The quilt that made me late to the hospital to give birth

I'm going to be transferring a few of the posts I had made on my Facebook page over here so that they can all be in one place again - to catch up...

Here's a post of the quilt I made up to the last minute as I left for the hospital to have baby Dax.

====================
Here is the last quilt I finished before going into the hospital to give birth... It started off a few years ago as 4 leftover blocks from the quilt I made for our foster baby as he left our home... Then I made it into a small (too small) top.  For years I would pull it out and try different borders onto it to try and make it bigger, but none of them worked.  I finally pulled it out recently and found some fabrics I liked for it. I decided to hand quilt it, since it had been a while since I had hand quilted a project, and then when it was getting close to done, I couldn't imagine parting with it... So it had to be finished before baby came home.
I "may have" actually (read: I DID) delayed our departure to the hospital by 15-20 minutes as I begged Jay to understand that I needed to finish this binding before we left.
In the end, I could have brought it with me and worked on it for the next 24 hours before I finally had my c-section to get this little guy out...

It's been a bag kind of week

We've been into making tote bags around here this week.

I had some moms over from our school for a morning lesson one day - It had actually been an auction item that I had put up for bid ... "come have snacks and a sewing lesson!" - so we made some gorgeous totes for them - but I forgot to take pics of theirs. Here's mine.

Then Mimi got really inspired and wanted to make some, so she and her little buddy made matching ones at a playdate.

I also finally got around to finishing up some library bags for the kids made out of Dr. Suess fabric that my generous friend Ramona passed off to me after she was done with her project. I'm not really one for buying character fabric, but since this came into my possession - it seemed perfectly appropriate for some bags to take to the library. The kids love them.

Retreat weekend quilts

a sketch I have had for years and never gotten to until now

As I wrote earlier, I was up early with the sun this morning and decided to take pics of my newly finished quilt tops in an environment a little prettier than my inner city front yard.

made by improv piecing my blocks made in the Denyse Schmidt workshop many months ago

The sun rose as I was taking these. I will always remember the sound of birdsong and wind in the trees as I took these pics.
I made lots more things... Will share them bit by bit.

tumblers - all assembled and wow, they came together fast!

Re. Joy - Jan 12 - working it out

I've been outside a lot. Reading. Soaking up sunshine. Thinking. Journaling.
Today was beautiful outside, but I spent it inside. I took my tools and went to my dad's design studio to use a room in his building that was once offered to me as a studio. It's quiet there. Lots of natural light, clean floor space and a great table. A room of my own.
Today I sewed for most of my day - other than having lunch with both of my parents. I was hoping to find a way in fabric to express this chaos I have walked through.

This piece is big and jarring to look at. That was intended. It's stressful looking. Also intended. It's dissonant. It's an unsolved question. It's hard to figure out how to place it properly. But, it's only a piece of the puzzle. Only a section of a larger whole. It's quite cathartic, too. Now I will work with it's placement into context.
I have to also look at my personal circumstances. As chaotic and inexplicable as they may be, they have to somehow become placed into context. They are not the big picture. They are just a piece of a big picture. I'm knee deep in fallout now, but I know there will be a bigger, more
peaceful framework around this later. And given some breathing room, it won't hurt as much as it does now.

Mimi's fabric collage

Mimi's fabric collage, a photo by libby dibby on Flickr.

It took over our living room for two days. Mimi was a hard worker and even got everyone in the on the act at some point as she cut and glued through my scrap bag. The finished project is about 4'x6' and now is proudly hanging in her bedroom above her bed.
She worked on it between making a cement stepping stone and knotting a fleece pillow. The girl is a crafting machine...(can't imagine where she got that from, I wish my day were as fun as hers!)

Favorite Sewing Books - post 7 - One Yard Wonders

Oh do I love this book!
It's another one that has gotten dog eared by my carting it around everywhere.
(True confession, I leave the house with at least one extra bag almost every time I leave - that has a sewing book and at least 2 projects to work on. This one has been in the bag a lot.)

