Sewing Machine Cover . . . Done!

by Dawn Posted on September 2, 2012

My trusty Janome 6500 has a new coat for fall:

Sewing Machine Cover

 

Designed by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts, the pattern is from the Aug 2012 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine:

Monique Dillard’s design

 

Thelma at CupcakesnDaisies and I both put this project on our summer “to do” list, with the goal of finishing it by Labor Day. I made it, and I think Thelma will, too, though I know she has been distracted by the siren call of wool applique.

I started working on my sewing machine cover in July while I was in Sisters, Oregon with my quilt group. I got as far as the block on the front (which is a little different from the pattern):

Center Block

 

Weeks passed. By the time I got back to this project near the end of August, I had decided not to make a duplicate block for the other side, as called for in the pattern, but to put a pocket across the back instead. Here is my work-in-progress with the front and back attached to the middle panel:

In Progress

 

When I pinned the sides and draped the cover over my machine, I realized it was going to be way too big, so I took it apart and cut it down to size. (If you are making this pattern, I recommend that you check the size after pinning but before sewing. I think the instructions are much too generous in determining the finished size of the cover in relation to the measurements of the sewing machine.)

Since I had to take the back off, I added a row of decorative stitching across the pocket, which you can see in the picture below. The binding has already been added to the bottom edges:

Downsized and partially bound

 

You may have noticed that I added an opening in the center striped panel to accommodate the handle on my sewing machine. I made a simple facing; this is what it looks like on the inside:

Facing of Handle Opening

 

Here is another view of my new sewing machine cover from the front . . .

another view, Sewing Machine Cover

. . . and from the back:

Back View

 

And here it is with its companion, the Billie Bag I made last year (you can read more about the Billie Bag in my Gallery under Small Pieces):

All Dressed Up with Somewhere To Go

 

As you can see, the sewing machine cover was made with fabric left over from my Billie Bag. On the front and back panels of my sewing machine cover, I quilted a stipple design with the occasional leaf thrown in, duplicating the quilting on my Billie Bag. For the middle striped panel I simply used three rows of decorative machine stitching perpendicular to the stripes.

Instead of finishing the binding by hand, I used ¼”-inch wide Steam-a-Seam 2, a double stick fusible web, which proved to be a huge time-saver. I wouldn’t recommend using Steam-a-Seam for binding a quilt that’s going to get washed a lot but it’s perfect for a project like this. I used it on my Billie Bag, too.

So . . . my sewing machine cover project has gone from a “to do” to a “ta-da!” And there’s a bonus involved. For some time I’ve been collecting pictures and jotting down ideas for a quilt made of house blocks. While taking pictures of the sewing machine cover both on and off the machine, I took this shot:

Do You See What I See?

 

Wouldn’t that make a great house block?!

 

Posted in Billie Bag, sewing machine cover, update | 10 Comments

Sweet Dreams!

by Dawn Posted on August 21, 2012

Today I stole a couple of hours that I should have spent doing other things and made a set of pillowcases for the Portland White House:

Pretty Pillowcases

 

I just love these fabrics. The green strip is a blender from Kona Bay and the other three fabrics are from the Garden Medley line by Susie Johnson for RJR. Aren’t they dreamy?

Here is another set of pillowcases I made recently:

Another Set of Pillowcases

 

These cases were pictured in my previous post but didn’t show up very well. The two main fabrics are from the Gentle Flowers line by Quilt Gate. As my sister Diane would say, “Elegantly simple . . . and simply elegant!”

 

 

 

Posted in roll-it-up pillowcases, update | 4 Comments

Rollin’ on the River

by Dawn Posted on August 10, 2012

Just back from a mini-retreat with three of my Quisters, one of whom owns a vacation home just steps from the McKenzie River in the lush Willamette Valley in Oregon. How sweet it is to fall asleep to the sound of the river rushing by! We sewed for two full days out of three; the third day was reserved for an excursion to Sisters, Oregon for lunch, a bit of shopping, and an absolutely essential stop at the Stitchin’ Post.

Each evening we walked to the river, glasses of wine in hand, to spend a few peaceful moments enjoying the beautiful setting and reviewing our accomplishments of the day. Peggy had to leave early so she missed our “show and tell” photo shoot this morning before we left. Here is Deborah with the two sets of pillow shams she made to go with her recently completed king-size bed quilt. She also worked on blocks for a red and green quilt that is going to be simply sensational:

Deborah with pillow shams and quilt blocks

 

Vickie was on a roll! She made umpteen hot pads and coasters as well as these classic terry-cloth towel bibs for her darling 6-month-old twin grandsons:

Vickie with hot pads, coasters, and bibs

 

And here I am with my latest fractured image — subject of a class I will teach at the Pine Needle this fall — and a set of pillowcases for the Portland White House:

Dawn with fractured image and pillowcases

 

I also made the label (not shown) for my 4-Patch Wonder quilt, Framboise, which we had fun staging against the backdrop of the McKenzie River:

Framboise (69″ x 84″), August 2012

 

A great getaway in a gorgeous location with dear friends. . . what could be better than that?!

