Spring Fling Round Robin Session 2

I have announced the signups of another session of the round robin I host. If you are interested, and are at least an intermediate level quilter, please have a look. It was very popular this spring, and the quilts made were out-of-this-world amazing!

http://www.springflingroundrobin2008.blogspot.com/

Pin Wheels, Polka Dots & Pigs in a Blanket

Here's another Project Linus blanket recently finished. I am trying to incorporate (ie., use up!) my many yards of nice novelty fabrics. I got this Huff-n-Puff (the pig border print) last summer, and if were just a little more, I may have used it for Sophie's birthday dress. It is super cute!

The quilt is scrappy and bright. I had red polkadots that my mom gave me. Every summer, my grandmother who has been dead now almost 4 years, came to Maine. She was raised here, but always loved to come visit. On one of her trips in the mid 1990's, she needed to make a clown costume for work. I still cannot envision my 70 year old grandmother dressed as a clown, but then! Anyhow, the red dot is leftover scraps from her costume. I think she'd be tickled that I used it for a piggy kids blanket :-)
Here's the top...about 50" x 50".

And one quickie transformation of the lovely Simplicity squares...next time I'll get better light so you can see how lovely the prints are.

The makings of four 9-patch blocks, arranged with white print canters, more solid prints on the corners and another busier print in between.

Now they are cut...
...and rearranged to place the solids at the center, one of each color.
I need 16 more of these. Then they will get a mini-border of a medium blue that I do not yet have. Then 2" sashings of a pale blue & white print.

...next week's project!

Goodies in the Mail & New Projects

I had my entire week and weekend planned out. I was going to get going on a Project Linus blanket that will be entered in their Book-Blanket Challenge. The blankets need to be turned in by sometime in September or October, and should be designed around a children's book. The book and quilt will be given to children at this hospital between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last year I made the Hungry Caterpillar (and won too!). This year my goals are lower. I will be happy just to get my blanket top finished before we go on vacation next month.

Anywho...so my plan to go full gusto on this quilt top came to a screeching halt when yesterday's mail came. Two squishy packages!! My Moda 3-Sisters Simplicity charm squares and accompanying fabrics came. OOhhh, they are so sweet and romantic. They will make a fantastic present for someone. I just had to piece a "few" of the charm squares together to see how it would look. You'll have to return tomorrow for pictures of that :-)

Here's a question for all you charm pack users. Obviously I did not prewash these before sewing. But should I prewash the yardage I bought before I cut and sew with that? or might it be better to wash the entire quilt top when it is finished? My inquiring mind wants to know what YOU would do :)

Well, back to my book quilt. Here's the book.
I actually found it at a local consignment store in hardbound for $2, brand new. That beats the $30 price tag I saw at Amazon! It's a supersweet tale of a polar bear mama and cub. I have a very small amount, maybe half a yard at most of this fabric too, which I knew when I selected the book. This was used on my son's bed quilt recently.
My plan is to cameo-cut as many of the polar bears as possible, and then design a pieced quilt around that. I have several corresponding blues and light grays in nice nursery prints - polka dots, checks, hearts, etc that look fantastic with the background of the bear fabric. They bring out all of the ocean, ice and sky characters of the fabric. Initially I envisioned appliquing a fleecy bear cub or two onto the border or the quilt, but concept will have to wait until the top is finished. I had much of the piecing cut yesterday before the mail came (and squashed my motivational steam...). Once the little ones were napping, I also started sewing to realize I 'd made a small error and my pieced blocks were coming out the wrong size. Seems I'd mixed up my two piles of squares and used one for the other's purpuse. UGH!.. rather than pick out 12 9-patch blocks, I decided I could afford to make the quilt 6 inches larger with just adding bordering to the bear cameos. My simple plan is still rather simple, just not going together without a little modifications. I still hope to have this top pieced by the end of the weekendso I can get back to the Simplicity quilt.

For all of you Booty Swap lookers...I have actually done a fair bit of that quilt top. It's 90% hand applique. It's another that I'd like to have finished before we go on vacation in August. I think I may hand quilt that one, but I'm not sure. I need advice. If there is anybody that uses (and likes to use) perle cotton threads, please tell me what weight you use and where you find it. Thanks-

My 4-Seasons Beach quilt is entering no-man's land (AKA postal service) - and here's where I begin to hold my breath and pray it arrives where it is destined to go. I hate the thought of lost quilts, especially one of mine.

Anybody that is inquiring about another round of the Spring Fling Round Robin that I host...I am just about to kick off the fall installment of the swap - in just a few days. Keep your eyes peeled here for the signup as it will be limitted to 25, and my awesome quilters from the first session will most definitely get priority.

Have a great week's end!

