Cute Critter Pillowcases

My philosophy during this stay at home due to COVID-19 has been to clean closets and be decisive. If I do not feel like making something up now, when I have few outside distractions, then I probably never will. While proceeding with the clean out of my sewing room closet(s), I found several ziplock bags with fabric combinations inside, groupings for which I most likely had plans. Apparently at some point in time, of which I have absolutely no recollection, I thought three particular fabrics went together and grouped them with each other in a ziplock bag. Now I thought they would make up nicely into a pair of pillowcases and perhaps that was my original intent. So here they are. I think the print with owls, raccoons, foxes, squirrels, deer, porcupines, and toadstools is adorable and has a unique color combination – orange, yellow, teal, and grey. The grey plaid oddly enough goes well with it and yet is not from the same fabric line.

When I checked the selvage, the reason for my draw to this cutely subdued fabric was more apparent. It had been designed by Debbie Mumm, a longtime favorite artist of mine, and manufactured by Wilmington Prints. The plaid was from Riley Blake Designs.

I especially like when the broad band fabric runs along the grain. The ¾ yard needed for a standard size pillowcase sits in the correct orientation on the bed. I had 1½ yards so I made two pillowcases, taking care to put the grey plaid opening with solid orange accent strip on opposite ends. The two cases are folded in half and then thirds in the next photo.

Laid out side by side as they would be on a bed, the bands of critters line up at the same level. This pillowcase pair will lie in wait in my linen closet until a grandchild picks them out at bedtime for sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's. Maybe they will hitch a ride home in his or her suitcase. "Whoo" knows how "deer" he or she will find them and want to "squirrel" them away, like a little "masked bandit".

My DL2Q Blog Book Vol. 13

I have added Volume 13 of my DianeLoves2Quilt blog books to my ongoing series that I make from the online service Blog2Print.  It spans the time period Jun 9, 2019 - Jan 12, 2020. The dedication reads

Volume 13 of DianeLoves2Quilt contains one completed quilt and includes progress on one that has lingered for nearly four years. There is much inspiration gained from three quilt shows. A new Christmas Cars quilt is started. Lots of pillowcases and many Elf and Santa knit hats join an eclectic mix of llamas and robots.

These are the front and back covers featuring Robot Pillows (post dated 6/9/2019), and Knit Santa Hats (post dated 7/15/2019).

Here is the Table of Contents containing 23 posts.

The following charts compare Volume 13 with previous volumes in terms of number of posts and time period addressed. This time I feel I am honing in on the optimal size. The post for Volume 12 (dated 2/23/2020) gives more cumulative details (to the point of ad nauseam) from past volumes. I guess I could not keep the engineering nerd in me from shining through. I do like plots and graphs.

Kitchen Valences with Grommets

In the throes of closet clean-out and purging during the pandemic isolation I came across a long roll of fabric leftover from when I made drapes for the family room and nearby dining nook. Related posts for the floor length drapes in the family room and the valences in the dining nook are on the following dates respectively 6/28/2018 and 7/30/2018. The fabric remaining on the bolt was 93". So I did a bit of exploratory math. How many short valence panels could I get from this length to span my three windows in the bay area of the kitchen above the sink? To cover the rolled up header of each pulldown sunscreen shade, I needed a finished length of at least 9". I did a quick calculation and initially found that six panels of 54" wide fabric could still give me a width slightly less than twice that of the windows, yielding a curtain to window ratio of ~1.9.

A ratio of 1.9 would be adequately full so as not to look skimpy. Each valence could be 15½" long before subtracting for the 4½" stiffened header, seam allowances, and hem and still exceed my 9" minimum length. But the three windows are not equal sized so the center one would look less full. I could live with that. Maybe I could even eke out a seventh panel so there would be two each on the side windows and three in the center window. More concerning than the fullness, though, was that the 25" long pattern repeat of the fabric would not allow me to have a matching pattern across the breadth of the windows if I cut every 15½" for six panels or every 13 ¼" in the case of seven panels. Then I realized if I cut every 12½", it would be exactly one half a pattern repeat and perhaps I could alternate. The next photo shows the bottom of the panels along the cut line and how they would alternate. I would have four from the top half of the pattern repeat and three from the bottom half of the pattern repeat. Every other hemline would be the same, alternating offsets as shown in four of the seven the panels draped over my railing.

But 12½ " did not leave me enough length for the 4½" header. So I came up with the idea of making the header a facing out of the same weight fabric. I had one yard of a drapery-weight, white and blue line sailboat print. The stiffener is 4", ½" turned over the edge of the stiffener, and ½" goes into the seam allowance with the valence fabric totals 5". I had enough for 7 WOF x 5" =  35". These are the seven strips. They will not show being on the backside, so pattern repeat does not matter at all. I was proud to be using something up and not having to leave the house during the social distancing mandate. My mini-success reminded me of an old poem.

Use it up... Wear it out... Make it do... Or do without.

