That free quilt I'm working on plus one.

My nephew went and had a baby. I'm making them a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt out of old blue jeans and some strawberry fabric. It's almost 100% hand sewing. I work on it every day, but it's just not seeming to grow fast enough. The derned kid will be 25 by the time I finish it. I'm going to take some photos to show everyone the process. It's an easy quilt to make, but slllloooooowwwww.
My other nephew and his wife are expecting. I have a very old quilt that his mother made when he was a youngster. It's basically a "dead" quilt, but there are some usable, hand embroidered parts. I've decided to use that as my jumping off spot. My sister, his mother, died a few years ago, so I'm going to make a grandmother quilt for them. I'm hoping it will be as beautiful in execution as it is in my head. It will be, as all my quilts are, nontraditional and use a variety of methods for putting it together. I'm not very good at following rules when it comes to sewing. I just do what I do and hope for the best. This is another project I'll make sure to take photos of and put on the FrugalSewing.com projects page.
Then, and only then, can I start working on some of the craft items I mentioned below. I'm eager to get into a couple of shows next year and sell some things. I certainly won't make a living at it, but it'll be fun to get out and meet people and share my talents, such as they are.
I think my spring and summer are filled with sewing projects alreayd. Not to mention that outfits I want to make for myself. Is there ever enough time!

An art show here, a craft show there

I went to a craft show this weekend and now I'm thinking about selling at them again. My original intention when I started making 18" doll clothes was to sell them.
I wanted to make stock, enough for a year, so bought hanger, models, and started sewing. I ended up selling them one at a time on eBay instead.
Now I have the bug again. I want to get some clothes made and tuck them away. I love making vests and jeans, as well as dresses and accessories. I have more doll shoes than you can shake a stick at, and that would work too.
In the meantime, I've also been making bibs and potholders and doll quilts by hand. It's almost like I have more ideas in my head than I have time to make things. So maybe working on items and making them to sell later might be a good idea.

At the show I attended, there were people who had made socks, crocheted from plastic bag pocketbooks, and all sorts of other items, but nothing like I make. There were jewelry vendors, artsy clothing vendors (one that made kids' dresses out of tee shirts and cottons), and knitting items galore. And people were buying. I could do that!I have 20 projects started already and 6 potholders (Harley) done and ready to go. How to learn to be patient enough to hold onto items until I do a show is going to be a huge consideration, but I bet I could do it!
I have antique quilt tops that can be remade into potholders and Christmas stockings. Not to mention placemats!
Maybe it's time. Maybe it's time to get my act together and start making what I like to make and setting it aside.
Placemats and bibbies and quilts, oh my! Now I have to get kicking on this. I'm stoked.

