Margreta's Musings

Sea & Sail Focused Clam Shell Mitts

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 16:09:00 +0000

My Etsy shop release of new products this week focused on sea and sail clam shell shaped oven mitts. I intend to have these available at my next in person craft event that will be held at the Community Center of the Birch Bay Village.

For a few years now, I have been making a number of clam shell shaped oven mitts in different sizes and different fabric choices. They all have a magnet sewn inside so that it will stick to the side of the microwave, the oven, the fridge, the BBQ grill, whatever has steel in it. The magnet helps to hold pot lids and even canning jar lids!

With living at Birch Bay part of the year, it was suggested that I offer a selection of beach/sea/sail themed fabrics. I already had one in my shop (a Maryland blue crab), but now offer a few more choices - including Orca whales.

My other new fabric choices:

a red, white and blue fabric which has sailboats, motorboats, shells, anchors and lighthouses
a batik turquoise fabric with anchors and ship steering wheels
an ocean blue fabric with colorful sailboats
a whimsical fabric with colorful fish, octopus, squid and dolphin

Check out my Etsy shop to see more photos of these products. And feel free to suggest a few other beach/ocean/sea themed items to add to this collection.

eReaders - feedback please...

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 23:00:00 +0000

In reviewing my Etsy stats, the most viewed item(s) in my shop right now are the eReader covers. But, there are very few sales from the views.

I know part of the challenge is that there are different sizes of the devices. I offer three sizes now:

8 inch by 5 inch eReader (just recently added the Nook Color size for readers that are up to a half inch thick)
7.5 inch by 5 inch eReader (so, fits the original Kindle)
6.5 inch by 5 inch eReader (fits the original Nook)

All of these have a pocket for the cable/cord.

While not meant for the eReader, I do have some customers who have used the Junior Legal Pad Holder to slip their Kindle Paperweight into one of the pockets.

Is the issue primarily that I have not covered the size of a particular device? Looking at a comparison list, I do not currently offer something for the larger Kindle Fire, for example.

If you were in the market for an eReader cover, what features do you want to see?

Snappy Bag Options - coin pouch, sunglasses case, eyeglasses case

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 15:07:00 +0000

Over the past few months, I have been exploring "snappy bags" In part this has been part of my trying to find the "just right" eyeglasses/sunglasses case.

For the wrap around sunglasses, I have been happy with a variation of this pattern by SewFantastic (http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com/2010/06/tutorial-summer-sunglasses-case.html), but it is really big. You may want to read a customer review of these on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/margretamadeit

While the Tulip pattern from CloBird is pretty fun ( http://clobird.com/shop/patterns/tulip-zipper-case/ ), it takes too much time and materials to sell them regularly.

I then found the snappy bag for eyeglasses (and other variants exist in different shapes) that is here: http://justanotherhangup.blogspot.com/2013/07/snappy-bag-sunglass-case-tutorial.html . I made them, sort of like them, but really do not like having exposed seams. Zigzagging the edge is not as good as enclosing it. I know. I know. You may think that is a minor detail. I am obsessive compulsive enough that, for me, it IS a big deal.

Back to doing research on Pinterest, I found that Sew Can She has a coin purse/pouch with the snap closure AND is fully lined (https://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/2013/4/6/the-snappy-coin-pouch-free-tutorial-from-sewcanshe) Just a little bit of hand sewing is needed to close up the opening - which is normal. I like the pattern - both the traditional version and the one that is pleated (which looks like a coffee cup). I made these for some friends.

So, since I think I understand the structure and approach. I am hoping to experiment and make my own version. Stay tuned!

Junior Legal Pad Portfolios / Covers

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:51:00 +0000

I know there are people who have completely abandoned paper. I am not one of them. Paper is still the choice for writing down the grocery list, just in case the partner goes to the store before I do. Or because the kiddo discovered he was now out of his favorite cereal. Paper also gets used when I am part of an on-line conference and I need a way to take notes while the video is going (no, I do not generally have 2 monitors or 2 computers going at the same time).

