Check out the video of entrants into the "Quilting...for the Rest of Us" March Stash Mystery Challenge! http://bit.ly/eRZYdw
Of Cabbages...and Fabric...
Tonight, DH and I took my IL's to a beer and food pairing event at the NYS Wine and Culinary Center. In honor of St. Patrick's Day but in keeping with the NYSWCC's emphasis on eating locally, it was various NYS beers paired with traditional St. Patrick's Day foods made from local ingredients.
It was amazingly good, and it was an amazing amount of food. I always think of "tastings" as being little nibbles of something and little sips of something. I had actually had the passing thought of eating a small dinner before I left home. Glad I didn't! This was an actual meal. Appetizer of cold salmon on Irish Soda Bread with an herbed mayo--amazing, and I'm not a fan of cold fish. Corned beef and cabbage--very good, and I'm not a fan of corned beef. My fave was the lamb stew with potato three ways, although I only ate my potato one way, so to speak, because at that point I was ready to burst. Dessert was a chocolate bread pudding kind of thing, with ice cream made from Irish Red Ale. Sounds weird? Yes, it was a bit mind-bending to be able to taste beer in my ice cream but it was also surprisingly tasty! The pudding was also good but by then I had to admit defeat and left quite a bit of it on my plate. Each course had a different type of beer paired with it; they were more circumspect with their servings in that regard--probably all four tastings added up to one actual glass, and maybe even a short one at that. But that's all you needed. Again, any more and....kablam. Plus there was that hour drive home to think about.
In any case, we had a really nice time. That was our first time doing one of those events and we're definitely going back for other ones. They do a wide range of food-related programs and cooking classes focused on using local ingredients. I think I've found something to add to my Empty Nest List--cooking classes!
On the fabric front, pictured is my recent medicinal fabric purchase. When I was down with food poisoning, I fell victim to a Hancock's of Paducah sale email. It hit me at a weak point. On the other hand, I also figured that form of doctoring was still cheaper than a hospital stay. In any case, I had enough presence of mind to only purchase fabric that would fill in some blanks in my stash. I ignored all the pretty, pretty prints that threatened to turn my sleep- and food-deprived head. All of these were somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% off, and I got a yard of each. Not terribly exciting, but definitely useful!
I had a little bit of time to work on the Floral Bouquet quilt today--got the center part trimmed and squared up and the border segments sewn together. Tomorrow I just put the border on, get the backing ready, and hopefully drop it off at the long-armers. I'll post a photo once the border is on. I'm pleased with the way it's come together, although I've got an amazing amount of scrap I'll now feel the need to do something creative with...
It was amazingly good, and it was an amazing amount of food. I always think of "tastings" as being little nibbles of something and little sips of something. I had actually had the passing thought of eating a small dinner before I left home. Glad I didn't! This was an actual meal. Appetizer of cold salmon on Irish Soda Bread with an herbed mayo--amazing, and I'm not a fan of cold fish. Corned beef and cabbage--very good, and I'm not a fan of corned beef. My fave was the lamb stew with potato three ways, although I only ate my potato one way, so to speak, because at that point I was ready to burst. Dessert was a chocolate bread pudding kind of thing, with ice cream made from Irish Red Ale. Sounds weird? Yes, it was a bit mind-bending to be able to taste beer in my ice cream but it was also surprisingly tasty! The pudding was also good but by then I had to admit defeat and left quite a bit of it on my plate. Each course had a different type of beer paired with it; they were more circumspect with their servings in that regard--probably all four tastings added up to one actual glass, and maybe even a short one at that. But that's all you needed. Again, any more and....kablam. Plus there was that hour drive home to think about.
In any case, we had a really nice time. That was our first time doing one of those events and we're definitely going back for other ones. They do a wide range of food-related programs and cooking classes focused on using local ingredients. I think I've found something to add to my Empty Nest List--cooking classes!
On the fabric front, pictured is my recent medicinal fabric purchase. When I was down with food poisoning, I fell victim to a Hancock's of Paducah sale email. It hit me at a weak point. On the other hand, I also figured that form of doctoring was still cheaper than a hospital stay. In any case, I had enough presence of mind to only purchase fabric that would fill in some blanks in my stash. I ignored all the pretty, pretty prints that threatened to turn my sleep- and food-deprived head. All of these were somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% off, and I got a yard of each. Not terribly exciting, but definitely useful!
I had a little bit of time to work on the Floral Bouquet quilt today--got the center part trimmed and squared up and the border segments sewn together. Tomorrow I just put the border on, get the backing ready, and hopefully drop it off at the long-armers. I'll post a photo once the border is on. I'm pleased with the way it's come together, although I've got an amazing amount of scrap I'll now feel the need to do something creative with...
But I'm Working on White Fabric!!!
Last spring, my son worked for awhile as a Cutco knife salesman. He actually did quite well, and ended up with almost a complete set between the samples he had to purchase to start and what he earned as rewards for high sales. Since he's still in a dorm, I get the benefit of the cutlery. They're good knives. However, I manage to cut myself just about every time I user them--they're dangerously sharp.
So I'm getting dinner ready tonight and slicing potatoes (I should learn not to use Cutco while chopping potatoes--I inevitably cut myself that way). Sure enough, this time I lopped off half a finger nail. As I'm holding my hand under the tap and my daughter and husband are running about trying to find the first aid supplies, all I kept saying was, "*!&!&*%$. This is going to bleed like the dickens and I'm sewing on white fabric tonight!!"
We have our priorities, after all.
Pictured is my daughter's attempt at bandaging. Not very skilled or pretty. I said I was tempted to draw a face on it and put on a puppet show. But at least it kept the fabric blood-free.
Doesn't do much for typing, though. I'll have to work something else out in the morning.