Free quilt and chit chatting at the airport

I'm working on an article about a  quilt I am making. It's a Grandmother's Flower Garden design and I'm using recycled denim and some fabric with strawberries on it. No photos yet, but they're coming.  How I came to make this quilt is simple and two-fold.
First, I travel to Phoenix from Virginia twice a year (frugal flying = getting the best rate possible and making reservations in advance) and I always take hand sewing to pass the time in the airport (frugal flying also = layovers). For the past couple of years, I've been traveling with my Cathedral Window quilt that I've discussed before. I've taken small components and worked on them by hand, but now it has grown so much that it's too big to travel with. As I sew, after walking around and window shopping for future sewing project inspiration, people often take a stolen glance. From time to time, someone asks me what I'm making and I gladly share with them what I'm doing. If it leads to more talking about the sewing, that's fine by me. I get to learn about someone's mother who made a quilt "like that" or someone who wishes they could sew, and more often than not, we just talk. It starts with their question and usually ends when we board the plane. One time, I had a reason to go to the ER for a check on something, but knew I was going to be there for hours. Who doesn't go to the ER and wait!?! I took the Cathedral Window pieces with me to work on there. At one point, a doctor came in and said "I can't believe you're in here for X and you're sewing!" I explained that I knew it would take a while and why not enjoy my time in the bed on the IV. He smiled and said he agreed. It's not just traveling and sewing that gets the conversation started!
Second, my nephew recently had a baby girl. She's gorgeous and we're real proud to welcome her to her new extended family. She's got a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins! But I digress.
I needed something a) to give the baby and b) to travel with. So, I went back to the first English Piecing design I learned over 25 years ago from a woman who was probably the age I am now, but at the time I thought she was old. Anyway, I had joined a quilt guild and learned that the members of the guild were way too persnickety. I liked to piece my way. I didn't follow rules; I made up my own. I was fortunate, though, to attend a course on English Piecing and thought that looked like fun. I made my now 23-year-old daughter a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and curtains to match for her bedroom. It took a long time cutting out all those hexagons out of paper and of fabric, basting them, and putting them together one by one by hand, but I remembered that it was a great project to travel with!
While I was working on my daughter's quilt, I took a train to New York. I took quilt pieces in a basket and worked on it on the train and learned that hand sewing interests people, especially today. Is it such an oddity that people don't see it anywhere else? Or does it genuinely bring out the reminiscence of times gone by for the interested party? It seems to make older women smile, that's for sure.
This quilt is with me now, in Arizona, but on the way, it was a conversation starter in Richmond and Houston at the airports. People watched and the brave ones asked about it. I got to show them the process because I was sewing right then and there, finishing some blocks as I went along, and I got to meet a few interesting people. We ended up not just talking about this quilt I am making for a family member, but I got to learn about them too. One couple was coming back from a vacation in Cancun, another woman was on her way to visit her daughter.
My sewing is usually for me as much as for the person I give the finished product to. It's my time to do my thing in my way without guild rules, with my recycled fabrics, with quiet things running through my head, but I sure don't mind sharing with folks I meet along the way.
Take hand sewing with you the next time you have to wait somewhere - airport, doctor's office, wherever.  You never know who you're going to meet or the stories you'll hear, and who knows, maybe someone will be interested enough to try something like that on their own.
P.S. Though I am in Phoenix, I did not go to the Superbowl, but man, this town has the fever!

Potholder mania! Stop me before I sew again.

I make these potholders, you see. I make them to sell on eBay. They're made out of recycled denim, pieces of motorcycle bandannas, and flame fabric, trimmed with black bias tape. Sometimes I make the bias if I have black fabric to make it with; other times, I buy it in lieu of buying black fabric that's just right.

Anyway! I posted the other day about my cleaning binge in the sewing room. That led to a sewing binge. A potholder sewing binge. I had run out of InsulBrite and batting, so a moratorium of sorts had taken hold of the potholder process, but that came in just before Christmas. When I was cleaning and organizing, I found some that I had started while waiting for the filling to arrive. Today, I went nuts. I machine embroidered the edges of the appliqué (it had been put on the denim prior to today with Wonder Under); added a fray retardant; made the denim, InsulBrite, batting, and cotton sandwich; added the machine quilting around the emblem; then machine stitched the bias tape to the front of the potholder, leaving only the hand stitching of the binding to the back to be done. I made five of them!
That should have been enough, but no. I read an article lately about finishing a project before you begin another one, so I gave myself a challenge. I decided to finish the five completely. I sat down with my handy-dandy new curved snipping scissors (got them as a Christmas gift), black thread, new needles, my pin cushion, and my thimble and set the television for PBS and started to sew. Oh yeah, can't forget the coffee! I spent the rest of my Sunday morning putting the bias binding on the potholders.
One more step, though. I added a black ribbon hanger to each one with the machine. And then? And then? Off to the computer to get them listed on eBay. Whew!
I have more ideas for potholders and bibs. I know I'll go nuts again soon because when I organized the sewing room, I re-found that Sponge Bob fabric I mentioned and it's just screaming to be used. (Update: Bib project can be found here.)

The moral of the story is that even the smallest projects can make a frugal sewing person happy. I have a weird feeling of "I've done something!" going on. Not a bad feeling to have.

