The Little Red Hen

Wordless Wednesday

Swinging into Fall

We've been swinging through some pretty early fall days - some rain and some sun.

I'm afraid the snow pants days will be here too soon. They always come too soon.

Milkweed

It's that time of year again.

 

Thoughtful Sunday

"Little things have big results sometimes."

Willie Without, Magaret Moore, 1951.

Cloud 9

Today I am happy to share the finished embroidery project, a laptop sleeve!

First, I embroidered some yardage of Nethercote, a fabric from the Miscellany line from Cloud9 fabrics . Cloud 9 fabrics are all organic cotton and printed with low impact dyes. They are beautiful and great to work with.

I quilted a piece of solid purple fabric for the back of the bag.

The quilting lines run horizontally on the finished bag to help the flap stay folded closed.

I sent the bag off to Michelle Engel Bencsko of Cloud9 Fabrics for her booth at Quilt Market. I hope she likes it.

I used the laptop sleeve pattern by Keyka Lou. I shortened the flap so that more of the embroidery shows and also omitted the velcro closures. I think the horizontal quilting lines help the flap lay closed.

Wordless Wednesday

37 Sketches

I'm back from my retreat up north with Gwen Marston. This year we used Gwen's 37 Sketches as inspiration for our liberated projects.
Gwen's self published book, 37 Sketches is beautiful and inspirational.  Each quilt has a full page photo and a short description of the inspiration or idea for it. The text is like poetry. There are no how to's in this book just the 37 sketches. It is an elegant little book that is great for studying liberated piecing and inspiring you to try your own small sketches. Working on a small scale is a great way to try new techniques and work with different colors or fabrics. Since the book is self published there are a limited number and are only available directly from Gwen.

Order from Gwen Marston, Box 155, Beaver Island, MI 49782.
U.S. $29.95 plus 3.99 shipping
Canada shipping 6.00
International shipping 12.00
Checks payable to Beaver Island Quilts

You can read more about the book on her website.

Back to the retreat recap...

Gwen had her little works of art displayed so that we could study them up close.

I made these at the retreat:

Sketch 1:
10 x 13 inches

Sketch 2:
8 x 10 inches

These little quilts were fun to do and they are even finished!!

I also have an idea of what I want to do with these fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics! I plan to make a quilt for P based on the idea of the sketches. I'll do blocks in a little bigger scale and fit them together for the full quilt. I plan to make them loosely based on the log cabin block.

I didn't get started on that quilt while on retreat because I got side tracked by   another project inspired by a quilt someone brought for show and tell.

I have a weakness for little stars.

These stars will finish at two inches. They are smaller and not liberated like the ones I did last year.
I have no idea how I will set these. They may be a quilt of their own in a nine patch setting or maybe a border for a medallion style quilt. Right now I'm just having fun making them.

Quilt retreat is very "grounding" for me. All of the ladies who come every year really make it special and help me put things in perspective.  I love coming home and feeling like I have a focus and direction.  Thanks ladies, it was a great week.

The First Grade Backpack

P needed a new backpack for school this year. Her kindergarten backpack was really too small. A full size folder would not fit in it without being bent. So, the NIGHT BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED, she reminded me that "first grade is starting tomorrow and I don't have a first grade backpack!" (mini meltdown followed)

We went to the sewing room and chose fabrics for a larger bag. This was enough to calm her for bed.

The next day after school she drew out the quilting designs that she wanted - connected flowers on the floral, and beads on a string for the green dot fabric.

This is a view of the floral quilting from the lining side where it is a little easier to see.

I finally finished the backpack today. It was my goal to have it finished before leaving for retreat and I did that!
It seems big to me but I guess she will grow into it and I won't have to make a new one next year! I used the large size of this pattern, the same pattern I used last year.

Changes to the design:
I used the gusset depth of the small size so that it wouldn't be quite so big.
The zipper I had was not long enough so I had to make an adjustment for that. (I should have measured that before cutting and made the lower gusset longer to accomodate the difference.)
I omitted the pockets on the inside because she never used those on her other pack.

She is thrilled with it!

Thoughtful Sunday

"Don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor."

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter, 1902.

Behind

We are feeling a bit behind. We should have frozen peaches and canned pears by now.

We haven't picked them all yet because our counter is covered with un processed fruit.

We have our first batch of grape juice in the refrigerator ready waiting to be canned. I'm trying not to think about the rest of the grapes on the vines, the raspberries it has been too wet and mosquitoy to pick, and the potatoes still to be dug.

Yeah, we're kinda behind.

I even told the boys I'd bake a pie if they came home this weekend. They didn't fall for that.

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Why did I spend much of today making a larger back pack for Miss Petunia who says that her kindergarten back pack is too small for a first grader?