Weekend Worktable

I've had several orders this past week for my "choose your rebound journal" selection, where you choose the vintage book you want me to make into a new blank journal. The covers are glued and all the papers cut and folded into signatures. I should be able to finish sewing the last of these in the next day or two and send them off.

If you could choose any book title for a rebound journal, what would it be?

To see which books are still available, check out this section in my Prairie Peasant etsy shop.

Fabric Coiled Items Progression

I think I can no longer call these posts "Coiled Mats Progression" since I'm making so much more than flat mats now! I have something new to share today, something that local buyers caught a glimpse of at my table display at recent craft shows.

Here's my first basket with a lid. Everyone who has seen it in person really loves it! I think if it had a little door on the side it could be a little home for the Borrowers.

The base is fairly straight sided and about 28 cm across and 14 cm high. The lid tapers to a peak, and then I recycled a metal coil and strung it with wooden beads to make the quirky handle. With the lid on, it's about 35 cm (14") high.

This basket is a fabulous example of how even the ugliest fabrics can make great coiled items. Once the fabric is cut into strips, wrapped around the cord, and sewn back together, all you notice are the colours and not the ugly print it once was.

Isn't this fabric hideous? It's not quite a leopard print. It's kind of like the teal/gold/red was printed first and then someone accidentally printed the black peanut shapes over top--kind of like a double exposure, but worse. But don't you think it's been redeemed in my basket?

This Santa Fe basket is available for sale in my PrairieThreads Etsy shop.

Front page!

One of my items made the Front Page on Etsy in the early hours of this morning with this treasury made by emilyjanehunter! I was wondering why my views and hearts took a big leap this morning...

Quilt Update

My quilting group, the Strip Piecers, had some good news this week. A quilt we had made together was recently auctioned at the Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale in Ontario for over $2000!

It all started with this:

The challenge was to each make 6 blocks in black and white fabrics with a touch of the fat quarter of a teal fabric we were given by Anne.

Pretty soon we had these:

And these:

And Anne put them together like this at a quilting retreat:

The blocks were about 12", and with 88 blocks all together, this is a very big quilt! A black border was added, and then it was passed over to Bonnie, who machine quilted it on her long arm machine.

Once it was completed, it was shipped to Ontario, where it was advertised for the sale:

And then auctioned off this past weekend in New Hamburg, Ontario

It was sent to the Ontario sale because quilts are generally able to generate higher donation values there. It's nice to know our group effort raised this nice sum for the Mennonite Central Committee relief efforts around the world.

Quilt Finish!

I have a lot of unfinished projects in various piles in my studio. It's not that I can't finish things, it's just that life and shop priorities sometimes get in the way. Right now, I'm trying to actually catch up on finishing some of them, as I clean up little areas in my studio.

This weekend I finished my Strip Pieced Rainbow Quilt, which only took me about 3-1/2 years! It all started with challenge blocks made by my quilting group. Then it took me over a year to decide whether to make one larger quilt or a couple of smaller quilts. I decided to use fleece as the batting and the backing to make it a cozy quilt, and I bought the fleece just after I sewed all the blocks together. And then it sat as I made quilts for both my daughters in the meantime...

...until my quilting group met in a church basement over a month ago, with large tables available to pin quilt sandwiches together. Yay, I don't have to do this on my hardwood floors! My knees and back were happy.

I quilted it myself on my sewing machine with my walking foot, first along the grid lines of the pieced blocks, which are 6" square. I thought it still needed a little more stitching, so I stitched across each block on the diagonal seam line that was closest to the centre. I did this in diagonal rows, meandering from one block to the next. I like the asymmetry of this look.

I followed this tutorial for how to fold over the edges and mitre the corners. It was very easy to follow, and worked well!

And this one's a keeper now. It's already found a place for snuggling and cuddling in my living room.

New Colourway

The latest coiled items to come off my sewing machine have been rainbows! Rainbows turn out differently each time because of the different fabrics used, but each one is beautiful.

Do You Have a Clue?

When a couple of vintage Clue game boards came into my hands recently, minus the game pieces, I knew I had to recycle the boards into new journals. Aren't they fun?

Now I wonder what the person who took the game pieces has done with them!

New Colourway

There's a new colourway of coiled items hot off my sewing machine! These are made from a set of cotton curtains and I love the bright happy colours. I'm calling this one Fiesta!

Available in my PrairieThreads Etsy shop.