 

 

 

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, update | 1 Comment

Progress Report

by Dawn Posted on August 5, 2012

After returning last month from a week in Sisters, Oregon, home of the largest outdoor quilt show in the world, I posted about the quilt show and the terrific class I took. Before I had a chance to write a third post about what I accomplished that week, my husband and I left on a road trip to California to visit our two youngest granddaughters (9 and 12). We brought them back to Portland to spend a few days with us. My sewing and quilting projects languished but I didn’t mind because I was having such fun with the girls.

They are home in San Francisco now. The house is quiet. Elfie the cat has come out of hiding. And I’m back in my sewing room taking stock of the projects I worked on in Sisters. Remember the sewing machine cover designed by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts that I posted about here? This is my version so far:

sewing machine cover, in progress

 

When it’s finished, it will look something like this:

Monique Dillard’s design

 

I finished binding my pink and green quilt, Framboise, made from my 4-Patch Wonder pattern:

Framboise, bound but not labeled

 

When the label is on, I’ll declare the quilt finished and post a proper picture in my Gallery. That’s Elfie, by the way, who doesn’t seem the least bit interested in my quilt.

I’m very excited about my newest design, the Monterey Bay Apron. After making eight versions and tweaking each one, I’m finally satisfied with the cut and the fit. Here is a look at Number Nine:

Monterey Bay Apron

 

back of Monterey Bay Apron

 

The belt is secured to the back with buttons. In the photo above, the ends of the belt were temporarily pinned to the back, adjusted for my model, Geri. The ends can be positioned anywhere along the back, making the apron one-size-fits-most. Here is a close-up of the front:

detail, Monterey Bay Apron

 

The pattern should be available in just a few weeks!

 

 

 

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, aprons, family, sewing machine cover, Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show, update | Leave a comment

An Update, Starring My Little Neighbor

by Dawn Posted on August 4, 2012

While my grandkids were visiting from California, My Little Neighbor came over for a playdate with granddaughter Beatrice, who will be 10 in October. The girls are just a few months apart in age.

You may remember that My Little Neighbor is working on her first quilt, a 9-patch, sewing the blocks together by hand. This was a project we planned together to help see her through the weeks her left foot was in a cast following a fall from a tree.

MLN brought her basket of blocks over to show us her progress:

A basketful of blocks

 

Those squares you see on the table are all she has left to sew into strips of three. After that she will start sewing the strips into 9-patch units. She may be ready to take a little break from sewing, though. Tomorrow, August 5, is the day she has been cleared to start climbing trees again!

 

 

 

Posted in My Little Neighbor, update | 2 Comments

Sewing with My Granddaughters

by Dawn Posted on July 30, 2012

I’ve spent the last week and a half with my two youngest granddaughters, nine and twelve,  first in San Francisco where they live with their mom, then in Ashland, Oregon for three days, and now in Portland, where they will stay with their grandpa and me until Friday.

We have a lot planned for our five days in Portland! One of the things on my wish list was to help the girls make their own pillowcases. They were all for it, which made their granny very happy. Today was the day. Each girl picked her own fabric from my (ahem) considerable stash. Twelve-year-old Bonnie selected a vibrant turquoise mini-dot for the body of her pillowcase and a lilac floral for the band. Beatrice, age nine, chose a lime green fabric with fuchsia blossoms for the body and a fuchsia vined print for the band.

Bonnie worked in my sewing room:

Bonnie, with pillowcase in progress

 

Beatrice sewed on the smaller machine that I set up in the spare room across the hall:

Beatrice, with pillowcase in progress

 

After a break for lunch in the garden . . .

lunch al fresco

. . . we headed back to the sewing room. I taught the girls the roll-it-up method for pillowcases, which encloses both ends of the band in a single seam. The girls finished their cases with French seams, so there are no raw edges showing anywhere.

They did a beautiful job! Here is Bonnie with her finished pillowcase:

Bonnie with her finished pillowcase

. . . and Beatrice with hers:

Beatrice with her finished pillowcase

Their granny is very proud!

