Quiddity Quilts

Cut to the quick

2012-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

Can I say what an awesome Christmas present this has been? I've now cut out my third quilt (and several other smaller projects) with the same blade and have just taken the few minutes to sharpen it before each project. I think I might have to officially endorse this product... lol. It's not quite as sharp as a new blade but it works just fine. This latest quilt, I wasn't able to cut through more then four layers of high quality quilting cotton, whereas with the last quilt I could cut through 6 - 8 layers of batiks. So I'm not sure if it's any less sharp or if it's due to the difference in fabric. Still, I most certainly don't need to replace the blade yet.

And yes here's a bit of the most recent quilting fabric to meet my blade. It's the quilt for the school auction. I initially was going to make a bed size quilt but was afraid I'd run out of time (due before Feb. 25th!) so I went with a nap size instead. I should be able to knock it out. Also might make a matching pillow but not sure I have enough of the cream color.... And yes, I am being totally *lazy* about the whole thing and I bought a kit (second one ever) just because I think the design and fabrics could appeal to a wide variety of people and I'm not really sure who will be bidding on it.

Composition Notebook Cover

2012-01-15T19:05:00.000-08:00

I based this cover on these two patterns, Journal Cover Tutorial by Bloom and another Journal Cover Tutorial by Bloom for Moda Bakeshop that's a little more complete - it kinda fills in the blanks where the first one is lacking. I actually customized mine to make it fit a standard (US) composition notebook. Having never made anything like this before and trying to take care of a small person in-between it took me a couple of hours. I think I could probably make another one in half that time or easily less now. It was super fun to make and I could easily see how these could be addictive. I want to make a dozen more!

Buttercup Bag

2012-01-09T16:49:00.001-08:00

My first finished project of the year. I made this sweet little bag for my friend's Birthday.

T-shirt Quilt for DH

2011-12-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

I also finished a quilt for my DH out of some of his old T-shirts which he received for Christmas this year. It runs the gamut from his various motorcycles and corvettes, to hobbies that include gaming and racing. It's so HIM. He also made a number of the T-shirts I used in this quilt. He seemed to really love it and that's the best feeling of all. His mom helped me piece the top together when she was out visiting this past summer. It was fun to work on a project with her.
I don't know that I'll ever make a t-shirt quilt again though. The fabric was stretchy and even the flannel wasn't very stable, so making it a challenge to quilt without getting pin tucks in the back. There are two little tucks which annoy me but not enough to have picked them out and requilted those sections. Heh. It'll be fine. It's just a couch blankie for him and I'm sure he'll take it when it goes on his overnight motorcycle racing weekends with the boys.

Flannel Quilt for Dad

2011-12-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to All! Hope they were joyous and fun filled. (Mine were - whoop!) Looking forward to New Year's too. Sorry, I can't believe that the last time I posted here was October! It's been a very busy couple of months. I'll try to be better in 2012. Promise!

So I did actually manage to *finish* a quilt! This one was for my Dad. He's not in the best of health (bad Rheumatoid arthritis) and because of that often has to just sit and do nothing. The perfect excuse to be a couch potato. Anyway how can you sit around and watch TV all day without something warm to snuggle up into? Simply, you can't. So I made him a quilt. (He did have an old ratty pink one, which I find hilarious since he's got this crazy aversion to pink otherwise.) So the dog inherited the old one and now he's got this! (Which I gave him for Christmas and he loved BTW)

The whole thing is made of flannel, front and back. Nice and warm! but hum... Not sure I'll do that again. It was kinda a PITA to work as everything sticks to everything else. ie. the fabrics don't slide easily to line things up and it tended to fray a lot more then quilting cotton. It wasn't the worst fabric I've ever worked with but it just wasn't as easy a nice unbrushed cotton. ;^)

Table Runner

2011-10-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

Finished a table runner for my mom... just in time for fall. Good thing too since I started it way back in July. Heh. Hoping to see her soon to gift. Maybe this weekend?

Mug Rug

2011-10-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

I finished a sweet little mug rug I made this month for an on-line swap. I'm not up to big projects yet but it was nice to revisit my sewing room for a bit.

I left the fringe of his scarf unattached for a bit of fun too.

The World of Amish Quilts

2011-10-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't post book reviews here but since this one was quilting related I thought I'd pop it up here.

The World of Amish Quilts by Kenneth Pellman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed both the plethora of colorful images that were packed into this book along with the snippets of Amish culture, history and lifestyle. The latter explaining many of the choices of quilt design and color choice. In the modern quilt movement that seems to be happening these days it is inspiring to look to a group of quilts that seem to already embody much of "todays aesthetic" even if they were made over 100 years ago. Nothing is new! They are beautiful, artistic and inspiring.... now I want to go quilt.

View all my reviews

Fabric Friday - An Ocean of Fabric

2011-10-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

I feel kinda bad that all I've been posting here lately is long ago fabric purchases. The reality is I haven't been sewing much the past few months since I found out I was pregnant and have been experiencing some severe morning sickness. However I'm very slowly starting to feel better and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things in the next month or so. I've set myself some goals and larger projects to finish up by the holidays so here's hoping I can get them done! I also have a few basic tutorials I've promised people I'd make and I'd like to get to those sometime in the next few weeks. Keep your eyes peeled! In the meantime, yes there's more fabric I can share.

My poor sister's quilt I started over a year ago and just can't seem to get done is languishing in my sewing room. Instead of torturing myself looking at all the quilting left to do on it I thought I'd just make her another whole top (yes that's easier!) and let her take it to a long armer to have the quilting done since my poor little machine struggles with shoving a queen size quilt through the neck. So Kiki's quilt - take 2!

Finished!

2011-09-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been a while since I actually finished anything crafty. But hey! Lookie here. I finally got something done. No doubt it's a small something, but a something none the less. I started this in the spring but I just couldn’t get myself to sew all those little straight lines once I’d started. Well, today was the day I tackled it without excuse. It’s larger then a mug rug, though I suppose it could be used for that. I originally intended it to be used kind of like a doily to put a vase of flowers on to keep any water off the nicer pieces of furniture in our home.

Fabric Friday: Christmas in July

2011-09-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

So yeah, back in July, while out at the Sister's Quilt Show, I was thinking about Christmas. I've always wanted to make a Christmas quilt but could never really come up with a pattern that spoke to me. However because of all the beautiful quilts there I was struck with inspiration and now have a "master plan" in mind! So of course I now need to start collecting Christmas themed fabric. Here are the first three FQ's. Not very exciting yet but hey - it's a start! I don't think I'll get it done by this Christmas but maybe the next one... that's goal anyway. Not only will there be much machine sewing for this quilt but also a lot of handwork too that I just don't think I can finish up in a few short months.

Fabric Friday: Someday, a Fall Quilt

2011-09-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

I actually do have a project in mind for this fabric.... I haven't started it yet as I'd like to have some templates made for the pieces that need to be cut out. I think it'll go much smoother with templates since the pattern is somewhat complex and involves Y-Seams, curves and a lots of odd angles. It should be a stunner when and if I can get it done. Hopefully with Snooky in school most days now I'll be able to devote the time to this project that it'll require. Originally the pattern suggests using solids but I adore pattern and just can't quite bring myself to work with solids. So I tried to get as tone-on-tone as I could. If I'm successful with this quilt top I might try to enter it into the Sister's Quilt show next year. That's my plan... oh, to have it quilt by check. ;^)

Fabric Friday: This One's for the Birds

2011-09-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

The above fabric was a little bit of everything that caught my eye while shop hopping on my now long ago trip to Sisters at the beginning of July. I had bought some of the golden yellow fabric previously, used it in all sorts of things feeling it to be the "perfect" yellow, and ran out. So when I found this little FQ of course it had to be mine! I've also been resisting buying Fandango for ages now... I'm not sure why. I love that line and finally gave in allowing myself a few FQ's which I have no idea what I'll do with. The other FQ's were sweet and also hopped in my basket, again without much rhyme or reason. I hope I can find a use for them. The half yard cuts (rolled up on the right) I sort of thought I could use to make a small quilt lap quilt for Snooky with or maybe a dress but again, while I love the line, I don't have a project in mind.

Below was a mug from The Stitchin' Post in Sisters. It shows a close up section from this years annual poster for the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show. I just love the sweet little bird and the bright fun colors!

Fabric Friday: Gettin' Dressed

2011-08-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Another fabric purchase from my Sister's quilt retreat in July. I've been making my daughter little slip-over-the-head dresses for summer. I saw the sweet little brown and pink fabric with the birds on it and immediately thought of Snooky's dresses. She'd look adorable. I paired it with some white/pink and solid pink I had in my stash, which I thought would make a cute lining and pocket fabric. My only thought is, I might have to get a new pattern and make this in the next size up, since she's already outgrowing the one's I made this summer. (Which means I hope I have enough fabric!) That way if I do get around to making it after the weather cools off, she'll at least be able to wear it next summer too.

Fabric Friday: A Love of Aprons but Not Dirty Dishes

2011-08-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

I really do love aprons and couldn't help buy by some fabric and a pattern while on my trip out to Sister's in July. Charissa found the adorable 30's retro fabric on super-sale at a quilt shop in Bend. There were only a few yards left on the bolt, and to make it even cheaper we split the difference and "killed" the bolt. I found the pattern at The Stichin' Post in Sisters. It's reversible and adorable. I got the fabric on the left at the SP too. I'm hoping to make these up sometime in the fall, just in time for all the holiday baking and cooking that goes on around here.

Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show: Pt. 4, The Quilts

2011-08-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. I had a great time (even if I wasn't feeling so great that day) there were so many amazing quilts, it was just a joy and an inspiration to be there.

Fabric Friday: It's so Mom

2011-08-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

During my trip out to Sisters I *might* have spent a little bit of $$ on fabric. One of the first fabric stores we stopped at I saw this fabric line, <i>Collections for a Cause - Hope by Howard Marcus for Moda</i>. I can't remember ever seeing a fabric line that screamed my Mother quite so much. I thought I'd pick up at least a charm pack to make her something small like a table runner with a little extra to finish up the project. I tried to wing the pattern design in my head and so far managed to buy just the right amount of everything. I might even have enough left over to make her a tote bag with the scraps.

I'm enjoying working with fabric that's a bit out of my norm. Also I showed the fabric to my Mom and predictably, she LURVED it.

Talk to Me Tuesday No. 7: Hot Hexi's

2011-08-02T15:33:00.001-07:00

Talk to Me Tuesdays

2011-07-26T15:50:00.001-07:00

Ira Glass on the Creative Process

2011-07-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

I really like this piece Ira Glass did on the creative process. Of course he's talking about writing and story telling but really you could apply a lot of what he says to any sort of creative endeavor.

Sister's Quilt Show - PT 3: Christmas in July

2011-07-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

So by Friday night we had a full house with the addition of Jen, Jill and Pe'tra arriving. I'd put on a pot of chili earlier in the day so that evening all we had to do was fill our bowls and our bellies. Who wants to cook when you're having fun?! After dinner we had a quilters Christmas in July. There was a gift exchange and it was super fun to both hand out the goodies I'd been working on for everyone all month long, as well as get a pile of neat stuff too. Heather took some great photos of the exchange so I'll borrow some of hers... I was too busy Ooooing and Aweing everyone's stuff! lol

I made tote bags using Sonnet of the Moon's Tote Bag Tutorial. I liked that I could really vary the style depending on fabrics and whatever block I chose to make for each one. I tried very hard to choose patterns, colors and fabrics I thought the recipient would enjoy. I think I did pretty good - only missing one persons taste by a long shot. Ooops! More on that later...

