Barefoot Shepherdess

Spring Cleaning

Would anyone be interested in helping me destash these Japanese cotton print fabrics...?

I once collected cute prints, but realized that I prefer to use plain fabrics for my own projects.  A few of them are leftovers from things I've made.  Some have been washed once, others are straight off the bolt.

Here are the details (length x width):

{ top row }

me-in baby cotton double gauze, pears & apples (prewashed)-- 36cm x 45cm, ¥200

me-in baby cotton double gauze, carousel (unused)-- 50cm x 110cm ¥700 sold

moco*moco by Harumi Sugihara cotton fabric (partially used)-- 50cm x 40cm, plus a little extra ¥300

Nous Partons cotton fabric (partially used)-- 48cm x 50cm ¥300

D's Selection brown houses cotton print (unused)-- 30cm x 110cm ¥400 sold

Kokka Little Red Riding Hood cotton print (unused)-- 25cm x 110cm ¥300 sold


{ bottom row }

Cosmo Textiles Co. sheep & shepherd cotton print (partially used)-- 50cm x 108cm with a little piece missing and another 22cm x 45cm plus a little extra, all one piece ¥500

Shinzi Katoh christmas print, white (unused)-- 50cm x 106cm ¥800 sold

Shinzi Katoh christmas print, green (unused)-- 50cm x 106cm ¥800 sold

Lecien red mouse cotton print (partially used)-- 36cm x 50cm, with about 15cm x 15cm missing ¥150 sold

Lecien grey bird cotton print (partially used)-- 36cm x 50cm, with two small hexagons missing ¥150 sold

Lecien dark teal cotton print (unused)-- 36cm x 56cm ¥300

green stripes (washed, but unused)--26cm x 54cm ¥150

blue stripes (washed, but unused)-- 26cm x 54cm ¥150  *two pieces available*

Prices are all in Japanese yen.  Shipping is separate-- please email me with your location for an estimate.  Payment via PayPal only please.

Thanks for looking!

Patchwork Coaster

Just a little patchwork sample-turned-coaster.  Because I was in a mood for a bit of weekend sewing.

I started this project with no particular end in mind, but to have fun with a few of the leftover scraps from my quilt-in-progress.  Since I purchased all of these more than 10 years ago, they're not necessarily to my taste anymore.  Still, the cheerful colors are a good remedy for the grey weather outside...

The skies are gray.

The rooftops are gray.

The whole city is gray.

(from Snow, by Uri Shulevitz)

And now, off to enjoy that morning cup!

Retro Pincushion

That's how I like to look at it, anyway.

Something about the bright-- almost overly cheerful-- color combination and the hexagon shape cries out retro kitsch to me.  Not my usual style, but I like it anyway.  I saw the two fabrics together in my scrap fabric bin while I was making hexagons and thought they'd make a fun pair.

This also gave me a chance to practice attaching the hexagons.  I used whip stitch, and while it gave me a satisfyingly clean join, it was somewhat labor-intensive.  Perhaps I made more stitches than was needed...?

While I found fellow hexagon addicts recommending this place for a template as you can determine your own particular size, I prefer this one as it prints more hexagons per page than the former site.  Also, the printed hexagons are not connected, which makes them much easier to cut, I think!  The hexagons I used are just a little under an inch.

I like this combination so much that I'm thinking of creating a little sewing set...  Meanwhile, I'm off to make more hexagons!

Craving Color

The daffodils are up, the plum blossoms have come and gone, the leaves are budding, and the early sakuras are already blooming.  Spring is here, and with that, color is returning to the landscape.  As a result, I'm feeling the need for more color in my crafting too.  Something bright, something cheerful and something, well... colorful.  And I remembered that I already had just the thing--

My kaleidescope quilt.  It's been 12 years in the making-- and counting.  I started it when I was a freshman in college and have been working on it in small bursts since.  Really, most of the work was concentrated in the beginning-- I probably put in more hours at the campus craft center than the college library.  [There was a little, two-story house of dedicated crafting space, fully equipped & open great hours.  I miss it, thinking about it now!]

Most of the fabrics were purchased at the nearby small town quilt shop, so the they weren't all my favorites.  Still, looking at it from a distance, it doesn't look so bad, considering the limited choices.  What I'm least fond of now is the backing fabric (visible along the edges)-- it was purchased years later at a different place and something I grudgingly settled on after scouring all the fabric shops in the area.  Perhaps it'll look better once it's complete and no longer showing on the front.

Piecing the square units went quickly enough.  It was great fun, creating all sorts of fabric combinations for them.  Things slowed down after all the units were done and rows had to be sewn together and pretty much stalled when the hand-quilting began.  I came up with the stitching pattern myself, and while it looks pretty and suits the kaleidescope pattern well, it's very time-consuming and sort of intricate to stitch for a quilting beginnger that I am-- this is my first and only quilt.  But I'm determined to finish, if only so that I can make more.

.....Or maybe I already got started--

When I was choosing the pattern for my first quilt, I debated between the kaleidescope and the hexagon.  Ever since, I've wanted to try making the latter using the English paper piecing method, and recently, I've seen great ones on other craft blogs to entice me all the more.  A few evenings ago, I decided to try a few... and now am completely addicted.  I don't know if this will end up as a finished quilt, but for now, I'm turning all my scraps into hexagons-- at least, until I tire of them.  I don't see that happening anytime soon though!