tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22285276125091214322024-03-12T18:02:32.658-07:00A Quilt of HeatherWhere thread meets needleHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-81588453340591433252016-04-29T20:05:00.001-07:002016-04-29T20:05:34.090-07:00The Big Kahuna!The one big project I haven't posted about yet is my largest quilt ever - 102 x 102, designed for a king bed. The quilt is actually a commission for my friend. I don't do commissions - ever - but she told me she wanted something with cats on it and she was willing to go with literally anything I wanted. So I said sure! We mulled ideas for several months, I wasn't sure if it was going to really happen or not, and then I sent her this photo that I had seen on instagram.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-diSqJyOOWPo/VyQbsuujQ9I/AAAAAAAAew0/EcZJWvBtTrYZNudoTfuhm89KGUPHkr7uQCKgB/s1600/IMG_4989.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-diSqJyOOWPo/VyQbsuujQ9I/AAAAAAAAew0/EcZJWvBtTrYZNudoTfuhm89KGUPHkr7uQCKgB/s640/IMG_4989.PNG" width="360" /></a></div>
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Now I don't know why this Cat Lady quilt hasn't gotten more play on the interwebs, but it's totally adorable! <a href="http://www.cottonandsteelfabrics.com/catalog/pattern/">And Free!</a> So on Superbowl Sunday, we sat down and agreed to make this quilt happen.</div>
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My first step was deciding how to enlarge the pattern to king size. I scaled up the squares from 5" finished to 6" finished and added several rows.</div>
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To add some flavor I decided to randomly intersperse New York Beauty blocks throughout the top. NYB's are an item on my bucket list, so I could check them off by sneaking them in here. I figured it would work with the kitty bodies, which are basically modified NYB blocks themselves.<br />
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Now for color scheme, I tried a lot which I'm not going to bother showing you, until I came up with this one:<br />
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I really liked the ombre idea, and my friend was game, so I dove right in! After a lengthy shopping expedition, I ended up with the following array of fabrics:</div>
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Conveniently, they match my trash can ;)</div>
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I then proceeded to take over our bedroom floor, the only space big enough to hold this thing. Aaaand that space has been taken over for the past two month.</div>
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Pepper is modeling the current state of the quilt. The top is about halfway pieced. I went into several weeks of not working on it because I felt the colors were too disjointed. So I said what the heck and tossed several pieces of fabric into a vat of blue dye.</div>
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Drying the fabric out.</div>
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The before and after of my test dye batch. The actual dye batch came out a lot darker.</div>
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I really think dying the fabric helped a lot with the top - or maybe it's all in my head, but it got me going again. Here are some closeups of the various NYB's. There are little ones and big ones - for the big ones I am doing no two designs alike.</div>
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After some wonky blocks, I tried the "six minute circle" method, which you can see in the block on the left. The block on the right is traditional curved piecing. I decided that even though my curves have wibble wobbles, the traditional piecing looks better than the six minute circle method.</div>
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So that's where we are at today! I continue to chug along and I'm hopeful to have the top done by the end of May.</div>
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-10659670927707619762016-04-10T16:57:00.000-07:002016-04-10T16:57:16.919-07:00Rosemaling in BaltimoreEvery year I try to do one block of the month. It's fun, easy, and has an air of instant gratification. The year my BOM is the free <a href="http://www.quiltviews.com/rosemaling-in-baltimore-free-aqs-bom-2016-1">Rosemaling in Baltimore</a> quilt offered by AQS. It's technically a mystery BOM since they have no photo of the finished product.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b0v11uSG0Wk/Vv_inkJzQ_I/AAAAAAAAbos/xV6OfeREqVwONKVmszOGJDN3Qn-myyx4Q/s1600/colored-layout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b0v11uSG0Wk/Vv_inkJzQ_I/AAAAAAAAbos/xV6OfeREqVwONKVmszOGJDN3Qn-myyx4Q/s320/colored-layout.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I happen to LOVE Baltimore applique. Here is an example of a Baltimore quilt from one of my visits to PIQF:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CB6PqtOGcX4/Vv_kEr_O1uI/AAAAAAAAbpM/VUDA9ZU6Xsoh9QNFZ58ceijpKjeGi38kg/s1600/IMG_2999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CB6PqtOGcX4/Vv_kEr_O1uI/AAAAAAAAbpM/VUDA9ZU6Xsoh9QNFZ58ceijpKjeGi38kg/s640/IMG_2999.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm not very good at describing what makes a Baltimore - but you know it when you see it! What's cool about classical Baltimore quilts is that each block had symbolism and indicated something personal to the maker. That's why they are known as Baltimore Album quilts - because the finished quilt was an album of your life.</div>
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Here's one more Baltimore from PIQF. I just love them.</div>
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Why do I love them? I appreciate the intricate details and the dynamic layout. Each block is a unique joy to explore. Each one has hidden treasures. Plus there are lots of fun bright colors!</div>
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One of my favorite applique designers is <a href="http://www.p3designs.com/">Pearl Pereira</a> who has made several fun modern quilt designers in the Baltimore style, including a Baltimore Halloween, spring, autumn, Christmas, and more! I have bought her Baltimore state blocks for Alaska and California but have yet to tackle them.</div>
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So anyways, back to Rosemaling in Balitmore. The idea of the quilt is to combine Rosemaling motifs in a Baltimore layout. I looked up Rosemaling (I had never heard of it), and it is a traditional folk art from Norway often featuring painted stylized flowers.</div>
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Here are some Rosemaling snaps:</div>
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<a href="http://serenitytravelnewark.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Rosemaling00002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://serenitytravelnewark.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Rosemaling00002.jpg" height="315" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pretty stuff, right? I have been greatly enjoying working on the quilt so far. I intentionally chose colors well outside of my usual bright comfort zone.<br />
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These were based on a Joel Dewberry bundle I won at my guild sew-in. Unfortunately a lot of the fabrics in the bundle have big, bold prints which don't work well with tiny applique pieces. But hey, let's try it anyways! It's my challenge to myself and my attempt to somewhat modernize the pattern with my fabric choices.<br />
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I also tried to be a bit modern with my background fabric. I picked a fun geometric print to offset all of the curves in the applique.<br />
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So, as you may recall, I taught an applique class in October. For the class I bought a TON of different applique supplies, with the intent that my students try them all out. Well, they didn't really try them all out, which left me with a lifetime supply of fusible web. So I decided to try it out on this project For my first block, I used Heat N Bond Featherlite.</div>
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<a href="https://d2d00szk9na1qq.cloudfront.net/Product/b9384d95-c41b-4816-b621-7922a31ade95/Images/Large_0334251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://d2d00szk9na1qq.cloudfront.net/Product/b9384d95-c41b-4816-b621-7922a31ade95/Images/Large_0334251.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is a new product from Heat N Bond that is supposed to be lighter than their other fusible webs. Heat N Bond lite is my favorite fusible but I will admit that it is a little stiff. So I was very hopeful about the Featherlite.</div>
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Verdict: a massive disappointment. Do not buy. I had nothing but headaches with it. It's hard to describe how many thing went wrong. The webbing is certainly light - too light. I couldn't get anything to stick. On one fabric, the paper accidentally peeled off and I couldn't even get it to stick back onto the webbing. Nothing stuck. I had to use my Roxanne glue baste it to glue everything in place on my background. And while it was noticeably softer than Heat N Bond lite, it flat out couldn't get the job done (and it was no mistyfuse!)</div>
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You can see from this angled picture I took that literally nothing is sticking down. It's only held in place by inertia and positive thinking.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FjkQhX4x_xU/Vv_ockoxEoI/AAAAAAAAbq8/uv2vLB17XVoS6n3WLdVmDrhxCLqSw37Ag/s1600/IMG_5385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FjkQhX4x_xU/Vv_ockoxEoI/AAAAAAAAbq8/uv2vLB17XVoS6n3WLdVmDrhxCLqSw37Ag/s640/IMG_5385.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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After this block I actually gave away my remaining Heat N Bond Featherlite at my guild freebie table.</div>
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But the block came out fine in the end anyways:</div>
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For the second block, I used Steam a Seam 2 Lite.</div>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81FM4gGJlrL._SY450_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81FM4gGJlrL._SY450_.jpg" height="640" width="448" /></a></div>
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This stuff is super popular, but it's noticeably more expensive than other brands and Joann's (where do I a lot of my notions shopping) doesn't stock it. I had never tried it.</div>
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The verdict: Love it. I found the double paper annoying but I loved the tackiness. The hook of steam a seam is that it is super tacky so you can lay it in place on you background and it will stay. For this block, with tons of tiny pieces that needed to be positioned just so, it was perfect. I laid everything out, rearranged until I loved it, and only then ironed it in place. I had no trouble with fraying edges (like I get with Pellon), and the finished product was surprisingly still soft. I may have a new favorite brand!</div>
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Here are my finished blocks 1 and 2:</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y34jI38_hsI/VwrnpyNTLSI/AAAAAAAAcD0/4sQdvxcDjqgHJyCFo_iFsxmKvyRPgOYSg/s1600/IMG_5937.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y34jI38_hsI/VwrnpyNTLSI/AAAAAAAAcD0/4sQdvxcDjqgHJyCFo_iFsxmKvyRPgOYSg/s640/IMG_5937.JPG" width="634" /></a></div>
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This is definitely my fun, "anything goes" quilt. I have another project I am working on (to be posted soon!) where I do a lot of agonizing. I always seem to have one of those, so it's important to have something fun and easy to offset that. Block 3 just got released, so I am off to work on that! This time I will try Pellon EZ Steam. Verdict coming soon!</div>
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-68988599877949871612016-03-15T18:57:00.003-07:002016-03-15T18:57:49.782-07:00Kitty Kennel QuiltWhat's that? A new post? Yes, a new post! Friends, now that all of my quilting photos are at my blogging fingertips, I can blog whenever I'm bored without jumping through a million steps to get my photos! Woohoo!<br />
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Today I wanted to share a fun small quilt I made in February. You may have seen Bernina's "Quilts for Furry Friends" Contest. I got dreams in my head of winning it big and I made a quilt to enter into it!<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B5iyjXVEPvE/Vui0Re_iYWI/AAAAAAAAT_c/aLCcOKnhvTgVvyleM9GC8Sr_y5fC7cI6A/s1600/IMG_5566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B5iyjXVEPvE/Vui0Re_iYWI/AAAAAAAAT_c/aLCcOKnhvTgVvyleM9GC8Sr_y5fC7cI6A/s640/IMG_5566.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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You had to submit a photo with your pet on the quilt, and yes, I am aware, you can't see much of the quilt here. But isn't the cat pretty?</div>
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The pattern is from <a href="http://www.makemodern.com.au/">Make Modern Issue 5</a>. It's a cute paper pieced kitty. Oh, I have a pro tip for you. As previously mentioned, once I used freezer paper for paper piecing, I was hooked. I wanted to use freezer paper for this one. And conveniently, I have a stash of "quilter's freezer paper" that I bought for my applique class last October. </div>
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<a href="http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aamm_prd/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-joann-product-catalog/default/dw58e13c64/images/hi-res/20/2008514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aamm_prd/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-joann-product-catalog/default/dw58e13c64/images/hi-res/20/2008514.jpg" height="320" width="282" /></a></div>
This freezer paper is thinner than the storebought kind and comes in printer sheets. At first I thought that was dumb because I'd rather have a big roll, but now I see the advantage. You see, I was able to successfully print out the pattern onto my freezer paper sheets!<br />
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You might be wondering why this is a big deal. They are made to be printed on! The reason is that I have a laserjet printer, and everything online says DO NOT PUT THESE THROUGH YOUR LASERJET PRINTER!! Well, guess what? I did, and the world did not end, and they worked great! Woohoo! Look at all those pretty pieces!<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--9w1LWPYY_8/Vui1_2ML4UI/AAAAAAAAUOU/RSxb86VNCWMSTC3b5KrxsUd6V6d0XOi8g/s1600/IMG_5436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--9w1LWPYY_8/Vui1_2ML4UI/AAAAAAAAUOU/RSxb86VNCWMSTC3b5KrxsUd6V6d0XOi8g/s640/IMG_5436.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This came together quickly and it was fun to dig through all my orange scraps while making it.</div>
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It was just the right size for quick and easy quilting. I did angular echo quilting around the inner pieces and my favorite, spirals, in the background.</div>
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No word on whether I've won yet (odds are slim), but I enjoyed the process either way. :)</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OAYBqpNpMIU/Vui9DxoHc3I/AAAAAAAAUaw/eW02xRrzymc3-k4HOaHNHwEbQhaKEczGg/s1600/IMG_5555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OAYBqpNpMIU/Vui9DxoHc3I/AAAAAAAAUaw/eW02xRrzymc3-k4HOaHNHwEbQhaKEczGg/s640/IMG_5555.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And now, here are a ton of outtakes of my cat on the quilt.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmgMpQIlpmI/Vui9DztGpSI/AAAAAAAAUaw/MSg007eas1sIb8-oIoLJCATu7wCet5byA/s1600/IMG_5562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmgMpQIlpmI/Vui9DztGpSI/AAAAAAAAUaw/MSg007eas1sIb8-oIoLJCATu7wCet5byA/s640/IMG_5562.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Oh, I forgot the best part - I donated it to Tenth Life for their annual trivia night, and my good friend Pat won it in the raffle! I am actually making a cat quilt for Pat - more on that in a future post!</div>