So I'm getting dinner ready tonight and slicing potatoes (I should learn not to use Cutco while chopping potatoes--I inevitably cut myself that way). Sure enough, this time I lopped off half a finger nail. As I'm holding my hand under the tap and my daughter and husband are running about trying to find the first aid supplies, all I kept saying was, "*!&!&*%$. This is going to bleed like the dickens and I'm sewing on white fabric tonight!!"
We have our priorities, after all.
Pictured is my daughter's attempt at bandaging. Not very skilled or pretty. I said I was tempted to draw a face on it and put on a puppet show. But at least it kept the fabric blood-free.
Doesn't do much for typing, though. I'll have to work something else out in the morning.
Finally...The End in Sight
The end of illness as well as the end of piecing!
If you're in the podcast BigTent group or connected on Facebook you already know that I've been down for the count for the last several days. I flew to NYC (delayed on the way there) on business Monday morning and by Monday night was laid out with food poisoning. Camped out in the hotel room all day Tuesday--up and around Wednesday but still not a whole lot better. Flew home Wednesday night (delayed, got home at midnight), took a step backwards Thursday. Finally today, I can say that I'm starting to feel somewhat human again.
As I'd posted in BigTent yesterday, I decided to release myself from the thought I'd pull off a podcast episode this week. My first goals were to eat, and then to sew. Anything after that is frosting. Not that I can face frosting at the moment. In any case...
Eating. Check. (Well, as long as I keep it small and very, very bland!)
Sewing. Check. Woohoo!
At about 5:30 tonight I decided I thought I could tackle the sewing machine. Funny, I worked all day with relative success, but the idea of being around sharp pointy things was a little more daunting. I'm pleased to say, though, that I have now finished piecing all the blocks for the Floral Bouquet quilt. I decided not to push my luck and try to start putting the blocks together--plenty of time for that tomorrow and Sunday. Like my meals, I think I'm better off for the moment keeping my quilting small and very, very bland. A few straight seams, no corners to match, we're golden.
And by the way, I've mentioned to friends that NYC is not my fave place in the world. And this trip didn't do much to endear it to me. Flight delays coming and going and it bit me, to boot. Maybe it's just getting me back for talking bad about it behind its back.
If you're in the podcast BigTent group or connected on Facebook you already know that I've been down for the count for the last several days. I flew to NYC (delayed on the way there) on business Monday morning and by Monday night was laid out with food poisoning. Camped out in the hotel room all day Tuesday--up and around Wednesday but still not a whole lot better. Flew home Wednesday night (delayed, got home at midnight), took a step backwards Thursday. Finally today, I can say that I'm starting to feel somewhat human again.
As I'd posted in BigTent yesterday, I decided to release myself from the thought I'd pull off a podcast episode this week. My first goals were to eat, and then to sew. Anything after that is frosting. Not that I can face frosting at the moment. In any case...
Eating. Check. (Well, as long as I keep it small and very, very bland!)
Sewing. Check. Woohoo!
At about 5:30 tonight I decided I thought I could tackle the sewing machine. Funny, I worked all day with relative success, but the idea of being around sharp pointy things was a little more daunting. I'm pleased to say, though, that I have now finished piecing all the blocks for the Floral Bouquet quilt. I decided not to push my luck and try to start putting the blocks together--plenty of time for that tomorrow and Sunday. Like my meals, I think I'm better off for the moment keeping my quilting small and very, very bland. A few straight seams, no corners to match, we're golden.
And by the way, I've mentioned to friends that NYC is not my fave place in the world. And this trip didn't do much to endear it to me. Flight delays coming and going and it bit me, to boot. Maybe it's just getting me back for talking bad about it behind its back.
How does my garden grow?
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| "Floral Bouquet" in progress |
Spent a couple of hours at my sewing machine today and am now up to 21 blocks done, 18 to go. A little better than halfway. I'd originally thought I might get all the flower blocks done today but I was a little overtired, had a few other things I also had to get done, and ultimately lost energy and decided to stop before I got stupid. I was noticing that I was having to square up some of the later blocks a little more than I had been so clearly I was starting to lose my accuracy. Time to stop. Fortunately, the way the blocks make up, there's a little wiggle room for squaring them up. I love a forgiving block.
Tomorrow's another day. Not much on the schedule, so I should be able to knock out a lot more of those remaining 18 blocks. My plan is to pace myself and schedule a few shorter sewing periods through the day rather than trying to sit down in one long session. Should stay fresh that way!
Want to check out what we were doing on our vacation earlier this week? Here's a peek!
One Block Down...38 to Go...
Isn't this just the cutest dang thing? I've been in love with this pattern ever since I first saw it and it's not even my normal idiom (to nerdily quote Monty Python). I told my BFF/BQF Kate that this was probably the most "romantic" quilt I'll have ever made. It's very sweet.
However, that being said, I also immediately mentally tagged it for my MIL the second I laid eyes on the pattern as well. So it's sweet, but not something I'd probably normally have in my own house. I can so easily see it in hers.
That's the fun thing about quiltmaking. We can play with all sorts of colors and styles and not have to live with them any longer than it takes to make them!
In any case, this would normally be a chain piecing project for me but I think I might take it a block at a time. Mostly so I don't screw up the "planned randomness" I finally achieved tonight. But it may also be more accurate because I'll be going slower. We'll see. I could just as easily get five blocks into it and say, "Bag it. We're going for speed."
Oh, as for that planned randomness thing? I resorted the pieces tonight. Came up with one extra piece. Go figure. I counted twice. No idea how I made an extra piece. But it does explain some things...
However, that being said, I also immediately mentally tagged it for my MIL the second I laid eyes on the pattern as well. So it's sweet, but not something I'd probably normally have in my own house. I can so easily see it in hers.
That's the fun thing about quiltmaking. We can play with all sorts of colors and styles and not have to live with them any longer than it takes to make them!
