Self induced and unannounced blogging break...

I didn't mean to be away as long as I was, but I just didn't have anything to say...or rather, I had plenty to say and share, but just didn't have the umph to write. But lets get right to the sharing...

This is the quilt that I'm working on for my boss. She will be finishing her term in the next month (and her birthday is at the end of the month) and I wanted to give her something special, something that she would use and something that she would think of our office when she used it.

Its only a lap quilt (12 inch squares, log cabin, 3 across/4 down with white sashing and backing and I may combine the left over strips to create the binding).

These aren't the colors I necessarily think of when I think of her, but they jumped out of my stash closet and said "Use me and me and me and me!!" Of course, I was sick at the time, so that may have been a hallucination. Anyhoo, now when she is sitting at home on a cold, snowy night, reading a book with this quilt on her lap, she will think of all of us stuck here listening to the Senate until some ungodly hour and thank her lucky stars that she doesn't have to do that anymore (and then drive 30 minutes home with people still calling her!)

Well, the day is almost done, tomorrow is wood day (Mum, Dad, Derek and I load up trucks and trailers and bring 4 cord of wood to the Lake) and Saturday, my cousin is getting married ♥ in Massachusetts! Still so much to do before then!

Have a wonderful weekend, anyone and everyone. Until next week!

The Bride - finished

I actually finished this last week, but didn't upload the photos till today. My cousin's bridal shower was Sunday and my aunt was nice enough to bring it down for me, so I didn't have to risk it getting beat up in the mail!

I was so happy to find the glass topped box frame (the lid is on hinges). It was the only thing resembling a shadow box that I could find (I went to 4 stores) and it was the only one left. It was too perfect! Then I found this poem by Susan Polis Schutz.
I whipped together a little fake flower bridal bouquet and it all just came together perfectly!
I wish I could have been there to see her open it, but maybe someone took pictures.

WiP - The Bride

My cousin is getting married in October and I wanted to come up with something for her bridal shower that is a little more personal, a little more individual, little more creative and a lot less "standard gift registry". And of course, since I'm going through post-quilt show "NEED TO CREATE!!!" mania, I started this...

The Bride

What I actually started was based on a Robin Wood drawing in an old copy of Scott Cunningham's Earth Power: Techniques of Natural Magic (which is frought with Wood's amazing art - check the link and you'll see a few examples as you scroll through).

As I worked, though, she developed into this playful bride, complete with 3 dimensional skirt (bedecked with tulle underlay) and a lacey ribbon at her waist.

I fussy cut flowers from a funky fabric and played with variegated green thread for grass

Her top is painted in white with a hint of grey to simulate folds and her hair is a brown fabric base with browns, reds, golds and black painted over it (it needs to be touched up)

I'm very pleased with how she is turning out...considering she went in a completely different direction than originally planned. I still need to paint in some clouds, paint her skirt so it flows with the bodice and quilt around her with invisible thread.

My plan is to cut it down to size, fit it into a shadowbox, then to the bottom of the shadowbox, add a mini bouquet of fake flowers tied with ribbon, some mini wedding rings, a little poem about weddings or brides or something and her wedding invitation (or save the date card as it has a picture of her and her fiancé) reduced down to mini and propped up. I hope she likes it!

Mini-Quilt Monday x3

Here I am, continuing to play catch up on the mini quilts. God only knows what I have left - being sick left my memory completely junked! But now that the double ear infection, the almost sinus infection, the throat issues and the allergic reaction to Zyrtec D out of my system...I'm feeling much better now!

But...for your viewing pleasure are the 3 latest:

Title: "Stitch and Bitch" (mini-quilts week 15)

Materials and Techniques: cotton fabrics completely handstiched...a technique that I despise! I have nothing but awe and respect for those quilters who sit there handstitching full sized quilts...I think they're absolutely insane...but it takes a tough constitution to work on something like that!

From Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Apr. 2007 issue

Title: "Country Kitsch" (mini-quilts week 16)

Materials and Techniques: cotton fabrics in a nine patch and solid formation. I'll be honest, I really don't like country florals...I'm not sure what it is about them that makes me cringe, but they do. I tried them, because they were in my scrap bucket, but I still find them hideous!

Title: "Flutterby" (mini-quilts week 17)

Materials and Techniques: pieced solid cotton fabric with a floral print (not country floral mind you!), embroidered with flowers and butterflies, and one little bee. I love to embroider! I don't often do it, but I love the way it always comes out. Even when it's bad, it looks good...well, sometimes.

As soon as we get a not-so-dreary day, I'll have to take pictures of the garden...it's growing by leaps and bounds! AND...my brother took down that horrible fence in the back yard! Being sick, I lost 2 weeks of working on his bedroom, so the poor guy is sleeping on the couch. I feel bad, I wanted to have the last of the sheetrock up, but it just hasn't happened. Soon, hopefully.

