JULIE'S STAR

I remember many years ago at various craft shows or quilt shows there would be vendors selling jackets and other clothing items with decorative appliqués on them.  The appliqués I’m referring to were very specific too.  They were all cut out of the colorful vintage tablecloths from mainly the 1950’s.  I never bought one of the jackets though I was tempted.

Years later I inherited a small collection of my late mother-in-law’s vintage tablecloths.  They were assorted sizes and some were stained pretty badly.  But the colorful designs on each one were still lovely.  Only one tablecloth wasn’t stained at all and it was also the largest one, fitting my dining room table perfectly.  Perhaps it was only used for special occasions back then.  It is one of the tablecloths I like to use when my own family and grandchildren come to visit.  It’s meant to be used and enjoyed.

The other tablecloths I sadly relegated to the linen closet.  Occasionally I would take them out, look at each one, and then place them back in the closet.  I thought and thought about what I wanted to do with them, but just couldn’t come to a decision.  That is until one Christmas several years ago.  My sister-in-law (my husband’s only sister) has a big family Christmas at her home every year and I always bring her a special hostess gift.  On that particular Christmas I got the idea to take one of my vintage tablecloths, her mother’s tablecloths, and make a personal gift for her.  

I picked out the tablecloth with my favorite design and was able to carefully cut around the design, avoiding any stained areas. Then I went through my fabric stash and found all the different pieces of fabric in coordinating colors to go with the tablecloth design colors of lavender, light and dark olive green, teal, and pale blue.  I made a fully-lined tote bag, with the front of the bag being a quilt block using the tablecloth design I had fussy-cut and appliquéd onto the block.  Needless to say my sister-in-law was very touched to receive such a meaningful gift.  Since I don’t have any pictures of the bag I’ll just share a picture of the tablecloth design.

Fast forward many years since then and I still hadn’t done anything else with the tablecloths until recently.  I mentioned in a prior post this year that I purchased Electric Quilt 8 computer software and have been busy learning how to use it.  I’ve started off by creating some simple designs until I’m more familiar with the program.  Since I already have lots of different sketchbooks filled with years of my pencil designs I took one of those designs and worked it up on EQ8.  I was then able to print out the pattern and templates.  Then came the fun part of picking out the fabric to use for the star pattern I had created.  

As I stared into the closet at all my fabric stash my eyes fell upon a plastic container labeled “Julie’s tablecloth”.  Luckily after I had made the tote bag years ago I kept the tablecloth I had used in my sewing closet, hoping to use the rest of it again sometime.  To my surprise, when I looked inside the container there was also another one of the vintage tablecloths folded up beside the tablecloth I had previously used.  I must have put it in my sewing closet a while ago intending to cut it up and use it too.  And that is exactly what I did.

Here is a picture of the quilt block I made.  I call my pattern, “Julie’s Star”, for my late mother-in-law.  It still needs to be quilted and have the binding sewn on.  The vintage tablecloth is the center star floral design.  As you can see the colors are still quite vivid and pretty.  

This next picture is of the same star pattern using regular fabric from my stash to make the block.  I tried my hand at walking foot quilting and I like how very precise it looks, though it did take me quite a bit longer than free motion quilting does.  The binding is a deep aqua silk fabric with a lime green cotton beading.  I donated this quilt to my quilt guild to be sold at their booth at the La Jolla Festival of the Arts the first weekend in June.

Now that I’ve cut into and used two of the vintage tablecloths, I have plans to use all of the tablecloths in other projects, so stay tuned for future postings and pictures.

JUST DO IT!

I just returned home after my regular morning workout at the gym feeling completely invigorated and full of energy.  I’ve written before about my fitness routine and how it has helped me.  Well, I was inspired this morning to once again write about fitness and reaching a major milestone - my three year anniversary of working out at Fitness Quest 10.  I can’t believe it’s been three years and I still love exercising as much, if not more, than when I started.

