local quilt shop love: cool cottons

January 19, 2013 at 1:01 pm | Posted in chatty, craftivism, oregon, portland modern quilt guild, quilting, sewing | 6 Comments

I have a babysitter for a few hours today, and it’s been fun to read lots of the Local Quilt Shop Day blog tour posts, so I figured I’d jump in with my own! What the heck, I hardly ever had time to post over here last year so it’s nice to write about things I like and love when I do get the chance.

Cool Cottons on Hawthorne

Local Quilt Shop Day is January 24 and there are some prizes and other fun things going on if you visit your favorite independent fabric shop. Thursday is a school day for my kids (you may notice a pattern here?) so hopefully I will be over at my dear Cool Cottons finding some new favorites, and chatting with Marie and Linda! Cool Cottons is a beautifully curated shop that’s nearly all patterned quilting cottons, arranged by color in the most inviting and fun way, with some marvelous Japanese fabrics, shot cottons, solids, and other treasures mixed in. Post update! Michelle reminded me in her super comment just now that Cool Cottons offers an amazing punch card, and as she put it, “The day mine filled up for the first time felt like Christmas!” Here is my current one, I’m getting closer…

my cool cottons card

In the meantime, I thought I would post some of my favorite fabrics I’ve found there over the years. This stack of marvelous Lotta Jansdotter prints has turned into lots of things I like, to say the least.

My haul from Cool Cottons

I got nearly all these solids (a few from home, but most on the lovely solids stairwell at Cool Cottons) for my Denyse Schmidt class #2 (2011).

My solids for the Denyse Schmidt class this weekend...

And these prints and solids for my Denyse Schmidt class #3 (2012). Marie is a color magician and greens are her personal favorite, so you can imagine how fun it is to trail her around the shop when you’re looking for good things in that spectrum.

My fabrics for the Denyse Schmidt class

Here are some of my blocks I made in class with those greens.

My first eight block sets (32 blocks) at Denyse Schmidt's class

Marie also offered to host some of our Quilts for Quake Survivors bees in 2011 and those were wonderful, amazing craft nights! She even gave us a whole bunch of their blocks of the month to turn into the sweetest charity quilts. So awesome.

The top I was sashing at Cool Cottons

And I haven’t had time to post about this here yet, but look for it soon… neatly folding my vast amounts of zillions of fabrics around comic book backing cardboards has changed my life. I did a little demo at our November PMQG meeting, based on this great tutorial from Cut To Pieces (with a few of my own variations). Anyway, Excalibur Comics and their stacks of 100 acid-free cardboards are right across the street from Cool Cottons so, car traffic on Hawthorne permitting, this is the most awesome, convenient happy pairing pretty much ever in the world. Buy beautiful fabric on one side of the street, change your life with efficient, life-altering folding techniques on the other. (Then you can get coffee, pizza, or look at vintage. Yeah, Portland is pretty great.)

Cool Cottons on Hawthorne

Of course there are many, many wonderful fabric stores in Portland – I also love and SUPER recommend Bolt*, Sew Po*, Sew Mama Sew*, the Woolen Mill Store*, Mill End, and Fabric Depot. But Cool Cottons is definitely my local (walking distance – I still can’t believe I can walk to a fabric store, even after five years!) quilting cottons shop, so that will be my Thursday LQSD destination for sure!

If you go:

Cool Cottons
2417 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, Oregon 97214
503-232-0417

Local Quilt Shop Day – Thursday, January 24, 2013

*all Portland Modern Quilt Guild sponsors!

the good night quilt (back)

January 17, 2013 at 10:14 am | Posted in chatty, crafting with kids, craftivism, modern log cabin quilting, portland modern quilt guild, quilting, sewing | 1 Comment

The Modern Quilt Guild recently organized a special drive to make quilts for the Austin’s Children’s Shelter. They sent many of the MQGs packages of Quiltcon blocks to work with and asked each of us to make one twin-sized quilt to donate. The 2012 and 2013 PMQG boards teamed up to work on this project collaboratively, which was fantastic! Our blocks we got for the front are wonky stars, which Heather offered to piece into a twin-sized top. So Anne and I volunteered to work on the back together – I actually love working on quilt backs, I got to make one for our Graphic quilt last year which was really fun! And I love Anne’s quilts so it was really fun to collaborate with her.

my good night fabrics

Kristin of Sew, Mama, Sew! graciously cut and gave away four bolts of a Kona gray for charity quilting at our November PMQG meeting, and that gift came in very handy for this project. I also pulled some yardage of serene, beautiful Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Aqua, and a Japanese elephant print I bought a FQ of last year seemed like it might find its way in, too.

