Slow Stitching Project - Memory Game

I was inspired to make a Memory Game as a slow stitching project.

The round game pieces are fleece circles with black on the back side and white with shapes in colors stitched on the front side. The shapes are stitched to the white circle with the overcast stitch in matching thread.  Then the black and white circles are held together with blanket stitch in black thread so the backs are solid color. 

The game rules are posted on the right.

The game pieces are stored in gold spray paint Tetley Tea tins which dictated the pieces would be round.  There are 6 pairs (12 pieces) which are stored in the tin.

Coming to a Christmas Craft sale in November.

Sewing Project - TV Chair Outfit - Blanket

This is my TV chair with its new outfit.

I received this chair from my aunt as a gift this summer and it reclines to bring a footstool.  I loved it.

I have been using the fleece blanket I had on the couch but it is too big and get caught in footstool when I get up and close it.

I wanted a new blanket, a new cover for the cushion I have been using and an updated head rest cover.

There is still a remote control holder to come but I have not decided and designed it.

I was grateful for the work I had done this summer when I found the great fabric. You can check out this post. 

I went shopping for fabric last week.  I found an large IKEA duvet cover in 100% cotton for a steal of a deal in mustard yellow, white and warm yellow. Then, a warm grey small fleece blanket in a good color.

I decided that the blanket had to be shorter and narrower than the one I had been using.  I spread the grey fleece blanket (50 x 50 inches) and decided I could cut some off the side (10 inches) to make it narrower.  The chair is 33 inches wide so 40 inches wide would be good. 

This was perfect because I had decided that I wanted a footwell on the back side where I could tuck my feet so the blanket would not let my feet get cold.

I first lined my yellow front with some white 100% cotton fabric. The final size is 61 inches tall by 42 inches wide. I created an envelope, turned it inside out and top stitched all the way around.

I stitched the grey fleece blanket to the back of the yellow one with a wavy stitch along the top and bottom edge leaving the fringe hang off the bottom.  

You can see here that the fringe is hidden on the back of the blanket. 

I used the bit left over of the fleece to create a grey fold over at the top where my hands are going to be touching a lot.  This will keep the white and yellow edge cleaner.

I then pinned the 10 inches x 40 inch piece of grey fleece at the bottom and sewed it on the back white side of the blanket. I sewed 2 additional seams to create a narrower footwell in the center of the blanket.

Now that I had the bottom and top edges stitched together I needed to work on the middle.  I decided that I would quilt around the squares on the front of the blanket in the top, middle and bottom rows.

I used yellow thread on the top and grey thread on the bottom so it would neaten up the look of the blanket on both side.

I sewed around the squares on the outside of the square so I was always sewing on the yellow fabric with the yellow thead.

Once I was done,  I later realized that I had sewed over my footwell on the quilting of the squares on the bottom row.  I did have to unravel some and redo it making sure that my footwell was free.

I have tried it out for several days and it works really well. Nice to have a bespoke blanket just the way I wanted it.

Sewing Project - Frame Bag

I am so grateful to be bringing art to the gallery again.

But with my other frame bags are packed so I decided to make another one. 

I had this piece of blue pattern fabric which was just about the right size.  I decided to pair it with some of the left over navy microfiber fabric.  I cut the navy about 3 inches bigger than the patterned.  I hemmed the patterned piece all the way around. I then sewed hems to the back and front ends of the navy. I stitched the patterned to the navy.

The fleece piece are an old pair of fleece pants that had worn out spots.  I used the bottom of the legs and quilted the pieces together, then cut it to fit in the navy piece.

I folded the navy piece right side together then layered the fleece layer on top.  Pinned the right and left hand edges very well and sewed a narrow seam.  I turned right side out and topped stitched the side seams to enclosed the raw fabric edges.

The finished bag measures 20.5 inches wide by 17 inches tall with the fleece divider sandwiched in the middle.  The divider is just a bit shorter than the front and is only captured in the sides seams and loose at the folded bottom.

