Choosing Fabric Using Illustrations from a Kids Book

There's nothing like getting a Halloween-related post published in early November, right? But although this is a post I've been planning for well over a month, the topic is applicable around the year.

So like many folks on Etsy, I sell there partly to support my habit. And lately my habit for secondhand books, something I've had for years, has grown. As a result, I've started selling books in my Etsy shop. But many of my finds go directly into our household library and some have become very popular with my kids. The Vanishing Pumpkin by Tony Johnston with illustrations by Tomie dePaola is one of those books.

A recent secondhand book find -- it was in much better shape before repeated readings over the past month or so.

This is a fun book to read aloud and kids seem to really enjoy it. After reading it a few times I started to notice dePaola's autumnal color palette.

I liked how well the soft shades of orange, green, brown, and yellow with added blue and purple stayed in a similar value range while varying from one another, sort of a like a great scrap quilt. Soon I had taken the book out of my kids' room and into my fabric room to use as a guide in pulling fabric. Matching my stash to the pictures sounded easier than it ended up being, giving me a whole new appreciation for dePaola's work.

Matching just the right shades was a challenge, and even then I rarely had exact matches. I quickly realized that even the "darker" olives and browns in the book were actually in a medium value range, and I had few fabrics that matched. Above are some fabrics that made it through the first round but that got cut when I reevaluated in better light.

The blue of the old woman's coat was particularly hard to match -- the blue swatch shown above is from Lizzy House's 1001 Peeps line.

In the end I found I mostly had orange and green fabrics that would work, with a few yellows/golds, some neutrals and only one purple. It certainly could work specifically for Halloween, especially with more emphasis on the purple with maybe some black mixed in. Or I could take out the purple and blue and still have a nice selection for an autumn quilt or table setting.

I also have a Kona Solid charm pack -- I think it's the Dusty collection -- that had fabrics that would work, particularly for the olive green range. Which should come as no surprise, really.

I think I might cut some charm squares from the fabrics I pulled from my stash so I have my own precut  set ready to go the next time I want something soft and lovely for fall. And now I'm already eyeing other books in my kids' room for possible quilt inspiration. I wonder what's next?

Happy Birthday to Me!

I know, I know, I haven't blogged about anything of substance in well over a year, and yet I think I can just waltz back in to talk about my Etsy shop?

Well, yes, actually, that's exactly what I'm doing.

I just want to put it out there that my little shop just celebrated its second anniversary, and to mark the occasion I decided to offer free shipping to the U.S. on any orders placed before midnight (Mountain time) on Sunday, August 11. However, I've been meaning to get this blog post up for the past day or so and am getting to it so late that I'll probably leave the $0 shipping charges in effect through Monday evening.

I've been adding items to my inventory lately knowing that this is the time of year when most people are starting to look for seasonal fabric. Hence, I have some Halloween fabric:

Halloween fabric Spellbound from Maywood Studio 4 fat quarters

Halloween fabric Trick or Treat from Northcott

Halloween fabric Harvest Moon border stripe from Northcott 1/3 yard

And some Christmas fabric:

Christmas fabric 6" charm squares w/gold metallic accents

Christmas fabric 5" charm squares w/snowmen & snowflakes

Christmas fabric Confectionary Stripe from Michael Miller 1/2 yard

And I'll be adding some more I expect.

I also have more vintage items -- to be specific, I have vintage illustrated children's books. I've been collecting kids books for years, and while I love bringing them home I don't always have room to keep them. Actually, at this point I have more vintage items in my shop than I have fabric for sale.

Here are some of the books:

Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip by Patrick F. McManus

Cat (hardcover book) by B. Kliban

Bernard of Scotland Yard by Berniece Freschet

Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, adapted by Diana Stewart, illustrated by Charles Shaw

 I also have four volumes of the Best in Children's Books series from the late 1950s to 1960: volumes 22, 25 (including illustrations by Richard Scarry), 32, and 37 (also with illustrations by Richard Scarry). I love this series -- each volume offers a fantastic cross-section of mid-century illustration styles.

And there are more. There are some interesting, unique books in there: Bernard of Scotland Yard is wonderfully illustrated throughout but the story and text are involved enough to make it a great book for an early reader to tackle on her/his own. And the illustrations in Tales of Edgar Allan Poe are not for the little ones; in fact, that book would be a great addition to any horror fan's collection. Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip is a fun guide to what a kid might expect to find while camping, covering silly topics (like the "crouch hop" one does after hammering one's thumb setting up a tent) as well as important ones (like, for instance, bears in the wilderness). And the illustrations by Roy Doty bring me right back to my Judy-Blume-reading youth -- I half-expect Fudge to appear every time I turn the page. You can see examples of the illustrations in the Etsy listings.