LOVE block

I adore improvisational piecing and had a lot of fun making a LOVE “bumper sticker” quilt block for Michelle’s Design Camp bee last year. For this project, my idea was to design and stitch a quiet, comforting message for the child who sleeps under it, in an unfamiliar place, so he or she felt a bit more at home… and mix stars of some kind around my words. I chose the simplest little phrase, good night.

tiny log cabin "star" block

Anne offered to piece some stars, big and small, and ended up making 32 of the super easy, slightly wonky log cabin mini-blocks I used for my Starry Night pillow in Modern Log Cabin Quilting for her tiny “twinkling” yellow stars! She emailed me a photo while I was still on the east coast, and I was really excited!

new year, new iron

And then, finally home from our Christmas trip and so ready to get started, cutting lots of strips for improv letter-piecing, and waiting and waiting for my trusty iron to heat up… I noticed something. Surprise! My iron had a gnarly injury on its side and was stone-cold and broken. My friend Mary lent me hers – but I couldn’t get it for a couple of hours. So with precious childcare time ticking, my first two un-pressed letters, “go,” were a wrinkly, puffy mish-mash that should clearly illustrate to anyone why ironing is way, way important in our craft. I can’t believe I’m posting this horrible photo, but there you go. Wow, was I happy to get the borrowed iron later that night and press these guys!

the unironed "go"

So, using simple strips and improv piecing (and a working iron), I stitched up g-o-o-d and n-i-g-h-t and joined them together to form a simple heart of the back to pass along for Anne to work her star magic on. I truly loved this process – meditative and simple and intuitive. No pattern, no tutorial to write. Just good night. On an impulse I fussy-cut a little elephant in the same width as the body of my “i” and dotted it with that. It’s one perfect elephant and one little section of another one floating above it peeking down, reminding me of a mother watching over her child. My children loved the elephants. They both gave the tiny little dot over the i a kiss, and I hope that some of that warmth stays in that quilt when it covers another little one.

My finished "good night" section

The next morning, along with last-second packing for our San Francisco trip, I snapped some quick photos of my little good night block. I loved how the reflection of the blocks’ back – full of seams and stitching – read so clearly in the mirror. Kind of cool!

the back of the back

Then we zipped over to meet Anne for a coffee, handed the blocks and some last bits of fabric to her, and headed out for our trip! Imagine my happiness when she sent me a preview picture of her stars. So awesome!

Anne's stars + my good night blocks!

And here is another snap of the back with extra gray sashing, right before she brought it to Nancy for its beautiful quilting (thank you, Nancy, for your unfailingly generous gifts!!). It’s coming to the PMQG meeting so we can all see it! Then, Petra and Anne will bind it, Michelle will label it, and we’ll ship it to Austin for Quiltcon.

the good night back on its way to Nancy!

I feel deeply drawn to charity craft projects, and as the mother of two young children, I am especially grateful to contribute to families in need. Quilts for Quake Survivors was a huge gift to be part of with Daniela, and donating to our own Bradley-Angle House through QfQ was a beautiful end to our project.

PMQG banner

And I can’t wait to see our collaborative quilt at the PMQG meeting tonight!!! Room 205 at PNCA, 7 pm.

PS – Thank you, THANK YOU for the iron rec comments on my last post! I’m going with a Black & Decker from Fred Meyer for now. Unfortunately they’re currently out of the one I want (this one) but yay, Michelle lent me her back-up iron for this week!

action kivu 3!

