The Adventures of Baby “Bobos”.

Another lesson I’ve learned from the pandemic that we are all living through, even if you’ve got the time and the money, that’s right Mick, “You can’t always get what you want”.

My last blog post, I mentioned wanting to make some coin purses for my two daughters. I later decided that some bigger bags would be more useful, but the interfacing, which gives the fabric bag “body”, still hasn’t arrived (since April 21st!😔.)
Long story short, I’ve not made any bags but did make a small army of Sarubobo. I wrote about them in my first post:

He seemed lonely so I made him a friend

I sent him to my brother, along with the notebook holder that I made for him. I was teaching him to make a doll, and he needed a spot to keep track of his needle and thread.

On a role, I wanted to make more, I have so many little scraps of pretty fabric that I just can’t bear to throw away.

Aw, mama and baby bobo.

Looks like we’ve got a couple of drummers, now we just need the guitarist to get this party started!

They must have decided not to wait, next day I found them like this:

If you notice a new face in the background, that’s Monique, in her boat that is still waiting for its sail to be attached,so she can take a picnic to the beach. But that’s a story for another time.

Last post, I showed you the journal case that I made for my daughter in law. But I didn’t want to send it without something for my son. I decided on a modified papier-mâché boat, my son loved Peter Pan and playing pirate with his sister as a little boy. The pattern is from annwoodhandmade.com, I’ve been a fan of hers for many years, check out her website.

When the boat was finished, I still didn’t have a sailor. A few folks showed up to audition for the position:

These guys almost made the cut, but they couldn’t stop arguing about who would get to “man the sail”.

No Monique, you have your own boat. I promise I will finish yours next.

Who’s that trying to set sail?

Look, a real natural.

They spin in the air so charmingly, I hope to make one, or a fleet, for myself.

Well, that’s all I have for now. I won’t make any promises about my next post, we will just have to see what the world holds in store for us all.

Stay well, until next time.

The Vexing Hexies

Happy May Day everyone!
These days, it’s important to celebrate the little things. Even though we’re still in isolation, I go out for a walk every day to enjoy my neighborhood and stretch a bit, appreciating nature as it’s waking from its winter slumber.
Today I brought home of few of these lovelies:

I believe they are “forget me nots”. Look at that beautiful iridescent cobalt!

Continuing with my “Making Series” to commemorate this time, and do what I love, I’ve made another journal case. This time, I decided to try out some “English Paper Piecing”, which has seen a resurgence of popularity these days. Especially so, is the hexagon shape, commonly referred to as “hexies”. I thought they would work great for using up my lovely little scraps that I can’t bear to toss.

It’s a good project while watching tv, as it’s all by hand, and the process is simple but time consuming.

Before I knew it, I had so many hexies, they almost completely covered my journal case. They’re scraps from my mask making, my stash (check out the purple and gold, 1970’s wax printed fabric from Germany) and some tiny floral print from the quilt I made my son and his wife when they got married.

I thought I wanted the “flower” shapes, but this just wasn’t making me feel “warm and fuzzy”.
I consulted with my brother, the artist, who was very patient in giving me some feedback, without giving me “the answer”. To be honest, I worked on this all day, and was feeling a little frustrated until...

I started removing pieces and liked how the floral shape was still there, but more abstract.

My brother was mentioning positive and negative space, which didn’t register with me...until it did!

Better right? Still not exactly what I wanted, but now I was motivated, and in need of closure. I know it sounds crazy, but fellow creatives will understand when I say, I had to figure this out, or I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Woo-hoo! Finally what I had envisioned. Now I just had to sew them together, then sew them down to the case, all by hand. Not sure if I’ll be doing any more “hexies” as it’s so much work, but hey, that was the idea of the exercise.

Now on to the inside: I like how the first journal case turned out, so I didn’t make any changes there, except for fabric choices. The other part of this lesson was to practice my embroidery stitching.

The basic stitches are deceiving in their simplicity, but practice makes a huge difference.

 Compare this one to the case in my first post:

And the back side looks good enough that I didn’t have to cover it with fabric.

This journal case is for my daughter-in-law, who like me, loves curling up with a good book, a nice cuppa and her puppy. Here is a close up of the embroidery, I’m really happy with how it turned out.

And here’s the inside, all finished. Well, actually, I think I’m going to add her initials, and maybe my initials as well, as my “signature”. I put the date on the back as well.

If you’ve actually read this whole post, thank you, I know it was a long one!

Until next time, where I hope to have some fabric coin purses, for my two daughters.

And maybe a yummy recipe ( gluten and dairy free.)