 

 

 

Posted in family, roll-it-up pillowcases, update | 2 Comments

Memories of Sisters, Part 2 . . .

by Dawn Posted on July 21, 2012

Free motion quilting is not a skill that comes easily to me. In fact, I really struggle with it. Because of that, I try to take at least one class a year from an expert. When I learned that Janet Fogg was teaching a day-long class called “Basic Drawing for Machine Quilters” during Quilter’s Affair, the week of classes leading up to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show on the second Saturday in July, I jumped at the chance to register.

The best part was . . . we didn’t have to bring our machines!  We were asked to bring a sketchbook and a pen, plus a quilt top that we planned to quilt ourselves. Janet led us through a variety of drawing exercises, showing us how to build a simple quilt motif, build on it, travel with it, and transition to other quilting designs. We did that all morning, filling pages and pages in our sketchbooks with motifs and notes. She gave us a fantastic handout which included many of the motifs she has used on her own award-winning quilts.

practicing spirals in Janet’s class

 

In the afternoon, Janet treated us to a slideshow of her amazing quilts, all quilted freehand, and then we took turns displaying our own quilt tops, getting feedback from her and fellow students on ideas for quilting. I am really excited now about putting my classroom learning to the test at home.

On the day of the quilt show I took special notice of quilts that had been machine quilted freehand. Here are some closeups, starting with Janet’s own quilt, Hippo Love. (I neglected to get a photo of the entire quilt but you can see it on her website:  http://janetfoggquilts.home.comcast.net )

detail of Hippo Love by Janet Fogg

 

detail, Hippo Love by Janet Fogg

 

detail, back of Hippo Love by Janet Fogg

 

detail, back of Hippo Love by Janet Fogg

 

Here are other examples of free motion quilting I admired:

quilting by Shireen’s Stitching

 

quilting by Shireen’s Stitching

 

quilting by Tammy Mac Arthur

 

Quilting by Loretta Orsborn

 

As you can see, the bar is set very high. Janet echoed the advice in every book I have on the subject: it takes a LOT of practice to become a proficient machine quilter. I’m on a road trip to California right now to visit my grandchildren, so all I can do is think about practicing. Does that count?

 

 

 

Posted in free motion quilting, Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show, update | 2 Comments

Memories of Sisters, Part 1. . .

by Dawn Posted on July 17, 2012

I hardly know where to begin to tell you about my week in Sisters, Oregon, home of the largest outdoor quilt show in the world. This year the unthinkable happened on Saturday, July 14, the day of the show: a BIG rainstorm in the middle of the afternoon! This is the first time in the 37-year history of the show that rain has forced an early closure.

It was midafternoon before menacing clouds rolled in and the first few drops spattered on the ground. By the time the rain was falling in earnest, thousands of people in the streets had taken cover inside shops or bolted for their cars, and scores of volunteers had already taken down the quilts that were not under cover. Luckily, quilt lovers had most of the day to enjoy the 1400 or so quilts hanging outside buildings in this charming little town in Central Oregon.

One thing I really liked about the show this year was the mix of traditional and contemporary quilts. Here, in no particular order, is a sampling of the quilts that caught my eye.

New Directions, 40 x 54, by Vivienne Moore of Salem OR

 

Heirloom Stars, 84 x 84, by Frances Jagodzinski of Salem OR

 

Fall Colors, 74 x 96, by Kitty Amaral of Napa CA

 

Diamond Lil, 84 x 104, by Mary Parsons of Milwaukie OR

 

Cercles de Soleil, 55 x 70, by Barbara Cook of Yakima WA

 

Orange Delight, 73 x 73, by Susan Denton of Redmond OR

 

Friendship Village, 39 x 38, by Deb Soren of Salem OR

 

Touch of Green, 67 x 81, by Lillian Walter of Redwood City CA

 

Random Crossroads II, 60 x 70, by Patty Six of Santa Barbara CA

 

Red Wine in a Floral Arrangement, 65 x 85, by Nancy Fischer of Sunriver OR

 

Bird Bath, 46 x 60, by Michelle McMicken of Bend OR

 

Bird Bath, 54 x 60, by Ruth Fidino of Kennewick WA

 

Lady Liberty Does Laundry, 50 x 50, by Tammy Mac Arthur of Redmond OR

 

Ultra Veggie, 54 x 75, by Barbara Lowery of Bend OR

 

Fantastic, 60 x 77, by Lynn Christensen of Livingston TX

 

 

Deep Blue Seas, 69 x 88, by Terry Potter of Eugene OR

 

It started to rain just as I came upon the display of quilts by Portland Modern Quilt Guild members. I was able to snap just a few photos, including this one by Linda:

Reflections, 60 x 70, by Linda Nussbaum of Portland OR

. . . and this one by Gail:

Villa Villa Kula Quilt, 63 x 84, by Gail Weiss of Portland OR

 

The employees of the Stitchin’ Post had their own display, and here are two of my favorites:

Patchwork Sisters by Terri Kirchart of Sisters OR

 

Quilt Show in the Village by La Cressa Sherrer

 

In my next post, I’ll tell you a bit about the excellent class on creating quilting motifs that I took from Janet Fogg and show you some amazing machine quilting on quilts at the show. I’ll finish up the report of my wonderful week in Sisters with a recap of what I did (and didn’t) get accomplished. Thanks for visiting, and please check back!

