When I first saw Alison post about her new Mariner Cloth collection I knew it was a must-have. The texture! The stripes! The colors! I’m guessing I might have ooo’d and ahh’d out loud even. Alison (and Chen) must have totally picked up on my excitement so they sent me a sweet package of a few of the colors. It’s really so pretty in person and I’ve already got plans to buy more. It’s such an interesting cloth. It’s a loose weave and could be great for so many things! Right away I was thinking some long lumbar pillows or cloth napkins or an apron.

I decided that I’d try it out with some Minimalist Wallets and I love how they turned out. I had fun pulling fabrics and mixing and matching the fabrics, zippers, leather, and snaps. I did make a test run and decided that the Mariner cloth needed just a bit more interfacing for added stability, so I added that to the small wallets and it worked great. I added an layer of SF101 to the second Main Panel and a layer of 809 to the front pocket. For me, it ended up being just right. I love experimenting with different fabrics like this one! It’s a great way to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Plus, knowing a few small tweaks like adding a bit of interfacing makes substrates like the Mariner Cloth just right for these wallets.

I definitely need some of the black and white to make a few pillows for my bed maybe or living room or both! I know my girls would love the Thistle, Eggplant, and Raspberry, too. Hmm, I’ve got some planning to do I guess!

You can find the Minimalist Wallet PDF pattern in my shop, or in my booklet Everyday Essentials (at your local quilt shop or my shop). I have zippers, snaps, and leather, too if you need any supplies.

a little shot of the linings – pandas and Friedlander

Alison Glass Mariner Cloth is trickling into shops now (including Alison’s shop)! I’ve spotted shops like Pink Castle Fabrics and Fancy Tiger Crafts having it in stock.

my helper 🙂

Well, it’s been a bit since I’ve done a little update here about my studio space project. At the end of 2017 my husband and I bought a small commercial space in our downtown area to renovate and eventually use as my studio space. You can read the full post about it here. It’s been exciting and hopeful and daunting all at the same time. I’m still sort of in the mindset that I can’t quite put it all together in my head just yet. There’s a lot of working pieces to fit together in order for things to start coming together still.

Much time has been spent doing demo work. The space was in rough shape, especially because of having been unoccupied/condemned for the past year, and every previous business that was in the space added its own layer. So after many layers we’re basically down to the very end. There’s hardly any demo left to do. But just as a little refresher to myself I’m going to share a little list of what we’ve squeaked in during our free time:

• removed radiators, there were two at the front of the building that weighed over 500 pounds each
• removed carpet
• removed existing bathroom
• removed front facade siding (I got to operate a scissors lift! and we found out that the building was built in 1890!)
• remove concrete baseboard from interior brick wall
• remove plaster from exterior brick walls and brick chimney (I spent an entire weekend doing this)
• remove nails/scrape glue & paint from wood ceiling (again, another weekend)

It’s honestly been lots of fun! The really tough one was the carpeting which had been completely glued down in the front section of the building. We used a powered carpet scraper but it was difficult! During this time we’ve also been working with an architect and getting our loan set up. We have the preliminary set of plans in hand and have submitted the last few edits. It’s actually great timing because it’s close to being spring soon, and we have a mason restoring the brick facade as well as the interior brick wall and exterior brick walls in the back of the building. He’ll need the temps to be a bit higher to be able to get started on the outside. I’m excited to see the front brick with the layer of paint removed!

We still need to remove the old furnace and clean up the small basement space, but after that it’ll be mostly left to the professionals to rebuild the back exterior wall, replace the storefront windows and doors, and finish out the interior bathrooms, etc. We are very lucky to still have the original decorative iron columns still behind the front siding. I’m so glad they were there. Here’s a shot of the building, taken in 1907, that’s 17 years after the building was built!

At this point we are shooting for this fall to be finished and have the building ready for me to move in, but at the same time it’s nice to not have to have a solid deadline. Having previously worked in the commercial/industrial construction industry, I know that things take time!