Denim Quilt for the Dog

Bailey sleeps in the corner of the foot of our bed. The same spot, every night. I decided it would be good to make her her own little quilt to lay in that spot so it could get laundered more often than the queen-size bed quilt.

This was a quick and fun little project.

I think I'll make some more projects with cut up jeans. Now that Jeff and I have lost so much weight, we have several boxes of jeans available to cut up. It's nice to have large tote bags to take shopping so I think I'll make some more of those.

I am sort of quilted out. I've got several finished flimsies sitting around waiting to be quilted so I'm not feeling super motivated to make more. I would like to make the Harvest Quilt before the end of the year, but I'm ready for some small projects for a while.

Xmas Placemats Finished

And they're done!

The 120° corners were actually really easy to sew. There are tons of videos out there that show how to sew them.

I'm starting to run out of projects I'm excited to work on. I think I'll take a break from my WOOFA list and work on something new temporarily. I'm thinking about making a really small denim quilt to put on the bed for Bailey as she always sleeps in the same spot. It would be nice to have something a little more washable than the queen size quilts.

Aug Friday Night w/Friends

For this month's Friday Night with Friends I decided to make more progress on my WOOFA list and work on Xmas placemats out of the leftover fabric strewn throughout my sewing room.

I originally planned a very complicated set of Xmas placemats but when I saw how much of the poinsettia border I had leftover it reminded me of some placemats I had seen ages ago on etsy.

I thought I could probably figure out how to make these so I started with scraps to test the process.

I am happy I had a 60° triangle ruler.

It went together pretty well with the poinsettia border but because the border was only about 5"-wide it was too small.

I decided to add some of the leftover holly border fabric around the outer edge. It was a bit of a process to do all those mitered corners.

Finished. The first one has a bad corner with a small crease that I will rip out and resew.

The second turned out better. The hardest part of these was figuring out the pieces. If I were to make more I would cut out pattern pieces and then they would go together quite quickly.

The two fabrics I'm debating on for the backing. I'll probably choose the cheap one on the left just because I think the poinsettia fabric on the right is too nice to waste on a backing.

Six Months of WOOFA

I'm six months into my year of trying to finish sewing room projects. I joined the WOOFA challenge in February because it seemed like a fun way to focus my effort. July has not been a great month for me because I got distracted with house stuff and it's been really hot which tends to make my upstairs sewing room too warm to work in.

I finished recovering the living room furniture. It feels good to check off this task.

I also finished my Xmas quilt in July. It's King size so I can't take a good photo of the complete top.

This is the first time I have ever sewn on a border with mitered corners.

Here's my WOOFA list to date. I've finished more than half the list! Yay me! Now that I have plenty of Xmas fabric scraps, I'll probably make some placemats before I put the leftover fabric away.

Bind Batik Quilt (when returned from quilter)

Halloween Monster Wreath (started)
Harvest Placemats
Harvest Quilt
Jeff’s Georgian Coat

Louisa’s Dress Batik

Rag Quilt Grey
Rag Quilt Solar System
Rag Quilt Xmas

Sea Swept Quilt

Square Dance Skirt (elastic, eyelet)
Stack & Whack Quilt
Stenciled Pillow (panel stenciled already)

Tie Large Disaster Quilt (or just ditch it)

Xmas Placemats

Bind Dinosaur Lap Quilt
Canvas Bag Repair (replace handles)
Denim Circle Quilt
Denim Circle Tote Bag
Jeff’s Lumbar Pillow
Log Cabin Quilt (started decades ago)
Louisa’s Dress Y-P
Louisa’s Dress: Remodel sq. dance skirt to Louisa Dress
Mug Rugs
Navy/Gold Placemats
Rag Quilt Floral Y-G-R-P
Recover Living Room Furniture
Sharon’s Lumbar Pillow
Summer Placemats
Tie/Quilt Scrap Lap Quilt
White Brocade Napkins
Woven Denim Tote Bag
Xmas Quilt

July's Blooms

This is a post for the Garden Blogger's Bloom Day for July. We continue to enjoy some lovely flowers in our yard. I'm in Portland, Oregon, zone 8b.

Gaillardia (Blanket Flower) 'Arizona Apricot' and Coreopsis (Tickseed).

Last March, I planted an Orange Honeysuckle in this back spot but it died so I replaced it with a bleeding heart vine which is doing well.

Dactylicapnos (Dicentra) scandens, Yellow Bleeding Hearts Vine

Daylily (Hemerocallis) 'Ledgewood's Jumpstart'

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) 'Pretty Woman'. It's supposed to be red, but it's pretty nonetheless.

Oenothera versicolor ‘Sunset Boulevard’ / Sundrops

Viola Pansy Sorbet 'Lemon Chiffon'. I got a late start growing these from seeds so they're pretty small.

Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora 'Nova Dragonfire'

Corydalis ‘Canary Feathers’. I love this plant; it has been flowering since early April.

Backyard Before & Afters

I found myself looking at some photos from 2010 when we first looked at this house (before we made an offer) and I was struck at the difference in the backyard. I decided to try and take some "after" photos. I could not take the photos from exactly the same spots.

Before photo taken in April 2010, when we toured the house.

Before photo taken in April 2010, when we toured the house.

This is not really an "after" photo as we continue to make changes, but this is how it looks today.

We have recently been adding elderberry shrubs but they're mostly too small to see them in photos. Last month we added a Sambucus nigra 'Purpurea' (black elderberry) in the rain garden behind the house ultimately to replace the ninebark. I have not been happy with how the ninebark looks in the garden and while it is a native, it is not terribly useful to birds and bees. According to my research, the elderberries will have more value for the birds and bees and I prefer the way they look once they're grown. (I realize that ninebarks are supposed to be good for bees, but I really paid attention this year. I went outside several times a day and I virtually never saw any bees on its flowers.)

Then today, we planted two new shrubs under the red oak, a Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace' (black elderberry) and a Ribes nigrum 'Black September' (black currant). I obviously have a weakness for burgundy shrubs.

Closet Sifting

We didn't manage to finish the closet built-ins until August 2013 and then I slowly worked my way through unpacking my boxes. Since I had gained weight by then, I only unpacked the largest sizes. Even then, I don't recall having a lot of options of clothes that fit me. I'm not going to get into a long discussion of my various health problems, but my closet fell into disuse. There were clothes in there, but by last year, virtually all of them were too small. I tended to avoid going in there because it just made me feel bad. I kept telling myself I should just get rid of the clothes that no longer fit but I suppose I had always hoped I could lose the weight.

On my birthday a few weeks ago I was looking for something to wear and in desperation, I went into my closet and grabbed out some clothes. They fit!

Then yesterday, when I found myself surfing around online looking at clothes to buy, I finally prodded myself back into my closet. It was time to do a proper sift.

I was ecstatic when I realized virtually all of the shirts and dresses fit. I still have a way to go on my weight goals so I may yet have to buy some clothing. But not yet.

The one thing I had managed to do in the intervening years was to get rid of the boxes of smaller clothes I had never unpacked. Now I wish I hadn't. But when I finally reach my goal, I guess my reward will be to do some clothing shopping.

Among the items I hadn't gotten around to doing was getting rid of a couple of tuxes Jeff inherited when he was in high school. They had been altered to fit him at the time so he could wear them to dances/proms. They fit too!