Tripping along on another project

Back in January there was a cult-like quilt along to make a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt. It was probably the second fastest quilt I’ve ever made.  And it gave me a chance to dive into some of my scraps.  I only wish  that these things would use up more scraps! Because the border, binding & backing just create more scraps!

There are a couple of progress shots over on my Flickr account.  I bought the border fabric & the backing fabric.  And some of the purples were from my stash.  And the rest of the fabric was dug out of my scrap bins. There are some real uglies in there. But the beauty of these quilts is that the uglies get lost in the quilt and no one notices.

~ Tutorial can be found here.

~ Finished dimensions approximately 82″ x 82″. I wanted it to be big enough for at least a couple of adults to snuggle under, or multiple smaller children.

~ I’m giving it to a friend who loves purple and has a large family.  I can imagine her snuggling under it with a couple of kiddos.

To tie or NOT to tie, that is the question

While my hubby worked ALL WEEK breaking his back to lay bamboo flooring in the living room I holed up in my sewing room and worked on putting these bee blocks from 2011 together.  I think I had the easier job this week.

He used glue (to continue how the contractor did the kitchen) to put down the floor and it was MESSY!  We used a different kind of glue that wasn’t so smelly, but it made up for the lack of smell by being a hundred times more messy.  We should have hired flooring professionals to finish the job.  He was a good sport and saw it through to the end in spite of all of the back breaking frustration.

I’m still debating about tying this quilt.  Part of me wants to see pink felted nubs all over the quilt.  But the more practical side of me thinks that it is going to need some machine quilting for better wear & tear on those seams.  I did do a little search on the internet for tied quilts and I almost think it would be better to make a quilt specifically to be tied.  Who knows which way I will go….  to be continued.

Truth or Fiction?

Last year during my photography class we had a discussion about whether photos tell the truth or not.  Originally, with film one assumed that the photo never lied.  But now, with digital, it’s hard tell what is really the truth.

As my hubby is struggling to install bamboo flooring in the living room (we are extending it from the kitchen remodel out into the rest of the house and it’s not going to be perfect!)…  I’m in my sewing room trying to keep myself busy, out of the way, and helpful when needed.  I’m browsing blogs intermittently while working on my Bee Blocks* from 2011 (above).  And you know how some blogs just always look perfect?  Perfect photos. Perfect life. Perfect house.

Well, this flooring project is emphasizing how imperfect our house is. And the contrast between the perfect blogs out there that we all drool over & our imperfect house in here, makes me want to rebel and post about all my imperfections for a good dose of reality.  But I can’t quite bring myself to completely reveal ALL the ugliness.

The amateur photographer in me still needs the photos to look nice.  The pile of my grandmother’s dishes** sitting on the stainless steel work table look pretty if you zoom in close enough.  And then I had to move them so I could make bread today.

While the floor is disappearing (we call it Flat Surface Syndrome***)  in my sewing room from an overflow of scraps, projects and bags, they look inviting if I crop out the rest of the room.  I really should have tried to get a decent photo of the spare bedroom turned storage room for the week!

And the crab apple blossoms live on in a photo (from last week) even though they are all gone and have fallen on the ground, wilted, this week.  I guess there needs to be a balance between appreciating the little things (how pretty the dishes look stacked up) amidst the chaos around it all.  And… remembering that no matter what the photo says… that may not be the whole story!

- – - – -

* I’m thinking these Bee Blocks need to become our beach quilt, or picnic quilt.  The liberated piecing style seems to want to be spread out on the ground and laid upon while watching the clouds drift by or flying kites on the windy beach.  I’m also thinking that maybe it should have a denim backing to increase it’s durability.  And I’ve been craving to make a tied quilt. Weird huh?  What do you think?  Could this one be tied?  I’ve only ever tied one quilt before in my life.  But I don’t use it. It’s more of a memory quilt.

** We really should use these dishes more often rather than letting them collect dust inside a cabinet.

*** Usually, it’s just the dining room table, or the counter tops, or the coffee table that are prone to this syndrome. But no flat surface is immune!  If there is a flat surface available, it tends to collect things!