In any case, this would normally be a chain piecing project for me but I think I might take it a block at a time. Mostly so I don't screw up the "planned randomness" I finally achieved tonight. But it may also be more accurate because I'll be going slower. We'll see. I could just as easily get five blocks into it and say, "Bag it. We're going for speed."
Oh, as for that planned randomness thing? I resorted the pieces tonight. Came up with one extra piece. Go figure. I counted twice. No idea how I made an extra piece. But it does explain some things...
When Random Isn't So Random
My MIL's quilt in progress. All the units just waiting patiently to be sewn into blocks. One would think it should be easy. Scrap quilt, you say? Just pick up the pieces at random and sew them together. Just go with the flow, use the force, whatever. And yet...
So I decided the best way to go random would be to "slightly sort" them as I stacked them, so I could get a feel for how each finished block would look. Really, the only thing I was trying to control was not having two fabrics end up in the same block. Although I'm not keen on a bunch of directional prints all ending up in one block either. Or too much green, or too much pink...
So. Planned Randomness.
It was all going swimmingly until the phone rang with a call I had to catch...and I lost track of where I was. I counted the stacks and thought I had caught up with myself, but when I got to the end, I had a couple left over. Which meant the blocks I thought I was forming were all a couple of strips off.
Natch, the second one I checked had two of the same fabrics in it. As did the next....
Bag it. I was just doing this while dinner was cooking anyway--no intent to start sewing tonight. Tomorrow I'll start fresh with new planned randomness.
So I decided the best way to go random would be to "slightly sort" them as I stacked them, so I could get a feel for how each finished block would look. Really, the only thing I was trying to control was not having two fabrics end up in the same block. Although I'm not keen on a bunch of directional prints all ending up in one block either. Or too much green, or too much pink...
So. Planned Randomness.
It was all going swimmingly until the phone rang with a call I had to catch...and I lost track of where I was. I counted the stacks and thought I had caught up with myself, but when I got to the end, I had a couple left over. Which meant the blocks I thought I was forming were all a couple of strips off.
Natch, the second one I checked had two of the same fabrics in it. As did the next....
Bag it. I was just doing this while dinner was cooking anyway--no intent to start sewing tonight. Tomorrow I'll start fresh with new planned randomness.
Show n' Tell--The Peace Quilt is Done!
Here's the front, thanks to my handy-dandy-quilt-hanger, dear daughter. Cutest quilt hanger in the world. Probably also the one that complains the most. I tell her it comes with the territory and to suck up and deal. I believe in reality therapy.
BTDubs, I did actually quilt in the border, you just can't see it. I went along the black line between each set of blocks horizontally on the sides, vertically on the top and bottom. A little ray pattern in the corners just to hold them square. Nothing fancy. Wanted the focus to stay on the center.
The back. All that leftover yardage from my ill-fated plan to have the peace signs in the border all face the same direction went to good use anyway. And the fabric in the middle is the one coordinate I bought from the peace sign line. Originally thought it might make a cute binding, then I decided it was way too busy for everything else going on. Used it all on the back instead.
My nephew loves the back. He wants a quilt made just like this.
I said no.
Peace Quilt Continued
Got the borders on today. Ended up making all sorts of last minute judgment calls that changed my original plans. Even with the extra fabric order, I ultimately didn't have enough fabric to do the directional borders the way I wanted to (with all the peace signs heading in the same direction and no seams interrupting the flow). That meant I no longer really had to do mitered corners--in fact, I decided they probably would look better without since I'd never have gotten the peace sign blocks to line up well anyway. So I just did a much simpler border.
Still had to reverse-sew--aka seam rip--my inner (black) border due to some bad advice. I had read somewhere--don't recall where now--that using a walking foot/acu-feed for piecing would also help keep fabrics lined up well as you were sewing. Not so much. They were fine along the line of the seam but got smudged out of whack horizontally--in other words, one piece of fabric got pushed further away from the sewing line than the other. I'd even pinned! So I ripped it back out and changed back to my regular 1/4" presser foot and had a grand old time.
I just finished sewing about a 1/4" (slightly wider) echo quilt line around the entire peace sign. My original plan was to do that once, and then do a diamond grid for the rest of the background. But as I'm looking at it, I think I'll just keep doing the echo. The grid would never line up straight with the two diagonal bars on the peace sign so I'm better off not messing with it.
I'll finish the quilting tomorrow, get the bindings on Monday, good to go for show n' tell at my guild on Tuesday--and in the mail by Wednesday or Thursday (whenver I finish hand-sewing the binding). Yippee!
Oh--and no worries. The extra fabric went to good use. It now has a pieced backing with the one coordinating fabric I'd bought that I'd originally thought would make an interesting binding (nope--too busy), surrounded by the leftover peace sign fabric divided into two strips. Bingo--none left over!
Still had to reverse-sew--aka seam rip--my inner (black) border due to some bad advice. I had read somewhere--don't recall where now--that using a walking foot/acu-feed for piecing would also help keep fabrics lined up well as you were sewing. Not so much. They were fine along the line of the seam but got smudged out of whack horizontally--in other words, one piece of fabric got pushed further away from the sewing line than the other. I'd even pinned! So I ripped it back out and changed back to my regular 1/4" presser foot and had a grand old time.
I just finished sewing about a 1/4" (slightly wider) echo quilt line around the entire peace sign. My original plan was to do that once, and then do a diamond grid for the rest of the background. But as I'm looking at it, I think I'll just keep doing the echo. The grid would never line up straight with the two diagonal bars on the peace sign so I'm better off not messing with it.
I'll finish the quilting tomorrow, get the bindings on Monday, good to go for show n' tell at my guild on Tuesday--and in the mail by Wednesday or Thursday (whenver I finish hand-sewing the binding). Yippee!
