by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 22, 2016
Before I get too far past the event – because it’s going on a month now (already!) – I want to talk about Quilts at the Creek. I was thrilled to be asked to speak in one of their Trunk Show presentations this year – and the venue and event don’t disappoint either. My kids even got to help with the Trunk Show on Saturday and they were so excited!
Quilts at the Creek is an outdoor quilt show held at Black Creek Pioneer Village – and it’s gorgeous! I’m sure you all know that I don’t profess to be a quilter, but I do love them and was blown away by how amazing they look when they are hung outside. It’s so different from the one-of photos you see online. And there are so many quilts in so many different styles. All of them hung side-by-side. Really something fun to go see.
The Trunk Shows are held in the Town Hall, which makes for a really unique set up! I loved talking to everyone I met and hearing about their sewing projects and experiences. I really enjoyed my Sunday presentation to a bit smaller group because I was able to hand around the projects and chat back and forth better with everyone. Hearing what you all have to say is my favorite!
This show really was for the whole family. Along with seeing the quilts, we were able to see Black Creek Pioneer Village. The kids loved hearing about how to weave fabric and rugs and how to make the yarn they wove with. My husband even enjoyed it. Lots to see and do, even if you are not a quilt lover.
I will leave you with photos of a few of my very favorite quilts, with close-up shots of the quilting of most of them. I’ve tried to credit each maker as best I can. Enjoy!
Under Another Cover – Kat Akerfeldt
Kathy Doughty (no quilt name given)
Celeste Compion (Meerkat Shweshwe) – Indigo Shweshwe Half Square
Yet Another Scrappy Quilt – Nadine Wright
Purrr…fectly Russian Blue – Joanne Hannon Shaw
by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 8, 2016
It’s SUMMER! It’s been fun and busy over here – with things happening every weekend – as you can tell from the infrequent posting going on over here! After visiting Chicago, Minneapolis and Green Bay on a two week vacation and recovering from the craziness of Thanks to YOU Week and two trunk shows at Quilts at the Creek, I’ve been cottaging in Killarney, Ontario without cell service and then planning my youngest’s 6th birthday party – cat themed! Whew! I’m hoping to get better at quick, fun photo-based posts so I can share them all with you.
With all of this going on, I haven’t sewn anything significant in 5 weeks. I’m going a bit crazy over here and need to get my fix in! It doesn’t help that my sewing room is a mess – which is not really conducive to making anything. Since we don’t have any major plans before school starts in September, I’m hoping to blog about past projects and get on with making some new ones so I can share them with you in the fall. I’ve got some photos from a few years ago to share!
Today’s project is one of my favorite things – and I got to give it to my sister earlier this year for her birthday! I posted progress photos of the project on Instagram in black and white, so she hopefully couldn’t tell what I was making. It’s a fun series of photos to go through!
This Makers Tote is a pattern from Noodlehead, one of my favorite bloggers and bag designers – I love her simplicity. Nothing is over-complicated, the projects have clean lines and are super-useful – my favorite! The linen is my current favorite fabric crush, Mochi Dot from Moda, gorgeous!
This is also the first time I used by Annie’s Soft and Stable and I love the easy structure it gives the bag. I used it again in these cute purses for my kids and they stand up to wear so well. They keep their super-crisp shape no matter how much they get tossed around. And it’s great for creating a nice quilted look. The only thing I’m not crazy about is that it’s on the pricey side. In the long run, though, it is really worth it, since it does create a more professional looking project. (I’ve ended up with some Pellon Flex Foam and Bosal In-R-Form through different recent sales and I’m interested in comparing pricing and how the final product looks.)
The Makers Tote comes in two sizes, and I made the smaller version. I’d love to make the large one sometime as well. My friend Lisa (Lisa In Port Hope) made one and brought it to one of our sewing night and it’s a really nice size – perfect for carting larger projects around. I can also see my kids using it as a small overnight bag, complete with pockets for toiletries!
This bag, despite taking me a long time to sew in small time allotments, is really simple to make. It’s very straight forward, and if you have a bit of experience quilting, you can add that in as well. The only tricky bit is sewing the binding around the bottom curves. My Janome Skyline S5 (on loan at the time) handled it beautifully! I even surprised myself and hand-stitched the binding! Not so bad as I assumed, and very satisfying. We might eventually make a hand-quilter out of me – just hang on until my kids get a bit bigger first!
