Persian Pickle Project 2014 - Part II

Welcome back!

So as you know, my Haberdashery group had our big reveal this Tuesday of all of our Persian Pickle-inspired projects.  In case you missed it, I shared my wallhanging here.

Today, however, I wanted to share with you the wallhangings the other ladies in my sewing group made.  I know, how exciting!

Tea Time by Ingrid

Birds by Karen

Houses by Lena N.

Cottage by Annika (WIP)

Attic Windows by Britt

Cathedral Windows by Hanna

Dresden Plate by Lena F.

Singin' in the Rain by Birgitta (held by Ingrid)

House in the Woods by Inger (WIP)

Flowers by Marion

Puzzle Pieces by Lisbet

This was such a fun project, I'm hoping we continue to do a group project each year.

Persian Pickle Project 2014

Hello, hello!

I'm so excited to be sharing a completed project with you today!  In case you haven't yet noticed, I'm not always (cough, cough - usually) very good about finishing sewing projects...  But this one had a deadline and I usually work well towards deadlines (if you count waiting to nearly the last minute as working well - thanks, Mum).  Anyway, personal foibles aside...

You may recall that at the beginning of the year, my Haberdashery sewing group had decided to do a group project based on the fabric swapping principle behind the book The Persian Pickle Club.  You can find the full details of our project in this post.

In February we made our fabric swaps, which you can read up on in this post.  And here is the photo of all our fabrics together (unsurprisingly, mine is the orange dragonfly print).

Right from the beginning I had an idea of what I wanted to do for a design - a paper pieced circle of geese blocks.  I had intended on using basic white as the background colour but since so many of the fabric contributions were pale or light coloured, a darker background would be necessary.  Except that I didn't want to use black, because it felt very flat so instead I found a mottled brown with warm and cool tints throughout it; it's not really my style but I think it works with the rest of the prints and sometimes you've got to work outside of your comfort zone.

And so...the big reveal!

Ta da!  The wallhanging finishes at 40cm square (as stated in the project requirements).  It features a central circle of geese block in counter-clockwise rotation (yeah, I'd meant to do it clockwise and printed off the wrong pattern by mistake - oops but not the end of the world).  I added a one inch border into which I used some off-cuts of the fabrics to lick & stick tiny geese around the edges using odd numbered groupings and gaps for added interest.

The quilting was a little challenging as my machine is quite old; so old it's been impossible to find a quilting foot that will work with it so I had to go slowly with a regular sewing foot and ease in fabric manually where needed.  My machine can also sometimes have tension issues when quilting but luckily I seemed to find the right combinations of settings this time around.

Originally I had thought to reinforce the circular concept by quilting concentric circles in the center.  Unfortunately you can imagine my dismay (and laughter) when I realised that I'd effectively quilted a bulls-eye into the center of my geese...  Open season, anyone?

Time for Plan B: geese flying by star light.  I stitched in the ditch around the large central star shape and added some additional lines in each arm of the star.  Then I drafted a smaller star template which I quilted into the corners.  For the geese I stitched in the ditch around each goose and then added arched lines on the insides.  I repeated this quilting on the small one inch geese in the borders (not easy, I can assure you).  I also quilted simple geese shapes into the rest of the borders; 12 geese per border, one every inch and some I reversed, again for interest.

The final touch, I recorded the project and contributors on the hanging sleeve on the back.  This Tuesday we will be revealing all of our wallhangings to each other at our next Haberdashery meeting.  Then the whole collection will be put on display at our guild exhibition end of September, which will be exciting.

WIP Wednesday

Wow - busy, busy day in a busy, busy week!  So that means I have things to share with you today.

Let's start with my very slow-going embroidery quilt: Nice People, Nice Things.  As I have probably mentioned more than once, I started this quilt several years ago and although I love embroidery work, I don't sit down at home and work on it very frequently.  It's normally my go-to project for quilt guild days and Haberdashery work but sometimes I get the bit between my teeth at home, too, which has been the case during the break and that means I've finished the month #7 blocks!  Hurray, hurrah!

I really enjoyed stitching these blocks - the handbags, flowers and butterfly were among my favourites to make.  I've already transferred month #8's designs onto their fabrics so I can start the next batch soon.  Slow and steady wins the race...

I also spent the day with friends Ingrid and Birgitta planning a new quilting project, which all three of us will be creating together.  I can't give too much away just yet but suffice it to say that we decided on a pattern, bought fabric (sooo pretty!) and even got the blocks started.  So that's off to a great start.  Here's a little sneak of the fabric choices...

