Crafternoon: Modern Women of Sewing

I was at the New York Public Library a couple of weekends ago to attend another Crafternoon: Modern Women of Sewing. Denyse Schmidt, Heather Ross, and Liesl Gibson were there to talk about books from the library that inspire them and their work.

I had been looking forward to this Crafternoon for months. I love the work of these three women. Denyse Schmidt's quilting book was the first one I picked up when I began quilting and it gave me such a charge to see quilts that were modern and bold, as opposed to the old fashioned ones I had always seen growing up. (This was before I started reading blogs p.s., where this idea/style had already taken hold for years.) And I just love her fabrics! Same thing with Heather Ross - love her fabric, too. And Liesl's patterns are adorable!

Anyway, it was a treat to hear them speak and get to meet them afterwards.

I didn't craft anything this time, but I did peruse the books that they passed along. This quilt was from a book about West Virginia quilters. It was really quite interesting to the type of quilts people made based on what materials they had around, what type of pattern was popular, or what kind of event they were celebrating.

I really like this quilt from the book, so I sneaked a picture. I wish you could see the detail better. I don't know how many times I can tell myself before it sinks in, but I HAVE to get started on my own bed quilt. No more excuses.

Pot holders & Place mats

I was very productive this weekend! I think the tote bag really gave me a boost of confidence.

I finished two items (or six, really) that have been needed for quite some time: pot holders and place mats. Many months ago I suggested that maybe we just buy them, but Etienne would not let me. He told me I had to make them myself.

After quite some time, deliberating about which style of placemats to make, I settled on a classic three panel tryptich. Haha. No. Kidding. I made that up, of course. I just  thought it might be nice to pretend that the side panels were meaningful. A place where the silverware could lay. Designated.

The place mats are double sided. The black for when you have some Indian food and the cream for when you are eating cereal. Very important. Actually I just wanted some variety and wanted so badly to use both colors of the Lecien My Folklore fabric. It's soooo cute. I mean mushrooms, electric blue squirrels, and fruit bearing trees with roosters! I had to use it for something that I could look at often.

It was pretty much the same thought for the pot holders. I almost made robot pot holders, but Etienne suggested using one of the really cute fabrics instead. I bought this polar bear and bunny summer fabric a long time ago. Just look at the polar bears cycling and smiling. And the bunny in his old fashioned swimsuit is great.

I used Denyse Schmidt's "Too Hot To Handle" pot holder pattern from her quilting book. I decided to make it thicker, though, by adding a layer of insulating material for safety. No burns, thank you very much.

And the craftiest, most amazing part of all... the binding. When I made Joan's tote bag out of sheets I cut off the edge of the sheets where the fabric was folded up. I thought, "Kim. You should save that. In the most perfect crafty world we can use EVERY bit of leftover fabric. No wasting, please." So, I opened it up and used it for binding. Not very complicated, but I felt good that I wasn't wasting and that I didn't have to make any binding myself. Bleh. I think the white binding looks really nice against the rest, too.