August 18, 2012 at 3:59 pm | Posted in books and mags, chatty, craftivism, modern log cabin quilting, new writing!, portland modern quilt guild, quilting | 1 Comment

I’m so honored to be part of the third annual Action Kivu fundraiser, which helps women and girls in the Congo through education and sewing! Alissa has been a tireless and wonderful advocate for this amazing nonprofit, and has rounded up a fantastic mix of modern quilting prizes for donors. You must see her post to believe all the cool fabric, books, patterns, and even quilts that people who contribute will win!

What I am doing all week... Please give! handmadebyalissa.com/action-kivu-3

If you contribute $10 to the cause, you are automatically entered to win this package of prizes. I’m so thankful to Stitch and Pendleton Woolen Mills for generously adding their contributions to make it really special!

MLCQ + Stitch

One donor will win:
• a signed copy of Modern Log Cabin Quilting
• the new Winter issue of Stitch, with a nice feature on wool sewing, donated by Stitch, and
• a brand-new set of 8 wool fat quarters, and a baby quilt kit (which includes 2 FQs and 1 full yard of wool), donated by Pendleton Woolen Mills.

If a friend or a blog reader wins I’ll add an extra prize, too!

Pendleton wool FQ set + quilt kit

This blog entry from Pendleton shares more about what makes this winter issue of Stitch so special – I’m so proud to have my feature article on the history of wool in America included alongside some amazing sewing projects, including Michelle‘s midcentury-inspired quilt and Daniela‘s Northwest Modern laptop case!

You can find out much more about Action Kivu and donate here.

Thank you from the Prehistoric Gardens

Seattle PNW MQG meet-up awesomeness!

August 14, 2012 at 11:51 am | Posted in british columbia, chatty, craftivism, crafty events, modern log cabin quilting, oregon, portland modern quilt guild, quilting, sewing | Leave a comment

We had such a great time in Seattle! It was so wonderful to meet so many awesome people from SMQG and VMQG and shop for fabric, sew charity quilt blocks, go out for fancy dinner and drinks, and swap international patchwork pouches. You can see tons more photos here (and please add your own!) but here are my 25 favorites from the ones I took:

Seattle PNW MQG meet-up!

I’m still catching my breath after a beautiful three-day marathon of buttons, fabric, ferries, Modern Crosses, tote bags, name tags, and hugs, but thank you to all who joined up with us and hope to see you all again next summer! For everyone in Portland, see you Thursday for our PMQG meeting – we have some fun things planned…

july + august

August 3, 2012 at 9:08 am | Posted in button it up, chatty, craftivism, crafty events, oregon, portland modern quilt guild, quilting, sewing | 3 Comments

This summer has been packed! Here are a few photos of things I’m excited about from the last few weeks… wow, the last time I had a few minutes to post was right before Sisters. I’ll link over to our PMQG post when it’s up, but it was an amazing show, suddenly punctuated by torrential rain, thunder, and lightning strikes mid-afternoon!

Rescuing Petra's quilt!

Petra and I were the hostesses on duty for our special exhibit section, and raced to rescue the quilts, thankfully with plenty of help from our friends close enough to be deputized. We got all the quilts down and safe, and ran for margaritas down the street to celebrate!

Rescuing PMQG quilts

Back in Portland, after a super busy work week and an amazing PMQG park meeting, I packed up the car and the kids and headed out to meet my husband Andrew in Eastern Oregon for a beautiful three days away. We went to La Grande, Baker City, Union, Wallowa, Joseph, Wallowa Lake, and Elgin, visited a rodeo, a carnival, and a powwow, paddleboated, got ice cream cones, and even visited the covered wagons. Here’s just one picture, the view from the Oregon Trail interpretive center. On the way home we stayed in Hood River and watched barges and boats on the Columbia… the nicest way to end a trip that was a little too short.

our trip to Eastern Oregon

Back in Portland again, I was so lucky to go to President Obama’s event the next day (along with Rachel) and hear him speak. I had a great spot on the right of the stage, and even got to shake his hand at the end – something to tell my grandchildren about!!

President Obama speaking in Portland

I made an attempt at fabric shopping with both kids (apparently that era is over for now) and went back to Cool Cottons solo to choose solids and prints for the wonderful Denyse Schmidt class I took at PNCA. I think I’ll make that a separate post, it surely deserves it, but for now I’ll just show what I started with – Kona grass green and lime, plus some favorite prints from Denyse and Lizzy House.

