| Verb | 1. | true up - make level, square, balanced, or concentric; “true up the grain of the fabric” |
My life never feels “level, square, balanced or concentric” which is probably why I take so much pleasure in the act of “truing up” fabric. Fabric is either knit (like jersey) or woven (like quilting cottons). I really like sewing with strips of fabric and prefer when the fabric is straight along the grain line. When I get new fabric additions to my stash, I frequently inspect their cut edge and then make a small snip in the selvedge edge. I rip the fabric across so that I have a “true” edge, one that is perfectly straight with respect to the grain of the fabric. Sometimes, the fabric has been cut very well and the piece I rip off is even the whole length. Other times, I have had as much as four inches in difference between one end and the other. As such, I often have a pile of squiggly fabric snakes that the kids love to play with a make into nests, pretend food for animals, etc.
The other night I was looking at the pile of fabric that has made its way into my house over the last month. I am trying to be very strategic in my fabric purchases, evaluating my stash for things that are lacking and making a list of what I need. Then, I wait for a big sale. I have gotten some great additions, mostly in the shades of grey, yellow, and orange. Despite the fact that I have three (!!) quilts that are basted and in need of quilting, I really wanted to play with some of these new fabrics.
Instead of trying to rip off as little as I can while still “truing up” my fabric, I picked out a bunch of greys and oranges and ripped off at least 3/4″ from each one. I then took my strips and made a courthouse step block (future table runner?) and then just sewed the remaining strips together to make this mini-quilt. I love the way the colors fade and grow. I think this piece matches my mood of late quite perfectly as well 
I love the contrast. I stitched and quilted it on my OTHER thrift store find, this Singer 603e Touch and Sew. I went back the same weekend I found the first one looking for some accessories and found another machine. This one was only $30 and was in perfect condition. It sews like a dream. The quilting was done by sewing vertical lines at random widths. For backing, I used this completely ugly vintage print that I picked up from an estate sale. So ugly it is pretty? Hmmm, maybe not. I used some rich brown for binding and stitched that is place with some bright orange Aurifil thread. The picture really does not do it justice. It measure up at 17″ x 15″ and I think I may hang it on a wall in my kitchen.
I am entering it into the Modern Mini-Quilt challenge being hosted by Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts. I have mere hours to spare, nothing like a last minute entry!
I feel like my life is in some serious need of “truing up”. Next week is spring break at the university where I work part time and I have an entire week off. I am very much looking forward to finding some balance and making things level once again in my life.
Also, I haven’t forgotten about my pay it forward obligations. My three recipients can look forward to packages in the mail by the middle of the month. I will email everyone once the bundles are on their way.
Many, many hours have been spent in our household engaged in the construction of forts. There is certainly something magical about throwing a blanket over some furniture and creating a whole new world. It is the ultimate in open and creative play. Castle? Cave? Space station? There is no limit to what it can become.
Until very recently, forts have been the mainstay of our children’s construction efforts. However, recently there has been a subtle shift, largely due to the preferences of Miss C and the destructive forces of Baby M. M loves the forts as much as his older siblings, but what he really loves to do is pretend to “Godzilla” them, crashing headlong into them and destroying what took at times hours of work to get “just right”. Enter the nest. Miss C prefers to take every pillow, blanket, and pelt she can find and layer them until she has a gigantic pile in the middle of the room. She will then spend hours engaged in play with her brothers, reading, or playing with her stuffed animals while in her nests. (Seems like she is not alone, check out this great interview)
So, because Miss C needed some new building materials AND because we recently moved our TV down to the basement, I decided to make some very large cushions and pillows. I wanted something that would be comfortable for a kid and also a grown-up. They had to be strong, durable, cleanable, relatively light, and of course, colorful! Our front room has an entire wall of books and I think we probably spend at least two hours a day engaged in reading with our kids. So, in addition to making the cushions user friendly for some game/tv time in the basement playroom I wanted them to be transportable up to the library room for story time.
Luckily, JoAnn Fabrics had some very big sales right after the New Year and I was able to stock up on cotton duck canvas, polyfill, piping, and zippers. I then went in search of some good tutorials to turn my vision into a reality.
I am a child of the 80s and felt nostalgic for some huge, bright, primary pieces. Reading Rainbow was one of my favorite shows, and so the cushions took on this theme in my head. I have a great love for brightly colored furniture of the type you see in libraries and preschools, so that is what I wanted to create in my own home. I found some really fantastic tutorials on the blog Living with Punks. I based the “marshmallow” cushions and the “flying saucer” cushion off of her tutorials.
