Due to the weird anonymous comments ending up in my spam filter I have turned off the anonymous comments, again.
Really! Your English grammar is worse than mine is! And telling me how wonderful my writing style is, isn't helping your cause any.
I would love to see the statistics as to how many people actually click on the enclosed links in those comments.
Catch y'all later, I'm knee deep in a quilting project and I will post pictures later.
Hope everyone is having a good day!
Judy
Friday, June 27, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
t-shirt shag rag rug
I decided it would be cool to make Sister Suzy a rug to match her memory quilt.
I did some research on rag rugs. Ilona over at Life After Money made a couple using the latch hook method. Instructables has a how-to on braided t-shirt rugs. Craftstylish has a how-to for crocheting a rag rug. SheWhoMeasures has a how-to for knitted rugs. Wow, look at what I just found, a PDF booklet on knitted rugs. Spoonful has a tutorial on making a round woven rug and this one from Craftpassion is done with sheets but I think it would work for t-shirts as well.
But none were exactly what I had in mind. I wanted a shag but didn't want to spend any money on a latch hook backing and I didn't have any netting like Ilona in my stash of craft goodies. So I pieced together 4 left-over backs to get a good sized backing. I used a pieced quilt block design of a heart for the center motif from Simplicity and then doubled it. I drew a 3" x 3" grid on my backing. I decided based on what I had left in scraps that two-and-a-half-inch shag would use up too much fabric. I went with 1.5" shag or a 3 inch square of fabric sewn every half-inch and then snipped in half inch segments. I choose to use 3" strips of fabric as opposed to 1/2" wide strips because I thought it would make the sewing easier. If you wanted a tweedy look then you will have to work with a lot of little strips.
As you can tell my half-inch seam allowances are approximate. I would suggest drawing the seam lines if really straight lines are important to you. I ended up marking the ends, middle and quarter to help keep the middle from getting away from me. I also discovered I was off on my grid work by a half a square lengthwise and width. So I should have waited until I laid everything out or spent more time with a paper and pencil! Most of the sites I read suggest spacing of a 1/4" but I just didn't have the fabric. Or the stick-to-it-ness to pull that off! I struggled with the second half because I got bored.
To finish you are suppose to pull each strip until it curls. It really adds a nice finish to the parts I have pulled but I got bored and have not finished that part. I'm hoping that the strips will curl after a run through a washer and dryer like t-shirts with cuts and tears. The last thing for me to do is paint on some non-skid rug backing.
Now for a kitty picture:
She is so concerned about being where she doesn't belong!
Hope every one is having a good day!
Judy
But none were exactly what I had in mind. I wanted a shag but didn't want to spend any money on a latch hook backing and I didn't have any netting like Ilona in my stash of craft goodies. So I pieced together 4 left-over backs to get a good sized backing. I used a pieced quilt block design of a heart for the center motif from Simplicity and then doubled it. I drew a 3" x 3" grid on my backing. I decided based on what I had left in scraps that two-and-a-half-inch shag would use up too much fabric. I went with 1.5" shag or a 3 inch square of fabric sewn every half-inch and then snipped in half inch segments. I choose to use 3" strips of fabric as opposed to 1/2" wide strips because I thought it would make the sewing easier. If you wanted a tweedy look then you will have to work with a lot of little strips.
As you can tell my half-inch seam allowances are approximate. I would suggest drawing the seam lines if really straight lines are important to you. I ended up marking the ends, middle and quarter to help keep the middle from getting away from me. I also discovered I was off on my grid work by a half a square lengthwise and width. So I should have waited until I laid everything out or spent more time with a paper and pencil! Most of the sites I read suggest spacing of a 1/4" but I just didn't have the fabric. Or the stick-to-it-ness to pull that off! I struggled with the second half because I got bored.
To finish you are suppose to pull each strip until it curls. It really adds a nice finish to the parts I have pulled but I got bored and have not finished that part. I'm hoping that the strips will curl after a run through a washer and dryer like t-shirts with cuts and tears. The last thing for me to do is paint on some non-skid rug backing.