Seeing paper around in their standard issue format is boring. I like having better covers for the paper. So, I am always on the lookout for different ways to sew covers. In the past, I used the pattern that was part of Quilting Arts Gifts 2009/2010 (see http://oohprettycolors.blogspot.com/2011/11/time-to-sew-and-craft.html ). The pattern is pretty quick to make. My dislike of the pattern is that I have a hard time visualizing what my final product will look like as she has some parts that end up upside down.

I tend to pin ideas and my latest try out of one of those was to make the cover available from the Cottage Mama (https://thecottagemama.com/2011/06/fabric-portfolio-and-notepad-holder/). I like that I can easily see what I am going to get for a final product. When I think I understand an item and I plan to offer it in my Etsy shop or at craft venues, I'll make a number of them at the same time and work assembly line style.

A mental and creative challenge is always picking out the variety of fabrics that I want to have go together. I often start with a feature or theme fabric and then build out from there. Building out can happen in picking colors from the theme theme and finding fabrics that I have that match. Then I also want to find a variety of textures or different scale of images. With the Cottage Mama's tutorial, she has five different fabrics going into the final product. So, I was doing a lot of color combinations at one time. I had to take a couple of breaks in between as my mental and intuitive process would get depleted.

As she says, you do not have to do all the pockets the way that she has them. Having less pockets will make the construction go faster and the thought process for picking fabrics happen quicker too.

Her instructions are pretty straight forward. I think that her fabric D directions do not actually match her cutting instructions. Either you can hem the fabric D (which is what I did) so that the pocket is deeper or cut the piece slightly longer (so you can do the fold over and still have depth).

She used fabric covered buttons which has a nice coordinating look. I have a wide selection of old buttons that I have been gifted with over the years and I like finding a button that seems to match.

I am hoping that some people make like these as a Mother's Day gift. Give her flowers that will last a bit longer than the cut ones or even potted plants (I do not have a green thumb). Come find these and other fabric choices in my Etsy store.

Zippered Pouches - So Many Uses

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 18:33:00 +0000

Two years ago, I think, I started making zippered pouches. With my own internal quality standard, I wanted a pouch that did not have raw edges. Erin Gilbey's Neat 'n' Tidy Zipper Pouch tutorial fit my standard.

Many independent pattern designers offer free tutorials to give you a sense of their style of writing and illustrations. Erin's instructions were clear and well documented. I also like that I can easily see how I can make modifications and still stay "true" to the pattern directions and be successful. All of her patterns are well written and she provides quick response time when asking questions. There's also an active Facebook Group for lovers of her patterns.

Erin's basic shape uses two fabrics - scraps really. Who doesn't have scraps? And some batting or flannel or not for the inside. And, as a person who quilts too, I have batting.

These zipper pouches are great for holding change, keys, various small chargers, store customer cards or other small notions or office supplies. The zipper pouch could easily be a gift bag for a debit card.

If you do not want to make your own, I have some of these in my shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/288279117/zipper-pouch-3-inch-by-5-inch?ref=shop_home_feat_1

Let's Make Dumplings (Bags)

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 13:00:00 +0000

I love to make dumpling bags. Probably through Pinterest, I found a free tutorial about making dumpling bags (see http://keyka.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/08/lets-make-dumplings-free-zip-pouch-tutorial.html). These little zipper pouches open WIDE. They are great for earbuds, match cars, crayons, medicine, whatever. I do not recommend it as a coin purse as they open wide.

As a quilter and fiber artist, I generate a lot of scraps so I am always on the lookout for ideas about using up my scraps. A great use for scraps is in English paper piecing so that I am assembling larger shapes out of the smaller scraps. The particular advantage that I have with English paper piecing is that it is portable. I'll work up some shapes while monitoring the kiddo's homework progress, or attending his practice, or sitting in a meeting. I was recently at a three day conference and on the third day I found I just had to keep my hands occupied to keep my brain alert.

