Doing first portrait

I put the next quilt on the machine and then stabilized it.  Rather than start quilting it, I decided to play around with my first portrait quilt for a bit first.  I go to print out the patterns for final corrections before enlarging them to the size I want for my quilt.   CRAP!  The printer doesn't print right.  I print it again.  Nope, doesn't do any better.  I think maybe it's out of ink so I change both color and black cartridges.  CRAP!  Still doesn't print right.  I try a few more prints.  Still doesn't print right.  There's large missing spots on the patterns.  CRAP!  What do I do now?  I check everything I know to do to the printer but still can't make it print right. 

Well, I felt I just HAD to work with at least one portrait to see how it looks when done.  I've studied and studied for this.  My first finished portrait would be like the final exam to show I learned everything after all.  So I used the last set of correction patterns I had printed before the printer crapped out on me.  I knew the portrait pattern was much too small but it was something to work with.  Here's what I did.

This portrait is really small with very tiny pieces.  She's 5" x 7" and reversed from the way she should be.  I had planned on using the smaller detail pieces in the final pattern because I knew I wanted to make her into a large wall quilt.  Small pieces, when enlarged, give more detail.  I want to make her around 20" by 28".  Using the extra detail in a very small quilt like this doesn't work.  They look like tiny dots in the fabric instead of part of the portrait.  Those are very hard to cut out too.

I used browns, tans, and rust color fabrics to play.  Those would not be my fabric choices for a final quilt. 

That's all I can do with this one until I either figure out what's wrong with my printer or get a new one.  I'll start making the patterns for the other portrait quilts.  I'll do what I'm able to do on the computer, ready for the first printing, which would save a small bit of time.

This technique is exactly what I was looking for!  I'm so glad I finally got the chance to take the class.  If anyone is interested in learning to do portrait quilts check out Margaret's site.  Even if you don't plan to make portraits check out her site anyway.  She also makes and sells fun quilt patterns she calls puzzle quilts.   I often visit her site just to watch the video poetry or drool over her portrait quilts.

More finished

I finished the pillow covers that go with the quilt I got done yesterday.  I put them on end to end so the work went faster.

These needed to match the quilting of the quilt so I did a bow and feather on the ends.

Another view of the feather.

I did line dancing on the blocks and a bow, leaf design on the sashing and the outside side edges.

The online portrait class is over.  I'm going to look at one more part today to check my notes before the link is removed.  I'm very confident I know how to create the portraits now.  Margaret is a very patient teacher.  I've viewed the class over and over, taking notes, and checking those notes more than once.  I was assured I could take the class again without charge if I needed it.  I don't think that will be necessary though. 

My problem wasn't with learning to put the actual portrait together, I get that part very easily.  My biggest apprehension was working with the software.  Photoshop Elements seemed so very complicated to me.  I'm more of a visual learner than a reading learner.  Viewing the class videos was exactly what I needed to gain confidence to work with the software.

Now that the class is over, it's time to get myself back into a regular schedule.  There are customer quilts to finish and spring things to think about.  Something has just occurred to me.  My mother has remained very quiet during the whole time I've taken the online class.  It was only yesterday that she's started with her mind games again.  You think maybe she somehow knew to be good until the class was over?

Ok.  The quilting work won't get done until I go do it.  Time to put another one on the machine.

Whew, finally finished

I've been working on this quilt for several days.  The design wasn't difficult although the top was a little wonky.  I worked on it in between studying with the online class.  The size is 120" x 135" so this took longer and the batting had to be pieced too.   It's made from what looked like old sheet fabric and linen.  I love that it's made from recycled fabrics.  Here it's folded in half and laying on my 4' by 8' table.  It hangs off on all sides because it's so large.  Very heavy too.

I did line dancing on the pieced squares.

I did a ribbon and leaf design on the sashing.  The design meets at the half point of the block, coming out from the corners.

The outside borders were a  bit friendly so I did a feather design on the top and bottom border to tame them.