Heather!

Here's Heather's bag. She'd given me a bit of Mendocino to use on another quilt and I thought since it was her fabric to begin with wouldn't it be nice to make a small project using it? It's such an awesome line, every little thread deserves to be made into *something*. So I designed a block that utilized hexi's and showed off the mermaids. The front of the bag is all hand pieced.

The lining on her bag - I do adore all those mermaids!

Jen!

Jen's bag I did first, cause it was easiest. She's got a big personality and you pretty much always know what she likes and doesn't like so it was pretty easy to pick fabrics and colors and style and get gettin'. I made some "3D" Flying Geese See tutorial here so they're textural and make little pockets. She can tack them down later if she likes. Orange is a good color for her, warm just like her personality!

Barbara!

Barbara has this awesome red leather handbag that *I love* and so I just let that be my color inspiration. Plus she's a happy bubbly summery kinda gal... I just went with that feel and came up with this for her tote. I did see another bag that was similar and was inspired to try it (but now I can't remember where, so not totally my design). Anyway it was fun to do a raw edge applique which I'd never tried before. The bottom of the bag says SUMMER!

Colleen!

Colleens bag was more of a challenge since I don't know her all that well and she doesn't keep a blog for me to poke around on to be inspired. I asked Heather a couple of times what she likes and she said brights. So while I was shopping for fabric for another of the bags I noticed the fun paisley and the pretty aqua. I'd originally picked them up for myself to make something with but then thought they'd be perfect for Colleen. I even used a bit of left over orange from Jen's bag to finish it off. Five years ago I'd also bought templates to make a drunkards path quilt and never got around to it. While I was brainstorming for pattern ideas for this bag I'd remembered the templates and was really happy when I found them buried in my sewing room under a bunch of stuff. I didn't have to buy them - woop! I really like the way this one turned out too.

Jill on the left.

Jill's bag was probably the hardest for me to design. She has a bit of an eclectic style so it wasn't easy to nail down any one aesthetic. She'd recently shown me a bag she'd received in a swap using Mendocino fabrics and linen. She loved it. I didn't want to do a copy of it but I wanted to keep in the spirit. I used linen for the background and did use Mendocino in the bottle portion... cause I thought it was kinda funny to have mermaids swimming around in a beer bottle. I'm friends with her on FB and this summer there'd been a few posts about drinking beer on the porch and it just seemed summery and fun and appropriate. I stitched some song lyrics on the bottle, "Get up and dance, get up and smile, get up and drink to days gone in the shortest while." I used these words because summer is short, the Sister's quilt retreat weekend is even shorter and one should enjoy it all while it lasts. =)

Pe'tra on the right.

Pe'tra had mentioned on her blog that she really liked yellow and linen together. Okay! That makes it a lot easier. Then it was just a matter of coming up with a pattern that I thought was modern and kinda cool. I was surprised at how much I really liked the combination of these fabrics. I thought the yellow might wash out too much next to the linen but it really didn't. It's a great summery, sunshiny pallet. It was fun too because the PMQG had a scrap swap in June so I was able to grab a ton of little yellow scraps for this project to make it charming... no two fabrics are the same.

I had originally made the pink bag for Charissa because she was very enamored of a pink triangle quilt in last year's show. I also figured since she's got a husband and three boys, no one would dare borrow her pink bag. Ha!

I made this bag for myself as I'd wanted to try Cathedral Windows for a long time. I didn't really want to commit to a huge project so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl without committing a ton of time and energy into a whole bed covering. I figured if it came out a little wonky I wouldn't mind but wouldn't consider giving away anything shoddy. Well as it turns out, Charissa does NOT like pink. Ooops! She told me later that she liked the pattern (of the triangle quilt she was looking at) but pink was way too girlie for her tastes. She did however LOVE the green/grey bag I'd made for myself. So, what the heck, I traded her. I'd rather she have something she really loves then something I think she should like and or have. I do like the pink one, so no skin off my nose either. Though I might have to make myself another Cathedral Windows tote for myself sometime soon. ;^)

One of the key people that makes my Sister's trip possible is my own sister, Kiki! In order to keep Snooky from being too heart broken that her Mama's gone (OH she *LURVES* her Mama) I try to keep her extra busy. One of the ways I do that is to send her over to her Auntie's for a few days for a slumber party with her cousins. She loves it and it's a special time they all get to have together. It wipes my sister out, since her kids are both pretty mellow and Miss Snooky is a spitfire. So as a thank you to Kiki, I made her a bag too. She likes beachy colors so blues, aquas and a light washed yellow seemed right. I also liked the pattern from the pink bag so I just went ahead and used it again. It's kinda funny that my sister and I wound up with "matching" bags... except for the color. That's always how it was when we were kids, we'd get the same thing but in different colors so we could tell them apart.

Christina was supposed to join us but injured her finger and had some other personal stuff come up and just really couldn't get away for the weekend. It was sad that she had to back out but Heather took her bag and will give it to her the next time she sees her. Christiana likes Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy and I had a bit of green so I used it up and she'd also mentioned that she wanted to make a quilt out of the modern log cabin book by Susan Beal. It wasn't too hard to figure out the pattern so I just whipped one up. I dunno why but I felt a strong desire to stick a giant orange button in the center of the the block, so I did! Ha.

In return I got a pile of awesome stuff! Barbara made the really cool framed graphic in the back left. It's now sitting in my sewing room under my clock where they fight for how early I should go to bed (Stay up and sew! No, it's late!) Next to it, to the right is the little wrist strap bag in yellow and red that Jen made. I love the little people in the fabric, very adorable. To the right of that is the little pink box that Colleen made filled with chocolate, a candle, and a little notebook. I will have to say that has now been completely absconded away with by my daughter. lol. If it's pink, it must belong to her, right?! Pe'tra made the bird and I've tried to pu it up high so Snooky can't claim that one as well. The little green flowery bag at the birds feet was made by Heather. She also made us all bracelets to boot. I love it but not sure how to best put it to use yet. Jill made the templates for the quilt pictured just above Heather's bag. It was on my "to do" list already so, how fantastic that I now have the templates for easy cutting?! Charissa made the little bag in front of Jen's. I'm thinking I'll use it for punch cards as it has a lot of sweet little pockets inside. And lastly the bag on the far left was also made by Jill (it's where she put the templates) I love the fabrics!

I just love all of Pe'tra's little birdies all lined up for their portrait.

To be continued...

Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show - PART 2: Shop Till You Drop

2011-07-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

A week ago today I was in Sunriver with "the girls" having a great time. We wavered back and forth between hitting up a few new-to-us fabric shops in Bend or hanging around the house sewing. Guess which plan won out?! I made a cup of coffee, grabbed my bag and out the door we went!

Our first stop was Quilt Works. They opened a year ago and we were glad to help them stay open.

I love the "DREAM" sign in the background. It was a dreamy weekend! Also behind Barbara on the left was a cool thing I'd not seen before, chalk cloth! You could write on it like a chalkboard and wipe it clean. It was pretty neat. Barb bought some. I would've have but what would I do with it?

Charissa has a happy day fabric shopping.

Not only did they have a shop but they also has a small gallery upstairs where they were displaying a variety of quilts. I wish I'd thought to get the names of the artists but I was a little distracted. There was some nice stuff.

The Three Sisters Mountains

Smith Rocks

While I wasn't bowled over by this pattern I LOVED their selection of Japanese fabrics, which this sample shows off nicely. I wish I'd bought some now... ah well.

I put this pattern book on my wish list too. I adore aprons and that middle one is calling my name. I probably would've picked it up but I'd bought an apron pattern the day before at the Stitchin' Post.

The next place we found ourselves at was at Sew Many Quilts. That place really had a lot of eye candy! I didn't take many pictures there but it was a fun place. I spent too much $$. However I can partially blame my mom, ha! She's really wanted me to make the quilt in the picture below for her. There was a local shop that used to carry the kits but she hemmed and hawed for so long they sold out and stopped carrying them. Then she was really sad that she didn't get it. So when I walked into Sew Many Quilts and saw it hanging on the wall I called her right away. They had four kits left when I'd walked in the door and by the time my Mom had finally made up her mind (she had to think about it and call me back) there was just ONE left!

I got the last one!

While waiting to hear back from my Mom I wandered around the store Oooing and Awwwwing. I really loved this Halloween sample they had on display. I think I need to get back to embroidering, it's been *ages* since I've done any but as I recall, I really liked it.

So much fabric so little time!

To be continued....

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show - Part 1

2011-07-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of years a group of us have gotten together for a fantastic weekend trip out to central Oregon for the annual Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show. We sew, we shop, we laugh and sometimes we even get in the hot tub. I look forward to it immensely. Not just for the sorority of sewing sisters but also to escape the responsibilities of being a full time mom, wife, housekeeper, nanny, chauffeur, etc. I love the break. None of it would be possible without Heather ( of the Quilt or Stitch blog) who coordinates so much of it. Thanks Heather!!

So Thursday morning I was rarin' and ready to go early. I'm not a morning person so you can imagine my enthusiasm to get there when I can be all packed up and in the car actually waiting for my husband by 8 am. This *never* happens. It's always the other way around. Needless to say we loaded up and he drove me out to Heathers house and helped transfer all the stuff from our vehicle into Heathers awesome new ride.

Look! It all fits!

Heather, Charissa and I all rode out together in Heathers vehicle while Barbara and Colleen followed us in Barbara's car. Our first stop? Why a quilt shop of course! We hit up Hollyhill Quilts on our way out of town. I didn't buy too much there because I was saving myself for later. I knew there would be many more such excursions before the weekend was over. Not that I didn't get anything mind you... just not a ton. ;^) However it's a great shop and they even opened the back room early for us. It has all the modern and kid fabrics in it. That was really nice of them and we had a great time oooing and awing over it all. After leaving there, we stopped for coffee and hot coco (it is summer in Oregon so ya know, cold still! lol) And headed on down the road.

The Three Sisters Mountains

We didn't stop till we made it to Sisters Oregon and The Stitchin' Post, the heart and soul of the show.

It was still only Thursday and the place was already really busy, but nothing like it would be on Saturday with lines just to get in and out of the place! We did our shopping early knowing the madhouse it would become later in the week as more people poured into town.

Me and Heather dorking out with excitement, like two kids in a candy store. We were having a lot of fun! Yay fabric! Yay patterns! Yay US!

Everyone sitting in front of the Stitching Post with all our fabric goodies feeling rather happy and satisfied. Heather in the back and in front from left to right: Barbara, Colleen and Charissa.

After a long full fun day of shopping and driving we finally arrived in Sunriver, unpacked and unloaded. We ate dinner and had a long evening of sewing and laughing and chatting and a lengthy show and tell of everyones fabric purchases which was just as good as if we'd bought it ourselves.

Colleen and Barbara working and playing.

To be continued...

Fabric Friday - And HOW!

2011-07-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Remember way back on Monday when I'd mentioned that I'd won a bit of fabric? Yeah, well, Lisa Marie of That Crazy Quilty Girl wasn't kiddin around! HOLY COW PEOPLE! WouldYaLookAtThat?! Cause that my friends, is a crap load of fabric. Yess'em it surely is.