Before I got started with that, though, I made this sprocket pillow by Cluck, Cluck Sew. It gave me a chance to make a 3-D pillow in the right shape. It was pretty easy. I also had four old foam cushions in various sizes that we had recycled off of old couches and chairs. They had been covered with some very cheap flannel that was safety pinned in place and were the current cushions in the basement. I wanted to make proper boxed covers for them, but first we stripped them back down to the foam, washed them well in the tub, rinsed them with vinegar, then left them in the sun to dry for a few days. They looked good as new!
I think you can find lots of great tutorials for making cushions like this on line, so I am not going to recreate them. Just do a search for “floor cushion tutorial”. I will give you my list of tips below. I ended up making
- three 24″ by 16″ “marshmallow” cushions (red, pin, orange)
- one giant “flying saucer” 40″ cushion (purple)
- two 24″ square cushion (yellow and green)
- one 24″ x 40″ cushion pillow (blue)
- one 24″ x 36″ rectangular cushion (rainbow)
For each cushion, I got 2 yards of duck canvas. However, with the exception of the flying saucer cushion, they each only used about 1.5 yards of fabric. I wanted to have leftovers and am planning to use the scraps for a few more flying saucers and some smaller throw pillows. Because apparently, what I made is not enough for my kids
The round cushions each used 2 packs of Maxi-piping (2.5 yards) and the square and rectangle cushions took between 2 and 4 packs. I used dark brown and black because I like the contrast. Make sure when you attach the piping, you use a thread color to match the piping NOT the fabric. Also, I used a zipper foot to attach the piping and it worked really well.
I wanted these to be cleanable, so I gave each cushion an invisible zipper. They are pretty easy to install, here is a great tutorial. On the first two pillows (pink and orange) I used zippers I had on hand, I think they were about 9″. They were really a bit too short, so for the rest of the projects I switched to 14″ zippers for the round cushions at 22″ zippers for the squares/rectangles. I used black zippers and I think it worked great. It made for easy turning and then closing, I think hand stitching these things closed would have made them less durable. Machine stitching them closed would not have been possible once they were stuffed. I used upholstery thread for all of the stitching with the exception of attaching the piping.
When stitching it all together, use a 5/8″ seam. These pieces take serious abuse and anything smaller is likely to pull out. In fact, I have few repairs I need to make on the first two I did, I didn’t give myself enough seam allowance.
Each round cushion used three 32 oz bags of polyfill. I got it on sale for 50% off, which was key. With all of the discounts and coupons, I was able to make each round cushion for about $25 in material costs. The square/rectangle ones were about half that because I already had the foam.
When making the boxed covers, I also used invisible zippers. I incorporated them into the sides. To make the “boxing” I pinned my “side band” of fabric in place on the square, and then as I sewed, I clipped each corner in the seam allowance as I came to it. I also didn’t seam my band until the end, like I do when making a quilt binding. That way it fit perfectly. I found this to be more accurate then pre snipping them and pre seaming. I am better at fixing things on the fly when sewing.
I wrapped each of the square and rectangle cushions with some thin poly batting before putting them in the covers. I think it gives them a bit more body.
All in all, this was a fantastic project. They came out exactly how I envisioned. The two favorites are the rainbow cushion and the purple flying saucer. I have enough scraps to do at least two more flying saucers, I just need to wait until the polyfill goes back on sale so I can stuff them. The cushions are used every day in our house, as you can see from the pictures. And, as many as I made, there are “not enough”. I think I could make 100 of them and there would still not be enough They are fabulous and we have been enjoying a tremendous amount of nest time of late. While it is a bit chilly in our basement (it is roughly finished and un-heated) they are getting tons of use upstairs. Come summer, I know this will switch and we will all be so happy to have so many comfy cushions to lounge on down there.
There are few things I enjoy more than going to the thrift store. I can remember this being a favorite activity of mine from the time I was a young girl. There is just something about the hunt, the lure of the undiscovered, and the unquestioning truth behind the statement tat one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. When I was 18 I found a 10-inch Griswold cast iron skillet for $10 in a thrift store in Wisconsin (I just checked ebay and it seems like the going rate is $150). It was in perfect condition and may be my greatest find, ever. We cook with it all the time and tonight I used it to make bacon and eggs since we had breakfast for dinner.