The Paper Pieces company sells lots of different shapes and sizes of computer precision cut paper templates. No need to trace and cut your own shapes out of index cards or newspaper (or the Sears catalogue if you have heard stories about that or done that yourself). I use my paper pieces multiple times before recycling them.

Putting dumplings and paper piecing together, I make two "flowers" and then fill the area around them with a background fabric. Then, remove all the paper, use the pattern shape to cut to the appropriate size and follow Michelle's directions to complete them.

A suggestion or hint for when basting the zipper, do the first side with the zipper unzipped (just easier to handle). Given the fact that there are lots of bias edges, do the second side with the zipper zipped. Too many times, if I do the two sides of the zip separately, I end up being "off" and the pouch doesn't close as neatly as I would like.

Given the labor time in making the English paper pieced dumplings, I give them as gifts, I don't sell them. I do sell the dumpling bags when I have used just one fabric for the outside.

Time for a Change

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 23:37:00 +0000

Over the past few years, I've been doing less quilts and more usable fiber art items. Maybe this is because I do not have more wall space. Maybe it is because being a parent leaves less time for detailed work processes. Maybe I just wanted more quick gratification and my quilts did not fit that equation.

I confess, though, that I can end up spending a number of days working on the fabric choices for one bag - much in the same way that selecting fabrics for a quilt involves. Some of the construction techniques can be just as involved as an inset seam or a detailed applique.

I liked making the Time for a Change purse / diaper bag. But, this was not a quick sewing process. Time for a Change is a pattern from DogUnderMyDesk, a great independent pattern designer. I like the water bottle pockets. I like the zippered pockets. I am not certain I like the way the straps are installed. I added a key minder to bag.

The issue for all fiber work is how to recover the time in the cost of the good. Living where I do, the cost of living is high. I can recover my material costs. I just do not think I can recover my time. So, while I like the pattern, I don't think it will show up in my Etsy shop, unless maybe it is a custom order item.

Descansos - Others that came from that series

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 03:58:00 +0000

As I had mentioned some time ago, the Descansos series was compelling for me. The simple beauty of claiming a space as important and marking it for memory is an act of simple faith, a recognition that our lives matter, at least to some, and an invitation to reflect. My MIL passed away over the holidays. While my relationship with her was not always easy, she did value my fiber art. So, as I reflect back, here are two pieces that were also part of that Descansos series.

Descansos

Detail from Descansos - hand beaded, mixed content fabric, quilted

Detail from Descansos - hand beaded, pieced, appliqued, quilted

Lilies for Descansos

Back for a While (or Not)

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 20:39:00 +0000

Outta Time Tote - for Oslin to hold his watercolor art

After a long hiatus, a life that got too full, and some time to reflect, I am back at the sewing machine. I don't know that I am ready fully for the big creative pieces: commissions for various people and organizations, but I have been able to enjoy using up a number of fabric scraps. Mostly been doing purses. So, here are three recently completed. The Mt. Fuji is on the front and back of the tote, the pockets have a mottled green, and the inside of the bag is sort of a twig fabric. I made the bag from the pattern by Dog Under My Desk, modified so that it is reversible.

Showing the inside of the front pocket

Inside of Bag and Inside Pocket

Back - Outta Time Tote

This is the same bag pattern (Outta Time Tote) and is reversible as well, but this one is meant as a teacher gift. His teacher is into mustaches

Outta Time Tote

Inside of the Bag - Pencil fabric and orange batik pockets

And, then, last but not least, a dear friend, in her desire to purge, gave me a number of pieces of fabric. This one has some sentimental value to her and I hope to surprise her with this purse tomorrow. When life is a gift and I have been gifted, somehow it seems right to keep on going. The pattern for the bag is the Zip and Go from Dog Under My Desk.

Zip and Go Bag - using Kona Japanese cotton

Descansos - overall image and series

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:34:00 +0000

So, it should not come as a surprise that one piece can turn into a sort of series. With Descansos, I had enough leftover materials and still enough interest in the design pieces to do a few more works that are related.