There's at least five yards of Riley Blake's fabric line, Sugar and Spice in FQ's in there. PLUS, it seems Lisa Marie had extra room in the shipping box she couldn't bare let see go to waste, so she added in a ton more stuff? Yes, yes she did. Nice! She added in some Riley Blake Designs (Summer Song) and some Hoodie's Collection and a wee bit of mish mash. So super awesome. It's all fun and summery and happy and just well, is sunshine in a box.

Of course now, it begs the question, which pattern shall I choose for all this fabric?! I think it would be really adorable to make Monica Solorio-Snow's (of HappyZombie fame) LAWN CHAIR QUILT with the Sugar and Spice. Fitting too since that's SO Monica's colors.

Or I could be adventurous and go with Lisa Marie's quilt along.

Oh decisions, decisions! At any rate, pretty freakin' awesome to win. THANK YOU SO MUCH LISA!

Happy Monday to Meeeeeeeeeee!

2011-06-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was a pretty great day overall. In the morning I had the joy of discovering I'd won 20 fat quarters of Riley Blake's fabric line, Sugar and Spice! from the ever vivacious Lisa Marie of That Crazy Quilty Girl. How fun! I'm considering using them to participate in her Row Robin quilt along:

Lisa Marie might have suggested that there was some empty space in the box still and she *might* have to fill it up with some other goodies. *Oh darn* :^) I will be sure to post some pictures when my big box o' happiness shows up. Whoop! Whoop!

Last night I hit up Fabric Depot and didn't buy any fabric. I should win a prize for that.... oh wait. I just did! Hehee. But I was able to pick up some much needed supplies of the more lasting variety: quilt ruler (dresden plate), flat head pins, marking pencil and a few goodies for the Sisters "Sisters". I was proud of myself too for putting back a charm pack, a $20 ruler that sharpens your blade for you as you cut and a few other items I truly didn't need but really wanted, thereby saving myself at least $50.

And since I can't share what I've been working on (as it's a surprise for the ladies at the Sunriver House) I will share my sewing room trash can and let you try to suss out what I've been working on. ;^)

ACCESS DENIED

2011-06-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

Normally I'd be down in my sewing room working on something right now but DH's cousin is visiting from Nebraska and he's asleep in the guest room right next to my sewing room. I'd hate to wake him. Bummer. I've got such a bug to work tonight. I need to finish up the very last one of the Sisters projects then make the secondary "thing" that goes with them.... which should go super fast as they're easy peasy! (one seam) Then I can start cutting out the fabric for the Sisters quilt I plan on working on while I'm out there. I've been planning this quilt for a year and hot dang, if I don't want to get started. I'm trying to figure out what I can do tonight in the meantime. I also want to make a list of UFO's for the Summer UFO Club. I need to finish some stuff. FINISH. Not just work on, take out and admire then put away, think about... but actually WORK to FINISH. Heh. I need to empty the boxes for my next round of projects. Heehee.

Nooooo!

2011-06-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Oh crap. I'm *so* tempted to do this as it's one of my all time favorite patterns. I already have another finished quilt top like this I need to quilt but, but, but... It's so CUTE!

::trying. to. fight. urge.... losing. battle.::

Mailer

2011-06-12T10:29:00.001-07:00

Here's a *great* tutorial for sewing up a sturdy mailer made from paper grocery bags. I made one last night. It was quick, fun and very functional. Yay!

Super Secret Project and Quilting Instruction

2011-06-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Sadly I've got nothing I can show even though I've been working in my sewing room. I've got four of my secret projects finished up and only need to make four or five more. I really enjoy working on them - good thing! They're for the gift exchange all the "girls" are doing at the Sunriver house this year. One month to go - I'm so excited! Four days of quilting and no cleaning or cooking or kid watching. Woo!

In other news I gave the one seam bias binding tutorial to the church craft group. It went pretty well. I did wind up giving the presentation twice because several people showed up 1/2 hour late. At least I had an extra yard of fabric that was all sewn up and ready to go. Since most of the group are knitters or crocheters they were wondering if I would give them a few classes on how to quilt. I think I might do it, but I have to create a lesson plan and figure out how much time and effort I want to invest. I guess it's just a matter of communicating to the group and seeing how much interest there really is.

Fabric Friday - Flannel Back

2011-06-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

I picked up this flannel backing fabric to go with this top I made a while back.

I'm not sure that it does though. I'm going to have to reevaluate what I want to do. I really like flannel for the back of quilts but can't always find a good match up. I think in future I should take the top with me to the store when picking out backing fabric instead of just winging it and trying to remember off the top of my head if it's a good match or not.

I'm feeling rather mischievous

2011-05-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

In just a wee bit over a month I'll be headed out to Sisters Oregon for their annual outdoor quilt show. I'm so besided! I stayed with Heather of Quilt or Stitch last year at a place in Sunriver and had a ball. I'll be going back again this year and thought it would be a fun thing to make everyone a little goodie. I spent last night trying to figure out colors and patterns that would work best for each of the seven other women in the house. I hope I make something they all like. ^^

Fabric Friday - Sherbet Pips, a bit more

2011-05-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

So a few Fridays ago I showed some Sherbet Pips layer cakes I'd picked up. Yay Sherbet Pips! Then I was thinking it was awesome that I had the layer cakes but happens when I finally get around to making a top and want matching border fabric and or binding? So I might have had to go out and buy a bit more. I'd hate for the quilt top to be somehow incomplete. I love the idea of using the scarf fabric as the binding.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - keeping the pointy bits where they belong

2011-05-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

One of the little things I keep around my sewing room is a jar. Sounds exciting yeah? Well it can be.

I don't know about you but after a sewing machine needle gets dull and is done being useful I hate to throw it in the trash. I mean if I have to reach my hand in there later for something (like I accidentally threw away a bag of rubies and diamonds or a scrap of good fabric and later realized I needed it back) I wouldn't want to stick my hand in there knowing I might get poked by a needle too dull for fabric but sharp enough to draw blood. I really don't want to see blood while I'm sewing. I like to keep that stuff on the inside where it belongs.

This is where my "fancy" jar comes in handy. It was an old cleaned out spaghetti jar but really any jar with a lid will do. I tried to pick one with a pretty lid but you could paint the lid or decorate it however you see fit. To spiff up the jar itself, I made a modified version of a coffee cup sleeve to wrap around it. See? Pretty. Easily updatable. Then I got out my hand-dandy drill and drilled a quick hole in the top of the jar.

Now, whenever a needle goes bad, I just drop it through the hole. I don't even bother to take the lid off. If I accidentally knock the jar over nothing spills out and I don't need to take the lid off for any reason really, other then to take a picture showing you a few pointy needles at the bottom on inside. See? They're harmless down there!

WIP Wednesdays - Plan C

2011-05-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

It's was so nice to have a whole EIGHT HOURS to quilt without too much distraction. I packed up my stuff and headed off to the PMQG's All Day Sewing Day at Fabric Depot last Saturday. It was great to hang out with the girls and sew. You might remember Plan C from my UFO list (if not, click the tab above). Lookie! It went from scraps of fabric to something that might actually resemble a quilt top soon. Woo!

*Someone* really wanted her picture taken with the quilt in progress. She's too cute. How could I say no?

Tutorial Tuesday - One Seam Flying Geese

2011-05-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Do you see how I love "one seam" sewing? Here's another one that was shared with me by Cherri at the PMQG's all day sewing work day. She was making a lot of them and was showing us how to make this neat little version of flying geese. I took pictures as she explained it and now I'm here to share it with you too!

You'll need: Fabric, rotary cutter, ruler, cutting mat, thread and a sewing machine of course... unless you're stitching by hand which will work just fine too.

CUT YOUR FABRIC
Each flying goose will need one 5.5" x 3" rectangle...

...and TWO 3" squares of matching fabric
FOLD & SANDWICH YOUR FABRIC
Fold the rectangle with wrong sides together. Keep the fold at the top.

Place one square on a flat surface and lay the folded rectangle over the top. Line up the bottom edges.

You should see about 1/4" of square fabric above the fold of the rectangle.

Lay the other square over these two pieces of fabric to complete the sandwich.
SEW THAT ONE SEAM!
Keeping the sandwich in the same position sew a 1/4" seam down the right hand side. Making many sandwiches all at once will allow you to chain piece these together.
UNFOLD AND PRESS
Open your little sandwich book and if you can see where it's creased pull this bit of fabric out to create and finish the block.

Press your block open.
FINISHING
Once you've sewn your block together there are several options for finishing them. They can be stitched down in the quilting process to look like traditionally stitched pieces, or you can fold them over and stitch them like a cathedral window block or even just leave them open to make interesting little pockets.

Cherri pressed the back of her blocks thusly...

Fabric Friday - What's Old is New Again

2011-05-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

I like to participate in the women's craft group at our church. One of their on-going projects is Little Dresses for Africa. The main pattern they use is based on pillow cases. I don't have access to a lot of pillow cases but it seems I have a lot of extra yardage that people have given me that would be perfect for little dresses (see folded bits below). Also a craft supply recycle place near my house, SCRAP! is an excellent source for inexpensive fabric (see the rolled up bits). I'm hoping to try and make a dress a month. I know it's not much but it's something.

I made one already and my daughter LURVES it and won't take it off so I might have to make these late at night so she never sees them, otherwise I'll have to fend her off with a big stick. ;^)

Fabric Friday - Color Pallet

2011-05-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

I bought a fat quarter of this fabric not necessarily because I love it but I just thought the pallet was so interesting and rather uncommon. I've been thinking about making a quilt in all solid fabrics but can't quite decide the best colors to use. I have a pattern I rather like and it would translate nicely with solids but in order to make it striking I want something appealing but unexpected... maybe like this then?

Happy (Early) Mother's Day

2011-05-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

So what's more motherly then an apron? Yeah, I know, classic stereotypes n' all but still... So for mother's day I wanted to make me and my sister aprons. (I'd already made my Mom one for Christmas). I had mostly worked on mine a few weeks ago and finished the pockets off on Sunday night I think. Anyway, remember a few Fabric Fridays ago with the apple fabric? Yup, now she's an apron! (Didn't my 5 year old do a nice job taking pictures?!)

My sister really likes aqua and greens together but green isn't really her color. So when I went fabric shopping for her and found this cute aqua/red paisley I couldn't resist.

I also made her some pot holders to go with. I wish I'd had more of the poke-a-dot fabric (see pockets on her apron) but I'd run out so the front and back of the pot holders are the same. Since I had quite a bit of the binding I'd made left over, I finished them off with that.

I gave her the apron today and she loved it. Yay!

Fabric Friday - Tiki Mugs

2011-04-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

I dunno why I find these two fabrics so appealing. Perhaps it is the retro colors and tiki flavor? I think I should make an apron out of them... they might be too busy together but at least the mug fabric must be turned into something that can go in my kitchen. Any ideas?!

WIP Wednesdays

2011-04-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while since I've had anything to share. The last two months have gone by in a blur with not much time for sitting down at my sewing machine. Happily though I do have my hand work project that I pretty much drag with me everywhere. It's been a few months since I last shared any updates with you on my hexagon quilt... so here she be! I figure it's about a 1,000 pieces now... only 2,000 more to go!

Tutorial - Windsock or One Seam Bias Binding

2011-04-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is known as Windsock Binding or One Seam Binding. I'm not nearly brilliant enough to have come up with this method myself (wish I knew who did so I could give credit but alas, I do not). It's such a great way to make bias binding though I just wanted to share. The benefits of this method are:

There's just ONE seam!
There's very little wasted fabric, it all goes to the binding.
It's easy and fast to make compared to traditional bias binding methods.