The extra tools of the trade were the 4" buckram non-woven stiffener for the header and the 56 grommets I would need, 8 for each panel. These were all mail ordered to supplement the stock I already had on hand. I still kept the black rubber setting tool from the last time I made grommeted draperies and valences.

First I sewed the facing onto the drapery fabric with a ½" seam and pressed it away from the drapery fabric. These are the rightmost three panels draped over my railing in the second photo.

I then added the stiffener, butting it right next to the stitching line of that seam. Turning the half inch of the facing over the opposite edge of the stiffener, I set my zig zag stitch at a width of 4.0 and a length of 2.0  and sewed a ½" stitched down the edge securing it in place. No, that second photo is not a microwave or  heart rate monitor; it is the display screen on my Pfaff to remind me of what settings I used.

I folded the facing over behind the valence main fabric and stitched down the middle of three thicknesses to hold it in place, using the longest straight stitch I had. I would remove that line later. After determining I needed to space my grommets 6⅝" apart, I calculated where the middle and those eight centers had to be.

I placed sticky notes at those locations on my tape measure and laid it out on the horizontal center line of the facing. They stuck very well to the tape and good enough to the fabric that I could mark vertical lines on the facing at the grommet locations with a ruler and pencil. The stickiness lasted long enough that I could mark all seven panels, and the yellow squares still clung tenaciously to the vinyl tape measure afterwards.

I then sewed down the facing at each vertical line, again with a very long stitch length, to secure the three layers of fabric, stiffener, and facing so they did not slip relative to each other while I cut out those 56 circles, one by one, with scissors. When I was finished it looked like The Very Hungry Caterpillar had been meandering about on the valences. I just finished two Very Hungry Caterpillar quilts – posts 4/13/2020 and 4/21/2020 – so that munching critter is fresh on my mind.

Grommet installation details are in drapery post for 6/28/2018. While I was sewing the valences and installing the grommets and removing all those temporary stitching lines, my husband repainted the walls from peach to grey; actually the color is Benjamin Moore's Silver Chain which sounds so much more appealing than drab grey. He installed the three rods from Target – which we also had mailed to us, and did not need to leave the house. Instead of alternating the panels, it then occurred to me to put two each from the top half of the pattern repeat on each side and the three from the bottom half of the repeat in the middle window. The discontinuities fell at the corner angles and are not at all noticeable. The kitchen valences are fairly short but their bottom hangs at the same height as the valences in the nook since the kitchen has a drop ceiling. Yay – for once Murphy's Law was defeated!

So now I have removed that long sturdy cardboard tube with a mere 93" of fabric wrapped about it from cluttering up my clothes closet. But this tube is made from a thick durable cardboard and is so strong. It must be useful for something else – rolling a quilt sandwich, keeping a tablecloth wrinkle-free, holding up a blanket like a tent pole for grandchild play. Surely I cannot throw this out. The irony does not escape me.

Hang Your Quilt Day

Saturday, April 18th, my quilt guild, Amador Valley Quilters, encouraged its members to hang a sample of their quilts outdoors for the neighborhood to enjoy. I likened this practice to other diversions during times of "shelter in place" and "social distancing" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some people put teddy bears in the windows of their homes for parents and their children to seek out and find while "going on a bear hunt" during walks. The Italian population gather at their windows every evening to cheer and give thanks to the medical workers who are tirelessly risking their lives. I think of putting these out for both reasons – to have something to view and enjoy and as a show of thanks to our essential workers. These are the quilts I've made that I chose to display. After each photo are the names of the quilts and a link to a post that tells more about each.

From left to right

• Sanity Quilt 6/20/2012
• Grinch 7/2/2014
• Simple Gifts 6/10/2015
• Out of the Blue 8/16/17
• Sunny Spring Frost 7/24/2013

From left to right

• Orange and Grey 8/10/2016
• Train 7/24/2018
• Overlapping Squares 6/8/2016
• Flag on bench - no blog post reference since it predates me blogging (pre 2011)

From top to bottom

• Traveling Mandala (6/7/2015)
• Leftovers - no blog post reference since it predates me blogging (pre 2011)
• First Quilt - no blog post reference since it predates me blogging (pre 2011)
• Painted Barn "Quilt" 2/11/2020

Munch... Munch... and Much More

The Very Hungry Caterpillar made a second appearance on the quilt for my grandson in Oklahoma who will turn 5 in July. There is little difference between his quilt, MUNCH... MUNCH...  and the previous hungry caterpillar quilt titled MUNCH..., made for his cousin in Southern California who turned two mid-April. The binding fabric and the FMQ pattern are essentially the same for the two quilts. I completed MUNCH... in the beginning of March and MUNCH... MUNCH... ten days later. Previous three posts on these two quilts are dated 4/10/20, 4/11/20, and 4/13/20. Both quilts finished at 45" x 63".