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-48185464185060183312016-03-13T18:44:00.000-07:002016-03-13T18:44:29.483-07:00Finishes! Spring EditionEven though I haven't posted in quite a long time, I've actually been doing a ton of sewing. It's been a GREAT sewing year!<br />
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You have already seen my Bonnie Hunter Allietare mystery quilt, that was a ton of fun to make and started the year off right. It still needs to be quilted, as does my Grand Illusion mystery top from the year before.<br />
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I started off the year determined to get UFO's off my plate. I started with this paper pieced Hawaiian top. This top belonged to my mom. She got about 80% done on it and then called me because the seams weren't matching up correctly. We determined that she had not been leaving a 1/4" seam allowance around each unit. (In her defense, the pattern didn't make that very clear. I think paper piecing patterns should always have those dotted lines indicating the seam allowance around units because that's such an easy mistake to make.)<br />
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Here's basically what I started with:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h5pH4CC9CVI/VuWTb3-VFwI/AAAAAAAAM-w/NKePk_e_qTck98fSGjB6gt7O6c7hLKnkQ/s1600/IMG_5352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h5pH4CC9CVI/VuWTb3-VFwI/AAAAAAAAM-w/NKePk_e_qTck98fSGjB6gt7O6c7hLKnkQ/s640/IMG_5352.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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So I got work assembling this guy. The pattern came printed onto freezer paper. Now that I know how great it is to use freezer paper for paper piecing, I'm never going back!<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JXEE5vVZumQ/VuYPiaI6ohI/AAAAAAAAQhw/Nohtp1Q4J24uIFhX4uFny5RJmbVlTlH1Q/s1600/IMG_5357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JXEE5vVZumQ/VuYPiaI6ohI/AAAAAAAAQhw/Nohtp1Q4J24uIFhX4uFny5RJmbVlTlH1Q/s640/IMG_5357.JPG" width="494" /></a></div>
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Even with all of the mismatches, it came together pretty nicely. I really think the errors aren't that noticeable.</div>
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The biggest downside was all that paper to rip off...and yes, it took several hours. I know there's some snazzy new method of paper piecing where you never actually sew through the paper, but I like this trusty old method. Even if it means a lot of paper ripping.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cceeo7gEpaA/VuYQGFVihkI/AAAAAAAAQnE/kTo9-GnxzOoKDwDrjtP9IwqWDscXkvhmQ/s1600/IMG_5360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cceeo7gEpaA/VuYQGFVihkI/AAAAAAAAQnE/kTo9-GnxzOoKDwDrjtP9IwqWDscXkvhmQ/s640/IMG_5360.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here's an in-progress quilting shot. The quilting really worked wonders at smoothing out the lumps and bumps.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1b9iVXP2_QE/VuYQGNDiR_I/AAAAAAAAQnE/EtApnxSjeow1Yo5k4B57AaDOwW3uSCf9Q/s1600/IMG_5410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1b9iVXP2_QE/VuYQGNDiR_I/AAAAAAAAQnE/EtApnxSjeow1Yo5k4B57AaDOwW3uSCf9Q/s640/IMG_5410.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The finished product!<br />
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Here's a quilting close-up. I went angular on the flowers and leaves, and then did a wavy design for the sky.<br />
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Here's a sky close-up. Inspired by a quilting photo I saw on pinterest while searching "sky quilt designs."</div>
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And here's a shot of my brand-new quilt labels. I ordered them on Etsy and I LOVE them. It's great that they include the year and location. And they are cool looking to boot!<br />
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The moral here is if you are frustrated on a project, there's always a way to make it work. And if you just hate it, there's always someone else who will be interested in picking up your UFO and continuing it. And the mistakes are never as obvious if you step back a few feet!</div>
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So after that I started on another project for my mom: a second professional tote. You may remember my original quilted tote:</div>
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I love this thing. It's my go-to airline carry-on bag, I bring it to business meetings, it's basically the greatest bag ever. It also had COMPLETELY FANTASTIC instructions. Like seriously, some of the best written instructions I've seen. She includes little labels for you to pin to each piece of fabric to keep the pieces straight, and she includes diagrams of your fabric to show you how to cut out all of the piece most efficiently. I don't do a lot of non-quilt sewing, so it's important to me to have clear instructions or I will easily get confused. And these fit the bill! By they way, the pattern is from <a href="http://thecreativethimble.com/shop/professional-tote/">the Creative Thimble</a> and it is the "professional tote." I also have to add that they have utterly amazing customer service. For this latest tote, I ordered a few notions from their website, on a Sunday, and received shipping notification the very same day! They arrived two days later. Wow!</div>
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So anyways, I was happy for the change to use this pattern again and make another tote. Here's the new tote:</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oh8dXaPfP-0/VuYS7UIHeiI/AAAAAAAARBw/zQVnPtu-hqYZlVne6ym5HWIbzqKWjSGDA/s1600/IMG_5422.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oh8dXaPfP-0/VuYS7UIHeiI/AAAAAAAARBw/zQVnPtu-hqYZlVne6ym5HWIbzqKWjSGDA/s640/IMG_5422.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I will confess to have strong feeling about this fabric. It was from my stash, and I love it for a quilt, but I didn't think it was very professional for a tote. I almost revolted and refused to use it. But I showed it to my quilting friends and they said it was pretty so I went ahead and used it. The finished tote is still not quite my style but I think it is pretty.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lXsSCBM0DME/VuYS7ckW_DI/AAAAAAAARBw/V-kcc_XvnGAaDr4LqugdY7NmMlRQMm4Fg/s1600/IMG_5420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lXsSCBM0DME/VuYS7ckW_DI/AAAAAAAARBw/V-kcc_XvnGAaDr4LqugdY7NmMlRQMm4Fg/s640/IMG_5420.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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For this one I used a faux leather on the bottom and added those rectangular rings to the straps to make them look cooler. It also has little purse feet on the bottom.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gM831aNPH7Q/VuYS7eqA7QI/AAAAAAAARBw/-APRTS6pM2oJALbKTO89KS_INMcylWjGA/s1600/IMG_5421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gM831aNPH7Q/VuYS7eqA7QI/AAAAAAAARBw/-APRTS6pM2oJALbKTO89KS_INMcylWjGA/s640/IMG_5421.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's the inside. I left out the computer sleeve and the tote is no worse off for it. Very spacious, with several cool pockets on the inside. And one fun tidbit is that I have seen that button (near the bottom of the photo) at Joann's for years and have wanted an excuse to buy it. And I finally got my excuse!! </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LGast2wWrzM/VuYS7SzAIZI/AAAAAAAARBw/xVs40I1MqWogC5FBLYCDSUF7O44EsHs2w/s1600/IMG_5423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LGast2wWrzM/VuYS7SzAIZI/AAAAAAAARBw/xVs40I1MqWogC5FBLYCDSUF7O44EsHs2w/s640/IMG_5423.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I almost forgot - way back in January I FINALLY finished my christmas mug quilt!</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qghW4W9jgRI/VuYUYwrlXUI/AAAAAAAARRQ/PTM1FNPMaO0unb0Zws4mOa6QwcPA_g24Q/s1600/IMG_5617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qghW4W9jgRI/VuYUYwrlXUI/AAAAAAAARRQ/PTM1FNPMaO0unb0Zws4mOa6QwcPA_g24Q/s640/IMG_5617.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I started quilting in back in August or September, then got completely sidetracked by several projects. It was partially quilted enough that I was able to include it as a backdrop in our Christmas photo:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ydSI0s7kdgk/VuYU8uNvNSI/AAAAAAAARUo/9U6Ei7DHIjEWFS-tGqPlTWjC96i0-rxUg/s1600/2015-Holiday-Card-Web%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ydSI0s7kdgk/VuYU8uNvNSI/AAAAAAAARUo/9U6Ei7DHIjEWFS-tGqPlTWjC96i0-rxUg/s640/2015-Holiday-Card-Web%2B2.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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And then since I had it down we just used it as a quilt throughout the holidays even though it wasn't quite done. So in January I finally sat down and finished it for good.</div>
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Here's a shot of the backing. Fleece from Joann's, no batting. This is one of my favorite ways to finish a quilt. It's easy to quilt through and is super snuggly and soft. Plus the fleece actually shows the quilting stitches quite nicely. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect backing if I had designed it myself. Not only is it Christmas mugs, but the light blue perfectly matched the light blue used on the front of the quilt!</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CexEZmqVgEI/VuYUY9-ax2I/AAAAAAAARRQ/TlU5Pzela1kdzkIbCWqSkqOqu_tgx9cvw/s1600/IMG_5628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CexEZmqVgEI/VuYUY9-ax2I/AAAAAAAARRQ/TlU5Pzela1kdzkIbCWqSkqOqu_tgx9cvw/s640/IMG_5628.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here are a few shots of the borders. For the innermost border (and sashing), I did a design that alternated between a holly leave and a swirl. For the middle border, I made a little template out of paper and traced it on with a frixion pen. For the outer border, I used a roll of "borders made easy."</div>
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I really loved the borders made easy. I think the finished border looks really professional and I'm way too lazy to trace all of that down. Using the border roll worked like a charm.</div>
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Here's a shot of the roll being attached:</div>
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Basically it's like paper piecing, you just stitch through the paper. And yes, there was a bunch of paper ripping after it was all done. But I LOVE the finished border. And now, here are a million close-ups of the mugs!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BwAiZwQDkj4/VuYUY7s5_DI/AAAAAAAARRQ/h7OAmrB2lSsWA7L8SMop3CSNzUHT8KPyw/s1600/IMG_5635.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BwAiZwQDkj4/VuYUY7s5_DI/AAAAAAAARRQ/h7OAmrB2lSsWA7L8SMop3CSNzUHT8KPyw/s640/IMG_5635.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Each mug was stitched in metallic silver thread with a different Christmas motif. The one below has two mittens.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C6NQELqxNXs/VuYUYxhO5EI/AAAAAAAARRQ/UzJM_QMANDE-SfRjx4iw2ru2KfsN3Totg/s1600/IMG_5634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C6NQELqxNXs/VuYUYxhO5EI/AAAAAAAARRQ/UzJM_QMANDE-SfRjx4iw2ru2KfsN3Totg/s640/IMG_5634.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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For the background, I quilted steam coming out of the mugs and then some random swirls. You can see the one downside of putting the fleece on the back with no batting between is that in this case the fleece showed through the white backing. Oops!</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eQV6f7z8VJ0/VuYUYxQvUcI/AAAAAAAARRQ/BinmE-1GXnIplkVx8HHdXMJEsFVBu5Pfw/s1600/IMG_5638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eQV6f7z8VJ0/VuYUYxQvUcI/AAAAAAAARRQ/BinmE-1GXnIplkVx8HHdXMJEsFVBu5Pfw/s640/IMG_5638.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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As you can see, my kitty was doing her best to get in the way of every photo.</div>
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Snowflake!</div>
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This one has two reindeer although they are hard to spot.</div>
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Aaaand one more shot of the finished product.</div>
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Okay I actually have several more finishes but this post is already too long, so we will stop there for now. I've recently switched to google photos which I believe will make adding photos to blog posts much easier, and as a result will enable me to blog more frequently. Yay!</div>
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-36493731020894944662016-02-01T20:12:00.003-08:002016-02-01T20:12:55.058-08:00Allietare Final Link Up!Ack, it's time for the link up!! This is a quickie post to show off my finished Allietare top!<br />
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It was a very fun process this year and I was especially pleased that I kept up with the clues each week! I only fell behind on the week of Christmas, and I caught back up the next week.<br />
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My four patches were relatively decent...I think I get better and better at the precision piecing every year. Bonnie's quilts provide good practice!<br />
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I used wonder clips to keep things in stacks of ten...helped me greatly in keeping track of what I'd made without harming the fabric.<br />
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Even though I worked hard to keep up, I also went slow and steady and really enjoyed the process. It was a very satisfying experience.</div>
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Here are all the pieces laid out for final assembly.</div>
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Immediately after I took the photo my kitty frolicked on them and intentionally messed them all up...that's her favorite activity!</div>
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And...drumroll..here's the finished quilt top!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdoAxyfeOww/VrAqEZSzqKI/AAAAAAAAJNc/ABcthhpwupo/s1600/IMG_5322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdoAxyfeOww/VrAqEZSzqKI/AAAAAAAAJNc/ABcthhpwupo/s640/IMG_5322.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Getting quilt photos is quite an ordeal because I'm usually too small to hold them up on my own. So I've taken to hanging them off the porch but apparently the shadows were in the way so I had to squish in beside this tree to get a nice sunny spot.</div>
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Oh, and it was windy!</div>
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So, that's the best in photos that I've got for now.</div>
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<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/02/mystery-monday-link-up-february-2016.html">Please go check out everyone else's quilts at Bonnie's blog</a> - it is truly the best part of each mystery to see everyone's finished project!</div>