Okay! Sound good? Then let's get started. You'll need a large cutting mat, a ruler (or two) or a yard stick, a pair of scissors, a rotary cutter, a marking pencil and of course your sewing machine and an iron.

1. Take your fabric and fold in half. Use your rotary cutter to remove the selvages and square up the edges.

2. Take the fabric to the sewing machine and stitch the three sides closed. Do not stitch the side that is folded.

3. Bring your sewn fabric back to a large flat area and lay it back out with the folded edge at the top. You are then going to mark a diagonal line with a pencil or other marking tool from one corner to the other.

4. Cut off all four corners. Do not take a large amount off, just enough to slide scissors into the hole that it will make. Cutting off a large amount here will mean you'll have less binding later on.

5. You are now going to slip your scissors into the little hole you just made and cut along the line you just marked. Why not use a rotary cutter here? Because you're only cutting one layer of the fabric. You must use scissors to do so.

6. When you are done with that step your fabric should look like this:

7. The next step is to flip the fabric over so the folded edge is now at the bottom. Mark your line and again. Make sure it's the same direction as your first marking. You want an "X" in the end. Cut with scissors across the fabric.

8. Grab the edges of the last cut and open up the fabric so it's in a tube shape.

9. Press the seams open.

10. Mark a line between 6" and 9" from the folded edge. I know that's not real specific but it depends on how large a piece of fabric you started with. If you started with 1/2 yard 6" should be fine, if you're using more then a yard move your measurement out to the 9" from the folded edge. Don't mark further then 9" from the edge or it'll be more difficult to work with later on.

11. Using your previously marked line as a guide, mark perpendicular lines the width you want your finished open binding to be. For example if making quilting binding these parallel lines would be 2 1/2". In this case however I was making binding for an apron and needed 1 1/2" strips.

12. Once your lines are marked use a rotary cutter (or scissors) to cut from the folded edge to your marked line. Be sure to cut through both layers of fabric this time. Now you can see why this is called Windsock Binding!

13. Do NOT cut off the strips you've just made but leave them attached.

14. If you slide a finger under your folded fabric and lay it open like a book, it should look like this.

15. Take a ruler and mark lines from one cut edge to the opposite and higher cut point. You can then use a rotary cutter or scissors to cut across these areas. Make sure that it's on a diagonal otherwise you'll wind up losing your continuous strip.

16. Mark and cut all the way up till you have nothing left but bias binding strips!

17. These open strips can now either be ironed by hand or placed on a spool to be run though a bias tape maker.

18. If you make a lot of binding I'd suggest getting one of these handy little guys, it takes hours less work to run it through this little gadget then to iron 1-3 seams into the fabric by hand.

Another less expensive alternative that's easier then ironing by hand is to get a hand held bias tape maker. It will hold and fold the fabric for you while you pull it through and iron it flat as you go.

Happy Binding Everyone!

Fabric Friday - Sherbet Pips

2011-04-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually one to run out and buy yardage of a whole line of fabric. I enjoy the one-offs and the challenge of making very different fabrics work together. However I'm starting to change my mind about that a little. When the Mendocino line came out I just loved it. But I didn't buy any thinking I could just pick some up later. Well, later never happened. It was so popular that it sold out and those people who snatched it up early were able to resell it for as much as $40/yd. I like it but I'm not that rich. Luckily I had a very generous friend who was willing to part with a small amount to satisfy my need for this fabric. I'll be sure to share more of that in a future post.

All that to say, I love the Sherbet Pip's line too. I don't think it'll go quite as fast as Mendocino but why take the chance? I don't have a pattern planned out to use with this fabric yet but that's okay. For now just knowing I have two layer-cakes tucked safely way for future is good enough. It reminds me of peppermint and winter and will someday probably be as close to a Christmas quilt as I'll get. It's just good and wintery and lovely.

What could it be?

2011-04-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

Remember that fabric I bought a month ago? Well, it's slowly but surely on its way to becoming something.... I'm almost there.

Doll Quilt

2011-04-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

While my 6-yo niece was here visiting from the east coast a few weeks ago, she asked me to make her baby panda bear a blankie. It was just at this time I was getting her Mamma (my SIL) into english paper piecing. So her Mom made the flower and I appliqued it onto a quilt top and then free-motion stitched it together. It was a fun little project.

PMQG Block Swap

2011-04-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

The Portland Modern Quilt Guild has a challenge for this month, to make a 12" block out of solids. We swap with someone from the guild this month and then we're assigned an, as of now, mystery project to make with the swapped block. Once we swap we'll make a project with our swapees block then trade back next month. Fun! My sister has been grumpy because I've gotten nowhere with her quilt so to appease her a little, I thought I'd make the block using colors she likes and then give her whatever it is we'll eventually get. Clear as mud? Good!

This is the block I've made:

Fabric Fridays

2011-04-15T11:13:00.001-07:00

A few more for the Mossy Patio quilt...

Fabric Friday

2011-03-18T11:11:00.001-07:00

I *might* have spent a wee bit of mad money on fabric last night. ^^

Note to self

2011-03-10T08:25:00.001-08:00

‎::stumbles zombie like into the kitchen, groping for coffee::
Note to self: do not stay up until 2am sewing no matter how fun it is, when you know you have to get up early and actually be functional the next day.

Making Face Cleaning Pads

2011-03-08T18:23:00.001-08:00

My latest project is a bit like craft tweeting. I've been making small, super fast little projects. What am I talking about? Well, let me digress for a moment...

I use witch hazel as an astringent to clean my face and I feel bad every time I use a cotton ball just once, or one of those nice little pressed cotton pads and then chuck it in the trash. As I came down to the last one in my jar a week or so ago I thought there had to be a better way. I'd tried making Tawashi crocheted cotton flowers but they were just too rough and didn't hold the witch hazel very well. They do however, make excellent little face scrubbers in the shower. Sooo... what about microquilts? They're the same idea as the pressed cotton pads except much cuter AND they use up quilting scraps. You can chuck 'em in the laundry with the clothes to get them clean and reuse them. Perfect!

An array of cleaning pads

They are super simple to make.

1.) Cut out one 3" square of each of the following for one cleaning pad:
*Top fabric (cute quilting cotton)
*Batting (I used scrap warm and natural)
*Backing (I used white cotton flannel)

Since I was making a whole slew I cut out a few stacks of each.

2.) Lay the fabrics down in this order:
Place the batting down on the table with the top fabric right side up, on top of it.

Place the backing fabric wrong side up on top of the batting and top fabric.

3.) Starting near a corner, stitch nearly all the way around using a 1/4" seam allowance. Cut the corners off so there is less bulk when you turn it. Be sure to leave a 1" to 2" gap so you can turn it inside out. Turn it so that the fabric comes through between the backing and the top fabric. (Think of the batting and the cute fabric as one).

4.) Make sure to poke the corners out so they're nice and square. Tuck in the unsewn bits and top stitch using 1/8" seam allowance all the way around to secure the edges.

5.) Yup - that's it! You're done. Go wash your face. ^^

Remember you can even use bits of old quilt blocks you have laying around, see the bottom right pink and green one - it used to be a bento block. Anything works really.

Bath Buddies and Mug Rugs

2011-03-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

It felt good to get my crafty on this evening. Granted it was only a couple of hours worth but boy did I need it!

Snooky and I worked on a little project together: a bath-buddy. It's a little terry cloth case with a bar of soap inside for the bathtub. She picked out the yarn for the hair and the fabric, then she cut out the shapes of the face and glued them on with fabric glue. Once they were dry I stitched them down, made the case, let her put the bar of soap in and stitched it shut. She took a bath with it and could be heard singing a lovely little song about her bath buddy. I tried not to giggle too much.

I also made a mug rug with some Mendocino scrap fabric I had. I just can't bring myself to throw any of it away! Originally I had other plans for the scrap (to be posted about soon) but when I was cutting out the squares they all looked so cute together I couldn't help myself.

I even got a chance to work on my sisters quilt - Whew~ it's a beast to shove that thing through my little tiny machine. I had a wee bit of a chat with DH today about maybe seeing what we can do about getting a midarm in the house. Of course it's all pipe dreams at the moment but maybe later this year in the fall?

And I also made myself work on an old UFO as well as start cutting a new flannel quilt for my Dad. It's nice to rotate "jobs" while sewing. I'll work on cutting for 20 minutes, then sewing for 20, then quilting - wash, rinse and repeat.

What are your favorite non-electric quilting tools?

2011-03-03T20:44:00.001-08:00

Clockwise from top right: Quilting gloves - excellent for guiding large pieces of fabric through the machine and or quilting. I cut the tips of the glove off the index and thumb so I can easily pick off threads without them sticking to the glove. Curved basting pins. Flat headed straight pins. Magnetic pin holder - great for when you accidentally spill pins! Pointy fabric guide - I'm pretty sure that's the technical name... don't know what they're actually called but it's a great tool for quilting curved seams. Jack the Ripper - my seam ripper. Snips and scissors and a good rotary cutter. I have several rotary cutters in different sizes and one that I keep that's just for cutting paper templates and such so I don't make the one I use for fabric dull. (I rotate the blades... when the fabric blade gets too dull it moves to the paper cutter where it works just fine for a while). Omnigrip rulers - they don't slide! And a marking pen.

Most all you might recognize but one that I LOVE that's rather uncommon is the little dohicky in the center of the picture. It's a wrapping paper cutter. One Christmas when my sewing room turned into gift wrap central and everything was everywhere and it was a general disaster but I was still trying to sew... I couldn't find my snips. However the paper cutter was readily available and wouldn't you know it? It was THE BEST thing for cutting apart chained pieces. No snipping motion required at all. There's a sharp little blade under that top protective area and it's just a swiping motion that separates them... perfect for cutting thread with. It also keeps me from accidentally cutting my stitched pieces because it really won't cut fabric... so I can hurry along with no worries for those or fingers. ;-) I usually pick up a few of them right after Christmas because they're cheapest then... a buck or two. They last 6 months to a year depending on how much use they see. Do no try to buy them right before Christmas - I've seen them priced for $8 or more then!

2011-02-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't made a post in a month! This February has been just nuts. All of my free time has been devoted to other endeavors, like searching out a good elementary school for our daughter who will start kindergarten in the fall (lots of round-ups, open houses and applications), filing our taxes, working on the quarterly GIG newsletter, starting seeds for the 2011 garden, not to mention all the regular stuff that needs taken care of. Happily it's almost over. ;^)

I have spent exactly two hours in my sewing room this month so not a lot to show. I worked a bit more on my sister's quilt and I also started cutting out the fabric for the Love Bubbles quilt.

Just to show how busy I've been I couldn't even manage to finish a mug rug for the PMQG meeting.

I managed to get it pinned but nothing else! How sad.

I did manage to sneak out of the house twice this month on quilt related sojourns. The first to the February PMQG meeting. Those are always so much fun. I even won glue! I've never used fabric glue as a way of basting and with my curved piecing coming up it might be handy.

I also went to a local quiltboard.com meet-up this afternoon. It was really lovely to meet such a nice group of women! We had a fat quarter swap and there was a lot of show and tell. No one appreciates a quilters work like other quilters.

Top: Terry (Theresa), Mary (CrazyBaker), Me, Jen (sew cornie), Roxanne (roxannebcb)
Bottom: Karen (KarenBarnes), Laurie (quiltingnonie), Trish (trish b), Kelly (madamekelly)

Sew On

2011-01-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

I had a super fun time at Cherri's open studio, Sew On. It was really nice to get to talk to some of the PMQG members outside of a meeting environment. Such sweet ladies, all of them!