Our local Goodwill is an amazing source of incredible finds (I found these amazing holiday plates and mugs there last December). I actually don’t go very often, mostly because there is little that we actually need, and also because whenever I do go, I end up coming home with a car filled with too much stuff that I just couldn’t pass by. Honestly, if money, space, and time were not factors (HA!) I would probably go every single week. As it currently stands, my trips there are entirely dictated by the wardrobe needs of our children. I swear that Big J grew two inches over the last two months and the only pants he had that fit him were pajamas and soccer pants. I do like to keep my children semi-presentable while in public, so we headed to the Goodwill with the intention of buying him several pairs of jeans and trousers and maybe some new sneakers.
To say that my children love the “recycle store” (as we have affectionately and accurately named it) would be a severe understatement. I think they could spend hours in the toy aisle which is always cascading with the most random assortment of cheap plastic crap and amazing vintage toys you could ever imagine. They have found some very cool things, from a set of Voltron characters to a huge plastic dollhouse McMansion that was $4(!!!) to a huge stack of brand new board games (great ones like Exago and several other strategy games which is always our favorite kind). On this trip, I found the set of pegboards seen below. For $3.99. I think there are about 20 boards in the box and they came with a small bag of pegs. I checked online and one etsy seller has them listed for $6/board, so it seems like I found a good deal. This is the part were I become for a moment *that* mom, but later that day after I came down from Baby M’s nap, I found the two big kids sitting at the counter diligently putting in pegs and telling me they had each made up a new game and wouldn’t I like to play? Yes, please!
Miss C found a stuffed puppy to add to her growing collection, Baby M found a new toy bus, and we picked up 6 pairs of pants for Big J for the astonishing figure of $16. I also snagged a pair of crocs and some ice skates for Miss C for next year. But the biggest finds of the day came in the form of a Polaroid Land Model 100 instant pack camera for $4 which I quickly snagged for Mike and a Singer sewing machine in a mid-century modern cabinet that I didn’t get and left the store kicking myself about (but there’s a happy ending regarding the Singer).
Update: Mike got his first snapshot with his “new” camera. Awesome!
There is no question that some things were built much better fifty years ago than things built today. Products were made to last and be durable. We got a Royal Mercury portable typewriter a few trips ago and it works great. The kids love it and find it fascinating. Mike ordered a battery and film for his camera and hope to try it out soon. If I had had more time and fewer children and been driving our other car, I think I would have brought the sewing machine then and there. I didn’t write down a model number, but I knew it was likely a 1960s Singer based on the styling. I told Mike about it and he chastised me for not picking it up. I went to work that evening with plans to go back first thing the next morning to get it. Of course, when I got home, Mike had beaten me to it. He had loaded up all three children and drove to get the sewing machine and had set it up in the dining room. So shocked and amazed.
The machine looks to be in good condition. The motor runs, but it clearly needs a thorough cleaning and oiling. There were no presser feet and the front tension dial was missing, but thankfully, since this is a Singer 600 Auto Reel, a very common and popular model, getting replacement parts was very easy. Hopefully, Mike (and Big J) will be able to take it apart and clean it over the weekend so that when the parts get here early next week, we can try it out. We also have a few good sewing machine dealers/repair shops near us, so if we run into trouble, we can take it in. The cabinet is in pretty good shape, I will also try to buff it up and give it a good polish. It was $50, which seemed expensive by Goodwill standards, but it a very fair price for what we got. Maybe someone there knew
I really can’t wait to try it out, I have been watching videos on YouTube of people with the same machine and it just seems like a work horse. I like the Brother machine I use now, but I use it a lot and I am worried it won’t last much longer. Plastic gears are really rubbish. I made a new board on Pinterest for info about the machine, thankfully there seem to be a number of enthusiasts out there. You can also see more pics of the machine in our Flickr stream, where we hope to document the cleaning and restoration process.
There is nothing better than a successful trip to a second-hand store. I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors.
I thought it would be nice to post about some of the seasonable crafts we have been making. The kids and I have been crafting with winter and Valentine’s day in mind. I love making seasonal projects, it is a fun way to get the kids involved in the cycle of the calendar and it makes the house look festive. Plus, just when some of the decorations are looking old or stale, it is time to make something else!
