A small project to relax with

Hello,  everyone.  After the big quilt, I was a little tired, mentally,  and wanted to do something that's not such a HUGE commitment of time and energy. 

A piece of scrap from the vinyl sided zipper bag we did in Sewing Club a while back looked a little bit like a boat...one thing led to another and it turned into a fidget mat.

There was a satin triangle that had been a stitching test piece, so now it has stitched texture, and a triangle also left from that zipper bag, a piece of solid blue left over from making a different zipper pouch, some more of the shiny, blue "fur" in the stash...I embroidered a couple of fish in the blue water and added bead "bubbles" and some decorative stitches from the sewing machine to imply currents and seaweed, more scraps to make a hillside building with a little path and some button shrubs...it was all very relaxing until it was time to stitch onto the fur. Then the texture was getting into the presser foot of the machine. I ended up covering all of the fur with Sulky Solvy to hold it still.

At the end, I  used solid golden binding that was left from the big quilt. (I had cut about 10 yards and connected them all together. It wasn't a surprise that there was some extra.)

It was a nice break from manipulating huge piles of fabric. 

Another fidget finished

Hello,  everyone. Today another fidget is completed. 

The project began in a stitch-out of a design that was used on the Clam Up bag that was recently completed.  

The roses called out for some butterflies,  and there was a piece of ribbon left over from the busy cubes a while back. Other beads found places, and thus lessened the extensive stash a little bit. 

The four-patch squares were also made from stash. The strips just went with the greens and yellows of the flowers.

The dotted material is a brushed knit and the outside borders (inside the binding) are microfleece. 

The newest finishes

Hello, everyone.  These are the two thing I have finished recently. One, the fidget, had been sewn for a little while, but it's getting ready to go to a new home and I wanted to "shuzh" up a little. 

She's wearing an earring and necklace now, and there are colorful crosses around the margins. Besides making the whole presentation a little fancier, the beads also put another little note of texture for the lady to enjoy.

The other is last month's sewing club project.

As y'all can see, the table runner is a bit oversized for my breakfast table. The hearts are 9 inches tall. I think it finished out at 22 inches or so on the narrow dimension. Probably about 40 inches the long way. And I didn't put border strips on as called for in the pattern! It's big enough as is.

This was mostly done with the squares in a party-themed layer cake: 42 squares 10x10 inches. There are a few extra pieces left, and a few strips and bonus triangles. The bonus triangles are turning into half-square triangle blocks in various sizes. The binding was also made from the layer cake; I cut lavender squares into 2.5 inch strips and pieced them together.

The newest fidget is finished

Hello, everyone. I had posted about this fidget before. At the time it was a Work In Progress. Now it's finished.

The whole thing is about the size of a dinner plate. It will fit comfortably in a lap or on a tray table.

It's a little hard to see the French knots in the ballerina's tutu, but I think y'all will get the idea. I prioritized tactile textures in the fabric choices over bright colors, so a person can run their fingers over the various fabrics and embellishments while watching the birds or a television show.

So good to have something finished. Now on to other WIPs!

Testing the formatting; a new fidget

Hello, everyone. The last post I made from the phone app came out looking really crazy. The desktop post after that was fine. I'm trying again in the phone app.

I found a piece of hand embroidery in the stash the other day and realized that the stitching is very textural. Added a faux-suede heart with decorative stitching and couched down some lace bits by hand. Then it sat for a few days.

Today, after trying out in-the-hoop quilting with an end to end pattern for the first time, I had a chunk of quilted satin. I sewed the embellished embroidery onto the satin and sewed the unit onto some poly "flannel" )the kind used for baby sleepers) and attached the circle to some pre-quilted black cotton.

At sewing club our president demonstrated a new way to cut bias binding. (She found a video on the internet and was impressed. ) 

And I'm ready to seam and press the new binding for the fidget.

A new bowl filler

Hello, everyone. Ye Olde House has been busy with guests. Today there is finally a moment to photograph the latest little something. It's a bowl filler/fidget, palm-sized, with bead decorations on the top.