 

Posted in Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show, update | 3 Comments

Her First Quilt

by Dawn Posted on July 6, 2012

My Little Neighbor, who just turned 10, fell out of a tree in our park a few weeks ago and broke several bones in her left foot. Can you imagine being sidelined in a cast just as summer vacation is starting? Her mom wondered if I might be able to come up with a hand-sewing project to help keep MLN occupied while her foot heals. Hmmm, how about a quilt?

I found some brightly colored squares of Laura Ashley fabric that I’ve had since the 1990s. For some reason, they are 4¾” square – maybe a precursor to the 5” charm squares so popular today. I added some squares of a blue print from my stash for a little variety, and My Little Neighbor and I got together several days ago for her first lesson in making a quilt by hand. Here is the fabric we started out with:

colorful patches

 

MLN liked my idea for a quilt of 9-patches, so we looked at the fabrics and talked about making sets of three squares. When all of those are sewn together, she’ll join them in 9-patch units and then sew those units together. I showed her how to sew two squares together with a running stitch and then passed the needle over to her. She did a beautiful job on her very first seam! Can you imagine how delighted I was to learn that MLN already knows how to make a tailor’s knot? She learned it in school!

By the end of our first lesson, MLN had sewn her first set of three patches together. Her mom captured the moment:

first three patches

 

Every day MLN sews a few patches together. Here she is with 12 sets of three patches sewn together:

36 squares and counting!

 

You can see what a colorful and cheerful quilt this is going to be. Did you notice MLN’s crutches propped up against the table? She gets around very well on them but is longing for the cast to come off. It’s purple, by the way, and I got to sign my name on it in silver ink.

I’ll keep you posted on My Little Neighbor’s progress over the next few weeks. I think she is on track to finish her first quilt before school starts in the fall.

 

 

 

Posted in My Little Neighbor, update | 3 Comments

Anticipation . . .

by Dawn Posted on July 3, 2012

The weekend can’t come fast enough for me. On Sunday I am heading to Sisters, Oregon with my quilt group, the Quisters.

Sisters, a small town in central Oregon, is home to the largest outdoor quilt show in the world. The show is always held on the second Saturday in July. Last year on that day 1400 quilts were hung all over town and the population of Sisters swelled from about 2000 to 12,000. It’s a wonderful experience to spend the day walking in sunshine with your best friends, oohing and aahing over the spectacular quilts on display.

For the last few years our little group has rented a house for the week preceding the quilt show in order to participate in Quilter’s Affair, a week of quilt classes and events sponsored by the Stitchin’ Post. Classes are taught by local experts, nationally-known teachers, and a few instructors from abroad, and quilters come from all over the world to take their classes.

This year I’m taking a class from Janet Fogg, a world-renowned quilter who happens to live right here in Portland, Oregon. Her class is called Basic Drawing for Machine Quilters. The only things we bring to class are sketchbooks and pens — no sewing machines!  The emphasis is on drawing freehand quilting motifs. I can hardly wait!

My trusty sewing machine is in the shop right now for its annual tune-up (six months late, I confess) so I’m spending this week deciding which projects to take with me to Sisters. Let’s see . . . I have a quilt that needs binding . . .

ready for binding

 

I want to make a sewing machine cover along the lines of one designed by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts. Instructions are in the August 2012 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. I have some blocks and fabrics left over from another project that I want to use on that. . .

sewing machine cover pattern

 

I’m getting reacquainted with some UFOs. (The project bins in my sewing room closet seem to be reproducing at an alarming rate.) Here are the blue and white strips I cut ages ago for that checkerboard square quilt; think I’ll take them along . . .

blue and white strips cut

 

And I’m still tweaking my newest design, the Monterey Bay Apron. Here is one of my recent versions; I really love this French-inspired bicycle fabric:

work in progress: Monterey Bay apron

 

It doesn’t look like I will run out of things to work on in Sisters. I’m looking forward to a great week of inspiration, productivity, and fun.

Wishing you all a happy and safe Fourth of July!

 

 

 

Posted in update | 3 Comments