Descansos

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:48:00 +0000

Over the past 2 years at least, I have been working on a large wall size piece that began with an interesting approach to make circles and background strips and cut and resew. The technique was in the American Quilter (from AQS). My pieces ended up looking like crosses and the colors were very southwestern. Two details from the piece are shown. But, as I was trying to figure out a name for the piece, I ended up on a journey of research on Descansos. Those are the crosses that are along the roadside marking the place were someone died. The origin of descansos is in the southwest and marks resting places between the church and the graveyard. Since the person who has already expressed intent to buy this fiber art piece plans to use it in her meditation space, the thought that these crosses on the quilt are resting places for focus and reflection and meditation seemed appropriate. For some really nice written text and black and white images of descansos, see http://webpages.charter.net/dnance/descansos/

Other fall pieces

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Leaves can be fascinating at this time of year. So, it is nice to visit the pieces that celebrate this season. Two of them are in the 12 inch square category. All of them have dimensionality in the work (leaves created as own units and attached to the base quilt in a variety of ways). One was an exploration again of long and narrow (where the proportion of length to width or vise versa is more than 5:1)).

Cobbler's Child

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:33:00 +0000

There is a story about the cobbler's child that says that the cobbler never had time to make shoes for the children. Well, I am back to my fiber and, now that I also have a son, have no intention of making him go without. This past week I was making him a "tent", long overdue, from a panel piece of fabric and old sheets. Next up for him will be a quillow.

Work in progress

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:16:00 +0000

With the Brookside Garden exhibit coming up, I am working on some new pieces. It has been fun to include the choices of others - including that the leaf in here was one my 4 (near 5) year old son liked and gave me.

Job Change and Adjustments

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Ok, so, right when I thought I had my life together, I went and took a new job. That stopped a lot of things from happening, including the blog. Now, a year into the job, it is time to regain my balance.

Presentation Portfolio Project

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:32:00 +0000

Now that the gallery exhibit is over, I could get back to some other summer activities. One item that I wanted to get completed prior to the exhibit was a presentation portfolio. Art Calendar talked about the importance of having a portfolio that stands out.

What better way to have a portfolio stand out than to have it be a demonstration of my work at the same time? So, I created the cover to the portfolio first.

Rather than have the portfolio have lots of paper, I opted to create a design that would allow for business cards, postcards, digital media, and some single pages of information. Given the cover size, I figured I would make the single pages be an odd size (8 inches square). So, the next piece was figuring out the dimensions of the page. Because I might use a standard CD or a mini-CD, the design needed to accomodate either. I first worked with paper to get my "template" measurements.

I settled on two "pockets" that have stitched dividers in them. I opted to bind the outside edges of the "page". I had some leftover "blades" from the fan project and wanted to use them in this portfolio as well.

Then, I had to figure out how to attached the front to the back. I made a tube out of the binding fabric and sewed it to the back of the "page" and then both fused and hand stitched the tube to the back of the front page.

Finally, a trip to Shipwreck beads and I found the beads that I wanted to use to wrap the blade ties around.

Uhuru Quilters Show & My reception

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Hi all,

I've been having a bit of lull in my own fiber creations. I did contribute two quilts that will be on display at the Uhuru Quilters event on Saturday. You can see both Friendship is a Gift and Tropical Haze at that event, as well as 100+ quilts from other group members.

Then, the exhibit is up at the Dadian Gallery and the reception is this week Thursday from 5 to 7 pm. Dadian is on the campus of Wesley Theological Seminary at 4500 Mass. Ave NW.

I am making myself some new clothing. And, maybe one piece will be done and I'll wear at my reception. We will see.

Portfolio - so that's what this stuff is for!

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:09:00 +0000

As part of getting my solo exhibit ready this time, the curator wanted my portfolio. I had put doing a portfolio as part of my list of things to do, but hadn't gotten to it before she asked.