A new idea for fidgets

Hello, everyone.

As anyone who has searched the internet for "fidget mat" or "dementia fidget" has seen, a lot of people know someone who would profit from having one of these things.

The trend of fidget devices visible online seems to be going for more and more complexity--almost more of a manual dexterity exercise device. (These are fabric ones, mostly, but you can see images of "hard goods" made of wood and having mechanical things on the surface. Those probably are more for manual dexterity than simple fidgeting IMHO.) The many things being put onto the face of the fabric fidget often seems to obscure the ground fabric altogether. 

I was talking to someone about fidgets a little while back and we agreed that some of the really popular additions (zippers) don't seem to be as desired by actual Alzheimers patients or other dementia patients we have known. As she said, "Mom just wanted to rub her fingers over the surface." I suspect that while some people really like opening and closing a zipper, many are more interested in rubbing their fingers over the texture of the ground fabric.

Also having a very large and busy fidget means taking a lot more time with choosing objects and attachments. If one wishes to make a bunch of fidgets, and doesn't actually know the peoples' interests and hobbies at the time of making, it becomes more difficult.

Thus a new, simpler model that can be made fairly quickly and has lots of finger-rubbing space:

The front: fur, with a small ring that can be turned if the person wants to. It doesn't require a lot of space to use, and can be held in the lap with ease.

The back. I was playing with scraps in the sewing room here. It's more of a colorful bonus than the star of the show.

The fur in the front was quilted to the patched back before the ring was sewn down on its ribbon.

It goes together easily, and it's small enough that a visitor can pick it up and bring it over to their friend without having to fold it for transport. 

Revisiting fleecy embroidered toys

Hello, everyone.

Yesterday I tried a new approach to the stuffed toy made in the hoop: making an opening to begin with in the back side.

How? you wonder. By piecing the back from two pieces of fleece with an opening in the seam for stuffing later.

The final back side of the kitty. (The seam line can be brushed out if one wants, the minky style fleece has a definite, though short, pile.)

While trimming I accidentally cut the seam allowance off on one of the paws, but that was easily repaired.

The only tricky thing about this pieced back was the sudden discovery that it is really important to tack down the seam allowances of the center back seam. (The seam allowance got eaten up by the foot, and it was a bit tricky to cut it free. Plus there was a small hole in the fabric at the end.) With that adjustment, the trick worked. And an opening that is hand stitched closed with seam allowance at the opening is sturdier than one that is just pulled together with stitches across a slit, and a better looking result than cobbling together seam allowances at the slit that will work like an unplanned dart. IMHO.

This is one of the Minkee Pals toys. It's about hand-sized, and you use the small (not miniature) hoop to make it.

Obviously, since the fleece I have is white, the colors were changed. I think they work out okay. And even though I bought the white remnant expressly to make these critters, I am going to use up the rest of the white: it's officially from stash now. (Found the remnant at Hobby Lobby.)

The kitty can be a toy for a baby, as everything is securely stitched down. It can be a small Christmas gift. It can be a package tie-on. It's a little bit small for a fidget, I think, but the back side is uninterrupted pile so it could even be that. Maybe it could be tucked into a pocket on a fidget, with a little tethering ribbon so it doesn't get lost. A flock of them could be party favors for a children's party.

A new fidget

Hello, everyone.

I have made a new fidget--this time butterfly themed.

The zipper opens and closes, of course. A backing rectangle keeps the fur from tangling in the zipper coil.

The blue fur is pleasant to touch.

The pink ring turned out a little too heavy to have a long run of motion, so buttons were added to the ladybug ribbon to control the ring. (It kept trying to flip over to the outside of the fidget. I could see that becoming a problem in use.)

The yellow circle is able to turn because there is an eyelet hole under the button.

There are multiple cords with pony beads and the gray ribbon has both a narrow black tube and a larger blue one. (Not to say, a repurposed curler from a perm set.)

