Darn it; It's Cold! Sew What? Quit Yer Stitchin'!

I have been sewing and writing like crazy lately; clearly, I'm on a creative bender.

The children ruined one of my pillows recently and so I sat down to make a new pillow last week.  Of course, Gwenzilla wanted in:  "Mum, can I make a pillow too?"  I sighed.  Why is it that she only wants to make a pillow when I want to make a pillow?  So, because I am a sweet and generous Mumma, I dragged out the machine and my fabric stash and let her go to it.  Here she is, at the Bruce Street sweatshop:

Okay, see how in the window on the left, it looks like I used that saran wrap window sealer to prevent cold air from coming in in the wintertime?  Well, I didn't.  I hate that product.  Ageism alert - if you use that, you are officially OLD.  I don't why I felt compelled to discuss this as it has NOTHING to do with this post; however,  now you know my feelings on "shrink film".  You can rest easy tonight. 

She's craft-tay!  GG is so cute with her pillow.  She selected and placed all the fabrics, then sewed them together herself.  

Looking at Gwen at age 8, I can't help but think of myself at her age.  I was reading the Little House series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (LOVE!!!!!!) and I wanted to make my own quilt.  So I cut up most of my socks into "squares" and tried to sew them together by hand.  Imagine for a moment, that you are trying to sew together knit socks into a quilt.  First of all, when you cut those socks up, they unravel because the knit is very fine.  Secondly,  the squares curl up at the edges - fine knits do NOT want to lie flat.  And third - it would have taken me approximately thirty years to amass enough sock-squares and sew them together just to make a quilt the size of a hand towel.  And so, after sewing three or four of my squares together, I did, at age 8, exactly what I would do now with a failed craft project - I stuffed it under my bed, never to be seen again.

Here is the pillow that I made after helping Gwen with hers:

Improvisational quilting -- basically means to amass pile of fabrics, cut and sew together haphazardly, admire results

And a close-up of the quilting:

I followed the pillow up with a sixties-inspired wall hanging, that I made from a silk sari, a silk blouse, a new king sized bed sheet that I cut up, and some new fabrics.  Here's a close-up of the quilting on the front and on the back:

  

And the finished hanging (17 by 38 inches), which will hang in my main floor loo.  Who says that art doesn't belong in the bathroom?  I love a quirky powder room.

I think I will christen this wall quilt Burst.  

And last but not least, I will provide a link to my most recent Canada Writes contest entry, because I'm a sucker for a contest.  I figure I have better odds of winning a writing contest than winning the 649, which I never buy tickets for anyway.

My story may disturb some of you, so consider yourself warned.  I'm over it though, honest.  :-)  If I wasn't, I wouldn't write about it.

You're Just Another Victim, Until You're Not



Musical Pairing:  although it has nothing to do with being crafty in the Martha Stewart sense of the word, it was one of my jams way back when:

She's Crafty by The Beastie Boys