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<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/02/mystery-monday-link-up-february-2016.html" rel="nofollow" title="Winter Mystery 2015 - Allietare!"><img alt="Winter Mysteryallietarelogo1sm.jpg 2015 - Allietare!" src="http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Uu3EtcyRlsI/Vo8WS6Z9y4I/AAAAAAADbqg/W3czh-NzpCg/s1600/042f4d46-71a0-43af-9387-1b676f7ac06e%25255B1%25255D.png" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-88755899122661839322016-01-02T12:22:00.000-08:002016-01-02T12:22:24.146-08:00Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 ReviewOver the holidays we travel to visit family. Normally I just bring cutting supplies, but over the summer they got a new sewing machine here! So since I've had the pleasure of sewing on it extensively for my Bonnie Hunter mystery, I thought I would share a little review with you.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lwA7S2WEDXU/VogrTfgZPWI/AAAAAAAAJGc/pZjEODm5Qeg/s1600/IMG_5265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="448" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lwA7S2WEDXU/VogrTfgZPWI/AAAAAAAAJGc/pZjEODm5Qeg/s640/IMG_5265.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is just a mini review since I've only really used it for piecing. In general, it's a pretty fancy little machine with a lot of capabilities.<br />
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My absolute favorite things about this machine is that it includes an automatic thread cutter. What a life saver. That is the one feature my Bernina is missing and I very nearly chose to buy a different machine because of it. When chain piecing I just pressed the button after each piece and it would cut the threads and then hold them under the throat plate so that the needle wouldn't come unthreaded. It was FANTASTIC! If you are on the market for a new machine, you MUST get one with this feature!<br />
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Another pro of this machine is that it is default set to needle down. Clearly designed for quilters. My Bernina is set to default needle up and it's annoying that every time I turn it on I have to press the needle down button. A small thing, but it makes a difference.<br />
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And the final thing that I LOVED about this machine is this patchwork foot.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aD6VWcaFlk0/VogsqyEd13I/AAAAAAAAJGo/e9KjUFeVoSs/s1600/IMG_5267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aD6VWcaFlk0/VogsqyEd13I/AAAAAAAAJGo/e9KjUFeVoSs/s640/IMG_5267.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The two things that make it so fantastic is that it is clear and that it is extra long, so you can very carefully guide your pieces in. I really think my piecing accuracy was significantly improved using this foot. I even went searching for an equivalent Bernina foot but haven't found one yet.<br />
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I also wanted to show you the extension table that came with this machine.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vhbz6h4wuD8/VogtKLkr83I/AAAAAAAAJGw/WxFjIRsC3Dk/s1600/IMG_5266.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vhbz6h4wuD8/VogtKLkr83I/AAAAAAAAJGw/WxFjIRsC3Dk/s640/IMG_5266.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Check out all that space! I definitely think it's bigger than my Bernina.</div>
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But of course I have noticed some down sides to this machine as well. It's not all roses! Here are some:</div>
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<li>It comes with an automatic threader, but I couldn't get it to work. And I should know how to work it because it's designed exactly like the one on my Bernina. So that was annoying.</li>
<li>Threaded the bobbin is a gigantic pain. Like, gigantic. Oh my gosh. Made me very very thankful for my Bernina. You have to manually put the thread through that tiny hole on the top and tug on it while starting the winding. It was really tedious and it took me about a half hour of attempts before I even got it to go correctly. Not happy!</li>
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<li><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wcY1E_-kTV8/Vogtra3OtSI/AAAAAAAAJG4/JlKRjDdLUCA/s1600/IMG_5263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wcY1E_-kTV8/Vogtra3OtSI/AAAAAAAAJG4/JlKRjDdLUCA/s640/IMG_5263.JPG" width="480" /></a></li>
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<li>I did experience a little bit of fabric edges getting sucked into the throat plate. Not a ton, but more frequent than I experience on my Bernina.</li>
<li>On more than one occasion the thread got loose from that loop above the needle and messed up my stitching. Not a big deal, but it definitely happened often enough that it wasn't just a fluke. At least I figured out that was the problem so whenever my stitches were wonky I knew exactly where to check.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iJBwK9s7fVI/VogutyR9OOI/AAAAAAAAJHE/jzTaff033hg/s1600/IMG_5262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iJBwK9s7fVI/VogutyR9OOI/AAAAAAAAJHE/jzTaff033hg/s640/IMG_5262.JPG" width="578" /></a></div>
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Switching between regular feet was pretty easy, but to put on the walking foot you have to use a screwdriver. Definitely made me hesitant to use it because it took so long to put on and take off.</div>
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So that's a pretty broad overview of piecing on this machine. I'm really happy to have a machine I can use while I'm traveling!</div>
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I also meant to post a while ago my boyfriend's sister and I made sweatshirts together over Thanksgiving on this machine.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7NaLJXVuAsc/VogwQcTRFtI/AAAAAAAAJHg/1qkkxU0S_Ck/s1600/IMG_4730%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7NaLJXVuAsc/VogwQcTRFtI/AAAAAAAAJHg/1qkkxU0S_Ck/s640/IMG_4730%2Bcopy.jpg" width="536" /></a></div>
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I think we both agreed that the sweatshirts came out pretty awful, but I was just glad to get her using the machine. We are working our way through a Craftsy class on sewing with knits, which I will post a review of soon.</div>
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And of course I've been working away on my Bonnie Hunter mystery. Working so much that I haven't had time to post! I'm really proud though because I am actually on track with the clues this year, for I think the first time. Clue 6 was the big reveal, and the final quilt looks really cool! Here is one of the two blocks that will make up the quilt:</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hrTVowyzYXU/VogxBU9rvPI/AAAAAAAAJHs/-4TjJcfvHwU/s1600/IMG_5259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="586" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hrTVowyzYXU/VogxBU9rvPI/AAAAAAAAJHs/-4TjJcfvHwU/s640/IMG_5259.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now, back to sewing!</div>
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Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-81804247661224783412015-12-07T16:59:00.001-08:002015-12-07T17:05:22.183-08:00Allietare Link Up Week 2<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/12/allietare-mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html">Alright, it's now Week 2 of Bonnie's Allietare Mystery quilt!</a><br />
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<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" title="Winter Mystery 2015 - Allietare!"><img alt="Winter Mystery 2015 - Allietare!" src="http://quiltville.com/graphics/allietarelogo1sm.jpg" style="border: none;" /></a><br />
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I'm really happy so far this year because I've actually managed to keep up! Last year I think week three was where I fell off the wagon - that one clue took me around a month. I hoping to stay on track this year.</div>
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So here's where I started:</div>
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I'm hoping the teal will give it a fun modern pop.</div>
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Here are my clue one colors in more details:</div>
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I'm not using a constant for the grey because I'm trying to use as much fabric that I already own as possible, and all of my greys are so similar that I think they will read as constant. Now you might see a purpley white in there, I haven't actually used it yet, I think I only will if I run out of all the other whites since I think it stands out too much.</div>
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For week 1 I was out of town for Thanksgiving. Here was my makeshift cutting area:</div>
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It's actually way better than my normal cutting area. The shelf is at perfect cutting height and it had these great bright lights right above it! (It was a little cluttered though).</div>
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Here's my week 1:</div>
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I have a fun story about these. For a lot of the week 1 whites, I was able to use leftover binding strips from my Celtic Solstice quilt! I bound that in a pretty sparkly white and I had a good amount of 2" binding strip left over - perfect for this use! I'm happy we are using 2" strips for everything this year because it enables greater use of scraps than last year's 2.5" size did.</div>
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Week 2: I went step-by step here, very methodical. :)</div>
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First, trapezoids!</div>
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Next, triangles!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9B4ZaVB_hZs/VmYqzATptjI/AAAAAAAAJDk/nMiXqFZghjE/s1600/IMG_5157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9B4ZaVB_hZs/VmYqzATptjI/AAAAAAAAJDk/nMiXqFZghjE/s640/IMG_5157.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Flying Geese - sort of!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PFrGjIvgQTI/VmYqyaKSE2I/AAAAAAAAJDY/FZcLUK6feWo/s1600/IMG_5160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PFrGjIvgQTI/VmYqyaKSE2I/AAAAAAAAJDY/FZcLUK6feWo/s640/IMG_5160.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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White pieces! The circled one bothered me. I actually took this photo to look at it through the viewfinder and see if it still stood out as much. I think it blends it ok but it was really bothering me so I went ahead and got rid of it. Go with your gut!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s-A8aS0hnCw/VmYq0CTbx-I/AAAAAAAAJDs/_odbAkgytvY/s1600/IMG_5163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s-A8aS0hnCw/VmYq0CTbx-I/AAAAAAAAJDs/_odbAkgytvY/s640/IMG_5163.JPG" width="578" /></a></div>
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And then I made the mistake of cutting 98 grey squares instead of black.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZo-8PjPHs0/VmYq1RlW15I/AAAAAAAAJD4/s3NlNMqlB70/s1600/IMG_5166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="530" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZo-8PjPHs0/VmYq1RlW15I/AAAAAAAAJD4/s3NlNMqlB70/s640/IMG_5166.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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That's more like it!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tJOrO7rxKgM/VmYq2nOWr_I/AAAAAAAAJEA/pVlQZNLPSvs/s1600/IMG_5167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tJOrO7rxKgM/VmYq2nOWr_I/AAAAAAAAJEA/pVlQZNLPSvs/s640/IMG_5167.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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All done! Phew!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jn9MTlAQ80I/VmYq20rx04I/AAAAAAAAJEE/gt8pVHpRUV4/s1600/IMG_5170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="592" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jn9MTlAQ80I/VmYq20rx04I/AAAAAAAAJEE/gt8pVHpRUV4/s640/IMG_5170.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/12/allietare-mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html">Now go see what everyone else is doing over at Quiltville!</a> (hint: this sentence is a link! Click it!)</div>
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Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-54674401463227504682015-12-01T17:12:00.000-08:002015-12-01T17:12:08.147-08:00It's the holiday season!December 1! I can officially hang up Christmas decorations around the house! Woohoo! And I am also pleased to say that all of my Christmas sewing is done! Double woohoo!<br />
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The first thing I worked on in November was quilting a wallhanging for my mom (she pieced it).<br />
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And like a chump this is the only photo I took of it:<br />
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The pattern is called "Tall Trim the Tree." I like it because you hang little mini quilted ornaments all over the tree. It's on my to-do list...maybe next year. I definitely have to do my personal Christmas sewing early in the year because once September hits, I'm just thinking about sewing presents for others.</div>
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Anyway, here's a low quality zoom in. I quilted spirals on the background and a sort of zigzag pattern that reminds me of crocodile teeth on the tree, since it looks like pine needles. And I used my pounce pad to trace out a basic looping design for the borders.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y0xCy15OBUo/Vl5Ao3K2B3I/AAAAAAAAJA0/76ym3Ax7Hrc/s1600/IMG_5119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="592" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y0xCy15OBUo/Vl5Ao3K2B3I/AAAAAAAAJA0/76ym3Ax7Hrc/s640/IMG_5119.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now, as for presents...here is the first:<br />
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These are the blocks from the Patchwork City class I took in September. And I sewed one orphan block into the back:</div>
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Next up we have a mystery project I can't share, but here's a sneak peak!</div>
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And finally, these guys:</div>
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Now I can honestly say that I intended to sew many pairs of oven mitts, but this pair was such a pain that I left it at one. First off, that lovely quilted pattern took quite some time to stitch out on four separate pieces.<br />
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Do you see that bar on the right below? That's supposed to help me mark out the line spacing. But I am missing a screw that's supposed to hold it in place. So I had to hand mark all of the lines, which added a lot of time.<br />
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Since I machine stitched the binding down, I glue basted it. Here are my handy dandy wonder clips holding things in place while the glue dried. I can't imagine this technique on a full size quilts but it's been great for my pillows and other small projects.<br />
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Now when the final mitt was assembled, I had a lot of trouble in the thumb area.<br />
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First I had this ungainly bulge:<br />
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I was able to do some trimming on the inside to ease the bulk around a bit but there's still a lot of thread visible here:<br />
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Luckily I was at William Sonoma the other day and I looked at their oven mitts and they had some thread visible in that spot too. In conclusion, these look nice but they took a lot longer than expected, which made them prohibitive to mass produce. Oh, and the heat proof insulation stuff makes a really annoying crinkling noise! I'm hoping that goes away with use, after it is "broken in."</div>
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And that's about it for presents! I scaled back my present sewing this year and I'm very glad of it. Why? Because I can participate in Bonnie's Hunter's new mystery with my spare time! I was really worried that I wouldn't have time to participate this year with all of my mandatory sewing, but since I gave up on the idea of making everyone mitts, now I have time! I also promised myself after the amount I spent last year on supplies that I would only do it if I could use my stash. Well, here is my first fabric pull:</div>
