Category / patchwork

by princesshotflash

What I made in 2022

I like to do these end-of-the-year recaps of what I finished in a year. It always makes me feel productive, and I even want to start more projects.

Knitting

Hats were my thing this year. They are my go-to project when I need something to do. Several were donation hats, and the rest were gifts for friends.

Left to right, top to bottom: tape yarn pouch with vintage cloth lining, Antler toques for donation, Feather and Fern wrap, Year of hats, March hat, Scrapy shawl, Felicity hat for donation, Jelka hat, Kaarre hat, Maize mitts

I’ve also been slowly getting rid of my yarn stash. Luckily I meet “L,” an amigurumi crocheter, at the thrift shop. I’ve been giving her yarn for projects.

Stitching

I’ve been using stitching in my upcycling project this past year. The stitching keeps me present as I usually don’t have a well-laid-out plan, and I’m letting the stitches inspire me on the subsequent placement.

Left to right, top to bottom: Stitching to cover up staining, bookmark, top stitching on the underside of the whale, stuffed whale out of a vintage dress, Hawaiian quilt pillow for donation, Aloha shirt patchwork, blanket stitch top of trivet, trivet made out denim scraps and hand stitching, cat toys made out of scraps of fabric from my cousins mask making venture.

Cooking

I’m breaking this section down to savory and sweet, and I’m not including the jam I made this year. I’ll say the strawberry guava is always a hit and the cherry jam is also a favorite.

Savory

I’ve been trying to be more healthy for dinners. I need to use a lighter hand on the salt. Ahh, signs of getting old. My recent favorite is Mapo eggplant. Here’s the link to the recipe I used from Just One Cookbook: https://www.justonecookbook.com/mapo-eggplant/

Left to right, top to bottom: roasted tomato salsa, zucchini and caramelized onion quiche for Julie, my attempt at pad see ew, cheesy biscuits, tuna and tofu patties, pickled veggie slaw, lemon and capers halibut (thank you, Dave, for the fish), mapo eggplant, ginger pork.

Sweet

I’ve been going through my mom’s recipe box, making my favorite recipes. One day, I’ll put them in a book for my family. I made several batches of Tanaka bars (a family favorite) for my holiday bake, and a few bakes came out too gooey. I googled “blondies too gooey” and found an article from food52 saying the batter needed more air. I need to return to my hand mixer to get the air into the batter. Here’s the link to the article: https://food52.com/blog/21928-why-your-blondies-are-raw-in-the-middle-the-stella-parks-cure

Left to right, top to bottom: Pumpkin bread, pineapple cookies, garbage cookies, lilikoi coconut pie, mixed berry creme fraiche scones, Nutella rice crispy treats, Tanaka bars, Laurie’s pear cake, cherry scones, lemon loaf cake, Tre Leche cake, apple crumb cake, apple vanilla pound cake, lemon blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate birthday cupcakes for the birthday girls.

To my surprise, I worked on a lot of stuff. It didn’t feel like it. I’ve been struggling this year to find what I should be doing with my life since my freelance gig has dried up.

I’ve discovered myy stitching is good for my brain. It lets me move through the piece spontaneously, letting the stitches decide for me. So I decided 2023 would be my year to sell or show more of my works. I need to be brave and put it out there. So there will be more to come. I hope you stick around to join me on my journey.

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by princesshotflash

Quilts Galore

The hospital thrift shop I volunteer at has a donation of Hawaiian-style patchwork quilts. The hospital has a group of craft ladies that made up these patchwork quilts for use within the hospital. The hospital did not need the quilts, and the volunteer service group decided to sell them at the thrift shop. These quilts have become very popular with our clients. They are always asking for more.

It was my job to get the dimensions and price the quilts. I got to see them all and have taken a few pictures of my favorites.

I love these for the use of all crazy patterns.

Last week, as I sorted through another batch of quilts and asked the volunteer services manager about them and the group who made them. He told me it’s not a group but one lady that made all of the blankets. He said she would talk to him about how she would think about the placement of the prints and layout of the patterns for each quilt.

sashiko stitching
embroidered faces
The backing made this quilt even more great.
This last batch was beautiful

The volunteer service manager said she hasn’t brought in a quilt since covid started. I hope these aren’t the last of her quilts. They are so fun and inspiring to me. I want see more of her work.

by princesshotflash

Patches and Stitching

I love Hawaiian-style patchwork blankets. This blanket style is made up of many different prints and is lightweight for the weather in Hawaii. My Grandma Kiyo (my dad’s mom) sewed many of these blankets. We only have a few of these blankets left as time has taken its toll on them. They are well-loved.

Grandma Kiyo’s blanket was a masterwork of patterns. She used many patterns within the blanket. I assume most of the fabric used on the blanket was scraps or old clothing. Most of her blankets had a red backing with a self-binding.

My Grandma Kiyo’s blanket needs repair of all the fraying from being older than me.

At the Kuakini thrift shop where I volunteer, we have started to sell these Hawaiian-style blankets. The blankets were made by the hospital craft group. They would make craft items for use in the hospital and for sale at their rummage sale. This rummage sale turned into a Kuakini thrift shop, and now we are selling some of the blanket inventory. All of the fabric is donated and created by this craft group.

Here are a few shots of the blankets that I liked. Many of them are full of prints; they are just so fun.

These are from the latest batch of the quilt in the shop. They were full of prints, lots of them vintage from the 60s.

I finally finished my stitching sampler on a pillowcase I made a long while ago. Oh well, I think I decided to put my needle down. I added fabric patches to where there were holes and added the stiches to blend the patches into the pillow. I’m enjoying the stitching, it gets me out of my head and it’s quite meditative.

Looks a little crazy, but I was trying out the stitches.

And now . . . my aloha shirt blanket. I finally finished it. I learned a lot. I know there needs to be bit more planning for my next quilt. As you can see, I have a lot of inspiration. I most definitely will be doing some hand stitching.

I figured out how to hide the know midway through working on the blanket. Next time, hopefully they will be hidden.