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilt Week 14

Title: "Fold & Tuck"

Materials and Techniques: Dupioni Silk, Cotton, Batiks and Beads done in a pleat (unfortunately I haven't found a good tutorial for this and I didn't photograph my own foray into the world of pleats...but I can say that it's fairly easy!)

From Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Sept. 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilt Week 13

Title: "Harvest"

Materials and Techniques: 4 Patch on Point (for a not quite but very similar how to, click here)

From American Patchwork & Quilting, June 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilt Week 12

Title: "Diamond in the Rough"

Materials and Techniques: stitch & flip (this is a super easy technique, it's just squares! Go here to learn how)

From Quiltmaker, Oct. 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 11

Title: "Yertle"

Materials and Techniques: papercut applique, fabric paint and fusible web.

found in Quilter's Newsletter, May 2007 issue

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 10

Welcome to another week of Mondays!

Yes, I'm still catching up on my mini quilts, but I'm only behind by two (whoo-hoo!!!)

As I've been playing catch up, I realized that they really aren't "mini" quilts so much as just quilt "blocks". They will be going into a larger quilted wallhanging...but technically, I guess they could stand alone as an individual quilt in small form...and since I've been calling them mini quilts all along, that's how they will stay.

Title: "Triangular Garden"

Materials and Techniques: made using fabric strips cut into triangles and stitched into a square.

"Roses for Mom" pattern from McCall's Quick Quilts, May 2007 issue

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You may notice that I did some fairly traditional blocks this time around. That's because, well, I never really like traditional quilting - I liked looking at traditional quilts, but actually doing them...no thanks, I'd rather do funky arty quilts. But something has changed. I'm not sure when it changed, but now when I look at quilts, I've begun to really notice the blocks themselves...the technique, how they are pieced, the use of color coordination and contrast, the use of thread as an embellishment rather than just a way to keep things together.

I started going through my quilt magazines (a good quilter NEVER tosses her mags, since they're such a handy reference). I marked the techniques that I wanted to try and this week you'll see the results. I was surprised at how easy many of these were and how gratifying it was to look at the final product and be able to say, "Wow, I made that and it actually looks right!"

I'm going to stick with trying out the traditional blocks for a while; I'll throw in an arty mini here and there, as the mood strikes, but for now, the traditional blocks are really striking a cord.

Enjoy another week of mondays! :^)

Rag Ruggin'

About 2 years ago at the quilt show, I saw a woman sitting before a wooden frame, weaving a rug out of strips of scrap quilting fabric and it was fascinating! It looked so easy and when she was done, she had this heavy duty, beautiful rug. Right then and there, I wanted to know how it was done. But the crowd around her got bigger and I drifted on with my mother to other vendor’s booths and though I never forgot about it, I never really looked to see where I could learn how to do this. Then in a recent newsletter from a local quilt store, I saw they had rag rug classes but those classes filled up quickly.

Ever the undaunted woman, I hit the internet and Googled till I was blue in the face and my tappity tapping little fingers ached…and you know what I found? Nothing…nada, zip, zero, zilchoid! Not one thing that was remotely close to the way that that woman wove her rug. It was depressing! But then, by sheer luck (and I think a little divine intervention), I stumbled upon the quilting blog, Quilting Adventures and there, in full color, were pictures of a rug frame with an in-process rag rug on it...and it was exactly what I was looking for! I was thrilled! I devoured that post and bless Carole's heart (Carole is the blog's author), she posted the title of the book and a link to the Country Threads site, where you could order it. Seriously, I was doing the happy happy dance of joy!

The book came in the mail Thursday and I couldn't get over how simple the instructions were...and it had pictures! Not drawings, but real pictures to show how it was done.

And then today, I found this video on youtube - how flippin' cool!

Could. Not. Be. Happier!

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 9

Title: "L7" (slang: a derivative term for square; also a reference to the band, who had that killer song I love)
Materials and Techniques: blocks, blocks and blocks on blocks and satin stitch (can you tell it's my favorite to use? It just makes everything look so clean!)
An alternate title for this was, "Would you could you in a block?" I'll have to think of another way to pay homage to Dr. Suess.

Well, that does it for a week of Mondays. I'm still about 5 mini-quilts behind (as of this coming weekend). If I can bust them out on Saturday or Sunday, you may see another week of Mondays next week...don't count on it though! :^)

Happy Monday...er...Friday all!

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 8

Title: "Don't You Know I'm Loco?" (hats off to Cypress Hill for the name) Materials and Technique: made with leftover scraps from Squeaky Squeaky toys and varigated threads in a crazy quilt pattern (can you believe that I've never tried to do crazy quilting before?)

