Long Winded

I titled this "Long Winded" because I have a lot to show and tell.

When it comes to cleaning and organizing I have to psych myself up.
Can you relate?
My sewing room had been neglected all summer.
I still had fabric piles from my Paris trip in May.
So...I mustered up some determination and set to work.

This is Echo, one of our 3 cats.

She loves to spend time in the sewing room with us.

And cats LOVE boxes...

While I was cleaning and organizing,

I came across the little white suitcase that

you see Echo sitting in above. 

It was my mothers. 

Inside it I had stuffed some things I found at her home

when we were changing her living arrangements.

I found cards, maps, and other paper scraps from the past.

This was in that batch of items.

My mother was a nurse in a family clinic.  The doctor she worked for

liked me to cross-stitch his name on his lab coats.

I had to work out the layout and spacing and this shows that.

There's also a little doodling going on here.

It put a smile on my face...my mom had saved this.

As I said in my last post, I have times where my life

isn't too busy, but then there are spurts where it's GO! GO! GO!

The past couple of weeks have been GO! GO! GO!

But they have been GOOD! GOOD! GOOD!

I took a class at Stitcher's Playhouse on English Paper Piecing (EPP).

I'm not a big quilter. I do maybe one a year...maybe.

But I'm always interested in learning new things with 

needle and thread.

This is tedious work with the pieces all sewn together by hand.

It does move quickly.  I did all of this work in the class in just an hour.

I have yet to pick it up and finish it here at home...

but I will eventually.

Jeannie is showing an example of what you can do with this.

That same week I taught a class at Stitcher's Playhouse on Thurs and Sat.

The class was for a knit hoodie designed by Marcy Tilton using

Vogue pattern 9244.

My goal was to ease any anxiety of working with knits.

Knits can be intimidating because they don't "do" the same as wovens.

This is my sample, and I've shown other pictures of this in an earlier post.

The ladies in the class did great! 

There is another Marcy Tilton garment I hope to teach in the spring.

This past Saturday I taught another class on fabric collage.  I first taught this class last fall.

It had been well received, and many were sad that they didn't get to take it.

  So we offered it again. 

This was my first fabric collage project. 

Quilter, Laura Heine, came up with

this technique and has many patterns available.

In preparing for the class last year, it was important to have a

project that was small enough for the ladies to complete in a day.

I came up with a sewing machine and a cat.

This year I also came up with a chicken.

(My daughter drew it for me).

This is what my students did:

This shows the work in progress.  The shape is drawn and then the design is filled in

with all kinds of motifs.

This one is a little different in that the collage is the framework instead of the main design.

This student came with a coloring page as her inspiration.  I think the bird silhouette was

a brilliant idea.

And this one is yet another idea.  My student came with a picture of

a watering can with a bouquet of flowers coming out of it.  She took that inspiration

and created this beautiful piece.

I truly enjoy teaching.  I make new friends, and they inspire me.

Over the course of these past 2 weeks of taking a class

and teaching 2 classes...

I went on TWO different retreats,

AND 

my sister came to visit.

So yes, I was busy.

It was FUN busy though. 

LOTS of great memories with family and friends.

Personal stuff:

I have 2 incredibly gifted children.  

I am humbled that I've been allowed to be their mother. 

I'd like to share some of their creativity with you.

My son is involved with a local Christian community theater group called

Consider This, Inc.

My son wrote a script for a murder mystery dinner, and it was performed this

past spring.  It was very well received, and it was so amazing to see my son's

imaginative work come to life.  One of the attendees said he goes to many of 

these type events; some even professionally done.

He said this one blew him away and was far better than any he had attended.

I am so proud of this talented young man.

This is a picture from that night.

My daughter is a natural sculptor...amazing talent.  She has her dad's engineering mind.

She can see things completed in her mind 3D...all the way around.

She can take them apart to see how they work (in her mind) and put them back together.

Earlier this year she saw these "fur suits" on Pinterest and was smitten.  She had to have one.

She started drawing out her plan and soon she got busy with the head.

This is what she's done so far:

The next step is making the fur body parts.

She won a costume contest last night.

I'm so thankful for my kids.

They have made me a better person.

Lightened Schedule=Productivity

I do not work outside the home,
and many assume that I have all kinds of time.
Sometimes I do, but often I don't.
I stay quite busy with volunteer work,
taking care of things around the house,
and taking care of my 2 kids.

 I've had some time to just play

and create the past few weeks because
my schedule has not been so hectic.  I've enjoyed
sharing my current projects with you,
and here are a few more...
  

This is a piece of velvet that I bought in Paris earlier
this year. (Wow! I sound so sophisticated and well
traveled when I say that.  HA!)  This fabric feels so luxurious.  It's another piece I've been fretting over all summer...what to make...what to make!  But I decided to make a layering camisole.  I saw something like it in a catalog and knew right away that was what I needed.

I used the bodice from a dress as my guide.  I added a bit of width because I wanted it to be a bit gathered, and for the length, I simply measured how long I needed to make it.  This bodice piece shows a dart, but that was just ignored.

Velvet can be a bit squirrely to cut and sew.  I took my time getting the fabric lined up before I cut it out.

I used a walking foot to sew this together.  The fabric still wants to slip and slide, but it's much easier to keep it on track with the walking foot.

I also decided to use a decorative elastic around the top edge and for the straps.  I've not used this before, but I thought it out and determined how it could work...AND IT DID!

This is the end product.  The fabric is SO pretty and SO soft.
I still have 2 yards left too.....

Then there is this project:

This was inspired by Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin.

I saw a simple straight skirt in her showroom

this past summer when I went to visit her

café/factory.

I bought 2 XXL men's t-shirts and made a skirt like the one I had seen.

I had a vision in my head how I wanted the top to look, but

my first try was not a success...at all.

I was so disappointed.

BUT!  After a couple of weeks, I picked it up again and THIS is what

happened.  I LOVE this top and I will wear it to rags.

I bought some Tina Givens patterns recently because she was having a sale.  

I have never used her patterns before, but had heard they may be an awkward fit.

I had a project in mind that I wanted to make, but thought I'd better make a muslin first.

I AM SO GLAD I DID!

The pattern was very narrow in the shoulders and I would have been SO disappointed

if I had cut into my fabric and it not fit!

Once I adjusted the pattern, I was still nervous to cut my fabric so I dug around in my 

stash and found a piece I liked, but I wasn't crazy about it. (Impulse buy.) 

If it didn't turn out, I wouldn't be crushed.

Let me tell you...it turned out

ADORABLE!

SEE...

 Part of what I like about Tina Givens' designs are the unfinished edges and the little collage touches.

 Don't you love how these 2 fabrics look together?  I used it on the cuff area too.

There is a long pocket on the sleeve too.

I completed another top from that pattern.  I tweaked it a little to change the front.

I added tucks to the front and the sleeves, and I didn't have it open in the front.  As I mentioned,

I LOVE doing the little fabric collage thing so I put that on there as well.  The colors don't show up

as nice on the computer screen as they are in real life.  You'll just have to trust me

when I say it's so pretty.  he he  

This fabric is also some I found in Paris.

It is a cotton lawn.  It's very light weight and soft.

I left the edge on the ruffle raw.  I like that deconstructed look.

And before I go....

 I'd like to share a couple of pictures of my grandmother.

She loved to quilt.  She passed away several years ago at the age of 93.

I have many fond memories of my time with Grandma Carr.

I remember asking my mom to take some pictures of her quilting.

This is what she took.  I think they are precious.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'll be back very soon with more goodies.