Here is a comparison of the echo quilting between MUNCH... on the left for the two year old and MUNCH... MUNCH... on the right for the five year old. I thought there might be an improvement with practice but not so. Even if I squint, I cannot detect any increased steadiness in my hand as my confidence built. What a relief! No improvement! There is no need for me to feel guilty that one quilt is better than the other and I am showing favoritism between grandsons. I did quilt the second quilt more quickly than the first because my decisions were pre-made. I quilted all the 50 weight thread first and then all the 40 weight. Since I did not switch threads as often, I saved time with the tension adjustment back and forth between the 50 weight white thread and the 40 weight variegated thread. In that sense, the experience gained was not for nought.

The name MUNCH... MUNCH... indicates that an older, larger, caterpillar was at work. Two other notably different variations:

• The backing fabric is primary colored irregular shapes with holes nibbled out by the few caterpillars scattered about.
• The labels are green grosgrain the current favorite color of the soon-to-be five year old, rather than blue grosgrain, like the stripes on the backing fabric of the other quilt.

I was proud of the backing seam. I was able to match the print so it is nearly invisible. It runs vertically down the center of the following photo. On the quilt it is a horizontal seam. The backing fabric runs "sideways" which means the caterpillars are not oriented up and down. No worries. I do not think that the caterpillars in nature are too gravity challenged. They crawl every which way on the leaves they munch. Grandpa's fingers and toes are included in the third photo.

Since these quilts had been twelve years in the making, I had plenty of time to collect related items to give with the quilt. In the Home Goods store a couple years ago, I happened upon some Very Hungry Caterpillar musical instruments – a harmonica, a pair of castanets, and a recorder. The recommended age was 2+ so they would be perfect. I bought two of each instrument, remembering I had those two kits to make, and stored the toys away. I put them in the plastic bin with the kits so I would be able to find them when the time came.

Recently a quilt friend of mine came to a meeting with an adorable tote bag that was made up like a old-fashioned library checkout out card. She told me that it had been a gift from her daughter from a web site called Out Of Print. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I went to the website and bought one for myself. While I was there online shopping, I hit the jackpot of Very Hungry Caterpillar paraphernalia. There was a zip pouch and I bought two. The pouch was the perfect size to hold the three instruments. When I removed the instruments from their packaging, I could fit them, as well as the card for each, within the pouch and still be able to zip it closed.

The Out Of Print site also had an adult caterpillar tote and I child-size caterpillar tote. Naturally I bought two of each as well. The reverse side of the totes and the zippered pouch with images of one apple, two pears, three blueberries, four strawberries, and five oranges is also whimsically adorable. The larger tote is perfectly-sized to hold the folded up quilt; the smaller tote is well-sized to hold a hard cover copy of the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I included a 50th anniversary edition.

As I was preparing to package the second quilt and assorted accessories for mailing to Oklahoma, my husband tossed this envelope on my cutting mat. He had come across it while cleaning out the garage, having been saving it for the commemorative stamps since he is a stamp collector. There, in the upper right corner, was a 2006 issue stamp for The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The US Stamp Gallery posts the following description for the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar commemorated by the 2006 issue stamp. The 30 million copies sold at the time cited in the website's posting has been surpassed.

The most recent information I could find on the publication popularity of The Very Hungry Caterpillar book was from the Wikipedia entry for the author Eric Carle stating

He is most noted for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a picture book that has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies, equivalent to 1.8 copies sold every minute since it was published in 1969.

Great Britain has also issued a stamp jointly with the United States in 2006, honoring the book. Great Britain's stamp includes little holes in it, as if that very hungry caterpillar had taken a few bites out of it.

From a stamp collector's blog I learned that Japan issued a souvenir sheet in 2018 commemorating The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Since my daughter usually takes pictures of her quilts and clothing creations outdoors on her front porch, I decided to do the same for what I was giving her son, my grandson. First is the quilt next to its small pouch of musical instruments. Then follows the quilt with a corner flipped down to show the backing along with the other two tote bags.

Here is a closeup of that famous and quite plump caterpillar both on the tote bags and on the bottom panel of the quilt.

Here is a closeup up of more of the FMQ: the wavy caterpillar-like lines in the solid borders, the stitching around the snacks, and the wavy grid in the letter corner blocks.

The 50th anniversary addition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar is shown juxtaposed to the label of the quilt named Munch...Munch....

All is documented, ready to be packed up, and then mailed off. Happy Birthday, Isaiah!

Per Linn's Stamp News the caterpillar stamp is one of eight commemorative stamps in the series Favorite Children's Book Animals. It features creatures from Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, E.B White’s Charlotte’s Web, Dr. Seuss’ Fox in Socks, Lucy Cousins’ Maisy’s ABC, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Margret and H.A. Rey’s Curious George Flies a Kite, Ian Falconer’s Olivia, and Leo Lionni’s Frederick.

I am very familiar with five of the characters but not so much with Maisy, Olivia, and Frederick. I intend to learn about each of those remaining three forthwith. But I have no intentions of making seven other quilts themed for Favorite Children's Book Animals. Linking up with Main Crush Monday #173 at Cooking Up Quilts.