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 7

Title: "Bubble Flowers" (yeah, I know - very unoriginal, but I couldn't think of anything better!)
Materials and Techniques: made using satin stitch, varigated thread, rag edges and buttons
My inspiration for this one came from this funkitude quilt, and looking at it again makes me wish that I had come up with a better name!

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 6

Title: "Zen Tree Meditation"
Materials and Techniques: made from fusible web and free motion quilting. It was inspired by a book I bought on healing mandalas - the mandala was "Two Trees, One Root" (granted this is only one tree)

A Week of Mondays: Mini-Quilts Week 5

Welcome to a week of Mondays...mini-quilt Mondays, that is!

I'm playing catch up with my mini-quilts, so every day I will show off the latest addition (the photos weren't taken on the best of days, so bare with me)

Title: "Hey Butt(on)head!" Materials and Techniques: made from yo-yos and buttons, machine and hand stitching (I forgot how much I love the look of buttons on things).

Mini-Quilt Monday

I call this "Patience is a Virtue." I know I've mentioned this before here, but my patience level is seriously lacking. If something looks terribly complicated or requires me to read directions, I tend to avoid it. Not out of fear, but out of a short attention span and a mood that swings to the easily frustrated. It is for these reasons that I have avoided making triangles in my quilts...oh, and because you have to iron every. freakin'. seam! But back a few months ago, Mum gave me a Triangulations CD for quilters. It teachs you the easy way to make half and quarter square triangles. You want to talk about easy peasy? WOW! Yes I did have to iron every single flippin' seam, but you know...it was worth it! This little block came out so flat. It's beautiful!

Yes, I know that not all of my triangles and diamonds show perfectly, but hey, it's the first time I've ever done it...and I really don't recommend making super teeny tiny 1" square triangles your first time out - they were a bitch to stitch (and even more of a bitch to iron, unless you have a small iron meant primarily for quilting).
"Patience is a Virtue" was born out slowing down, reading directions and ironing every seam, with my blood and spit going into every corner of this little block, literally - I kinda cut the knuckle of my thumb with the rotary cutter (don't ask, I'm a whiz a cutting myself with scissors and cutters or stabbing myself with needles and pins). It bled like crazy, to the point where I had to stop what I was doing and get a band-aid!

Anyhoo, happy Monday!

Mini-Quilt Monday....er...Tuesday

So I'm a day late...no surprise there. Since I missed last week, I made up for it this week. And without further ado, here's the latest in the mini-quilt project:

"Color Play"

Made with batik swatches and exploring light, medium and dark in fabric color

"What's Black & White and Red All Over?"

(obviously a play on the old newspaper joke). Again, batiks. I proved to myself that I can make a tiny log cabin block from 2"x3" swatches.

Mini-Quilt Monday

Here it is - the first Mini-Quilt Monday! Whoo-hoo! And as promised, the first of 52 mini quilts:

I'm calling this first one "Blanket of Stars" (which I neglected to write on the back of it), inspired by a quilt idea I had 3 years ago while listening to the Counting Crows song, Mrs. Potter's Lullabye. The whole song has great imagery but when I heard "When I see you a blanket of stars covers me in my bed", all I could picture was this deep blue quilt covered in various sized stars...so I made it in mini with one size star. This has taught me that I need to practice my free-motion to get my thread lines a little better looking and less all over the place. It also make me realize that I enjoy beadwork!

Now, Belém asked a very good question: "Isn't 4" going to be too small?" I thought so too at first, but in the end, if my calculations are correct (and god knows they probably aren't - I'm very adept at screwing up my measurements!) and if I stitched all these mini quilts into one, the finished quilt would be 133" square or roughly 11' square, give or take (26 four inch blocks across and down with a 1" sashing between each block and a 2" border - does 133" sound right?). 52 blocks, plus the binding, the sashing and the backing...all using scraps. It might not use up all of my scraps, but I think it will use a fair amount.

I kind of like the thought that I don't have to come up with something big - I can whip up a 4" block in no time with these mini-practices and they're very inspiring! I came up with 2 new ideas for quilted wall hangings based on the one I did yesterday. Plus it makes me think small, when normally I think a little too big with quilts.

Alright, lunch break is over - now I have to get back to work.

Practice Makes Perfect

How often have we heard this? How often do we do it? The sad thing is its undeniably true...and we still don't take the time to practice - whether it's drawing, painting, paper craft, sewing, quilting, fabric dying, etc. Boning up on technique is essential, because the more you do it, the more you learn and the better the result of your finished piece, right?

Well I have an idea – a challenge for myself (and anyone else intrigued by this). As anyone who quilts and sews knows, you always end up with fabric scraps (lots of scraps!) and sometimes you can use them for fussy little things in quilts, but if you’re anything like me and my mother, you end up with a bucket or bag (or both) full of odds and ends and strips, and it just keeps growing with every project you do. My idea, my challenge, is to take those scraps and complete a 4” mini quilt a week for a year.