OK, I'll stop now. Thanks for reading.

What can you make with 6" charm squares?

Autumn fabric 6" charm squares

It's been interesting to get into my stash and try to pare it down by cutting 6" charm squares to sell on Etsy. I've decided to cut a set of squares for myself alongside the sets I'm cutting for potential sale. I want to challenge myself to make something out of a charm square set.

In addition to just using them as is, here are some things you can do with 6" squares that have come to mind while cutting:

1. You can get two half-square triangles that will finish at 5" from two 6" squares. You could either trim the squares to 5 7/8" first, or sew the HSTs first and then trim them to 5 1/2".
2. Cut two 6" squares into four equal 3" squares each. Pair the squares up and sew eight HSTs that will finish at 2". (Same as with #1, either trim the squares to 2 7/8" or trim the HSTs to 2 1/2".)
3. Cut two 6" squares into nine equal 2" squares each. Pair the squares up and sew eighteen HSTs that will finish at 1". (Again, trim squares to 1 7/8" or HSTs to 1 1/2".)
4. Cut one 6" square into two 3" x 6" strips. Cut another 6" square into four 3" squares. Use quick piecing methods to make two flying geese units.
5. Cut 6" squares into 2" or 3" strips for use in a roman coins quilt, rail fence quilt, or piano key border.
6. Cut two 6" squares across both diagonals into 4 triangles each. Sew two triangles of each print to make an hourglass block that finishes at 4 3/4".
7. Cut a 6" square into four 3" squares, and then cut one of the 3" squares into four 1 1/2" squares. Cut two 3" squares from a neutral or solid fabric. Use quick corner piecing to sew a 1 1/2" square to one corner of the neutral or solid squares. Sew two of the 3" charm squares to the two neutral/solid squares to make a bow tie block.

The ideas... they just keep coming! I need to stop cutting and start sewing...

Blue 6" charm squares

Food and drink novelty 6" charm squares

Fabric gift wrap

I had an overdue baby shower gift for my cousin and his wife that I needed to wrap before mailing. I was just about to dig out some wrapping paper and ribbons when I thought, "I must have fabric in my stash I can use."

I think these bits of the Cogsmo panel and circuitry print were just what I needed. I fussy cut two images from the panel, sewed a narrow channel across the top of each, sewed them together on three sides to make a simple bag, and then pulled (or rather, pushed with a bamboo skewer) a piece of wool yarn through each channel and tied them together to form a drawstring. Into the bag went a book. The shirt I just rolled up in a piece of the circuitry print and tied on either end with yarn so it looks like a big piece of candy. I hope they like the gifts, and I hope they can re-use the wrapping!

Placemats will save us all

I have decided that, in order for my children not to give the impression to the world at large that they were raised by wolves, I need to make placemats. I didn't realize until very recently the civilizing force of a simple set of placemats, but now that I don't have any, I miss them tremendously.

Actually, I think we do have some "special occasion" placemats tucked away in the linen closet, probably under the table cloth we use once a year at the holidays. Oh that's right -- we have that set my mother-in-law gave my husband before I met him, most likely in the hopes that he would use them and thereby show the world that he was not in fact raised by wolves despite his bachelor (read: light on the housekeeping) ways.

When I was growing up, every night my brother and I would have to set the table for dinner, which included putting out placemats, napkins (paper), and silverware. It was hardly Downton Abbey-esque in terms of formality, but there were rules and expectations for how we behaved at the dinner table. The hubby and I have been exceedingly casual about mealtimes up until now, doing a lot of eating in front of the TV, or on the go, or whenever the mood strikes. But Little H (our toddler) has been old enough to eat at the table with us for a while, and it's time to indoctrinate train teach her how to eat at the dinner table.

When the three of us sat down to eat last night (Littler J the baby was taking a late nap) it wasn't just the odds and ends that had been pushed to one end of the table to make room that made it feel like it wasn't quite the family table I want. It just seemed so unfinished and bare without the unifying effect of placemats.

Am I making too big a deal out of this? Perhaps. Maybe I just want an excuse to sew something relatively quick and easy. I do know that deciding to pare down my stash by trying to sell precuts has been one of the best motivators to get me to want to sew from my stash and not just look at it from afar. Getting in there, pulling out fabric, trying to figure out what goes with what and how it could be used has made me think, "Well, if this doesn't sell, I'll just make [fill in the blank] out of it."