And on the black reverse side (fake suede fabric, so not slick) a rectangle in ivory fabric allows the owner's name to be added. This is the first time I've done this, and it seems like a good idea. It's pretty much impossible to write on the black fabric, and not everyone has printed name tapes on hand to stitch in place. Also this fabric would not take kindly to having the laundry heat-glue a tape with their hot irons.

I'm thinking of doing a collection of fidgets and seeking a place to donate them. DF had a very hard time with fidgeting with his hands and something like this lets a person wiggle their fingers without tearing up their nails and skin, or the bedclothes, or other things that come in reach.

There is still a good amount of furry fabric to work with in the stash, in various colors. And made-in-USA pony beads are suddenly in great supply in the sewing studio.

A summery sort of fidget mat

Hello, everyone.

This fidget is more summer-oriented. Or, at least, water-oriented.

The large buttons are in functional buttonholes. Under the side fin is a concealed heart-shaped bead. And behind the little zipper is a backing piece, so none of the fur can get stuck in the zipper when it's in operation.

All components from stash. The background landscape was an off-cut from the embroidery-hoop holder we did in last month's Sewing Club meeting.

The fish fabric was also extra fabric from that project. It was free-motion quilted before the hoop holder was made and the flame-like (or succulent plant-like) stitching made me think of water.

The "seaweed" bundles are also functional; they hold the backing against the front of the fidget.

A new fidget mat

Hello, everyone.

After returning from the Frozen North, I had a request for a little gift for a relative: a fidget mat, to ease the tense fingers and allow relaxation while watching TV.

The nurse had suggested fur.

An overall view of the red fur fidget mat. The embellishments, except for the stabilizing button clusters, are all on a separate piece that was appliqued at the end. The beads on ribbon idea was shamelessly stolen from, oops, I mean inspired by a video on Youtube that a lady made to keep a record of a fidget pillow she made. The zipper is a fairly standard embellishment, but this time it is sewn on at an angle to increase the interest in the shape. There is a purple button under the zipper and a silver-toned gogo pailette strung on one of the other ribbons. It moves, but only inside the zipper space.

Detail of the zipper, the movable strung seed beads--yes, they are really big seed beads!--and various accent buttons.

Detail of the bead-woven ring. It's from an instruction for a right-angle weave bangle done by Mortira at Inspirational Beading.  The ring is formed by the difference in bead sizes. When I made the sample, to learn the technique, I discovered that the ring is almost a self-operating fidget device. My fingers kept turning it and turning it, exploring the feel of the beads. It's a natural to hang from a ribbon loop on a fidget mat!

The button clusters are texture in the midst of the fur, but they're also there to prevent the layers from shifting in use.

Heart fidget, final look

Hello, everyone.

The heart fidget is finished. Before I took it to the recipient of the gift, a last couple of photos:

 The front, slightly upside-down. The rows of filling covered all of the corduroy front of the heart.

One small advantage of using a sewn, turned-and-topstitched shape for the base of the heart was that the edges are stable. I was able to bead right up to the edge of the fabric without worries over raveling and general disintegration.

The back was cut from vinyl faux-leather that was lying around. It may be hard to see--using crystal Fireline does give somewhat of an invisible stitch--but every edge bead was included in the attachment stitches securing the back to the front.

It doesn't show in the pictures, but there is a little bit of polyester fiberfill stuffing inside the hear to encourage it to be an attractive shape for holding in the hand.

Heart fidget, 3rd progress report

Hello, everyone.

This is a progress update on the heart fidget. More elements have been placed and the filling of the background has commenced.

The white circles are mother of pearl beads. Their framing rows are 15 count rocaille beads. The background on the left side is mostly the 11 count transparent red seed beads. The contrast in color between the left and right background is because the rocaille beads have an iridescent finish on them. The beads are overall pleasant to touch and run fingertips over--which is really the whole point of a fidget in my opinion.

A book that the Christmas angels brought me, which is very helpful with thinking about these things, is Bead Embroidery Jewelry Products by Jamie Cloud Eakin. (The link goes to Amazon, but it may be available in your local bead or craft store. Along with the goodies beads to make the projects!)

Heart fidget, 2nd progress report

Hello, everyone.

