Single girl marches on

Week 3.  Sewing the arcs.  Fun.

Ok,ok,it's not that bad.  Just, I hate pinning.  And you really need to pin these mofos.  I have a nail polish called Adios Mofo and I really should wear it while I'm working on these.  I mean they're coming along and all, but... yeah, mofo.



Anyway I have one whole block done ( I just needed to see them all together) and almost all of the first quadrants done.  If I can get off my butt I may actually finish them all before Gossip Girl.  Maybe.



As you can see from the photo I had some major rippling in my block.  Don't see it?  Check this one out:



Yeah.

So I made up a template of what the arcs should look like.  And realized that mine are way off.  I tend to sew a scant ¼" which is fine when things are rotary cut since I cut tight.  But with tracing the templates my pieces all ended up a little big and I should have been sewing a generous ¼".  I ended up having to cut ¼" to ½" off each end of my arcs!!  But at least the blocks lie flat now.  And this solution was way faster than my original idea of going back and re-sewing each seam.  That was a bad, bad idea.



Hopefully by Friday I'll have these all sewn up.  Until then anyone have a suggestion for where to order perle cotton?  That ships to Canada?

adios mofos,
C

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Let's go, Single Girl!

Yes, the fabric finally arrived, a big bundle of fat quarters from Sew Deerly Loved!  And after about 3 hours it was all cut.  Woohoo!  The cutting really is the most boring part of this whole thing.  Thankfully I have a tv in the kitchen.  Although that could also account for a few of the cutting mistakes I made! 

Actually, maybe picking out the fabric order is the hardest part.  That red with white and black flowers kept getting moved around and around until I finally just pulled it altogether.  I eventually want to do a red and aqua quilt, so no big.

The first of the arcs are done.  All 20.  Yup, king sized.  I'm hemming and hawing about hand quilting this one using perle cotton and big stitches.  I just love all the examples that I've seen.  Any hand quilting I've done in the past I've been so obsessed about tiny, tiny (like 16 per inch) stitches that this could be a nice departure.  And faster!  Anyway, 60 more arcs to sew.  I doubt I'll get them done this week as we're heading to Seattle for a bit.

And despite the whining, I'm actually thinking of making another one of these!  I've been seeing so many gorgeous colour schemes and started rethinking my own choices.  I'm particularly drawn to the combo of grey, navy, aqua, and chartreuse.  Yum.

ciao bellas,
C

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Planning

So the fabric that I thought I was picking up at the post office yesterday turned out to be my passport.  I'm glad it came since we're heading to Seattle next week and I'd be sol without it, but I want my fabric!

Since I can't work on my single girl today and I'm absolutely sick of my wonky nine patch I thought I'd draft out a new pattern.  Not that it's new to the quilting world or anything, just a new project I want to do.

Yup, a zig zag.  Inspired by crazy mom quilts' tutorial here.  I don't even know if those are the colours I'll use, if I'll use prints or solids.  I just wanted to get it planned out in photoshop so I could figure out the size and fabric requirements.  Will I actually make this one?  Maybe.  I tend to plan lots of quilts out in photoshop and never make them.  I like that I can always refer back to them, though.

happy saturday,
C

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Testing the single girl

 

I took a little too long to make my fabric choices for my single girl so the fabric still hasn't landed.  Well, it has, but it arrived when I was out walking the dog this morning, so it's back at the post office.  I'll be picking it up tomorrow but I just couldn't wait.  I really, really wanted to get going on it this morning and decided to do a test block from some of my stash fabrics.

I think it looks pretty good.  Not great (it's been a long time since I tackled a curved seam), but pretty good.  I'm really glad I did the sample.  It made me realize that cutting the background pieces a little big and trimming them down is going to be a really good idea.  And that all that stress about getting 36 different fabrics was pretty pointless.  This is 14 ... 15?  And really you don't notice the repeats all that much.  And, wow, that's one big block!  Photos really don't show just how big they really are.

