Fabric Donation, update

Okay, I’m back. Pulling 50 yards for a donation to MCC did take a bit longer than 3 hours, but then I’m also enjoying a visit with my son who is here from Bangkok, so other stuff sometimes gets pushed to the side temporarily.

The yardage count is at 48, with 2 more yards getting a spin through the washer and dryer before donation. Can you believe there was dust on a piece of my fabric? *grin* Photos tomorrow when the light’s better and the pieces are all in one place.

I took a break at about 2:30 pm with 23 yards selected. And then switched to pulling yardage from another room. As I mentioned in the PR thread, it didn’t clear up much space as these fabrics were mostly poplin and muslin weight wovens.

But I’m inordinately proud of myself. These are all fabrics that I still could use, that I still mostly like and are high quality. But the likelihood of them being sewn up in the next few years is slim.

I’m trying to figure out why it was easier for me to release these fabrics now than earlier. What works for you? Have you thought about it?

Fabric Donation

I’ve been reading this discussion at Pattern Review. Now it’s obviously not the first time this subject has come up, but for some reason it moved me to action today.

Here’s what I posted, in case you haven’t gone over to read that recent stash thread:

Okay, you all have inspired me!

The women at my church are collecting fabrics that are 2 yds or more to be used by women in MCC* projects internationally.

I’m posting this to make myself accountable for getting some of my stash moved out of this house by this weekend, which means I have to do it today or tomorrow–the rest of the days are already committed to family stuff. My goal is 50 yards, but I’ll settle for 30. I’ve been saying I’d do so for the entire month of October, but have I done anything???

Here’s the specs just to remind myself…

“Fabric
Bolts of new cloth are frequently requested where fabric is expensive or hard to obtain. These bolts are often used to sew clothing for children. Recipients can also use full pieces of at least 1.8m / 2 yards long for quilt and comforter pieces.

Fabric specifications
* Suggested fabrics include twill, cotton, cotton blends, wool and corduroy.
* Print, plaid or solid are all acceptable.
* Please no 100% polyester.”

*Mennonite Central Committee

Okay, it’s almost noon here….I’m off the computer and going ‘in’… I may need backup help if I don’t emerge in a few hours…say by 3pm???

Anyhow, I worked on the main floor of my house and so far have collected 21 yards. I stopped for lunch, but am now heading back in….

Eureka! ‘Does not compute’ cleared up!

I guess I just get a closed mind about some things. For years I’ve stared blankly at the Burda World Of Fashion (now Burda Style, I guess) instruction pages for sewing/pressing shoulder seams. What was that wooden spoon doing in the photo anyhow?

Well, Deb Thompson has solved the mystery for a lot of us! Here’s her illustrated tutorial on how to attach facings (or a lining) to a sleeveless bodice! without hand stitching or top stitching.

I’ve seen this method before, but never connected the spoon drawing with it! Thank you, Deb!

Batik Mystery Quilt

I love mystery quilts, but I’m terrible at following through on finishing them once the mystery is solved and I know how it will look. I finished this one while on vacation last summer. For several years I thought I might extend this 8-sided center to a bed-sized quilt, but decided I’d rather have it finished than possibly on a bed some day in the future.

The front:

I found this mystery on the web sometime in the last 8 or 9 years. If you recognize the pattern or author of the mystery, please leave a comment so I can give that person credit. I chose scraps from several of the batiks that we used for tablecloths at my daughter’s wedding in 2000. Here’s the back, which gives you an allover view of the ‘focus’ fabric.

A close-up where you can see my rough free-form quilting as I was learning to use my new-to-me Bernina 1090 sewing machine:

The photos were taken outside with my old Sony Mavica FD-75. The quilt is about 40 inches across.

Think?

I saw this on Liana’s Sew Intriguing blog and found it interesting….

Here’s my Word:

Your Word is “Think”

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations. And sometimes you feel like you don’t have enough time to take it all in. You love learning. Whether you’re in school or not, you’re probably immersed in several subjects right now. When you’re not learning, you’re busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you’ve experienced.

What’s Your Word?

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I’m back home from a trip with my mother to visit her brother in Kansas. Lots to catch up with here on the home front, especially since corn planting is just now finally beginning after being delayed a month or so by rain, rain and more rain.

Just a reminder to myself: draft a woven pants pattern for Mom.

Kwik Sew 3041 blouse

I finished this Kwik Sew 3041 blouse while in Colorado last summer (2008) a few months before my grandson was born.

I have had pretty good luck with Kwik Sew patterns right out of the envelope, so I figured I could sew this one with an inexpensive cotton and have a good everyday blouse, if not better, as a result of my test garment. The fabric has faded quite a bit, but still looks okay.

I decided to post about it when I pulled it out to wear this past April when my daughter’s family came for a visit.