The feathers go out from the center where I did a bow.  The bow is place here because the border had the least fullness in this area.

I did a leaf vine design along the other two outside borders because they are much smaller than the top and bottom outside borders.  Then I did the binding by folding the back over the top and sewed it down.

Today I'll put the 3 pillow covers, that go with this top, onto the machine.  I'm not sure I'll do any quilting though because I want to spend a little more time viewing the videos of the online class and I have some house cleaning that needs to be done. 

Perfect circles and DIY feminine pads

A few days ago I was talking to a neighbor about the economy.  She and her husband are a young couple.    They've been struggling with finances because she's now unemployed and he's on disability.  I've taken her under my wing and teaching her some of the things I do to save money.  We've been talking about alternative cleaning supplies and cooking from scratch.  She wants to learn to sew and how to can foods.  I'm very happy to teach her what I am able to do and at the same time she's teaching me a few things that only young people seem to know these days.  Things that my senior mind doesn't understand.... like how to get digital cable channels on my tv.     

I was explaining my thoughts to her about saving money.  If it can be bought, it can be made from scratch.  She would ask about something and I would explain the alternative DIY item.  Well, the subject of feminine pads came up and how expensive buying them has become.  After explaining how when I was young we didn't buy pads, we made pads from scraps of fabric, she decided to give that a try.  How did it work? 

Well, things are much different today than when I was as young.  We used safety pins to hold our pads in our bloomers.  I came up with an alternative she's happy to learn about and try.  I thought someone else might be interested too.  This has become my neighbor's first sewing lesson. 

I went through my sewing stuff and came up with what we needed.  We needed something that liquid would not soak through.  I had this curtain liner fabric.  It has a plastic side and a flannel side.  Other types of  fabrics to use could be old shower curtains or maybe the fabric from an old umbrella.  I cut two 7 1/2" squares which is all that's needed. 

I also had these t-shirt fabric scraps we could use.   I cut two 7 1/2" squares of this.

Ok, time to teach her how to sew a perfect circle.  This technique will work great for someone who doesn't know how to sew.  I got the duct tape and a single flat thumb tack. 

Push the thumb tack through a piece of the tape from the sticky side.

Go to the sewing machine.  Remove the presser foot.  Put a ruler next to the needle, measure out from the needle 3 1/2", and put a pencil mark there.

Take the thumb tack and place it on the pencil mark.

Stick it down like this and put the presser foot back on.

Get the t-shirt fabric square, fold it into quarters, put a small dot at the center point. 

Now pair the t-shirt fabric with the curtain fabric, flannel side in. 

Push the fabric squares onto the thumb tack at where we made the center dot.  Put the fabric under the presser foot and sew.

This makes a perfect circle of sewing.... but stop sewing leaving about a two inch gap.

Trim off the extra fabric leaving about 1/4".

Turn inside out, fold in the unsewn part, and sew about 1/8" from the edge all the way around.  The thumb tack won't help with this because the size has changed.  We could have moved the thumb tack but we didn't. 

Now fold this circle in half and make a mark on the fold at both sides.  This is where you can either sew a piece of velcro or place a snap.  We chose velcro.

 

Put one piece of velcro on the top side at one mark and the other piece on the under side at the other mark and sewed these on.

Fold it matching the velcro or snaps if you use those.  It should look like this.  Those are the wings.

Now make 4 marks on this at the folded edges.  About 1/2" from the outside edge.

The four marks should look like this.

Now we needed some elastic.  Well, it need not necessarily be elastic.  It could be simply a piece of folded binding or even just a strip of fabric.   I just happen to have elastic handy so we used it.

We cut two pieces of elastic for each circle.  Just a smidgen larger than the distance of the marks.

She sewed these with a zig-zag stitch, going back and forth a couple of times.

Now it looks like this when the velcro is matched up.   This is the pad holder. 