As I'm trying to keep posts short enough that busy people can read them, there will be several smaller reports on the heart fidget.

Also, after the first photo, I switched from the phone to an actual separate camera.

Moving along with stitching, and many of the beads pose for a picture in their boxes and bags.

The back side.

If there had been plans to bead embroider this heart to begin with, there would have been a different stabilizer used I think. (I do have some Lacy's Stiff Stuff and also some similar feeling stabilizer that is used for hats and such. But didn't think of it until later!) One learns as one goes, they say.

Another fidget

Hello, everyone.

It's been a shockingly long time since a post here, sorry about that.

This is an early progress photo of the newest project in process. It's a fidget and it may be just itself, or it may be appliqued onto a mat. The jury is still out on that.

The major accent on the right is sewn down and netted to stabilize it. Pearls are going in along the left side. There will be more added! And if I am running out of steam, at the end of the beading I'll just make and attach a vinyl backing and put a bead edge to hide the seam. It's being sewn sturdily enough that a person can fiddle it in his hand without the beads all flying around loose. (Well--it's intended to be sturdy enough not to come apart.)

Scraps of pet screening were added on the back for additional strength. Various sizes and shapes of artificial pearls, red seed beads , clear iridescent seed beads in the netting on the large bead, Fireline 6 pound test line. The red spotted ones on the top left are saucer shaped (rondelle shaped?) pearls with a red #11 Japanese seed bead on top of each one.

More in a later post, it's getting late here.

Starting another fidget mat

Hello, everyone.

Fidget mats are supposed to be very useful (at least for people who were fidgety before they became ill) to assist dementia patients. There are lots of them on Pinterest.

The mats are also great ways to use up stash! This time, the base fabric is cushion cover fabric, a poly-rayon chenille design of assorted circles and squares. Very modern! The color tones are browns and creams.  The zipper element thus got a contrasting color for its flanges.

While applying the zipper to the mat, I noticed that the pins were difficult to remove.

It's good to have a tweezer around! It worked really well to just nip those tips in and pull the pin out, and even to then insert the pin into the pincushion on the machine.

The zipper element, a fairly common part of fidget mats, is there for the sole purpose of being opened and closed. This one got a small blue heart added behind the zipper--three cheers for bead stash!--so the person can find something under there besides the base fabric of the mat.

The mat is presently ready for binding.

As y'all can see, there are a lot of neutral colors in this one. The flowered circle is a re-used piece of embroidery, which has been backed with muslin and made into a pocket, with a little bit of lace added to ground the circle a bit. The ribbons sticking up from it hold a cheerful button that can be slid back and forth along the ribbon. The animal print at top left is faux-fur, and it's really soft! The chenille pattern gives texture all by itself, and some of the design elements were outline quilted to increase their prominence. There are buttons to the right of the pocket, some with beads on top of the button, and a dangle loop from the red rosette holds an enamel cross (removable for laundry.) There is also a sprinkle of beads in the circle next to the fur, and the green dangle can be moved around, as well as allowing a person to slide the silver-colored tube bead up and down a little bit. The zipper tape is left over from one of the Fabulous Pack Duffels made last spring, with an extra pull added so it's a usable zip.  (ByAnnies.com has directions on how to do this.) Also the red-ribbon rosette, which sits around the shiny gold button but is't sewn down, can be spun.

All the mat needs now is bias tape around the four sides and it can be given to the person. (There are two more chunks of this chenille fabric waiting in the wings to become mats also!) I'm thinking that if there is enough red bias that would be perfect.

Block Play, and Layout Play

Hello, everyone.

I was looking at Pinterest and saw an interesting block, one that is new to me. It was called Greek Key. The link led to Marcia Hohn’sQuilters’ Cache. In following it, I learned some new things about an old standard block: Log Cabin.

 I knew that Ms. Hohn had a Log Cabin pattern on her site, but I'd never looked at it in any detail. That was a mistake.

