Every Inchie Monday #44

Graffiti: markings, as initials, slogans, or drawings, written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, wall of a building or public restroom, or the like.

As in this picture.

Hallowe'en costume

BABY FLASH

Mini quilts and Hallowe'en sewing

I finished the little Hallowe'en quilts.

 My daughter has yet to pick this one up.

My youngest son got this one

  and this one with the cat went to my eldest son. It was appropriate since he and his wife have two black cats.

This is the backing for all of them. I have wanted to use it up for a long time. I still have lots of it left so I guess I have to make more Hallowe'en quilts in the future. I sewed a ring to the back of all the quilts so that they can be hung on a nail. I machine quilted them at the same time that I sewed the fused pieces on. I also tried out that spray baste. Sticky, yukky but it did work. I have not washed them. They may shrink.

I am now working on costumes. I made 4 more cuffs for my son and his girlfriend who are going as Musketeers. Two cuffs have already been picked up - with the quilt. I now have to make a couple of tabards and boot covers.

This is the fabric my son chose. Royal blue is the colour he wanted and we found some in fleece. Fabricland had a sale on lace and so the eyelet was buy one metre and get 3 for free. We got 8 metres and it's going to be sewn on the tabards. I told him that when Hallowe'en is over I'd like the tabards back (no one ever wears anything from one year to the next.) I thought I could make little Luc an outfit or two out of the fabric. Luc's mom immediately thought of Superman for next year. I was thinking more along the lines of a pair of pants and a jacket. There's a lot of fleece so I'm sure I can get lots of things for the little guy out of it.

My other son is going as Peter Pan. He and his wife found a wool crepe dress in the perfect colour green (but it does not show up in this photo or the one above) at Value Village. Someone had made the dress but not finished it. I washed it on the delicate cycle, took out an elastic that was sewn at the waist and ripped open the side seams. I have to cut some fabric off the hem and add it to the sides since the dress was a tight fit. There may be enough to make a hat but we'll see.

Wednesday

So, this is what I am working on.

What the heck is that?

A wrist band?

Almost, but no, it's a cuff. My daughter has an off white blouse and she wanted ruffled, wide cuffs on the sleeves for her Hallowe'en costume. She knows I have a lot of fabric. For some reason this piece of muslin was just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity to be put to use. I only had to cut off a small piece to make it into a rectangle and then cut the rectangle in half. After that I had to figure out how to construct (sew) the cuff. It took some thinking but I have now perfected my technique and it's a good thing too since my youngest son liked the way they turned out and has requested two for him and two for his girlfriend. They will be going as musketeers. Those costumes have yet to be sewn and then there's Peter Pan...

Go on over to  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/  to see what other people are working on.

Every Inchie Monday #43

Encouragement: to inspire (someone) with the courage or confidence (to do something); to stimulate (something or someone to do something) by approval or help; support.

Words of encouragement and the universal hand gesture. Way to go. Atta boy. Well done. Keep it up.

Racking up the degrees

Well, well, another graduation was held yesterday. This time it was the author son Mark, who received his second, yes second, Master's degree. A Master of Arts in Communication and Culture.

Here he is patiently waiting for his name to be called. (Sorry that the photos are not that clear but we were sitting in the balcony and the zoom on a little Elph only does so much.)

I attended the ceremony with his wife, Kate and we both were so busy taking photos that we missed noting why the audience laughed at this point. Even the Chancellor chuckled. It was after we looked at what our cameras caught that we realized what a photo op we captured. (Note: the lady to the right of Mark is placing the hood over his head.)

Outside, just after the ceremonies with that important piece of paper. The only un-posed photo that was taken.

Here he is with the President and Vice Chancellor of Ryerson University, Sheldon Levy.

Here's the master's hood (that's the the v-shaped 'cape' that is placed over the head of each graduate during the ceremony - see photo above.)

Mark and his lovely wife Kate. These photos were taken in the Quadrangle and the facade to the right is the only remaining part of the original Department of Education/Normal School of the 1850s. 

Mother and son.

Proud mother and son. There are two distinct seals on the degree because the program was a joint one with Ryerson University and York University.

Posing with his lovely wife the in the gymnasium where refreshments were being served.

 

 Posing with the Ryerson mascot, the Ram. We wondered if there were other universities that had their mascot show up at graduation ceremonies.

Here he is with the Chancellor, G. Raymond Chang.

And lastly, I was instructed to pose under this sign. 

 

However, not everyone makes a Mark. Some make a Brian, or a Tom or a Hugh, - you get the picture... It was Mark's bit of humour.

Wednesday

Well, it's Wednesday again and here's what I am working on at the moment.

 I purchased a Patch Abilities kit a couple of years ago at a quilt show and I am finally putting it together. I may make all three. I'll see how it goes. The little quilts finish at 6" X 22" and it's fused applique so it should go quickly. 

Hop on over to http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/ and see what everyone else is working on.

Every Inchie Monday #42

Dreams: a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep; a vision voluntarily indulged in while awake.