Also Cherri's studio was dreamy and it was great to give her longarm a spin. Seems like a lot of the women there really enjoyed it too. I wonder how many of us went home and straight to a quilting project? ;^)

PS: Thanks for the cookies Cherri!

Fabric Friday

2011-01-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

Remember when my friend Kristel sent me some lovely limey greens for my pending patio quilt? Well in the same package she also sent me some Heather Ross "Mendocino". This is incredibly generous of her! I tried to buy some of this fabric after the fact and it has become very coveted and rather over priced (IMHO). So WOW! I feel very special that she chose me to share a bit of this little treasure with. I also now feel a great deal of pressure to make the coolest thing evar with it! lol I'll have to find some worthy project to put it toward. If anyone has any pattern ideas please let me know, I could use the help... though I do have a vague notion bubbling in the back of my brain. The Mendocino amounts are pretty small so I'll have to be extra creative.

The other thing she sneakily snuck into her package was a covered note book. It's adorable!

I may put this little cutie to work when I pay my bills. I have a little note pad I keep track of spending in, and the one I'm currently using expires in August so this may step up and take it's place. I always need a little bit of HAPPY when paying bills and what better to fix that then pretty fabric that came from a friend?

Last week you may remember me talking about giving up fabric shopping. Laurie over at Dodging the Butterfly asked a couple of great questions in regards to that,

I am curious to know how 2009 went? Is this something you do every other year?

I started to answer her in the comments but realized that I was *rambling* and I thought for anyone else that might be interested I'd answer here.

I quit my day job and became a SAHM in mid 2008. Naturally we went from two paychecks to one. As we adjusted to a new income bracket lots of things that we took for granted were cut. Fancy cable? Out! Eating at restaurants? Out! Excessive fabric shopping? Out! This was probably the first time in my life I'd ever made a conscious effort to not buy fabric. The truth is, if we could have continued to afford it, I never would've given it up. Heh. But as it turns out that was not the case.

At first it took some getting used to. I'd still try to sneak in a FQ or two every trip to the fabric store (when buying other supplies like thread) but after a few times doing that I realized I was "robbing" our grocery fund to realistically have fabric just sit in a bin in my sewing room because I thought it was pretty. It was easier to give up then.

I do have my exception rules: it's okay to buy a FQ or two if we take a day trip out to the beach (which doesn't happen but a couple of times of year at most) or if some other special occasion presents itself, like going out to the Sister's Quilt Show.

It was good to embrace the heart of quilting again, which is use what you have. Yeah, it'd be nice to buy all contemporary fabrics in the same line that are color coordinated and aesthetically appealing but where's the challenge in that? ;^) One of my most favorite quilts I've made to date came out of this thrifty decision. Forced to use only what I had - and a lot of it didn't (and still doesn't) really "go together" I had to get creative in how to use the fabrics to make a cohesive aesthetic. Enter, my Colorworks Quilt.

I only strayed once or twice in 2009 and then after New Year in 2010 with my "resolution" over, I kinda allowed myself a little freedom. Apparently given an inch I'll take a ~~yard~~ mile! By the end of 2010 I was spending more then I should have and was having a hard time reeling back. While a little better off financially due to raises and payed off bills, etc. I was still straining our budget. (Wow - that makes it sounds like I was spending a lot more then I actually was - lol) I'd also bought enough fabric to make more quilts then I'll get around to in the next year so it was easy to say in 2011 I needed to go back to not buying fabric.

In case you haven't checked out my Nu's tab I've got enough to keep me busy for the next five years at least... not to mention my WIP's and UFO's... okay ten years. I really don't need any more fabric. I think it's time to just enjoy the quilting process.

Honestly though, I wonder if that's possible without a little bit of fabric shopping thrown in? lol Maybe I'll keep up my abstinence till I go back to work though and just try to take more vacations. ;^)

WIP Wednesdays

2011-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

Portland Modern Quilt Guild
I went to the PMQG meeting Thursday night. Click the link to see what we're up to. Want proof I was there? Third picture down (on the PMQG blog), that's me in the black hat right behind the lady in green. What? You can't tell that's me? lol Sadly I didn't win anything this time around but it's still fun to be excited for those who do get the give-a-ways.

For the FQ swap I wound up with a cute little green one - my favorite color!

Hexagon Quilts
Also it was *awesome-possum* to see Tania finish the bulk of her squid hexagon quilt - so cool! We both started our hexagon quilts at the same time. She's super speedy. I loved getting a chance to look at all the fabrics close up. We had a nice little chat after the meeting about hexi's. (Yay for crazy english paper piecers!)
And I didn't know they took a picture of my hex in progress... ::grin:: Yeah, it's been stalled out a little bit but you can see I've finally finished the orange star. Next up with that project is to add in the diamonds around the blue star and attach the teal and orange stars so it's all one big piece. Then I can start working on the outer stars. What? You thought that was it? No, no. I am insane. Ha.

Kaleidoscope Quilt
Sunday was not a good quilting day. I was in the middle of working on my sister's quilt when...

...my kiddo comes into my sewing room with a red permanent marker. Yes. You can imagine what happened next. I nearly knocked her over in my rush to run from my sewing room to the laundry room, quilt in hand, to hit the effected area with a stain remover. The good news is, I was able to get most of it out.

You can hardly see where there's just a little bit of the red pen mark left.

The bad news, it was sitting there mostly stain free but also with a couple of spots of stain remover on it. The stain remover isn't supposed to dry on the fabric so I really needed to wash it out. However, because it's still all mostly pinned together, there's no way I could put it in a washing machine. I knew if I didn't treat it right away though it'd have a permanent mark. So after I sprayed it, I tried my best to rinse out just those spots. There was a big drippy chunk of it that then needed drying. I draped it over the shower curtain rod in the bathroom where it took all day and night to dry out enough to move back into the sewing room.

After all the rinsing and scrubbing I couldn't find any mark once it was dry. Whew~!

Apron
So in the meantime, instead of working on my sister's quilt I started the apron my daughter's been begging me for.

The Lola Apron

She picked out the pink fabric and I chose the coordinating fabrics to go with it. I'm not planning on any rick-rack (as shown in the pattern) since she said she didn't want any. I love how sophisticated this will all look together.

The pink will be the main body, the light grey patterned one will be at the top chest and for the pockets, the solid as the binding.

Here it is all done and sitting on the work table long after everyone else had fallen asleep.

She tried it on the next morning and it fits her perfectly!

Fabric Friday

2011-01-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

I was thinking that my fabric Fridays were going to be pretty sparse this year considering I've decided to give up fabric shopping.* But? So far so good! I still have things to share with you. I'd like to say THANK YOU! to Kristel for donating a wee bit of lovely green fabric toward my Oregon Patio quilt. She is such a dear! I'd been hoping to get some of these patterns but this line sold out quickly around here. How sweet that she offered to send enough to make a few "tiles" each for the patio? They'll go perfectly. Yay!

She also sent me a wee bit more fabric (Oh my generous friend!) but I'll save that for next week. It'll be a nice thing to share with you next Friday. Plus the suspense might be fun, yes?

*I've decided to get back on the "no new fabrics" wagon this year. (I gave up fabric shopping in 2009 too) Meaning that I'm not allowed to make trips to the fabric store to buy random beautifully patterned fabrics just because I like them. Oh no. I am however, allowed to buy fabric that will complete a project. For example buying backing fabric. Really that's about it. Maybe binding fabric if I really have nothing in my stash. I'm also allowed notions as needed, needles, thread, etc.

My one other exception to this rule is vacation fabric. Heh. So if I'm on vacation (unlikely since we're a bit broke) and go into a fabric store I'm allowed a fat quarter or two. When in Sister's this summer for the quilt show (my one guaranteed vacation) I'll also let myself get some fabric... probably more then a FQ though, since it'll be all about the quilting that weekend. Yes I'm excited already. ^^ I'll try not to break the bank.

WIP Wednesdays

2011-01-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

Slowly but surely working on my sister's quilt. There's so much quilting to do still. (Why do I feel like a broken record? Heh.)

Also I'm sure you all remember this lovely little top I pulled together? I'd asked Andi to share her modified pattern with me.

Well I have to laugh because it turns out I didn't need to after all. I'd done the BIG clean up of my sewing room which I've talked about a wee bit but what I haven't really mentioned was the residual activities of that.... I've gone though and sorted all my magazines and patterns, I've updated containers (from shoe boxes to nice little plastic pull out drawers) inside my cupboards, etc. Anyway, I found this pattern in one of my many piles of things. Look familiar?! Guess I really like it... but just not enough to remember I already had it. Ha!

The only other thing I've worked on the past week are the QAYG blocks which I posted a bit about. I was surprised that my Bernina could not even put a DENT in trying to sew the binding between blocks. It was just too much fabric for the poor little delicate dear. I did however manage to get them all sewn up. How might you ask? The mighty little Spartan is how. Even though this was gifted to me a few months ago I haven't really had the need or excuse to use it until now. I had to fiddle with it a bit and I don't think it'd been oiled in an age! It was much happier after a bit of a cleaning and a newly wound bobbin. It had no problem plowing through all those layers of fabric then.

Helping can be addictive

2011-01-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm sure you've all heard by now about the disastrous flooding in Australia. Well Jan over at Sew Many Quilts - Too Little Time is organizing a donation point for QAYG (Quilt As You Go) blocks to make into quilts to give to the victims of the floods. To see all the quilts as she finishes them, click here. She organized over 2,300 of them for the fire victims a few years back. Impressive!

I thought I'd make a couple to send along. I've never done this technique before and - wow - it's addictive! And fun. I shouldn't be having fun - this is serious stuff! But I did. I made eight blocks and they're fast to whip up. I was also just bemoaning what I was going to do with a bunch of batting scraps I had laying around. Happily I didn't toss them in the great Clean Sweep of 2011. I'm glad I found such a good use for them.

The thing I really love about this kind of quilt is the true quiltiness of it. It really is all just super random scraps I have laying around - nothing matches, nothing is terribly "hip" but it is still beautiful and functional and a delight to look at. I even zig-zagged batting scraps together as well as used an old sheet for the backing.

These are four blocks I've got half packed up and ready to go to Jan in Australia.

I'd like to try the whole technique out for myself so I thought I'd also try attaching the sashing to some blocks too. I probably won't sent it to Australia due to prohibitive shipping costs but may donate it to a local charity or Linus. I guess I just started another quilt?! Oh shoot! lol

Four blocks with the sashing partially attached. Yay.

Fabric Friday

2011-01-14T14:11:00.003-08:00

Sometimes it's not about the fabric you get but the fabric you let go of...

WIP Wednesdays

2011-01-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

THE BIG PURGE
So besides the BIG CLEAN UP that I was doing last week - aaah so clean - I also went through all my quilting magazines that have been lying around for ages and figured out which ones I want to keep (some have patterns I'd like to make someday) and others, while fun, I'm now done with. That was a pretty fun "task". ;^)

I also went and did something I've not ever done before. I went through my *entire* fabric stash and purged. I've got two grocery bags full of fabric ready for the curb. I might go donate them to Scrap since there's one close by. At least there I know they'll get used properly. I never know what happens to stuff that goes to Goodwill or similar. I guess I could bring it to a guild meeting but I don't know that I want it sticking around the house that long.