The quilt that came in from the net

I cruise eBay a lot. That's not a big surprise. I'm always looking for a bargain. One evening, I happened upon some 9-patch quilt squares all done in different fabrics, sort of feedsack looking, some calico, but all retro or retro-type fabrics. I snagged them up. They got here last week and for whatever reason, I made a quilt top that very day. It happened to be my birthday. Go figure. I used leftover fabric to sash each block and made a 5 x 5 lap throw. Now what to do about the backing? Again, I looked around and found a huge piece of fleece that is done with different shades of blue and yellow in patchwork. It came that way. I'm still not sure why I have it, but it called my name and it became the backing and fluff for this lap throw. With fleece, no need for batting. Right now, right this moment, the quilt that wasn't just a week ago is almost complete. It's on my kitchen counter with three squares left to be tied. I chose tying because my hands are pooped and I didn't want to take all the time to quilt it. I must say, it's right gorgeous!
My next challenge is to choose a binding fabric out of my stash, make the binding, and put it on. That I will do by hand. I never did master doing it by machine.
Hopefully, within a few days, I'll have photos to post.
And to think, it all came from cruising the net one night. For less than $25, I have a gorgeous lap throw that I can be proud to put in my living room this winter on the back of one of my naked chairs.
Now that's frugal.
Edit - You can see front and back photos on the FrugalSewing.com site, but here's the net quilt front:

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Remodeling - Frugal Pattern and Sewing from Store Bought Blouse

I have a blouse I like. I like it a lot. It's nothing special, just a short sleeved blouse with no collar. I wore it recently and decided I liked it enough to copy it. So, here's what I did:
I got out a roll of Christmas wrapping paper. It's the only paper I had around and I'm too cheap to go out and buy any.
I analyzed the blouse to see its components - back (cut on fold), sleeves, and front. To make the facing, I'd just duplicate the neckline to the shouder and the front and make a facing just like I'd make for a storebought pattern. Easy.
I laid the blouse on the paper, starting with the back which I would eventually cut on the fold. I didn't take the blouse apart, but I was very generous with my use of pins while putting it on the paper. I spread out the blouse to avoid sizing problems with hidden folds, the neck, the shoulder, and the armhole. Then, I drew a line around the pattern piece, carefully duplicating the curve of the neckline and the curve of the armhole. After I unpinned the blouse from the paper, I marked the pattern as Back and noted the Cut on Fold section. I planned on adding seam allowances when I actually cut the fabric.
Next came the front. This was a little tricker. I repeated the steps above, taking care to respect the lines of the collar, armhole, and shoulder. Those needed more attention than the body of the blouse as they were sewn to other parts and needed to be gently hand pressed as I went along. Again, I used plenty of pins and drew the lines, cutting and then marking the pattern piece.
The sleeve was pretty easy. Lots of pins along the curve of the armhole. This sleeve happens to be symmetric, so I made the pattern piece such that I could cut it on the fold (the top seamline - there's no seam there - made a great fold). Pins, pencil, cut.
I waited to cut facings until I cut the fabric itself.
I pinned the pattern pieces on the fabric. For the back, I put an extra folded piece of fabric under the folded fabric that would be later used as a facing. I pinned the pattern on and cut the back and facing at the same time. I decided to trim that facing down later.
For the front, I placed a couple of fabric pieces under the body of the blouse where the front closures would go and cut that as facing along with the cutting of the blouse. Again, I decided to trim the facing later.
I stitched the shoudlers of front facing and back facing, right sides together, and serged the seams. At this point, I have an exact duplicate of the blouse cutting with the exception that the edge that doesn't match the front edge and neck edge of the blouse are sort of not cut perfectly. I used my serger on what would be the finished edge of the facing to finish and give me a seam allowance to turn under and stitch. This is when I trimmed the facing .
I stitched the shoudlers of the blouse front and back and then stay stitched from center front around the blouse and back to the center front on the other side.
I pinned the facing to the blouse, right sides together and then stitched the bottom to the bottom, all the way around. Then I turned this right sides out and pressed the facing down, stitching the shoulder facing to the shoudler seam inside to hold it in place.
From here, I added the sleeves as I would any other sleeve, hemmed the blouse and sleeves, added buttonholes and buttons, and voila. A blouse that fits well, looks good, and cost just about nothing to make!