So, tomorrow the real one starts.  Woot!  I'm even more psyched now that I've done my test block. 

See ya,
C

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Hexie love

Lynn's fab quilt

When Lynne published her gorgeous hexie quilt yesterday here and with the recipe over on the Moda Bake Shop it was love at 1st sight.  I knew I had to make it, and just what fabric to use - the Anna Maria Horner voiles I'd been drooling over forever but couldn't justify without a plan.

yummy, yummy AMH voiles

 The pattern looked a little difficult though, with all those 60° angles and so many points to match.  I decided a mini version might be in order before tackling a king size.  Good thinking Chelsea!  So I busted the pattern down to half size and started cutting.  And sewing.  And a little un-sewing (aka seam ripping) then some sewing again.

So what do you think?  Pretty cute, right?  And I didn't do it intentionally but it's the same size as our placemats and uses some of the same fabrics.  So it's going in with the placemats because I'm just not into the idea of mini quilts.

I'm so glad I went to the effort of doing the trial I've got to say.  While I love, love, love Lynn's quilt I realized with this that I don't have the patience for all the point matching and angles that a king sized quilt would involve.  And I also realized that this looks great in Sherbet Pips, the fabric Lynn chose, but wasn't going to look so good in my chosen fabric.

See those blocks?  The seam down the middle of the hexie looks fine on the low contrast small scale print, not so much on the bolder Amy Butler print.  Of course the fabrics I wanted to use for this are larger scale, and pictorial or directional.  The Sherbet Pips line works so well because the prints are either subtle and small scale or for the pictoral prints widely spaced.  The hexagons look like they're solid not pieced, which makes the pattern much more effective.

I'm still in love with this pattern and may attempt it at some point.  I'd love it in solids!  But for now I'll be holding off, waiting for other people to tackle it so I can get inspired.

And if you've made it this far in the post, wow, congrats!  Head on over to Lynn's blog and you can win a Sherbet Pips layer cake!

cheers.
C

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Single girl quilt along day one

Typical with everything I do, I've started my single girl quilt.  Sort of.  The thing is my fabric hasn't arrived yet.  So I've cut a few pieces from my stash but I need to wait, patiently or impatiently for the bulk of my fabric to arrive.  Which really sucks!  Especially because today would have been the perfect day to get all that cutting done.  The dog's at the vet with tummy trouble and the house doesn't need cleaning.  It's been one of those days so free and clear that I've actually felt a little paralyzed.  What do you do when there's nothing you need to do but you can't do the thing you want to do?  Aaaaargh!

I wanted to get started on Sunday but hadn't picked up any template plastic yet.  Deli lids anyone?  This actually works pretty well, but since I only had one clear lid, it obviously wasn't the solution.  So today I bought plastic and cut out all my templates.  If you look closely at my templates you'll notice some of them have weird notes.  I realized that they could easily be flipped and the pieces cut incorrectly.  So for letters that read the same flipped I wrote a little nemonic note.  M (ehm), A (eh), X (sex).  Labelling the pieces with a paper label or just a piece of tape would have solved the right side/wrong side issue, too.  But I didn't think of that until I was done.

Katy from I'm a ginger monkey has the official post about cutting these, but I figured I'd share my insights.  Number one: save fabric!  Oh, sure, it's probably smarter to follow some sort of grain lines, but I'm butting my pieces up against each other.

Number 2: right side up.  See what I did in the photo above?  Don't do that!  Half of my pieces came out flipped and useless.  It's great to cut multiple layers at once.  Just make sure all the layers are right side up!  Oh, and hopefully your mani looks better than mine!

So, yup, that's me for now.  4 stacks down, 26 to go.  Come on Canada Post!