KALEIDOSCOPE QUILT
Besides that I've mostly been working on my sister's quilt:

I finally picked out the last of the last of the dark stitches and have been able to move forward with actual quilting (in the cream colored thread). Yay progress! I think I might want to sneak in some writing somewhere and not tell her, to make it fun. I'll have to wait to see how long it takes her to notice it. Heehee.

POSTAGE STAMP QUILT
In mid-fabric-purge I also went though the fabric I was getting rid of to see if any of it would work in my crazy-making postage stamp quilt. I know I've put this one down for such a long time but I'm still in love with the idea of making it so it was nice to go back and revisit it. I was able to match up a few more colors. Someday I might even be able to start assembling. I have a lot of cutting left as well.

All Swept Up!

2011-01-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

TA-DA! It's all nice and tidy now. ^^ And H. and A. came over last week for some crafty goodness - Love those ladies!

(Anyone know where I can get a replacement ironing board cover for an extra wide ironing board? Mine is shot.)

Yes, there really was a table top under all that junk!

The side view of my "fancy" new bookcase.

And a shot back toward the door... (There's H. who showed up *literally* as I was finishing picking up...)

Muted Monday

2011-01-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

Fabric Friday

2011-01-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

Still collecting for the Patio quilt... I think maybe another yard or less in FQ's or thirds of the green and I'll be done... then I've really got to cut myself off this year from fabric shopping. I spent way too much last year on fabric. I need to go back on my fabric diet! Of course there are exceptions, such as backing and batting and thread and such... can't run out of supplies but whoo-hee, I don't really need any new fabric.

Rug Mug

2011-01-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Well it was bound to happen sooner then later... my sweet little kiddo keeps breaking my coasters so I went and made a mug rug. Super fun and fast to pull together, especially since I used an extra block I had laying around.

Front

Back

Pickin' Up

2011-01-06T08:53:00.001-08:00

How's everyone's cleaning going? (It's my semi-annual Sewing Room Clean Sweep) I've been making a little bit of progress... (Actually I'm almost done!) but I'll give you a little teaser right now.

So here was my little bit of fugly I was talking about earlier:

Um... apparently I wasn't talking about it here. Ooops. So here's the back story...

Happy to report that after two hours of cleaning (last night) I can actually see surfaces I haven’t seen in ages! I also had a great idea for how to make a section of my sewing room less um, ugly. Let that be a lesson to me though….

Once upon a time we had some extra funds (a rare thing in our house) and I really wanted to replace the fugly garage shelving that I’d been using with an adorable white sideboard. We had the money! I had the motivation! BUT… I let my dear sweet hubby talk me out of it because he thought it was friv… well, we wound up spending that extra cash on a lot of little piddly things until it was gone and I’m still left with the garage shelving. WHY oh WHY did I listen to him on that one. Ug.

Anyway::smiles serenely:: now I need to make lemonade. ;^) So for a lot less then a new piece of furniture I could replace the top shelf (currently raw pressboard) with a white melamine shelf and about three yards of fabric and some sticky velcro I could make a cover for the lower portion to hide the shelving and all the junk on it. It’s my goal to try to pick up the supplies for it today.

So I bought all the supplies yesterday and got to work. I had them cut the melamine down to size at the hardware store so I didn't have to deal with that at home. I just picked up the old top and replaced it with the new one. Easy-peasy. The skirt took a couple of hours just because I had to figure it out as I went but I wouldn't say it was hard. I would say I wish I'd bought about 1/4 of yard more in length... there wasn't any wiggle room. And I think a pleat would've been nice in the center front too. All in all though I think it came out nicely. I even cleaned up my bulletin board a little bit too.

A close-up of the fabric...

WIP Wednesdays

2011-01-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

APRONS (2010)
I've got two aprons in works. One holiday one that I'd started for my self but my sister really wants, so I'll finish it up and give it to her. And another that's in the process of being pieced together, quilt like, for myself as an everyday apron. While I most likely won't add batting, I do think I'll line and quilt it.
Here is the little stack of fabric I'm making it with. Most of it I pulled from my Single Girl quilt stash.
STRING PLATES (2011)
I bought a little bag of stringy scraps from a single line for another project that I actually only needed very little of the fabric for. Now I have this lovely little pile of fabric that needs a project. For once the fabric will dictate the pattern! (I usually decide on a pattern first then find the fabric to fit it.) Anyway I was rather inspired by Andie's quilt and I think it would be the perfect match of pattern and fabric. Isn't her quilt adorable? Now I just need someone to have a baby to give the quilt to! (Oh wait! I need to make it first! lol)

Here is my pile of scrap fabric (Verna by Kate Spain for Moda)...

And I still have lots of the espresso brown fabric laying around which does in fact seem to go with so much...Pictures of it however always seem to come out black looking. In fact this is more of the "real" color when seen with the naked eye.

And this is pretty much how far I've gotten with the top assembly. I'm actually really enjoying this pattern and think it would be great fun to make another one to fit the new Queen sized bed for the guest room.

Edited to add Sunday night (I add to these all week in an as-I-go-along fashion):
I um. Finished the top tonight. Heehee.

This pattern was seriously *perfect* for the fabric I had. If it had been any bigger I'd have run out. It wasn't a lot to begin with. I was also trying to not have spend any $ on new fabric or supplies. As mentioned I have a ton of espresso fabric I'm trying to use up and a large spool of matching thread. I have a lot of Warm 'n Natural cotton scrap batting left over and I'm trying to decide if I should zigzag it together and use it up (wouldn't that be nice?) except most of it is in 8" strips. Can anyone use that size batting? I feel like it might make my quilt lumpy. On the other hand I do have two largish chunks of poly batting (shudder) so it'd only be one zig-zag seam and I wouldn't have to buy any batting.

Now my other thought is backing. I'd like a flannel back but all I have on hand is some citron green and white striped stuff someone gave me long ago. It'd be okay (but not ideal - other then "free") if I wasn't planning on "hiding" my quilting on the front by using dark espresso colored thread. If I do that and use matching bobbin then all my quilting would show up dramatically on the back, which I don't really want. I prefer to always have my quilting be "invisible" on the back - that is matching thread to fabric. If I use a bobbin that's light to match the back and a dark to match the front, I usually wind up getting "stars" in my stitching on the front... meaning you can see little bits of where the light colored bobbin thread overlocks the dark thread that runs on the top of the quilt. Ideally I should go look for a dark colored flannel for the back.

Oh and the last thing? I'm now not allowing myself to work on this any more until I finish my sister's quilt.

What I really should be working on is my sister's kaleidoscope quilt. I didn't finish it in time for Christmas so now I've got till mid-month to finish it for her BD. I sort of took a break from it as shoving it through my machine knots up my shoulders. I find pushing that much fabric through my machine tiring after a while so I need to work on it intermittently.

2011-01-04T02:18:00.001-08:00

Man am I dense.

As you all know kids tend to be rather destructive. When I was a whole lot younger (whole lot) I bought lovely marble coasters with cork "seats" to absorb the condensation of the glasses set upon them. Anywhoodle, the kiddlet has managed to break all but two now so I've been setting my drinks on the floor, holding them in my lap, etc. all while try to do stuff (like type on the computer, eat, etc.) without ruining the finishes on various pieces of furniture around my house. This, as you can well imagine, has lead to a whole lot of FAIL.

So I was thinking I'd buy some more from some where. Yet this seems so friv. Why does my budget not include funds for coasters? I was also thinking just yesterday that I have a whole lot of 8" wide (or so) scraps of batting down stairs and extra blocks for various quilts laying around doing nothing. Hum... *maybe* I should make some mug rugs. Yeah, I'm a regular rocket surgeon over here.

Now? It is a plan.

Fabric Friday

2010-12-31T09:27:00.000-08:00

Well the last little bit of Christmas money was spent at the fabric store.... shock of shocks! I really need to go on a fabric diet after last year. More sewing, less purchasing! However I am in the collection stage for the Oregon Patio Quilt I'd like to get to sometime in 2011 so I don't feel too bad picking up a few more greens and grays.

However what I really should've spent the $$ on was getting my serger fixed. Remember when I made my Mom her holiday apron? Yeah, well now my sister wants one too and it's so much faster to use the serger to finish the raw edges then my sewing machine. Ah well. So what I've decided to do is finish making the holiday apron I was going to make for myself and give that one to my sister and then just make an everyday apron for myself. I want to scrap together the main body and make it quilty. I'm using all the fabrics out of my Single Girl Quilt and will coordinate it with these then for the pockets and sashing and such. I don't think I'm going to add any batting between the layers as it'll loose its drape and get too stiff.

Fabric Friday

2010-12-17T14:37:00.001-08:00

Slowly but surely collecting for the Oregon Mossy Patio Quilt....one FQ at a time.

WIP Wednesday

2010-12-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

So until my serger died I was working on an apron for myself at the same time as I was making one for my mom... see previous post to see the one I finished for her. Anyway, here's the pile of would-be cute apron I now don't have time to make. Foo. The pattern is Indigo Junction's The Ruffled Chef.

I also sit in the coffee shop on Monday afternoons and quilt while Snookie is in school for a few hours. There is a group of spinners and knitters who I usually sit with and one of them made this lovely pumpkin cowl. I bought it off her and just need to add buttons. I had the big coat button which I think goes in such a nice way. I needed two more buttons and it's taken me a while to remember to pick them up. I have them now and just need the ten minutes to sit down and attach them all.

The thing that's been really keeping me busy is my sister's quilt. OH the trouble this quilt has given me! Sheesh.

Now, as a disclaimer before I became a SAHM I used to quilt by check (yay for having extra $$ from being employed) of course I can't afford that now so I've been left up to my own devices. Fortunately before I quit my last job I had enough forethought when buying my sewing machine to get a stitch regulator with it. I've been using it to quilt with for the past few years. So while I've been piecing for a long time, the whole quilting aspect is rather new to me. I admit the SR is a bit of a crutch.

Now back to the problem of my sister's quilt. For whatever reason the SR is not happy when I sew over seams while also having a flannel back. I love flannel on the back of a quilt... it makes it so warm and cosy. My friend Heather has been encouraging me to let go of the SR and learn to self regulate. Well I had the thread bread six times while trying to quilt just one of the 12" motifs. I knew then that there was no way I could make it all the way though all the quilting I had to do if it was going to keep going that way. So I let the SR go. It wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be! How wonderful that she had more faith in me then I did in myself. Thanks Heather! See? My stitches are pretty even and small. Yay! Of course I still have a long way to go and need loads more practice but it's a start.

I also was planning on using two different thread colors for this quilt. I stitched up four of the 12" motifs before I realized that the dark teal color looked ghastly. I had done a wee bit of the border in a cream thread and decided it was loads better.... SO last night I started picking out all the thread and starting those sections all over. Maybe you can see the difference in this picture... the light triangle block in the lower right has the cream thread while the light triangle block in the upper left is using the dark teal thread... yack. I still have to pick that one out and redo it.

So all that to say there's no way I'll be done with this quilt in time for Christmas... so I broke the news to my sis this morning and happily she was cool with it. Thankfully her BD is in late January which *should be* just enough time to actually get it done. ^^

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-14T18:09:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know I should be working on my sister's quilt but I just really needed a break from it so I whipped up a holiday apron for my Mom this past weekend. I gave it to her yesterday. She adored it. ^^ Nothing like making something and have it be appreciated. Yay. Might have to make one for myself here soon too. I wonder when I'm gonna find the time?