Oh--and no worries. The extra fabric went to good use. It now has a pieced backing with the one coordinating fabric I'd bought that I'd originally thought would make an interesting binding (nope--too busy), surrounded by the leftover peace sign fabric divided into two strips. Bingo--none left over!
Success...of a Sort
I mentioned that I had a sizeable stash of 2 1/2" strips...
The strips stacked on the sides are the collection from a couple of years of strip exchanges with my guild and some I picked up as door prizes at the shop hop last summer. I owned about three or four jelly rolls myself, and then the rest came to live with me after my Mom passed away. She'd just hit a sale or something--I found a couple of shipping boxes with bunches of jelly rolls and bundles in her quilt studio. I gave some away to share the wealth. But I kept all the Moda.
So here was the first set I picked out.
The original jelly roll fabrics are in the middle. I chose five strips from my stash that coordinated. I waffled about the deep rose one right next to the strips (on the right) for the longest time, then finally decided it really gave it a nice pop.
And then I measured the strips.
And the deep rose one was several inches too short. Curses. Foiled again.
Back to the drawing board, and this time, my fat quarter collection.
I tend to buy my fat quarters as sets of coordinates--more or less. Not always from the same fabric line, but if I pick up a couple that I like, I'll try to make sure I buy two or three others I know will work with them so I've got at least a solid foundation for a project. I always hate to break up a set.
Darn. Ended up choosing the green plaid (on the left) since it was pretty close in tone to the greens in the jelly roll. Not exact, but the white in the plaid makes it less noticeable. It works. Broke up a nice set, though.
And now I miss the deep rose. Sigh.
Off to press and cut...again. But I probably won't get the background cut tonight. I got my shipment today of the rest of the fabric for the border on the peace quilt so that's back up at the top of the "Must-Do" list. Once I get these floral strips cut, I'll be setting this puppy aside for at least a week, I think.
Anyway, problem solved. (Thanks, Jaye, for the offer of fabric, though! Appreciated!)
The strips stacked on the sides are the collection from a couple of years of strip exchanges with my guild and some I picked up as door prizes at the shop hop last summer. I owned about three or four jelly rolls myself, and then the rest came to live with me after my Mom passed away. She'd just hit a sale or something--I found a couple of shipping boxes with bunches of jelly rolls and bundles in her quilt studio. I gave some away to share the wealth. But I kept all the Moda.
So here was the first set I picked out.
The original jelly roll fabrics are in the middle. I chose five strips from my stash that coordinated. I waffled about the deep rose one right next to the strips (on the right) for the longest time, then finally decided it really gave it a nice pop.
And then I measured the strips.
And the deep rose one was several inches too short. Curses. Foiled again.
Back to the drawing board, and this time, my fat quarter collection.
Darn. Ended up choosing the green plaid (on the left) since it was pretty close in tone to the greens in the jelly roll. Not exact, but the white in the plaid makes it less noticeable. It works. Broke up a nice set, though.
And now I miss the deep rose. Sigh.
Off to press and cut...again. But I probably won't get the background cut tonight. I got my shipment today of the rest of the fabric for the border on the peace quilt so that's back up at the top of the "Must-Do" list. Once I get these floral strips cut, I'll be setting this puppy aside for at least a week, I think.
Anyway, problem solved. (Thanks, Jaye, for the offer of fabric, though! Appreciated!)
Dang. And It Was Going So Well...
Another evening in, another opportunity to spend a few hours in my sewing room. Companionably, even, since my daughter is sitting on the floor in my sewing room with her computer (a long story having to do with hitchy wireless and ethernet cables), the two dogs are here, and my son's voice is coming to me out of my computer speakers since tonight's his DJ night on campus radio and I was streaming his show.
I was merrily cutting along to my son's music, not always my taste but I generally find it mostly entertaining. Everything was going swimmingly. His show ended just about as I finished up my last cut. I shut off my computer and went back to my cutting table to neatly stack all the pieces inside labeled plastic bags, when I decided to review the pattern instructions to see what I needed to cut next.
Wait....what? TWO 6-1/2" strips?? I had only seen that I was supposed to cut one of each successively longer size rectangle off of each set of 2 1/2" strips. But apparently I was supposed to cut two of one size, and I hadn't caught it.
I had leftovers of all of strips, of course, so at first I didn't think it would be that big a deal. Pull out what I thought had been scraps, trim it to 6 1/2", call it a day. But darn if five of those scraps weren't too short. Several more have some selvage showing at one end but it's not the white part--it's the part that would pretty much blend in, especially considering seam allowances. I could probably get away with it. But those five, there's no help for it. Even steaming the hey out of them wouldn't get them close enough for horseshoes.
So now I have to decide how to problem-solve. I've got some ideas but, frankly, ran out of steam. My daughter's school woke me up way early this morning with a robo-call to tell us school was closed so I'm about ready to head to bed as it is.
As my Dad always used to say, "Get a good night's sleep...it'll feel better in the morning."
Ok, Dad. Good night.
I was merrily cutting along to my son's music, not always my taste but I generally find it mostly entertaining. Everything was going swimmingly. His show ended just about as I finished up my last cut. I shut off my computer and went back to my cutting table to neatly stack all the pieces inside labeled plastic bags, when I decided to review the pattern instructions to see what I needed to cut next.
Wait....what? TWO 6-1/2" strips?? I had only seen that I was supposed to cut one of each successively longer size rectangle off of each set of 2 1/2" strips. But apparently I was supposed to cut two of one size, and I hadn't caught it.
I had leftovers of all of strips, of course, so at first I didn't think it would be that big a deal. Pull out what I thought had been scraps, trim it to 6 1/2", call it a day. But darn if five of those scraps weren't too short. Several more have some selvage showing at one end but it's not the white part--it's the part that would pretty much blend in, especially considering seam allowances. I could probably get away with it. But those five, there's no help for it. Even steaming the hey out of them wouldn't get them close enough for horseshoes.
