Halloween WIPs & Storm Thoughts

Happy Halloween everybody!

Before I get on to the "business" of quilty stuff, let me comment a minute on the goings on along the East Coast. You may not know, but I'm a 13th generation Jersey Girl (yup, back to the 17th century!), and my thoughts are very much with my "people" right now. The devastation we're seeing on television is incomprehensible. My uncle and aunt, and many friends are awaiting word on the status of their homes, while other friends have already heard that they've lost their homes. My mother lost her electricity Monday night, and will likely not get it back for at least another week to ten days. Thankfully, the loss of life is remarkably low, but even so, more than 40 people have lost their lives across the East Coast, a number that is sadly sure to rise.

I feel helpless out here in Utah, and strangely guilty as I drive blithely around in beautiful 65 degree weather. The ones most effected by this disaster can't watch the news coverage, while the rest of us can tune in! When I spoke to my mother on the phone this morning, she was hungry for news about what was going on.  We just sent off a care package via FedEx, which will hopefully arrive tomorrow. She has been missing her morning coffee, so we sent her a french press coffee pot that doesn't require electricity, along with some crossword puzzles, some snacks, a wind-up flashlight, a lantern, and a supply of batteries (something hard to come by back east!). I feel a bit better to  be able to ease her discomfort somewhat.

I also feel good that I was able to finish my mom's Mama Lilly quilt so I know that she is keeping warm (since the heat is off) snuggling beneath the quilt!







Now, onto Wednesday's WIPs!

First, my starts:
1) I've signed up for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap that Kirsten over at Gemini Stitches is running, and I've gotten started on stalking my secret partner and designing a table runner . . .  good times! I'm thinking trees . . . .
2) Dog bone quilt: I've just started a fabulous gift quilt with paper pieced dog bones. By "started" I mean I've decided to do it, selected the fabric, and am starting to cut out the paper pieces I need for the bones. Early stages people!
3) Tree skirt: I've designed the layout for a combination paper pieced/appliquéd Christmas tree skirt. This is also a retreat project. See my prior post for my ambitious plans!

Next, my continuing WIPs:
1) Red cardigan: I finished the back and have started on the front side panels
2) Pieced scrap border quilt: I have all the pieces cut out and ready to sew together. I'm going to my 3-day retreat next Wednesday, so I'm holding off on sewing those together until then . . .  I think!
3) Denyse Schmidt block quilt: I have the blocks sewn together, and now just have to figure out the layout . . .

And finally, my finishes:
1) Starflower zippy pouch
2) a little traveling sewing kit (photo to follow!)

I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for her Wednesday WIPs. Go check out the fabulous projects that everyone has linked up over there!!

Wednesday Works in Progress

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday! It's been a busy week, and I have a few things to share . . .

First, my finish for the week--my Happy Ironing ironing pad:

And be sure to check out my free pattern!












Next, in anticipation for my upcoming retreat, I've gotten started cutting and piecing my fabric scraps for the pieced scrap border quilt I found on Red Peppers' Blog.

The tutorial calls for a 45 x 45 quilt, but I'm planning on making this a queen size, so I've doubled the number of scrap blocks. The bright side of a bad week of insomnia is that I've cut out almost 450 scraps from fat quarters and sewn 120 blocks. Oy! I'm hoping to get my contrasting white blocks cut out before the retreat so that when I get there I can just put it together!

In addition to this project, I've started a cardigan. I have a favorite, soft cardigan that I found in San Diego a few years ago, and I've decided to try my hand at making another one in this luscious red color:

Here's the original I'm working from:

The back is almost done, and then I'm on to the front panels . . .





Thanks for stopping by!

I fought the Vinyl . . . and I'm not sure who's winning?!

Hooking up with Lee's Wednesday's WIPs again! Pop on over this week and say hello to Felicity who's guest blogging!

This week I decided to BGP up (Big Girl Panty up) and brave the wild world of vinyl for the inside of my zippy pouch, because I wanted to replace my old, worn cosmetic bag. I had these scraps left over from my Spare Change quilt and I'm still crushing on the fabric, so onto the bag they went! I scored some great heavier weight green fabric at a yard sale across the street (the one where I found the fab antique cabinets for my sewing room), so I used that for the inside lining, and then I used the vinyl for the inside on top of the green. Of course I decided to be all difficult (for a change!) and used the cheap, really heavyweight vinyl I got for nothing in the remnant rack at Joann's. The good news? It was cheap and it is so cool and heavyweight in this bag!! The bad news? It was a real bad boy trying to wrestle inside out into this bag!! Ooh boy was it a real pain in the tush! It remains a WIP as I still have to finish the inside by sewing the inside lining back up. Sigh. But it does look lovely on the outside!