First up is the sprocket pillow. I used a tutorial from Cluck, Cluck Sew. It was very straight forward and I know I will make more of these in the future. I wanted to pick colors that seemed “wintery” to me and were outside of my normal choices. I also wanted to use solids. I made the larger size. The button popped off, my crew tends to be a little rough It was really fun and easy and served as the inspiration to a massive sewing project that I will be posting on the blog later this week.
Next up is this winer garland. It was largely the project of our oldest, he even sewed much of it together with a little help from mom. It was really long. We cut different sized circles out of craft felt and he paired them together. We sewed them together with some silver thread and then hung them in our dining room. It looks VERY festive
Similar to this garland, I made a heart mobile out of different shades of red and pink felt. I just cut out three different shapes of hearts and sewed them together. I made five strands each around 2-3ft long. I hung them from an embroidery hoop and placed them at our front door. It is south facing and when it is sunny, it lights up the hearts. Also, because we heat with a wood stove, we always have air currents in our house, which make the hearts swirl ever so gently. It makes me feel so peaceful to look at it.
Finally, I made a patchwork table runner, Valentine’s style. I made some paper-pieced hearts with fabric from some of my favorite lines and some linen. I wanted to make it “heart” shaped. My daughter totally got it, but the boys both thought I made a set of “Ls”. Oh well, L is for Love! I quilted it with 1/4″ lines using an Aurifil thread I got in one of the SMS giveaways. It was in a shade of raspberry and it looks lovely. I backed it with some Kona solids and the binding is from AMH Loulouthi. LOVE!
Are you working on any seasonal crafts?
Despite the fact that we haven’t had much of a winter this year and we’ve been able to play outside a lot, it’s still necessary for us to have a stash of fun activities to keep the kids entertained during all our time spent inside. Big J’s go-to is legos, but today we broke out wooden blocks and he built a fantastical tower that was inspired by some drawings the children made last weekend. They’ve really been into both coloring and creating their own drawings inspired by the Scribble Book (we can’t recommend that book enough).
The drawings, including a castle and knight (J drew the outlines and Miss C colored them in)…
Then today, Big J’s tower, inspired from his drawing. Note: He took these pictures, the last two giving really gorgeous perspectives of such a cool design…
Stay warm and have fun everyone!
A friend sent me a link to this cracked.com article and asked my thoughts. Here they are.
#6. Animals Are Designed by Nature to Be Gross
Yes, animals crap everywhere. Animals that are omnivores have stinky crap (poultry, pigs). Our animals all free range and have large areas plus access to shelter as they choose (coop/barn). So, in our “backyard” there is a lot of crap. The worst was when the turkeys decided they wanted to roost on the top bar of our kids trampoline. It was fairly unusable for a while. Then came Thanksgiving and no more turkey crap problem. All in all, our animals are really healthy and have lots of good food and clean water. While their crap does not smell like roses, it does not “stink” per say. I have smelt many things worse than our animals waste. But I fricking HATE getting chicken poop on me, not a great smell.
#5. Animals Are Also Dicks, Stupid, or Stupid Dicks
Yes, they can be. And if they act that way on our farm, they GO IN THE FREEZER. We have a zero tolerance policy for rudeness. If you act like an arse, you will not see another sunrise. Luckily, we have not had many problems with wild animals, except for predator issues.
#4. Let There Be No Misunderstanding About This: Chickens Are Rapists
Yes, but they have nothing on the ducks. If you want to see some shocking animal mating, watch the ducks go at it. OUCH. When new people visit, sometimes they ask if our chickens are injured. That is because some of the hens have no feathers on their backs. That is from the roosters, some of them can be pretty rough.
Haha! In the article this is accompanied by a picture off a broken down tractor in a field. Not on my farm, I am a nut about having as “unblemished” a landscape as possible. Also, our town dump is only a mile from our house and will take anything. So yes, there are some farms around us that are littered with old, broken down equipment. Ours is not one of them.
#2. There’s No Such Thing as a Vacation
Sort of. We are lucky enough to have great neighbors (ahem, pre-answering point #1) who will take care of things while we are gone. What you should realize, though, is that we never really want to leave. I love my farm. I am a huge homebody. Everything I have ever wanted is here. Everyone I love. Why would I want to go anywhere else?
#1. In the Country, All Your Neighbors Are Insane
Absolutely not! Our neighbors are awesome!
