I used to do a bit of sewing as a hobby... I wasn't very good, but I made simple things like skirts and Halloween costumes for myself from time to time.

Nowadays, I live in Japan. I've been here for two years, and haven't done any sewing in that time, and I miss it! My main problems are: lack of a sewing machine, lack of space for a machine should I buy one (my apartment is tiny, and I don't have a table high enough for sewing at,) and the language barrier. I have no idea how to order cloth here, and would find it very hard to read any patterns I bought here.

There also seems to be a sad lack of notions shops here. Back home, I could breeze into a fabric shop and find anything I needed... here, I have no clue where to find such a shop, nor how to measure cloth and stuff. However, there ARE a lot of secondhand shops, some which sell used kimono, so I was thinking about maybe using the kimono cloth to make something...

Anyway, I'd really like to get back into doing something creative, as I could really use a hobby! Have any of you been in a similar situation, not having access to things needed for sewing? How did you compensate? Any ideas for how I can get back into sewing?

(PS... I prefer making things I can wear or use, rather than just decorative pillows and stuff.)

Dear Gods, its actually good. It appears they have a budget, and either a lot of the talent behind Galactica, or inspired by it. Good dramatic pacing, characters you can care about, and heron61 will be pleased to see they get their scout badge for diversity and lack of blatantly offensive stereotypes. Its like Galactica had a lovechild with Voyager and let the better parts of Stargate raise it. I just got caught up, though I still need to catch the very first episode. Off to hulu or whatever to find it.

this small collection took me 5 miserable weeks to finish and i am thanking the gods that i finished without any incidents. and i am proud of it. :]

inspired by the 1940's.


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This is an update to my last post with the first twin quilt quilted (that post). You'll have to excuse the crappy image quality. I took pictures with my iphone and forgot to take pictures with my "real" camera before wrapping everything to keep my 2 year old from dragging them out.
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This is a finding nemo quilt I made a former boss who was able to adopt a baby boy this year with his wife. It was a stash buster :) made it from fabrics I already had on hand, I had bought a ton of that nemo fabric when our Hancock Fabrics went under. My daughter's nursery was finding nemo and I never got around to doing anything with most of it except backing a cross stitch quilt my Mom had started and my aunt finished.



I made this one the only one showing before the cut in case the Mom to be is wandering ;) she isn't a quilter but has a livejournal. She'll get the quilts next weekend for her shower.

What I've been up to when I'm not here...

( Picture heavy... )

Has anyone heard of a 1-year program to become a Magnetic Resonance Imaging technician in the Houston area? A friend of mine who is already in the field insists that colleagues of his have said one exists, but I have exhausted my searching methods. I have found several programs for people who are already ARRT certified, but I've heard there is a program which specializes in teaching just MRI from scratch.

Also, has anyone heard of a 1-year ultrasound technologist program?

Thanks in advance for any help!

So I guess I'm in a posting mood tonight because here am I back again with something else totally different. Today I was thinking about cleaning up my bedroom and I looked in my closet and realized there was a complete explosion of fabric in there. The shelf up top? Fabric. The box of stuff I haven't unpacked since I moved here a year and a half ago? Covered in fabric. The basket with spare linens? Fabric on top. The spare bedside table I stashed in the closet? Fabric on top AND underneath. And that's not to mention the fabric that's not inside the closet. There's also the basket of scraps in front of the closet, which is beside a box with more fabric on it and a shoe box with a 55 quilt blocks in it and a pile of charm squares and a jelly roll and layer cake from moda. Then there's my laundry basket (of clean clothes) which mysteriously is interspersed with... you guessed it. Fabric.

So I made up a list of all the WIPs/UFOs in my bedroom. (And I realized just now that I missed one: the box with fabric on top of it? Is a box with the very second quilt I ever started to make inside it. Hand-sewing because I didn't have a sewing machine then. And made of a mixture of nice and very cheap fabrics. I don't know what to do with it.) Here is my list:

1. Orange/Yellow/Burgundy sampler
2. Burgundy/Pink double wedding ring
3. Blue/White mystery quilt
4. Orange/Yellow/Brown mystery sampler
5. Pink Bento or Log Cabin
6. Purple/Blue/Green boxy thing
7. Sweet and Sour Scruff
8. Asian Charm Square
9. Sunlight/Shadows
10. Eva Nest
11. August Fields Bag
12. Origami Nine Patch
13. Little Wee Pillows (x2)

( Picture heavy; more detail )

I cringe to say this, but... this only includes things in my bedroom. Most of my sewing stuff is in the basement including a couple finished tops, a couple sets of completed blocks that I've not sewn into quilts, and several half way there quilts. I really need to tackle the problem.