The only thing I changed from the original pattern, was to sew the free end of the zipper to the outside panel – since the one I used was too long, and I didn’t want to shorten it. If you do this, make a pretty cover for the end of the zip and be sure to leave enough room for it to open all the way. I really like how it looks – a bit cleaner without the end of the zipper hanging off the edge – but it was tricky to do, since it has to be sewn after the bag is fully finished. Maybe would be simpler with a properly sized zipper next time.
As usual, with any Noodlehead pattern, I’d wholeheartedly recommend this one as well. And have you seen her cute new free basket pattern? I’m going work that into my organizing plan somewhere soon!
Is your summer busy? What are you working on right now?
Pattern: Noodlehead Makers Tote Green Fabric & Stabilizer: Linen Mochi Dot, Horizon Flora by Kate Spain for Moda, by Annie’s Soft & Stable (from my sponsor, Mad about Patchwork) Orange Fabric: Marmalade by Bonnie & Camille for Moda (from my stash)
by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 21, 2016
So there’s thing called an isogram, which I didn’t know about until my sponsor Fabric Spark emailed to see if I wanted to make a project with a Nature Walk Alphabet Panel. It’s gorgeous, but right away I was worried… my kids are too big for alphabet projects, no matter how amazing the fabric is! Of course, I now *needed* the fabric, so for a couple of days my husband and I thought of things to write with one panel of the alphabet until I Googled it and found out what I needed was an isogram: “a word or phrase without a repeating letter”.
Moving ahead for a second, this project is the last thing I need to finish before my Trunk Show at the Creativ Festival in 2 days! Wow! I am running around like crazy person over here. If you are in the Toronto area, I will be presenting a Trunk Show – “Be Brave and Sew” on the Fashion Arts stage at 2:30 on Friday and 9:30 am (gulp!) on Saturday. You can also see the original sample projects from the Sewing Diaries, other past projects and the girls’ Easter Dresses. I’m so happy to be working with Janome to present this!
But, back to isograms, it turns out there are tons of these things! I got a few from this website – “Stand By Me”, “Rocket Man” or “Rhapsody in Blue” (plus lots more) if you are a music enthusiast and Playground, Trampoline, Ambidextrous or Subdermatoglyphic (!) according to Wikipedia. I also found a great example of a sewing isogram after I finished my project, from Sherri Noel (great first name, btw!) – she wrote “Sew Crazy” on her sewing machine cover! Of course, you could always think up another phrase and buy two or three alphabet panels.
One last thing still bugged me – cutting up the panel without a use for the leftover letters. But, I’m in luck and know a whole bunch of people with first and last names that start with each of the leftover letters – so, if you know me – you “might” be getting a pillow or zippy pouch (or other sewn something) with a letter on it for your next birthday/Christmas or other random holiday!
This project, however, is for my oldest daughter. I thought the isogram “Quick on the draw” was perfect for her bedroom wall. She does not stop drawing – and you rarely find her without a drawing implement of some kind in her hand. She visits art supply stores like they are candy shops – she needs this mini quilt! Fabric Spark was amazing and sent me the alphabet panel and some of her other fabrics from Tamara Kate’s Nature Walk collection for Michael Miller Fabrics. I love that this Tamara Kate art can inspire my little girl!
I’ve made up a little mini tutorial for the project below, with links to all of the fabrics I used, plus the gorgeous Little World in Amberthat didn’t make it in – vetoed by the fact that after it was pieced in it didn’t really match my daughter’s room so well.
Keep in mind that the amount of fabric you need will drastically change depending on the phrase/word you want to spell! This mini quilt is actually quite large at 35″ x 23″. If you are coming to the Creativ Festival, it will be on display in the Fabric Spark booth, #248!
As a gauge I used this much fabric:
1) Cut alphabet rows apart. Measure the halfway point between the rows, mark first, cut after!
2) Cut letters apart with 1/4″ seam allowance on both sides, making sure to keep the sides parallel. We will trim the top and bottom after sewing each line.
3) Sew the letters together into words with a 1/4″ seam, I pressed my seam allowances open. Make sure to align the letters so they line up side by side before sewing, don’t align the top/bottom of the white space or they will be uneven.
4) Cut and sew 2 1/2″ wide strips for spaces between words and sew words into lines. Trim the top edges, including a 1/4″ seam allowance on each, so everything is square. My letter rows ended up about 7 1/4″ tall each. Make sure each row is the same height.
5) Add 2 1/2″ strips to each row end, then the top and bottom and between your rows. I pressed these seams open as well.
6) Sew all the rows together to make the center of the mini quilt.
7) Cut & sew 2″ strips to the top, bottom and sides to create the border.