Doesn't matter the reason. I've decided I want placemats, so placemats I shall have!

OK, this time it's serious!

By most quilters' standards, my stash is not big. But considering how slowly I move through it, it's too big for me. So I need to get serious about paring it down and doing some destashing. I know, I've said that before, but this time I mean business! There's just too much new stuff I want. Speaking of which, you know how hard it is to find yardage of the latest Paris map fabric from Moda? I waited so long to get any it's practically sold out everywhere I looked, even on eBay and Etsy. I'm glad I found a couple of yards online, but let that be a lesson to me -- if I really know I want something, there's no point in waiting!

So that's where my renewed determination to destash comes in. I decided to try doing some precuts to sell through my little Etsy shop, and I have more in mind. In addition to the baby quilt and I Spy-friendly items shown below, I still have some Moda and FreeSpirit fat quarter bundles for sale. And there will probably be more of those to come, too. Like I said, it's time to be honest with myself about what I think I'll use vs. what I like to collect (not always the same thing)!

Flitter Flannel 12" squares

Zoo Menagerie fat 1/8s

Food & Drink novelty 6" charm squares

Baby quilt completed

A few days ago I wrote about my frustration starting a new machine quilting project. I think it wouldn't be so frustrating if I hadn't had reasonable success quilting the baby quilt for my friend. Again, I had to alter my settings once I got started from what I'd settled on with my test sandwich, but not nearly to the same extent as I'm having to do with this other quilt, which I'm making for my sister. I guess that's where the extra bulk and weight of my sister's quilt makes a difference -- it's about 55" x 80" whereas the baby quilt is about 43" x 55". Each quilt is its own learning experience is the moral to this story.

But as far as the baby quilt goes, it turned out well. Nothing fancy, just simple borders and cornerstones and minimal quilting. I tried a new technique for the binding -- I attached it first to the back, then used a zigzag stitch to finish it on the front. You can see the zigzag on the back, but I'm OK with that. As I've told my friend, this is a quilt that's meant to be used and washed and used some more.

Once it was finished and washed and dried, I was so happy I'd stuck with using quilt shop-quality fabric. It's just so soft. I have a scrap quilt I made a few years ago from fabric I'd purchased from a variety of places, and despite having been washed multiple times it's nowhere near as soft as the baby quilt was after just one time through the washer. If I wasn't a convert to good fabric before, I sure am now.

The only solution is chocolate cake

*sigh* Actually, that should be *SIGH* *GRRRR* *#%@$! crap*

It doesn't matter how much I test the settings on my machine with a little quilt sandwich before preparing to machine quilt. I mean, yeah, the test helps me get a ballpark idea of what's going to work in terms of tension and stitch length. But the real tests, unfortunately, have to wait until the actual bulky quilt is in the machine and I am attempting to do some actual machine quilting. And then it just becomes a game of "will this tension setting work better? No? What about this one?" I feel like I squandered the better part of a perfectly good overlapping nap period ripping out lines of quilting. On my last attempt, the top stitches finally looked good, but the bobbin tension is now far too loose and the back looks terrible.

So rather than use up the last few minutes of quiet ripping out that quilting, I did what any quilter in her right mind would do -- cut a big slice of the store-bought chocolate cake sitting on the counter and went to town. Figuring out what I'm doing wrong with my sewing machine will just have to wait.

New additions

I'm taking advantage of that precious and all-too-fleeting window when the toddler's and baby's naps overlap to put some time into the blog and my Etsy shop. Thanks to some tough decisions about de-stashing I added a couple of items to the shop, including some fat eighths from the new Little Apples collection from Moda. (I told you that I made some tough decisions -- it's not easy to part with such cuteness!). I also reduced the prices on a few other items that have been in my shop for a few months and will be adding some vintage items soon.

And as far as the more important new addition to the household, we welcomed our second daughter a few weeks ago. She is, of course, precious, and thankfully doing an OK job of napping in her bassinet. It sure is different going from one child to two, but in a very, very good way.

Homemade Halloween: DIY Piglet costume

Last year I was determined from early on that the toddler would go as Piglet for Halloween. The officially licensed retail Piglet costumes sell for over $30, and there was no way I spending that much money (yes, I'm cheap) for what amounted to a photo op since she was still too young to trick or treat.

Plus, it's more fun to make these things on your own, right? I mean, right? OK, it's definitely more time-consuming, but I put together what I thought was a pretty darn cute costume for about $8. I needed three things: pink footie pajamas, a striped sleeveless sweater, and Piglet ears on a headband.