Does anyone know of any groups that are focused on getting through WIPs or UFOs or whatever you call them? (Other than that blog doing Joy in the New Year or whatever it's called; I need something more long term than just the two months before 2010.) Would anyone be interested in a group like that or do you think there's already enough communities out there without adding another separate place to forget to go post at?

And finally, what's your WIP-list look like? (A lot of mine, to be honest, aren't works in progress so much as works-I-want-to-do-now-but-can't-because-of-my-WIP-list-and-lack-of-time. I've started buying on a by-the-project basis, so I usually wind up feeling like it's a WIP as soon as the fabric comes home with me.)

A question or five for all of you about starch.

When do you use it? Why do you use it? How do you use it? If you know whatever there is to know about starch but still don't use it for quilting, why not?

Normally, I don't usually get the urge to recreate something that I've seen a celebrity wear. But this popped up on Yahoo's homepage, and I just can't resist:
( to save anyone on a slower connection )

(This was under the "What were they thinking?" slideshow, but honestly, I love how this thing looks! I cannot be alone in this)

I have a vague idea how to go about it, but I'd appreciate some input. The basic construction seems fairly simple, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm going to assume the back has the back of the shark on it, so that's how I'm planning to go about that.

The quilt group information on the show who did all the work on this quilt.


Quilt I won in the drawing from the Quilt group my Mom belongs to. I could not believe I won this. My sister and Mom want to stealthis from me lol. On the back side of it there is embroidery work done with the date and name of the group and a saying about gardens. It's so pretty I'm almost afraid to touch it. I'm not sure if I will use it as a wall hanging or save it away in a hope chest. But I thought I'd share a few pictures with fellow quilters.



It's soooo to die for pretty!!!

Can anyone recommend a specific gun store/broker in town, like Collectors, etc? I have a Ruger SP101 3" barrel that needs a loving home, professionally cleaned and never dropped/mistreated. Please don't reply "Try a pawn shop" unless they offer great prices, as I'm not desperate to sell.

As a non-skinny sewer, and someone who is just starting to work from patterns from the first time in 15+ years (I just got a new machine! woo!) (also, I've been making pants into skirts and doing LOTS of sewing, just nothing from actual PATTERNS), I am being quite saddened at how tough it is to find non-ugly sewing patterns for ladies of size.

I plan on learning to draft some of my own patterns in the near future and how to do proper alterations, but can anyone recommend some starting points for patterns/pattern companies or ANYTHING so I can make more than t-shirt skirts and the like? Girl cannot live on these things alone.

Thank you in advance for your help!

U.S. Consumer Credit Fell More Than Forecast in September
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By Vincent Del Giudice

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer credit fell in September for an eighth straight month, the longest series of declines on record, as thousands of Americans lost their jobs and banks tightened access to loans.

Borrowing fell more than economists predicted, declining by $14.8 billion, or 7.2 percent at an annual rate, to $2.46 trillion, according to a Federal Reserve report released today in Washington. Credit dropped by $9.86 billion in August, less than previously estimated. The consecutive declines were the most since records began in 1943.

A labor market that kept losing jobs in October threatens to limit consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the world’s largest economy. More than 100 banks have failed this year, and lenders are requiring tougher conditions for the credit they extend to consumers and businesses.

“Consumers are ratcheting back their purchases of goods and services made with credit cards as mounting job losses have made them very cautious about what the future holds,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, before the report.

Economists had forecast consumer credit would drop by $10 billion in September, according to the median of 33 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from declines of $4 billion to $21 billion. The Fed initially reported that consumer credit declined in August by $12 billion.

Revolving debt, such as credit cards, declined by $9.93 billion in September, according to the Fed’s statistics. Non- revolving debt, including loans for autos and mobile home, dropped by $4.87 billion. The Fed’s report doesn’t cover borrowing secured by real estate.

