Envelope Quilt Blocks

I'm making pretty good progress on my To-Do List Quilt.

It's going to have nine envelopes, and I made them all on Wednesday.  I used the instructions from Hearts Aplenty by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith.  Published in 2001, this book is now out of print.

I used the same fabric for all the flaps to tie the envelopes together and reduce some of the scrappy look.  The top reading on my scrappy meter never runs very high.

Although you can't see it in this photograph, the flaps do open, making a truly functional envelope. 

I used an assortment of brights, most of them from Art Gallery Fabrics.

Also some muted organics from Cloud Nine.

The sides of the envelope are 5 1/2" squares, folded on the diagonal, then overlapped.  Some of my striped fabric came out in a right-angle pattern...

... and some of it remained parallel lines.  I didn't pay attention when I was cutting or folding, nor do I feel like doing any scientific experiments to figure out why this happened.  It doesn't bother me, so I'm going to leave it at that.

Next step, for today, is adding the sashing.  After I made all the envelopes, I no longer liked the sashing fabric I originally picked out.  You really can't get the full picture at the beginning when you're pulling fabric, can you?  I have a new one that will look much better, but I still don't know what to use for the cornerstones.   Once all the sashing is in there, that should make for an easier choice.

To Do - Make a To-Do List Quilt

My  next project is going to be a way to keep track of future sewing project ideas.  In my never-ending quest for the perfect (for me) type of to-do list, right now I'm settling on one that is specific just to my sewing room.

This is my inspiration fabric.  It's called Clipboard, and it's from the Type collection by Julia Rothman for Windham Fabrics.

These are the supporting fabrics.  Not my usual color palette, but it's good to do something different.  

I already have a good start on it and hope to finish it sometime next week.

Monday is Fun Day - House of New Fabric

I have a Wolverine metal dollhouse from the 1950s that I used to keep my embroidery in.  I haven't been doing much embroidery lately, so I repurposed the house.

It's where I now keep my brand-new fabric that I bought in these last two months, nearly all of it from The Sewcial Lounge.

On the left, a HUGE packet of Sarah Watts's  August collection produced by Cotton + Steel, a new division of RJR Fabrics.  If you have 10 minutes, watch how Cotton + Steel sprang to life, out of the imagination of Melody Miller.  

To the right, Sunprint Feathers by Alison Glass.

The bottom four are from Heather Ross's reprinted Far, Far Away collection.  On the bottom, you can see the ladder from the Princess and the Pea bed.  I think I'll go back to The Sewcial Lounge next month and buy more from this collection.

Paint by Carrie Bloomston.  This has a worn, sort of blurry, finish to it, like well-worn denim.  Nice and different.

Bottom bundle is Terra Australis from Australian designer Emma Jean Jansen.

In the back, a free bundle of 9 fat quarters from spending more than $100 at The Sewcial Lounge's 3rd birthday party.  This collection is Once Upon a Story Book by Windham Fabrics.  I like the 1930s colors and the tiny prints.

Good thing I never bought any furniture for this house.

Sewing Room Chair

I finished my sewing room chair yesterday.  It's a very comfortable office chair with casters, and I liked everything about it except for the slightly worn upholstery.  To make it easy on myself, I made a sleeve that slides over the back and a small flat quilt to lay on the seat.  

It's been going on for too long, so I'm glad I finally finished it.  In mid-September I made all the blocks, and in early October I pieced them.

Here's the finished product.  Let's walk through what I did since early October...

 

I added borders to the chevron blocks to make it large enough to cover the chair back.  I placed the top block upside down, so that when it's folded in half, both blocks will have their V's pointing down.

Then I pieced a slightly larger piece for the backing, using my second-tier (less than favorite) fabric.  I'm always glad of a good way to use up that fabric.

Close-up of the backing.  It's not so bad; I think these are all Kaffe Fassett.

Pin basted.  It's nice to work with something small enough that I can work on my table, instead of the floor.

For quilting, I matched the thread to the fabric color, because I didn't want the thread to show.

Echo quilting.

The seat cover has the same fabric on the front and back.  Since the seat is wider (going from side to side) than it is deep (going from front to back), I quilted the lines parallel to the long edges.  That helps in the draping.  I used multiple thread colors, but did each color in blocks of parallel lines.

Here are the finished parts.  I used the same binding on the two to tie them together.  That sturdy little back is standing up all on its own.

The cover for the chair back just barely touches the seat cover.  The binding on the chair back is much narrower than on the seat because I didn't want to cover up very much of the orange.  Plus with just one fabric on the seat, a wider binding gives it a little more interest.

It seems I'm always rearranging / redecorating my sewing room, and I can see many more chair covers in different color schemes in my future.  But not for awhile yet.

New Houseplants

A couple of weeks ago I bought some new houseplants.  I was at a garden center that had one of those small shopping carts that are so much fun to wheel around - they turn on a dime and you can do really tight corners.  They're so much fun that one tends to peruse and linger more than one perhaps ought to.  

I eventually had the cart filled to the brim with just the right combination of color and greenery.  After all that effort at coordinating, when I got home, I split them up.

Two of the plants already died - a beautiful orange Crossandra which they assured me would bloom for at least six weeks (in somebody else's home, I guess) and a teeny, tiny Chrysanthemum.  (I might have forgotten to water the mum.)

These are the ones that made it, so far...

Pilea on the left; begonia on the right.

A pretty, vintage tin sits to the right of the begonia.

Kalanchoe, miniature.  I bought two of these, but only this one looks good now.

 

Croton, temporarily sitting atop my Amy Butler Gumdrop Pillow.

And a miniature Phalaenopsis Orchid.

Monday is Fun Day - Eight Cents per Magazine

Yesterday I went to an Embroiderers' Guild of America show.  I hadn't been to one of their shows in awhile, so thought I'd stop in to see if there was any modern embroidery going on.  There was hardly any embroidery going on at all (it was mostly cross stitch) which made me glad there wasn't an admission charge.

I didn't leave completely disappointed, though.  I was lucky to find relatively recent back issues of Quilting Arts magazine.  I used to subscribe, but let it lapse due to the high price.  I bought all of the 18 copies they had, for just $1.50.  That was fun yesterday, and it's still fun today.