kaleidoscope

Russell and I were in a quilt shop and saw a kaleidoscope quilt.  He really liked it so I checked One Block Wonders out from the library.  It tells you how to put kaleidoscope quilts together.  I had extra fabric from one of the shirts I made him so I thought I would give it a try.

 

So I am really not sure about this.  Part of me not being sure of this is that there is a lot of wasted fabric and to me, a quilt is a way to use all the scraps.  But I have to admit that the hexagons are pretty.

 

 

 

I will have enough to make the center of a quilt and it should look really cool.  But I have to admit that I will probably never make another because of the waste.  It is why I like nine squares.

on a rainy july day

It has been a bit frustrating.  It is rained all day.  Hard rain where Houston floods.  Which also means that businesses close down early and so do government offices, including the library. Due to budget cuts, the library will not be open tomorrow.  Sigh, a long weekend without more books to read and movies to watch!  It is really not a hardship but there was a cookbook I really wanted to try in my pile of holds.  Sigh.

I did make myself some handkerchiefs though.

 

I like handkerchiefs.  I look for them at thrift stores and gift shops.  It is hard to find truly nice ones though.  I have been making my own.  When I make something and have a square of fabric twelve to fourteen inches square leftover, it usually becomes handkerchiefs.  I just hem the edges.  Russell really likes that the handkerchiefs match my dresses or aprons.

 

So I have new pretties for my nose.  

The shirt(s) are done!

The shirt that I blogged about earlier for Russell is done.

 

He likes it.  But the fun thing was somehow I bought way too much of the shirt fabric and was able to make another shirt.

So he now has two new shirts.  I expect the white one will become a work in the yard or workroom shirt not in the too distant future.  But that is Russell with white.

I wear aprons.

I am that crazy lady in the grocery store who is wearing an apron.  Or maybe not in the just in the grocery store and around town too.

I wear aprons.

I have a tendency to bake and get flour in the middle of my back.  I am not exaggerating, just ask Russell and Danica.  All my aprons are handmade.  My sister made me one for Christmas and the rest I have made myself.  I have tried different patterns but I have decided that I like an Edwardian apron style because it covers me.  If I go out, people think it is a dress most of the time.  I started with a pattern from Sense and Sensibility.  I have changed the pockets, the waist tie, and all the edging.  This weekend I decided to make another.

 

The one negative about this pattern is how much fabric it takes.  Four and a half yards.  It should not surprise me because that is similar to what my frontier dresses take and they cover me in a similar manner.  The waist tie was difficult until I figured out a different way to do it.  Maybe it was just me and the directions but I made it simpler and had to cut out one less pattern piece.

 

Then it is just stitching.  

And it is ready to get dirty.  Russell keeps telling me I need one for every day of the week.  I probably do.  I have printed fabric to make more.  I keep thinking I need to make some plain muslin ones, maybe with an embroidered appliqued patch on the chest.  Then people will really think I am Amish or Mennonite when I am out and about!

When all I have is ten minutes to sew

Some days, all I have is ten minutes to sew.  That means that a skirt that takes about two hours will take two weeks.  Or  a dress or shirt will be similar.  It is not a bad thing to slow down the growth of the clothes in the drawers and closets, unless we are destroying them faster then I make them.  But when all I have is ten minutes to sew and need to feel like I accomplished something, I make these:

Nine squares.  I know it will take many to make a quilt but I have finished a piece.  I am going to use these on the back of a quilt I have already finished the front on.  One small square at a time.

Speaking about indestructible clothes, one of Russell's linen shirts is disintegrating.  If anyone sees a linen in a Hawaiian print, please let me know.