D Whynn Designs

Fall? Fall?

Fall is my favorite time of the year.  Well, it used to be my favorite time of the year when I lived in the part of the country that had fall.  Around here (Florida) we are ecstatic because the mornings are maybe a tiny bit less humid than usual -- so that must mean fall!

I don't like August or September much either. This year was no exception and I'm thrilled that August is over and September is moving right along. 

Aside from back to school (which as a teacher means back to work for me) way back around August 3rd or so, there is also constantly monitoring the tropics (to an almost ridiculous obsession), whining because I'm over the heat and tired of thinking of things to make for dinner, I have been busy at the sewing machine.

We just received the McKenna Ryan Beach Walk patterns and fabrics in at the quilt shop. The fabrics are absolutely beautiful.  The quilt shop is going to be running it as a block of the month pattern and I've been racing along trying to finish up a shop sample as soon as possible.

I've made a few McKenna projects before but this one???  Holy cow! The pieces . . .the size . . .the number of fabrics . . . .the endless tracing . . . .

So far three blocks finished (and that is after many, many hours).  Pretty though, aren't they?

 

 

 

These still have to be quilted, embellished and then the whole thing assembled.

And you want this sample quilt when??????

More projects in the works.

 

 

Hope you are enjoying fall!

My Big Fat Dresden Experiment

I'm not quite sure how it happened -- perhaps I've seen many Dresden projects lately -- but for some reason I became intrigued by Dresden plates to the point that I decided that I had to try making one.  Even though I have about 17 other projects going, some with deadlines, I dropped everything to pursue Dresden plate making.

After a trip to the bookcase (I like books as much as fabric!) and some time on the internet, I felt I was good to go.  I was pretty sure I even had a ruler that was a free bonus from some quilt show I had been to a few years back.

I decided to pull some fabrics from the bin labeled Big and Bright.  Well, I'm not actually organized enough to have labeled the bin, but at least the fabric is sorted and I know that that particular bin is full of Big and Brights, mostly Amy Butler and the like.

 

I cut a whole bunch of 4-1/2" strips and then used my handy dandy ruler and cut lots and lots of angled pieces. 

Then I assembled a whole pile of these things:

 

Viola - a Dresden plate!

 

These were pretty fun to make especially in the No Rhyme or Reason manner in which I assembled them. 

So I made a bunch more.

Now I guess I just have to figure out what to do with all these pieces from my sidetracked Dresden Plate project! 

That, and get back to work!

Too Pretty To Cut

I love fabric.  I buy fabric.  I own (alot) of fabric.  Probably too much fabric.  Sometimes I have a hard time cutting into particularly beautiful fabrics. I fold them and unfold them and smooth them and fix them and think of all the thinks that this fabric would work for --- and then I can't bring myself to cut it.  Which is just ridiculous because there will always be more beautiful fabrics and exactly how much fabric can I hoard collect.

Not too long ago I was taking a trip and I did not have a bag to take.  Believe it or not, I haven't made myself a new bag in OVER a YEAR.  I must say that the bag I made longer than a year ago has held up well but I'm about six months over looking at it.  My trip was fast approaching and I didn't have time to make a whole new bag --- and that's when I did it.  I cut up some beautiful Japanese linen that I was "saving".

Quick and fast tote bag. Great size for my travels. Completed in a short period of time.  Best of all I actually got over it and cut!

Between the straps and inner pocket I used up almost every scrap of the full yard.

I tried a new interfacing experiment with this tote and am pleased with the way it came out. I fused a medium weight interfacing to the lining of the bag instead of the linen. The bag maintains a crisp shape and the linen has no wrinkles or creases.

Isn't there a fabric cutting rule:  Cut into one yard of "saving it" fabric, you can add 6 more yards??

 

Out of The Bag

Almost a year ago I was contacted by the C&T Publishing Company. They were starting a new craft book line and were interested in my lunch bag design for one of their upcoming books.  Several emails were exchanged; the product line they were proposing sounding pretty exciting and I decided to give it a whirl.

I re-designed my lunch bag pattern adding a new feature (that my daughter had been nagging  suggesting that I add) and sewed up samples to the wee hours of the morning until it was all just right.