 This image reminded me of what many people look like when they are daydreaming.

Seasonal quilt and sort of a challenge

It all started when a friend had a pattern for a pumpkin wall hanging. I asked to borrow it because I liked it and thought it would be nice on my wall (I don't make many big quilts in case you didn't know that by now.) Anyway, I remember that orange wasn't such a popular colour then (this was in the early 1990s) but as I look at this little quilt I see that I came up with two shades of orange. The label on this one says that I called it Pumpkins (yeah, I know, really original) and that it was completed in 1994.

The fabrics are all cotton polyester because I love working in solids (those little calico prints were/are not for me and that's basically all that was available for a long time for quilters.)

As you can see, there are two shades of orange. I must have been in a hurry to get this done because it is machine appliqued and I know that all the pieces are backed with interfacing because they are stiff. I should have sewn the inside of the pumpkins with darker thread since it doesn't show up at all.

I even sewed the pumpkin vines with the sewing machine. I was inventive (pat on the back.) You can see that I did hand quilt it - because that is what I do. The measurements are 17 1/2 x 23 inches. (click on any of the photos to see a closer view)

The quilt will go up on the wall somewhere. It has been sitting in the cupboard long enough (notice the fold lines?) Thanks to Mary of Outside the Line who kick-started my brain by reminding me of this little gem with her UFO pumpkin/jack-o-lantern quilt post and for emailing me to tell me to blog about it. My thanks also to Carole, the guild member who loaned me the pattern (sorry but I do not know from who or where it originated.)

Sort of a challenge...

And so, are there any other pumpkin/jack-o-lantern quilts out there that you would like to post about so we can all see what goodies are out there? Just leave a comment and a link to your post or photo.

Every Inchie Monday #41

Curiosity: the desire to learn or know about anything; inquisitiveness.

 The act of writing news items: answer the who, what, when, where, why and how. It doesn't matter whether it's a general news item in a newspaper or if you are imparting news about a meeting, these questions need to be answered.

Hallowe'en already?

It's actually Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and right now it is more like summer - not fall. The weather has been simply gorgeous with temperatures in the mid 20s for the past few days. Today it got up to 23 and tomorrow it's supposed to be 27. Thanksgiving Monday is predicted to be around 26.

I have not been idle - I have been busy in the sewing studio. My middle daughter went to see her only nephew, little Luc, and she brought a few things with her. Luc's mom asked me if I wanted to have some fun and make him a costume for Hallowe'en. It seems that the neighbours are expecting him to be trick or treating on the 31st. At first it was to be Superman but then she said I could make a Flash, a Green Lantern or a Superman costume. Well, off I went to check the pattern company offerings online. I didn't even know that they made costumes starting at 1/2 size and going up from there. I decided to go with Simplicity 2506 and I used the little mouse version minus the ears, bow tie and belly. I chose to make Flash since he is mainly all one colour - red. I purchased some nice arctic fleece so that little Luc would be warm and also so that the one piece outfit could be used after Hallowe'en.

This is how the final costume turned out. I was advised by my eldest son that the symbol on the chest had to be there. I could forget other stuff but that symbol was a must. I hadn't even noticed it when I did my research on the outfit.

I made two pair of bootees. The yellow ones are for the costume and the red ones are to be sewn on after Hallowe'en so that the red fleece one piece can be worn when little Luc goes out daily with his dad. The centre symbol is just basted on and the belt has velcro on the back. I made the hood/helmet out of red flannel since it is two layers (it is fully lined) and fleece would have made it too thick.

It got the seal of approval and when little Luc tries it on, I will hopefully get a photo.

I have sewn a quilt top but it needs to be made bigger. Once it is put together I will post a photo before it goes on the frame. Right now though,I need to sort out sewing studio and bring it to some sort of order so I can find things.

Happy Turkey weekend!

Every Inchie Monday #40

Destination: the place to which a person or thing travels or is sent. 

 Since I am always the navigator who reads maps and tries to make some sense of symbols while my husband is the driver, I thought a map was the appropriate inspiration for my Destination inchie this week. I've not crossed an ocean and believe in seeing my own country first. Canada is so vast and very beautiful. I have, however, been to Jamaica - in my James Bond-inspired youth.

Little hats

Since my daughter asked me to make some hats for little Luc, I have been on a roll trying out different patterns. I have a few little patterns and the latest one that I chose to make out of a small piece of plaid fleece that I found in my stash is McCall's 6235. The drawing of the hat makes it appear curved but it is more like the photo and boxy.

 It is small and sewed up quickly. Being fleece helped with hand sewing the hem. I didn't have to thicken it by taking an extra seam allowance since fleece does not ravel.

This, of course, is the crown. I do like it when the written instructions and the diagrams are clear and not ambiguous.

In the previous post I showed you what I was working on and now the little hat with the pom pom is complete. The first pom pom came out a tad big so I had to make another one.

I really like the way the yarn makes it look like I was clever and changed colours to make those little white designs but, it's all in the yarn.

Now I'm off to do some more sewing. I have a deadline so I should be moving along.