Spool Holder

This was posted earlier on my clay blog: www.jeanetteharrisblog.blogspot.com.

And I thought it might be of interest to sewers too.

Sometimes, a problem can be solved using a clay design.

On occasion, I do quilting and it seems I was always reaching for the large white thread spool. It never seemed to be in a convenient place.

So, I designed this thread holder. Now, I can reel of mass quantities of thread when needed with very little fuss or searching.

Just made of a slabbed stoneware, I cut out a paper pattern first. The piece is a bit longer than the spool plus the length of the front and back which are bent up, slots are cut with a fettling knife and smoothed out in both ends. This makes for easy removal and replacement of the spool and spindle.

Add a springy piece of bamboo (a skewer will do if the pointy end is cut off) to hold the spool.

The holder keeps the thread in one place, like on a table top within easy reach. It makes it easy to recharge your needle and doesn't look too bad just sitting there.

Now if I could just figure out how to mount a pair of scissors...........Better yet, an Exacto blade glued into a pre-made slot offset somewhere on the side for a thread cutter.

Next time!

Wedding Ring Pillow

This Wedding Ring Pillow looks complicated, but it really isn't.

No special needle skills needed outside of basic embroidery and hand sewing.

The materials are a good bleached batiste, satin ribbon, manufactured rosebuds, some lace, in this case, out of my antique hoard, and a touch of some gold mylar cording I found on sale by the spool.

The real secret here is the rings. They're not rings at all, but plain earring hoops with the earlobe fasteners hidden under the rosebud and ribbon.

And the touch of color under the lace border is a wider purple ribbon laid down and stitched under the trim lace.

On the reverse, I added a strap for little hands to hold onto.

It's nice to make these in a way that the pillow filling can be slipped out and the flat pillow can be put in a shadow box and framed.

Lost Ships

I love scrappy quilts.

This one has a lot of clothing scraps in it. Blue is by far my favorite color, so I always have a large amount of it in large and small amounts.

One fabric in particular was a white background with little cobalt blue sailing ships printed on it. It came from a little shirt I made my son when he was a preschooler. ( I made all his shirts until he went to school.)

The intriguing thing about making scrap quilts is the huge amount of mixture you can get in the small half squares. This was before I learned how to make the quick-sew half squares. It's very time consuming cutting out individual triangles and sewing them together.

Here's how to make them the fast way.

Go to: http://www.patchwork-and-quilting.com/calculating-half-square-triangles.html and follow the page instructions on how to measure and sew a big bunch of these little darlings. Click the link on "Grid Pieced Method" to see how to sew and cut them en mass.

Good stuff on this site.

This method is much quicker, easier and less hassle than doing the squares individually.

Paper - The Other Fiber

I love paper; especially beautiful paper.

I love boxes too. I love making custom boxes.

This is another class I took some time ago. I learned how to make boxes from scratch. Using a grey board, I learned to construct boxes that were sturdy outside and had tight-fitting drawers and custom compartments.

It's a lot like carpentry.

This little treasure is a carved elephant and rider I bought when we visited New Dehli in the '70s. It is such a delicate carving. (The elephant has separate, swingy earrings.) It is only about 1 1/2 inches tall and I've always been afraid it would get damaged. So, I made this keeper box based on a classic perfume box design.

I even cut custom recesses in the bottom black mounting piece to fit the outline of the elephant's feet. They fit down into holes that are about 1/8 inch deep. He is kept in with tiny dollops of Museum Gel.

On the top of the box is an antique ivory teapot knob I found in an antique store; the little dangling elephant is a family piece--an antique celluloid political token from about 1880-1900.

The paper covering the box is made in India.

I have many sketches and notes on boxes in my clay files. The same principles of construction apply, with modifications for working in clay. Lana Wilson has written several good articles about how to make clay boxes.

I'm particularly interested in figuring out how to make a box with a secret compartment. I've always loved the idea of hidden rooms, sliding panels, puzzle boxes.

A Gathering of the Clans

This all-plaid scrap quilt was fun to make.

Each block has it's own character.

Obviously, I had been collecting plaid fabric for a very long time. Some came from our clothing, so there are a few 'rogue' blocks with polyester in the blend.

I usually do not use polyester at all in quilts because it is a weaker fabric and will wear out quicker than cotton. Besides, if you use polyester batting, it has a tendency to migrate through the poly-cotton pieces and fuzz up. But for this quilt, an exception was made.

When I was making the blocks, they seemed to be very busy and bright-colored, but once assembled into the whole quilt, they seemed to tone each other down. I really like the random setting of colors and the un-rigid arrangements or off-centered-ness of the plads....much more interesting than a rigidly made block.

The whole thing is set in a Black Watch patterned background.

I wash this quilt very carefully and always use a gentle soap and a reduced agitation cycle.

A Wedding Quilt

The theme for this wedding quilt was based on the bride's love of tulips.

Two of the fabric prints included tulips. A cabbage rose print picks up all the colors in the tulip print and freehand embroidery of a heart, the bride and groom's names and the date are in the center panel.

The quilting design incorporates tulips as well.

I wish I had a better set of slides for this quilt. It is much brighter than it appears. Since it was a king size, it had to be folded under to hang on the quilt show frame.

The center square is embroidered with the bride and groom's names as well as the date. The idea is that when the quilt wears out, the center square can be cut out and framed as a memento.