I decided to go with Disney's version of the sweater (that is, pink with horizontal stripes) and not the classic E.H. Shepard version (which usually is blue or sage green), just so the costume would be more recognizable.

The pj's and sweater were fairly easy although I did have to make a few thrift store runs throughout October to find pieces I could work with. [Note: thrifting a costume is not a last-minute project in my experience; it takes planning and persistence. I think of it as a treasure hunt!]

Not a great photo, I know. I removed the sleeves from the sweater and used a pink fabric pen to color in the white stripes.

The ears required more work. I started with a $1 pair of bunny ears from the thrift store.

This is a shot of the back; the front of the ears had shiny white polyester "inner ears" for lack of a better term. The ears got their shape from a loop of thin wire. I experimented with trying to pinch the wire into more of a pig shape but finally decided more deconstruction was needed:

1. I used the toddler's Piglet plush toy as my guide and traced one of the ears onto paper to make a template.
2. With a seam ripper I removed the white fabric from the pink "outer ears," exposing the support wires. Using my template as a rough guide, I trimmed the pink fabric leaving about 1/2" all around.
3. With wire clippers, I snipped the support wires where they connected to the headband closer to the center, straightened the wires out, and then snipped the excess so there would be some support going almost to the tip of each ear.
4. I cut 2 ear shapes out of light pink crafting felt backed with fusible web, and cut 2 more ear shapes from hot pink crafting felt about 1/4" smaller also backed by fusible web.
5. I positioned the light pink felt ear shapes with the fusible web facing down on the wrong side of each outer ear, sandwiching the support wires, and fused in place.
6. Then I positioned the hot pink ear shapes in place, and pinched the excess outer ear fabric over the light pink felt and under the edges of the hot pink felt. Once the contours were right and the raw edges were hidden I fused the hot pink felt in place.

Ta-dah!

Piglet ears, front and back.

Trust me when I tell you, the toddler was the cutest darn Piglet you've ever seen. But then again, I am biased.

What's your fave machine quilting thread?

I did not manage to finish the baby quilt before my friend's shower last weekend. Being pregnant myself, the effects of work, home, husband and toddler meant that I tend to be fairly wiped out by 9:00 pm, pretty much the only time during the week I can sew. Instead I tried to focus on preparing my minimal contributions to the shower itself, including a bunting banner I wanted to make. Make it I did with hours to spare, and it turned out pretty nicely I think.

But back to the quilt. I pieced the backing from my stash yesterday, and fused/topstitched the label just a little bit ago during the toddler's* nap. Forgetting that basting a quilt takes a certain amount of time and effort, I was getting ready to run to my local quilt shop for machine quilting thread and possibly some material for the binding. As I was brushing my hair, I thought, What's the rush? You're not going to start quilting it today, you might as well put some research into this. I have some experienced machine quilters I can consult, and I have this blog floating around on the interwebs.

So if there's anyone out there reading this who cares to chime in, I'd love to hear what your favorite machine quilting thread is. This is just a utilitarian baby quilt that I'll probably quilt with straight lines. I've done some machine quilting in the past with little attention paid to the type of thread I used. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit how much thread has made its way into my collection because I wasn't paying attention. Seriously, how did I end up with so much cotton/poly Coats & Clark? Actually, I know why -- it's cause I was shopping the sales at the big box stores. To be fair, I do have a good amount of Mettler in my collection, too. I'll tell you what though, once you go Presencia you'll never go back. That stuff just glides through my old machine like buttah.

So even though this isn't an heirloom quality quilt, I do want the materials to be of quality. The fabric I'm using is all good quality, I got 100% cotton batting, I've used good thread for piecing. I'd hate to undermine it all with crap quilting thread. I mean, the quilting might be crap, but at least the thread will be good.

And speaking of the fabric, a few weeks ago I found just the right stuff for the sashes/borders and cornerstones. When I got a look at the selvages, I was not surprised -- Moda and more Moda. I picked a sunny yellow gingham printed on the bias from Sweetwater's Sunkissed collection for the sashes/borders, and may just have to grab another yard or two for my stash. I love that it's on the bias.

For the cornerstones, I bought a fat quarter of what turned out to be from Fig Tree & Co., which I didn't know till I got it home. Absolutely no surprise there -- I love her palette. I just can't figure out exactly which collection it's from, Fig & Plum or Strawberry Fields, because the selvage isn't long enough. I'm thinking of using it for the binding, so I really need it to match what I've already got. Again, if anyone out there knows based on the photo...