EQ Summer Drawing Series

If anyone is interested, I  just wanted to take a moment to point out that Electric Quilt is posting a Summer Drawing Series over on their blog.  Their schedule includes one lesson each month (May, June, July & August) and then you can sew your block and share it in a link up post at the end of the month.  If you have this quilt design software and struggle to use it, I highly recommend taking a look at these drawing lessons.  This is what makes EQ so useful to me!

Some of you may know that I teach EQ classes at my local quilt shop and may even have taken a class from me.  Their first lesson is posted and it looks good!  It would be a great refresher if you haven’t used EQ in awhile.

I love Electric Quilt and use it all the time!  All of the blocks we are making in the Random Sampler QAL, I first draw in EQ to try & decide what size to make it and where I want seam placements.

My sewing mojo has gone AWOL

I was talking to Letty and we decided that it is probably post traumatic kitchen remodel & lost kitty trauma.  I’m sure my mojo will return again one day.  In the  mean time, I did finish a pair of socks.  And then started another pair of the same pattern for my best friend. With different yarn, of course.  I made these toe up and used a different kind of heel that I hadn’t tried before. I’ve never been a big fan of toe up… mainly because I don’t enjoy the short row heel.  But this one may have changed my mind. It’s super easy.

Pattern – Pyroclastic socks from the Knitty, Winter 2009 issue

Mods – Judy’s Magic Cast-on for the toe & Wendy Johsnon’s Gusset Heel with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Bind-off

Yarn – Colinette Jitterbug, color 180 Salted Caper

Needles – 2.25mm & magic loop

Possibilities

I’ve been thinking about what to take to the Gwen Marston medallion workshop in June.  Maybe this???

I found an old charm pack of Denyse Schmidt’s first Flea Market Fancy collection in my closet. And then I also have a fat quarter tower of the newer reprinted Flea Market Fancy collection.  So I pulled a bunch more fat quarters & other pieces to fluff out the group.  Pondering the possibilities…..

I really need to dig around in my closet a little more often.

Random Sampler QAL – Whirligig

Here is the next block in the Random Sampler QAL.  I couldn’t find any official name, but it is a variation of a whirligig block.  And it is a simple one. Seems like we needed something easy, right??  There are a couple of different ways to make this block. The other way is to leave the center block whole rather than pieced… which would be good if you wanted to fussy cut a fabric. But then the seams get a little tricky when assembling and I just didn’t feel like explaining that method at the moment. And the measurements start getting funky. Maybe in a future block???

I put all of the sampler blocks on my design wall along with a few orphan blocks that I’m hoping will work.  The snowflake block is an extra from the from my Crazy Snow Days quilt that I made along with my SIL a couple of years ago.  The HSTs are from my first attempt at the Tree of Life block that I didn’t like.  And the Square-in-a-Square blocks are from my discarded attempt on the backgrounds from the Merry Merry Snowman quilt. I am hoping that I can work in some of my orphan blocks into this quilt plus a few more!  I really want to start thinking about how I want to put these blocks together. I’m inclined to

Alright. Let’s get started. This block finishes at 8 inches,  8 1/2″ including the seam allowances.  I hope you like it.

1. Choose 4 different fabrics. A light value, a medium value, a dark value and a contrasting color.

• From the light (mine is the cream with polka dots) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ squares.
• From the medium (mine is the green) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ squares.
• From the dark (mine is the blue floral) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangles.
• From the contrasting color (mine is the orange) cut 4 – 2 1/2″ squares.

2. Sew a light square to a medium square pressing the seam towards the medium square. Make 4 units.

3. With a pencil, mark the diagonal on the contrasting square – - or – - use The Angler 2 as I am doing – - to stitch along the diagonal line.  (Here’s a video showing how it works.) I like using the angler because it saves me the “marking with a pencil” step and it helps me to sew a straight line.  If you are like me, I have found that if I try to guess, my line is often crooked.  The lines on The Angler 2 help me to sew a straight line.  Make 4 units.

4. Trim away the corner leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. Press the seams open.

5.  Sew a light/medium square unit to the rectangular unit.  Press the seams towards the squares.  Make 4 units.

6. Arrange the whirligig units so that the dark blades rotate around the block.  Sew the two units together in each row, pressing the seams towards the rectangular unit.  Sew the rows together to complete the block.

Here’s the back.