Stay well.

How do you stay sane during a global pandemic?

Friends and family have often told me I should start a blog. A young woman I worked with once said “ You always have something interesting to say, I would read your blog”. Part of me thinks they were trying to tell me I talk too much, but I took it in stride.
So to answer my opening question: “How do you stay sane during a global pandemic?”
For me, it all started as a response to our current situation: a mask making endeavor for myself and my family. I researched on the internet, tried out a few prototypes, and decided on a pattern for the masks pictured below:

I’ve since made some changes to the “ties” ( which are made from T-shirts cut horizontally into 1.5” strips and work really well.)

A key point I learned was that it is desirable to add a “non-woven, bonded lining” to a cotton fabric mask, to give it a certain element of filtering capability. We were already on a “shelter in place” notice, so where the heck was I supposed to get the “lining”?

Enter the humble fabric interfacing. And I just happened to have a bit in my stash, yay!

I like to use “Pellon” brand, as I find the quality high and consistent.

I was able to make enough masks for my immediate family, and mail them out, with the interfacing I had on hand. As I write this, I’m still waiting for my new bolt, I think it’s been almost 3 weeks. FedEx says “ it’s on the way”with no details available . 

If you want to make your own masks, check out this website: Craftpassion.com

So now what do I do while watching the news? Sewing always relaxes me, so I had to come up with something. 

I live outside of Chicago, in a small vintage apartment, and therefore don’t have a lot of storage. But I love to sew and craft, and can’t stand to throw away precious little scraps of fabric, yarn, trim thread...you get the idea.

I applied this philosophy to my current conundrum and added the idea of incorporating the mask fabric scraps as a memorial to our current state of affairs. I didn’t have any predetermined notion of what to make, or for whom, but rather looked through all my sources of inspiration and what follows, is what I’ve made to date. First off, is “The Hussif”, a portable sewing kit. 

Here is where I got my inspiration if you want to make your own ( and learn a bit about where the term “hussif” comes from.) The Hussif Tutorial

Here’s the inside, with scissor and needle holders, a tiny pincushion and six sweet little pockets for your threads and embroidery floss. The four square patches and the bias trim come from my mask making scrap, the lace and linen are from my “collection”. This was a good opportunity to practice my embroidery. I added the little hedgehog from some embroidery I did awhile back ( sorry the picture is a bit blurry).

Since I had already started planning a couple of  roll-up pencil cases and sketchbook holders in my head before the pandemic,I knew what I wanted to make next. As usual, I start out with a pretty good picture in my mind, and then just let the fabric “speak to me”.

While I initially had someone in mind when I started making the “Hussif”, but changed my mind as I got into the process, this next project had a very specific recipient in mind, which provided some inspiration.

The main fabric is from my collection and the patchwork includes fabric from my mask making.

Here’s the inside:

The left side pocket holds a sketch pad, the running stitches create 3 pencil holders, and the pocket on the right is for your small art tools. I added the recipients initials and a little bit of embroidery as a nod to their artwork. This was supposed to be a surprise.. “Surprise!”

I made a roll up sewing case for myself from this tutorial and used it for some general guidelines:

Sustainable Stash busting Roll-up pencil case

I recently discovered “Helen’s Closet” on Instagram. She’s an Indi pattern maker from Canada, and I really enjoy her posts. She’s got a podcast as well. Her patterns look great, I love how she’s size inclusive in her designs and might give a pattern a try.

My next project is the “Lichen Duster” from sewliberated.com. I’ve never used one of her patterns but really liked the look of it. I sent the pattern all the way to England to be properly printed.These days I’m not leaving the house, so delivery is essential. I did experience some slight sticker shock when placing the order on “Patternsy”, but I figured I was doing my part in supporting independent businesses. I hope it arrives soon, I’ve got some lovely ginger colored, heavy linen waiting.

Sew Liberated is another new friend from Instagram, she’s got a style that resonates with me, and some pretty mean guitar playing and singing skills! Instagram is so interesting, I may try posting there soon, so far I’m just enjoy “following”.

One more picture before I go: another little stress busting, scrap busting project, sewn by hand, which I really enjoy. I’m always amazed at the way each stitch creates a moment in time, connected to the next stitch, and eventually, to the whole.

This is a “Sarubobo” a traditional Japanese figure. Here’s the tutorial: mairuru.blogspot.com

She keeps track of my sewing and embroidery needles, which have a way of getting mixed up with all my pins on my bigger pincushions.

I hope you enjoyed my first post as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Wishing everyone peace and well being during these trying times.