Me-made shirts

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Besides the quilt, I got 2 shirts finished up. This butterfly one-

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Quilt-weight cotton fabric, designed by Lizzie House. I don’t think she is designing fabric these days, but I have loved her prints and this is at least the third shirt I’ve made using them.

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And this dark blue linen shirt which feels so nice to wear but I made kind of a big mistake.

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You know how buttons are on one side on a woman’s shirt, and on the other for a man’s? Yep, I got it wrong. After I had it all finished and buttoned up, trying it on for the first time, I looked down and thought to myself, Something doesn’t look right here! Oh well, it is absolutely not fixable so I will enjoy it as it is. And yes, pockets. All my clothes have pockets.

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Other than sewing, I’ve spent time in the garden. The flowers are beautiful this year with all the rain. This hydrangea is looking especially gorgeous right now.

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I am back to work, putting together some new mermen. Nothing will get finished until late next week at the earliest as I am off for more road tripping this next week. Busy summer!

Summer Quilt

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I haven’t been finishing any dolls in the past few weeks. I had a few other sewing projects that I REALLY wanted to finish up before the end of July. I didn’t quite make it by that deadline but I did finish them. The big project was a summer quilt. We had the wool quilt on the bed since I finished it last fall but I wanted a cotton quilt. And here it is!

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Here is the back-

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I only used fabric that I already had plus reclaimed fabric from several of my me-made clothes. It is approximately 90″ x 90″ and goes on our queen size bed. The batting is wool. I hand quilted it. Here are some in-progress and detail photos.

Finding a space and table big enough to sew on the binding.

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Step 1 of the binding- the machine sewing.

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Step 2, the hand sewing.

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After the binding was on, I threw it in the washing machine, delicate cycle. Then dried it outside for a few hours. It was still a bit damp and I put it in the dryer. I didn’t notice any shrinkage but it was certainly wrinkled after it’s wash and dry.

8-7-quilt - 1 (1)And here is a pic from my first night, test run. It was perfect!

The other sewing I worked on was 2 shirts and I will post them next.

I got an Oliso iron and I really like it!

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This is a story and a review of 2 irons, and the one I’m now using every day!

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I use my iron a lot when I work and I’ve been unhappy with the last few irons I’ve bought. Some of my complaints included the iron taking a long time to warm up to temperature, having no indicator that it is at temperature, turning itself off very quickly, having a small water tank for steaming, controls in awkward positions (one iron I had would constantly turn off because the control was right where my hand went when I picked up the iron!)… I’m sure there were other things that I’ve very happily forgotten. I was contacted last winter by Oliso to ask if I’d be interested in trying out and reviewing their new mini iron. Of course I said yes! I had never actually heard of the brand so I went to check them out. The mini iron wasn’t going to be available for a month or so, so I checked out the full size irons. I was intrigued- Pretty colors and those funny feet!

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Because I was already in the market for a better iron, I decided to spring for the TG1050 Smart Iron. I’ve been using it for 3 months now and I am so happy with it. If you want to see it in action, here is an excellent video review of the iron by Wendi Gratz and she points out all the features that I like too. She has a fancier model but everything she mentions is true on mine too. Every time I put my hand on the handle and those little feet go up, I get a silly thrill- and that is pretty amazing from an iron.

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Now, about the mini iron. Eventually I received it and began using it in my studio. I’d already had my new full-size iron for a while at this point. My mini is a lovely yellow color and about half the size of a regular iron. It comes with a silicone rest to place it on when you are using it. The iron will not stand up like a classic iron in a rest position. The silicone plate rest turns over and it clips onto the iron for storage.

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So what do I think about this cute mini iron? It turns out that this is not a tool I need every day in my studio. I will carry it when I travel though. I can see that it would be very useful when I unpack for shows and there are touch-ups that need to be done. It would also be excellent for travel teaching and if/when I take a class. Some of the reasons it is good for travel are the same as why I won’t be using it everyday in my studio.

-The water tank is very small so the water gets used up very quickly. This seems like a plus for traveling.

-The mini does not have an auto shut-off. It turns out I am very dependent on this feature. I scared myself because I accidentally left it on when an unexpected guest rang the doorbell and I forgot about it. This would not be an issue when using it in my show booth.

-It packs up compactly and the silicon rest snaps right on the ironing plate.

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I think this little guy would be fine for someone who only occasionally uses an iron or, as I’ve noted, as a traveling iron. But, oh how I love my blue smart iron!

fyi- I got my Mini Iron for free to review, but I bought my Smart Iron at JoAnns. Just so you know, the “sale” price at JoAnns was the same price (or a little higher?) as “regular” price, direct from the website, which I didn’t realize when I was shopping.

Ask away if you have any questions. I wasn’t sure what exactly you would want to know!