I've made the cutest casserole holders from patterns in this. I learned about this book by hearing the podcast on Craftsanity and I love the fact that this is a truly collaborative effort by tons of designers. And so many projects? wow.

Favorite Sewing Books - post 2 - Bend the Rules Sewing

This sewing book is literally so dogeared and worn from being taken to the beach and played with that it has to be #2 to be shared.
I actually have made a number of projects in this book. They're fun, fast, and really inspiring.

Highly recommend.
Amy Karol is candid and whimsical and I love this book. Even if it has sand in the creases.

Favorite sewing books

I have a thing for books with pictures. Actually I have a thing for books. But lately, sewing and craft books have been really a passion for me. I love the inspiration, the photos, the ideas - often I don't even follow the patterns - it's more about seeing the items and making things based on my inspiration from them.

I probably have 30-40 sewing books alone. (The first of which was my Denyse Schmidt book!)
That is not mentioning the 50-60 crafting/sewing/quilting magazines I also hang onto.
Now here's the problem. I have all of them, but have I really made something from them? Inspired by, yes, but wouldn't it be good to actually use the books? (I think so)

I have been wanting to challenge myself lately to make at least 1 item from each book, magazine, etc - that I've bought. Just one. So that puts me out at um. well - if I gave myself a month for each project - well, I guess I would be busy for about um (I hate math)... wait a sec... a decade or two? oy.
Okay, not going to do that.

Instead, I'm going to just share with you some of my favorite books and resources. If I had time to sit down and not chase a little baby tornado around (today I caught him trying to throw Z's snowglobes from a stool) - I would review even the top 10.
I'll try.
But I don't really have much time.
So instead, I'm going to just point you to them and when I get the chance, I'll write reviews. And you'll have to trust me that if they weren't my favorites,  and really worth buying... well, I wouldn't share them. ok? (not that you asked)
One of the cool things about being in the LAMQG is that I've been able to meet a number of the authors of the books that I love as they are either fellow members or speakers who visit our meetings to give talks.
That said, I have to start with Denyse Schmidt's book.

I bought this book YEARS before I ever thought I'd really make a quilt. I would periodically look through it and drool.  I can't say I have actually made any projects from it - but I can say that I still consider buying this book a valuable part of my quilting journey.
A fellow member and acquaintance of mine, Jenny, is actually working her way -Julie and Julia style through the book... woot! What a great idea!
Here's her finished quilt.

Paper Piecing - my way (WIP)

I bring this project along with me everywhere I go. Which is why I get asked to describe it so often and I've given many impromptu tutorials on how people can make these themselves - so here's a little glimpse into how my paper piecing quilt is coming along.

I started with a square notepad. A castoff pad of post-it notes also works. This is the same process used for hexagon quilting, but I don't love the look of small hexagons - I've always been a square gal myself - so I adapted the process to squares. I cut scraps of fabric to be about 1/2" square larger than the paper. So the squares are 2.5" square and the fabric pieces are a little bigger than 3" square. (It's easier to err on the side of them being too big.)
Each fabric square gets basted directly TO a piece of paper with big stitches in a bright color which will be removed later. The point is that you're getting a really perfectly shaped square by folding the fabric to fit exactly and then you can sew without pressing. I made a collection of about 100+ of these before I started anything.

Then I had to figure out my layout. I didn't want this to be traditional in any way other than the process, so my design took a long time to figure out. In the end, I opted for some sporatic lines that are separated by sections of white. And not just white, but many whites, creams and off-whites.

The way that I am achieving this look was the only way that I could figure out how to do long stretches.... since I couldn't really imagine bringing along huge long pieces of paper to be the negative space, I am making the white strips out of many small brick shapes. I opted - for visual interest's sake - to make them not square. No particular reason.

