and printed them directly on Jacquard fabric sheets. I backed them with some interfacing for stability and then I started sewing, using fabrics that seemed to fall into my lap. I swear the choices were predestined.

Joanne knits 24/7 and carries bags and bags of yarn everywhere she goes. I made this bag big enough for her to tote all kinds of balls and skeins with her. I also put a couple of long deep pockets on each end for her needles.

The finished size was dictated by the size of the pieces of fabric, keeping in mind that I wanted a larger bag. As well, the size of the printed picture required substantial amounts of fabric framing it for balance. I finished it off with a piece of correx (corrugated plastic sheeting used in the sign industry) covered in fabric inserted into the base to add strength and form. 

My weekend in photos

I spent this weekend at our quilt guild’s winter retreat. For the first time in three years, there wasn’t a snowstorm on Friday and everyone was able to travel worry free! We hold our retreat in Sussex, a small community about an hours drive from Moncton, so snow can make getting there and back stressful.

After we were set up and working away, I looked around the room and noticed the large number of these beauties being used.....

Singer Featherweights seem to be the retreat sewing machine of choice for quilters; they are easy to transport and are the work horse of the straight stitch. They have also increased in price exponentially as their popularity has risen. 

There were also some of these helping provide atmosphere at our table.....

When my roomie and I realized we had a fridge and a microwave in our room, we made a quick trip to the Superstore to buy some lunches we could heat up. These potted tulips beaconed to Nancy, so they were added to her shopping cart. They were meant to brighten our room, but they ended up staying near our sewing machines. It was a bonus for the group at our table because we all got to enjoy them!

The restaurant attached to the hotel is a 50’s diner and for breakfast you can’t beat their cooked porridge with brown sugar and milk! I am also enamoured with their jukebox that has been modified to play CD’s.....

I could happily own one of these puppies! I would put it right next to my longarm. Santa! Are you listening??

When I got home Sunday, my hubby and I headed out for a trip on the woods on our snowshoes. We explored a bit of trail we hadn’t been on before and ran into a friend and his dog as we headed back up a hill. By then I was fine with stopping for a chat. Quilt retreats involve sitting too much, snacking too much, talking a lot, very late nights and possibly more wine than is required. I welcomed some recovery time on that incline.

We often snowshoe through a nearby maple sugar camp and every winter I take photos of the buildings. I suspect this building may not last many more years......

I hate to see it fall into disrepair, but I have some plans to use this image in some art work very soon. I love the juxtaposition of the lines and the wonkiness it portrays. 

And I love the grain and color of the wood of this weather beaten building....

I enjoy taking detail photos and when I saw these leaves, I had to stop and snap a few.....

I could have spent hours focusing on the frozen drips if I had my “real” camera with me. And on another day, I think I will do just that.

Shabby chic ala Madaboutcolour

My sister and I have collaborated on some new pieces for her successful line of baby props! I am providing the quilted fabric for the bodices of the dresses and  it is great fun to work on. I have another piece on my longarm for Joanne in a beautiful soft peach that looks just so “shabby chic”! I know it will be so sweet on any little babes that might be lucky enough to wear one of these dresses in a photo shoot!

Joanne’s work can be found at her Madaboutcolour etsy shop.

Spaced out on pantographs

One thing about quilting for yourself is that you end up having a lot of binding to sew on. I am currently finishing two quilts right now - one I quilted with a freehand design and the other is my first pantograph. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, a pantograph pattern is a to-size pattern that you lay at the back of your longarm. Using a laser, you trace the panto from the back while your machine simultaneously stitches this pattern on your quilt at the front. It can also be referred to as edge to edge quilting.

When you buy an APQS longarm, an assortment of goodies is included: some needles, bobbins, batting samples and a couple of pantographs. The pantos I received didn’t suit the top I was working on, so I photocopied one I liked from a book I had purchased, taped the pages together and stitched away! The next top I have chosen to quilt is a space themed quilt that I made with artwork created by my children when they were very young. They drew space pictures with discharge dye paints and I built on a selection of these drawings to create a top. As always, I had great intentions at the time. Somehow time got away from me and it has languished on a shelf ever since. This seemed as good a time as any to load it on my machine and get it done.