Time for a another retreat. Lots of chocolate, coffee and sleep deprived laughter. I have the best quilting friends ever.



Aggie quilt top for a co-worker as his wedding gift to his Aggie bride. Let's all say "aaawwwww" together. This is a commissioned piece, which was welcome this time of year. Was really easy to make and my first use of interfacing. Turned out nice. There is more University of Texas Longhorn fabric in the DFW metroplex than A&M fabric, which is a bummer. Since I've been home I used the remaining two tee shirt panels and some of the left over fabric to make a throw pillow. This set will be in the new couple's guest room.




This bright Orange quilt is for the daughter of a saleman that works for us in Boston. I finshed the pink top below for his younger daughter. Its a much more simple design, however I plan on adding the details for this one during the quilting process. I think the pink quilt will turn out better actually.




Finished two baby quilt tops this weekend. Didn't try to quilt these as I have so many other projects going at once.






I also made a miniature quilt (card trick block with fall colours) for my secret sister and all the blocks for a yellow brick road, twin size quilt for my step-daughter. If only there were more hours in the day.

OH!!! I might have a comissioned art quilt coming up soon. that would be rad!

I finally finished R's baby quilt, in time for her second winter at least! Here's a photo:




It's called Rebecca's Road. The path travels crazily all through the quilt, just like our paths in life. And in one place the path gets reversed, signifying that sometimes we make mistakes, but if we keep moving forward they will straighten themselves out. Her mother told me that I will have to tell her the story of the quilt when she is older. For now, it's lots of bright colors and fun things to find: mermaids and soccerballs and kittens and cowboys.

And the reason that got finished was because I had taken up making the altar cloth for yuki_onna and justbeast's wedding, and I felt too guilty to finish it without finishing the baby quilt first. Spurred on by deadlines, I also finished the altar cloth:



The fabrics were ones that Cat and I purchased before she went to Maine. She said she wanted me to teach her to quilt. Since she doesn't sew at all, I wanted to start with basic piecing; she wanted to start with abstract Russian iconography. We were making some progress, but then the move happened and the fabrics stayed here and since she already loved them were perfect to make into the altar cloth (with design help from bec76; thanks, love).

Now I am into contract crunch season, so no quilting for a while. Le sigh.

(Crossposted from my journal.)

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Fitch Ratings on Wednesday cut Ireland's credit rating by two notches, reflecting the severity of the decline in the nation's gross domestic product and the "exceptional" rise in government liabilities. The rating agency said it had cut Ireland's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings to AA- from AA+. "However, the agency notes the vigour of the government's fiscal consolidation response to date, the expectation of further aggressive budget tightening and the likely success of the National Asset Management Agency in rehabilitating the banking sector," Fitch said. "All these factors have helped stabilise the outlook for Ireland's creditworthiness," it added.

 So...I'm working on a skirt that is meant to mimic a snake's tail.   My idea so far is to use dyed duck cloth (a different color than shown in the mock up below) to form a base, then to create duck cloth "scales" out of more of the same color fabric, add a bit of a border in paint, then sew them on in the pattern shown below.  Below the duck cloth is a bit of cotton batting (used for quilts) that will keep the scales raised a bit separately from each other.  Once it's all sewn together, I'll cover it in mask latex to give it a "skin-like" feel (not done yet).


Mock up, with cotton batting, paint, duck cloth.  Different colors will be used in the main 
skirt!

So, questions...

1)  Do the scales need to be hemmed?  There shouldn't be any more fraying after adding the latex/fabric paint, but I'm concerned that the existing scales don't look clean enough.  (Although some of that is due to my bad painting, which will be better on the final skirt.  I was lazy this time around!)  On the other hand, hemming each individual scale will take a lot more time!

2)  Are there any other ideas for holding the scales separate?  I'm currently using cotton batting, but it sort of makes the dress a bit "thick".  (Not sure that I want extra weight around my hips!  Although at the same time, I don't want all of the scales just sitting flat on the cloth.  (I'd rather have the bulk than no shape or dimension to the garment...)

3)  Any other ideas/suggestions/thoughts?

Thanks for any/all advice!