Off the Wagon

I made myself a ridiculous new year's resolution that I would not buy any fabric before April 1. I excluded needing to buy thread or apparel fabric, as I plan to make my daughter an Easter dress. I was so good for an entire month. In case you are wondering, will power is not my strong suit. Fabric & ice cream are my absolute vises.

Now, I don't think that I have a super killer stash like the awesome 1km Emma, but then I don't have the time to measure mine. And part of me really worries how much is here. I am in the process of another round of organizing of the scraps into bins. There are 6 more bins awaiting my attention. There's one for each color, one for strips for log cabins, etc - mostly left overs from cutting borders and bindings. The fabric cubbies need some tidying as well, removing some of the smaller pieces.
This box is all 1-1.5 yard cuts that I was bequeathed at a Project Linus function in November. They are all nice fabrics, and there are 2-4 pieces of several fabrics, which is awesome for the backings. That said, many are not ones that I would personally select for my projects, but I am using them for my Linus quilts quite happily. The shelf off to the left has precut blocks, some extraneous blocks from all of my projects, unfinished flimsies, etc. The shelves to the right have a 6 yard section of fleece for backs and the Linus quilts made this month (6).I also acquired this box of fat quarters. Some are bold and very kid-like, some are flannel. Again not really my choices, but good for many uses.

As far as stashes go, it's not enormous, but it's pretty healthy. When I started making the linus quilts 2 years ago, it was partly to use up much of the scraps I had. In that process, many of my friends & family donated their scraps, and this never-ending vicious cycle began - I can never have less than I had when it comes to fabric; there are always more that I want/need!

And so this ridiculous resolution of mine is better stated, that I am trying hard not to buy rather than saying that I will not buy! I needed (yes, needed!!) 12" of black for an inner border on my Black & White challenge quilt. I will post progress on this very soon, as I just realized I have not in quite a while. The three quilt pannels are an afternoon from being ready to quilt. I did well at only buying the 12", but failed when I saw this next Alexander Henry print...it is so awesome in real life. I can hardly wait to fall off the wagon again and order some Kona Solids to sew with it!! Maybe after the taxes are done...

And one last thing...I am tentatively hoping to enter a quilt in the Maine State Quilt Show this summer. I may enter Sophie's Little Dresses (assuming the hand quilting is done before the entry deadline) and another (which I need to design and sew). The second one will be a big fat orange cat, since that is after all, the quintecential cat to me! I beefed up my brown, orange & amber batik stash a little with 12 measly fat quarters. That one on the right is clearly the wrong color. Oops...

So I have also been trying to get a good picture of said fat orange cat (AKA Henry) to use for this quilt (in their special coon cat or cat display section). My model is not so cooperative though. Once I get the 4SQS5 piece wrapped up, I will think more about this endeavor. I may even do it fused raw edge applique (despite how much I loathe this process when it is done poorly!). It will facilite good detailing.

Twelve Hearts

I now have finished all 12 of the 18" hearts. I gotta admit, I start things really well. Following through and finishing is so (sooooo...) often a problem. So, this does feel great to have it this far. Will it be done by Christmas ("ha ha, silly girl", the voices in my head say to me)?? Time will tell. I still plan to add scrappy yellow borders around each block, but that fabric is not washed or cut yet. Next week...

Other notes for the week:
- Need to put in a zipper in the dress I'm making for my soon-to-be 2 year old's upcoming birthday. Her dress is cut out and started. Not a fancy smocked number this year, but something cute and colorful. Turning two should be fun.
- I have already made my July Partner Diane's blue & white star block for the Forum Birthday Block swap.
- For the same swap, I have sketches for a NYB and Mariner's compass, both of which I oughtta get sewing on, as they may test my patience a bit. I've never made either block, but they don't scare me!...
- I have my Booty swap partner now so I can brainstorm on that mini soon too.
- And for those of you sending such nice comments about my summer quilt, thank you. I have gotten much of the 2nd quilt pieced and really cannot tell which of the two I will send!! Oh, such troubles :-) They are both very "Summer in Maine". I hope my partner actually likes the beach...

Have a great weekend-

The Jury's out on the Disappearing Nine-Patch

Ever since I saw this quilt, I have been mildly intrigued with the disappearing 9-patch pattern. Initially I couldn't see why someone would make a block, only to hack it into 4 pieces. But I decided I'd make a little project to kill three birds with one stone. Not 2 stones, three!

First, this project is to keep me from hitting the bottle of red wine this afternoon. I'm not a winer (as opposed to a whiner, which I know plenty about), and I never drink without dinner consumption. But I have been having lots of problems with my almost 6-year old's behavior and today was an all time low. I work 3 mornings a week. He is home with our awesome nanny 2 of those days. She says that he practically waits until he sees me drive off before he starts his antics. We have spoken to him repeatedly, given reasonable timeouts, even made him write "I will listen to Jen" 20 times. It is just not getting through to him. He's enticing his three and a half year old brother to be a mis-behaven brat too. I got home today to a list of a dozen things they did from spitting to taking off their clothes to absolute rudeness. The prize was his room, which they refused to clean - ALL toys everywhere, books & clothes strewn about and about 7000 tiny plastic fuse beads on the floor. I nearly died. I promptly had my 3 year old help me clean all the toys into a big laundry basket and I have removed them from his room for several days. He can get the beads himself! The bedroom is now purgatory for him. Long story...I needed some sewing therapy!