For a while it was top secret hush, hush, hush and night and day rush, rush, rush and then out the door went bag and pattern.

All too quickly a whole year went by and the book will be out this month.  This is another book in their new Design Collective books line which is part of Stash Books.

 

I purchased the  book Little Birds from this same line when it came out a few months ago and I love it.  Filled with 26 great projects in a perfect little book.

Imagine my surprise when I was sent a photo grid of some of the projects in the book and right there down in the right-hand corner next to the surf board is mine.

Check out the lunch bag for your bike.  How perfect is that!

 

  
In the meantime Stash Books is giving away two and a half yards of laminated fabric over on their Stash Books blog.  Click on over and register to win!

 

 

A Quilt Story

A while back my younger sister, my very much all grown up adult younger sister, whined that no one EVER makes her anything.  She doesn't have a bag, or an apron or a quilt --- NOTHING. I'm always making something and I NEVER make anything for her.

Sadly, it is true.  Not intentional, but she is right.  So I decided that I had to put creating something for my sister as a priority on my list.

A short while later Denyse Schmidt released her Hope Valley line of fabrics and everything about these fabrics, color, style, design, screamed my sister's name. After a mad search through all my pattern books I felt that Fanciful Flowers in the Material Obsession book was also screaming my sister's name -- with those huge 18-1/2" blocks, big bold appliqued flowers and lots of color it was all her.

  
  
Unfortunately, I was never able to blog about my quilting adventures because my sister is an ever faithful blog reader and would have demanded to know WHO that quilt was going to be for.

I would love to have shared with you all the fact that I had to place 4, yes four, separate orders for more fabric, that one day I cut all my plain applique blocks to a measurement of 18" square instead of 18-1/2" which meant over a yard of ruined fabric and yet another trip out to the quilt store OR how I put the borders on upside down which didn't matter one bit for the finished quilt but meant I had to read the cutting instructions upside down for 3 rows of borders - a challenge at best.

 

My sister was working hard on her doctorate and with fingers crossed would graduate this spring - enough time for me to be able to present her with a "now you can rest a bit with your very own made just for you comfy, cozy quilt".

 

So while she was writing and revisioning and working and defending I was sewing furiously!

Congratulations Dr. KJK! We're all so proud of you!

Love,

The Nice Sister

Pretty Maids All In A Row . .

A few months ago we added some children's patterns to our line at the quilt shop.  Here are some shop samples I created.  Reminded me of how much I enjoy sewing children's clothing!

With a matching dress for the doll, of course!

 

This darling outfit - halter top and skirt - was my absolute favorite but these are poor pictures.  I think it would have modeled better on a kid!

 The halter top.

The skirt.

Together.

These patterns are all by Mod Kid Boutique. I found the patterns to be well designed with plenty of photos, diagrams and easy to follow written instructions.  They are available in many quilt shops as well as all over the internet.

 
I cannot remember the designer of this pattern but it's an adorable dress for a baby or toddler or can be sized to be worn as a summer top for a child.  There are several differnt strap styles on the pattern. 

For my favorite 4-year-old.  She picked the fabric.

Today's cranky mood is brought to you by the fact that I purchased one brand new Christmas quilt/project book and then added my two Australian Shepherds and one swimming pool . . . . . . . . . 

  
  

Special Delivery!

Saturday is my son's 19th birthday. My son has become very interested in cooking. I believe from all the cooking done around here as well as from his job in the kitchen of a local restaurant.  I decided that I would surprise him with a good Chef's knife that was all his own. 

Because I really don't love going shopping out in the world,  I ordered him a Wüsthof Culinar 7-Inch Hollow Edge Santoku Knife from Amazon. If Amazon issued frequent shopper cards, I'd be a platinum card carrying member!  Yesterday the knife was due to arrive so I had my eye on the door waiting for the delivery so I could snag it and hide it and SURPRISE him with something.

Come afternoon the Fed Ex man is pounding on the door.  I ignore it because my delivery men usually knock, drop and run and with my dogs it's just easier to get the package after he's left.  But the Fed Ex man continues to pound and he's peeking in the front door glass yelling hello! hello!