My fabrics for the Denyse Schmidt class

After the first day of class, I ran over to the Museum of Contemporary Craft to see the closing day of the magnificent Betty Feves show. Here is one of her pieces – Garden Wall.

Garden Wall at the Betty Feves show at Museum of Contemporary Craft

I loved that her personal sketchbooks, glaze calculations, mineral maps (for digging her own clay), and books from her home and studio in Pendleton were included – a full and beautiful portrait of her work and life.

Betty Feves' sketchbooks and glaze notes at the show

Back down to earth after a weekend of sewing and looking at beautiful things, I am deep in a totally different project. I have posted about my efforts to ban BPA and toxic chemicals plenty of times over here… you might have heard that the FDA finally chose to ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups a couple weeks ago. I don’t think that goes nearly far enough, and I started a petition on change.org asking them to ban it in all food packaging. The petition has over 170,000 signatures now, and it would be great if you’d like to sign it or share the link with friends! I am so hopeful that the FDA will take notice of our numbers and work for safer food for all of us.

My petition

Pearl and I were on the news yesterday talking about it, if you’d like to see that clip – thank you to KOIN 6 for the support! (It’s called “Portland mom hopes to ban BPA in all food packaging.”)

Giant button in Brugge, Belgium

Now I am teaming up with Diane for a presentation we’re giving next week at the National Button Society annual convention – here’s a nice article in the Oregonian about it! If you come by the show Friday, August 10, she is teaching a Kanzashi class, we’re both speaking on button crafts (which should be super fun – with tons of photos) and then I’m teaching a button jewelry class. We would love to see you there!

make it: patchwork tote bags

February 27, 2012 at 1:41 pm | Posted in chatty, crafting with kids, craftivism, I love to make things..., modern log cabin quilting, projects to do, quilting, sewing | 10 Comments

I wanted to share a tutorial for making cute, simple patchwork (or patterned fabric) tote bags for kids – perfect for sending to The Littlest Warriors project over at Craft Hope, which is also the PMQG charity quilting opportunity for February. I used two 12” quilt blocks/pieces of fabric for a child’s size bag, but I included some suggestions for sizing them up for sturdier adult-size versions – plus some of my other favorite tote tutorials – at the end of the post. I hope you like them!

Bright Furrows patchwork tote

A quick note: I sew in a basement room without a whole lot of childcare time, and it’s February in the Pacific Northwest, so be forewarned that these photos aren’t exactly professionally lit or painstakingly staged. It’s a simple tutorial though, so hopefully you can follow along easily – I made these two tote bags in about an hour and a half, counting all the quilt block piecing! If you use stash blocks or just cut solid pieces of fabric, you can fly through these. My goal is to make 5 for the littlest warriors by the March 12 deadline – all the details are here.

two totes for the littlest warriors

You’ll need:

-Two quilt blocks (or solid pieces of fabric) in the 11”-12” square range for the outer sides of the bag. I used 12” blocks and fabric squares.
-If using quilt blocks: muslin, the same size as your blocks, or slightly bigger, for reinforcing them
-Lining fabric of your choice, the same size as your outer blocks or fabric
-1.5 yards of webbing for handles
-Thread, rotary cutter, quilt ruler + mat, scissors, iron, sewing machine

two quilt blocks

1. Cut two pieces of fabric (I used an Alexander Henry zoo print for my blue bag) or piece two quilt blocks of your choice, approximately 12” square. (You can also make them smaller or bigger if you like – 12” makes a nice toddler/preschooler-to-elementary-school size).