The pad itself is whatever a person wants to use.  For her, we used some scrap cotton batting put through a wash and dry first to shrink it before cutting to size.  The pad can actually be any scrap fabrics.  Left over t-shirt fabric, ugly quilt fabrics, flannel, muslin, old sheets, old bath towels..... just give it some thought.  The fabric should be absorbant and soft. 

The pads we made from scrap batting were cut in different size pieces.  2" by 7" for light days.  Doubled to 4" by 7" for heavier days and 12" by 7" for the heaviest days.  This used up some of the smallest pieces of scrap batting that previously were hanging around doing nothing.  These can also be disposable if she doesn't want to wash them.  She plans to wash her pads even though I've assured her I always have an abudance of small strips of batting.  Everytime I trim a quilt to add binding I get more small strips.  Well, anyway, that's why I pre-washed the batting.  It needed to be pre-shrunk before cutting the pieces. 

If using other types of fabric you would need to think about the thickness and absorbancy for different types of flow.  Cut the fabric to the right sizes for folding.   Why folded instead of sewn into the shape?  For washing and drying convenience.  A thick folded and sewn fabric takes much longer to dry than one not folded.

 We made her two pad holders in case one should need to be washed during her cycle.  It can be hand washed or put into the next load of laundry.  It dries quickly. 

If anyone does emergency preparedness you might want to make some of these for your emergency kits.  I'm sure the women in disaster areas, like earthquakes or floods or hurricanes or wind storms, would love to have some of these when stores are no longer open.  Hmm... I wonder if anyone thinks of making these to send to disaster areas instead of just sending comfort quilts?  Do disaster teams take pads to hand out along with water and food?  Does anyone know?  Please tell me by leaving a comment.

As usual, this tutorial post is printable if you want to print it and share it with your friends.  Just click on the print button.

Busy busy

There were bills to be analyzed and paid.  An energy saving ideas seminar to attend.

* photo removed by blogger

Homework to complete.  I'm so loving learning to create portrait quilt patterns! 

A windfall of produce to preserve.  I got oranges, onions, grapes, potatoes, greens, and apples.

Cooking to be done.  Gee..... it gets eaten before there's time for a photo.  Actually, I gave both pies to neighbors as soon as they were cool.  He had picked taken one to carry home and return for the other.  He didn't want to chance dropping one by carrying both at the same time.

A quilt on the machine larger than the largest batting I had.  Time needed for adding extra batting.  It's stabilized and some of the quilting has been done.

A cabinet shelf that decided to fall down in the back.  I took the time to repair it then changed what is stored there.

Clothing to be cut apart.

Then cut into squares for two large memory quilts.  Luckily I could work on these when the power was out a few hours.  The storms pasing through were pretty intense that morning.  One tornado touched down not far from the nursing home my mother lives in.

I had cardboard furniture to be worked on.  I wanted to test a recipe for homemade paper paste.  So far it's working.

There was a food inventory to be done before my next shopping trip.  I'm tired of buying stuff because I didn't know I already had dozens.  My grocery storage had gotten way out of hand.  I desperately needed it organized.  I don't think I will need groceries for a very long time. 

A couple of doctor appointments and friends to help moving things to higher floors in preparation for floods.  A Ladybug that's discovered the fun of hide and seek.  Ladybug sitting to do crafts doesn't last as long as it used to.  There was company spending the day sitting to talk about troubles.  So what's a great listener to do but to sit and listen? 

With all these things going on over the last few days...... when was there time for writing a blog post journal entry?  Or even getting near the computer except to do homework for that matter?  The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity around here.  I'm hoping now that I've gotten myself a bit more organized I won't feel quite so overwhelmed.  I can't say I won't be just as busy.  At least I do feel a little better knowing where my groceries are located and how much I have.  Now I guess I need to organize my craft stuff too?  Nah.... that can wait a little longer.  There are projects to complete and homework to finish and friends to listen to and pies to bake and a Ladybug to run after...... here I go again.