Updates

2010-12-10T22:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I've managed to get my sister's top finally all pulled together. I swear some quilts just go smooth as silk and others burden you with so much grief. Can you guess what kind this one is?! Grief is all I've gotten from this thing! I wasn't paying attention when building my blocks originally and did half of them wrong so I had to rip them and remake them. Then I planned out a border that I realized I've have to buy three extra yards of fabric just to make it all fit and return the queen size batting for a king, so I redesigned it but now I've got extra fabric I didn't need to buy, etc. etc. etc. Even pinning tonight I ran out of my curved basting pins (this AFTER buying an extra pack of 100 before I started). I have a gut feeling that the quilting itself isn't going to go smoothly either but I'm putting it off till tomorrow because I'm just tired tonight. I will make the long trip to the one fabric shop tomorrow I know has machine needles that my sewing machine adores - hopefully that will stave off any difficulties I might get while trying to quilt over seams (which is where my machine gets cranky). It's a large queen size... I think it's 90" x 100 and something. I'll have to measure when it's all done. Sorry the lighting is terrible on both these pictures... it's dark in the house and there isn't an overhead light source in the living room.

Also thought I'd share an update on the hexi hand project. It's coming along slowly but surely. It takes a while but I really enjoy it. I left the iron in the frame just so you could get an idea of scale.

Copyright Law

2010-12-09T22:23:00.000-08:00

Well if I was ever confused about copyright law before this really spun my head. Without understanding legalese and reading it all for myself it's hard to know who's in the right, though I tend to lean toward the rebuttal since they at least support their arguments by pointing directly to portions of the law whereas the magazine's author waves her hand around in big general sweeping motions. I did find the whole thing totally fascinating however, and if you have the time, it's completely worth the read.

Peppermint Mocha

2010-12-01T00:19:00.000-08:00

I should mention that I foolishly drank a peppermint mocha around 7 pm this evening and even though it was decaf I am WIDE AWAKE right now, which might explain my barrage of posts. Heh. It was delicious however and got me though some of my Christmas shopping so I can't complain. Anywhoodle....

FRENCH TWIST, CANDY SWIRL, or SWIRL QUILT
This is another NU I'm in love with. It'll be a year or more before I can get to it. I'm planning on it being my "take with me hand work" (since it's applique) however I want to finish my hexagon quilt before I start any other hand piecing projects. There's some interesting information on the pattern that can be found here and here. Would you ever guess that this pattern may have originated as early as the 1890's? I think I'd like to tackle this in no way that I've seen done as of yet by using the same method I did on my Colorwork Charm Quilt. Of course I'll have to play with it to see if I can get it to flow properly but it would be cool if I can get a near enough effect.

Curlicue Crush

2010-11-30T23:31:00.000-08:00

I really, really should just keep my eyes shut. I was on a trail of clicked links, you know, when you see something interesting and it leads you to a page that leads you to another page until you run into something you just can't live without? Yeah, well, it lead me to this lovely pattern, Curlicue Crush. I can see this done in lime green and red and white Christmas fabrics. It reminds me of ornaments. I probably won't be making this anytime soon but I do just adore it.

Strip Poker!

2010-11-26T23:05:00.000-08:00

This past summer one of the guilds I belong to played a game of strip poker. It was loads of fun and we all had a good laugh. Of course I lost my shirt but then again I've never been good at this sort of thing. ^^ It was still fun though.

I was telling a friend of mine about it and she asked for the rules so that her guild could play but I couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd put them. Well, wouldn't you know it? I tucked them into a book I was intending to read way back in July... I just picked it up and out they fell. So since I was typing them all up for her anyway, I thought I share with you too. Enjoy!

RULES FOR QUILTERS STRIP POKER

Each table should have 9 or 10 players but absolutely no more then 10
Each player should have 12 charm strips 2.5" x 45" (or width of fabric)
Be sure the JOKERS are taken OUT of the deck. Shuffle the cards thoroughly!
To begin, each player must ante one strip into the pot
The dealer gives each player a card (face up), if the card is a diamond, club or spade, the player must put one of their strips into the pot, but if the card is a heart, the player gets to take two strips out of the pot. If ther are no more strips in the pot, the player who gets a heard loses the opportunity to take strips out of the pot, however, the player who gets a diamond, club or spade must put a strip into the pot.
Repeat above step until all the players have five cards. The winner of the pot is the player who has the most duplicates (5's or kings or 9's, etc) of the highest card value (Ace is high, 2 is low). NO OTHER standard poker hands are valid. If two or more players have the same duplicates, the face value of the next highest card in the hands determines the winner. For example K-K-Q beats K-K-J because the Q is higher then the J.

ORDER OF WINNING HANDS FROM LOWEST TO HIGHEST
Two of a kind
Two sets of two of a kind
Three of a kind
Four of a kind

Fabric Fix

2010-11-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Well I made it to the fabric store and managed to only find one of the former cream fabrics that I was using before. I found a second one in the same pattern but a slightly different colorway. There are so few blocks left and they'll still be intermingled in with the other lighter blocks that use the older creams, so I don't think it'll be overly noticeable. I also have just enough of the dark teal pieces left to finish the inner part of the quilt. Whew~ I also found a beautiful fabric for the outer 7" border.

I got a few minutes to work on it tonight. It was so nice to sit and sew with Snookie (who's just turned five). We hit up a craft store this afternoon and I got her a beading kit. She LURVED it! She made little necklaces for her cousins for Christmas while I sewed. She also wanted to listen to Harry Potter audio books. Sweet! So we hung out together being all crafty and geeky. I love that my little babe is turning into such an awesome kid. ^^

Oh and I think I've finally figured out what quilting I'm going to do once I get it all basted together. While I really wish I had a long arm (saving, saving, saving!) I'm still shoving all my quilts through the Bernina which is a bit more challenging then putting it on a frame but I'm hoping for help from a few quilting stencils. It feels kinda like cheating but then again, not. Heh.

And just so this post is not totally devoid of pictures I'd like to share a lovely little quilt that I might have to stick in NU list. This fun little jem is from Barbara Brackman's Blog. I believe she refers to it as Fireball. In my head though I like to call it Dots and Diamonds. I'd love to make it in a bunch of really bright whimsical fabrics and colors. Maybe the strips a collection of dots on white/light ground? The big dots hot pinks and the diamonds in... blacks with dots? That's just my off-the-cuff idea for it.

FAIL

2010-11-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

So *sometimes* I don't really plan out the quilts I make but just sort of start making them. This is lovely most of the time and works out if it doesn't really need to be a specific size or if it's really scrappy (have I mentioned I like scrappy?) so I can just chunk in fabric or two if I run short. Well... this time? Not working out so well. Ug.

I promised my sister I'd make her a quilt so back in June, so I bought some fabric, picked a pattern and off I went thinking I'd just add a bit more if I hadn't bought quite enough. Well... then I was working on it and you saw the picture from the last post. I finished more then half of it and (foolishly) sewed together what I'd done. Now I realize that I don't have enough to make all the dark squares. I'm a dozen shy of finishing it and thought I *must* have some of the left over cream colored fabrics somewhere. I ripped apart my sewing room looking for them yesterday afternoon. Alas, I either don't have them or can't find them. With a limited amount of space and lack of planning I'm thinking I just ran out. I was able to find a few scraps of them in my scraps bin but nothing substantial.

So last night I ran off to Fabric Depot to see if I could find any of the original fabrics from the cream set I'd bought in June. HA! Fat chance.

I was really surprised to actually find one. Their turnover is amazing (being the largest fabric/quilt shop in Oregon and possibly the US) they bus people in to shop there. So yeah. I had to buy more fabric than I probably needed just to get the variety of scrappiness. I guess there's always a need for light/cream colored fabrics in blocks so it probably won't go to waste.

Anyway now my beef is I'm going to have a whole new set of creams to mix in - which would be lovely, except to say that I've already sewed up so much of the quilt. Gah. I've got four rows of seven blocks left. I guess I can sew two to the top of the five rows I've already sewn and two to the bottom. I just really do NOT want to have to rip seams to get a better mix. Meh. I just really, really hope I have enough of the dark teal fabrics left to finish the dark blocks.... It's gonna be close. Guess I need to go count triangles.

Next time I am SO pre-planning! lol

Progress

2010-11-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

Making progress on my sister's quilt for Christmas...

I have about half the inner part of the top pieced.

Still am not entirely sure how I'll quilt it - always the hardest part for me.

Celtic Knot-Work Quilt

2010-11-10T16:22:00.001-08:00

I might have mentioned I've been tossing a few original quilt designs around in my head. This would be one of them...

I've always been very partial to celtic knot-work and Ireland (having been more then a few times) so it seems appropriate. However I'm a bit stuck on color and texture ideas. I don't know that I want to go so cliche and make it in off whites and greens, however appropriate. I want to somehow modernize it, use scraps and lots of colors but still make it work as obvious knot-work. It would be easy to make scrappy as it's basic unit is a 2" block, everything is based on that and comprised of half-square and quarter-square triangles. Guess I'll have to think about it some more.

I need to win the lottery

2010-11-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

I love all the fabric bundles from fabricworm... too many quilts, too much beautiful fabric, not enough time!

Another NU

2010-11-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I forgot one, ha! I actually have had the magazine with the pattern for this quilt laying around for a number of months and I've been drooling over the idea of making it. However, Cherri from the Portland Modern Quilt Guild beat me to it. Not that I mind. I absolutely love her version!

NU's

2010-11-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

Well since I've been on vacation I haven't done any machine sewing in the past two weeks. I have however been working on the hexagon quilt steadily since it's all hand pieced and I was able to take it with me. However, it was worth giving up any and all other crafti-time to take Snookie to Disneyland for her fifth birthday though. She had a BLAST... actually so did DH and I. ^^ We took a long drive down into California and hit loads of fun places along the way (Monterey Bay Aquarium, Winchester Mystery House, San Diego Zoo, etc). It was super fun but now I need a vacation from my vacation! Heh.

This is us at a coffee shop in San Diego having a mellow afternoon.

In the meantime however, you know I was busy thinking up new quilts to make! Yeah, sick disease it is... the lure of the NEW. Since I'm always adding to the NU (Next Up's) tab but not sure that anyone ever checks it (besides me). I thought I'd share the latest entries. I think going forward I'll make a brief post about each one before adding it to the ever growing list. In a way it's satisfying to just have the list even if a good majority of them never get made.

Without further adieu...

NEXT UP'S

STRING PLATES
I bought a little bag of stringy scraps from a single line for another project that I actually only needed very little of the fabric for. Now I have this lovely little pile of fabric that needs a project. For once the fabric will dictate the pattern! (I usually decide on a pattern first then find the fabric to fit it.) Anyway I was rather inspired by Andie's quilt and I think it would be the perfect match of pattern and fabric. Isn't her quilt adorable? Now I just need someone to have a baby to give the quilt to! (Oh wait! I need to make it first! lol)
GENEALOGY QUILT
Similar to a signature quilt but obviously with family names and dates... maybe a brief pictorial history of some kind? No idea really. This is something that's way on the back burner and I just wanted to mention it here so I can remember to think more about it. I like the fan lay out for showing names but not sure that would work as a quilt. I could do a traditional tree image but I feel like that's been done to death. I want something visually interesting but simple and dynamic.
DEAR JANE
I started a Dear Jane Quilt a few years ago with the idea that I would actually finish it. Heh. I did about twenty blocks but lost steam on it. It's one of those projects that I was feeling really guilty about not finishing and was considering letting it go. Now however I think I'll make a very modern version of a Dear Jane with the blocks I did finish. The idea is to create a strip out of the blocks and place them on a large solid ground at about horizon level. I'd like it to be seamless but I'll have to play with it a little before I decide.