Since I had just successfully used a pantograph and was happy with the results and the time invested in quilting, I decided I would use one for this quilt. All good practice! I am not sure how panto designs are generally created, but this is how I created mine. I drew some space objects in pencil, cleaned them up with sharpie marker, created a flowing design with these elements on two pages. When I was satisfied that my design did indeed flow and could be continuous line quilted, I photocopied the pages and then built up my design. To make sure I had good design spacing with balanced negative space between the rows, I laid out the pages so that I could adjust the design if necessary. I did have to make one adjustment which I made on all necessary pages with a different colored marker.

The placement of the second row is only for design purposes at this point- I am studying the positive and negative areas for design flaws

Tomorrow I will start the quilting as an alternative to sewing binding on. I am looking forward to seeing how well my design quilts up.

Power hungry

My husband has been sick with the current winter flu for the past 3 days and I have to admit, I am starting to bite at the bit. Why, oh why, are all my toys noisy? He is the best patient when he is sick - never complains, doesn’t “hear” my noise, and all he wants to do is sleep and be left alone....Still, I feel guilty if I start a motor and I know my sewing machine plus some music or a DVD playing would no doubt be annoying. And it is too damn cold to stay outdoors for more than a few minutes. 

I have multitudes of quiet occupations I could pursue. I don’t need to sew that binding on right now, or piece the back for the next quilt to go on my longarm, but I want to do them. Now. Honestly, I am like this when the power goes out, too. All of a sudden, when faced with no access to my “power” tools, I need want to use them all at that very moment, even if I had been dreaming for days of time to read, or knit, or sketch. Even my spin bike is magnetic (no plug in required!) and so quiet, I could bike and you wouldn’t hear me 10 feet away. Well, except for my laboured breathing. And my very loud techno music which is a requirement for spin. Of course, I would wear my earbuds. But, breathless or not, I sing along. Loudly and badly....”Starships are meant to flyyyyy....”  So that’s out. No matter. I am totally unreasonable and I know it.

As much as I love to use my hands and create within quiet occupations, I am completed addicted to power cords and electricity. And my longarm is just the latest in a long line of things Jennifer needs to plug in to use. For example, today I used the kettle, toaster, magic bullet, blender, iron, computer, sewing machine, TV, oven, microwave, second computer, landline, charger, photocopier and I should have used my flat iron ( trip the hair salon soon - yippee!). My heat is electric, I used the overhead lights, woke up to the alarm radio and the hot water wouldn’t have been hot without the power it takes. And this is when I am trying to be quiet. Sigh.

I can survive without a power bar and a place to plug it in. When we travel, we camp a lot and our tent isn’t rigged with electricity. I manage. Quite happily actually. Perhaps the main difference is that this is planned time away from my toys and tools. If I know and am prepared, I am content. And as long as I am in some connected to my family via technology, I am fine. Although I have learned that 48 hours is too long without contact when your holidays conflict with natural disasters. And we do seem to have a track record for attracting or travelling in areas where the earth is having issues....ask our kids.....

Anyway. I think he is awake and my sewing machine is calling my name. Time to sneak in a seam or two.....

A block

My goal these days is to keep busy. And productive. And to remember to come out of my “cave” every once in a while and have a conversation. I had several projects I needed to get completed asap and now that those are done, I need to make good on my promise to my hubby to edit the photos from our Icelandic trip. I am going to start.....soon.....

As I sewed the last stitches on a recent project, I looked over the assortment of piles near and about and remembered I had taken a kit to complete a block for the PEDVAC, a volunteer group in nearby Port Elgin. Since I have picked some very delicious blueberries in that area and because we often bike their section of the TransCanada Trail, I thought I could help out in this small way. They were collecting blocks for a bed quilt to raffle off to help raise funds for a new building.

I was reminded of many things as I stitched this block....
1. Don’t take short cuts when you applique
2. Press, and press again
3. Batiks are a bugger to applique with and I should have ordered that silk thread 
4. For heavens sake, use a new needle
5. And yes, your eyesight is slowly deteriorating, get up and get your OttLite....