If you’re curious about reading more about our take on farm life, check out our FAQs.
If you haven’t been to Sew Can She yet, you should head on over. It is the brain-child of Caroline who has designed a fantastic site featuring a new free sewing tutorial every day. Just subscribe to her newsletter and voila you are all set! She also hosts giveaways and has a forum so that people can discuss the various tutorials they are working on. My boxed pouch tutorial is being featured today, so head on over and check it out!
Denyse Schmidt’s newest line for her DS Quilts label was recently released. It is called Aunt Edna and I LOVE it. It has the same feel as Hope Valley, probably my favorite line of hers.
I was at Joann Fabrics last week to pick up some supplies for a major basement-redo project I am working on for the kids and I had to check out these fabrics. I picked up some half-yard cuts of my favorites, I am sure I will be getting more, they are SO soft and the fabric feels lovely. I was surprised by how much I loved the plaid print in the cherry color way. I knew it would be perfect to make the Junebug Dress I had recently scene featured in Project Run and Play.
I made a “muslin” dress to get he sizing right. It was a tad too big, but will be perfect for the spring and summer. After making a few adjustments, I made this version. It came together so well and I loved playing with the plaids. Miss C LOVES it and I am pleased as punch. I can see whipping up half a dozen or so of these for her. I would love to make a long-sleeved version and also one using jersey or interlock instead of a woven cloth.
We are off to enjoy a special birthday brunch at Old Sturbridge Village this morning! Hope you are having a great weekend as well!!
There is something so perfect about a simple patchwork square quilt. It seems like an unwritten rule for children’s books illustrators that if there is a scene involving a bed, it is covered with a patchwork square quilt. They are like the chicken soup of quilts. Their entire purpose is for comfort, love, and well-being. To make one is a simple process. There is no difficult cutting or piecing. There is some room for creativity with the choice of colors and layout of the squares, but you can just as easily throw them all into a paper bag and pull each one out at random.
My goal over the next couple of years is to make a patchwork squares quilt for each member of our family. I thought I would start off my 2012 quilts with a patchwork quilt for our youngest. It was a good way to ease me back into quilting after the rush of the holidays. Also, he is the only one in the family who does not have his “own” quilt yet.
When I saw the Hideaway line by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda, I knew it would be perfect for his quilt. The colors are bright and cheery, just like M. I thought it would be sweet enough for him for now, but also something that he could keep forever and never “grow out of”. I picked up three charm packs (packs of 42, 5″ precut squares) and then added in enough Kona solids in Banana, Robin Egg, and Rich Red, to make a quilt that was 12 x 14 squares (a total of 168 squares, the 126 charm squares plus 42 solids). For the back, I decided to keep it simple and used the green clocks print also from the Hideaway line. For the binding, I took a lesson from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts. I love her bright and bold patchwork quilts, and she frequently binds them with black and white striped binding. I didn’t have stripes, but I had this fantastic polka dot print from Lecien and I think it was perfect.
I used some Pellon cotton batting that was a Christmas present (I told everyone I wanted batting, basting spray, and thread). The quilting was pretty simple, I used wavy lines like in many of my other quilts, going over each seam. I think it gives enough texture without taking away from the loveliness of the squares. After washing and drying, the quilt came out looking perfect and crinkly. The kids couldn’t wait to snuggle up under it to do stories.
Sometimes I sew because I want to feel creative. Sometimes I sew because I want to challenge myself and refine my skills. Sometimes I sew because I want to make something very specific and special for someone I love. This was a case of the last reason.
Just like I did the “wet summer” post (comparing how wet it was Summer 2011 versus Summer 2010), I thought I’d show a winter scene. It was an exceptionally wet Summer and Fall, but Winter has thus far been devoid of snow* (not counting the snow we got in October).
Last year, January 27, 2011. The ducks and geese were keeping one section of the pond clear, and the snow was piled 2 feet high.
This year, January 16, 2012. Our pond only froze completely within the last week or so (last year it was frozen by mid-December) and there’s not a bit of snow to be seen.
And because the kids got new ice skates from their grand parents for Christmas, we went out to test the skates on the ice today at lunchtime.
*I wrote this post on January 16th. Wouldn’t you know it, it ended up snowing overnight into the 17th. It’s not all that impressive, just a couple slushy inches of snow, but our drought is officially over.