The pieces are attached by putting them right sides together and doing a little hand looping stitch through the very top of both pieces. Sometimes I get the paper in there, but I try not to for the most part. Either way, it doesn't really matter.

 Here you can see the back of my quilt. I leave the paper pieces in until they are surrounded on all 4 sides by their neighbors. After that, I can pull the basting thread out and see a little better what it's going to look like.
Right now the quilt is about 50"x30" - I hope to make it 50x60" in the end so that it can be useful and not just decorative.

I've spent so much time working on this in the car, in meetings, and even camping that there are about 100 memories I have attached to it already.  The strongest ones are the ones that involve me waiting outside the office at DCFS for the baby while he has visitations. That's always an anxiety filled time for me, so this quilt has already brought me so much comfort, even before being snuggle worthy.

And of course - it is going to have to be made entirely by hand. I am really excited about that!
I'll keep you posted on it's progress.

Printing my own Quilt Labels - Product Review

I've been wanting to make some fancier labels for my quilts for a while now.
Though I have heard that I could technically run fabric through my printer if it were ironed to freezer paper (anyone tried that?) - I simply haven't gotten around to it.

A few weeks ago, I made labels for my bee buddies to put on their bee quilts. I didn't want to spend the time waiting to get them back from Spoonflower (where I ordered them last year), so I dug out some printable fabric that I have had on hand for a few years and never used. Point to note: such fabric YELLOWS if you don't use it.
I started with the Printed Treasures paper, which I didn't love because it became SO yellow (it IS old, but still). Then I used June Tailor's line, which was considerably less yellowed.  But still my pattern bled a little bit when I rinsed and heat set it.

After all was said and done, I'd use the June Tailor paper again in a bind, but I am going to order my own labels at Spoonflower.  The quality is considerably better.

Old Artwork - post 2

I made 4 of these silk stained glass banners to hang in a church we attended in Chicago. They were 5'x6' long and a lot of work, but I hear they are even still in use!

My very first textile design experience was a silk painting and batik class that I took in Florence, Italy one summer. I haven't painted on silk in years, but it was how I got my start, how I got my first job - and I even ended up using my knowledge to write a curriculum that our company used for years on how to teach people about silk painting. 

I need to go dig those supplies up somewhere...  if you're ever offered the chance to paint on silk, it is an experience that is like no other painting. I highly recommend it. These are only the biggest ones I made - I also made probably 30+ other paintings that are in various places and uses right now in people's lives.

The pics below are from 2 years ago when I revisited my old studio in Florence and found my teacher was still there and remembered me! Not only did she remember me, but she had photos of me (completely dorky) with my work. That was a very amazing day for me to revisit this place that 12 years earlier had formed a major foundation for who I was to become.  These pics were really special to take.  The studio was in a converted convent and was exactly how I remembered it.

Another easy camping craft

Here's another craft that I did in about 10 minutes while we were camping. I saw that there were tons of snapped twigs around on the ground in various sizes and spent almost no time collecting these to make our cute little sign.  I think it will end up being framed in our home.

No twigs were hurt (or even broken!) in the making of this art.

my sewing goes to new widths and lengths

Remember these funky quilt squares that I made slowly over the past year with weird (and some really ugly) scraps? I loved the way they turned out and was so wanting to use them in something really fabulous... but nothing in my stash elevated them to the level I felt they were worthy of. So I did something I rarely do... I went to Sew Modern (my friend, Lauren's new quilt shop in West LA) - squares in hand with the purpose of buying just for them... and had the amazing gals there give me great suggestions and chat with me as i wrapped my head around what to do to with them.

We ended up with patterns and colors that I LOVE - I mean, I was telling Jay the other night that this is definitely the most sophisticated and complicated color scheme that I have ever worked with... And there are fabrics that no online shop could have pointed me to to make this all work. On top of that, the fact that I'd only had enough fabric scraps to make 6 of these little squares really challenged me so that I needed to come up with a cool solution for the rest of the space.

