Sewing with Leather

My experience sewing with leather has been minimal. I used a piece for the flap on my Gatherer Crossbody Bag, and then I added a small piece to my minimalist Scrap Leather mini quilt. That's it. So when I heard Krista Fleckenstein was coming to teach Sewing with Leather with the Seattle MQG, I signed right up.



I really liked the pouch I knew we would be making, and in addition to leading us through that process, Krista shared how to choose the right kind of leather and supplies for certain projects, as well as techniques for sewing with leather. The pouch Krista helped us make is actually in her book, Beyond Cotton, if you want to give it a try. She uses a new-to-me construction technique that worked really well!

Just fyi, the fabric I used for the exterior of my pouch was some hand screen printed Essex linen from sotakhandmade. I kinda love it! And I definitely want to make more of these pouches.

Just for fun, here's a photo of many of the pouches made during the class. Aren't they great?!

Half Baked Clams

Though I totally expected to enjoy the Glam Clam II class with Latifah Saafir and the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild yesterday, I did not really expect to love the Glam Clam itself as much as I found I did! I mean, curves! But thankfully, when I supported Latifah in her KickStarter campaign last year, I chose the The Clammy 12" ruler as my 'reward.' As far as clam-shells go, the bigger they are, the easier, which resulted in very little curve-related stress for me.

When I got the pre-class packet, I chose one of Latifah's new variations for my first clam-shell quilt, so I waited until I got to class to cut anything out. But I had pulled a nice ole stack of Cotton + Steel from my stash, using the viewfinder's as my focus fabric. I also grabbed some neutral solids to add, just to lighten things up a bit.

I managed to get three rows done, having eight more to go for the "big baby" size quilt I'm planning. In addition to getting comfy with The Clammy and this pattern, I appreciated learning some tips from Latifih, and of course seeing some of her quilts. I think I already know how I want to quilt this and I plan a new-to-me binding method, which is very Latifah. All that to say I'm pretty psyched to keep working on my Half Baked Clams.

Improv Under the Influence

When I heard that Krista Hennebury/Poppyprint was going to be in town teaching a class on her Improv Under the Influence quilt, I just couldn't resist. To make a good thing better, the class was to be held at Drygoods Design, a delightful Seattle quilt shop that had recently moved to a larger, light-filled location that I was eager to visit. Perfect.

Our 'homework' before class was to choose 5 cool and 5 warm solids and do some pre-cutting. I chose all Kona Cotton Solids in gold and turquoise.

from top to bottom, Curry, Grellow, Corn Yellow, Sunflower, Banana, 

Mediterranean, Turquoise, Lagoon, Bahama, Aqua

First off, we made our center 'checkerboards', using both our warm and cool colors. I added a skinny strip through mine, because I could. (improv, right?)

The space was really lovely to work in, and one of the great features about taking a class at Drygoods is you only need to bring yourself and your fabric and thread. The machines and all supplies are there in the shop for your use.

I was pretty pleased how much I got accomplished! Most of us were able to surround our checkerboards with the first of three borders, with lots more pairs sewn and ready to go.

Here's a photo of our class with our projects at the end of the day. See Krista with hers on the far right? That's the goal! 

A special treat was being able to learn and sew with 4 of my SMQG buddies, Michelle, Sandy, Chandra, and Rachel. 

All in all, it was a really fun day. Krista is a terrific teacher, and just a delightful person.  I'm glad I made the time to take her class, and am anxious to keep working on my improv!

Basics

I began my first quilting class on January 20, 1987 from Nancyann Twelker, who was a very well-respected quilt authority and teacher in the Pacific Northwest. It was from Nancyann that I learned the very basics of quilting, from vocabulary and technique to fabric choice and bias binding. (Nancy is why I still make 2" binding for all my quilts. Only in the last few years, did I stray from making bias binding for every quilt.)

Anyway, I thought of Nancyann last night, as I pulled out the last project of the Prairie Women’s Sewing Circle, a six-part kitted quilt along. This project has been on my W.i.P. Wednesday since the beginning, and I seriously want it done.

What brought Nancyann to mind was the "sandpaper board" I use every time I need to draw diagonal lines on squares, like I did last night for "Gentleman Caller", project #6 of the PWSC (basically a good old-fashioned bow tie quilt).

This board, made by Nancyann's husband, was purchased in that first class, and I have used it time and time again. I find it really does stablize the fabric as I draw those lines from corner to corner. Basically it's a piece of rough-grade sandpaper glued to a lap-size board.