Second and third reasons for this project are shorter & simpler. I wanted to see this pattern in action & I wanted to try another project using what I think are very cool fabrics, but just not in my comfort zone of colors. This is me taking a leap of faith outside of my box, so to speak.

So I made these 5-8" blocks, constructed of nine 3" squares. They are mostly in shades of aqua, turquoise and accents of brown and green. I'm not much of a blue person. And now that it is complete, I am not so sure about the orange either.

OK, step two...hack the 5 blocks into 20 blocks.

And lastly, voila...sew 20 blocks together and add a 3/4" border of the blue. I plan to add a wide (maybe 4") ivory border around the entire piece. I will also use this as another vehicle to work on my free-motion/machine quilting.

Love is In the Air

Here's a little mini quilt I started last week. It will be about 20"x20" and is for a very special person (who will remain anonymous in case she is reading this). I found this pattern in my new quilt book - Quilt Pink. The border is a gorgeous Robert Kauffman, Fusions. The photograph does the fabric no justice whatsoever. I plan to practice my machine quilting a bit more here. There's no joy in hand quilting with all these seams!

This is more like the "Dorky Homemade Look"...

...and she is more like taking rags to riches.

This reminds me of something our grandmothers might have made from decades of worn out, outgrown clothes. It's not lovely, but there is officially less ugly in my sewing stash, and that alone makes this a good thing. Plus it gives me something to practice my machine quilting on. I have found that the busier patterns are more forgiving to my bad quilting!

Here's the finished flimsy at 40"x48". I can't say I am over-the-top thrilled with it, but that's life. Next time I think I would stay in a couple of color families rather than the entire rainbow, and keep the lights lighter, and darks darker.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Or perhaps this ought to read : "The Bad, the Ugly and the Uglier"

Lisa has shown us that we can basically take rags & make riches. Take your ugly leftover scraps in any and every color and piece them together into the most lovely scrap quilt. This is the Jacob's Ladder pattern, which is very simple and works well for those pesky leftovers.



I, like so many other quilters, have TONS of scraps. Many were given to me from other quilters so you know that they are the least wanted pieces of ugly material around. I have taken the challenge to see if I can create something equally as pretty. OK, I'll just settle for nice & usable. This will likely be a Project Linus giveaway this year. Lisa's is (in her defense) done in mostly shades of pink, blue & green, whereas my quilt uses all colors.

Here's what I did...


- cut LOTS of 2.5" strips of whatever length you have of all colors
- separate into light and dark, pairing a light with a dark
- sew strips together, press, and rotary cut to 2.5" x 4.5" light-dark pieces
- randomly piece 2 light-dark rectangles together to get 4.5" 4-patch squares of light & dark (piece A) - need 60 of these for my quilt


- cut 4.875" squares - need 30 light and 30 dark
- pair one light and dark together, mark diagonal line, and sew 0.25" on either side of line. This makes 2 half-square triangles that are light-dark. Cut on line and press. Piece B - There need to be 60 of these (should be 4.5" half-squares)


- Piece parts A & B into 4-patch squares. There will be 30 of these.
- Pray that it looks good now...
dontcha just love my assortment of UGLY fabrics?? I have everything from apples to batiks to stripes and dots and checks, to hearts, flowers, ocean squid and my personal favorite, the cow! Hopefully this quilt will in fact weed out some of my uglier scraps.

Busting the Scraps

I had a good afternoon of sewing on the many partially-completed quilt tops I have started. I finished two of them. I have this awful habit of sewing 80% of the top and then cutting out borders and putting everything into a bag to finish another day, month, year. You get the idea.

Sometime last summer I was going through a bag of the ugliest pieces of cloth I have seen. They were donated to me by somebody else trying to clean out their sewing room. I didn't have the heart to put them in the trash.

As I was pondering this afternoon, I came across Luisa's blog , which reminded me that I could probably make another 50 of these with what I have stashed away!

This is about 40" square and will definitely be a quilt donated to Project Linus after it is finished. Last year, in 2007, I made 28 of these donated quilts. This year so far, I have none actually finished, but at least 6 tops nearing the "sandwich" stage. There's another quilt top just like this one awaiting its borders too.

I hope to actually try my machine quilting on this. In the past I have not been too pleased with how it has looked, but I know that I can only benefit from the practice.

I have been Missing

I know, I know. I have been missing. Not posting. Absent. sorry...

Truth is, life got a little hectic. I went back to work after having nearly a month off. That is my excuse anyways.

Reality is different. I have not had the attention span to sew for 6-8 weeks. I have had good intentions, but I haven't followed through. I spent as much time with my seam ripper than I did on the machine. I have so many projects started I can hardly decide which is least frusterating to finish. As I read recently (and laughed at it's appropriateness to me), "I have had the attention span of a gnat".

