NYC Fabric Store & other related pics

Monday Mr. M & I flew from Memphis to NYC to spend time with our daughter and her family.

The plan was to help the grandsons get to school and after school activities while our daughter was painting at an art retreat in Pennsylvania.

But she surprised us by coming home early.

Tuesday we visited the Natural History Museum to see the new addition and exhibits.

Wednesday Mr. M & I took a mini trip to Staten Island to visit Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Gardens.

The ferry ride from Battery Park to Staten Island is free and offers a great view of Manhattan, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Yesterday Emily and I went to Gotham Quilts in the garment district.

I have visited this shop every time I am in NYC but this will be my last visit.

They are closing the store in December. 

Their online store will still be open but I love going in-person.

I downloaded their free pattern and pulled some fabric before I left home.

The plan was to choose two fabrics from the shop.

Below are the fabrics I pulled from my stash.

So at Gotham Quilts I bought 12 fat quarters and got one free, a bag with fabric bits, a fat quarter stack, and picked up the machine quilting book I ordered.

It was a good thing we went Thursday 

because lower Manhattan had lots of rain today and GQ was closed. 

Since today was a rainy day, I stayed in and worked on finishing the felt Christmas projects.

We decorated the gingerbread houses as part of Gran's craft day this summer when the boys visited.

I added pearl cotton hangers today.

The stars and mangers were finished with yellow pearl cotton.

Seed beads added a little bling to this angel and music.

The angels below had blue seed beads added to the wings.

The yellow pearl cotton was done earlier.

The camels, wise men, and gifts were also embellished with beads.

That is all the sewing on this trip.

Next week-Canada.

Happy sewing!

One Felt Christmas Kit Finished

This week I finished one of the Silent Night felt kits.

Changing the sewing machine foot made stitching down the pieces so much easier.

I have been sewing with this machine for over 35 years.

 I think this was the first time I used the darning foot. 

The space that was to be stitched was very hard for me to see.

This foot made seeing the stitches and maneuvering the figures easier.

I finished both of the carriers but used different methods to sew the parts together.

This one has no extra interfacing or batting and has hook and loop closures.

I'm taking this finished kit to NYC for the grandsons to use at Christmas.

They can play with it or use the figures as Christmas decorations.

I did some decorative stitching on some of the pieces with pearl cotton.

Hand sewing through the double sided fusible was awful.

All of the small pieces had fusible to stick the front to the back.

I'm taking some needles and seed beads.

I may add a little bling to some of the people/angels when I get there.

As usual the photos loaded out of order.

The inside view above.

The outside view below.

Some small pieces from the angel pocket.

I'm going to try spray adhesive on the other set of small pieces.

I hope that will not be as sticky to sew through.

Happy sewing!

 

Little Boy's Shirts Finished and other sewing

Little boy will be three in a week. I made him some shorts and shirts from fabric that matches his sister's dresses. It was challenging because the fabric has no stretch and he usually wears knit shirts and pants.

The shirt above is size 4 and was made from a Simplicity pattern.

The shorts were adapted from a long pants pattern. 

I machine sewed each button hole two times.

I hope that will make them keep their shape better.

On the shirt below I also used paper under the fabric when I sewed the button holes.

His mom likes the look of shirts that button in the back and have a rounded collar.

I adapted the shirt from a VFT dress pattern that buttoned in the back. It had 3/4 sleeves and a ruffle at the neck. I drafted a collar, shortened the sleeves, and lengthened the body. 

I bought a Parker pants pattern to make size 3 shorts.

So he will have two sizes of shirts and shorts.

Hope something fits.

I downloaded a free quilt pattern from Gotham Quilts and pulled the fabrics above.

I'm going to visit GQ when we are in NYC at the end of the month.

I hope to purchase some more fabric so I can make their pattern.

I continue to work on hand quilting My Small World wall hanging.

I bought the kit in 2019 at Gotham Quilts.

Another photo of my Delta Fair ribbons.

When I looked closely at the ribbon sheet that I received, I saw that 

the ribbons had been switched.

The third place ribbon was for my foundation paper pieced Tell Me a Story quilt.

The chairman's choice ribbon was for Homage to Helen mini quilt.

Happy Sewing!

 

Delta Fair Results

Wednesday was Senior Day at the fair.

I went to see if any of my quilts had ribbons.

Mine is the mini on the bottom.

No ribbon.

Again, no ribbon.

What? No ribbon.

Well, at last. 3rd place.

This mini is Homage to Helen, made to remember my mom and her quilting legacy.

A red ribbon - 2nd place - in paper piecing.

This was made with blocks swapped with the Tell Me a Story group.

I had fun looking for my quilts. There were some awesome entries.

Some sewists are much more skilled than I am.

Really thankful for receiving any ribbons. 

These photos are of our tiny garden.

Above is a plant we bought from a local botanic garden.

We don't remember the name and were surprised to finally see blooms on it.

The zinnias have been prolific. Bees have enjoyed them.

We have lots of little green frogs like this one.

Another mystery plant from the botanic garden.

I love the lacy feel of this one.

Hope you had a great week.

Happy Sewing!

 

Birthday Sewing

Miss Ava's birthday is next week.

She doesn't like Barbie dolls but she is playing with a Bitty Baby these days. 

I made an apron, jumper, and diaper out of scraps of her dresses.

Trying on the doll apron. Ava will have one in a similar fabric.

I'm glad I made the doll apron first.

The directions were a little confusing but I worked through them for this finish.

Baby doll outfits

After looking at the clothes, I thought a baby might need a flannel blanket.

The pink and green dot flannel was the lining of a little coat I made for Ava.

The final Gran-made present is a laminated apron for Ava.

I wanted to make a waterproof, paint proof apron.

So, these photos are to help me remember how to do this.

I cut out the pattern pieces from quilting cotton.

I decided to use Pellon 102 vinyl fuse with a matte finish.

I traced around the skirt and bodice pieces on the flat paper side of the vinyl.

I followed the directions and smoothed the fabric onto the vinyl by hand.

Then I ironed on a medium setting.

My iron was almost too hot and I did not leave it as long as directed 

because the vinyl seemed to be melting.

The pattern was the Sunny Day Smock.

I did not laminate the lining or the shoulder and waist ties.

After I understood the apron directions, it was easy to put together.

The vinyl was not hard to sew on and went through the feed dogs like regular fabric.

Ava should be able to use this apron when she paints for several years to come.

Gran-made birthday presents are ready for the party!

Happy sewing.