More Mats

Finally, some Day of the Dead accoutrements that are staying here!  These colorful beauties are now gracing our kitchen table, acquiring their fair share of drips and cat fur.  Aren’t they lovely? I. Like. Lots.

I am very pleased with how they turned out.  Similar to the other placemats, the center panel is quilted with metallic thread.  Three different colors of metallic thread.

Why three?  Because the thread kept breaking, and I got frustrated.  First up was an unknown variegated metallic, which actually looked good, but broke way too much.  Next, a Superior variegated metallic, that broke slightly less, but whose colors didn’t sparkle enough for me.  Have to channel that inner magpie! Lastly, a lavender metallic to finish things off.

I free-motion quilted around the large skulls and most of the figures, which adds  dimension to things.

In all, a simple project which was just what I needed after the rush and tumble of the holidays.  Two hold-overs from 2010 to finish, and I can start fresh on wildly wonderful new projects!  I can’t wait!

Cobbler’s Apron

I know a lot of sewists have jumped onto the apron bandwagon.  In fact, if memory servers me right, there is an Apron month, or Apron week?  Something like that.

I hadn’t made much of a foray into the apron world, a bit too much 50s era domestic bliss for me.  I don’t wear aprons either.  I’ll change just before serving, if fancier clothes are required by the occasion.

Anyway, this cobbler’s apron caught my eye.  It reminded me of the ones my grandmother and great-grandmother had worn, years ago.  And well, of all the apron styles out there, I do like me a cobbler apron.

So, all this musing led to sewing up this one, which was gifted to someone special at the Sew-In.

If you look closely, you can see that it still continues the Day of the Dead theme we used.  I really, really like this fabric.  It mimics the paper cut-outs that decorate shop windows in the Southwest.

The picture at right is serendipity.  I had just enough fabric to make this up (2 yards – the pattern envelope says 1 3/4 is enough.  They lie)  The motif matches at the edge of the bottom pocket.  I swear, I did not do that on purpose – I didn’t have enough fabric to even try! Still, I am very pleased that it does.

Holy Potholders!

Holy Potholders, Batman!

I used the Memorial weekend to wrap up the last of the Day of the Dead items my friend and I are making for the Sew-In Silent Auction.   This year’s theme is making something for any holiday you like, so we chose Dia de los Muertes.  It’s quite well know here in the southwest.  A time to pay homage to one’s ancestors.  Seems kind of fitting to work on it during the memorial weekend.

The potholders are done!  Ta da! I was surprised they took longer than expected, but I guess that happens when you end up making your own binding.  There are 2 layers of something called Insulbright sandwiched between the surface fabric, and the silver heat-repellent backing.  I hope that is enough to prevent someone from burning their fingers.  If not, well, I guess these could always be “display only” accoutrement.

Yes Virginia, I had to free motion quilt through all 4 layers to stick everything together.  Whew!  Can you tell I am not a quilter?

Two of the designs are just Day of the Dead fabric, while the other two are embroidered candy skulls from Urban Threads.  This is a larger version of the pincushions I wrote about here

Urban Threads is a funky site that sells machine and hand embroidery designs with a bit of a twist.  Think Goth meets Steampunk meshed with Calico Katie.

A Proper Place

After all the goings on of the past couple weeks, it seemed time to put things on their proper place.  Placemats, that is.   This round of household sewing has come full circle.

OK, enough with the bad puns.  As you can see I opted for simple sewing this weekend.

The placemats are from a pattern that was distributed to my local sewing guild over a year ago.  Basically you cut the backing to size, choose your center, add batting and sew strips: around and around and around.  Pretty easy, which is what I needed.   Something with a high success rate!

I used the center focal fabric for the flip sides too, since they were both prints I liked.  Had I had more fabric, I might have done a bit of fussy cutting, to center some of the skeletons in specific places on the pieced side.  As it was, I barely had enough to finish!

If you look closely on the green ones, I quilted the center rectangles with metallic thread, which gives these a little glitz.  I was surprised to find out that metallic thread is much, much easier to use for free motion quilting than embroidery.  I have a devil of a time when I try to use it for that.  For this application it was a breeze! I may have to rethink where I use the metallics.

The batting was just whatever I had laying around – Warm & Natural I think.  Felt good to use it, and clear some space in the closet.  The green placemats will be staying here.

The Day of the Dead ones are part of a larger ensemble for a Choose-Your-Holiday themed silent auction at this year’s Sew-In.  A friend and I are creating a grouping of household items, all centered around Dia de los Muertes.  So far we have pincushions, an apron, and placemats.  Still to go are pot holders and, well, I’m not sure what else.  Will have to see how time and incentive go.

Dia de los Muertos

This time of year, it’s Dia de los Muertos in the Southwest.  Time to celebrate our ancestors, family and friends who have passed, and contributed to our lives in many different ways.

I decided to celebrate by embroidering these sugar skulls.  The ones with the pins are pincushions, and the white one is filled with catnip.  Can’t forget the kittens, after all!  These embroidery designs were freebies (woohoo!) from Urban Threads

I did a little experimentation with the pincushions, one is filled with repti-sand and the other filled with crushed walnuts.  Both these fillings can be found at your local pet supply store in the reptile section, believe it or not.

To continue with the Day of the Dead theme, I fell for the fabrics at right, courtesy of EQuilter.com

I’m not sure what I’ll make from all of them, placematts for the off-white in the center left.  The rest fall under the infamous heading “To Be Determined“.