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All from my stash! Now I won't lie, I did go out and buy some fabrics to supplement this (because, really, who has 5 1/2 yards of white lying around?), but you can see I got a fair amount from pre-existing fabrics. I also loved that this year's only really featured two colors (red and yellow/orange) which made it a lot easier to swap out different fabrics. I think my red and teal has a fun modern "pop" and I'm excited to see where it goes!</div>
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My clue #1 is already complete...more on that in a future post! For now, it's time to go sew!</div>
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-87570847267399802192015-10-26T18:40:00.002-07:002015-10-26T18:40:56.782-07:00Finishes! October EditionYep, lots o' finishes around here!<br />
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FINISHED: My Pacific Crest quilt.<br />
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It's now the couch quilt. You may recall I was planning on listing it on Etsy. Good thing I didn't, because the fleece I put on the back is pilling all over the place, AND the quilting stitches have been popping out left and right!<br />
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I spoke to some others about it and it sounds like it's because all of my quilting stitches were diagonal in one direction, so nothing is anchoring the fabric weft/warp/whatever in the cross direction and it's easy to put too much pressure on it and pop those stitches. Oh well. If it gets bad enough I'll just slap it back in the machine and add some stitches going the opposite direction. It's a great couch quilt because we can both sit on opposite ends of the couch and still fit under it. (We have had many couch blanket tug-o-wars in the past!)<br />
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FINISHED: Last-minute Halloween quilt.<br />
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Just in time for next week's wedding! I know you still can't see the quilting, but it's there and it's cool! (And I got help holding it up for my photo op for once!)<br />
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FINISHED: Fox and Hedgehog pillow!<br />
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Elizabeth Hartman has convinced me that I need to quilt all of my pillow covers. I still resent how much extra time it takes, but it adds a lot of sturdiness and looks prettier. Arnav promptly claimed this for the couch too.<br />
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Quilting this put me way outside my comfort zone. I NEVER do all-over designs that cover my main motif, and I NEVER use a largely contrasting thread. That thread is bright teal! I am glad I pushed myself. I almost stopped and ripped it all out when I got to this guy:<br />
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The stitches were just SO prominent and each error so noticeable! But I'm glad I pushed through because I think the finished pillow turned out quite nice.<br />
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FINISHED: My applique class!<br />
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I'll be honest: this class was a real let-down. Only three people came! And I spent a loooooong time preparing, and look at all the supplies I brought! (Oh, and all of the example quilts, AND all of the applique books...)<br />
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I didn't do this to earn money, I did it to share my love of applique with others. And when I came away from the class I didn't feel like I had accomplished that. One person already loved needle turn and took it just to do more applique, and I don't think the other students came away feeling excited and enthused about applique.<br />
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But, it's done. And now I can clean up the class supplies that have been strewn all over the sewing room, and move on. I won't be trying to teach a class anytime soon.<br />
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Finished: Halloween shrug!<br />
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So I'm going to this Halloween wedding and my dress is black and I have these gorgeous pink shoes I really want to wear. And the black dress needed some flare and something to tie to together with the shoes. So I stitched up this little "shrug." I'm happy with how it came out! As always happens when I attempt non-quilting sewing projects, it took waaaay longer than it should have, but in the end it all worked out. Plus check out these cute pink glitter spiders that are on it!<br />
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Not Finished: Anything else.<br />
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I didn't get very much at all accomplished at this year's guild retreat. In large part it was because of back-to-back classes on Saturday. I taught my class, had a quick lunch, then took a class on improv piecing. My pieces are the blue and lime ones to the right.<br />
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By the end of the improv class, it was almost 5 pm! And honestly I was worn out and discouraged from my class, so I did very little sewing Saturday night. Instead I went home and curled up in front of the tv for a viewing of Fantasia! Just the kind of thing to let my mind drift and decompress. On Sunday I got a little more sewing done. I'm neeeeearly finished with a pillow cover from my Patchwork City class. I was originally debating making my blocks into a quilt but I decided life's too short and I've got soooo many other projects. So whenever I finish this blog post, I am hopefully going to sit down in front of my machine and finish that pillow! (And then post some photos of it!)Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-62689106740955552252015-10-13T20:56:00.000-07:002015-10-13T20:56:13.497-07:00Emergency Last Minute Quilt!Now I know why people make baby quilts as spares and just stick them in the closet. I had the sudden realization that I needed a quilt for the wedding I am going to on October 31. Luckily I had this realization a few weeks ago and just didn't blog about it until now.<br />
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I actually had a similar realization before a wedding last summer but I didn't have it until about a week before the wedding...so the bride and groom got a tote bag. Pretty lame. This time, I wasn't letting that happen!<br />
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I went ahead and ordered this layer cake. (I'm sorry the photos are so bad. I upgraded my photos program and all of the photo editing stuff has been reorganized and I don't now how to use it. If anyone can recommend good user-friendly photography software, I am on the market!)<br />
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It's Spellbound by Cotton and Steel. I figure it's modern and slightly subtle in it's Halloween-ness. I should mention, it's a Halloween quilt because they are having a Halloween themed wedding. (Costumes at the reception and everything!) But I want them to be able to use it year-round, so I was trying to not make it *too* Halloween-y.<br />
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I spent a looong time browsing the internet for good layer cake patterns. I should mention here that I think Layer Cakes are the most versatile precut when you need a fast quilt. You can do a lot of cool things with those squares in a short amount of time.<br />
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I ended up with the <a href="http://www.unitednotions.com/Moda-Love-Layer-Cake-Quilt.pdf">Moda Love</a> pattern. It's super quick and easy. The only funky thing was that my layer cake came with a lot of fabrics in three's, which just made making a symmetrical layout tough. And I really, really like symmetry.<br />
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I played around in illustrator with colors and ended up with this mockup:<br />
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(Yes that's a physical photo of my computer screen. I am lame like that.)</div>
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Notice the pattern is just a bunch of squares and half-square triangles. It came together super duper fast. And here's my laid out top!</div>
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For this quilt I went through the extra effort of ironing all of my seams open, since apparently that's what I am *supposed* to do, according to a lot of modern quilters.</div>
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You guys, it was a giant pain in the rear. Those seams did not want to lie flat no matter how heavily I steamed them (and according to the trends these days, I'm not supposed to be using steam in my iron either!) So yeah, I can say I tried it, and life's too short for that nonsense. </div>
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I went ahead and stitched out a nice message on the front.</div>
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Getting this programmed right took a lot of practice. I wanted to use the fancy cursive font on my machine but it was basically illegible so we decided block letters were safer. I think it came out pretty cute.</div>
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Finally, quilting time! As an aside, do you ever notice that no one quilt shop seems to have it all? We have one shop in town that has just fabulous fabric selection, but their batting choices were pathetic. I ended up using some batting I had lying around for a different project...now I have to go buy more.</div>
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But, I mentioned that store had fabulous fabric selection? Check out the backing fabric I got!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pyg5SssCtQw/Vh3JKm1QG7I/AAAAAAAAIrA/XIZrD53IJP8/s1600/IMG_4839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pyg5SssCtQw/Vh3JKm1QG7I/AAAAAAAAIrA/XIZrD53IJP8/s640/IMG_4839.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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See how it shines! The webs are metallic! I'm just nuts about this fabric!</div>
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Next came quilting time. In honor of this backing fabric, I quilting one giant spiderweb on the front.</div>
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First I did the straight lines. You can see them here on the center block:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gB1X60xuUt0/Vh3JLZtmENI/AAAAAAAAIrY/LSUAYo8Pc4Q/s1600/IMG_4859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gB1X60xuUt0/Vh3JLZtmENI/AAAAAAAAIrY/LSUAYo8Pc4Q/s640/IMG_4859.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then, the webbing! It didn't really photograph well but I promise it's cool.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KkTXOh_HMPs/Vh3JMGg1VxI/AAAAAAAAIrg/fYT8hO_9m0Y/s1600/IMG_4876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KkTXOh_HMPs/Vh3JMGg1VxI/AAAAAAAAIrg/fYT8hO_9m0Y/s640/IMG_4876.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I wanted to share with you how I did the webbing because I think it's pretty cool. <a href="https://studioloblog.wordpress.com/">Casey York </a>told me how to do this. So I wanted to quilt it in a spiral so that I didn't have any starts and stops. But I wanted the spiral to get wider as I went out. I couldn't really figure out how to do that. Here's what Casey suggested, and I drew a little sketch to show you. </div>
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<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RkoCGEu4obo/Vh3P-_nMZ3I/AAAAAAAAIro/6RjVxN08cuw/s1600/IMG_4935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="524" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RkoCGEu4obo/Vh3P-_nMZ3I/AAAAAAAAIro/6RjVxN08cuw/s640/IMG_4935.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Again, sorry for the colors. The new "photos" program doesn't have a contrast option."</div>
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Make your marks at the four compass points, x distance apart from the prior line (I started with 1" here). Every three compass positions, add 1/4" (or amount of your choice - I used 1/2" in the diagram because it was easier to draw) to that value. Yes, this method involved a lot of measuring and marking. But it was well worth it in the end when I had a great looking spiral on the my quilt.</div>
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I also wanted to talk about my quilting thread. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V63e_1S2qeg/Vh3P-8Bt_3I/AAAAAAAAIrs/l96ZYVlgqgI/s1600/IMG_4934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V63e_1S2qeg/Vh3P-8Bt_3I/AAAAAAAAIrs/l96ZYVlgqgI/s640/IMG_4934.jpg" width="482" /></a></div>
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This thread is the BEST. You know how I mentioned no shop has everything? These guys had no quilting thread but they had walls and walls of embroidery thread (And I was too lazy to go to another shop and too impatient to order online). And they told my I could quilt with it so I did! This is so great because it's a black thread wrapped with a silver thread. It looks completely metallic on the quilt but it doesn't have any of the issues and troubles you encounter when stitching with metallic thread (breakages, thread stripping, etc.) Also it glitters on both light fabric and dark fabric. You can see that effect on the photo above of the quilting. I think it was really perfect for the spider web look I was going for.<br />
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And here is the finished top!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9qxL-r9HP2o/Vh3JLpugLuI/AAAAAAAAIrc/GaVfK-5YaAY/s1600/IMG_4867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="580" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9qxL-r9HP2o/Vh3JLpugLuI/AAAAAAAAIrc/GaVfK-5YaAY/s640/IMG_4867.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
I know, you can't see the quilting, but it's there. Right now I'm stitching down the binding and this will be ready in time for the wedding, no problem! Phew!Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-3757729341426405532015-09-20T08:22:00.000-07:002015-09-20T08:22:43.871-07:00Elizabeth Hartman WorkshopsLast weekend I had the great pleasure of taking two six-hour workshops from Elizabeth Hartman of <a href="http://www.ohfransson.com/">Oh Fransson</a>. She was a great teacher and the weekend was a ton of fun.<br />
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The first class was based on her fox and hedgehog patterns. Here is the finished pillow top I made:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1d2wSzoGHA/Vf7K0KUmzkI/AAAAAAAAImw/OvUs2RV_5y8/s1600/IMG_4766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="364" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1d2wSzoGHA/Vf7K0KUmzkI/AAAAAAAAImw/OvUs2RV_5y8/s640/IMG_4766.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Fancy Fox was very easy to make and easy to chain piece. Also he can be made with jelly rolls! I have a jelly roll that's been lying around for years now so it may turn into a fancy fox quilt soon...</div>
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Hazel hedgehog was a bit harder. I know she's cute, but look at all the pieces it took to make her!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QmGcBHI6k60/Vf7LIWHl-wI/AAAAAAAAIm4/GtEeIck74yk/s1600/IMG_4715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QmGcBHI6k60/Vf7LIWHl-wI/AAAAAAAAIm4/GtEeIck74yk/s640/IMG_4715.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I don't see myself making a full hazel hedgehog quilt anytime soon.</div>
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Here's Elizabeth teaching:</div>