Done!

2010-10-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Haha! DONE! Woo!

This is the X-Rated Schnibbles pattern. The fabric is a line from Free Spirit called Home. They were giving out free salesman sample strike off packs at the July(?) guild meeting. Anyway, there was enough to make this quilt with the addition of the dark espresso colored solid I used. It's about 72" square I think. I haven't measured it but I think that's what the pattern said it'd turn out to be. Anywhoodle - it's done! (Except for the label but I want to experiment with a new process so if it doesn't make it on there right away I'm not worried)

Since I went back to using Warm and Natural batting and a lot of straight stitching with the walking foot the quilting on this one was much more pleasent then the last quilt I worked on. I also used pink flannel for the backing which makes it extra snuggly.

My stitching is still so far from perfect though I'm always slightly disappointed. I know this is both a point of, I need more practice and that I know I have trouble dragging my quilts though my machine and would have smoother lines if I could use a long arm.

Ah well. None of that however will stop me from making quilts I adore.

I'm in love!

2010-10-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

I do realize I don't need to actually start any new quilts with my UFO and WIP list being so long but that doesn't mean I can't look, right? This beauty was blogged about over on Quilt Granny's Blog. Maybe someday when I finish a few of my own stack I'll start one like this. I adore it!

My So Called Creative Life

2010-10-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

I've been designing quilts lately. It feels really good, just allowing myself the freedom to commit the idea to paper without ever really worrying (at the moment) if I'll make them or not. I think up to this time I've been so concerned that if I designed one, that I'd then have to commit to making it, it had scared me off of designing them at all. What a relief it is just to create!

The Process Pledge

2010-10-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

I have made a process pledge. The goal of the process pledge is to create a new sensibility in quilting blogs where we don’t just show finishes or occasionally confess about our moments of indecision, but chat openly and often about our works in progress, our inspirations, and our moments of decision. I know that many of us are already posting about our thinking on quilts and the processes involved from start to finish, let's do more! And let's post about quilts as we work on them. I want to see more half-done quilts, not just the finished thing with a journal entry about the process.

I think part of the reason I really like the blogs from quilting bees is because a lot of the process gets documented...from original concept, to raw materials, to each block in turn, and often a few drafts of the final layout. It's awesome!

So, without further ado. Here's the process pledge. Take it, shake it, make it yours.
~r0ssie

of http://r0ssie.blogspot.com

I, Just Jenn, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear. I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.

A Work in Progress

2010-10-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

I managed to get this one pin basted today. ^^ (Which is always so much more then just basting... First I have to pick up kid junk off the living room floor, roll up the throw rug, sweep and steam mop, let the floor dry, lay the backing down, iron it then tape it to the floor to keep from shifting, lay down the batting, iron & tape, the top... iron and tape. THEN I can start pinning! lol Still, I listened to books on tape while working and it went by quickly.)

And after all the crazed excessive free-motion quilting of the last quilt, I'm going to go with *very* simple straight line quilting for this one, except for the border which I'm still not sure exactly how I'm going to manage. Should I just continue the quilting from the inner part off into the border creating X's across the piano keys?

Another pincushion

2010-09-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

I had a Bento Box Block laying around that I thought would make for a really cute pin cushion... I'll probably offer this one up for the PMQG Pincushion Swap in October.

Round Robin

2010-09-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

I started this quilt in 2008 with a group of women on-line. The idea is that you start a center block that you make yourself, which I did.

Once complete, you send your block to another person in the group and they add a border, then they send it to another person, who adds another border, etc. until it comes back to you a finished top. This top went around for months and finally came back to me in 2009. It's pretty much just sat in my sewing room for a year.

I was feeling pretty glum about it and in general bemoaning the large stack of UFO's that needed to be completed when I was approached by another on-line friend to start a UFO Club that would run for three months at a shot. The idea was that if you finished a UFO people would send you fat quarters. I'm a sucker for fabric, squee mail and the occasional kudos, so of course I was in. Heh. Well, this is the end of the that first session and lo and behold, it worked! I actually finished a top! Woo! Apparently I work better if I have deadlines and something at stake.

Of course nothing comes easy. I had more trouble with this quilt and my machine not getting along. First off I deviated from Warm and Natural Cotton Batting. I used a high loft poly instead because I thought it would be nice and light for my kiddo (for whom the quilt was being made). Uh yeah, FAIL. I had been using one brand of needle and when I ran out and I switched it to another brand and it started skipping stitches every time I went over a seam. There are a lot of seams in the quilt. Consequently there was a lot of cursing going on as well. Yes, I was making sailors blush. I finally googled to see if there was anything I could do to fix the problem (besides drive the two hours to the store where I'd originally bought the other brand of "working" needle) and a top stitching needle was recommended. I gave it a try and it did improve the situation but most certainly didn't make it go away. It was enough however to get the job done.

Also? Because I love to torture myself, in the areas with the sunburst blocks (not sure what their official name is, though I'm pretty sure that's not it) I'd quilted a pattern on all four blocks and decided once I was nearly done with all the other quilting that I hated it so much and it would drive me nuts every time I looked at it unless I fixed it, I ripped it all out. (How's that for a run-on sentence?! lol) Yeah, I re-quilted that whole part of the quilt putting in pebbles in the back ground. I'm so happy with it now! It's much better. Live and learn.

The other thing I'm kinda of surprised at is how busy it turned out once the quilting was complete. I still like it though and the most important thing? My kiddo is all snuggled up with it tonight and was completely *delighted* with it. So, win-win. =)

This is Snookie rolling around on it after I told her it was *finally* all done.

Wonky Houses

2010-09-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here are my blocks for September's Block Lotto. I really didn't want to miss out on this round but I've been so busy with other swaps and craft group deadlines I barely had time to make these. I'd love to do a whole quilt of wonky houses someday so I had to be sure to get them done and at least have a shot at winning a few more. I love to make them though, they're so fun. ^^

Pincushions and Purses

2010-09-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been forever since I've made a pincushion but the PMQG is having a swap next month and I thought I'd revisit it. While rummaging through scrap fabric at the NW Quilt Guild meeting I came across a lone 6.5" block that I threw in the pile having no idea what I'd do with it... well, now it's a pin cushion. I cut out the corners to make the side seams and then sewed together those little pieces to make the bottom of the pin cushion, all filled now with a bit of rice.

I like it well enough but it's a bit big (3" square) and not very modern though it was fun to put together. I have a lone little bento box block that'll make a nice pin cushion too.... it's half made already so no pictures of that, sorry.

Then I was thinking about my hexi's I adore so much and realized that I actually needed a small pincushion for my traveling hexi sewing kit... so naturally, it too had to be a hexagon shape! The fabrics were also donations from an earlier PMQG meeting. It's bright and cheery, I like it.

Lastly this is a bag I crocheted for a swap I'm in...

The theme was based on magical creatures. I could've hooked up a dragon or something but I guess I'm more practical then that so I put together a fat bottomed bag and lined it with mermaid fabric. I don't particularly care for pink but I am kinda of fond of this one and will be sad to see it go!

Quilts in Action

2010-09-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks Joan for taking such a nice shot!

I really like this picture that was captured of my quilt top as I was folding it up after the PMQG meeting. It's so clear and dynamic. It was fun to get to show it off a bit. Still have no idea how I'm actually going to quilt it though. Please, anyone have any suggestions?

Kiddlet

2010-09-15T18:41:00.001-07:00

While this doesn't really have anything to do with quilting I thought I'd share a picture of Miss Fancy Pants trying on new school clothes because she looked so darn cute. (IMHO) Hee

And now for the real kid. ;^)

Making myself work on UFO's

2010-09-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have a hard time working on old projects. So last night in a fit of desperation (ha!) I hit up Modern Domestic for a sewing session. I brought only *one* UFO. I paid $10 to sew there for three hours. There were no other projects to "escape" to! And I didn't leave early because paying to sew when I have a perfectly good sewing space seems *crazy* to me... so it was best I used the full allotted time. Anyway, I didn't get nearly as much done as I would've at home in those same three hours because there were a lot of other women there from the Portland Modern Quilt Guild and so I was easily distracted by a lot of chattiness and show and tell. Not to say it wasn't fun and I didn't have a great time, cause surely I did! but not sure how conducive it was to working. lol... Still I made some progress and had some "girlie" me-time too - woo!

Backing for the X quilt

2010-09-07T19:59:00.001-07:00

I found the most perfect backing flannel. Oh I can hardly wait to get this one done!

Top is done...

2010-09-05T12:23:00.001-07:00

...now just to find the time to actually quilt it. Also, I need backing fabric... hum. Flannel maybe? Binding will be the same dark brown and the background squares.

Woo!

2010-09-05T10:03:00.001-07:00

Finished the X-Rated top.... pictures to come shortly.
Now to get to work on wrapping up a few UFO's!

2010-09-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've not been on-line in the evenings because I just want to sew and have been like a fiend. It's good. I think I finally found a rhythm that works for me. Work a little bit on a lot of quilts for a short amount of time. I've been putting together blocks for my sister's quilt, and working on the 30's repo quilt that I'd already half assembled a few years ago, hated, ripped this past winter and now I'm sewing all the pieces together again in a different pattern that I like so much better. In fact there's a kinda funny story about it.

My BFF had come up to visit a few years ago and she'd picked a pattern and bought fabric for this quilt (you know the one, the one we just finished this past weekend in one day!):

So she was asking to see all my UFO's and I popped open a box I'd completely forgotten about, the one with my own set of 30's repo pieces in it. Guess what? I'd chosen the same pattern and mocked up four blocks about six months ago. Great minds and all that... lulz.

Also thought I'd give you a little peek at the hexagon quilt I've been working on. It's nice to have a traveling piece.

I took it out while at my daughter's Tae Kwon Do class and my BFF thought it was such a nice take-a-long project that we had to run right off to the fabric store after the class finished up so she could put together her own little kit. I love the fabrics she chose. I can hardly wait to see her make some progress on it.

I might have mentioned that they gave out a bunch of salesman sample strike offs (headers) of quilt fabric at last month's guild meeting (PMQG) that someone had picked up (yay! whoever you were!) from some conference or other. I got a bundle before they were gone and the little stack has been staring me in the face since. Tempting me.

I don't know why but I'm completely fascinated with them and well you know me, I love a new project! So in between working on everything else I've been cutting fabric and sticking it to my design wall.... If I can just keep working in the evenings I can easily see finishing up this quilt in a few weeks. (Pattern is Schnibbles X-Rated quilt - it'll finish at about 60" x 60" I think)

It's not that I haven't been quilting...

2010-08-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

...it's just I've been having a lot of company! Which means not much time right now for sewing, even though I've been dreaming of fabric. I got a wee bit done on a round robin...

..but then the machine tanked. I'm pretty sure birds have moved in with all the nests I've been getting on the back. I haven't even had a chance to look at it closely though I will have to tinker with it to get it to better behave. This will happen starting in September when things settle down and go back to a bit more of a "normal" schedule. Looking forward to school starting and getting some "me" time back even though I've loved getting to spend so much time with the kiddlet this summer.

One of the awesome things we did was hit up Pomeroy Living History Farms on the weekend they displayed over 100 vintage quilts. I loved this one, even though there were many more that were equally as awesome. I've still got to put together a slide show - I think I took a picture of nearly all of them. They were wonderful to behold.

An idea of how many there were and how they were displayed...