I've gotten tired of making lap size quilts... they seem small sometimes - though they are REALLY useful around here for 1000 purposes... too many of the same size, well -that's boring...

so... I had a blast the other night, sewing this puppy up. Seriously, I paid NO attention to the size. I just kept working with it until I felt like it was done. And the result is something I am really proud of!
I think the ending size is somewhere between a twin and a queen... but not really a full size and I think I love it the way it is.
It is most certainly something bigger than anything I've pieced yet...

The dress that wanted to be a casserole carrier

Have you ever wondered if your dear old friend Libby is insane? Wonder no longer... Proof?
...My sister asked me about a month ago if I would make a casserole carrier for her to give a foodie friend on her birthday. (of course!) But in the craziness of school starting and G arriving, well... I forgot and the birthday came and went. Oops. Victory asked if I would make it soon, so I knew I had to do it asap. I asked her to remind me of the birthday girl's favorite colors: Burgundy, wine, plum, orange and lime green. Wow. Orange and green I have, but plum and wine are not big members of my stash.
Last night I was panicking a little, knowing I had to do this soon. I stumbled onto an all but finished dress for myself that's been awaiting a ruffle hem for about a month... Um yeah, perfect color scheme... Hmmm... Would I? You bet. So long dress, hello adorable casserole carrier.
I believe I may qualify as nuts. At least that's what my sister told me when I sent her this pic.

Stuff I'm working on

I've got about 7-8 quilts I'm working on right now. I won't go into much about these shown, except to tell you that if you check out my flickr feed you can read more about them. Two of them are from Oh Fransson! patterns (Mix Tape and Crazy 9 Lattice)

and the other is inspired by a quilt I saw on the blog called "the quilting diaries" (links later as I am posting this from my iphone).

I also have 2 birthday parties I'm planning this week, the regular new fall schedule for the kids and visitations with many social workers, etc. A lot on my plate, but I am sure you've got a lot on yours too. Here's my question for you...
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO TAKE CARE OF YOU RIGHT NOW?

Rock pets

One of our "Camp Mommakid" projects in the mountains was making these silly rock pets from random items in Mimi's art bin and rocks we found on our walks. The more we made, the funnier they got.

I should have been packing

There are so many things one should do before catching a flight in the morning... Sewing quilts isn't probably one of them, but I'm me and that's how it is. After making 16 squares for my spiderweb quilt, I
noticed that nowhere was there any leopard print. ("funny... My purse, current journal, iPhone cover, new clogs, and current fave Libby Dibby skirt are have leopard print, it's kind of funny to not have ANY in the quilt.") so last night, I remedied that... And also made a "mini-quilt" to exchange as part of next Monday's Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild meeting. I didn't exactly make a "quilt" - technically speaking- it's not got any batting or backing... But I tried to make something someone would enjoy getting in a trade. (at least I would like to get this! We shall see)
Now I'm off for the weekend by myself to a special retreat where I simply get to rest, see old friends and meditate. Headed to Chicago...
After Mimi's kindergarten graduation this morning, I drive myself to the airport and go on my first trip alone in many years.

Mimi's morning projects

Nearly every day now we are waking up to some new artwork from Mimi. Today is Z's birthday party and before mom, dad or Z were awake she'd made these crowns for them. She had designs for evereyone at the party to make them too. (if you haven't guessed, his theme today is dinosaurs...)

More zipper pouches

I have a LOT of zippers (thanks to Tori) and still a few more of those amazing upholstery samples from my old neighbor (a fabric rep). Remember, those that I used for my patchwork couches? I also had a tough weekend and used my free therapist (my sewing machine) to work out some of my thoughts...
Productivity is comforting to me.

Belt it

I've been meaning to do this tutorial that I learned about from Dollar store crafts
for a while. Last night I finally got around to it... I love these new belts. Each one took only about 1/2 hour to make. Now I just need to find a way to make the buckles look a little less Dollar Store-ish.