Holiday projects aplenty

At last I can share some of the things I made for Christmas. I made this stocking and donated it to a silent auction at Flying Geese Quilters in December. One Dresden plate block, cut up and appliqued to the stocking shape. I used my sashiko machine here.

I made an upcycled sweater as part of a challenge for Fibreye. I used an old J Crew pullover sweater, overlaid with silk chiffon which I dyed at the last retreat in the Diane Ricks workshop.

This is the front. I was inspired by Christopher in the last season's Project Runway; he put "shredded" silk chiffon on a lot of his clothing, but not on sweaters.

I made this wall hanging, kind of a riff on my previous VW tree quilt. I used the sashiko machine again. It ended up being a gift for my friend Linda.

Detail.

Another detail.

Well, that's a start. I will post more holiday projects soon, now that I've finally figured how to efficiently access the photos from my phone. :-) Hurray!

What I've Been Working on Lately

I've started a new art quilt! It's for the Noble Seasons challenge for Fall. I have found that I've missed art quilting, even though I've thoroughly enjoyed my knitting and other projects. In this photo I'm just playing with shapes, color and texture. It was fun to pull out my Misty Fuse, silks, chiffons, and home dec fabrics.

I recently finished the thrift shop challenge that I'm in. I began with fabric from a black wool skirt; I added fabrics from three pairs of old pants (I'm never going to be a size 4 again). The buttons were covered with silk from old ties.

Here's the view from the back. I made bias strips from an old pair of pants. The jacket turned out a little shorter than planned; I'm still getting used to current-day pattern sizing AND my current-day size. The blouse is an old Faconnable blouse my husband gave me in the 90's. It was super long and too big for me, so I downsized it for a more stylish fit.

Here's a detail of the blouse pocket. It was the first time I'd used a handy-dandy yo-yo maker. It's not perfect but I hope it's good enough. I zigzagged seams to purposely make the blouse a little rough around the edges. I don't pretend to be a grand couturier!

new garment challenge

Some of you may remember that last year I participated in a clothing challenge. We had to upcycle a thrift shop find and turn it into something we could wear. Last year I had to work with a peach colored silk jacket. I made a new jacket that had lots of reds, oranges and browns.

Anyway, there's another challenge this year. I received a long, solid black wool skirt, and my idea was to make another jacket with it. It's been a big challenge. For one thing, the jacket pattern is much harder. Mistakes have been made. Oh, for the good old days when a pattern came in one size, not everything from tiny to large? Arrgh. Another problem is that I didn't have enough fabric from the skirt to do a jacket. But I found an old pair of black wool pants in my closet - what was it doing there, because I will never be a size 4 again!?! It's not exactly the same black wool, but close enough.

Here's the heap of the skirt and old pants I ravaged to make the jacket.

I made bias tape with the black and white fabric. I'm keeping it nice before I use it, by wrapping it around a handy water bottle.

I'm making fabric covered buttons - another frustrating task! - from old ties.

The jacket isn't presentable enough yet to display, but here it is in sort of a heap, with the pattern. I'm trying to channel Mila from last season's Project Runway, but alas she has much more talent and know-how than I do in creating fashion. Anyway, it's a good learning experience.

what I've been up to lately

I've been busy doing a variety of things. I still have to finish the face of my summertime cat, seen in previous posts.  And I'm also working on something for an ornament exchange. Here it is so far. This is what I do in the evenings in front of the tube - handwork!

I'm putting beads on all the ornaments to look like sprinkles. I made Christmas tree cookie ornaments for my very first ornament exchange, just like the one on the stocking.

I also made some jam, of all things. It's my first experience, and I found out how much work it was! I made strawberry-rhubarb jam with homegrown strawberry guava juice. It only made six jars, and one of them didn't seal so we have to keep that one in the fridge and use it up. :-) Hmmm, I think it would taste good on cornbread. Maybe I'll make some for tomorrow night.

I'm also working on a jacket. Half of the squares are recycled from an ugly old peach-colored jacket. The jacket was silk - I dyed both the silk and the inner acetate lining, first with Koolaid and then with Jacquard silk paints. I also did some stamping on them. The color turned out better than the photos. I was amazed at how pretty the acetate lining colors turned out.

 The photos show the unfinished shell, and I'll add a red lining and a big arty button. I'm thinking of making a button from a rusty old flattened bottle cap! I'll put a cork backing on it, so it's not so thin. Notice I kept some details from the jacket, such as buttons from a cuff. Elsewhere there are buttonholes and a tag sewn into the lining fabric. I'm having fun with this project!