The handles are white 1" wide grosgrain ribbon and extend about 8 inches above the top edge of the bag.  Enough room to put it over your arm comfortably.

They are well secured to both layers of fabric with double stitched rectangles in 2 places.

By placing the frames facing the fleece divider the glass is protected from hits from the sides of the bag.

The frames are protected from dings and scratches as they are completed enclosed in fabric.

I really like to enclose my seams which finishes the seams nice on the inside as well.

I am only considering 11x14 frames at the moment for art at the gallery so this works really well.

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holders Coasters - Bunch 1

A bunch of 3" car cup holder coasters - V2. 

I chose thicker felt or fleece scraps for this bunch of car coasters.

For the top left hand set I resized a bird post it  note I have used on cards before. I cut the wing by hand. The background is a very textured caramel colored fleece.  I chose light blue felt for the bird, a dark blue for the wing and a light blue grosgrain ribbon. I chose a yellow denim fabric for the cotton piece on the back.  

The top right hand is a thick teal fleece with a yellow start felt accent. Yellow grosgrain ribbon and a teal cotton flannelette on the back. 

The middle right hand is the same caramel fleece as the first set.  I cut small mushrooms from orange and brown felt. This set has orange grosgrain and the same yellow cotton denim on the back. 

Back to the left center. This set feature red fleece with grey tuques. The tuques were cut by hand with a hand drawn pattern.  I sewed the ribs on the body and the rim. A grey grosgrain ribbon and a cotton tshirt fabric on the back. Bottom right set. I loved this scrap of plaid fleece. The colors are great so I just matched the colors with grosgrain ribbon. I chose Stampin Up colors More Mustard and Rich Razzleberry and stuck to the plaid geometric pattern.  More Mustard grosgrain ribbon tabs and black cotton backer fabric. Bottom left features royal blue fleece for the background and die cut hearts in white and grey felt. The back is jean denim. These are Christmas gifts for my sisters and niece. 

Sewing - Car Blanket

I decided to make a new blanket for the car.  In case of emergency it would be good to have a good blanket with me. 

I was out on Monday so I went to the thrift store to purchase what I thought I needed.  I bought the navy fleece blanket and the black cotton sheet for the other side.

The fleece blanket is really too small for an emergency blanket so I googled and generally these blankets are 60"W x 84"T.  The old blanket I had in the car was that size so I decided that I would use it as a base.  It was the first bedspread I made in my twenties.  It was threadbare and very worn.  It would work well as a substrate for the fleece.  

The navy fleece would do the bottom half so I went into my stash of fabric and found a piece of white which would do nicely.  I stitched the 2 pieces of fleece to the old blanket. I did just lines on the navy but I decided to be more creative with the quilting on the white.

 

 

I did random geometric shapes.  Circles, triangles, zigzags, etc.  Some quilted the white to the base and others were added when I quilted that to the black backing.  

The back is a cotton sheet in black from IKEA.  I cut it generous in size.  That was fortunate because I was able self bind the edges by bring the black to the front and sewing it down. 

It was trimmed to 1.5 inches then folded over to the front and sewn down.

 

The final size: 59" x 75" inches.

This is a really nice substantial blanket which will be great for the car.

Sewing Project - Quilt 4 - IKEA Fabric Panel

I finished another small quilt today.

Finished Size: 39" W x 44" T

Front: IKEA fabric panel

Backing: Red Cotton Twill fabric

Batting: Fleece

Binding: Striped cotton fabric
Fool Proof Quilt Binding video

Quilting: Followed the stripes across the quilt.

The backing fabric is heavier than quilting cotton which was really nice.

For the batting in between the front and back I used leftover pieces of fleece from this Pot Protector project.

The binding was leftover fabric in bright cheery colors similar to the front fabric.  It was cut to 2.5 inches.

I pinned the layers together with small safety pins before I ran the lines of quilting across the front.  I chose red thread to hide it as much as possible.