Isn’t this little fella a cutey? Love that red hair!

The cotton fabric is coarsely woven and wrinkles seem to fall out without needing to be pressed. I used a weft interfacing on the front placket area and collar. I thought the plaid size was so small that the blouse needed some extra interest, so I cut the pockets on the bias. My daughter helped choose the buttons last summer and I used her Bernina Activa 240 with it’s memory buttonholes, a feature I loved!

Another view

Here’s a scanned print of the Teagarden T being worn in real life!

I wonder if I’ll ever get around to finishing the sleeve hems…

I’m happy with leaving the bottom of this shirt unhemmed…it’s almost too short even this way. Next time maybe I’ll add a bit to the length. Or maybe not. I don’t really need any extra lumpy lines in this location, and this particular cotton interlock is fairly beefy.

Do you always hem your knit shirts?

The view from my window

Here’s today’s view from the room where I’ve spent most of the last 8 days. The buds just started opening about the time my fever abated on Wednesday:

We’ve lived here for 13 years and I still haven’t identified this ornamental tree. Do you know it’s name?

Here’s a view from the second story window through the branches toward a bunch of tulips and bluebells:

The bluebells would take over the whole yard I think, if given a chance. However, the wild raspberries would also thrive in those conditions, so we keep most of it mowed after the bluebells and various colored violets bloom.

This huge sycamore tree gets it’s leaves in early summer. I don’t have pictures today (taking photos facing the sunlight doesn’t work very well) of the redbud and magnolia that are also in view just to the right of this tire swing.

I apologize for the photo quality. I’m still using a Sony Mavica Floppy Drive camera. It works for keeping a basic record of things and reminding me of colors and compositions, though, so I’ve decided to keep using it for now….

Back among the functioning…

Hurrah! I actually left the house today for the first time in at least a week. And I’m way healthier than I was last week at this time, which is obviously a good thing. So!

I drove to Peoria to buy thread for altering my niece’s prom dress and then stopped in at the ’sewing get-together’ at Michelle’s house. She presented me with a copy of this photo she took, maybe last February:

So I’m gritting my teeth and hiding my eyes and posting what I think is the first photo of me I’ve uploaded. I’ve decided that if I want to share my sewing projects I’ll just have to get over the camera shyness….

It’s the SW TeaGarden T that I made last spring for the Timmel SWAP.

Michelle had also taken a photo of Kellie and me looking through M’s vintage pattern album:

She brought it down to show us when it was almost time to go home and we needed to hurry, but we didn’t want to miss anything!!

Web site / Amish music connection!

Last year at this time I was considering whether or not to maintain my web site goodworks1.com

and how (or if) this blog might relate to the family business websites I own. I’m beginning to see that one of the reasons I love online commerce is the connections I’ve made with people all over the world!

The back story: Maybe 6 years ago my sister carefully salvaged discarded choral music and sold the sets on her website, gw4music.com. When her inventory got lower, we combined our stores into one shopping cart site under my url, goodworks1.com.

Last week I got an email request that was fairly unusual: Would I be willing to email a copy of the music to the customer if they purchased the hard copies of the music? They wanted to sing this piece for Easter, but had only a few days left to practice.

My brain came up with it’s usual list of reasons why I should say no:
–can I hold the camera still enough to take good photos?
–will the photos be too gray for them to be read easily?
–how much time will it take to photograph 9 pages and edit and color-correct the photos?
–will I lose money on the transaction?
–is the requester likely to follow through?

But then I remembered that we do have a multi-function machine that supposedly scans as one of it’s functions. I decided to try it before sending a reply.

Huh! It was so easy it was ridiculous! I even noticed I could scan the file to the shared folder on dh’s computer so that I could access it from my own office without using a flash drive.

So I could quickly attach the page 2 file of the music to my response email. Hurrah! Page one is already available on the site and I figured sending page two would give the potential buyer a chance to double-check that it really was the right song and also test whether it was realistic for the file to be sent as an attachment. (I’ve found that sometimes people can’t receive large files on their email accounts. Other people don’t know how to, or maybe refuse to, open attachments.)

Almost immediately I received a notice of sale, along with the notification that payment had been received at PayPal. All my concerns had been addressed!

You can read Kathie’s side of the transaction at her blog, Kathie’s Kabin; scroll down past the yummy-looking Easter rolls to the Three Empty Crosses sheet music photo….

I had no idea that this music had Amish roots. It’s another reminder of the many connections we have in this world! When my parent’s greatgrandfathers walked north from the port in New Orleans to central Illinois in the 1860s the church they established was Amish Mennonite; that church is now part of Mennonite Church USA, of which I am a member.

Parting note:
Tuesday afternoon I cut the rest of the skirt pieces, including cut-on pockets for Mom’s rayon skirt. We’re hosting family from CO next week, so my sewing hours will be few this week and next….