Sewist's Process

Now that Joann's is gone, where do we go for fabric and notions? Having the urge to sew and/or get inspiration, I took myself shopping.  Our Michael's is like a mini-Joanne's and has some quilty fabric, some (icky acrylic ) yarn, some notions, but nothing I had to have, altho the price of their batiks were pretty good, at $6.99 per yard. Their sales are enticing, and if things are ordered online, a good % is taken from the price. No patterns for sale there. 

So onto Hobby Lobby, which does have a variety of nice fabric and someone waiting to cut it, which makes such a difference not having to find that person. I was happy to see that they have some woven striped linen/cotton, as well as multiple colors of woven gingham, being chiefly a gingham girl myself. Nice quality and a great price. Then I saw their McCall's patterns were 99 cents so I sat and scoured the look book. I wanted a shirt dress pattern and found this one with raglan sleeves which will make for a nice change in the construction. 

 I already have the fabric which is a tablecloth from Walmart, in the Pioneer Woman series. Yes. A tablecloth. A quality heavy woven 100% cotton 60x102" item for like $18.  Speaking of Walmart, I particularly like their Waverly Cottons, many of which are pre-cut into fat quarters, yards and 2 and 3 yard packs. I didn't intend to cut into my tablecloth on a brand new untried pattern, so I prewashed a two yard piece of aqua Waverly cotton to use as a tryout. $5.64.

Then after jiggering my new studio to sew,  I started getting the pattern ready to trace.

I never use the pattern without tracing, as I want to make marks, cut off the seam allowance and find the right size lines before cutting. I use Pellon's Easy Pattern paper which I buy by the bolt, again, from Walmart.

I know the construction of this garment will mostly be sewn on my serger, so I trace my size from each pattern piece and then mark the new seam allowance which is 3/8" less than the 5/8" on the pattern. I have marked my ruler with this orange line to use as a measuring guide. 

What a lotta work, you say. I agree, but as a process person, it's all part of what I do to make sewing a smooth and enjoyable effort.

Here's my aqua cotton, and the pattern piece for the sleeve. I never make the full length sleeve on any garment as I famously have tyrannosaurus arms. Plus, two yards just isn't enough to fit the full pattern, so I often add a cuff from a waste area of the fabric. 

 Shown here is about half the sleeve pattern which I have cut using my pattern weights rather than pins. I have adjusted the tapered sleeve to flare a bit because I know I will be adding fabric for a rolled up cuff, later. 

...and then it was time for Dave's caregiver to leave, so I have to wait to sew this into a shirt and see how it fits and if my gingham tablecloth is shirt worthy. 

Cowl and Pin 2025

 It's already that time of year when one starts thinking about keeping away the cold winds. Here is the Dots and Dashes Cowl,  one of my fave things to knit. This one is made from Merino and silk yarns, super soft and squishy, but warm and snuggly too. It's one continuous round of scarf, with a coordinating pin of polymer clay and stainless steel.

  I'm a fan of cowls because it can double as a head covering in an instant, and with no ends, nothing falls into the soup, shall we say. And once out of the cold, it sits nicely around the shoulder, brightening up the ensemble.  I've found a source for the pin and so as I make more of these (I'm on #2 already) I can fashion a pin to coordinate with the cowl's colors. 

Dots and Dashes Cowl, available for $45 plus shipping. Email me. 

Or make your own, pattern is here.

GSR Heels

 As I age (gracefully I hope) it occurred to me that I might be less mentally sharp or not as quick on my feet as I once was. This may be true or a result of terrible new sleep patterns, but I figured I oughta try and make the most of what brain power I have now. Just FYI, I used to solve problems quickly, in minutes but while I still solve them, it may be the next day or a week later. Frustrating. I heard that knitting was good for the brain, so why not start there to sharpen the ol' stick. 

Thanks to Youtube, our channel of choice these days, I kept seeing vids on German Short Rows as a feature of sock heels. A lovely French lady demoed how to do it and I thought, I should learn this. I began on a day when I had no caregiver for Dave, so I had all the time he was napping to work on learning this technique. I should add that my small knitting group is very interested in learning to knit socks and I wanted to give them options to try, once we all stop fooling around and get serious. As if!