See ya,
C

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The cat pillow

One of my favorite books ever is Neal Stephenson's Crytptonomicon. In it Enoch Root talks to Bobby Shaftoe about Shaftoe's morphine addiction, saying "the Germans would describe you as Morphiumsuchtig. The verb suchen means to seek. So that might be translated, loosely, as 'morphine seeky'."  I like to think of my cats as wärme suchte, or heat seeky. It's cuter than heat seeking but also suggests that they're pretty sneaky about it, stealing your spot on the bed or couch when you get up, pushing things off counters to be closer to heat registers. If they could reach the thermostat, you know it would be 28°C in here all the time. So when we moved a space heater into the kitchen, near the kitchen chair, you know that became a favorite spot.

And you know I had to make a cushion.

I've been seeing a lot of fun dresden plate blocks out there, and they were suddenly looking modern and fun, not grandma. So a dresden it was, with a simpler back. In orange and pink, of course. Our kitchen is white with big doses of pale aqua (love my beach glass corian counters!) and pale grey. It just screams for orange!

While there are a ton of great tutorials for dresden blocks out there, I've put together my own since I felt I had a couple of ideas that no one has posted yet.  If you want to check out my tute, click on "read more" below!

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Inspiration

With spring somewhere around the corner and sunshine streaming through the windows I'm starting to feel a change. It may have snowed 10 inches the other day, but I'm feeling a little prickle, a little squirm that tells me that green, yellow, pink, red, violet, they're all coming, and I better get ready. The signs are all there - a packet of seeds arriving in the mail, the basement stored bulbs suddenly blooming (whoops!). It won't really be spring until late April, even then we can get snow and frost through until early June. But I'm realizing I need to start ordering seeds, planning the veg patch, thinking of baring my legs again!

Wild Air by the wheatfield

One of the biggest clues could be that today was the launch of Katie Daisy's new blog. I've been in love with Katie's work for a couple of years now, possibly because it always seems to be summer and spring in Katie's world. I don't know why I've never bought a piece, what is the matter with me? In the middle of a bleak, rainy November day or when the snow has turned to compact sheets of ice and you really, really don't want to leave the house, just looking at one of her prints is better than any other pick me up I can think of.

Now to anyone reading this, I just have one request. Please go visit Katie's blog and bombard her with requests for a fabric line! Wouldn't you just love to slice in to some gloriously smooth lawn or a slightly nubby linen blend in her patterns? If you know anyone in the fabric world, pester them, too. This girl needs a fabric line!!

Until then there is her spoonflower offering, which I've also been meaning to pick up for a while. And a drool worthy gallery of potential spoonflower prints.


Please, Katie, pretty please?

xox,
C

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Well, hello!

Please excuse me but I've just had my butt handed to me. The flu landed in our house and left me shaking like a newborn kitten and moaning like a bad drunk.. Friday I was awake all of 7 hours (and not at one stretch). Saturday I sat in bed and moaned. Saturday night I kept waking up because everything ached. My bones. My muscles. My skin. Have you ever woken up because the sheets hurt your skin? Not pleasant. So I haven't been getting much sewing done.

I have done a little online shopping, though. Yup, if I'm conscious enough to fumble away at my ipod, I will buy stuff. It turns out Kerri from Sew Deerly Loved is dealing with a bundle of sick kiddos, so I'm not sure how much she'll appreciate my order of 20 fat quarters. Can you imagine 6 sick kids? I'm going into panic mode just thinking about it! But I needed to get organized for my single girl quilt, and those 20 fat quarters sure will work. The called for 36 fat quarters seems a little nuts, but I'll deal. Those 20 will be supplemented with fabrics from my stash and probably some I pick up on our trip to Seattle on the 25th. I know, I know. Cutting starts on the 14th. Tough! Now, before I pass out, a pic of the fabrics I picked up, plus a few from the stash I know I'll be using:

I still need to order the backing fabric, which I think will be essex linen in natural. And add some more oranges and pinks, which is easy since I have so many.

love and sneezes,

C

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ruler review... party time!

