Wednesday 26 October 2011

WIP Wednesday #3

This week I did not finish a lot.  I was on nights, but only two.  What's my excuse?  Well, not children--don't have those just yet, not cleaning my house--total disaster, not anything legit really.  I've been feeding my other addiction: reading!  Reading The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins to be precise.  I can't get enough of those books.  I bought them for my kindle, and let's just say I'm not afraid to read a book several times (cough, Harry Potter)!

Anywho!  I continued to work on my Starry Eyed quilt this week.  I finished all of the 'non-star' blocks (henceforth block B).



I've finished 7/10 stars thus far.



After whining talking about my little faux pas, some kind bloggers assured me that it was okay to have cream points on some stars (it's all in the previous post).  And I just wanted them to know I feel much better about the whole schmozzle and will be hand quilting around the stars in red.  Although I went to get cotton perle and my LQS didn't have any so I just got hand quilting thread.  Will this be thick enough?  I can always order some online, or try another store.

So, head only over to WIP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced and see what everyone else has rocking.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Friday 21 October 2011

Holy chain piecing Batman!

In case you were wondering, I've been doing a lot of chain piecing for a couple days.  A lot.  I love it because it streamlines the whole process, but I'm starting to flag a bit.  I decided that I want to get my starry eyed quilt done before Christmas, so apparently, to me, that means going insane on it in October.  Oh well, it should be done fairly soon at the rate I'm moving.  Although, I know that sometimes quilt tops get lost in the netherworld sometimes so I shouldn't prematurely calculate my prospective poultry so to speak.

I finished 5/10 stars and made it halfway through all of my filler blocks.  Those stars are not for the faint of heart.

The only thing I am cross with myself about is the fact that I used cream for the star points.  Even though it specifically says not to.  So you can't see the whole star as well.  But there is no way I'm redoing them.  I would literally have to redo the whole block. And seeing as I somehow managed to put together 4/5 stars with cream points, and only 1/5 without, that would be way too much.  So no more from here on in.

Why can't I comprehend directions???

To tell the truth, I didn't even notice this little oopsie until I did this blog post.  And now I'm upset with myself.  I wonder if I could somehow fix this without redoing the whole star...


Wednesday 19 October 2011

WIP Wednesday

I've been gone for over a week, so I figured that I'd better get to work so that I have something worth showing.  I think I sorta made it.  I had last evening and today to make progress, and progress was made.

While I was in the hotel I did some hand sewing:


I haven't finished sewing it together, but the plan is to applique that baby to a pillow, kind of like this one. The grey is the same fabric I used to make curtains so it's supposed to match.  I don't even know how to go about appliqueing (spelling??) this on because of the whole paper piecing thing.  Either way, it may take a while to get there!

I finished piecing together my snapshot quilt top.  Surprisingly (not), if you're a little off piecing together pieces at the start, it only gets worse and worse throughout.  However, altogether you can't tell too bad.  I hope.



It's nice to get this one together--I wasn't really sure how it would turn out, but I do really like it.  However, soooo much ironing.  So much.

I made some weird little coasters that I'm going to try some different quilting techniques on.  Eventually.


And, last but not least, I finished the cutting for my Starry Eyed Christmas quilt, and started piecing.

That is Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater
I did nothing with my accidental baby quilt, and have several plans that are in my mind only.  Sorry, can't link up to that ;-).  One will involve an Etchings by 3 Sisters charm pack.  Love that stuff.

Head on over to Lee's blog to check out everyone else's work!


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Sunday 16 October 2011

Eye candy

Well, I'm still not home.  Only two more days of being in a hotel and then I get to go home.  Since I can't sew anything without my, um, sewing room (and I've already shown a picture of the one project I did bring with me), I thought I would check out what there is out on the world wide web.

I found this:

© 2001 Caryl Bryer Fallert

Whoa.  This beauty was made by Caryl Bryer Fallert, definitely not me!!  The quilting is also phenomenal.  More work of this type can be checked out here.  I'm amazed at what people can create with only fabric, a machine, and thread.  And endless patience and skill. 


Since I can't make anything of my own, I've really enjoyed looking around at other people's blogs and checking out what they have been up to.  I didn't know how it would go, but I do really like being a part of the blogging world.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

There's no place like hotel

I'm staying in a beautiful hotel, the Canalta. It's really nice. But I just had to add that extra special something.

Monday 10 October 2011

Onto bigger things

Well, tomorrow is my first official paid day of work after being a university student for six years.  I'm a little bit excited to say the least.  I'll be gone for a week as part of my orientation, and although I've brought some hand sewing to do there won't be much done for a while.

Today I was busy sewing these...


...Into these:


This is the final size of the blocks for my snapshots quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's Practical Guide to Patchwork.  I'm excited for it to be all together so that I can get the full effect.  But that'll be put off for a bit now.

So, until I get home, I'll be sewing hexies!  Happy [Canadian] Thanksgiving everyone.

Friday 7 October 2011

An accident, a makeover, and a new project

I officially start work as a nurse on Tuesday.  But until then, my only real responsibility is to feed the dogs.  AKA-getting lots of sewing done!  So, in keeping with the title, I'll go through what I did this morning.