I have in the past used Log Cabin blocks to form larger patterns, treating the squares as a form of half-square triangle optically speaking. It gives the look of many triangles, but all the seams are either straight of grain or straight cross-grain, and while the pressing can become a mass of little things, everything does eventually. Also, and for my personality this is key, you can freely get scrappy! All you need to do is to sort your scraps by the key value that you are varying: Blues-dark, blues, medium, Blues-light, whites was one set of groupings I used.

There were the diagonal lines marching down the quilt face. There was the Christmas tree wall hanging. 

Wall hanging for Christmas season.
Center of the tree was plain blocks. Shape was created by Log Cabin blocks.
Also an applique of a pieced star for the top!

A Project Completed

Hello, everyone.

The newest Stash Fidget Mat is done.

This should take washing okay--that is, the ribbons might get a little rumpled, but the bird is fleece and should be fine. The 1-decade rosary hanging from the hanger strip is removable (has a catch) as it was originally made to be a bracelet type of rosary. The beads are golden-toned wood with brown decorations, and a pressed glass cross at the end.

The bird is stuffed by the method shown at Needle n Thread by Ms. Corbet. It should be completely resistant to shifting, as the lift is provided by pieces of fleece under the outer bird. (The bead eye is held by three stitches for security.)

Progress on the Fidget Mat

Hello, everyone.

This post is two things at once: Shiny Stash-Busting III and  progress report on the new Fidget Mat.

There was a good-sized rectangle of lime-green glittery quilting cotton, and half of it was just the right size for a new Alzheimers Fidget Mat. I used some all-cotton batting and a piece of mock-linen pale green cotton for the rest of the sandwich.

The zipper that was on hand was installed into a seam between two pieces of blue star-studded fabric. (The zipper was the same color, it inspired me.)

Pressing the zipper block sides (before trimming and pressing ends.) Yes, it is a new ironing board cover. The old one had acquired a stain somehow.

The zipper block is applied to the background. Also, before sewing on the zipper block, a small red heart was appliqued onto the background, to be a peek-a-boo element. The padded bird is in process of being added.

Most of the elements have been added now. The bird has acquired a beak and a ribbon tail. The stripe on the left is a linen fabric that has tiny pleats at the edges of the stripes. I put the pleats facing up. The stripe on the right is a hanger strap--box sewn at the ends and at a midpoint. Still not in this picture, a round element with ribbon tails and looped through the hanger strap a 1-decade rosary.

It was only after taking the picture that I realized how much the zipper block looks like an eye!

The quilting is done.

Shiny stash-busting, part III

Hello, everyone.

We survived our latest cold outbreak, down here where it is almost never actually cold, and it's supposed to be warm all week. The orchid pots are on the porch--their tree no longer provides shade!--and the spiders came in last night but I'm planning to let them sleep outside for the rest of the week. There was an economy-sized cutworm on one of the spider plants--I didn't know they could get so big and fat! I tossed it into the yard and told the birdies "bon appetit."

The latest stash-buster is done:

Serger cover

Serger cover lessons learned: 1) Don't get any ideas about matching the sewing machine cover if you didn't check total yardage to start with. 2) Don't cut length (circumference in this case) until *after* the quilting is done. But I was going to have an opening of some sort there for ease of removal, just like on the sewing machine cover and my Kitchenaid mixer cover in the kitchen, so it's not drastic if this opening is a little bigger.

Next up: fidget mats. There is enough spring-green glittery fabric to make the base for 2 Alzheimers fidget mats and that is being organized now. Random bits of other things, the more textures the better, go onto the mats for dementia patients to fiddle with. It helps their focus on other things and keeps their fingers more limber. As a bonus, DM had given me a couple of short zippers when she was cleaning out her craft drawers and they will be perfect for these mats. If you go to Pinterest and use the search box you can find many ideas for these. And then you just use the textural things you have on hand, being sure to make anything that can't go through the washer removable and anything small and washable well-secured.

I did see an Amazon pin on the search results this morning, so apparently somebody has written a book or three about them, too.

If your calling to help others runs more to "Martha" things than "blowing horns in the street" things, this is an excellent way to do it.