 In all honesty, it took me ALL DAY to learn this technique. Not because it is difficult, but because I think I already know everything (major personality fault) and I had to pay better attention to the directions I had been skimming over in haste. Geesh. Luckily I am not adverse to ripping out knitting and starting over, because that is what it took to slow me down long enough to actually get the point of how it is done.  And Ta Da! I have it mastered. It is a very nice heel which can be done toe up or cuff down and looks just about the same. It feels nice on the foot (although I made these socks too long for my size 7.5 foot) I am sure they would be comfy to wear. I also decided to get fancy and do a cable pattern, which is lovely but unless you wear sandals, will not be seen. O well. 

 
The toe I used is the easy toe from Knitty.com. Scroll all the way to the bottom of that link. And I decided to get even fancier and make the whole sock on two circular needles which was way fun.

I'm feeling very brainy now. O, and I should add, that as a long time watcher and re-watcher of Law and Order (even the UK version) GSR also stands for gun shot residue. O my. 

The Just Right Studio

The first finished object from the new, revisited Just Right Studio. While it is not the greatest thing I ever made, it is FINISHED and ready to gift. 

I must say I felt so rusty getting this accomplished. It has been ages since I quilted anything and I was feeling a little rushed, trying to finish by today. Excuses excuses. 

On the other hand the working space is just great. Plenty of room to maneuver tables and lots of outlets to plug my machine, iron, speaker, phone charger, etc. 

The baby will be named Kit, short for Katherine, and I stitched her name into the quilt.

And got my signature in there too, discreetly.

I used both free motion and feed dogs up to get 'er done. 

 +++++And now it's October, and I have been waiting for cooler weather to do some transplanting in the garden and removing some concrete blocks. This bed looks great when it is in bloom but the concrete blocks look awful when it is not. 

 

That metal ring is over a huge tree stump that is a death trap if you walk nearby, so I started a garden over it, and it was an OK solution. 

But my plan is to make the garden design a bit more cohesive with these rubber edgers that I got at Lowe's.

 I installed that edge myself in the throes of Springtime Garden Enthusiasm, but had my lawn guys do the big section. This is the 'before' picture, and now the spaces in between the flower pots are nicely growing Viburnum Snowball bushes, and one sweet fig tree. I think my garden has gotten about as big as I can manage and I don't think I will be making anymore new beds...she says.

Goldilocks Principle

From Wikipedia: Author Christopher Booker characterises... the "dialectical three" where "the first is wrong in one way, the second in another or opposite way, and only the third, in the middle, is just right".

And now I think I have got the just the right space for my studio. It is the largest bedroom and is at the front of the house, with morning sun and two windows to view it. I have been here before, in January of this year, but moved out so Dave could have a night nurse sleep in this room with him. That lasted until last month when I realized Dave was sleeping through the night and I no longer needed the care at night. Now that we have April and I can once again have the time and space to be creative, I switched rooms with Dave and am so much happier, already.

Well, I say 'I switched' but in reality our hospice nurse Rochelle and April did the heavy lifting of Dave's hospital bed. They tipped it on its side and managed to slide it across the floor on an old quilt, into the new room and set it upright in seconds. Women can do anything!

I had moved all the studio stuff out of the way into the living room and it being all on wheels had it in my new place in no time. 

My wonderful new table doesn't have wheels but slides nicely and I lowered it to the exact level of my machine table so I could start quilting.

I have my tunes, and a big chest of drawers for storage, as well as a small closet.  

Here's a video from January showing how I used this room as a combo bedroom for me and studio. It was very cramped. No bed this time and just perfect for my needs.

The top on my design wall has since been added to by 40 or so more blocks, but has yet to be completed. Now there is a chance to get back to it. Yay!

A Tale of Two Aprils

 Earlier this year my nephew Michael proposed to his love, Marianna and set their wedding date for April 5th. I called my sister in law and asked if they were registered so I could send a gift. She told me that Michael was hoping I would paint (watercolor) their cat, April,  as a wedding gift. Hoping? I was thrilled to be asked! So I tried to find the picture he had sent and eventually got it and began to draw out the design.

There were several false starts. 