Now for a kitty picture:
She is so concerned about being where she doesn't belong!
Hope every one is having a good day!
Judy
Friday, June 6, 2014
chicken scratch quilt blocks
Also know as snowflake embroidery, depression lace, gingham lace or Amish lace.
I will probably never use the instruction my aunt sent my mother, as I'm not that much into embroidery. (I have tendon-n-nerve damage in my hands-n-arms from making a living beating the heat-treating warp out of airplane parts.) I wanted to pass the idea on in case it might be of interest for someone.
Instead of repeating the information that is available out on the web, here are some sources.
http://www.crossstitching.com/chicinst.htm. This information was enclosed in the envelope my aunt sent my mother. It covers fabric, hoops, needles and thread/floss. The information covers two of the stitches used in great detail and gives you a pattern of a heart. There is a video available on the home page, which is very helpful.
The University of West Virginia has an extension newsletter on the subject: http://fh.ext.wvu.edu/r/download/122250. As well as the University of Kentucky: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/hes/fcs/factshts/CT-MMB-712.pdf. Both newsletters have a pattern enclosed of an 8-pointed star.
My aunt enclosed two 18" samples of the 8-point star block.
I really like the contrasting outline of the second block with the white center of the first block. These blocks were done on quarter-inch gingham. In fact all of the chicken scratch I've seen has been done on the quarter-inch gingham. For a baby it would be cute done on eighth-inch gingham I would think.
Here is the full size pattern that was enclosed with the two blocks.
I would think any pieced quilt block could be converted to a Chicken Scratch pattern if drawn on quarter-inch graft paper.
It appears from the photos of the quilts enclosed in the envelope. My aunt made the quilts at least 4 x 4 in the center and used solid sashings and borders. For each cornerstone she used a two-inch square of the white lace on a four-inch block.
Here are some links to different patterns:
http://crossstitch.about.com/od/chickenscratch/ig/Chicken-Scratch-Patterns/
http://kindawonderful.typepad.com/pink_paper_peppermints/2010/04/chicken-scratch-embroidery-tutorial-free-pattern-and-stitch-guide.html
I hope this is helpful for someone who is curious about this type of embroidery and quilting.
Have a good day!
Judy
I will probably never use the instruction my aunt sent my mother, as I'm not that much into embroidery. (I have tendon-n-nerve damage in my hands-n-arms from making a living beating the heat-treating warp out of airplane parts.) I wanted to pass the idea on in case it might be of interest for someone.
Instead of repeating the information that is available out on the web, here are some sources.
http://www.crossstitching.com/chicinst.htm. This information was enclosed in the envelope my aunt sent my mother. It covers fabric, hoops, needles and thread/floss. The information covers two of the stitches used in great detail and gives you a pattern of a heart. There is a video available on the home page, which is very helpful.
The University of West Virginia has an extension newsletter on the subject: http://fh.ext.wvu.edu/r/download/122250. As well as the University of Kentucky: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/hes/fcs/factshts/CT-MMB-712.pdf. Both newsletters have a pattern enclosed of an 8-pointed star.
My aunt enclosed two 18" samples of the 8-point star block.
Here is the full size pattern that was enclosed with the two blocks.
I would think any pieced quilt block could be converted to a Chicken Scratch pattern if drawn on quarter-inch graft paper.
It appears from the photos of the quilts enclosed in the envelope. My aunt made the quilts at least 4 x 4 in the center and used solid sashings and borders. For each cornerstone she used a two-inch square of the white lace on a four-inch block.
Here are some links to different patterns:
http://crossstitch.about.com/od/chickenscratch/ig/Chicken-Scratch-Patterns/
http://kindawonderful.typepad.com/pink_paper_peppermints/2010/04/chicken-scratch-embroidery-tutorial-free-pattern-and-stitch-guide.html
I hope this is helpful for someone who is curious about this type of embroidery and quilting.
Have a good day!
Judy
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