So now I have to decide how to problem-solve. I've got some ideas but, frankly, ran out of steam. My daughter's school woke me up way early this morning with a robo-call to tell us school was closed so I'm about ready to head to bed as it is.
As my Dad always used to say, "Get a good night's sleep...it'll feel better in the morning."
Ok, Dad. Good night.
Stash Mystery Challenge project started
I'm still waiting for my order of the border fabric I need for the peace sign quilt, so I took advantage of a night "off" from that to start on my stash mystery challenge project. (The Stash Mystery Challenge is one I'm facilitating for my guild and I'm also running a slightly adapted version on my podcast. Check out the guidelines at www.quiltingfortherestofus.com, on the "Stash Mystery Challenge" tab.) This quarter's theme is "floral."
My take on the theme isn't actually using floral fabrics, although clearly I am. But the pattern I'll be doing makes pieced blocks that look like flowers. Very, very cute. The minute I saw the pattern in the book when I bought it a few years back I knew I wanted to make it for my MIL, but was still trying to clear the decks of so many other projects. I didn't even think about it in terms of this challenge until after I'd already published the challenge theme for the quarter and was trying to decide what I'd do. Doh. Of course!
If I can keep working pretty steadily on it, I should get the top pieced by the deadline of the challenge in early March. If that happens, I can send it off to be long-armed and quite possibly have it back in time to give to my MIL for her birthday in early April.
This quarter's stash mystery challenge involves using at least 2 yards of fabric from your stash. I'm using 3 yards of the whites, plus a jelly roll. I did the math on the jelly roll--it comes out to a little over two yards of fabric. Woop woop! So, not counting backing and binding yet, I'm using over 5 yards of fabric. I did end up being half a yard sort of white to complete what I needed for the background--and, being a good quilter, actually bought a yard so I could have some slush room and put some back in my stash when I'm done. I pretty much depleted my tone-on-tone whites on this one. (You can't tell from this picture, but I think there's three different whites in there, plus a collection of tone-on-tone white strips from a strip exchange we did in our guild several years back.)
I actually made the jaunt out to my LQS for that half yard tonight as soon as I realized I was short--I only live a few minutes from it and since we're due for the same snowstorm covering half our continent tomorrow, I'm thinking I'd rather be snowed in with fabric than without it. Most people run to a grocery store--quilters run to the fabric shop. We have our priorities, after all.
My take on the theme isn't actually using floral fabrics, although clearly I am. But the pattern I'll be doing makes pieced blocks that look like flowers. Very, very cute. The minute I saw the pattern in the book when I bought it a few years back I knew I wanted to make it for my MIL, but was still trying to clear the decks of so many other projects. I didn't even think about it in terms of this challenge until after I'd already published the challenge theme for the quarter and was trying to decide what I'd do. Doh. Of course!
If I can keep working pretty steadily on it, I should get the top pieced by the deadline of the challenge in early March. If that happens, I can send it off to be long-armed and quite possibly have it back in time to give to my MIL for her birthday in early April.
This quarter's stash mystery challenge involves using at least 2 yards of fabric from your stash. I'm using 3 yards of the whites, plus a jelly roll. I did the math on the jelly roll--it comes out to a little over two yards of fabric. Woop woop! So, not counting backing and binding yet, I'm using over 5 yards of fabric. I did end up being half a yard sort of white to complete what I needed for the background--and, being a good quilter, actually bought a yard so I could have some slush room and put some back in my stash when I'm done. I pretty much depleted my tone-on-tone whites on this one. (You can't tell from this picture, but I think there's three different whites in there, plus a collection of tone-on-tone white strips from a strip exchange we did in our guild several years back.)
I actually made the jaunt out to my LQS for that half yard tonight as soon as I realized I was short--I only live a few minutes from it and since we're due for the same snowstorm covering half our continent tomorrow, I'm thinking I'd rather be snowed in with fabric than without it. Most people run to a grocery store--quilters run to the fabric shop. We have our priorities, after all.
Applique done!
I finished the MQ blanket stitching on the peace sign today. And yes, it probably does look as wonky as all that. But it seems to work so I'm good. I still think it looks better in person, though. I'll just name it "Wonky Peace Sign" and claim it as an artistic decision. You can't see it easily in this photo (and enlarged is almost worse--cell phone pic and using Picnik's auto-fix which grained everything up but good), but the blanket stitch is black, which will work well with the borders.
I'm now at the point of debating said borders. I have the main border fabric--a peace sign print. What I'm auditioning on my design wall, though, is whether or not it needs a thin inner border first. I'm thinking yes. And I'm thinking a tone-on-tone black. The border fabric has lots going on (and thankfully, wonky, so yes, it's definitely an artistic decision). Although I could probably get away with just doing the one border, I think it'll be more effective if I just do a narrow, say 1", inner border in black and then the print border. Then bind it in black again. Should keep it from spinning off into psychedelic mayhem.
I also had a last minute panic about the amount of border fabric I have. I've got half a yard, which would have been plenty were it not a directional fabric. I would end up having to blend in lots of seams and frankly, I'm just not in the mood. So I just ordered another yard. Which means I'll have lots left over. And I did second-day-air. Which means I'm paying more for shipping than the fabric. But I'm still good.
I can always make her a matching pillowcase.
I'm now at the point of debating said borders. I have the main border fabric--a peace sign print. What I'm auditioning on my design wall, though, is whether or not it needs a thin inner border first. I'm thinking yes. And I'm thinking a tone-on-tone black. The border fabric has lots going on (and thankfully, wonky, so yes, it's definitely an artistic decision). Although I could probably get away with just doing the one border, I think it'll be more effective if I just do a narrow, say 1", inner border in black and then the print border. Then bind it in black again. Should keep it from spinning off into psychedelic mayhem.