 

I realized that the nose was wrong, which in turn made the eyes wrong,  and nothing I could do would fix it. So at the almost finished stage, I scrapped it and started all over. 

I might add I was pressed to paint this during the few hours that I had a care person here to care for Dave. I would get started and into the zone and it was already minutes until she left. Very frustrating. Then I started getting up at 4 to paint when Dave would still be asleep, hence making drawing mistakes because I was still sleepy. 

Eventually I just got through it a second time and was all ready to record the image for myself, before I sent it on.  It was just days before their wedding ( of course) and I needed to get the painting in the mail. I made it just in time. Phew! When I got home I looked at the pics I had taken of the details and then realized O NO!!!! I made a really stupid mistake.

I painted their wedding date, 4-5-25, and then I repeated it under the body of the cat, as April 4, 2025!

 I was so so so upset and it was already in the mail, impossible to retrieve and probably unfixable at this point anyway. I felt so terrible and angry at myself for this goof up. I called or texted everyone and they could tell I was verklempt to the max. They were all so kind and understanding and still loved the painting. But still....

This event made me understand my situation more clearly. I really couldn't focus on making art and maintain my responsibilities caring for Dave. I put away my paints, packed up all the studio supplies back into the closet and begrudgingly attended to my patient. There were things I could do, like knit, or cook or garden where I could be creative, but my need to make art, had to be suppressed.  

Until now.

Now I have a new care person, (also named April!) five hours a day for five days a week, And she is great! She can lift Dave out of bed and into his wheelchair, and not hurt herself. Phew! And I have a studio where I can close the door and focus and when she leaves, I have actually gotten something accomplished. This means I can be kind and caring when it is just Dave and me alone. 

What a blessing for us all. 

Ready to start quilting!

I am trying out all the possibilities of what I can make in this new small studio. After making two small pieces, I decided to quilt this top, as I have a recipient in mind and she is due to pop in October, so no time to waste. 

This top was made three houses ago, (8 years?) and stayed safe in my closet top collection until today. This is the smallest of  the collection, but if this turns out to be easy to do in the space I have, maybe bigger ones will get finished too. No promises, heehee.

LOTS of rearranging has already happened and that leads me to think about maybe switching Dave to this room, as soon as I can find a home for the twin bed which we no longer need. Hence my interest in FB Marketplace.

In my previous studio, where Dave is now, I have two pin up walls, which is really important for figuring out designs. I am gonna think seriously about switching rooms. Stay tuned.

Lured in by Marketplace

 I may have mentioned that my new porch inspired me to zhuzh up my living room and maybe get a couch. Gulp. It happened all in one day. I didn't have a Facebook account so I asked my sister to shop for me and after losing out on one couch, I just used the link she sent me to look at other offerings. Doink! I found exactly what I wanted, an IKEA Ektorp, which I used to have when we first came to TN in 2007. I gave mine to my sister, when I was about to make my last house move. Not sorry, cuz I really wanted the white slipcover and all I had was the red. IKEA no longer sells the Ektorp and the replacement sofa is like $899, compared to the $350 I originally paid. This new one, and it is really new and improved, was $225, and right here in Chattanooga, rather than going back to Atlanta where my 'local' IKEA lives. My wonderful b-i-l John and my equally wonderful sister picked it up in their truck for me and all three of  us got it up the front stairs. It got a bit dirty on the way in, so I washed the slipcover and popped it right back on, a major reason why I wanted this sofa.

It's really big for my long skinny front room and I wasn't happy with this arrangement. So at 5am, my preferred furniture moving time, I decided to try out the far end of the room.

 She fits! And with a tiny bit of space to spare. Now I really must do something about that bare window. So I ordered more of that red gingham for a curtain.  That's how these things are. One change leads to another and pretty soon the whole room is transformed. 

 

Now about these red recliners...I was all set to try and sell them on Marketplace, since I caught the bug, but after washing them up, I thought, hmmm. They might work after all.

 What if I made a conversation area facing the sofa? Or what if I switched them out with two of my white armchairs that are in my other living room?  I might 'need' a narrow table to place behind them to visually define the space, or a small bistro table and chairs. I'm onto something! Oooo la la!

UPDATE: 

Yup, that's the ticket. Insta-curtain. Thank you Command Hooks.