Belated Happy Independence Day

I know it's the 6th of July, but I was lazy this weekend and did not post anything. I took the kids to the beach on the 3rd and 4th. They love playing in the sand and water. It's a bit of a chore getting them cleaned/showered off so I opted not to go another day this weekend. The boys start swim lessons again in another week so hopefully they'll be swimming by the time we go on vacation this August. No plans are firm yet, but we're looking into a week on Lake Champlain in upstate VT. Is anybody familiar with that area? Will the water be freezing cold??

Scenes from Friday's beach trip...
Little sister was content to just play in the sand and try to pop the seaweed. I certainly fetched enough bucket fulls of water for her though.
I'm not sure if this is the "finished" piece, but in honor of the 4th, here's one of my more patriotic blocks. It's for the bday block swap. Anne's birthday is actually August, but I'm trying to get ahead, and was a bit intimidated by doing this block so I tried to get a head start. The darn thing took me near 5-6 hours, and albeit is not perfect either. I may remake it if I find time.

One of the other more mundane things I have done is complete the yellow scrappy borders on the scrappy blue heart blocks. I kind of lost steam on this project. I'm not sure that I really "love" the overall finished look enough to complete it for the person I was initially doing it for. I am leaning towards making the 12 blocks into 2 Project Linus quilts instead - just add a wide blue print border and quilt them. They'll be ~55" x 75" which is a good size for a teenager. Because I have felt lackadaisical (spelling???) about this project, I have allowed my mind to wander (ie., I have fallen off that proverbial "use your stash" wagon).

The first thing I got, mainly because I just LOVE the fabrics, are these from Lakehouse Dry Goods - Cherry Baby collection. I will save them until I make Sophie's twin bed quilt next year. They will coordinate with her room and curtains that will not be replaced, as well as several other fabrics I am hoarding for that special day. I love sewing for little girls! All things are Sooooo cute :-)

Anyhow, this is just a 7" alphabet panel that I will use on her quilt or a wall hanging of her name, or something like that.
I had to have a little bit of the sweet cherries too...
And these panels also...They may get used as blocks on her quilt top or on the back, or even as little pillows. I'm not sure yet; I just love it and know that if I wait until I know what it is for, I won't find it anywhere.

The other thing I have done is reconcile with myself that I will make one Christmas present. It has to be done by October so that I can get it to the quilter in time. I bit the bullet and ordered several of these charm packs which I found onsale for about $6 each at http://www.thequiltedcastle.com/. I thought that was quite a steal, and I don't have to cut the material. Win-win for me! I'll probably do a disappearing 9-patch pattern in blocks with three of the fabrics (which I had to order elsewhere) as block sashings and quilt borders. This is a project I am psyched about. I need to get it done realistically before I go back to work in September too.

Back With Batteries

OK, now that the battery-hog camera is fed, I can show pictures of what my mail lady brought me while I was off at the beach today. Despite having two rather unpleasant recent swaps, I decided to torture myself one more time (I actually did not know about the other two when I signed onto this swap). It was an About.Forums swap hosted by Ginger, who is truly a wonderful host. She's attentive and was immensely accommodating since I unknowingly sent her my swap info a day after the swap actually closed!


So while I was off at the beach with my 3 little wild things (getting a different form of torture!), this arrived. The colors are not entirely true, but it is genuinely lovely. It's old-fashioned and traditional. And totally summery. The fabrics are lovely Moda's and blues from Bleaker Street (one from this teal line which I have but have yet to decide what to make with!). She has hand quilted it too, which everyone knows gives me a real warm fuzzy. People that machine quilt nicely are everywhere, but to hand quilt takes time and patience. It's becoming a lost art.

Many thanks, Ginger, this was a treat to receive. You've rejuvenated my swapping faith again :-)

And onto another topic...My summer swap quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap...
So I posted last week that I had decided to keep the summer beach quilt that I did (on the right below). I was a bit frustrated and defeated about this decision because I felt pretty good about actually having my quilt finished a month early. I redesigned another in most of the same fabrics, same beachy icons. I even bound it in the same blue stripe because it reminds me of awnings or umbrellas. I think I know which one is staying and which is going, but I thought I'd ask the gallery. Give me your comments...It has a long way to go, so I will likely mail it next week.

(BTW...those ugly feet get to stay)I did a "McTavishing" effect along the edge. It kind of gives the effect of waves (if you squint your eyes it does).
This one has 2 umbrellas rather than just one. And no adirondak chair as that was a lot of time, and I am uncertain if it has enough value added for the effort. I did love the lobster traps though so the second quilt has four. They really are very "Maine", as we are known for our lobsters.
And lastly a couple shots of the back. The fabrics are very simple, but they show the quilting. I strive to be one of those machine quilters that have backs that look as good as the fronts. I know I am not there yet (especially since much of this was quilting was done before I discovered the ton of gunk under the bobbin cover).