And finally, I chose a background fabric for my Persian Pickle project but I forgot to photograph it to share.  I'll try to remember to do that tomorrow, provided the sun is co-operating better than it was today.  I tried a few different colours and then some black but nothing was really pleasing me - they were either too flat or didn't work well with the random fabric swatches we're using.  Then I found a rich brown with varying undertones of pinks, creams and blues so I'm hoping that will work well.

Persian Pickle Project Fabric Reveal

I'm tempted to say 'Good morning!' but the truth of the matter is it's actually noon and I'm still tucked up in bed - glorious.  So instead it will be a merry good afternoon to you (dear reader)!  Pardon me while I enjoy a random Miranda Hart moment - love it!

So this week my Haberdashery group met to exchange our fabric choices for our Persian Pickle project.  I have to say, it's been hard waiting to see what everyone chose - I'm not always very good about anticipation like that.  Just to refresh your memory, this was my contribution fabric.

Anyway, here are our twelve fabrics, each measuring 15cm square:

My friend Ingrid and I had many a conversation about what fabrics we thought people would choose - I think there's a fascinating psychology to all of this.  Incidentally, Ingrid's fabric is the beautiful fuscia batik and Birgitta's is the rich, electric blue.  I thought it was interesting how many pinks/roses and neutrals were selected and then there's Lisbeth's fun sewing supplies fabric, just to really throw in a fun twist.

I already have a plan for what I'm going to make.  As there are a dozen of us, and the group is about talking just as much as it is sewing - and you know what they say about woman sounding like a gaggle of geese...  So the Circle of Geese block seemed like a fitting choice.

I had already bought some white for the background but considering how pale many of the fabrics are, I'm going to change that up to something more dramatic; just haven't decided what yet.  The block is paper pieced and finishes (without borders) at 12 inches square.  I'm contemplating simplifying things by hand appliqueing the geese straight onto the backing fabric and skipping the whole paper piecing process - not that I dislike paper piecing but appliqueing may give me more flexibility on the final size dimensions.

And so now begins the next big wait to see what everyone does with their pieces!

WIP Friday?

It's been a while since I made a WIP Wednesday post and it seems it's going to take a while longer still...  I had every intention of posting this on Wednesday but the day just got the better of me.  However, better late than never, eh?

So I have a few little projects to share with you today.  First up - I bought my fabric for my Haberdashery club's Persian Pickle Club project!

I'm sure you're not surprised that it's orange.  I did try to find something with a geometric pattern but no such luck.  My second choice was a large retro floral print on a lighter tint of orange but as we're only providing 15cm square pieces to each other, I felt this smaller pattern worked better for the size.  We'll be swapping our fabrics next Tuesday so stay tuned for the big reveal of all the different fabrics chosen - so exciting!

Second up - it's been a while since I shared my progress on my Nice People Nice Things embroidery quilt.  It's been slow going but it's coming along, little by little.  I actually ran out of pink floss the other week, which set me back some but then when I finally managed to get down to the shop and buy more, I got the bit between my teeth and sat over two nights and stitched a bunch more to catch myself up, which felt great.  I'm very nearly done another month's set of picture and text blocks.

I also have a scrapbooking LO partially started, which I'm hoping to get back to work on and finish this weekend but I'll leave that for another time.

Right, off to finish watching the Winter Olympic games opening ceremony!

Persian Pickle Project

Hellooo!  Yes, I know, I've disappeared again.  I've had such good intentions of posting this month but the days have been jammed packed and just flown by and that means trying to recover with as much sleep as possible.  Now that I've enjoyed a full 12 hours in bed (luxurious, right?) I'm feeling motivated to catch myself up on a few things so here we go...

Persian Pickle Project

What is this 'Persian Pickle' thing, you ask?  Well, the idea is based on the book, The Persian Pickle Club.  It's a story about a quilting circle of women in Kansas, USA during the Great Depression.  They come together to sew, quilt and support each other and because times are difficult, they swap fabric scraps with each other.  One of the women has a large bolt of Persian pickle fabric (AKA paisley) that her husband bought for her and she shares it out among the women and so this one fabric infuses itself into all of their creations, binding them together, as it were.  It's a book on my to-read list and I should probably see about reading it this year.  My friends whom have read it highly recommend it, so if it sounds like something you'd like, go for it!

