Category: Making

homesteading, sewing

Reusable Dry Goods Bag

We’ve got reusable fabric shopping bags. Why not have something reusable that you can use in the bulk foods aisle? I came up with this baggie a couple months ago, using fabric from the stash and ? for possibly the first time since leaving school a million years ago. Since then, it’s brought home walnuts, cornmeal, and granola. When it gets dusty inside, I throw it in the wash. The contrasting square is there so I can write in the bag’s weight when empty, which would simplify the check-out process at the store. So far, PCC has been awesome about …

sewing

Thread Catcher, Version 2

 

Well, I think it’s an improvement over the last one, but it’s not quite there yet. For one, I think the fabric combination came out too much like a circus tent for my taste. Less contrast, perhaps, or not using a spacious print/solid combination. A little interfacing would be good for structural integrity, and a tiny bit more height before the rim flips down. I think the most critical part, though, would be an adjustment to my template so that the outside rim doesn’t flare. I was hoping for something more vertical. It kinda looks like a mutant cootie-catcher to …

quilts, sewing

Dis-proof of Concept, and The Answer

 

Sewing creates these tiny bits of thread that you cut off a project. I’ve always just had a little pile going on my work table, and sometimes I would sweep them into my hand and get them to a trash bin. More often they would get swept off the table (by my project or my arm) and wait to be vacuumed into oblivion. Last night, I decided that it was time to grow up. So I made a thing in which to put thread tails. What resulted is not quite what I had in mind. It’s edges are too wavy …

sewing

Ring-a-Ling Pocket

 

Ian recently upgraded his phone, so I’ve inherited the old iPhone. Look out world, I have a smart phone now, which mostly means I won’t be calling Ian to ask “where is that park/business/restaurant that I’m sure I’m close to but can’t quite find” anymore. The new phone is much larger than my old phone, which generally fit in my pocket. Not this one, which could lead me to rant about women’s fashion and the abominably small pockets therein. I mean, really, if you want to make it look like there are pockets but make them unusable so the presence …

Caitlyn, sewing

Rainbow Skirt

This was Caitlyn’s Christmas present from me this year. I guess sometimes I don’t know how to make a decision. I had picked up a spectrum of 8 fat quarters with the idea that I’d make a skirt for Caitlyn out of maybe four of them. But when the time came, I couldn’t decide which four to use. And what was supposed to be a “throw it together in an afternoon” kind of thing turned into a full-blown design project. Because once you know you are going to use all eight pieces of fabric, you have to decide how much …

quilts

Finished!

 

We did the math. There are 1,225 little squares in this quilt top. I think I would be completely crazy by now if I had cut them all out individually and pieced this together one square at at time. Hooray for strip piecing! I’m really happy with how this turned out, and really pleased that start-to-finish (or at least this stage of finish – there’s still a possible border and a backing and binding to add, not to mention the actual quilting part) was just a month. The PS I Quilt Quilt Along part was probably crucial for making sure …