Here's where the rest of the WIP list stands:

1. Mom's Lilly quilt: top done, backing chosen; "just" need to baste and quilt it!
2. Granny squares: my squares all finished and the swap done; "just" need to figure out how I'm going to put them together in a quilt and then do it!
3. Sewing bag: I have a rolling wheelie bag for my sewing machine, but it's really bulky and takes up too much room when I'm traveling on longer trips, so I've decided to make a padded tote bag (with a zippered top) for my sewing machine. That way it will be a little more stream-lined and take up less room. The idea is great, nothing done on this project yet!
4. Pajamas: Yes, there are still some wayward, unfinished pajamas from a holiday I dare not name!!
5. Tote bags: I have about 4 tote bags I need to make or finish (various stages)!

May Update: Quilting Edition

Joining in on Lee's Wednesday WIP! Happy Day Everyone!

I've done it! My very first official quilt! Now, I've made quilts before, but not quite official quilts. The difference being in the quilting. I've done tied quilts before, but never a fully quilted patchwork quilt. I pulled up my BGP (Big Girl Panties), took a few deep breaths, relied heavily on the kindness and continued encouragement of my sewing ladies, and I did it! And here, without further ado, here she is, my Rainbow Sprout quilt:

First of all, let me acknowledge officially how cool it is to have the friendship and support of a very cool bunch of sewing ladies, especially when you're starting out in the sewing/quilting world. Ella hosted an amazing retreat last weekend, and it helped push me over the edge into finishing this quilt. All I had to do was finish the binding over the weekend! The combined humor, advice, wisdom, friendship and encouragement from April, Ella, Jenny (needs a blog!), Marion, Pamela, and Sue (get a blog!! :-)) has been such a true godsend! Thank you! There's so much more to report on the retreat, but stay tuned for that in another post . . .  I'm on the road and couldn't take photos of all the goodies that came out of the retreat!

I discovered the marvelous tutorial for this quilt from Hooked on Needles. And when I say it's an entirely manageable tutorial, BELIEVE IT! It's a great first-timers' quilt. I think it's a great go-to quilt for a baby gift. I'm kind of all raring to go to make another. I made this for our nephew, Cameron Derek, and I was a bit teary packing it up and sending it off yesterday, as joyful as I am to have this wrap him in love and blessings! Most of the charm squares come from Emily's swap I did earlier this year, but I did throw in a few I Spy squares. I even cut into my beloved Heather Ross Munki Munki--both the gnomes and the VW vans (Cameron's dad is a VW fan)!

For the quilting I did what I'm calling a wonky geometric design, essentially square-ish, but deliberately not perfect squares. I guess we officially call those rectangles (from what I recall of Geometry?). I was originally going to just do straight line quilting, but I wanted to do something with a bit more movement in it.

So this, is my proud photo of work accomplished! I also, with TONS of guidance and inspired help from my dear friend Sue over our fabulous retreat weekend finally finished my pincushion/scrapbag (photos to come).

As for works in progress, Oy! So much in the WIP line! I still have miles to go on:
- My messenger bag
- The valance for my mother's house
- Dare try to make a scrapbag/pincushion for my mother-in-law
- Finish the baby quilt for our friend's almost year-old baby (should I just scrap it and do another Rainbow Sprout quilt?)
- There's so much more I can't even remember anymore!

Love is still in the air!

Happy post-Valentine's Day!

Am I lucky girl or what?! Am I running away from home, you ask? no! I got a vintage valise, all packed full of vintage sewing goodies!! Does my honey know me or what?! The sweet little case has a fading, but still visible image on the front of a woman holding a parasol. So cute! It's a cute case, about 10x6", just perfect for little trips--like the one I'm taking this weekend to see my mom on the East Coast (and to go to NYC!).