Bright Furrows Quilt

This is a great project for stash quilt blocks, or if you need to piece up two quick ones, log cabin is an easy one! I made a random log cabin block in the six yellow fabrics I originally used in my Bright Furrows quilt from Modern Log Cabin Quilting. To make two 12” blocks like these, cut 6 selvage-to-selvage (44”) strips that are 1.75” wide, in the quilting cottons of your choice. Here’s a short video of how I piece log cabin blocks…

For an approximately 12” block, you’ll start with a 1.75” center square in one of the fabrics and add 4 tiers of logs using different fabrics in any order, piecing clockwise and pressing when each tier is completed. Press front and back and square up your blocks.

quilted blocks ready to stitch into a bag

2. If you’re using quilt blocks, quilt them with a muslin backing (or use the technique of your choice) to add stability. I quilted a square outline pattern about 1/8” outside the center square and then each tier (you can see this more easily in the photo that precedes step #4). Press again and trim excess so your blocks are square. (This would also be a great project for foundation piecing/quilting as you go!)

3. Now, cut two pieces of lining fabric the same size as your blocks or outer fabrics. I used my guildmate Violet Craft’s Peacock Lane for my lining.

pinned outer bag sections and lining

4. Pin the two outer pieces together around three sides, right sides facing and leaving the top open, and then repeat the same way with the lining fabrics. Stitch the three sides with a 1/2″ inch seam allowance, back-stitching at the beginning and end to hold the seam. You’ll sew the outer and lining sections together the same way.

making the box corners

5. Make box corners by pressing the corners into flat triangles with the seams pressed open, pinning them, and stitching 1” in from the corner. You’ll do this the same way for the outer and lining bag sections.

trimmed box corner

6. Trim the extra fabric at each corner, as shown.

finished box corner

This is what your finished box corner will look like from the outside!

bag + lining nestled together

7. Now turn the outer bag right side out and tuck the lining in, making sure they fit snugly together. Turn the raw edges of both the bag and lining under and press them evenly (you can turn under 1/4″ to 1/2″, depending on how bulky your quilted outer section is – just keep your bag and lining consistent). Pin the bag and lining together all around the perimeter of the opening.

bag pinned and ready to sew

8. Cut two 18” lengths of webbing for handles and pin each of them in place. I placed mine 2” (patchwork) and 2.5” (wholecloth) in from the side seam – I followed the outer edge of the second tier of my log cabin blocks as a guideline for my patchwork tote, and eyed it with my wholecloth one. Just make sure they’re even with one another and match the handle on the other side, and that the handles aren’t twisted!

two tote bags for the littlest warriors - linings

9. Edge-stitch around the perimeter of the bag, catching both layers evenly, and then reinforce the four handles with double-stitching.

two totes for the littlest warriors

You’re done!

Bright Furrows patchwork tote

To make a larger/adult size, try starting with 15” or 16” quilt blocks or fabric squares (and same-size lining) instead of 11”/12”, and reinforcing the blocks with a home dec weight fabric instead of muslin. You can cut your handles to 24” each (instead of 18”), too.

Some other tutorials I like:

-The Purl Bee’s Twenty-Minute Tote (my original inspiration – an adult-sized bag without lining or box corners)

-My guildmate Monica’s adorable Pick-A-Pocket Purse (with clever outer pockets!)

-The Pink Penguin’s Lunch Bag tutorial

-And here are four other tote bags I’ve made for my own kids and their friends in this same style!

Everett's tote

So, the March 12 deadline is two weeks from tomorrow… I would love to cheer you on if you are sewing for the littlest warriors too! Please comment or keep me posted on what you’re making, and I will be so excited to share photos of all the finished bags and hats I see. Thank you!!

love for the littlest warriors

February 13, 2012 at 3:55 pm | Posted in chatty, crafting with kids, craftivism, I love to make things..., sewing | 3 Comments

I’ve had a lot of fun sewing these little 25-minute totes for my kids, and now for a couple of their friends – they’ve been an easy go-to birthday present, paired with a drawing or card from Pearl. I’ve made a button version for Pearl and an owl version for Everett, and packed them up with books and art supplies for Christmas presents. They were a big hit!

Pearl's button tote

Since then I’ve sewn a frog version with ribbon handles for Pearl’s buddy Ellie, and a rocket-ship applique on outer-space-worthy star fabric for her very best friend Rowan.

Everett's owl tote

But now I am starting up a new round of my tote-sewing for Craft Hope’s project 16: the littlest warriors. Jade of Craft Hope has teamed up with Melanie – a friend whose son Pierce has battled leukemia for three years – to collect totes and soft hats and beanies for children fighting cancer.

