Slow Winter Days

Even since the days started getting colder, Walnut's taken to sleeping in this corner of the couch. Look at all the hair he's deposited there. I swear I'm a good housekeeper; he just sheds like a maniac.

I've been following Walnut's example and taking things easy while my body recovers. Even so, I've managed to get a couple things done. I'm finally done applique-ing, albeit badly, the pieces onto my Le Petit Prince Quilt. Hah! Remember that old thing? I gave up on it in a fit of pique back in the beginning of September, but it was the perfect break from thinking about dressmaking this week. Since the pieces were all cut out already, it was easy to machine-applique them on; none of this making 2D fabric fit a 3D person to deal with. Also, it was a lot easier to bear doing once I gave up on it being perfect. So here's the quilt top, admittedly not much different from the previous picture:

The birds are all stitched with gold thread and cut from scraps leftover from my dresses.

The prince's face is a victim of my sub-par embroidery.

It's pretty wrinkly around the appliques, mostly because the sheet I used as the base is extremely loosely woven, more gauzy than anything, so it shifted and stretched and pulled like crazy. And I didn't bother using any kind of interfacing or fusible web or anything. Oh well. It's the prince traveling through the universe to different planets, right? I'll just tell myself that all the objects are bending the fabric of space itself. Hah! I crack myself up sometimes. Anyway, I need to figure out what kind of fabric to use for the backing. Or just keep going to thrift stores until a likely sheet turns up.

I've also finally finished my art dress. I'll try to get my husband to take some pictures tomorrow, but we'll see about that since he'll be going out to celebrate the end of finals with his classmates. In the meantime, it's back to admiring my cat.

His big eyes and oversized paws and general fluffiness make him look just like a kitten. Also, is that The Hudge in the background watching him sleep creepy or what?

The Hazards of Haphazard Sewing

Vincent Van Gogh, Drawing of a Woman Sewing

I think I know, now, why quilts are supposed to be these year(s)-long labours of love, involving many hours of sewing by the fire on the prairie while wolves howl outside your log cabin. I'm already getting sick of trying to applique my birds onto my quilt, and I'm not even stitching by hand! Trying to sew around all the curves and corners is definitely more time-consuming than I thought, and Walnut is not helping. He will insist on sitting on the rest of the quilt the minute I turn away, rendering it incapable of turning and rotating.

I am also learning why doing some research and planning before attempting projects might be a good idea. In the past, I've always just started on projects with minimal prep, and it usually more or less works out in the end. Well, apparently quilting doesn't work that way. The IKEA bedsheet I chose as the base (top?) of my quilt is extremely thin, almost sheer, which in itself is not a problem, except that it also has really loose weave. It reminds me almost of cheesecloth. So, all in all, not the sturdiest fabric to be zig-zag stitching all over; it's stretching and bubbling and getting relatively enormous holes in it as the thread pulls. I think it's still workable, especially since I'm of the "it's not a flaw, it's just character!" school of thought, but a little more foresight on my part would've prevented this unnecessary character. Also, I realized that I have no clue what kind of design to use for the actual quilting part.

I've been doing a lot of research on the amazing Leah Day's site, The Free Motion Quilting Project, and sadly just now realizing what an amazing, intense, creative art quilting actually is. I had no idea that quilts could be that cool! This makes me want to go to quilting shows and get quilting books and subscribe to quilting blogs and generally learn everything I can about it, but I do not need another hobby! So I'm going to learn what I can for now, just to finish off this quilt and my t-shirt quilt, and I'll try not to be tempted by this hmmm-that-looks-pretty-easy cat quilt.

After I finish the applique-ing, I think I'll take a break from this quilt and work on something for this week's Sew Weekly challenge: working with dyes, fabric markers, and paints! I have enough leftover from this IKEA bedsheet to make a fantastic light, gauzy scarf, which I want to stamp all over with cats, kind of like this example one. Because, you know, I'm not enough of a crazy cat lady as it is.

Only 485 pounds!

Speaking of cats in fashion, though, I came across these awesome cat flats that are, unfortunately, not that cute and ultra-expensive. I'm wondering if I might not be able to get some cheap black imitation-suede flats from Target or Payless (I'm sorry, but wearing thrifted shoes just feels squicky to me) and just embroider on a cuter cat face in gold thread myself. Gaaah too many ideas, too little time! Also, too many things to learn, as I've no clue how to embroider.

"Scrap-busting" Quilt in Progress: Not A Sundress!

After my promise to myself to not give in to fall sewing, and to keep making cute sundresses until October, what do I do? I promptly start working on a QUILT, of all things! If that doesn't scream fall, nay, winter, I don't know what does. But that's classic me, to decide I want to do one thing and then get bewitched by another. I still have at least three summery dresses I want to make, so let's hope this quilt goes quickly!

I originally decided in my new school year sewing resolutions that I wanted to make something like this book themed scrap-busting quilt. I mean, I love books, so it's perfect, right? Well, never content to leave well enough alone (who or what is this Well Enough character? why won't anyone leave him alone, poor thing?), I decided to make a quilt based on a very specific book, and hopefully still do some scrap-busting at the same time. It's turning out to not actually bust very many scraps, unfortunately, but that's okay, because I love how it's going so far!

As mentioned before, my husband and I just moved to LA from SD, and of course we had to bring our cat, Walnut, along with us. It breaks my heart to see how many ads in the pet section on Craigslist are about people who are moving and therefore are giving up their pets. I understand that every situation is different, and sometimes there really is nothing you can do, but Walnut is our baby, so we wanted him with us in LA for sure! Granted, moving two hours over to another city isn't the same as moving cross-country or even internationally, but it wasn't easy either.

Planning for how were going to transport him with as little stress as possible for all involved, I definitely had a few moments of "how much easier would this be if it were just the two of us humans!" But it reminded me of one of my favorite books, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery...specifically the part where the little prince's fox says "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." Ideally, my quilt would have had this scene on it, but that wouldn't really bust many scraps. So I decided to do the scene from the front of my edition of the book, where the prince hitches a ride with a flock of wild birds to escape his planet. By doing each bird in a different fabric, I used...maybe two percent of my scraps. Oh well.

"I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds."

I started by sketching on wrapping paper all the different pieces I was going to need, then outlining them in Sharpie and cutting them out.

Free-handing it from my well-loved copy of the book. With very professional paper-weights.

I wrote down how many I would need of each bird and star, just like a real pattern! Hah, not really.

Scraps cut out and ready to go!

I used a white IKEA sheet as the base (no idea what the official quilt term is called!) for my appliques.

Before washing, Walnut had to claim it as his own by getting his hair all over it.

I laid out all my scraps. Seconds after this picture was taken, Walnut jumped on the prince and started rolling around all over him.

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to use to attach the little prince to his birds...ribbon scraps? Embroidery thread? Part of the quilting process but in a different color thread? Any other ideas?

Also, I don't actually know how to make a real quilt, so this is yet another figure-it-out-as-you-go project, like my fake Bellatrix corset. I just finished pinning the scraps onto the sheet, and hopefully I'll finish sewing them on today. After that, I just need to unroll my batting, cut up another sheet for the backing, quilt and bind the whole thing! So easy! Hah. Hahaha. I crack myself up.