And it was chock-full of sewing goodies!! Great vintage fabric, an adorable iron-on girl in a heart, needles. . . . and some not-so-vintage (thankf

ully!) candy message hearts! After all, what's Valentine's Day without the candy message hearts!!I've been sticking fairly faithfully to the no-grains, no processed food (not counting my diet coke!), very little dairy

diet, and I've been loving it (down 12 pounds without really trying!), but every once in a while, a splurge like candy message hearts is a real yum-yum!!

So just take a look at this fabulous vintage fabric! I just wish there were some info on the selvedges, but no such luck. Anyone recognize this fabric or know how to identify vintage fabric??

Are these fabulous, or what?! And there's a ton of the cityscape fabric. [Sorry, by the way, that all the pictures are all gi-normous. Blogger is not cooperating in my photo editing this morning. Harrumph!!]

Now, hooking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced, where all things wonderful happen, here's what's been happening at Shortcookie recently . . . . It's been kind of slow sewing-wise (I actually HATE when "wise" gets glued onto words like that, so I'm not sure why I'm doing it myself, but there you go, it's that kind of day!). I've mostly just been meandering along with some older projects. I am still tryin

g to finish up a Valentine's pillow featuring Zoey and Sophie (Zoey, our border collie/lab is still clearly in process here!):

It's not ironed, so the heart looks a bit wonkier than it actually is. Zoey, being part border collie, has all sorts of feathery hairs coming off her, so that's what's going on in front. I still have to add some white fabric to her front as well, so she won't look quite so Rasta braid there!!

I've also been working on a sewing machine cover. I've decided to finally make the commitment and pull out some of my favorite, most hoarded fabric for this project. The front will have three panels: Moda scissors on the left and right panels in some sort of paper pieced abstract design, and then an appliquéd scissor in the middle panel. The back will also have three panels: I have two different Heather Ross spool fabric (one a macaroni love story spools and another a munki munki sewing notions)-- those will be used for the left and right panels, and then I will have a paper pieced section in the middle featuring three spools of thread made from selvedges. I've started on the spools, with my Echino bicycle fabric as the base of the spool. I think this will just be a practice one, because the "thread" is just not quite lined up with the "spool". Back to the drawing board!:

I love paper piecing and have really just taught myself. I've been struggling with figuring out how to create my own patterns. There are a lot of great tutorials all over the web teaching how to DO paper piecing, but I can't find any resources for how to DESIGN your own patterns. Any recommendations anyone??

Okay, now I better get cracking and get on with my Mouthy Stitches zippy pouch! I have a design and some good feedback . . . just not from my partner!! Not to give too much away, but for all the fabulous comments from the hundred or so participants, my partner has made all of 4 or so comments in total in the whole swap--and most have been about her proposed design. So frustrating!! I'll just have to go with my instinct and take the feedback of the other vocal participants!! I'm a bit cowed by how talented the other participants are--so amazing!! I would be lucky to receive any of the zippy pouches! I'm sure my partner must think I'm totally eclectic in my taste, because every time I see a pouch I say I love it--I keep discovering new and wonderful things! Although all that yummy Heather Ross out there. . . . !!!!!

Happy Feet

Sorry for the prolonged radio silence all! Unhappy convergence of snow (which, as you all know, I actually adore) and altitude = migraine. Grrrr! Anyhoo, onto happier things! Like feetsies! Perhaps not all that exciting to anyone else around here, but I have recently discovered the wonder of new feet!

No silly, not THOSE kind of feet! (But, don't I wish I was back at the beach right now digging my toes into the warm sand!!).

Nope, I'm talking about presser feet! Those seemingly boring little bits of metal that you have to keep changing around just when you're in the middle of a project. I really didn't give them any attention until I recently took a sewing class that was came part of my new Brother sewing machine. As part of their not-so-subtle marketing campaign, the store pulled out every last little presser foot, extolling their little virtues and showing off their little tricks. Recognizing a sale ploy when I saw it, I dug in my heels and thought to myself, "my machine already comes with 7 feet; how many additional feet could I possibly need?" Foolish, foolish question!! Because this, faithful reader, is the beginning of the end:

A gathering foot, an edge joining foot, and, my personal favorite, a pintuck foot! Because once you discover how much fun and adorable pintucks are, it's kind of hard to resist that one! And how can you not want ruffles on your pillows or PJ bottoms? And once I discovered that you can use the edge joining foot to sew together bits and pieces of too-small batting into now usable pieces, well, it's really a cost-saving measure, right?? right?? Yes, I succumbed. But at least I went the Amazon route, which is SOOO much less expensive!