With that said, I have not been totally void of any accomplishments. I got a knitting book for Christmas. I promptly went out, bought some yarn and started knitting a sweater for my daughter (only her because the project is much smaller than if it was for me, who really needs a sweater). I quickly discovered I did not like knitting the pattern I was doing. The stitch was overly time consuming and not as attractive as I liked. Knitting is fun - it comes out way easier than rogue seams do! I resorted to the internet, looking for patterns. In the end, I discovered she had a sweater (different color) that actually had a similar gauge, so I copied this pattern. It is 99% completed - lacks the last 3 rows to complete the buttonhole placket. There will be a picture soon, promise.

Before this sweater got nearly finished, I vowed I wanted to learn to do fair isle knitting (cables will be next). So last weekend I got some colorful balls to make her another sweater, for next fall - a little larger. The back of the sweater is knitting up nicely. IT is about 6" now. UNfortunately it is smaller than the other and thus may not work next fall. UGHH... Do I start over?? the quandries... Further, the yarn is a rather slippery micrifiber. It has a lovely sheen, but doesn't grip the needles well. One of my needles fell out a few days ago, and as I fumpled to get stitches reloaded, several rows un raveled. Setbacks...

Back in December I did do more on my intricate star quilt. I made one mistake that needs taking out and it's been sitting at the end of the ironing board ever since. My son's twin quilt has had progress too (though like an inch worm progresses). I have added a 2" inner border around what is shown in that link that looks like train tracks. I have also pieced almost 90% of the back. It is, again 90% done. That last small % kills me! Part of me is hesitant to complete it because it will open another door of "Need to do's" - Namely, completing his new bedroom, painting, buying a bed, etc. He's something of a napping beast right now. I have not resolved to him in a normal bed where he can get up as he chooses.

I have pieced 90% of the tops of a couple scrappy Project Linus quilts. I have not been much in any mood to actually sandwich and complete them though. Right now, I think there are 6 tops ready to be finished. I have been a good girl, not buying fabric this past month except what was so desperately needed. Anything I am making except for the 2 big quilts is from stash.

My partner Luisa has received her 4-Seasons Quilt from me. She does like the color and design. The piecing is very precise. It is really prettier (I think) than the pictures show. Snow in Maine, I think, can often look shades of soft lavendar. I am glad she likes it. I wanted to send her something as an appreciation of the lovely one she sent me last fall.

Here's the inspiration fabric for a small project(s) I am starting... The camera/computer does not do it justice. It has happy sage-apple colors of green in the leaves. It's the epitomy of spring, and coordinates awesomely with the pattern I am doing...
And lastly, of course I have another project started (above). For me, the joy is in the starting, not the finishing. I am making a mini quilt that may end up being for the spring quilt swap or it may be made for me and a duplicate/similar one made for the swap. It is the Tea Leaf pattern that comes from this book. I have looked on the internet, and there are many interpretative designs called Tea Leaf. This is a very old, hand appliqued pattern. I can do them in front of the TV (ie out of the basement). I'm making it in shades of purple and green. This one I love thus far. Oh, and if you don't have the Quiltmaker books (there are 2), they are gorgeous! They are based on 2 children's books. My kids have the books, which have amazing graphics and nice quilt patterns throughout. Joanne Larsen Line adapted the books to quilting books, based on the patterns in the children's books. These are dreamy. I highly recommend them.

Check back soon - I am going to add some more pictures to this blog entry later.

Busting the Scraps

My piles of scrap fabric are approaching the size of the piles of snow we have here!...Here's a very quick - 1.25 hours - quilt top that I hope to finish in the near future for Project Linus. I might even try my hand again with free motion quilting it. Previous attempts haven't been that good, but the practice can't hurt. So many people donated scrap cloth to me last year that I have bits and pieces of more than I know what to do with. Just making a scrappy top doesnt come close to making a dent in the stash whatsoever. Not sure that 25 tops would honestly. This top is not really lovely, but some little girl will be delighted (I hope) with all the flowers.

I spent time last week moving my sewing "stuff" to the basement. The dining room where I did have it was becoming a MESS and a temptation for my youngest kids to mess with. The basement is a tad chilly these days, but it has more sound proofing so that I can sew early in the morning and during naps without fear of awakening the kids. I love being able to race my machine and get things done fast! Here's the before...

That's actually part of my problem. I have a real need for some quick gratification now and then. But then I like to do intricate projects too so I don't bore with sewing. But without these quickie quilt tops, I'd never have the stamina to complete the more time consuming ones.

I'm currently awaiting some fabric I ordered so I can complete a top for my middle kid's new bed. It has trains and polar bears, which was his request. Sounds a little odd I know, but the pattern and fabrics are really cute, and cute together.

My winter 4-seasons quilt is all done except for the label and will be enroute to it's new home soon.

And I have begun knitting Sophie a sweater. The back is done. 1st attempt at anything beyond a scarf or hat...

What are you sewing??