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She also did a trunk show, which I only got horrible photos of. The coolest part was she actually passed around the quilts for us to feel and see up close!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NcIWJhG7QkQ/Vf7Lz4ZxbzI/AAAAAAAAInI/3vLx2hebXmo/s1600/IMG_4716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NcIWJhG7QkQ/Vf7Lz4ZxbzI/AAAAAAAAInI/3vLx2hebXmo/s640/IMG_4716.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This was my favorite quilt, from patchwork city. Every piece was chosen with thought and care. It has so many fun "Easter Eggs" when you see the blocks up close!</div>
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My second workshop was on this very quilt, Patchwork City. The class really focused on this ides of fussy cutting and choosing your fabrics very carefully and thoughtfully. We also learned to intentionally add a little discord. It was fun!</div>
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We each started with a "focal fabric" and built our design out from there. Here is my stack of fabrics. My focal fabric is actually kind of hidden in this pic. We also all brought scraps to share which was really fun. Since you can use really teeny tiny pieces for this quilt, you could find one cool element on some tiny strip of fabric and incorporate it into your blocks.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dz_dhl-1K-Q/Vf7MW-tWEwI/AAAAAAAAInY/cyBhKVkw834/s1600/IMG_4729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dz_dhl-1K-Q/Vf7MW-tWEwI/AAAAAAAAInY/cyBhKVkw834/s640/IMG_4729.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here are my first two blocks. I really agonized and stressed over the first one but by the second one I had relaxed a bit. The first block is on the right. It's funny, my intentional discord was supposed to be that bright teal second from the bottom. Blends in pretty well, huh? On the second block, on the left, I tossed in that magenta piece, which definitely adds some pop!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tYTdH0oNbvE/Vf7MW1oaSoI/AAAAAAAAInQ/Wx_mvK43w20/s1600/IMG_4730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tYTdH0oNbvE/Vf7MW1oaSoI/AAAAAAAAInQ/Wx_mvK43w20/s640/IMG_4730.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here are all three of my finished blocks. Can you tell which is the focal fabric?<br />
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This was originally supposed to be a pillow, but I had so much fun with it that I think I'm going to keep going and eventually make a quilt. In part because when I did my fabric pull, I had a TON of fabrics in this colorway. Might as well use them up!<br />
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One of the best parts of the class was getting inspiration from everyone else. Check it out:<br />
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The focal fabric here was the teepees. I love the burnt orange colors she pulled in!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j2vVOJ5Au9A/Vf7MWzpySNI/AAAAAAAAIoQ/DMSDE_5KR2E/s1600/IMG_4731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j2vVOJ5Au9A/Vf7MWzpySNI/AAAAAAAAIoQ/DMSDE_5KR2E/s640/IMG_4731.jpg" width="536" /></a></div>
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These ones came out so clean and coordinated! Lovely!<br />
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If I recall, the focal fabric here was actually the peacock. But boy do those eyes pop out at you!<br />
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This one has such fun and cheerful colors and fabrics.<br />
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I love the fussy cutting for the window in the top block here:</div>
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I really thought these did a great job of pulling out the colors from the focal fabric. This would have been tough for me but she nailed it!</div>
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That's all for now! Today I am working hard on prepping for my class. I am practicing my speech and making step-throughs. My quilty friends agreed to be guinea pigs for me in two weeks, so we will see what they think of the dry run. I know I can rely on them for good feedback.Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-2210991309821603222015-09-08T19:27:00.000-07:002015-09-08T19:27:47.440-07:00Works in Progress: September EditionYeesh, my last update was over two months ago! What's been going on since then?<br />
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Well, at the end of July I went to Madagascar.<br />
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Not a lot of sewing occurred in July because I was so busy packing and repacking and overthinking my packing for Mada!<br />
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I spent a lot time prepping hand sewing pieces to bring on the trip. Here's my little kit:<br />
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Just a nice zipper pouch, keeps everything neat and tidy.</div>
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Inside:</div>
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Is it organized? No. Does it pack flat? Yes. This thing zips up nice and tiny, just how I like it. What I am working on? Easter eggs!</div>
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Here's a batch I just finished this past weekend, while on a road trip:</div>
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I've tried EPP, and it's not for me. But this wool embroidery is a blast, and it's a frivolous little project that I am just doing for the joy of it.</div>
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Here's the only egg I've finished so far:</div>
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Well anyways, after all that prep work I didn't do any embroidery in Madagascar. My scissors, while safe by American standards, were confiscated by security at Tana airport. Oh well. </div>
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I did bring some cool souvenirs home. These are hand embroidered tablecloths. They were clearly designed just for tourists, but I really liked them!</div>
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Once I returned from Mada, I got the very exciting news that I will be TEACHING my first quilting class EVER!! It will be on applique techniques, and will be taught at our guild retreat. I am SUPER excited but also SUPER nervous. So much of August has been me reading up on applique methods, checking out every applique book the library has, writing up a lesson plan, and then re-writing it, and so on.</div>
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Here's the class sample:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wlmi6f9aId0/Ve-PZyvgwtI/AAAAAAAAIik/IE8tmufH92s/s1600/DSC_3471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="584" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wlmi6f9aId0/Ve-PZyvgwtI/AAAAAAAAIik/IE8tmufH92s/s640/DSC_3471.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Ok, I admit I machine appliqued the whole thing because I was in a rush, but in the class we are going to learn both machine and hand applique techniques.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DpgyjT8RzUg/Ve-PZl4jBeI/AAAAAAAAIiY/Qr1h345g5GU/s1600/DSC_3473.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DpgyjT8RzUg/Ve-PZl4jBeI/AAAAAAAAIiY/Qr1h345g5GU/s640/DSC_3473.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I was originally going to provide 20 cactus patterns and let everybody pick their own, but after a lot of internal debate I decided it would be a lot less confusing for everyone if we were all working on the same design. So, by executive decision, we are all making the one on the right with the pink flower on top.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5aCkWUhVqg/Ve-PdYzbzNI/AAAAAAAAIj4/G4VEqh4OQ8U/s1600/Intro_2_Applique.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5aCkWUhVqg/Ve-PdYzbzNI/AAAAAAAAIj4/G4VEqh4OQ8U/s320/Intro_2_Applique.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The hardest thing has been figuring out what to include. I only have three hours, which is very, very little time to cover the million applique techniques that I wanted to go through. I was originally going to show everyone how to make their own patterns and have them do it with me, but I've decided to just tell them how I made the pattern and show them the steps, but not have them try to do them themselves. And I was going to cover three applique techniuqes but I worry we will even have time for that. We might have to stick to only two techniques. I'm just going to wing it!<br />
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Here are a bunch of sample blocks. A lot are from a past applique class I took, but I made some new ones too. I wrote on the back either the hand applique method or the brand of fusible web. I still need to go sew down the edges of the fusible web ones; I'm going to do a different edge finishing technique on each.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t7zhv7wQLHM/Ve-PbKF8SkI/AAAAAAAAIi4/8MbuAoITa6k/s1600/IMG_4672.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t7zhv7wQLHM/Ve-PbKF8SkI/AAAAAAAAIi4/8MbuAoITa6k/s640/IMG_4672.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Oh AND I want to write up handouts with all of these tips and tricks because I know it will be too much to absorb and remember on the spot. And I want a handout comparing fusible webs but it's proving hard because I only use one brand and am not too familiar with others (although I found a surprising number of samples of different brands tucked into my drawers).<br />
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Well anyways, that's been a lot of excitement. But let's check in on all of those other sewing projects.<br />
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This lump is a quilt. It's been waiting for me to finish the binding for months now. It sits patiently by the tv.<br />
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But it's competing with this:<br />
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My first 2000 piece puzzle! And man, do I love puzzles. So whenever I sit in front of the tv, it's like "hmm, I could sew on a binding, OR...I could PUZZLE!" So the puzzle always wins.</div>
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Upstairs, we've got lots more mostly finished quilts.</div>
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This is my Bonnie Hunter mystery, Grand Illusion. Top is all done, I have purchased the backing and batting, just need to sit down and quilt it.</div>
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But wait! there's another quilt on the machine right now! Remember this Christmas quilt?</div>
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I finished a looong time ago (ok, like Feb or March), but I waited patiently for Joann's to get their Christmas fabric in stock before I finished it. And was it worth the wait! Check out this backing:</div>
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Nice soft fleece, adorable Christmas mugs, and the blue is the exact same shade of blue that's on the front! It really is perfect.</div>
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I was supposed to hand embroider on some steam, but I couched it. It was tough, came out a little lumpy. But still, a cool effect.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qylfxvsrWd8/Ve-Pawk-YxI/AAAAAAAAIj0/jqGYEU6EiqM/s1600/IMG_4630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qylfxvsrWd8/Ve-Pawk-YxI/AAAAAAAAIj0/jqGYEU6EiqM/s640/IMG_4630.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here's Miss Pepper getting in the way right when I was about to start basting.</div>
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Ok but what other projects are currently in progress?</div>
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Remember Mr. Swan? He's hidden behind a stack of stuff. Not a good sign. It might be awhile before he's finished.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9W49P0pcXg4/Ve-Pb1RoaZI/AAAAAAAAIjM/ih5cKmjbnQg/s1600/IMG_4697.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9W49P0pcXg4/Ve-Pb1RoaZI/AAAAAAAAIjM/ih5cKmjbnQg/s640/IMG_4697.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Oooh what's this pile? On the left we have a giant stack of lambas, fabric worn by ladies in Madagascar. I bought a ton because they were about a buck each, but I haven't sorted them and don't really know what to do with them. And on the right, sweatshirt fabric for a Craftsy class I'm taking on sewing with knits. Yes, I'm using Craftsy! I think it's funny because I resisted for a looooong time but I suddenly became obsessed and bought four classes in the past week. I'll definitely share reviews as I finish each of them!</div>
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Ugh here's another to-do rack. That top stack is for a bee block from May (eek), in the middle is a tote bag that I've cut the pieces for, and on the bottom are some size XL jerseys that I inherited and need to take in to a size M. Oh and change the name...</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BWOcAQNNpfE/Ve-Pc4hGN6I/AAAAAAAAIjo/1id6leR7YF8/s1600/IMG_4702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BWOcAQNNpfE/Ve-Pc4hGN6I/AAAAAAAAIjo/1id6leR7YF8/s640/IMG_4702.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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And here's the fun stack! This weekend I am taking TWO(!) workshops from Elizabeth Hartman! I already have all of my fabrics picked out and ready to go. Woohoo!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uPwXS8qzSJk/Ve-PcpfNp-I/AAAAAAAAIjg/Hj_kbo_0ogQ/s1600/IMG_4701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uPwXS8qzSJk/Ve-PcpfNp-I/AAAAAAAAIjg/Hj_kbo_0ogQ/s640/IMG_4701.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Ok I think the puzzle is calling my name...</div>
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-53284661900238018742015-07-01T19:30:00.001-07:002015-07-01T19:30:30.119-07:00Works in ProgressSo lately I keep waiting until things are done to show them off, but this is a work in progress post! I've got a couple of different things in the works right now, all are small, fun projects.<br />
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First off, I'm almost done with this Pacific Crest quilt from the book Beyond Neutral.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bKYupcwJ4nc/VZSdszbH31I/AAAAAAAAIek/z3UFCddr6k4/s1600/IMG_4181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bKYupcwJ4nc/VZSdszbH31I/AAAAAAAAIek/z3UFCddr6k4/s640/IMG_4181.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I originally bought the fat quarter bundle for geofabulous because I loved it, but I had no idea how to use fabrics with such big, bold designs. This pattern showcases them well and came together very quickly.</div>
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I even got to take advantage of the spring weather and do some of the cutting for the project on my deck.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gmJjLw5F8lY/VZSeGKbeVwI/AAAAAAAAIes/bPxr9Uz0qWI/s1600/IMG_4088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gmJjLw5F8lY/VZSeGKbeVwI/AAAAAAAAIes/bPxr9Uz0qWI/s640/IMG_4088.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And of course, must show Ms. Pepper showing off.<br />
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Oh, here's one more shot of the quilt top in better lighting, except it turned out I was holding it sideways!<br />
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This is definitely a perfect couch quilt, so I went with fleece on the back.</div>
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Here are the different fleeces I tried out:</div>
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None had quite the right shade of blue, but they all had very cool geometric patterns. I ended up choosing the chevrons because they exactly matched the shapes on the front of the quilt. And it came in extra wide so I wouldn't need to patch any pieces together for the backing!<br />