Next time I will post about a couple of Project Linus tops I have assembled and another source of migraines...Anne's Mariner's compass for Kate's birthday block swap :-) ...grumble, grumble...

Purring like a Kitten

Sometimes the ones with the highest intelligence overlook the most obvious things. My many years of college, multiple degrees did not properly prepare me for what I ran into yesterday.

You see, for weeks my machine which is a mere year old has been noisy. click-clack, clunk!...It was not back-stitching cleanly. It's FMQ was giving me unreliable tension. Many days, I could not adjust the tension to not see the top thread on the back. It even would loop the top thread around the bobbin casing while sewing, which locks up the fabric so fast so that Ihave to cut it off from within the bobbin or get a hole in the material. I really just figured I needed to stop and rethread my threads.

Stupid ME!

Then yesterday I came across a posting by Kate on the About Forums. It all sounded like my problem too, but I discarded it since I HAD tried to loosen those stupid cover plate screws. They never would loosen so I foolishly reconcilled that I wasn't supposed to go in there. This is just the point where stupid gets critically dumb, as this is NOT my 1st machine or only one. I have 3. And the other ones do get cleaned in there. And I should mention (if you looked at Kate's post), I am an engineer. Lord help my stupidity...

So I tried to turn those ridiculous little screws the other direction, and LOOK what actually happens! The cover plate comes off, revealing an inch of gross gunk!
And when I removed the bobbin casing, yes...even more gunk.
Oh, all the light bulbs of NYC are coming on about now.

THAT (above) was under my bobbin case. UGH...
And here's my pile of crap from within that was no doubt affecting the back-stitching, FMQ, and making all kinds of noise. It's a wonder I made anything nice.

But now, she's purring like these kittens, sweet & quiet, and awaiting me to go make something this morning before my 3 wild things (not what's below) awaken.

Sewing Something a little Different

I mostly finished up my daughter's birthday dress. Her birthday is still 2 months away, but now she can wear it this summer too. I have used this pattern, but made a few small modifications/enhancements. I opted not to do a more time-consuming smocked dress like I did last year, in hopes of getting it done faster, and perhaps having her wear it more. It is a sleeveless jumper too so that when it cools down in the fall, she can put a long-sleeve shirt underneath.
It's much simpler than others (here and here) I have done...no ruffles, no petticoats, etc. But I still think it is cute. The bottom has a border of this colorful floral. I used a variation of this type print (only a smaller floral) as the bodice lining.
Sadly I could not find my wing-needle yesterday so that I could do a prettier edging on the collar. I can do a nice entredeux stitch to give a collar a great vintage look. This is one of my favorite needles, and I am distraught over misplacing it. Instead, I just did a double row of top-stitching with a narrow twin-needle. BTW, the collar is scalloped (the curvyness is not by error!).
Here you can see what I added to the bodice...a few pleats, a little decorative scallop stitches some ivory eyelet leftover from another pfoject, and 4 sweet ladybug buttons.

Another Project Linus finish for 2008

This was done from a precut package I got at a recent blanket day - done in 3"x6" charm bricks. I just assembled, backed, and bound. I'm not fond of the bright orange, but some child will love it.

Lisa Boyer Book

And the winner of Lisa Boyer's Dorky Homemade Look is...

Becky!

Thanks for your comments and I will get it mailed to you this week.

Do you like my clothes? Do you want them for....free?!

Do you like my clothes? Do you want them for....free?!

Go see...
I'm always interested in cute (& free clothes for my girl)

I Spy Ugly & giveaway

I have finally finished this quilt. It's another of my 2008 Project Linus deliveries. Though I did start it with grand intentions of it looking like the one Lisa Boyer did, which is lovely, it turned out clearly being more of an I Spy Ugly quilt. I mostly hand tied the quilt, with five rows of hand quilting for added reinforcement. It has the most robust and thickest poly batting I have ever seen (and hope to never see again I might add) so I think it will take a hurricane to make it come apart. I hand sewed the binding last night as I was dreaming of my next 2 Linus quilts to be made with some of my very cute novelties. These will be fun!

Here's a close-up of some of the ugliness...

The quilt has everything from hearts to flowers to bicycles to jellyfish to gingham and batik to pine cones and polka dot. And...you guessed it, solids, stripes, metallics and butterflies. And that just all I chose to photograph. I think a young kid will get a kick out of the wild variety and the colors. That's my hope anyways!