8) Piece your backing if desired, make a quilt sandwich and quilt your project. For lack of more experience, I mostly stitched in the ditch around the letters. Then did a few border rows around the edge.
9) Add quilt hanging sleeve if desired.
10) Make enough binding with 2 1/2″ strips to go around project. Then bind with your favorite method.
I hope you love your new mini quilt! My daughter is so excited to hang this in her room.
by Sherri Sylvester | Mar 15, 2016
My husband and I differ in the amount of closet space we need. Here’s a quick run-down.
Every time I purge my “half” of the closet and get rid of clothing, it results in my husband appropriating the extra space for himself. I am starting to wonder if leaving piles of decoy clothing around would be helpful in case I ever need more space!
The thing that I don’t understand is that a disproportionate amount of those clothes are graphic tees, sports t-shirts, jerseys or free tees from things like wing eating challenges. Things he’s not ever going to give up, but also does not really wear. Ack! They sit there, taking up space – and more importantly, being messy – since other wearable tees are mixed in with them. Not that I’m a perfectionist or anything – but I love me a tidy closet!
Thankfully, I was able to convince him we were able to compromise and he let me chop some of them up into a t-shirt quilt. #ifyoucantbeatthem #jointhem We managed to pare the pile down by 20 tees. That’s 14″ less clothing piled on our shelves (I know, because I just measured a stack.) Makes me feel even better about this project. But, of course, it’s been almost 2 years since I took these photos and we’ve accumulated a full closet again. Turns out I should have made him king-sized quilt instead of only a twin!
If you might possibly have the same shared-closet predicament in your family dynamics *ahem-yes?* I would recommend that this is definitely the way to go! It’s been our go-to downstairs basement blanket ever since it was finished. I think maybe it was my first ever “real” quilt finish. At least, it is the first-quilt I am most proud of. The photoshoot was fun too. There’s a great park in Oakville by the waterfront that has these amazing life-size moose and wolf statues. #verymanly for our manly t-shirt quilt!
I think I started this project almost 4 years ago now. I found a nice t-shirt quilt tutorial on Goose Tracks Quilts. It is simple, without drawings or photos, and well written. Right down to a link to finding your fabric yardage. The design is a straight-forward and beginner friendly t-shirt quilt with same-sized blocks and simple sashing. Appealing to my sense of symmetry and order! I pieced a few of the blocks together to include the front and back of the tee together. And added in some important patches on the back.
The hardest part about this quilt was quilting it on my old budget basic machine. My non-quilty self decided to use a heavy blanket for the batting and my husband wanted to back it in baby-wale corduroy “that reminded him of a Scottish tartan”. Add the weight of the tee’s, and the interfacing you need to keep them from stretching. It’s a wonder my arms didnt’ fall off! Right – and then after that I pieced the t-shirt leftovers together for binding… *oof* #novicequilter!
In the end, the heaviness is so nice to cozy up under, And I’m glad we got to keep some fun memory t-shirts mixed in with the crazy graphic tee’s. His U2 concert tees, designs he made for work and shirts we designed and inkjet ironed-on. Oh, and one of the five epic basketball jersey we naively decided to double-layer applique lettering on for a basketball tournament (What was I thinking? Well, we were dating… Moving on!) Now these memories are preserved as a quilt we use almost everyday. I should probably add a label.
I wanna know! What has been your favorite quilt project?
Disclaimer: My inadvertent throwing Matt under the bus has been fully approved by the spouse in question. 🙂
by Sherri Sylvester | Mar 7, 2016
Last fall my husband and I went away on a week-long vacation. We’d been planning for forever because it was for our 10th wedding anniversary. As I was packing, last minute of course, I realized it might be nice to have a large beach bag to use while we were there. Quite a few of the bags I’ve made so far would do nicely – but of course I needed to make something new! #sewallthebags
Enter the book Handmade Style from my favorite bag blogger, Noodlehead. I treated myself to a copy last year and it’s gorgeous. So many great project, clear illustrations and pattern pieces. Anna’s bags are simple, and perfect for showcasing your favorite fabrics. I’ve made so many of her projects I can’t list them all, but I think my favorite is my first Cargo Duffle.
Of course it was last-minute (as usual) and I auditioned fabrics from my stash. Heading to the fabric store afterwards to buy vinyl and a metal zipper. The fabric came from Warp and Weft a few years ago. I had grand plans of turning it into a quilt, but the bright colours looked perfect for the beach! The prints makes me think of elaborate tiles, which lead to piecing them as simple patchwork with some straight line quilting. I maybe should have quilted it 1/4″ on either side of the seams to add to the tile look. What do you think?