This morning while I was lying on my back on the Total Gym piece of equipment doing weighted squats there was loud rap music playing throughout the gym.  Not my favorite choice of music by a long shot, I’ve learned to tolerate it and just zone it out.  After all, the majority of the clientele are much, much younger than myself.  But when I’m working out there age doesn’t matter, I am one of them.  The other day when I came home from the gym I told my husband that I was working out with free weights and right behind me was Drew Brees working out too.  I could have turned around and shook his hand, we were that close.  I found it rather amusing and wished I had a picture to show my sons.

I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but what I do know is that today, right now, I feel the strongest I’ve probably ever felt in my life.  Plus, I definitely have the most energy I’ve ever had before.  And I’m positive it’s because I get regular exercise.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again..……it’s never too late to get started.  Just do it!

KEEPING BUSY DIANE'S WAY

Recently my husband came inside after spending hours working outside in the yard.  I, on the other hand, had spent hours in the house doing what I do best.  Now you may be wondering, what is that?  Guess he was wondering the same thing because he asked me what I had been doing all day.  My answer to that question was, "Oh, just puttering around in my sewing room, doing this and that."  And to that he replied, "Well, you're very good at keeping yourself busy."

I don't think I've ever had a day where I've been bored silly.  In fact it seems like I always have an endless list of things needing to be done.  Grant you some of those things that need my attention fall into the category I refer to as "work." They are those chores that require some effort and offer no pleasure.  Then there are the other things that need to be done and I refer to those as "enjoyable."  The effort they require is of a creative nature so of course they are always at the top of my so-called "to-do" list.

And that brings me back to my day spent "puttering around" in my sewing room.  I do an awful lot of that.  Some days I have accomplished a lot, other days not so much.  But it's ok if that happens.  I decided to look up the meaning of puttering since I've always liked that word.  It just sounds better than saying "I was just messing around today," which was one of the synonyms I found in my Webster's thesaurus (yes, I actually do use one of those).  My Webster's dictionary (use that too) says "to busy or occupy oneself in a leisurely, casual, or ineffective manner."  I will agree to that meaning describing what I do except for the "ineffective manner" part.  And the best description I found on good old Google was from a blog I read that said, "puttering is the art of passing time staying "busy" but without a set agenda."

Here is an example of what I recently did on a day of puttering around:

I had a very nice white t-shirt that was fairly new when I discovered that it had acquired a few orange stains right on the front in a very strategic place.  I decided to do something creative to camouflage the stains but the t-shirt hung in my closet for many months while I thought about exactly what I would do.  I finally decided to stencil the front and perhaps add some doodles with ink too.  But then I got the bright idea to add some kind of an artistic appliqué.  I sketched out a design and kept altering it until it was the right size to cover the stains.  I used a piece of fabric I bought in Guatemala and ironed fusible onto the back, traced the design and cut it out.  I laid it across the t-shirt top and it looked much too large and bold.  So I cut it into quarters, fused it on, and zigzagged the edges.  Next came the lavender rickrack I already had and the large button.  I like the result and the stains are definitely covered!

Another couple of days were spent making one of my girlfriends a few homemade gifts for her birthday this year.  I didn't have any patterns for the things I decided to make, but I figured that wouldn't be an issue.  So the first item I made was a small trash container to put next to her sewing machine.  My friend, Debbie Peterson, recently made one for me when I went to Asilomar and I just love it.  I was able to utilize my collection of selvage strips too, which is what Debbie did.  I sewed the strips onto a piece of stabilizer and then squared that up to the size I wanted to make the trash container.  

The second item I made was a small storage pouch, which is always useful to take to retreats or classes.

And the third item I made was the most difficult without a pattern, but I finally managed to get it done.  If you untie the corners it lies flat for packing in a bag.  Anything that might roll off a table can be kept secure inside it.

The moral of this story is not to worry about spending a day "puttering around" as long as it keeps you busy.  You just never know what you might get done that day.