Anyway, it is done. Not my best but it did encourage me to start a new Baltimore block for "the quilt that will never be finished”.

Somehow this turned into a rant...sorry....

I finished the second cushion for my son. Originally I had planned to paint a ship on white cotton and I spent a few hours searching for inspiration, then sketching a schooner and making a second copy using black marker. I kept hesitating over the project, decided I didn’t want to wait for paint to dry and did a quick search for copyright free clip art again. This time I printed the design on Jacquard inkjet fabric sheets, gave it a firm press on the back with a hot iron and sewed it up. Technically you could say it was quilted because I did some stitch in the ditch on the machine with a layer of batting to add some puff. 

Gabe was needing those shirts I had altered so I mailed the whole kit and kaboodle off this morning. Being a list maker of the pro/con variety, I often suffer unnecessarily over decision making, and deciding what service to use this time caused me a great deal of inner debate. I have sent Gabe parcels via Purolator and they have taken much longer than the two day delivery I have paid for, ending up with him having to go to their terminal to pick the parcels up. Excuse me? How much did I pay for this lack of service? I have sent him parcels via Canada Post before, only to have them “go missing” (their words, not mine), but eventually they have been delivered. The only thing I have learned with CP is that if you pay for that extra insurance, you have that tracking number and your cost of shipping will be refunded when they don’t deliver on time. 

So, I went with Canada Post and bought the extra insurance - which galls me each and every time I do because I feel like the crazy amount I have paid them in the first place should guarantee they will actually make sure it gets delivered to the right address in the designated amount of time. And like the cost of everything else this winter, the cost of insurance seems to have increased at a rather high rate. Can you tell this is a touchy subject for me? This comes from much experience mailing/shipping care packages and parcels to my kids, family and friends. 

Over the years my absolute favorite way to send parcels has been the bus. The cost was reasonable, buses keep to a schedule, and you got a tracking number without having to pay extra. And the folk who worked at the bus terminal here were always really friendly, handled your parcel with care, and made sure it got on that bus even if the bus was already loaded and starting to pull out of the parking lot! Unfortunately that bus service has closed its doors. Hmmmm. Maybe they were too nice, and too reasonably priced. But, there is a new service that has just started up in its' place. The next time I have to ship something in our region, I will be sure to give them a try. For now, I will track my parcel’s progress online and hope it arrives where it should when it should.....

Comforting cushions

My holiday gifting included some cushions. Again I used the Wilton easy Image transfer sheets along with simple photo editing in my Mac to print the images I wanted to use.

I made my Dad this cushion using a photo he took of Mom on their honeymoon over 59 years ago. They had travelled from PEI to Truro, NS and were staying in the cabin situated behind Mom in the photo. I simply love the look on Mom’s face as she sits reading....as Dad said, the photo should be titled, “ I got him!!”  My parents married young - Mom made Dad wait until she turned 18 while he was a mature 21 (!) and their running story was how Mom chased Dad till she caught him, and Dad chased Mom till he caught her! Of course we are all really glad neither one of them ran too hard, or too far.

I used this beautiful poppy fabric because Mom loved flowers, especially poppies, and her absolute favorite color was red! And I am pretty sure Mom bought me all the fabric I used for this. She was always doing that; feeding my fabric habit.

I made this cushion for my son, who like his grandfather, loves all things nautical. I found copyright free clip-art of these mariner’s compasses online and printed it, ironed it on white fabric, and then added a simple black border. My son actually hasn’t seen this yet as I will ship it to him with the shirts I altered for him. I am pretty sure he doesn’t read my blog so I am safe in sharing it here. Just a small, easy project that I think will look good in his new apartment. I have a second, larger cushion for him in the works and am hoping to make headway on that tomorrow. 

Snowing shirts

I have been a sewer of clothing for many years and one of my biggest beefs over time has been how poorly made some clothing lines are. If I buy an item of clothing, I expect strong seams with a sensible seam allowance, buttonholes that do not unravel, top stitching that lasts, and buttons that stay on. I think some of my expectations rubbed off on my son.....I just finished altering 7 dress shirts for him and 4 more that were his for his Dad. The boy choses clothes well and I can’t say I am sorry to be done. I gotta say, Calvin Klein knows how to construct a shirt!