I added a fancy turn-closure to one of the open outside pockets, so it was a bit more secure to use on the plane. It’s a little nerve-wracking to cut a hole in the side of a finished piece. Yikes! #holdyourbreath Thankfully it came out straight. In fact, I’m pretty happy with the whole bag! Only thing I don’t like is the zipper tape width. The handles are added in directly beside the tape at the top of the bag, which makes for very little room and sometimes the zipper catches on the handles. Next time I would use a wider zipper, or add some width with fabric before sewing it in.
As far as the instructions, they were great too. And the bag is a good size. Over-sized for sure, but not too big to carry. Great for holding road-trip snacks or even to use as an overnight bag for the kids. It’s so big that I really didn’t need that much room for our plane trip, with just my husband and I. Of course, it would be a different story if the kids had come with us. Maybe I would have needed two of them!
In the end, I didn’t use it on the beach. The bag turned out fancier than I imagined, kind of by accident. The vinyl, fussy closure and pieced quilted body really dressed it up. Who would want to get that sandy? No problem – I filled in the gap with a souvenir bag from the gift shop – because I also needed to remember where we went, right?!
Have you made anything from the Handmade Style book?
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 17, 2016
I have joined the masses (and masses) of people following Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson along on The Splendid Sampler – a 100 Block Adventure. I’ve been hoping to make a sampler quilt and learn a lot more about different quilting techniques. I think this will do the trick!
Pat and Jane are posting 2 blocks per week, on Sundays and Thursdays, until next year. All of the tutorials will be free to download until the end of the sampler. The whole thing is a mystery, which I LOVE! I’m a bit obsessed and can’t wait to see what will come out next. Lots of different designers have worked on the blocks, so I’m looking forward to finding out more about them as well.
I’ve decided to go with a scrappy sampler – mostly because I didn’t decide I was going to do this until I wanted to make the first block. Of course, I don’t have 35 coordinating light/medium/dark fat quarters sitting around – so scrappy it is! I’m looking forward to designing a layout for these 100 blocks next spring!
This first block – Hearts Aflutter – is special. I was searching through my scraps and looked up at the shelf where I stash the fabrics that mean something to me and these jumped out! I have saved the two sewing prints since Cynthia Frenette sent them to me more than two years ago after I pattern-tested her I Can See Clearly Now Pouch pattern. These are not just any old (amazing) sewing fabrics, she designed them! They might even be from her own personal first-run cuts of them, and I can only imagine how hard it would be to part with those.
Cynthia’s fabrics mean so much to me and represent exactly what I wanted in this first scrappy block. First, I love sewing (in case you didn’t catch that!), and so I wanted to fussy cut scissors, seam ripper and a tomato pin cushion into the appliqued heart. The lined up buttons, pattern symbols and measuring tape provide a fun way of working with the 4-patch to make a diamond shape. Plus, I love the red – Thread-Riding-Hood-friendly – dots!
In opposition to my general feeling that quilt block instructions – especially mystery quilt block instructions – should never be altered, I actually changed this first block a bit. The heart is meant to be straight in Pat Sloan’s version – but when I went to fuse it, I didn’t like the look – too symmetrical with the diamond created in the 4-patch. I turned it on its side a bit and it looked so much better. Then it struck me that Cynthia would likely approve! She is such an amazing, talented artist and I can totally imagine her creating her own version of this block too. (Hopefully she doesn’t mind me taking liberties in thinking that I might know what she would do!)
The black gingham corners are from my scraps – one of the other (17,000 odd) quilters did this and it worked really well with Cynthia’s fabrics. That’s a really fun part of this adventure as well – being able to see what other people are sewing, meeting them and gaining inspiration from them. The Facebook group is fun, even if it has become a bit crazy scrolling through my personal FB feed recently – quilt blocks everywhere!
I promise, Thread Riding Hood isn’t going to turn into a quilt blog with posts for each Sampler block – but I will give regular updates so you can see my progress. And hopefully you can keep me accountable! I’m going to need it I’m sure. Right now I’m pretty determined and 2 blocks per week sounds do-able, but in the summer… who knows?!
Are you following the Splendid Sampler along? What fabrics have you chosen?
Oh, and I’m saving all my blocks in this super special box that was my Grandma’s. So good – I’m excited to get started and make lots of memory-type blocks along the way, using fabrics that remind me of special things. That will help narrow down the fabrics I use too. It would be really fun to have a story for each block.