I also had a last minute panic about the amount of border fabric I have. I've got half a yard, which would have been plenty were it not a directional fabric. I would end up having to blend in lots of seams and frankly, I'm just not in the mood. So I just ordered another yard. Which means I'll have lots left over. And I did second-day-air. Which means I'm paying more for shipping than the fabric. But I'm still good.
I can always make her a matching pillowcase.
Peace Sign Progress
I know, I know. It's been awhile. Sorry about that. I was away over the weekend and have a cold that's not serious in most symptoms, but just making me all sorts of draggy. So I took a few nights off of doing much of anything. But tonight I finally got the next big step done in the peace sign--it's all fused and ready to go.
I figured out how I could have done this a little more easily...of course, the minute I finished doing it the hard way. I suppose that's the way it often goes--you have to do it once to see how it works. Or maybe that's just me.
Anyway, debating fusing methods and ended up going to my trusty MistyFuse. Love that stuff. Now I've got to find just the right thread for the blanket stitch. I decided against doing a funky color since I have so many funky colors a-happenin' already. I'm just going with a basic black, but I want something of just the right thickness and feel. Off to my fave LQS tomorrow after work, and perhaps a second, since my LQS primarily stocks embroidery threads and not such a wide selection for other stuff. There's another QS way across town that has a bigger thread selection so I might end up having to check both.
Thanks, crowefan, for telling me a grid pattern would look great. You convinced me!
I figured out how I could have done this a little more easily...of course, the minute I finished doing it the hard way. I suppose that's the way it often goes--you have to do it once to see how it works. Or maybe that's just me.
Anyway, debating fusing methods and ended up going to my trusty MistyFuse. Love that stuff. Now I've got to find just the right thread for the blanket stitch. I decided against doing a funky color since I have so many funky colors a-happenin' already. I'm just going with a basic black, but I want something of just the right thickness and feel. Off to my fave LQS tomorrow after work, and perhaps a second, since my LQS primarily stocks embroidery threads and not such a wide selection for other stuff. There's another QS way across town that has a bigger thread selection so I might end up having to check both.
Thanks, crowefan, for telling me a grid pattern would look great. You convinced me!
Not quite the big "reveal"...but getting there
It's not done yet, but it's far enough along that I now feel like I can actually post a photo of it. This is the WIP that I've been referencing lately: my niece's wallhanging, a paper-piecing project where I worked from scratch, one that could have gone horribly awry any step along the way.
I've now gotten past the big scary mean piece that could have ended up being terribly traumatic--piecing that outer ring. B-T-Dubs, it's looking a lot more wonky in this picture than I think it is in real life, but who knows. Maybe it is that wonky. That just makes it more charming. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The colors also didn't come out true-to-life in the pic--the really, really dark strips are violet and dark blue, not black like they look here. It's a pretty happy quilt--lots of jewel tones. The background is two white tone-on-tone fabrics alternating--you can't really see it here but it provides a little bit of textural interest to the back without it being obtrusive. Once it's on white batting, I don't think the seams will show quite as much.
At the moment, it's just pinned up in rough approximation of its eventual shape; I didn't worry about aligning anything yet. I just wanted to see how it was turning out. I'll center it and make sure it's all even when I baste it. I'm going to do raw-edge applique with a blanket stitch in some fun color; I figured that would fit its sort of 70s-folksy/hippie vibe. And it's easier to boot. Win all around.
I'm debating what I'm going to do for an inner border still--I may do something with the leftover fabric from the peace sign (used a bunch of fat quarters and only needed a strip or two out of each). I have a cute peace sign print fabric for the border, so the inner border needs to be mostly fairly solid and plain. I've got a coordinating fabric to the outer border that I'll probably use for backing and binding, although I'm waiting until everything else is done to decide what kind of binding needs to frame it.
As for quilting, I'm debating between a simple grid on the background, or echo quilting. Leaning towards a grid, mostly because that will get this thing out of my house and on its way to my niece a lot faster!
That's all I'm going to do for today. I have a meeting in about an hour and a half and my son left me his cold when he moved back to college (and a messy room, but that doesn't affect me as much on a daily basis), so I think I'm going to crash with some hot tea for a bit and work my way up to meeting-mode.
I've now gotten past the big scary mean piece that could have ended up being terribly traumatic--piecing that outer ring. B-T-Dubs, it's looking a lot more wonky in this picture than I think it is in real life, but who knows. Maybe it is that wonky. That just makes it more charming. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The colors also didn't come out true-to-life in the pic--the really, really dark strips are violet and dark blue, not black like they look here. It's a pretty happy quilt--lots of jewel tones. The background is two white tone-on-tone fabrics alternating--you can't really see it here but it provides a little bit of textural interest to the back without it being obtrusive. Once it's on white batting, I don't think the seams will show quite as much.
At the moment, it's just pinned up in rough approximation of its eventual shape; I didn't worry about aligning anything yet. I just wanted to see how it was turning out. I'll center it and make sure it's all even when I baste it. I'm going to do raw-edge applique with a blanket stitch in some fun color; I figured that would fit its sort of 70s-folksy/hippie vibe. And it's easier to boot. Win all around.
I'm debating what I'm going to do for an inner border still--I may do something with the leftover fabric from the peace sign (used a bunch of fat quarters and only needed a strip or two out of each). I have a cute peace sign print fabric for the border, so the inner border needs to be mostly fairly solid and plain. I've got a coordinating fabric to the outer border that I'll probably use for backing and binding, although I'm waiting until everything else is done to decide what kind of binding needs to frame it.
As for quilting, I'm debating between a simple grid on the background, or echo quilting. Leaning towards a grid, mostly because that will get this thing out of my house and on its way to my niece a lot faster!
