Furlough Day 1 Granny's Brassiere

A  year ago, my friend Barb was going through family heirlooms and posted this amazing piece of fabric art which was part of her great grandmother's wedding ensemble.  I instantly fell in love with the crochet.  And may or may not have drunk offered to reproduce it.

Fast forward to today.  I enlarged this photo and tried to decript the original crochet pattern. 

This was my initial transcription in crochet code.

I was very concerned with the trial round on the top.  Too loose for the lace and too big of scale.  That was 5" with #10 crochet cotton and #10 hook.    I was counting pictures from the photo for the first round.  The second sample is my adjustment.  Reduced each chain by 1 stitch and simplified the pattern.   Still 4" wide.

Called Barb to find out her intent.  She would like a shadow box of a reproduction.  It should include the rest of the bodice since the draw string around the bottom is really significant.  The original is silk.  We are debating if it was always ivory or aged white.

I was happily on my way to progress when I realized I have to admit that the original used much finer crochet cotton.  Which annoys me because it's harder to work with.

This story isn't over.

Furlough Day 1 Planning

Today is day 1 of my 3 month Covid Work Furlough.  It is also 1 month from when we started following distancing/ stay at home measures either voluntary and mandated.    I have to say I was a little like a kid on the first day of summer vacation.  My husband is confused as I turned down a motorcycle ride to stay home and launch my plan.

I started with the WIP/UFO list that I started in January.   The left are the 20 quilts in various stages of completion.  The right are other sewing or crochet.  Clearly I like the planning stages and not the doing ones.    Decided to pick one in each category and TRY to focus for a finish.

Hand Quilting:  Oorah!  Pictured at the top of the post.  Started in 2012 after meeting an inspiring Marine at the Ride To The Wall event in Washington DC.  It's stalled out because of debates about how to finish it.  Ideas have included quilting Marine emblems in the center of the rings.  I have decided to go with traditional hand quilting with a cotton/wool blend batting.  I will be giving it to my good friend (and retired Marine) Fred, who's wife taught me to quilt.

Machine Quilting:  Purple.  This is a wedding quilt.  I am about 80% finished with one section of background fill and the borders to go.  Hoping to finish this one over the weekend.

Applique:  Covid 19.  Making this for my friend Chris who was in the first wave to get it in the US and described the experience like having shards of glass in her lungs.  We have identified several symbolic things to capture her experience.

Piecing:  My Alaska quilt center is finished, but i need to add borders and prep it for quilting.

Crochet:  My childhood friend Barb posted this picture of a family heirloom about a year ago.   I offered to try to reproduce it for her.

We all know I'm going to get distracted by bright shiny objects.  Even my to-do list includes another applique and an a piecing project.   Am also helping my daughter fill in her income gap by making masks, making her kits since I can prep so quickly with the rotory cutter/mat which she doesn't have.

I am on round 4 of trying to make the PERFECT sourdough English Muffin. (Round 3 on top, 2 on bottom...so clearly getting closer to the solution)

One of my other New Year's goals was to work on my garden more.  I have really let it go over the past few years, spending those sunny days on the motorcycle instead of the garden.  Here's the result of last fall's gardening binge.  I am also helping some friends design their gardens as well.

So expect lots of fabric art posts with some food and flowers mixed in.

Purple Progress

 Here's where the quilting was after 15 hours and nearly 4 spools (250m each) of thread.

 A closer look at the top section

And the bottom left with the background fill done. I think that brings my total quilting time up to about 18 hours.  I was able to buy 3 more spools of thread in this color at Joanne's with curbside pickup.   It is my goal to finish up the fills today and move on to the outside borders.

Today is day 29 of Boise, Idaho's distancing policy.  The mayor issued limits a week before the rest of the state.  First 2 weeks was closure of non-essential business and limit groups to 10 with 6 ft distancing.  It ramped up to masks 10 days ago.  Our curve is looking pretty good and the governor will be issuing new guidelines today.  I work in healthcare, but in an outpatient specialty clinic which has had a decline in follow up of non-urgent patients.  Subsequently I will begin a furlough at the end of this week.  Expect a lot more blog posts as I work through my endless supply of UFOs.

Purple

 I finally got around to sandwiching this quilt.  It's my least favorite step, made more so by it's large size 90x100, requires moving some furniture. 

 The center panel is all free motion quilting inspired by zentangles.  I stitched the borders and the diagonal lines that splits the design into 3 sections with the walking foot.  My goal for Saturday was this corner.

 Mission accomplished.  There's still fill to do, but I'll finish up with that.

Doing this all on my Singer Patchwork, which I bought in a middle of a project when I discovered it was cheaper to buy a new machine than a new free motion foot for my old machine.

Octopus

 I just finished this quilt for a family member who is about to make a new start after some trying times.   She requested something with an ocean theme.

 The quilt finishes about 70" x 90", sized for a twin bed.    Because there was a quick turn around from when the request was made, to when it's needed, I did raw edge applique with fusable.  And did the stitching in place as part of the quilting. 

I was aiming for a lot of texture, and felt it was quite a success.  Now back to all the unfinished projects, plus a new one...a quilt for a Covid-19 survivor that captures some of her experiences.

Doggo 2

My first finish of the year: another heavy duty car blanket for a big dog.  This project started as the backing of Doggo 1, but I discovered that I only had enough to cover 2/3 of the back. 

The Stash provided about 10 yards of a heavy duty denim that helped fill the gaps as well as serve as a backing. This was sewn around the outside (right sides together) then flipped right side out and top-stiched 1/2" from the edge.  I added about 6 rows of stitching to  secure the front and back (about every 6-8").

 In addition to the leftover strips from old jeans, there are 2 upcycled wool jackets.  I bought these at a second hand store for a different project for $1 each.  At first I aimed to cut straight strips avoiding seams to get normal strips.  I learned on a previous upcycle project that I quite like some of the original details left in.  So often I'd sew down plackets or pocket flaps and include them.

While this is no masterpiece, it is a heavy-duty functional item as well as a dandy stash-burner for some other well intentioned old projects.

Sum of the parts

I finished most of the details on the 4 subsections of applique and starting laying them out on the rainy grey background.

I basted the pieces down to make it easier to handle the large project. I was feeling particularly clever when I came up with a circle of wide tape to collect the threads.

Spent most of the weekend making and applying 1/2” bias around the wings. Pulling out every technique I know to make it work.

And now back to stitching.