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Popularity of sewing and crafts are on the rise!

dog toys and doggies and other fun stuffs

I took some time a week ago to start working on an actual pattern for my indestructible dog toy. Yah right! I know, there are no indestructible dog toys!

Well I am trying to make a water bottle dog toy – you know, those ones that crackle. I think it’s a great use of recycling or reusing. The problem I am having is I want to make the bottle replaceable. How to make that happen? I’ve thought of a draw string (dogs will chew the strings) Velcro and I’m thinking of using a system like a pillowcase. I started outlining the bottle and just making a plain cover.

Later on I made one with feet. Ha!

 Here`s a little face hahaha

Ideally I want to make them out of fake fur, something with a tail. I got a great deal of fur pieces from Dressew during their sale.

I also decided to whip up a little place mat to practice my machine quilting. I still have to finish it off.

And while I was having fun, Lazy Levy relaxed with me!

Sunny Days, Sweeping the Clouds Away...

I was very lucky yesterday and today to steal some time away from cleaning and laundry to do some fun stuff! Yesterday I ironed the fabrics I bought from Dressew. I'm glad I am one of those people that believes in pre-washing because I discovered two of my fabrics are completely inappropriate for quilting. One is see-through and the other is one of those fabrics that wrinkles horribly. I'm not sure what I will do with that one! The see through one might make a lovely blouse though. I'm really not keen on sewing clothing though so we'll see if it comes to pass.
Today I kicked the man and dog out and did some cutting for another quilt using some of the new fabrics I bought. I cut one of them into a basic square and starting cutting the other one and realized I wasn't sure what I was planning on doing with them. So I ironed a bit more and then came upstairs to do some research. While I was doing that (and snacking on some yummy black pepper crackers) I started researching something I had heard about a long time ago.. quilting one square at a time. The appeal of this to me is I could actually quilt on the train during my commute. I may have to try this!
The other thing I was reading up on is a quilt called "Dear Jane"... created by Jane A. Stickle in 1863, and recreated by Brenda M Papadakis. It's hard to describe how cool this quilt is, and it's not for the faint of heart. It comprises 225 pieced squares, triangles, and corner, well, kites for lack of a better description. There are over 5000 pieces in the quilt! One day I would love to make a Dear Jane quilt!

Dressew Part Duex

Yes, I went there again. Man, who could resist?? Plus I had to pick up some hats for a friend of mine.
But never mind that, here is the rest of what I picked up on the first trip!

 snagged some fabric from a roll in the moment of quiet at the cutting station.. magically it goes with the random 'end of the roll' cut I picked up!

 some more fake fur for tails!

 some fun toys!

lotsa lotsa thread... at .99 and .49 cents, with 50% off, it was a steal!

Trip two got me:

So enough buying right now, onto some sewing! This weekend I plan on finishing up squares on the Japanese Quilt and hopefully squaring some them off with the rotary cutter. As well I'm going to wash these fabrics to prepare them for quilting.

Dressew 50th Anniversary Sale!

Wow! What a crazy place!

Today I decided to brave Dressew's 50th Anniversary sale, 50% off everything. What a mix of people, many elderly people all grinning and having a good time (and cleaning up as well haha) Many gay men buying fake fur.. off I know. Couples buying Halloween stuff. There were lineups for the cutting tables, line ups for the cash, line ups for the line ups. In truth it only took me 30 minutes to get through the line that snaked around the whole top floor. I also had some fabric cut with no wait. I'm guessing timing is everything!
I mostly bought fake fur squares, and thread. I plan on going back though for fabric. I'm hoping it get's easier after day one.

the quality of the photos isn't the best but I was using my iphone at work....

Old Patterns - Still Just As Good!

So my partner's mother gave me an old craft book from 1982 from Better Homes and Gardens. In it of course are some really dated patters (rainbow quilts anyone?) but it also contained a lovely pattern called "Storm at Sea". It claims that this is a common American pattern but I'd never seen it before.
So, after I get through "Japanese Quilt" I am thinking of starting either this pattern or my secret project.

The pattern is quite involved though. Makes me a bit nervous. Here is the layout.

So I finally grabbed a little time tonight to do some ironing. Usually I can't because my nutty little pup demands to be in the same room with me at all times so going downstairs is done in five minute intervals.

 

I've decided my ironing board needs more padding. I'm pressing and I can feel the metal frame of the ironing board. I though about getting a new cover but I'm thinking of just buying some extra padding and fitting it underneath. I LOVE this ironing cover and don't really want to replace it. Here's a nice little pile of freshly <re> ironed strips of fabric.

Here I start to layout the squares. I'm not completely sure of the pattern I'll use.

Lovely Japanese fabrics from my lovely sister Dawn! This is called "basic nine patch block".

I'm still thinking of putting a basic color square in between. It all depends on how large this ends up being with the squares I have going now. I purchased a blue fabric to use for this purpose but I'm still not sure of the color. I do kind of think it needs something to break it up. If I do add something it will be called "nine patch with divisions"

I still have many squares to finish!