I then squared it and applied the binding.  It will make a child a nice quilt to help them through a difficult time.

"Save the Bees" Textile Project

This is the project I am submitting to the AAC "Uncommon Threads" show.   I am delivering it today.  It is a piece which speaks to the need to save our bees.  We would have nothing to eat if we did not have bees as pollinators.

Plant Flowers

Provide Water

Build Beehouses

Save the Bees

It took me over 2 weeks in January to make it.  The background is handpainted, the flowers are all hand stitched and the layers are held together with a blanket stitch edge. 

The materials are fleece and felt.  Fleece was used for the background.  The flowers and house are felt. I used sequins and e-beads to enhance the flowers.

The thread is embroidery thread split in half and the edge is all six strands.

 

Color Experiments

I spent some time figuring out if I could color the fleece and the felt the way I wanted. 

Some colors were not permanent and others worked really well.   I sprayed a small tab of white fleece with diluted color from each bottle.  They were allowed to dry over night.  I then rinsed each of them to see if the color was permanent.

The Rotring and Dayler Rowney FW Acrylic were permanent.  The Radiant Rain sprays were not permanent though stained the fiber.

 

 

 Colors Chosen and the Process

I chose liquid acrylic ink to color the white fleece background.  The colors are Raw Umber Hue, Sap Green, Olive Green, and Indian Yellow.
Nature has lots of shades so I tried to reproduce that with the colors I had in my stash.

I cut 2 pieces of white fleece larger than the 12x12 piece of chipboard. 

I placed the fleece on a large piece of glass. I used a spray bottle to apply the color.  It allows even color and specific placement of different colors as I needed.

I placed it over rods to allow the most exposure to air to assist in the drying of the fleece.

Again, drying overnight.

Laminating the Layers

I cut the fleece layers down to a generous 12x12 inches with a rotary cutter.

I placed a piece of interfacing in the zigzag stitching to prevent stretching of the fleece.

I stitched the 2 layers of fleece together before I stitched the elements to the front.  I did put a zigzag border all the way around and then I chose to apply organic lines in the center rather than evenly spaced lines.  Most will not show.

I love the color!

Elements

I created the BeeHouse from black felt.  I stitched pieces of wood for the roof along the angled top edges.   I used round donut beads which mimic pieces of bamboo which creates holes for the bees to live in.  These houses provide shelter solitary bees which do not in hives.

The bees on the piece are buttons.  They are a great color and just the right size.

I cut rain drops to which I added blue sequins and beads to represent providing water for the bees. 

The water should be moving or regularly changed.

The flowers were cut with dies.

1) Sizzix Flower Layers & Leaves
2) Flower Layers #10
3) Flower Layers #7

I chose turquoise, purple, pink, grey, yellow, white felt for the flowers. 

Flower sequins in small pink and medium sized in silver.  Round sequins in several colors.  E-Beads in blue, white, pink and black to coordinate. 

The thread was chosen to coordinate with the felt in the flowers.  The flowers were stitched to the background with many stitches to ensure they stayed in place and did not droop.

 

Finishing the Edges & Hanging the Textile Art

I chose a coordinating piece of fabric in purple for the back which covers the knots and stitching done the front (flowers, raindrops, bees, and house).  I cut it 13x13 and folded the edges over. 

I sewed 2 tabs at the top of the piece to allow a skewer to be placed into them which will provide support when the piece is hung. 

I then used green embroidery thread to place a blanket stitch around the edge of the piece. This was very difficult as there was 3 layers of fabric and the interfacing to be punched through.  I used a thimble but my fingers and hand on my right hand were very sore when I was done.

I printed details and the small instructions on a piece of fabric and stitched that to the piece.

I added the instructions card stock hanging below the bee house so they will be visible when on display. I added a turquoise glass bead below the details.

This was an extreme reach from my regular paper crafting experience.  I learned a lot and some of the tools from paper crafting came in handy.  

I hope it strikes a cord with the folks who visit the gallery.