And now, linking to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday! I have two projects dueling for attention right now (actually, many more than that, but these two are clamoring for the public eye). The first is a little travel sewing kit that I'm making for a friend's teen-aged daughter who just begun to sew. We're sending off a care package filled with fabric, some patterns, and some other goodies, including this sewing kit, once it's finished. I saw this skull-and-cross bones (and hearts) fabric and just had to get it! I got the tutorial from lots of pink here's blog. It's a great blog, so go check it out! I first discovered it during Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Days. That's actually how I discovered this sewing kit, because she was giving away one and I was so coveting it! I didn't win it, so I thought I better get busy and figure out how to make one myself! Once I finish one for Hannah I'm going to have to make one for myself! Once I'm done with that I think I may make one just for all my happy little presser feet!

The other project I'm grooving on right now is a messenger bag. I'm calling it the "Perfect Messenger Bag," certainly not because it's going to be perfect, but because I'm trying to make it the messenger bag with all the features and dimensions that all my store-bought messenger bags lack! I'm a bit of a bag lady, always in search of the perfect bag. As if once I find the perfect bag, my life will be in order! Hah! Anyway, I though if I made one myself I might get a big closer! So, I'm going slowly as this project is a big one for me and has me a big freaked out. I started with the laptop case. I thought I'd make it a removable laptop cover. The overall messenger bag will be a combination black and black and white duck cotton/canvas, but I'm sneaking a bit of corresponding hot pink and white duck cotton/canvas on the inside for a bit of punch. Because it can't be all serious and boring, right?! I have finished the laptop bag so far:


Still quite a ways to go, but I'm happy with it so far! Baby steps, y'all!

Works in Progress

October 17

Phew! So, who knew how much of blogging actually entailed re-entering and re-moving items I had already taken care of?! This reminds me of my old job managing a fundraising database that had been struck by lightning; every day was a new surprise!

I'm starting to discern a theme in my activities, whether it be blogging, quilting, writing, work, or working out: before I can get down to business I inevitably need to reorganize my entire space (and sometimes several times over!). It's either incredible work avoidance (an entirely reasonable hypothesis) or else some kind of deeply rooted nesting impulse that requires me to ensure a perfectly ordered environment before I can create. It's always been that way--I've always had to recreate my space before I could create something new. It has certainly guaranteed bruises, if nothing else!

This time, however, I must insist that the creative space makeover was actually not my idea (although I had, admittedly, just settled in, for the second time, into my basement sewing are)! My sweetie was perhaps worried that I was taking on Unabomber tendencies with all my basement dwelling, and so suggested that I transform my upstairs office into a work-of-all-trades space.


A little heaving and ho-ing (two flights of steep Victorian stairs!) and my crafty items were transported upstairs. That table top on the left? A finished solid oak slab rescued from the garbage. Wicked heavy, but total score! I'm a bit embarrassed to show the work in progress shot, but I'm so excited to no longer be a cave dweller! I may have to wear the sunglasses for a bit longer until my mole-eyes adjust! Stay tuned for finished makeover photos!

On WIP updates, I am getting the hang of the hand quilting. How the heck folks actually hand quilt (in a timely manner) full-sized quilts, I have no idea! It took me a full-length movie to do what I am proudly calling my mug-ugly rug! I am totally proud of having taken on techniques that were challenging and totally new to me (asterisks, hand quilting, the chain piecing, inset seams . . .), but I don't kid myself that it's neat and tidy! By the time I had the energy to rip out the seams and line up the pieces that were a bit "quirky," I had already gone too far past to fix it. Such a helpful learning experience though! Here's the little "beauty," minus her binding (which I'll probably do in the red):



That bottom asterisk is beyond wonky. I love that asterisk style, though, and want to play with that more. I need to get much better at sewing before I get too bold with such narrow cuts, especially with my 1970 Singer pedal. It reminds me of the first clutch car I drove! I also love the chain design and want to keep playing around with that, as I think there's a lot of potential in that as a border or a whole quilt design, but with more subtle colors.