Ellie's frog tote

You can make hats or totes from any pattern for children of all ages, babies through teenagers, and send them to Melanie (all info here). She’ll distribute them to the patients who need hope the most… a colorful, happy surprise present to make the days at the hospital a little shorter.

Rowan's rocket ship tote

As Jade shared, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer every weekday, and 7 children die every single weekday, too. But there is hope. Pierce, who’s now four and a half, had his last chemo treatment on February 11, a day he’d been counting down to. As Jade wrote, he is winning! My mom is a cancer survivor and the kindness of friends and strangers alike has been a huge gift to her, one I am humbled to give back.

Rowan's rocket ship tote

So this isn’t a Valentine’s Day post really, except that it’s about love. I have some Valentine’s posts and free projects to share here, here, here, and here. But the one I hope you’ll also take a look at is here – my simple kid-sized version of the Purl Bee’s 20-minute tote. It’s easy and you can stitch up two of them from contrasting third-yard cuts of fabric and two yards of twill or ribbon, if you’re so inclined. The deadline is March 12 and all details are over here. My goal is to sew and send five bags with little surprises inside, hopefully more if I have the sewing time. If you want to team up on shipping bags or hats from Portland, let me know!

Rowan's rocket ship tote

Wishing everyone a happy Valentine’s Day, and of course a happy 152nd 153rd birthday to Oregon! Here are the valentines Pearl made for all the kids at her preschool, using some fun things from Collage

Pearl's 2012 valentines

…and writing her name on the back of each one! This was a fun and easy little Everett’s-nap project this weekend. She did everything herself except cut the paper up.

Pearl's 2012 valentines

Speaking of Collage, they are having their grand opening party for the Sellwood store on Saturday, February 18! And our next PMQG meeting is this Thursday, February 16 at PNCA. We have some fun stuff planned this month, and I hope to see you there!

stop SOPA

January 18, 2012 at 12:45 pm | Posted in craftivism | 2 Comments

stop sopa
image by WillynWV

Like many other, bigger websites, I am turning my blog dark today to protest censorship.

pearl's paper dolls

If you enjoy sharing photos, text, and content freely online, I encourage you to voice your opposition to SOPA, which appears to have dangerous, far-reaching consequences for all of us. You can sign a petition here, contact your (US) officials here, or get lots more info here.

pearl's paper dolls

Thank you!

2011 crafts + QfQ finale!

January 3, 2012 at 12:52 pm | Posted in chatty, crafting with kids, craftivism, holidays, house crafty, I love to make things..., quilting | 2 Comments

Happy New Year! I hope that your 2012 has been a good one so far. I just made a collage of my craft projects from last year and wanted to share it over here…

2011 Crafts!

Lots of sewing! I think my favorite things I made are my denim wrap skirt, Everett’s birthday banner, and the plaid Pendleton blanket for my mother-in-law. I also love my Denyse Schmidt improvisational blocks, and I hope that I’ll actually get to piece them into a bed quilt in 2012. If you’re looking for truly spectacular finished quilt projects, check out people’s mosaics and posts on the Modern Quilt Guild FB page. (All of my quilting time went to Quilts for Quake Survivors, so my contributions were all just parts of a beautiful whole, so no finished quilts to show this year – I’m ok with it!)

QfQ-banner

Speaking of Quilts for Quake Survivors, I wanted to post an update over here, too. We are winding the project down this week after donating 30 quilts to survivors of the earthquake in Japan (March and April) and raising $2825 and counting for Mercy Corps’ relief work (May-now). A HUGE thank-you to everyone who has donated fabric, pieced blocks, joined or sashed quilt tops, sewed backs, basted, quilted, tied or bound quilts with us. We are so grateful for your beautiful work!

These quilts are still available for a $150 donation to Mercy Corps – including the brand-new #6 in the collage, Michelle Freedman’s original Cat’s Game quilt!:

QfQ quilts still available!

