You CAN Make It: Mastering Curved Piecing

As we sat in our booth in Houston at Quilt Market and Festival in front of our Lavish quilt, we heard a constant and frustrating refrain of people loving the quilt but saying, “I could never make that!” It’s one of those quilts that’s not hard to make at all but for whatever reason has psyched out lots of people who have the skills to make it.

Wanting to support quilters who want to learn something new, we started Modern Quilt Studio’s Lavish Quilt Along on Facebook for those who want to be able to share their progress on making the Lavish quilt or a version of it. In addition, we have decided to launch an all-out campaign next year to get quilters comfortable and familiar with our simple and fail-proof method of curved piecing. So although we’ve shared the other videos for the quilt along just in the Facebook group, we’ve added another tutorial to our YouTube channel with the hope that others not in the group will realize that they too can be successful with curves. If you’d like to join the Lavish Quilt Along group, click here. If you’d like to watch any of our video tutorials, including the tutorial on piecing curves or subscribe to our YouTube channel, click here. If you’d like to purchase our Modern Circles templates, click here.

Hari Kuyo

design, just a thought, needlework, quilting, sewing, tools

February 8 marks the Hari Kuyo Buddhist and Shinto Festival in Japan that began 400 years ago. Hari Kuyo refers to the festival that celebrates broken needles and sewing. Typically women dress in kimono and take their broken pins and needles to their local temple where they place them in a block of tofu. Many believe that while sewing life’s sorrows can creep into the needles. Burying the old needles in tofu softens them and allows the sorrows to be transported to the gods and away from the sewist. Hari Kuyo is also an opportunity to pray for better sewing skills.

I love the idea of showing gratitude for our tools and for acknowledging that our tools develop an emotional patina through extended use. For those of us who aren’t able to attend the Hari Kuyo Festival, how about taking a moment to give thanks for the tools that help us create and make beautiful things? And while you’re at it, this is probably a good time to change your rotary cutter blade and get rid of those bent pins and broken needles that have served you well.

pocket pet fleece hammock tutorial

cooking, design, family, general crafts, sewing, tools

Our pocket pet journey began at Christmas when our 10-year-old daughter asked for a hamster. I decided to buy her a magazine called “Critters” which I bought at Petco. When I went to pay for it the young cashier said, “If you’re thinking about a pocket pet, I’d get a rat.” “A rat?! Really? Why?” I asked. “They’re smart, they’re social and you can train them to do stuff. Mine sits on my shoulder while I do homework,” she responded. She had me at “sits on my shoulder while I do homework.” I had a gerbil when I was Sophie’s age and I had no affection for it at all. It didn’t interact with me and seemed to resent contact with me.

So I bought the magazine, which explained the benefits and limitations of gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, sugar gliders, chinchillas, ferrets and yes, rats. Sophie read every word of the magazine over Christmas break and decided that she too wanted rats. Adding a pet to the family is a serious responsibility and an added monthly cost. I told her that she needed to make a written proposal to us including researching how much a cage, food, bedding, etc would cost. She needed to think about her schedule and commit to a time that she would play with them and clean their cage. Rats don’t like to live alone so it would be two rats to consider. We had her do this proposal because I wanted her to know that being prepared and organizing your case is how you get people to listen to you and take your request seriously. She did the proposal and we began looking for young rats because they only live a couple of years and we didn’t want to get one that might be at the end of its life.

Long story short, we got these rats, Taffy and Toffee, last weekend and the woman we got them from gave us a hammock to borrow until we could make our own for them. I decided to post this tutorial because the hammock is appreciated by all manner of pocket pets and is the perfect project for small scraps of fleece. The rats have been a lot of fun and are indeed as social as we had hoped.

Pocket Pet Fleece Hammock Tutorial

You’ll need:

a 12″ x 24″ piece of fleece (size is a guideline – it can be smaller)

4 shower curtain hooks

4 extra large eyelet (also known as grommet) sets and the tools for setting the eyelets

small, sharp scissors

a sewing machine and thread

1. Turn under a 1/2″ edge on both of the short ends of the fleece.

2. With right sides together, bring the ends to the center of the fleece so they meet in the middle.

3. Pin in place and sew the sides.

4. Turn inside out.

5. Place one of the eyelet pieces on the fabric and trace the circle on the inside of the eyelet onto the fleece.

6. With either a leather punch or a pair of small, sharp scissors, cut an X through the center of the circle large enough to accommodate the shank of the eyelet. Cut just a little at a time and try to work the fabric tightly around the eyelet piece. If you make it too big, the eyelet won’t hold so smaller is better.

7. Following the instructions on the eyelet set, assemble the parts and hammer until the metal shank overlaps the flat part of the eyelet. We put the nice side of the eyelet on the flat part of the hammock because that’s the side that’s visible from outside the cage.

8. Repeat the eyelet setting for the other corners of the hammock.

9. Using the curtain hooks, hang the edge of the hammock from a point that the pet can reach but that allows that hammock to move freely.

10. Pocket pets are sensitive to smells. So when you introduce a new hammock to them, fill it with bit of fabric or toys that already smell like them so they’ll feel at home.