To give myself a bit of play time while doing that, and since we have had some substantial snow falls here, I tried some snow dyeing. I used the instructions for Procion MX dyes from Pro Chem. I have been dyeing fabric for years and I aim for strong, bright colors. I have to admit, I am not completely satisfied with the results of my efforts with this method. I did get some great, crystal effects and some interesting lines where I folded and pleated. But, my pieces are too pastel for me.

Various stages of process

Fabric manipulation, dye solution and dye powders

I did figure out a couple of things I could change to get the results I prefer: I will use a thicker layer of snow although I used more than the recommended; I will pour the blue dye first as I was hoping for more blue and green than yellow; I will use less water than they recommended for my dye mix; and I will try mixing the dye directly with the snow rather than making a dye solution. The one thing I did do was toss in a piece of fabric soaked in soda ash in the bottom of each dishpan to catch all that draining dye solution and those pieces gave me the intensity of color I was looking for.

A variety of the results

So, I am currently trying layering some Setacolor paints after completing some fabric manipulation. We will see how that goes.

My mother, myself

I don’t remember exactly when I first learned to sew, but it was my beloved mom who taught me. I watched her sew beautiful pieces of clothing for so many members of our family and for many of her friends. She created brocade gowns with matching hats, sewed silk sheaths, whipped up taffeta dresses by the yard, made numerous figure skating outfits for cousins, created sweet coats, baby clothes, men’s clothes, costumes, pants, aprons - a seemingless end stream of clothes came out of our home, all created by her. I remember a favorite plaid dress with smocked cuffs and yoke, a seersucker bathrobe for my hospital stay when my tonsils had to come out, a terrycloth beach jacket (which we still have...), Barbie clothes (which I have always refused to sew myself), more Barbie clothes and lots of Ken clothes. It was a rare week that my sister and I didn’t come home from school to a new doll outfit lovingly crafted by her.

I know I was using a needle and thread at a very young age and she was the one who inspired me. By the time I was 10, I was creating stuffed toys out of soft flannel for the Red Cross because of her influence. Mom showed me the basics, bought me patterns and fabric and allowed me to work away on her mother’s beautiful Singer sewing machine with the handsome curved wooden cover and by the time I was 12, I was sewing clothes for myself.  When we were ready, it was Mom who showed my sister and me how to take foil cooking wrap and use it to make patterns of favorite blouses and shirts so we could make more of the same. 


I am sure Mom sewed out of necessity as she grew up in a family of 6 girls. Her own mother had sewn clothes for her daughters, many times out of cast off or outgrown clothing, and Mom often mentions matching wool coats she and several of her sisters had that were created this way. But Mom has always had a creative flair and just a wee bit of drama in her....The pieces she created always had that extra something that took it to the next level and made it so much more than a homemade garment.


My mother also made bright fun quilts from the scraps left over from her sewing projects, and often times the tops were pieced over old, worn out quilts that either she had made years before or that my great grandmother Cook had made many years before. I have several of these wonderfully worn quilts, now soft with age and use and whenever I wrap myself up in them, I remember wonderful childhood summers at the family cottages in Rosebank where time seemed endless. 


Creativity was encouraged all the time in our home growing up! Mom would cover the table and floor with clear plastic sheets and let us take over the kitchen with our paint and crayons and sticky glues. I can honestly say she never said no to our desires to make art though I am sure there were days she would have preferred we read or played somewhere else.


When I had my own children, I fashioned my own attitudes to having art as part of your daily world after my Mom's. I tried to follow her example and allowed my children free reign with paint and paper, clay and fabric, whatever was of interest that day. And I made clothes for my children out of our old clothes as well as from new fabric, and felt great about up-cycling items. Using these materials made sense. I cut up items we were finished with and resewed them into something useful.


Using my new longarm is interesting for so many reasons. As I work on it, I feel my mother’s influence and love of the process. I have generations of experience in the needle arts behind me and as I guide the machine, I feel these forces coming together to help me create in a manner that is totally new to us all.