The Three Graces

These notebooks are small, their sizes are only 6 1/4” x 4 3/8” (15,8 cm x 11,2 cm).

Any one of them is perfect to take it with you in your bag and write down all of your ideas and daily tasks or even recipes instantly as you get them. I always carry one with me for this purpose, but I also have one near the bed, as I often get my best ideas right after I wake up, so I can quickly note them down.

The thin batting makes the journal soft and pleasant to hold. The journal cover is separate from the notebook so once you have filled the pages you can replace the journal with a new one while keeping the cover.

I believe these notebook covers are looking neat on their own (I really like these fabrics with roses), but there is something more when you look at them together.

Just like the Three Graces.

Four Seasons Trees – Work in Progress 3.

The following picture shows a great comeback to all who told me that I collected too many home decorating and gardening books in the past years. It really shows now that they can be quite useful in numerous situation! I expanded the sewing surface with them (and the ironing board), making it easier to move the larger sized “trees” during quilting.

This wall hanging was pinned with straight quilting pins, as even though my curved safety pins are less dangerous they leave too big holes afterwards. I was afraid that they would leave their marks on the light area around the trees. As a result I stung myself quite a few times during work. Nothing is perfect.

I was planning flowers and fruits under the trees but as I’ve done very little free motion quilting so far, I was afraid to just “draw” with my hands all loose. Instead I used a very thin paper to draw the pattern for myself that I could use later for the free motion quilting. Of course it was not easy to rip off all the small pieces of paper afterwards (I had to use a brow clip also ☺), but looking at the result I believe it was worth the trouble.

Prewash (Part Two)

I do the prewashing of the full fabric in one large plastic basin in 45-50 º Celsius (113-122 º Fahrenheit) water using very little mild soap. I don’t put too many fabrics in the basin so they don’t instantly cool the water down. I always open the fabric completely before placing it in the basin, because any fold is likely to develop an abrasion line during the prewash. I have them cool off in the water. I gently squeeze the water out of them and spread them out to dry (not on the sun!).

If I want to prewash a long fabric, that simply doesn’t fit into my basin I use the washing machine on a very gentle programme. I use the spin dryer in a similarly gentle way, then spread the fabric out to dry. It’s a good idea to sew the fabric together at 2-3 cm (about 1 inch) from the two cut edges, so it won’t turn into an unmanageable sea snake.

There is a recommendation to quilters iron the fabric right after, but there is no way that I iron and fold up such huge fabrics. So I always iron just that I actually need right before the work. And this way that fabric stays smooth.

If you have any more good ideas, please share them with me! I enjoy learning. ☺

I used to keep these big fabrics in full on the shelves, but it started to become a bit hard to manage them, and they also took up way too much space. So I cut off about a meter (about one yard) long out of each one (it would be a lot of trouble to work with pieces bigger than that anyway), so they all fit in one place, arranged by colors. So I never forget about them anymore (it had happened before). This small open cupboard with shelves for the fabrics was made by my lovely husband.

Writing a blog is good, because knowing that I would like to take a picture of a part of my fabrics on the shelves sometime later made me keep organized, waiting for a sunny day. I hope this order will finally stay that way later on too.

Prewash (Part One)

Minyike asked before in a comment how I do the prewash. The answer would be too lengthy for a comment, so thats why I made a post for it.

For that we should take a look back. As I stated in the Starting post, I only buy 100% Cotton, because Polyester and hybrid fabrics may have issues with ironing. (As a matter of fact that is the reason why I use only 100% Cotton thread. Even though there are some fascinating multicolor threads, but all of them contain Polyester. Do you have no problems with that? I am curious.)

Cotton of course needs to be prewashed, because they always shrink when we wash them (and not in the same way!). In the other hand prewashing also helps by washing out potentially harmful dyes and chemicals.

I start with a test for color bleeding. There are some suspicious fabrics: the dark, saturated colors and lower quality fabrics are especially likely to bleed.

At first I soak a small piece of the fabric in warm, soapy water. After about 30 minutes, I remove the fabric and check for color in the water.

If I see colored water, it means the fabric has bled some of its dye. So I add a dash of salt and about ¼ cup of white vinegar in a pan of cold water, and soak the fabric for about 20 minutes. After soaking, I test the fabric in warm water again. If the water still gets colored I would rather not use that fabric.

If the water was clear, I lay the fabric to dry on a white paper towel. If the towel is still clean after the fabric dries, the fabric is safe to use.

I know this seems like a real hassle (and it is), but I rather fight with the fabrics in such a case than have a finished quilt go to waste.

My intention is to continue this post soon.

I couldn’t take usable photos of the prewash, so there are two photos of Budapest, Hungary for you. These pictures were not taken by me, they come from Myreille’s blog, but I really like her photos. To tell you the truth I like the World when I see it with her eyes.

Before the storm, Budapest

Restaurant Vapiano, Budapest

Starting

As I have written in the introduction, I believe it is very important, that the things we use be not just practical but fine looking as well. We surround ourselves with so many things, and we need so many more to stay alive (“It's my industrial strength hair dryer, and I can't live without it!” – do you remember which movie had this quote in it?). So if that’s how it is, we should at least have good looking things, that have a nice touch, right?

My first tissue holder was made for my husband in a great hurry, when he got cold and after some time I got full of the ripped up small plastic bags overflowing our home. And what is more you couldn’t even close those bags properly. This first dear clod-hopping tissue holder since has been become a bit overwashed, and though I made him a newer one, that is looking better and more elegant, his favorite is still that good old one.

I love the way how numerous fabrics may meet even on a small thing like this holder. I enjoy sorting together my fabrics for new works. It is interesting how some fabrics instantly get your attention the minute you look at them, but some other humbly hide in the background only to shine up when the matching fabrics are put next to them. It is a good game.

Of course there are technological needs for games like this. We can only play so freely that if we don’t have to worry about the fabrics’ conditions. There are two things I do from the start for that reason. Firstly I only purchase 100% cotton fabrics, so I don’t have to worry about what the iron might do with the mixed compounded fabrics. Secondly I instantly prewash everything I buy, so I don’t have to carry about the finished product shrinking or deforming. And because I do this right after the purchase, I don’t have to think about any fabric later on, whether I did prewash or not (it happened once at the very start, so I have some fabrics that are prewashed twice, just to be sure).

I have a very good book from which I have learned a lot, we bought it in the USA: Best All-Time Tips for Quilters (editor: Ellen Pahl). It has a lot of good advices about the handling of fabrics, ironing, timesaving techniques and tools, and so much more.