That's all I'm going to do for today. I have a meeting in about an hour and a half and my son left me his cold when he moved back to college (and a messy room, but that doesn't affect me as much on a daily basis), so I think I'm going to crash with some hot tea for a bit and work my way up to meeting-mode.
Wrestling the Beast
I made more progess tonight and, most significantly, finally got down to wrestling the beast. What's in the picture is the easy part. The beasty part is currently resting quietly next to my sewing machine, building its energy up for our next round of battle, I'm sure.
Actually, at this stage, I have to say that I think I might actually be winning. But there's still a lot of punches the beast could make that could take me down, so I'm not quite crowing yet.
I do like the colors, though. You can't see them well in this picture because my design wall hangs in a particularly dark corner of my sewing room (not very handy for a design wall, sadly), and my camera broke right before the holidays so I have to make do with my cell phone. My cell actually takes pretty decent pictures--but not so much in bad lighting situations. So these colors are a little muddy. When it's actually done, I'll take a good picture. Maybe I'll own a camera again by then.
I do like paper-piecing. I just don't like having to figure out my own pattern.
Actually, at this stage, I have to say that I think I might actually be winning. But there's still a lot of punches the beast could make that could take me down, so I'm not quite crowing yet.
I do like the colors, though. You can't see them well in this picture because my design wall hangs in a particularly dark corner of my sewing room (not very handy for a design wall, sadly), and my camera broke right before the holidays so I have to make do with my cell phone. My cell actually takes pretty decent pictures--but not so much in bad lighting situations. So these colors are a little muddy. When it's actually done, I'll take a good picture. Maybe I'll own a camera again by then.
I do like paper-piecing. I just don't like having to figure out my own pattern.
Carol Doak to the Rescue
I tried to get over myself tonight and just plough into the next steps on my niece's wallhanging. I've been finding all sorts of other stuff to do just to avoid starting on the paper-piecing for this because I'm still convinced it's all going to go horribly awry.
However, tonight, I decided I should just go ahead and start with the easy parts. There's three fairly straight (kinda sorta) segments that will give me time to get used to the process again before tackling the big, nightmare-inducing section that I'm sure is going to traumatize me before we're through.
So I pulled out my "Carol Doak Teaches You to Paper Piece" video and watched the appropriate segments to refresh my memory. I've only paper-pieced once before, several years ago, in a class. The finished class project still hangs in my kitchen today. Loved doing it, have always wanted to do it again, just haven't gotten around to it. Watching Carol's video reminded me how much I've been wanting to do this, so in addition to reminding me of the steps it also motivated me and made me want to tackle this puppy! And I just love her presence. Very soothing. "Of course you can do this, silly," she seems to be saying. Nay, she's exuding it from her very pores. "No worries!"
With my injection of Carol Doak, you can see I got a little bit accomplished tonight. Mind you, I did also cut all my pieces so I only spent about 20 minutes doing the actual piecing. It didn't take long to get into the swing of it. So doing these first three pieces should build my confidence for the last part...I hope.
Now it's off to watch a little TV and keep working on the binding for my other niece's quilt. Making progress all around!
However, tonight, I decided I should just go ahead and start with the easy parts. There's three fairly straight (kinda sorta) segments that will give me time to get used to the process again before tackling the big, nightmare-inducing section that I'm sure is going to traumatize me before we're through.
So I pulled out my "Carol Doak Teaches You to Paper Piece" video and watched the appropriate segments to refresh my memory. I've only paper-pieced once before, several years ago, in a class. The finished class project still hangs in my kitchen today. Loved doing it, have always wanted to do it again, just haven't gotten around to it. Watching Carol's video reminded me how much I've been wanting to do this, so in addition to reminding me of the steps it also motivated me and made me want to tackle this puppy! And I just love her presence. Very soothing. "Of course you can do this, silly," she seems to be saying. Nay, she's exuding it from her very pores. "No worries!"
With my injection of Carol Doak, you can see I got a little bit accomplished tonight. Mind you, I did also cut all my pieces so I only spent about 20 minutes doing the actual piecing. It didn't take long to get into the swing of it. So doing these first three pieces should build my confidence for the last part...I hope.
Now it's off to watch a little TV and keep working on the binding for my other niece's quilt. Making progress all around!
Some Progress...
I wasn't sure I'd actually be able to get any sewing done today with a schedule gone awry, but finally pulled out an hour or so in the end and got the binding on my niece's stack n' slash quilt. I'm madly trying to finish the hand-sewing of that now so I can take it to show n' tell at my guild meeting on Tuesday night completely finished. I can certainly take it even if it's not completely finished--it would just feel better if I could call it done.
Sadly, when my daughter went to bed tonight she discovered that her beloved guinea pig had departed this life for the next. He was about 4 years old, which is around average life expectancy for a guinea pig. But still. He was her buddy. She'd been making arrangements for him to go live with a friend of hers when she went off to college next fall--given his age, I'd been worried that he'd go to the friend and then pass away within the first couple of weeks, and how that would make both my daughter and her friend feel. So all in all, it's best that he move on now. This certainly isn't the first pet she's lost in her nearly-18-years, but so far, probably the one she was personally closest to. She'll be OK in a couple of days--tonight and tomorrow morning will be a little tough for her, in all "the firsts" (first time she doesn't have to refill his water bottle before going to school and so forth).
Does it make me a horrible mother to say, though, that I'm looking forward to getting that cage out of her room? Sigh. I'll be extra nice to her tomorrow as my own little personal penance. She doesn't ever have to know why.