I have tried The Angler 2 Tool, where no marking is involved, but usually come back to my tried-and-true (though boring) pencil and ruler method. At any rate, progress is underway, and I even got the first set of bow ties stitched up! 19 sets to go . . .

W.i.P.

Quilters know all about W.i.P. That would be “Works-In-Progress”. We all have them – probably several (the dictionary indicates this as two or more) or most likely, many (a large number). I’m joining with Lee of freshlypieced for W.i.P. Wednesday. I’ll start today by listing my current W.i.P., then update the list each Wednesday and link up with other bloggers who are doing the same. Should be fun, and hopefully, inspiring!

Just finished

Seneca Falls

Top priority

New Wave
The quilt pattern is from Oh, Fransson, and a template is used to cut out the blocks. I used stash fabrics, which made me happy. I'm machine quilting it now and will pass on to my mom for her friend who is facing surgery. So this one needs to be done soon.

Quilt alongs

Block-a-palooza
I get new block instructions each Monday & Thursday, so am looking forward to a new block tomorrow! I am caught up and have the first six blocks completed. Again, I'm using stash fabrics for this quilt. Old stash fabrics . . .

Socken
I have to wait till Tuesday for the instructions for the next step in this quilt along. I had the background fabric in my stash, but purchased new Kona cottons for this one, my first solid-color quilt. So far, have the strips with color stitched together.

 

Anxious to start

Blue table runner
My cousin really would like me to make her a table runner, so it's "on the list" - her color is blue, so I hope to use both this new FQ pack, plus fabrics from my stash. I still need to decide on a pattern - one requirement - "square" ends vs. pointy. Any ideas? Please leave a comment.

Central Park

What I really, really want to work on, is a new Central Park Layer Cake. I really like Kate Spain's fabric, and this collection is no exception! I'm planning on using Freckled Whimsy's pattern, "Geese in the Park", found on moda bakeshop. Hope to be starting on this SOON!

Need to do

In preparation for my second machine quilting class on February 19, I have a sample quilt block to quilt + practice stippling. I've been practicing, and am coming along, but still have a loooong way to go. Not quite ready to show pictures of my practice pieces - maybe later.

Lastly, I have the last project from the Pioneer Women Sewing Circle to do. Really would like that series DONE.

Machine Quilting

Well, Saturday I went for my first machine quilting class, and it was great fun. We started from square one, a discussion on stitches - how to start and stop, stitch length, needles and thread, and process (there actually IS one). It was especially helpful, in that we were able to determine the current settings for OUR machine. Then we got to work practicing quilting with our walking foot, learning some tips along the way. Even though I have done some machine quilting the last couple of years, it was good to hear the basics.

The last portion of the class was about my nemesis - free-motion quilting. THIS is why I took this class, and what I seriously want to master! Believe me, it wasn't pretty. Darlene insists all it takes is practice, practice, practice, so that's what I'm going to do. There is homework for our next session, part of which is this practice, so we'll see where I am in two week.

An Adventure

Another reason I started my blog now was to document an upcoming adventure. For the first twenty-some years of my quilting, I pieced by machine and quilted by hand. And quilted by hand. And quilted by hand. It was quite lovely, and at the time, I was fine with it. It was what I knew, what I liked, what I wanted to do. But even I would confess that it took a lot of time to hand quilt. I saw others move on to new projects, and I would still be hand quilting away.

There came a time, not so long ago, when I decided I wanted to try machine quilting. Pretty much so I could make more quilts! There were more fabrics and more patterns to try! So last year, I started dabbling with machine quilting. I screwed on my walking foot and gave it a go. Unfortunately, my treasured, 30-year-old sewing machine just wasn’t quite up to it. After a bit, I gave in and bought a new machine, with fancy buttons, a bigger throat, and feed-dogs that dropped. Aha. I could straight-line quilt successfully. My first project was a table runner, and I went on to many table runners and could easily manage up to lap-size quilts. Step 1 accomplished.





It’s time for Step 2. So this Saturday, I am taking a machine quilting class at The Quilting Loft. It is being taught by Darlene Girton, who has quilted several quilts for me. The class description promises I will ‘(learn) the basics of starting and stopping stitch lines, gain confidence in stitch-in-the-ditch quilting with a walking foot, and (get) an introduction to free motion quilting.’ I also hope the class covers stippling techniques too. I’ll let you know how it goes.