Not in the mood

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

I’m starting to panic. I just realized that it is almost the middle of November. Duh! I’ve spent most weekends cleaning, decluttering, and trying to get the house in some order so I can relax more in December.

The past several years I’ve done what I call Christmas Wishes. It’s the same thing as an Advent calendar where a person opens something everyday starting December 1st, be it a reflection, small token, ornament, or treat. It started out with anything under $1 such as a free pencil or emery board though sometimes I included a booklet of stamps or a gift card. It was fun for my adult children and their spouses.

Then grandkids came along so I included them. The adults got dropped like a hot potato.

Last year I gave each family a small artificial Christmas tree and each day was an ornament for the tree and a sweet treat. I made those “sour cream” packages for the ornaments. Cute but time-consuming.

Yes, it’s mid-November and I haven’t started on getting these put together. It take a long time to do this and I need to have them ready by Thanksgiving.

I was thinking of doing the same thing with the ornaments but also adding an ornament making craft every few days. Such as candy cane reindeer:

Or these candy cane mice from Martha Stewart:

I just have to force myself to get in the mood.

A new obsession

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

I haven’t been posting much lately. Things have gotten a bit hectic at home and at work.

Our office has a two-day conference this coming week and someone has to organize the logistics with the hotel, meeting space and menus, order the meeting packets and give-aways, design and mail invitations, postcards, meeting packets and newsletters, collect the registration data, design and print the programs, table signs, and nametags.

That someone is me. While I like doing all those things, I do not want to look at a computer screen.

Sorry.

But…I have been busy not knitting.

A few months ago I decided I was going to do something from my bucket list. Don’t ask me what else is on it as I just started making a bucket list.

Anyway, making a quilt is on that list so I’m making quilts for my grandchildren. I just finished two twins bed sized quilt tops and plan to piece the backing as well to make both sides fun.

The twins share a bedroom so I made theirs similar.

Both are the same “Stack and Slash” technique using mostly the same fabrics in each. When I saw this on Chasing Cottons blog, I knew it would be possible for me to do. The tutorial from Kate Conkil was easy to follow. I used three stacks of fabric instrad of two as I was making a larger quilt. I also had to add some fabric tp make it wider for the twin bed. Extra blocks were cut up and pieced together for a horizontal column.

I used Kona solids and some cotton scraps from other sewing projects. I even used some fabric scraps from the dresses I made them a couple of years ago. (Yes, the one that got eaten by the Destroyer.) I bought backing fabric when I was in Ohio this past July. I don’t have the backing plan finalized but I do have it narrowed down to two. Or three.

The Stack and Slash method seemed like the perfect technique since no seams have to match up. Adding the row of horizontal stripes negated that right away but I did still got everything to line up. You might be able to enlarge the photos by clicking on them. I think.

I plan to quilt these on my new sewing machine. Simple lines. Simple wavy lines. Simple wonky lines most likely. But that is a long way off.

Sewing machine question

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

I may be in the market for a new sewing machine.

I plan to do some quilting as well as home decor and some clothing. The machine I have now is designed for occasional and light sewing though I’ve done some extensive sewing projects in the past several years. It’s just not keeping up with the demands I’m placing on it. Mostly because it’s not designed to.

I want to machine quilt twin-sized (or larger) quilts, which are a bit larger than the 15 x 24 inch items I’ve been doing.

For all you quilters (or non-quilters) out there: What sewing machine do you use or would recommend for machine quilting? Pros and cons?

God Bless America

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Tank top part 2

On Saturday morning the twins and I decorated another tank top. With America’s birthday just around the corner I thought we would do a patriotic themed tank top.

Materials we used:

Tank tops, cardboard, painters tape, textile medium, acrylic paint, Stained by Sharpie markers, old toothbrushes, tongue depressor (not shown), alphabet stamps and star stamps.

I inserted the large piece of cardboard inside the tank top so the ink/paint would not bleed through to the back. Using the Stained Sharpie marker as the ink, I stamped God Bless America near the front neckline of the tank top.

I taped the edges and made stripes using the painter’s tape to keep the white parts white. I also taped off the area for the stars.

We tried to splatter the paint on the tank tops but the technique just wasn’t fast enough for 3-year olds. So they took matters into their own hands and “painted” with the tooth brushes.