Anyway, back to the project.  My Haberdashery club has been looking for a group project to work on together and as you might now have surmised, we've decided to use this book as our inspiration.  So here's how it's going to work:

1. Everyone will donate a 15cm square 'scrap' of fabric to each member of the group.  We can either give a different or identical fabric to each person, the choice is ours.  I personally like the idea of giving the same fabric to everyone, as it will be easy to pick out each person's contributing fabric from everyone's creations.

2. Each member will create a finished project (could be a mini quilt, wall hanging, table topper/runner, etc.) measuring 40cm square and it MUST have everyone's fabric scrap donations used in it somewhere.  We can also add additional fabrics to complete the design, too.

3. The project needs to be completed for our up-coming quilt guild exhibition September 2014.

How fun is that?  I'm thinking that I'd like to choose a fabric that really represents me, so something with bright colours (probably including a splash of orange in there somewhere) and retro/modern prints, likely very geometric.  We'll be swapping fabrics at our next meeting in February so I'll share a snapshot of my fabrics then.  So excited - can't wait to see what everyone makes!

The Sewing Corner Project
So two weeks ago I mentioned my plans to convert my old desktop computer corner into a permanent sewing corner.  Well, I have been making some (slow) progress on that project, I'm pleased to say.  As I mentioned in that post, I spent part of the day hauling an old wardrobe in pieces out of my attic storage into a trash container.  Doing so has made a big space in the attic where I plan to store the shelving unit for the old desk.

I know some of you suggested that I keep the shelving unit on the desk, as it might come in handy but unfortunately, the design of how the shelves attach to the desktop severely limits the amount of workspace and wouldn't work with the way I want to position the desk in the room so I'm happy to remove it and find other solutions.  The unfortunate consequence of having moved an old wardrobe in one day, however, is that I woke up Monday morning almost completely lame from the knees down and could barely stand or walk.  It took a week to get back to a pain-free state.  Not one of my finest moments.

Anyway, last weekend I spent some time cleaning off all of the 'stuff' that had accumulated on said desk for the last year - it had sort of become my random dumping grounds for stuff and then turned into a black void.  Most things have now either been pitched or found new (proper) homes.  There are just a few things that I plan to pack up into a box to relocate in the attic along with the shelf.  So, progress indeed!  Now the next step is to do a final boot-up of the old desktop computer and backup the files onto my new external drive and then it will be shipped off to a friend's to use the monitor and spare parts for whatever she wants.  Nearly there - more photos coming soon.

Birthday!
And in other news, it was my birthday yesterday!  Nothing exciting, I have to say.  I went out to supper the Thursday night with friends and that was lovely.  No birthday cake but I did have some truly awesome panecotta at the Italian restaurant we went to:

This year was the year of little notebooks and owl decoration gifts.  My friend Ingrid really hit the nail perfectly on the head with the little notebook she got me:

Travel Tidbits Notebook

How cute is this?  This little notebook is filled with all sorts of fun pages - some lined paper, some library-style pockets, some plastic insert pages, etc.  There's even a plastic zippered pouch at the back!  It's like a traveling scrapbooker's dream notebook.

Now you know, when I go on holiday, I save all sorts of little things - entry tickets, postcards, local stamps, brochures, business cards, etc.  I always come home with a pile of things that I've saved to later incorporate into my travel LOs.  Well, my current 'organisational process' for this goes along these lines: fly home, unpack suitcase, put all ephemera into random plastic bag, store plastic bag with X-number of similar plastic bags from previous trips alongside scrapbooking supplies (creating an increasingly unsightly mess in lounge).  As Ingrid stated, now I can pop all of these little bits and bobs into my new travel notebook - brilliant!

As for my actual birthday yesterday, I had a bit of a lingering headache / eye strain all day yesterday, which was unfortunate, but my students were super excited that it was my birthday (they're 7 and 8-years-old, remember, so birthdays are a BIG thing).  They sang me Happy Birthday in the morning, including clapping out my age (really *didn't* need that...heh) and then insisted that I choose a birthday treat from my teacher prize drawer, which they said would be their gift from all of them to me (even though one clever soul pointed out that all of those prizes were already mine to begin with - ha!).  Then during choosing time at the end of the day, many of the girls made me handmade cards and even gave me some of their own special pencils and rubbers.  All together now: Awww...

There's a bunch more on the whiteboard, not shown.

Today I'm enjoying a whole weekend to myself, where with the exception of needing to go grocery shopping at some point, I'm intending to leave my bed as little as possible - pure bliss.