I open the door to find the Fed Ex man bleeding all over the front porch yelling "my leg", "my leg", "the knife" "the knife".  Do you have a towel?  Chaos followed - on a grand scale - to the extent that my son now joined the communtion to see what the heck was going on.

This is what my box from Amazon looked like:  Quite the suprirse to find 3" of a high quality chef's knife sticking out the end of it!!

 

Inside the box:

 
My favorite - the label with "Sharp Object Inside".  And yes, that's Reader Rabbit software for a little one I tutor.

Before the picture taking, we did bring the weaving and extremely excited (older) Fed Ex man in out of the sun and heat, offered him a seat, peroxide, Neosporin and butterfly band-aids.  When I told him I was going to take some pictures of the box, he wanted me to take a picture of his leg . . . . So there you guy, a cleaned up and repaired Fed Ex man leg:

 
  

After it was all said and done, we just kept repeating that unless you were here, you wouldn't believe this story.

My son loves his new knife and used it last night.  Unfortunately it won't be wrapped with paper and bows as a surprise.  Disappointing, since they are hard to surprise by his age.

And, yes, I did contact Amazon.  I got one of those nice form emails telling me they were so sorry, they take every effort and they hope I continue to have pleasant shopping experiences. 

While I will certainly continue to be a frequent Amazon shopper, they may want to take a little extra precaution when packing some of those boxes.

 

Totes Times Eight

I start this post by commenting on the fact that I have no idea why it has been so long since my last post. I haven't done anything profound in the last month and a half like travel the continent, solve the world's problems, reflect upon life -- nope, nothing.  I guess time just flies by.

As I believe I have mentioned before, I teach preschool - 4 and 5 year olds and I have done this for many, many years.  We run on the same schedule as the public schools which means we are now officially on Summer Break!!

Each year we always give our students some little end of the year gift.  I was stumped this year because A) I've come up with years and years worth of gifts; B) Any gift is multiplied by 10 so cost is a concern and C) I like to give them something that reminds them of our year together.

Finally, it dawned on me. This class loved to draw in their journals so I got them each a "journal" (really, just a notepad from Office Depot and a cool 4 color pen (because packs of markers times 10 are expensive) and then made them all a tote bag.

Super easy and faster than I could have gone out to the store and found something.  Plus I used stash fabric and it's always a good feeling when you are creating from the stash.  It was fun to match fabrics to each kid's personality.

Great party gift idea and if you have a stash anything like mine then that makes them virtually free!

To create:

Cut 2 rectangles 14-1/2" w x 16" l.  Use 1/2" seam allowances.

With RST and using the serger (how fast can it get!) sew down one side.  

Open up and serge all the way across the top to prevent fraying.

Fold back together, RST, and stitch the other side and bottom.

Iron down top of bag 1/2".  Attach 16" of webbing about 2" in from each side to the front and back of the back at the top.

Fold over hem. Topstitch around, fill with goodies and you are good to go!

The kids LOVED them. One little girl wore her bag out to the playground and all through snack!

Time to go turn on the sewing machine - it's summer break!

Happy Birthday to Me

When this is what you find in your mailbox in honor of your birthday:

A little something for the wrist makes it all so much better.

  

A Humbling

 

That blue blob you see in the photo above would be what is called a complete and total design flop. Not a "can be fixed with some tweaking" design, but a complete and total "hit the trash and start over" kind of failure.

My first?  Hardly.  My last?  Highly doubt that.

Often times a design will look fantastic in my mind and even equally fantastic as a one-dimensional line drawing, but turning that into a three-dimensional fabric item has it's risk. 

A smart and cautious designer will usually make their first attempt out of muslin -- and I have yards and yards and yards of the stuff that someone gave me.  But sometimes one (me) becomes overly confident (I believe the word is cocky) and goes straight for the good stuff so sure they are that this design is going to be *the one*.

And in my case the good stuff went for approximately $9.00 a yard.  And also I happened to like that particular fabric which is now useless.

Next step . . . .well, quite frankly, it was turn off the machine and WALK AWAY from the whole mess.

After I recovered from my humbling experience I started over . . . . .

 

with the muslin . . . . . .