The accident, not as bad as it sounds.  I am making a snapshots quilt from Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson and I misread the instructions for the backing a cut, well, a lot of extra pieces.  But I know that I made the correct amount of pieces in the first place, so this quilt seems to have a lot of scraps.  Anyways, I have enough left over to make another quilt.  A baby quilt that is.


Now that I've taken a picture I see that I need to rearrange it a bit to separate a couple of the same prints.  I'm a little sad because I used every. single. scrap. of my Pure fabric line and as can be seen, I didn't need to.  Oh well, the good news is, this will be a very 'low level' work project because I just need to sew a few rows together. And add a border.

The makeover was much needed, and really quick.

Before:

Um, gross.
After:


I put a layer of batting over the grey cover and just popped the new one on top of that.  Gives it a little more cushion.  I used a tutorial from Craftiness is not Optional because I just wasn't sure how to go about it.  And it's super easy.  Maybe since I'm done school I feel like I don't have to think anymore??  The fabric is from Connecting Threads.  I love how bright and cheery it is.  And not covered in yucky stains.

Lastly, I have started a new project.  I have had the fabric for a while, I just wanted to get a little further on the snapshots before I started.  Anyhow, it's a quilt tutorial from Moda Bake Shop called Starry Eyed, and I just love love love it.  I knew I had to make it.  I was even really uncreative and got exactly the same fabric line because it looks so good.  And it was hard, at the time, to find a Christmas line that had charm packs and layer cakes.  I would have liked to do basically any of these or the flourish line from Robert Kaufman, that was available back when I ordered.  But, I honestly do love Countdown to Christmas, I just wish there was less black.  Oh well, it's going to be great!!


I just need to cut out the sashing and I'll have all of the fabric for the front cut out.

It's been a good day!

Wednesday 5 October 2011

WIP Wednesday

Well, this week mostly involved this:

Studying for the RN Exam
And this:

Sunny Boy Muffins!

So, for this Wednesday I have a few things to show.  As far as what's in progress, I've started sewing together all the pieces for my snapshot quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's book (of Oh, Fransson).  I've used the Sweetwater fabric line Sweet.


Still have this to go...
And I finished the wall hanging gift that I made:

This quilt isn't that wide...not sure how that happened.  Just click it!
After I finished I discovered that you'd be able to see the cool design I did on the neutral stripes if I'd done a nice tight stipple all around.  But I did the loosest lazy FMQ ever.  However, it still turned out nice. I think.


I don't have much fabric, and since the back faces the wall all of the time, I just had some fun with it. those three fabrics match, they just don't go with the front really. At all.  And there is little hooks in the corners (they kind of blend into the crazy print).  But I've learned, those are terrible because they make the corner go all bow-y.  I should have used solid triangles.  Oh well, live and learn.

Scrappy Binding!
I followed, for the most part, my little drawn lines, and I actually like how the quilting design turned out a lot!  Here is a close-up:

Maybe a loftier batting would show it more?

So for the week:

Finished: 1
WIP: 2 (other one hasn't changed)
Started: 0

And, I think that is quite enough from me today!! Go check out everyone else at Freshly Pieced:


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Sunday 2 October 2011

Smaller, not lesser

I finished piecing together the wall hanging quilt that I'm making for my boyfriend's grandparents.  I didn't smooth it out on my design wall so it looks a little bubbly but that's okay!  The top pair of blocks is a fair colour departure from the rest, but in real life it looks more cohesive.  And I have a very limited stash to pull from!


The beauty of a small quilt is that I could sandwich and baste it on the table.  Awesome!  So I did just that, in very little time.


Now, the above picture is supposed to show the pattern I drew to quilt, but I used my iPhone to take the picture and the flash made it really hard to see.  However, it's a sort of leaf or vine type of pattern.  After I planned it out, I somehow ended up at the Free Motion Quilting Project.  Oh my!  Talk about inspiring!

I think that I would like to make a solely solid quilt with large pieces (maybe layer cake?) and do each square a different style of quilting from the site--it has everything from beginner to expert.  I love the texture that a unique quilting pattern can lend a quilt--better get practicing though!

Saturday 1 October 2011

A new month

Last night I kinda went wild, and did a lot of sewing.  Some people party till the wee hours, apparently I quilt.  Anyways, I will share my finished quilt soon (I technically did not finish it in September), but I thought that I would make a little post to look back on what I've done for the month--maybe I'll do it every month.  We'll see!

First off, I did make a new curtain (valance? window treatment?) last night.  The fabric has been waiting for me to sew it since about, oh, May.


The ones up there before were, I kid not, some sort of pleather. Ew.  Anyways, yay!  So, this month I:





Not too bad.  I know that technically I linked my quilt up already, but since I'm part of the 'small blog community', why not get myself in there twice!  So head on over Lily's Quilts and see the beautiful work others have done there.  All you need to do is click the little button. That is, if I did it right...


Small Blog Meet

I do enjoy blogging, and I have to say, I don't even know exactly why I started.  One of my favourite things to do is look at what others have made.  I hope that people can get some enjoyment out of what they find here as well.