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I decided to go super basic on the quilting, partially because I am fairly sure I do not want to keep it for myself. I just did diagonal lines every 5" or so.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-igs-B1yMHE0/VZSgQXYO0tI/AAAAAAAAIfs/MM315slaCjc/s1600/IMG_4211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-igs-B1yMHE0/VZSgQXYO0tI/AAAAAAAAIfs/MM315slaCjc/s640/IMG_4211.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Currently the quilt is mostly done, it's just waiting for me to sew down the last bit of binding.</div>
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I am either going to donate it or sell it. I know a lot of people opt to donate because selling is a pain and you only get a pittance. I did a search on Etsy for quilts and the prices are really pathetic. No one could possibly make a living for that...there were custom queen quilts for $200. What?! That doesn't even cover cost of materials!</div>
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But here's the thing: I spend a lot of money on my quilting hobby, and it would sure be nice to not be in the hole quite so badly. If I could break even on this quilt I would be happy. I calculated that I spent about $100 for materials so I'm thinking of pricing it at $250. I kind of think I will put it on Etsy and see if it gets any interest, and if there isn't any after a set amount of time, I will just donate it. I don't hold out a lot of hope because I don't have any previous sales (and thus reviews, proven track record, etc), so someone would be making a big leap buying my quilt. But you don't know until you try.</div>
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And yes, I've read about the "We Are $ew Worth It" campaign and I hope you have too. It's a great campaign. But you can't simply ignore market conditions. I could say my quilt is worth $1,000 but if nobody is willing to pay that amount for it, it's not actually worth that much. Economic principles play a role here. </div>
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And of course it won't go on sale if I don't finish it...the binding has been 75% sewn on for at least two weeks now! And then I got distracted by this project...</div>
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More on this soon!</div>
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-50904880115845905642015-05-28T19:11:00.002-07:002015-05-29T16:14:50.700-07:00Creative FunThis week I've been too sick to do any quilting (boo...) so instead I'm finally getting around to sharing a "fun side project" I worked on about a month ago. I'm also finally linking up with QuiltShopGal's <a href="http://quiltshopgal.com/creativegoodness-linky-party-may-29th/">#CreativeGoodness Linky Party!</a><br />
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I think creativity is a really important part of the quilting process, and we all need to find what level of creativity makes us happy. After all of the anxiety and stress I felt making my dad's veggie quilt, which entailed a relatively minor amount of creativity in plotting out the setting and design, I know that working from patterns is definitely my strong suit and where I feel happiest.<br />
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There is one exception, though, and it is landscape quilts. I love making them and they really get my creative juices flowing (and yes, I know I have made very few, but I plan to make more!)<br />
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So with that in mind, the backstory to this project is that we were creating pages for our college reunion "class book." I wanted to do something unique and brainstormed ways to incorporate quilting into my page. Of course I'm not the world's greatest quilter. But then it came to me..applique! I love fusible web applique because you can literally make anything with it.<br />
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And for some reason something else hit me...snowglobes! I love snowglobes and collect them from most places I visit. I wish I could show you a photo of my vast snowglobe collection, but most of it is in Alaska. I am starting to amass a new collection here though, with seven accumulated so far.<br />
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Making a snowglobe quilt has been on my bucket list, and still is. I want to make a quilt that is a bookcase full of snowglobes, and each snowglobe exemplifies part of my life. So this was kind of a mini/dry run version of that.<br />
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First off, I took a look at my Stanford snowglobe, and sketched out a mockup.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nlsk3gx89dI/VWfJNi-2HVI/AAAAAAAAIds/KadKbeSJbmg/s1600/IMG_4153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nlsk3gx89dI/VWfJNi-2HVI/AAAAAAAAIds/KadKbeSJbmg/s640/IMG_4153.JPG" width="506" /></a></div>
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And then...we were off!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZfcIx5iGpI/VWfJIAvHFpI/AAAAAAAAIcw/Xe60S701VME/s1600/IMG_3650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZfcIx5iGpI/VWfJIAvHFpI/AAAAAAAAIcw/Xe60S701VME/s400/IMG_3650.JPG" width="340" /></a></div>
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Here's the Stanford snowglobe:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zSjI3Vplri8/VWfJLV9gVqI/AAAAAAAAIdM/EnqKbtPbs_o/s1600/IMG_1062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zSjI3Vplri8/VWfJLV9gVqI/AAAAAAAAIdM/EnqKbtPbs_o/s640/IMG_1062.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Next off, I wanted to show something about moving to St. Louis and working as an engineer.<br />
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The snowglobe was supposed to have little engineer-y things around the bottom, but my boyfriend said the hard hat looked like a lemon and someone else said they thought it was a turtle, so I gave up on that idea.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xdxTpwzdGkI/VWfJLrg-1LI/AAAAAAAAIdQ/FcdHLytH-Pw/s1600/IMG_3663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xdxTpwzdGkI/VWfJLrg-1LI/AAAAAAAAIdQ/FcdHLytH-Pw/s640/IMG_3663.JPG" width="490" /></a></div>
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I wanted the arch to be all sparkly, and I originally tried to use elmer's glue and regular old glitter. Well the glue just wouldn't dry and the glitter came off all over my hands. What I used instead, which worked really well, was glitter fabric paint that I bought while playing around with my last landscape quilt. I think it gives the arch some pop, don't you?<br />
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(Do you see the little piece of loose thread? Oh well...)</div>
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Then I decided to do a hockey snowglobe, as I play recreational hockey. I actually have two hockey snowglobes in my collection right now.<br />
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One is from the San Francisco Bulls inaugural season, which I just learned went bust. It's a bit of a shame because I had a lot of fun at their games, but I think they had a tough location because their stadium (cow palace) was not easily accessible from public transit. The other snowglobe is from the NHL Winter classic that my boyfriend and I went to two years ago. Here we are enjoying the snow:<br />
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For this one, I had to decide how much detail to go into, and what to make myself vs. get pre-printed on a novelty fabric. I also debated a lot what to show. Should there be skaters? Just skating equipment? In the end I chose something relatively simple. I bought a novelty fabric with hockey skates but decided it looked too out of place, and copied the skate design to make my own little pair.<br />
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Here's the net being made. Lots of tiny pieces!<br />
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Finally, of COURSE I had to have a snowglobe for quilting! For this one, I did just go with pre-printed novelty fabrics. It's a fun and easy way to get the design you are going for without working your tail off. This one also showcases all the cat rescue work I do.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8MkBCmR9lIM/VWfJHNKpGZI/AAAAAAAAIck/SIyX8y24a-s/s1600/IMG_1060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8MkBCmR9lIM/VWfJHNKpGZI/AAAAAAAAIck/SIyX8y24a-s/s640/IMG_1060.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
And those are my four snowglobes! I took photos of them and arranged them on a pdf page with captions for my class book submission.<br />
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I did want to share one bit of advice from this. I normally use Heat N Bond Lite or Heat N Bond Ultrahold. For this project I bought some Pellon Wonder Under and was very disappointed. The web would constantly stick to the paper instead of the fabric, and when I tried to remove the paper it would often fray my fabric edges and sometimes rip off very small pieces (like kitty tails). I understand it is softer than Heat N Bond, and may be better for quilts that will be used, but for wall projects where stiffness doesn't matter, I will be sticking with Heat N Bond from now on.<br />
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This project was a TON of fun. I have no plans for these snowglobes and have set them aside. Their final purpose does not matter so much as the joy I got from making them. Another great joy was pulling from my stash and discovering all of the fun fabrics I have! I would audition fabrics and then throw them all over the floor. Rosie greatly enjoyed rolling around in the mess. :)<br />
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And I think that's what quilting is about, finding what makes you happy, what gets you excited, and going for it!<br />
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<a href="http://quiltshopgal.com/creativegoodness-weekly-linky-parties/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img height="240" src=" https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7539/16290863335_47875e6954.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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For more inspiration, check out the other linky participants of the<a href="http://quiltshopgal.com/creativegoodness-linky-party-may-29th/"> #CreativeGoodness</a> linky party.Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-89195973043210906562015-05-17T15:01:00.000-07:002015-05-17T15:01:52.737-07:00Professional Tote<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Today I have something pretty cool to share...the professional tote!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zSDXWLfwRp4/VVkJMT8lNMI/AAAAAAAAIaw/IHsD2_RTVwQ/s1600/IMG_4077.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="552" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zSDXWLfwRp4/VVkJMT8lNMI/AAAAAAAAIaw/IHsD2_RTVwQ/s640/IMG_4077.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The pattern, made by the Creative Thimble, can be found <a href="http://thecreativethimble.com/shop/professional-tote/">here</a>. The pattern for this tote was one of the many goodies I brought home from Paducah. The great joy of not having a current big intimidating quilt in progress is that this year I was actually able to dive right into my Paducah projects while I was still excited about them! (I'm pretty sure I still haven't made any of the patterns I brought home from Paducah last year...)</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fw6Oi0Gq_gk/VVkJNO-jfBI/AAAAAAAAIa0/F4a8sM1Mgm0/s1600/IMG_4079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fw6Oi0Gq_gk/VVkJNO-jfBI/AAAAAAAAIa0/F4a8sM1Mgm0/s640/IMG_4079.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When I saw the samples at Paducah, I was blown away by how, well, professional this bag looked! It could easily be mistaken for something storebought. And I had just been thinking that I really needed a new tote for myself, so this fit the bill perfectly.</div>
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<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s640/IMG_4078.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the center, with the blue zipper, is a laptop sleeve. You can also see a little key fob on one interior pocket. There are interior pockets on both sides, one has a velcro enclosure.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-daAE9Vo80Jc/VVkJNtYQ67I/AAAAAAAAIbA/0Tl085G6LPs/s1600/IMG_4080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-daAE9Vo80Jc/VVkJNtYQ67I/AAAAAAAAIbA/0Tl085G6LPs/s640/IMG_4080.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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On the outside, this side pocket has a magnetic snap to keep it secure. On the other side (shown below) there is a small zipper pocket with another pocket behind.</div>
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On each edge we have water bottle pockets that can cinch up.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWvTFGLrqso/VVkJMuWcnsI/AAAAAAAAIa8/5PKJ5Hz9b-0/s1600/IMG_4078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mx3WxO_6SKE/VVkJOTh4lVI/AAAAAAAAIbM/9qWyr0V25yU/s1600/IMG_4082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mx3WxO_6SKE/VVkJOTh4lVI/AAAAAAAAIbM/9qWyr0V25yU/s640/IMG_4082.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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And of course the top zips shut too, for added security! So basically this is the world's most useful tote bag :P</div>
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Ah...one more aspect that really made it seem "professional"...the bottom! The bottom is made of a nice sturdy canvas, and I added purse feet to it to keep it clean. A number of the samples the creator had sewn up had faux leather bases...it made them look so cool!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5rSHnpFTF8g/VVkJL_eY2gI/AAAAAAAAIag/c_Js_5-9WSE/s1600/IMG_4049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5rSHnpFTF8g/VVkJL_eY2gI/AAAAAAAAIag/c_Js_5-9WSE/s640/IMG_4049.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When I was picking my colors, I really wanted something that could pass as storebought, so I chose pretty mellow colors for my regular taste. I actually bought both the grey and pink fabrics at Hancock's of Paducah, thinking they could go together. And go together they do! I love that it's a demure grey but has those pops of bright magenta. :)<br />
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At the booth in Paducah, the husband of the pattern author mentioned how many times he hears that her patterns are well written and easy to follow, and I have to agree. Sewing anything that isn't a quilt is NOT my strong suit. These instructions were great though, and I only had to rip things out a few times (mostly because I didn't read closely enough).</div>
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One aspect of the instructions that I loved was the inclusion of pre-printed labels to apply to your pieces.</div>
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You can see all of my pieces cut, fused, and labeled here. Oh, I must mention the interfacing too. Per the pattern recommendation, I used Pellon decor bond. I am really impressed. It was super easy to sew through and work with, but the finished tote is nicely stiff and sturdy.</div>
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She has many other cool purse and tote patterns too, so I see many more pattern purchases from the Creative Thimble in the future!</div>
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As a side note, Rosie was being a total obstructionist during the construction of this tote!</div>
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-21289422966191975042015-05-09T06:05:00.000-07:002015-05-09T06:05:08.294-07:00fun finish<div style="text-align: center;">
I've got so much to post about but no time to post! The photos on my computer have been in disarray for months, and it's making it tough to blog. I'm trying to get them organized a little bit at a time.</div>
