another mini finish

It's February, and I cannot get over the rain at the moment. Its absolutely dumping buckets and I'm so grateful to be here and cozy in my warm little house.

I've mentioned before that I've been somewhat lax on posting my finished projects anywhere other than Instagram, so today I wanted to share something I made a little while ago. This was a custom made mini Sew Together bag for a lovely lady. (Original pattern can be found here, mini pattern conversion sheet here.)

When trying to make something specifically for someone, but someone I have never met personally, I usually use whatever tools I can find. I like to check out their Instragram account, or blogs and get a sense of their aesthetic. Is is minimalist, feminine, modern, rock, punk, cute or quaint? What is their favorite color? What projects have they been working on? What fabric designers do they use? All these little tidbits can influence the direction I take a project. Once I have a fabric pull, the client and I will go back and forth on choices until I'm set to begin construction.

This particular project was fun as I had never appliqued hexagons (hexies) to a project before. I didn't plan going in to do a grid quilting using multiple thread colors, but it's where the project led me. If you've never done this before, allowed yourself to be led by a project or a general feel for a project, I recommend it. It is very freeing to not let yourself be tied to preset constraints.

I love the arrow print we used on the side panels.

The binding was not my first choice, but in the end, it worked out better than what I had initially chosen and added a glow to the pouch. This essex linen background fabric remains to be a favorite of mine. It has so much depth.

 I'm pleased that the recipient likes it as much I as I do. It was definitely a fun project to X off my list.

In other news, maybe you've heard the buzz going around the creative world right now about a new book, called "Steal Like An Artist".



I was initially a bit put off by the title (how dare anyone imply we creatives steal!), but curiousity got the best of me. And boy was I glad it did. Go. Read.

IT'S. SO. GOOD. (You can find it here.)

And if you loved it as much as I did, read his next book, Show Your Work. (found here)

I read both these books in about 2-3 days. I could not put them down, and there were so many truth moments. It definitely changed the way I feel about the crafting world, Instagram, the blogging world and sharing our work as artists.

Let me know what you think - I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Linking to finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

memories

To cut into the pieces and cloths that are left behind when a loved one passes away, is both terrifying and humbling. It isn't something I do often, but when I do, it is done with respect and the realization that a whole lot of trust is being directed my way.

This week, I cut into a stack of shirts and a couple pairs of pajama bottoms to (hopefully!) transform them into something that will keep the recipient warm and loved, in both the physical and emotional sense.

To break the clothing items down into usable squares, I cut along seam lines, after removing the collars and sleeves. For some shirts, I needed only to use the back section of the shirt, while for others, I used both the back and one shirt front.

The layout for this quilt is a simple nine patch block, that will be sashed in white. I cut out 4" squares from all the pieces. (To figure out how many pieces to cut, per garment, divide the number of nine squares, which in this case is 315 (35 x 9=  315), by the number of garments (in this case, 11). 

This is a quick mock up I did of the layout in Touchdraw.

This quilt is moving along quickly. I have almost finished constructing all the blocks, and plan to sash, using 2" strips soon. I'm hoping that the person I am making it is happy with the results. I can't wait to see the effect when it's all quilted and bound and washed.