1. Batique 1 – 020, 2. Eclectic Asian – 017, 3. Block of the Month – 014, 4. Friendly haze – 004, 5. asian delight – 006, 6. Michelle Freedman’s Cat’s Game quilt – 022

If you are interested, please go to our page on the Mercy Corps website and donate $150 (shipping is on us). You can donate to ANY cause you’d like the money to go to, not just Japan. Just state your preferred cause in the subject line. Mercy Corps will distribute the funds according to your specifications on their back end. Then you can send an email to quiltsforquakesurvivors@gmail.com with the donation confirmation number and the number of the quilt and your shipping address. We will send you a confirmation email and ship the quilt within 48 hours via USPS. Also – if you’ve already donated $150 or more for end of year giving, you can send us the donor number and we’ll gladly send you a quilt as a thank-you.

After this week, we’ll donate any remaining quilts to Bradley-Angle House, a shelter here in Portland, for the women and children there. Thank you to everyone who has supported QfQ!!

I have a few more little things to share soon… like my favorite new hot chocolate recipe, and the finished 25-minute book and toy totes for Pearl and Everett (which were a huge hit on Christmas morning!). I’ll see you when I have a chance to upload some more photos!

nw kids, QfQ, and new sewing

October 12, 2011 at 9:10 pm | Posted in chatty, crafting with kids, craftivism, quilting, sewing | 1 Comment

I sewed something I really like as a gift last week and now that it has reached its recipient, I can post about it (now that the kids are asleep, and I’m not…)! I made a cozy lap-size blanket for my mother-in-law with some of the gorgeous plaid blanket-weight wool I bought for $5 a pound at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store a couple months ago. It’s perfect for reading or just hanging out on the couch on a fall afternoon.

Handmade Pendleton lap blanket

I trimmed the remnant evenly on all sides (so it measured about 42″ x 52″) and edged it with the 1″ navy blue wool binding Pearl specially picked out for her Grammy ($1 a yard at the WMS). I used my Sesquicentennial blanket as a binding-style template and bound it with simple folded corners, double-stitching it – first around the inner perimeter to catch all layers, and then doing a second victory lap close to the outer edge. The WMS gives you a “Hand-Tailored with Pendleton Woolens” tag with a fabric purchase, so I got to sew that in as a finale and it’s beautiful. I will definitely be making more of these – they are awesome. Hello, Christmas!

NW Kids article on Susan + QfQ

There is a little more excitement around here to report, too! I was really appreciative that Beth from NW Kids Magazine contacted me a few weeks ago for a craftivism feature she was planning, and included an interview with me in the October/Halloween issue (which I picked up at the Children’s Museum last week – yay). Thank you so much, Beth!

NW Kids article on Susan + QfQ

She asked me lots of questions about my thoughts on craftivism, the community Quilts for Quake Survivors fundraiser I’ve been working on with Daniela, and my day-to-day and favorite things to do in Portland with two little kids. She also included the POW! ZAP! Magnets from World of Geekcraft as a free project extra in the issue, so please jump on that – a kid at the safety scissors level of crafting should be able to have a lot of fun with that one, with help from a mom, dad, or older sibling.

NW Kids article on Susan + QfQ

Speaking of Quilts for Quake Survivors, I’m so happy to say that QfQ is going strong and we are unveiling new quilts every M-W-F for the next month, thanks to Daniela’s fabulous photography and posting. Each quilt is $150 (“bought” via a direct donation to Mercy Corps) and you can choose any quilt you love, email us with your receipt, and we will ship or deliver it to you (US addresses only, international shipping will be extra, it’s out of pocket for us so I hope everyone understands…).

Mercy Corps sent us this!

The other thing that is super awesome is that thanks to Mercy Corps, they’ve modified our fundraiser page so that you can designate your donation to go to any of their relief efforts you’re most drawn to (which Daniela had already said on our blog posts, but now it’s official). So if you’d rather make a donation to their crucial, current efforts in Somalia, Pakistan, or elsewhere, that’s great. Our hearts are always with Japan, but we know that Mercy Corps’ efforts have been global and we are proud to support them worldwide. There are 8 quilts still available (and counting!) and 3 have been sold in the last couple weeks. Just a peek…

center star - 009

Thank you to everyone who has donated fabric, pieced, sashed, quilted, tied, or bound our community quilts for sale. We love you!

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