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In the meantime, here's a top I just finished. </div>
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I don't think I ever even posted about it being in progress.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-chQEx4cuBL8/VU4EejWJX6I/AAAAAAAAIY4/jGgRvTT1bpY/s1600/IMG_1069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-chQEx4cuBL8/VU4EejWJX6I/AAAAAAAAIY4/jGgRvTT1bpY/s640/IMG_1069.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Yes, it's a Christmas quilt! This was a free pattern from Kate Spain called "In from the Cold." You can still find it. It immediately caught my eye because free patterns that show off fabric lines are usually pretty lame. But this one is so fun and unique!</div>
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The pattern sat around in my head until last summer when I found a Christmas fabric bundle on sale at my LQS.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x0kyDdmRVL4/VU4ElP-u4NI/AAAAAAAAIZg/NgLD1OQGokE/s1600/IMG_2626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x0kyDdmRVL4/VU4ElP-u4NI/AAAAAAAAIZg/NgLD1OQGokE/s640/IMG_2626.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I cut out the pieces and worked slowly, one mug at a time, whenever I was feeling overwhelmed by my other projects. I can't recommend enough this method of having a "fun" side project to default to when the others tire you out.</div>
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Here are some close-ups of some of the fanciers mugs:</div>
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Aaaaand that's all I've got today. I am in between large quilt projects and loving it. I am working on little odds and ends that I picked up in Paducah (a really cool tote bag, some wool easter eggs, wallhangings), and finishing off random UFOs (my bee block quilt, another tote, some wallhangings). It's fun to walk into my sewing room and say "what do I feel like working on today?" I hope you are enjoying whatever projects you are working on too!</div>
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-73483350271560113082015-04-14T19:44:00.001-07:002015-04-14T19:44:33.173-07:00More finishes!Yes, I have been quilting during the past two (three? eek!) months. I'm just awful at photographing my progress!<br />
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So let's see, last we talked I was in the process of quilting Celtic Solstice. One of the stencils I had bought was not feeling quite right for the design.<br />
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So I went into illustrator, mocked up the block, and sketched up a new design of arcs, similar to the style I had quilted on the other blocks.<br />
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Here's the printout of the quilting design.<br />
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I'm sure the pounce pad people don't want you to know this, but you really don't need to buy stencils to go with your pounce pad. These printouts work great. I just stitched out the design with no thread and then used the pounce pad on it. Below is the backside so you can see my stencil holes.</div>
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And here it is laid out for marking. I snipped out the triangles to help with alignment.<br />
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Miss Rosie provided quality control! She looks really annoyed in this picture, huh? ;)</div>
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During the quilting, I was shocked to find the following error. Can you see it?</div>
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It seems I used that green square as test fabric for my zigzag stitch at some point! And it ended up in the final quilt! Luckily it was easy to pick out.</div>
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The stitching was done on this quilt quite some time ago, but I only finished recently because I took so long to sew down the binding. I decided to order a pack of wonder clips from Massdrop. Have you used them? They have a quilting section and post one new quilting product per day. One big downside is that it takes forever to get your items. (Also the sales are not always that great, check around online before you buy!) Anyways, three weeks later when the clips finally showed up I was super happy and FINALLY got this quilt finished!</div>
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The wonder clips were great. I am a convert!<br />
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Here's the only shot of the finished quilt I have so far. I need to do some glamour shots soon. (And apparently I took this photo before the binding was sewn down)<br />
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It fits on our bed! This is a big accomplishment, we don't have any other bed-sized quilts yet. And yes, my room is a mess. But let's focus on the quilt! Ooh aah! (Psst - do you see Pepper waiting to jump on top? For some reason she LOVES this quilt! The entire time I was binding it she would burrow underneath and take naps!)<br />
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A note on the batting - this quilt was made with wool batting by Quilter's Dream. I really like their company and their battings. So far I have had no trouble quilting with it. I didn't experience any pilling problems although there are bits of batting all over it that I still need to go through and pick off - I think they came off from the bits hanging out the edges while I was quilting. It seems soft but lightweight. I will let you know more after I've used it longer.</div>
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Onto other projects...here is a fun side project that took up a week of my time:</div>
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These are supposed to be campaign ribbons for a cat-themed trivia night. There was a table decoration contest. Our team name was "James Garfield Lasagna Party" and was supposed to be Garfield (the cat) running for president, so I made these Garfield kitty campaign ribbons for everyone to wear. I think the theme was a little too obscure/difficult to understand though so we didn't win the decoration contest.<br />
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The other big thing I my list was knocking out Grand Illusion once and for all! With Celtic Solstice I burned out before adding the final border, and I didn't want that to happen here. So I sat down and got those border pieces sewn!<br />
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Unfortunately, when I went to sew the border on, it was a full two inches too short. W.T.F.<br />
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I read and re-read the instructions. All I can think is a seam allowance issue that compounded. I definitely followed all of the instructions correctly. So this was really frustrating and after some distressed phone calls to my mom and paces around the house, I added filler fabric to each end of the border pieces.<br />
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So you can see in that photo, those extra lime strips aren't actually supposed to be there. But in the end I don't think they lock as awful as I feared they would.</div>
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Here's the finished top on my bed. It's even bigger than Celtic Solstice!</div>
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Now I attempted some glamour shots outside for this one, but a thunderstorm was rolling in at the time and it was really windy. Here's the best shot.<br />
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And some outtakes...<br />
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<br />I think everyone agrees that it doesn't have quite the same pop as Celtic Solstice, but I do still really like the colors I chose for it. This one is getting folded up for a while, and will be quilted maybe in the fall. In the meantime I have started some fun, easy project, and have another quilt top nearly complete! I will share that in a future post.</div>
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To close, here's Pepper interrupting my photo shoot.</div>
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-30909500817340380572015-02-22T16:40:00.000-08:002015-02-22T16:40:33.050-08:00Skill Builder BOM Finished!I am spending the first part of the year finishing up loose ends. It is so refreshing to finish off projects! It is also refreshing to walk into the sewing room and ask "what do I want to work on today?" instead of being in the middle of a huge project that I feel I have to complete.<br />
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So, one of the first loose ends was last year's Skill Builder BOM from Pile O' Fabric.<br />
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I have to say, I was dreading the final assembly, but it was super easy!<br />
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This was my first "quilt as you go" quilt. Each block is quilted individually, then joined together with batting and sashing.<br />
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nervewracking because everything needs to be stitched with the seam just so in order to fit together properly, but all went smoothly. And I must admit that the finished quilt has far more intricate quilting than it would have had if I had tried to quilt it after fully assembled - it's just too hard and tedious.<br />
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Here are some close ups of the blocks:<br />
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I probably won't be doing future skill builders...the teaching style and my learning style didn't match up. But I do like the finished quilt. However, I used 80/20 batting (Can't remember the brand at this point) that ended up being super thin. I don't think it would be a very snuggly quilt. My mom suggested hanging it on the wall of my sewing room, which would be perfect, but my sewing room has slanted walls and the quilt won't fit. So I'm sure what to do with it now. (Oh and then my boyfriend said, "why did you make it if you didn't have a plan for it?" Quilters must create, sir!)<br />
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Oh, in addition as you might have noticed the batting shrunk like nobody's business! It's really noticeable on the blocks where I left portions unquilted, like the iron and sewing machine. It's funny because I know some people like the shrinkage because it provides that "heirloom" sort of look, but am I the only one who would prefer my batting not to shrink at all? I guess that's the one advantage of the polyester batting, it doesn't shrink.<br />
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After this guy was finished, I did a few odd jobs on my list. I hemmed a pair of pants that have been waiting over a year for my attention, and whipped up these cute Yosemite pillow cases for our bed.<br />
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We both really love Yosemite and have been many times, and this flannel fabric is so nice and soft! I know they don't match and they aren't particularly attractive, but they're special to us. The top one features lots of Yosemite landmarks, and the bottom one just has so many fun camping items. Do you see the campfire popcorn? Or the ranger hat? Too cute! It's fun to have them.<br />
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The next big unfinished project to tackle is the 2013 Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt. This is a biiiig quilt and I am using wool batting, which I am pretty eager to test. Instead of trying to figure out a freehand design, I got some stencils and am using my pounce pad to transfer the designs to the quilt.<br />
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Here is the quilt with the stencil laid out:<br />
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All marked up: (Not perfect but close enough to follow)<br />
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Aaaand stitched!<br />
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In general the pounce pad has done a fine job marking up the quilt top. I like the stencils but I must admit, they are less forgiving than your typical free motion filler. With free motion if I make a mistake I can hide it or make it look like part of the flow. Here any wibble wobbles or inconsistencies are really obvious. The design I picked is also leading to little raised areas in the center of each block. I think if I pulled the fabric tighter it wouldn't do that as much. I'm also facing the usual tension issues when trying to quilt.<br />
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Now this quilt alternates two blocks to create an overall pattern. I have quilted all of the one type of block, but the stencil I bought for the other block doesn't look quite right:<br />
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I can see what I was going for but since the diamonds don't really follow any of the lines in the quilt, I think it's too incongruous. I am thinking of other design ideas and might just make up my own stencil, by printing something out and stitching through the lines with no thread in the needle. I've done this before and these work great with the pounce pad as well.<br />
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On a side note, at our guild meeting this month we had a tutorial for how to use instagram, so I finally signed up a quilting-specific account. You can find me @chibibenz. Instagram has a lot of appeal because it's so fast and easy. Writing blog posts usually takes me an hour and getting all of the photos added takes quite some time. With instagram you click one button and you are done! So I will probably start being more active on there than on here, just for time management purposes.<br />
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One last note! This month at our guild meeting we also did our pincushion swap. It was a huge hit! This was a relief because I am on the challenge and swap committee, and our last challenge was a flop.<br />
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Remember my pincushion? It was a teapot!</div>
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And I came home with this super cute "hot toddy" pincushion, which came with actual hot toddy recipes. I just love the detail with which she made the accessories of the lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and star anise. </div>
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Okay that's it for this update! Back to stitching!</div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-1254592955532028912015-01-25T17:50:00.002-08:002015-01-25T17:50:47.162-08:00ProgressProgress has been slow but steady around here. Today I finally got the top all sewn together for my Grand Illusion mystery quilt. It still needs the borders added, I will work on those next.<br />
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The photo is awful because it is dark out and this quilt is really too big for one person to hold, but you get the idea.<br />
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I've been taking my time partially to see how everyone else is finishing their quilts. A lot of people (myself included) found the original design too busy and altered it. I've been looking for ideas and I think what I ended up with is pretty good considering I wasn't really willing to do any re-work. A lot of people ditched the checkerboards, but they took my FOREVER so I wasn't about to scrap them. This way I used all of the pieces I had already made and just altered their orientation.<br />
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Throughout the process I've been trying pretty hard to keep things nice and straight. I really wanted to push my perfect pieces. But once it came time to put these blocks together, all the perfection went out the window. There are a LOT of wonky seams. At some point you have to decide how much you care, and I decided this quilt wasn't going in any shows, and a lot of the imperfections are the kind of small things that only I would notice, so they stayed in.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you see how wonky that navy square is??</td></tr>