Sadly, when my daughter went to bed tonight she discovered that her beloved guinea pig had departed this life for the next. He was about 4 years old, which is around average life expectancy for a guinea pig. But still. He was her buddy. She'd been making arrangements for him to go live with a friend of hers when she went off to college next fall--given his age, I'd been worried that he'd go to the friend and then pass away within the first couple of weeks, and how that would make both my daughter and her friend feel. So all in all, it's best that he move on now. This certainly isn't the first pet she's lost in her nearly-18-years, but so far, probably the one she was personally closest to. She'll be OK in a couple of days--tonight and tomorrow morning will be a little tough for her, in all "the firsts" (first time she doesn't have to refill his water bottle before going to school and so forth).
Does it make me a horrible mother to say, though, that I'm looking forward to getting that cage out of her room? Sigh. I'll be extra nice to her tomorrow as my own little personal penance. She doesn't ever have to know why.
The Vacation is Over ... Report
My vacation officially ended yesterday--I had Friday back in the office. I'm very proud of myself, however. Typically I suffer complete amnesia over the holidays and it usually takes me almost a full day just to remember where I was on all my projects, track down which emails I was supposed to be responding to when, and figure out what I'm supposed to do next. This time, though, I did such a great job preparing myself for the break--leaving myself all sorts of bread crumb trails and scheduling pop-up reminders for myself for when I got back, that not only did I catch myself up in about an hour, I was actually able to make progress! Woohoo! Yay, me!
Unfortunately, not so much in my sewing world. Friday evening I pressed some fabrics. That was it. Not insignificant given that some of them had creases in them the size of the Grand Canyon after being in my fat quarter drawer for several years, but still--not particularly exciting. There is something very relaxing about pressing, though. I don't mind it when it's fabric. Hate it when it's clothes, but that's another story.
Today I did somewhat better--I got the background for my niece's wallhanging pieced. I did 6" (finished) squares--5 across and 5 down. I'd originally thought I'd use five fabrics in all, too, but then I realized that would mean I'd have little bits cut off several fabrics rather than using up most of a couple--so I switched gears and only used two fabrics. I think it probably works better, anyway. Tomorrow I start on the hard part. I'm paper-piecing a foundation pattern I had to design myself, my daughter did the math for, and I then tweaked the results. It still doesn't look quite right to me, but I think I can fudge it.
Hopefully, if I get some good time at the project tomorrow, I'll have some pictures to post.
Vacation Day 9 Report
Sorry--I skipped a couple of days in there!
Vacation Day 8 (yesterday) was a bit of a bust as far as quiltmaking is concerned. I had several errands to run in the morning which took me right up until about 2:00 or so. By the time I got home, I was feeling a bit draggy so I wasted a little time on the computer and then tried to tackle the paper-piecing project again (the wallhanging for my niece). The lines still just didn't look right to me, so now I've taken to just eyeballing them and redrawing them where they look right to me. I still have the lines from the original measurements my daughter made--but something was a little off. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I've had to cut the entire piece into workable sections so I think things may have shifted on her just a hair here and there while she was working. In the quilt world, we know "just a hair" adds up. So her lines are my current guides for sketching in something that looks more even. I think between her math and my eye, we'll come something remarkably close to what it should be.
In any case, by the time I'd messed around with that for a little bit, it was time to start dinner and then begin our family New Year's Eve festivities, which always include M&Ms and Settlers of Catan--just about in that order. We saw in the New Year and were in bed by about 12:30. Somewhere along the way we got boring, but boring can be quite nice.
Today, Vacation Day 9, had no sewing involved. Although I was wide awake at 5 a.m. (again I repeat, "why o why?" from a previous blog post), I was too fried from a short night (having sort of subconsciously kept myself partially awake until I heard my less-boring son make it home safe somewhere around 2a) to do much. I mostly got another load of laundry through so I could finish packing for our official, go-away-somewhere family vacation that starts tomorrow.
My apologies to anyone who is a listener to my podcast--I fully intended to get an episode out Thursday, Friday, or this morning--but between errands, working on my niece's quilt, and packing, it never happened. I'm so sorry! Next week. I promise promise promise promise!
Meanwhile, we're off to Disney World. It gets more fun the older my kids get--even now that they're basically adults. Or maybe I'm just more relaxed now that they're tall enough that I can't lose them in a crowd anymore.
Vacation Day 8 (yesterday) was a bit of a bust as far as quiltmaking is concerned. I had several errands to run in the morning which took me right up until about 2:00 or so. By the time I got home, I was feeling a bit draggy so I wasted a little time on the computer and then tried to tackle the paper-piecing project again (the wallhanging for my niece). The lines still just didn't look right to me, so now I've taken to just eyeballing them and redrawing them where they look right to me. I still have the lines from the original measurements my daughter made--but something was a little off. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I've had to cut the entire piece into workable sections so I think things may have shifted on her just a hair here and there while she was working. In the quilt world, we know "just a hair" adds up. So her lines are my current guides for sketching in something that looks more even. I think between her math and my eye, we'll come something remarkably close to what it should be.
In any case, by the time I'd messed around with that for a little bit, it was time to start dinner and then begin our family New Year's Eve festivities, which always include M&Ms and Settlers of Catan--just about in that order. We saw in the New Year and were in bed by about 12:30. Somewhere along the way we got boring, but boring can be quite nice.
Today, Vacation Day 9, had no sewing involved. Although I was wide awake at 5 a.m. (again I repeat, "why o why?" from a previous blog post), I was too fried from a short night (having sort of subconsciously kept myself partially awake until I heard my less-boring son make it home safe somewhere around 2a) to do much. I mostly got another load of laundry through so I could finish packing for our official, go-away-somewhere family vacation that starts tomorrow.
My apologies to anyone who is a listener to my podcast--I fully intended to get an episode out Thursday, Friday, or this morning--but between errands, working on my niece's quilt, and packing, it never happened. I'm so sorry! Next week. I promise promise promise promise!
Meanwhile, we're off to Disney World. It gets more fun the older my kids get--even now that they're basically adults. Or maybe I'm just more relaxed now that they're tall enough that I can't lose them in a crowd anymore.