So, I asked what was supposed to go into the portfolio.

Her answer was that for the gallery's portfolio it needed to let the potential client see what was possible and the person who didn't know they could be a client an awareness that they could become a client.

She recommended that I include images of other works and "tear sheets" of other press materials. Well, my last time dealing with "tear sheets" was in high school journalism class when we ripped out the ads that businesses had paid to publish and mailed it to them as proof of publication. Suddenly, I came away realizing that those copies of the program brochures for the quilt events that I had been juried into were exactly the stuff she was talking about.

I also included communications with clients and information about my design processes for different works.

When I thought that I didn't have much for a portfolio, it turned into quite a big collection.

I still want to do a more artistic portfolio too, which will not be as big as the package I gave her. The cover for the artistic portfolio is done, now just to get back to that effort.

On another note, the Washington Post listed my exhibit! It was listed in the coming events in the religion section (I think) in the Saturday, May 24th, 2008 edition.

Hang on to the Label info

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Sun, 25 May 2008 01:30:00 +0000

As part of getting ready for this latest exhibit, I was asked for information that could be used in a booklet that patrons of the gallery can use. I was grateful that I had some information for the quilts that have been in other exhibits or on my website so I could use that stuff. For the newer works, I had saved the info that I put into the label on the back of each piece. It was really accidental that I had kept that info, but it was good to be able to use it for this need too.

Pieces Installed!

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:38:00 +0000

The works have been installed at the Dadian Gallery. You can check out the exhibit and more details here.

Dadian Gallery - Pieces Delivered

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Thirty one pieces have just left my home to go be part of the Dadian Gallery exhibit. It is always hard to sort through the work and have them leave. I am really glad to be working with a great curator, Deborah Sokolove, this time. It's a real treat to work with a curator and not have to do all of this myself. I made sure every single piece has a label with title and contact info to make the curator job's easier.

Here's one of the pieces that will be on display:

Spin-Ruler Project

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:34:00 +0000

In the continuing series of kaleidoscope quilts, I just finished a fiber piece that uses the "spin-ruler". I bought the ruler years ago and never used it. I think I was a little scared of it, but thought it would be interesting to use. Now that I've done a few more 'scopes, I thought I might try out the ruler. You can find out more about the ruler here: http://conniebeequilts.com/spin.html

Anyway, here's my final project:

I like the way that this piece adds my interest in Asian design. Some of the fabrics were from Kona Bay. I think my sense of design space is influenced by my life in Tokyo. I wasn't a fiber artist when I lived there, but I did appreciate their art and practiced shuji.

I guess one of the issues that I have with the way that this ruler operates is that it generates a lot of "wasted" materials. Now when I make a piece, I do try to keep the fabrics together and make other pieces using those color combinations and "wasted" materials. You'll see a few of the other pieces in the next few blogs.

Tulle or Bridal Illusion for quilting designs?

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:11:00 +0000

I was at my Uhuru Quilter Guild meeting the other week and the topic was about quilting designs and ways to transfer the pattern. The suggestion was brought up to use tulle or bridal illusion to mark your design. I had never heard of this before, but clearly there are other quilters who have done this. Check out the following links for some more on this:

Finishing a quilt - facing it

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:53:00 +0000

I have been doing a bit more of facing a quilt rather than binding the edge. In part, I think it works a bit better with a curved edge and sometimes I just don't want to see that extra lump around the edge. Facing is a garment making technique that gets used a lot with edges and especially curved edges like necklines. There are a few articles out about facing quilts. The most recent article I have found is on Jeri Rigg's blog. I've seen two other articles on the technique as it pertains to the quilting world, one in Quilting Arts Issue 31 called Whole Cloth Facing written by Vikki Pignatelli and one was a project by Kathleen Loomis in the American Quilt Society materials.

Curves in unusual places

noreply@blogger.com (MargretaQuilts) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:19:00 +0000

1 found inspiration in curves: the curved line of a fence and the curves on a windmill.