Wonky star patchwork

It's been a busy time.  Finally, I'm seeing some relief in sight, and after weeks of not even remotely touching my sewing machine, and hurting my back; finally my machine and I are reunited.

Three fabrics sitting in a bag for weeks, with an intended recipient ... a deadline is drawing near.

I like this design, I have used it before.  What I like about it is that it doesn't really matter where you place the fabric for the triangles, so no stress in matching up the blocks.

I used this design previously to make a cushion cover:

I need to finish the piecing for the quilt as it has to go to Ronda to be quilted when I'm done.

Looking forward to seeing it when it's completely done.

Happy sewing everyone.. yes, I'm still here!

Sandra

UFO - 2

I am after, and have been for a while, Michelin Man fabric.

Does it exist? I have searched for a while (and I stand to be corrected, if I am wrong); however, I don't think it exists.

I wanted to make a queen sized quilt, at least that was my aim.  The closest I could get was a Michelin Man bandana.  I found two on ebay (I've been searching for quite some time). One blue, one black; and that's it.  I initially got excited because I thought that I could collect a few of these and make my quilt.

One bandana on it's own, does not make a quilt, not one that was envisaged in my head.

So in my organising and reorganising of my fabric stash we found each other again, and this time, instead of putting it away, I made it into a pillow case; some collectors have probably fallen over in horror; but things like this need to be used and not collect dust.

It's a part of my new mantra, why store it for someone else to enjoy when you pass on?

So here it is, a Michelin Man pillow case:

I hope it will be appreciated.

Happy sewing everyone.

Sandra

Thrift shop fabric

I can't say this week's sewing adventure has been the most exciting of sewing adventures, certainly it has been the most practical.  I've spoken before of my patchwork Japanese print fabric pillow cases for our lounge room couch.  I then felt I needed a second set of pillow cases for when the others were off being cleaned.

Some time ago I picked up some upholstery fabric pieces and made these pillow cases.  Simple, but great fabric.

I did want them to be finished with button enclosures at the back as a design feature, but, due to a shortage of fabric, I had to use zippers.

Have a good week everyone, it's a long weekend here, and I'm off to have some lunch with some friends.

Happy sewing.

Sandra

Cushion cover number 4

Working with these Japanese kimono pieces has been interesting.  Their texture so delicate, the workmanship in each piece has been interesting.  It appears that kimono’s are largely sewn together by hand stitching, and where machine stitching exists, it is also painstakingly accurate.

I would never have cut a full kimono, to me, it would be like cutting a wedding dress – I would equally find this hard to cut apart.

When I’ve been taking apart the lining from the outer shell of the kimono pieces, I did this wondering what the story behind each kimono was.  “Did you belong to a beautiful woman? Or a Japanese man?”  “On what occasions were you worn?”  There are some pieces that I think would have been day wear, and others where the silk is so luxurious it left me craving for more pieces like it.  (Alas, not so).

Then to my surprise, one kimono piece has given me a hint of it’s past life.  I found this sewn kanji on it:

I asked a friend to translate from a poor photo taken on my phone.  She said it is most likely a girls name, “Michiko”.

Here's a close up of the fabric:

So, I decided that this cushion cover will be simple.  Here it is:

I wonder, is it usual for a child’s name be on a kimono?  Can you enlighten me?

Happy sewing everyone.

Sandra

Cushion Covers Part 2

I'm not going crazy when I say this, but, sometimes the fabric just needs to talk to you and tell you what it wants to be.

I had chosen the fabrics below to create another pillow case for the pillows on our lounge suite.  The brown and the orange with white are Japanese kimono fabrics and the gold is a quilt making cotton.  Initially the two Japanese prints 'talked' to me, but I needed a third one.  I finally settled on the gold cotton.

Then for the pattern, originally I wanted to do this pillow in the Drunkards Path design with only the two Japanese prints, alas, I did not have enough fabric, that's why I had to find a third fabric. So, maybe some Drunkards Path at a later date.

I finally settled on a pattern called, "Carpenter's Wheel or Star Quilt", I had used this design before in my blog "Happy Retirement".  The design can be found online in Pinterest in many forms.

Well in typical Sandra style I cut enough to make another pillow in this design (could be cushion number 3), but, that's another story...


What will cushion three be?  I don't quite know yet, nothing as 'spoken' to me! LOL

It's Australia Day over here, I'm off to do more sewing before returning to work tomorrow (many a teacher in mourning today).

Happy sewing everyone.

Sandra

Cushion covers. Part 1

My couch is in need of some pillows. This means that l need to make five cushion covers.

I pulled out some Japanese prints, which are cuts from kimonos.  A mix of pieces that are cotton, silk and polyester.

My first cushion cover l have used three fabrics from this lot.  The fabrics, although beautiful, have imperfections - hence the reason they were cut up and sold as fabric pieces.  I didn't go out of my way to hide these imperfections either.

Using the 'Rocket Man', design from Kathy Doughty's book, 'Material Obsession', I created a cushion cover.

Since the block in the book is not meant to be symmetric, l felt this would suit my imperfect fabric. It was more like free styling or crazy patchwork, without the embellishments.

Now for some quilting.

Happy sewing everyone.

Sandra