Creating these mini quilts will help me practice making traditional quilt blocks, practice free motion quilting, hand embroidery, embellishing with found objects, dying commercial fabric in small pieces to produce new designs, painting on fabric…all the things that I’ve been wanting to play with but haven’t taken the time to do. On the back of each mini quilt, I’ll create a label with the date, the technique I used and any thoughts. At the end of the year, I’ll have 52 completed mini quilts that I will stitch together to create a journal quilt (using a quilt as you go technique). Yes, I know that is going to be one big ass quilt, so it may end up as two smaller pieces to be hung in my upstairs hallway…I’m not sure, but I’ve got a year to figure it out.

I’ve been brainstorming for sometime now about what to do with my scraps, just because they’re growing exponentially. And you NEVER toss out your scraps! I still have scraps from the first quilt I made 9 years ago (it was a very plain, very simple, man’s quilt made for my ex as a Christmas gift – I loved that quilt…it was so warm and the fabric I found for the backing was a super soft sheeting material. I was always stealing it off the bed to wrap up in. I kick myself for not taking it when we broke up – god only knows where it is now). Wow, that was a tangent – anyhoo, I want my scraps to do something more than just take up space.

I’ve been looking for a challenge (other than the challenges of everyday life), something artistic and I’ve always wanted to do something like Lisa’s “Drawing a Day” project. This morning, I was flipping through my Quilting Arts magazine and read an article about eco-friendly journal quilting techniques and the author mentioned recycling her scraps into her journal quilts and the inspirational lightning bolt struck my brain – here was the solution to my overabundant scrap problem! And by creating only 4” quilts, it’s not time consuming, it’s instant gratification, it uses up the things I already have (recycling some stuff) and its practice!

My self imposed rules:

1. No going into the stash because “oooh, a piece of that purple would be just right!” No no no! I can only use my scraps.
2. No going out and buying any embellishments. I have beads. I have buttons. I have charms and fibers and other stuff in the crafting closet already that will be used.
3. The sashing and binding (which will come at the very end) must be made of scraps…again, no buying new fabric or digging into the stash just to make the sashing or binding uniform. The idea is to transcend uniformity.
4. The only things I will be allowed to buy for this project are threads and batting…because I’m severely lacking in my thread box and I have no batting in the house…wait, I have old blankets…okay, so no buying batting; I’ll recycle blankets. So just thread.

Okay, that’s all for rules – I don’t want to limit myself too much.

Wish me luck! I’ll be sure to share my weekly mini quilt (Mini-quilt Mondays? Hmmm…I like).

Happy Friday, folks!

Back in Business

The Janome, she squeaks no more! Whoo-hoo! Sewing machine oil must have supreme magical abilities to take care of a squeal that bad. I was able to finish 9 blocks on Maddie's quilt last night and start another 6 (it has thirty 12"x 12" blocks). So I'm back in business with the Christmas present making!

Oh, and for the first time in my life, I decided to buy something that I had intended to make myself. I had planned to make the actual boxes for my mother and aunt's Quilt Shop roomboxes. I even made a "first attempt" to make sure that I could actually make it; it came out cute, but a bit small. So I have ordered 2 roombox shells that I will paint and decorate myself.

I almost never do that...whether it be pants or a quilt or a shelf, whatever, if I could possibly make it, then I won't buy it from a store/online. When I told this to Juli, she damned near had heart failure. During our conversation, she kept saying things like, "Now wait, tell me again - you're BUYING something that you could MAKE, but you're not going to MAKE it. You're going to BUY it. Do I have this right?" If we hadn't been on the phone, I would have kicked her!

But the best part about ordering them is that I paid less for two of them, pre-made and with shipping and handling, than I would have if I made them myself (gas to drive to Home Depot and back home, cost of MDF, cost of glue and then there's the time and effort).

Last year, I was working on Christmas gifts right up to Christmas and realized that I didn’t relax and just enjoy the holiday season. So this year, I've made a conscious decision to finish the Christmas present shopping/making early and spend time stress-free. Come December 22, I will be done with everything; done with gifts, done with baking, done with decorating, done with wrapping said gifts. I just want to sit back and relax, eat some sugar cookies, drink a cup a tea, read a book and watch Christmas shows. For those four days (from the 22nd, when I leave for Mum & Dad's till Christmas), there will be no lists, no pressing matters, no worries, no thoughts other than enjoying those 4 days (then it's back to work, to a totally empty office, on 26th). The house will be cleaned before I leave, the laundry will be done and ironed for work. It's not a goal or an intention...it's a plan, set in stone, that I will bust my ass to make happen.

Happy Friday!