*I really need to come up with a cute pseudonym for her. One more thing for the To Do List.

Yet another coffee sleeve tutorial

I know there are tons of great tutorials out there on how to make coffee cup sleeves, but I thought I'd add my own into the mix. Just in case it's useful to someone.

I made this coffee cup sleeve for my dear friend's birthday a few months ago -- she deserves much more than this, but this will have to do until I make her that heirloom queen-size quilt.

I started by picking out a couple of fabrics, in this case, some cotton sateen prints from Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms collection. Love them.

I used a Starbucks cardboard coffee sleeve as my template and traced it onto a thin piece of cardboard. If I planned to make a lot of these I'd have used template plastic, but cardboard is great for my purposes. 

I cut my template with an extra 1/8" all around -- I just eyeballed it. No need to get out a ruler for this. Although the sleeve is reversible, you may want to mark the template with "front" and "back" if it matters which fabric will be on display more often.

I traced around the template and cut my sleeve front and back from the two fabrics with a scant 1/4" seam allowance all around, making sure to flip the template to get the reverse shape for the back since the sleeve isn't completely symmetrical.

Here are the front and back after being cut out.

Next I cut out my lining. This version was actually my second attempt, so I applied what I'd learned from my first version. In the first version, I tried using thin cotton batting along with a scrap of blackout curtain lining left over from an old project. It was just too thick with two layers between the cotton sateen, which is a heavier weight than quilter's cotton. So I figured the blackout curtain fabric would suffice. Besides, my friend likes to feel the warmth from the cup through the sleeve -- if anything, I was afraid it was going to be too insulated for her. As you can see, I used the actual Starbucks sleeve as the template for this step and cut just inside the line. I knew from my first attempt that I didn't want the lining caught in the seams.

I centered the lining on the wrong side of my backing fabric, pinned carefully, and then thread basted them together. Leave your knots on the right side of the backing fabric for easy removal later on.

I layered my front and back fabrics right sides together and used pins to line up the corners just right. When I was satisfied with the alignment, I pinned through all layers and stitched along my marked line. I left open the end that was going to be the flap that gets tucked under when the sleeve is wrapped around a cup.

I removed the pins but left in the thread basting, and carefully turned the sleeve right side out through the opening. I pressed the sleeve to make sure the lining was lying nice and flat and not getting bunched up in the seam allowance. Then I folded in the seam allowances on the open end, pinned, and topstitched to close it up. I think I tried to catch the lining in the stitching if possible, but didn't worry too much about it being "free floating." I knew it was nice and snug inside the sleeve. Now it was safe to remove the thread basting.

For some reason, the only velcro I had on hand was something I'd bought for a paper craft, so it had adhesive on it and is not intended for use with fabric. But because I'm lazy and I knew that this was not something that would probably see much washing machine action, I used it anyway. I attached one half of the velcro to the front fabric on the end that would get tucked under, and the other half on the back fabric of the opposite end. Because of the sticky adhesive, I hand stitched an X through each piece of velcro using a big embroidery needle that I could throw away. Actually, I think I used two needles because they got so gunked up. I don't recommend attaching your velcro this way, but you work with whatcha got.

Ta-dah! 

And that, my friends, is how I made my coffee sleeve. From all indications, it is out in the world and holding up just fine.

I have to brag somewhere...

... and I can't do it on Facebook since the intended recipient (or rather, mother of the intended recipient) would see my status update and the surprise would be ruined. So I have to do it here. The baby quilt top is pieced. Of course, as I referred to it before, it is super-simple and any quilter worth her salt should have been able to put it together within a few hours. So I guess I shouldn't brag too much. Besides, now comes the hard part -- the quilting! Which I'm not sure I'll be able to finish before the baby shower this weekend, although I suppose I should try. Ah, for an entire, uninterrupted day of sewing!

First things first

I've gotten by with just one big and one small acrylic ruler for years now. Recently I've found myself wanting a 12 1/2" square ruler, so I took a glance at the price tag when visiting my local quilt shop recently. Over $20! Eek. I love supporting my LQS but I just may have to locate a 40% JoAnn coupon and get a ruler there.

But first, I've got a super simple baby quilt I want to make in the next 12 days. Seems like it should be do-able, but nothing goes as quickly as it should when you work full-time and come home to a husband and toddler. A toddler who apparently refuses to nap longer than 90 minutes on the weekends. Which brings today's blog post to an end.