I made my first ruler purchase in about 10 years the other day, and it just arrived this morning. What did I get? A 12.5" by 12.5" cutting edge ruler from Fabric Depot. I've wanted something between my 15 by 15 and 6 by 6 omnigrids for a while now, and when I read about these I just had to have one. The selling points? A none slip surface to grip the fabric for you plus an inlaid diamond dust hone to sharpen your cutter blades as you cut.

So, you've heard the hype, what's the scoop? Overall, I think these are a sweet addition to any quilter's arsenal. I won't be ditching my omnigrids anytime soon, but I have the feeling this new ruler will get a lot of use.

The good. I love, love, love the none slip backing on these. Most of my rulers were purchased in the early 90s so this is my 1st experience of none slip even though I know it's been around for a whle. I love not having to exert so much pressure on the ruler to keep it even. It just doesn't slip! With my other rulers I often find that a day with a lot of cutting will result in sore arms and fingers (no, not because I've cut them!) and that as I get tired the ruler slips more and more. I'll keep using this one and see how things go. I may end up needing to get the 6.5 by 24.5 as well! I'm also pretty happy with the sharpening ability. I started off with a cutter that was fairly dull with one small ding in it. After cutting about a dozen 7.5" blocks it was back to normal. Definitely a good feature if like me you don't like buying new blades!


The bad. Well, let's start with the photo. I dropped my ruler on our hardwood kitchen floor as soon as I had it unwrapped. The damage? A dinged corner and the cutting edge popped out! For the price I really didn't expect that. Admittedly I shouldn't have dropped the thing, but come on. I've dropped my omnigrids before and no dings. And glue is cheap. My other complaint is more of a case of over anticipation, not really under delivery. I rolled right off my cutting matte onto our stilestone kitchen island the other day. Resulting in a really dull spot in my blade. About a 1/2" bit that won't cut at all, in fact. Of course I was expecting one pass to clear that all up. It didn't. And I shouldn't be surprised. I think most of us would throw that blade out. Through some cutting with my new ruler I did get it down to about 1/8" that doesn't cut. Not bad. I'll keep at it.

The huh. Each ruler only has one sharpening edge. I just assumed it would be on all 4 sides. I'm not sure if the company's website mentions this as it's all flash and I do most of my browsing on my ipod. Most places I've checked for buying the ruler don't mention anything, though. I'm kind of ambivalent about this. I was expecting it on all sides so I'm a little disappointed but on the other hand I realize that using the sharpening side all the time might be a little hard on your blades and actually wear them down. So, as I said I'm ambivalent on this point.

Overall, though, I'm really chuffed (that would be pleased) with my new ruler and will probably pick up a few more. Now what would most bloggers do at this point? Well, give one away, of course. I'm not sure I have any readers though, and I'm broke, so that's out. If you'd like to sponsor a giveaway, though, and can tell people to enter, let me know! Or if you're reading and think a giveaway of some sort would be awesome and promise to tell people about it, too, let me know and I'll sort something out!

cheers,
C

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Plans, schemes, and ... um, thesaurus?

So, now that my postage stamp quilt along top is done, the question is what to do with it? I'm not really a throw quilt kind of gal. We have a few around, mostly quilts Jamie's grandfather made for him, and they're mostly used by the cats.

the top now

When it's cold I'm usually wearing long underwear so snuggling under a quilt isn't that necessary. And when it's really cold I just get into bed! So. This 60" x 80" top needs to be rigged into a bed quilt. Did I mention we have a king size? I so need a megaquilter!!!

the plan

So this is what I'm thinking for the top. I've added 2 more columns of the postage stamp blocks to bring it up to 80 by 80, a 2" white border all around, then a 10" border of the scarf print. In real life it won't look as craptastic as the photoshop version, I promise!!! Thank goodness I have until April, there's way too much of this line that I need yardage of.

adios yo,
C

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