Giveaway!...
A couple of months ago, my aunt brought my mom and I about 75 lb of quilt books. That Dorky Homemade Look by Lisa Boyer was amongst them. If you are interested in owning this book, leave me a comment. My only request is that you send me a fat-eighth (approximately 14" x 14" or 10"x 18") of yellow batik in return...I need this for another project :-)

Stressed and Making Mistakes

That is the title of the week. Making Mistakes!

I hate to sew when all I do is use the seam ripper, or recut pieces because for some reason the block comes out too small. I am generally speaking something of a perfectionist, so substandard work gives me heartburn.

Despite having many (many) pans in the fire right now, some of which I am desperately trying to complete, here's a glimpse at my July blocks for Kate's Birthday block swap. They are for 3 different people. One of my group 3 quilters asked for a garden-esqe block in any color & size. So I used a lovely Monet rose print and did the picket fense. I hope it is not too simple, but I do like it. The other group 3 block is the blue & white star. She's making a quilt for a friend that lost everything in hurricane Katrina. Having lived 45 minutes from there as a kid, I was passionate about her cause, and very glad to see that her "birthday" is the first month of the swap. I did make a small "oops" on her block. See if you can tell...In the end, I thought that it still looked really good, so I decided it was just part of my design! My last block is for Group 4 (the advanced group) - the New York Beauty in ocean colored batiks. It took me forever to make (makes me IMMENSELY) glad that I will be receiving 11 of these come November:-) I think it looks pretty good; most of the points are clean.

I have been battling the FMQ tension on my machine lately. It really makes me UGLY. I get the loops on the back side regardless of what I adjust. It makes using a different color top thread (or non-patterned back fabric) impossible. I seem to have it under control a bit this morning and have begun the quilting of my 4SQS top (yes, the second one!). It is very sweet, and remainiscent of the New England summers. I believe my partner will be craving a trip north soon!

I need to finish a Linus quilt that has sat idle for a week or so (it's awaiting 2 rows of my hand quilting and a binding. That's been ignored as it is "boring" work!

My daughter's dress is also in that perpetual state of "sew - n - rip". I keep thinking that it is a simple pattern (so why don't I actually read the directions!), so there have been some mistakes. I will work on it this week more.

Happy Humpday...It's finally sunny here. We've had a boatload of thunder storms over the last 2 weeks, nearly every afternoon. Our yard is shin-high and very wet. Gotta get the kids outside after the wild-kitty goes to the vet this morning. I hear chaos upstairs so I must sign off now :-)

Cheers!

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-

MY Summer & Catching Up

I have completed my summer quilt. I couldn't be happier. I just love the way it depicts MY Summer. This is what Summer in Maine is all about (minus the black flies and humidity). Oh, and the white beaches too. Our sand is much courser and darker at most beaches. Anyhow, the feeling is here.
Most beaches will have a lighthouse within sight. Our coast line is unforgiving to the boats. It is beautiful and rocky in most places. The light houses save many a lost boat, as going into the main surf is an almost certain death as cold as the water is much of the year.
Half-standing plank fenses litter the beaches. They are truly picturesque additions to what Mother Nature gave us. Lobstering is one of our largest industries, especially in the summer. The fense would be incomplete without some of these. Each lobsterman (or woman) has a registered stripe pattern so that they know whose traps are whose in the ocean.
Here is how I cured my previous problem with the background fabric showing through the white of the chair. I think it works well.
All in all, I am tickled with this summer quilt. It turned into way more than I had anticipated. When I started, I was trying to depict another place (which I cannot say, or my partner will possibly know this is for her). But in the end, it turned out looking like MY home. Consequently, I have dedided that this will stay in MY home. Sigh... So I am back to the drawing board, so to speak. I have decided to make my 4SQS partner a similar quilt with "scenes" from the beach rather than an entire beach landscape. My four scene panels are complete and look good. I will post about this at another time though.
This wild little number arrived this week from Kate. It's her ALQS mini for ME! Wild it is, but I have a secretly kept wild side (hence the Frog in the Blender, which was mailed over an ocean this week). It looks a bit juxtiposed hanging in my very traditional dining room, on this hideously country (he he, country is NOT my thing) hanger I have previously had another quilt on. But my dining room and other downstairs rooms have deep purple and cranberry in the window coverings, furniture and paint, so it does blend in nicely.

The back fabric is radically cool, I must say. This has a metallic printing and is actually one piece of fabric. Many thanks Kate. I do like it. It took a few days to post this as my batteries died and the price of gas here has kept me home until I needed other items.

Next, I mailed this off to my Forum Doll Quilt Partner, organized by Ginger, on Tuesday. It's done with 1930's style happy prints and polka dota. It ought to be received in the mail today, so I will post it this morning.
I hope my partner appreciates it, as I will be seing what she makes in Kate's Forum birthday block swap soon too.
Here's a shot of the back. It's like a flower.