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Can I just say though, I HATE these checkerboards? They were a total pain to make - this step took me a month alone - and they don't even fit with the quilt. The main block is a nine patch (in thirds) and these are an eight patch (in fourths) so the seams don't match up. That annoys me. And the color in them, purple, isn't in the main block, which means instead of tying the quilt together, they throw in a completely new element. And finally, they really show errors. They are supposed to be little squares and I think 80% of mine are rectangles. Even though I was trimming mine down at each step of the assembly, almost all of these were about a quarter inch to half inch too long. It was frustrating.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a rectangle.</td></tr>
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In other news, I made this cute pincushion.<br />
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It was based off <a href="http://www.jointhemood.com/2012/04/pincushion-alfiletero.html#.VMGqMHDF9b4">this tutorial</a>. Somehow my lid ended up looking very much like a clown hat, but I still think the overall effect is pretty adorable. (And notice I tried very hard to ensure that all of my hearts were face up!) It is for my guild's pincushion swap. Hopefully nobody will mind that it isn't "modern."<br />
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And ALSO! I never shared my Christmas sewing. I made these wine totes from a <a href="http://www.needleandspatula.com/2011/01/quilted-wine-tote-sewing-tutorial.html">tutorial here</a>. They came together quickly and I think they look pretty good!<br />
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I also made a bee block - did I show this already? Can't remember.<br />
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It was supposed to be improv. We all discussed in our bee how much we appreciated it because it turns out we are all super uncomfortable with improv. It was a good learning experience, but I will have to do more with improv before I really feel comfortable with it.<br />
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I also wanted to share...last weekend I was in Chicago. We visited the Art Institute and the BEST PART was an exhibit of a bunch of miniature rooms. Here I am next to one for a sense of scale.<br />
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Almost of them had itty bitty needlepoint objects inside. I also do needlepoint, so I was pretty much blown away by these things.</div>
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Here is one in progress on a frame. And you can see the rug as well. Can you believe how real this room looks?!?!</div>
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And the needlepoint chairs! Look at that chair! It's probably 4 inches tall. Totally crazy.<br />
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Needless to say, my boyfriend had to drag me out of there I was so in love with all those miniature rooms :)Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-78461996254710050772015-01-05T19:28:00.000-08:002015-01-05T19:28:03.229-08:00Grand Illusion Link Up 6<div align="center">
<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Grand Illusion Mystery"><img alt="Grand Illusion Mystery" src="http://quiltville.com/graphics/gigraphic150.JPG" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
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Well hello! I haven't linked up since week two because...well...I'm still stuck on clue 3. I don't know why, but it is going suuuuper slow for me. I've only gotten 90 of the 8 patch units finished.<br />
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But the advantage of falling behind is that I get to see whatever everyone else has done with their quilts before I decide what to do with mine! One of the most fun parts of these mysteries is to see how everyone makes the quilt their own.<br />
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I spent a loooong time last night arranging and rearranging my blocks in many formations to try to decide what my favorite layout was. I have narrowed it down to two options and would love your help choosing.<br />
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Option 1:<br />
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I really like how the pinwheels POP with the teal centers and navy edges. I think it makes a a bold, eye-catching statement. And since the pink and teal were my two favorite parts of this color scheme, I had to put the pinks in the cornerstones. But the big disadvantage of this design is that you lose the double diamond impact of Bonnie's original.</div>
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Option 2:</div>
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I think the pinwheels make less of a wham bang with the pink next to the teal centers instead of the navy, but this way you can see the secondary design of the diamonds formed by the navy lines. This is very similar to Bonnie's layout.<br />
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So, what's your vote? You have to squint and stand 20 feet from your computer before you decide! I might have to whip up some mock-ups in photoshop of how each design will look with the full number of repetitions.<br />
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<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/01/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6.html">And go check out all of the other quilts!</a> There is so much inspiration as many tops are complete! As always, thanks to Bonnie for putting this wonderful design out there for free. I know it can be a big headache for her with SO MANY participants, but it sure is a blast for all of us!<br />
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-89756940508492980892014-12-30T20:00:00.001-08:002014-12-30T20:00:29.734-08:002014 RecapWell it's that time of year when everybody creates a recap post, and I'm jumping on the bandwagon!<br />
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At the very start of this year, I created a list of all the projects I wanted to get done and taped it up right next to my sewing machine.<br />
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While I only crossed four items off that list, they were all full-sized quilts, so BIG items to finish up. (okay one wasn't finished, as you will see below...) For me this is great, I'm a one quilt a year kind of gal, so finishing three is awesome. I'm satisfied that I got some of the more pressing items that had been nagging at me off the list, and frankly two more items on the list, the Celtic Solstice mystery quilt and Skill Builder BOM, are both very close to being completed, so I am feeling good about those too.<br />
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Here are my four BIG finishes:<br />
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Stairway to Cat Heaven 2 (went to a fellow cat lover recuperating from a bad injury)<br />
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Veggie Quilt (went to my dad, ignore the fact that the binding isn't on yet here)</div>
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Bear Bargello (went to my brother)</div>
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Layer Cake Quilt Along (I gave this sucker away! Don't be afraid to toss projects you no longer want. Another quilter was really delighted to take this off my hands and I was delighted that it went to a home where it would be loved and off my plate!)</div>
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So whats on my list for next year?<br />
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I want to continue to cross items off my WIP list. I really prefer to only have one project in progress at a time. Things that are half done, I want to be DONE.<br />
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At the same time, these projects are usually not as fun to work on (they are WIPs for a reason). I want to have at least one "fun" project going on at a time that I can switch to. Right now my fun project, which I may not have posted about yet, is this "In from the Cold" pattern by Kate Spain (it's free!)<br />
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It's very easy to sit down, make a single coffee cup, and have a nice little accomplishment under my belt in one evening. It's also very modular so it's easy to pick up and set aside.<br />
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Finally, my main goal for 2015 is to create a photo-inspired quilt. I have multiple books on the subject and I really am looking forward to actually making something from them (finally!)<br />
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P.S. When I was looking back through my photos from this year, I found about a million cute cat photos. I volunteer with Tenth Life Cat Rescue and this year cats became an increasingly big part of my life. We have had a number of guest kitties in our home this year. So here are some shots!<br />
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This little lady is Canasta. She was a total DIVA!<br />
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Okay these aren't quilting related, but they are too funny not to share. Canasta insisted on getting into EVERYTHING! I promise, these photos are not staged. Here she is making herself at home in the fridge and in the dishwasher!<br />
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This lil dude was one of a litter of four kittens - and mom! - who stayed with us until they were big enough to live in the shelter. At the shelter, they are living in large, free-roaming cat rooms while they wait for their furever homes.<br />
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Handsome Garfield was only our guest for a week, but he left an impression! He refused to stay in the bathroom and figured out immediately how to open the sliding door, making it impossible to keep him in. He made himself right at home in my sewing area!</div>
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Sweet Rosie is our current foster, and she is immersed in sewing as she has been living in the sewing room. She is incredibly well-behaved and hasn't gotten into anything she shouldn't, although my projects are now furrier than usual.</div>
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And of course we can't forget our reigning queen quilt inspector, our resident kitty Pepper!</div>
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This year we also lost my original quilting companion, Annabelle, at 18 years of age. She was a wonderful kitty and I will miss her greatly!</div>
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Okay that's it for cat photos! Thanks for staying tuned if you made it this far and prepare for more kitties in 2015!</div>
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-67141874805740860052014-12-09T16:33:00.004-08:002014-12-09T16:33:49.435-08:00Grand Illusion Link-Up: Week 2!<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank" title="Grand Illusion"><img alt="Grand Illusion" src="http://quiltville.com/graphics/badge1_150.gif" style="border: none;" /></a>Well, I've been chugging along on my Grand Illusion quilt over here. This weekend I finished step 1 and am partway through step 2. I am keeping track of how many pieces we have cut so far...1360! Wow!<br />
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I always use Bonnie's quilts as a chance to practice my precision piecing. This time I followed her tip for setting up a little bumper along my 1/4" seam line. I sewed on an index card to be sure I had a perfect 1/4" seam, then used the index card to line up the bumper. The bumper is made of mole foam.<br />
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I think one of my biggest problems with piecing is just wibble wobbling around - the bumped solved that. Check out how perfect this square is!<br />
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Last year I had to manually square up every piece at every stage because they were all so wonky. This time I started squaring up my first few HSTs and then decided they were all pretty much on the mark. I'm feeling <u>really</u> accomplished about that.<br />
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I am also absolutely loving how the teal and pink look together. Those two colors were made for each other!<br />
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Here is a tip I learned from Bonnie last year: Keep everything attached and then when you iron it, it is way faster because you can line up all the blocks at once and just iron your way down the line.</div>
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I love this pic for so many reasons. Peeking out from behind the iron is my Celtic Solstice, all basted and ready for quilting. And in the background you can see the chain of all the other pieces trailing off on the floor. The orange thing on the near side is a fabric cutter designed just for chain piecing. It clips the pieces apart when you are ready. It's pretty nifty!</div>
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Here are my completed units from Step 1. I am feeling really good about my color choices! I haven't yet decided if I am going to try to square these guys up or not.</div>
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Now as for step 2, I used method 2. In this method you just tape the template to your ruler. I found this super easy because then I am just following the lines on the ruler as with any other cutting step. To me it was very intuitive. I was surprised that the majority of people online just method 3, which is kind of a flying geese-style method. When I used that for my chevrons last year, all the blocks were super wonky.</div>
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Here are all my cut pieces. On more tip I learned last year, from another participant: Use paper clips to keep track of how many you have cut. Here I clip each pile of ten and it's way easier to count the bright paper clips than to figure out how many piles I have.</div>
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I've only made one test block so far, but it turned out correct. I hope all the others do too!</div>
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Here's where I am at now: I have sewed the pinks onto all of my neutral diamonds. Next up: sewing all of the navy triangles!</div>
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Head over to <a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html">Bonnie's blog</a> to see what everyone else is doing. It's a lot of fun to see all the different color combos, and to see people laying out blocks and guessing what the design will be.</div>
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-3598200115356812622014-12-01T20:55:00.001-08:002014-12-01T20:55:17.737-08:00Grand Illusion Link-Up Week 1Hello! Have you started on your Grand Illusion mystery quilt yet??<br />
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<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Grand Illusion"><img alt="Grand Illusion" src="http://quiltville.com/graphics/badge1_150.gif" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
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I'm not as caught up as the early birds, but I'm not too far behind either. I recently decided to change color schemes and the few days before Thanksgiving were spent rushing to every quilt shop in town to find just the right colors.<br />
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Early on I purchased a lot of the wrong fabric because I only brought the color cards places with me, not my actual fabric selections. As a result I had many fabrics that looked like they matched the card but just weren't quite right once I got them home and sat them next to the others in their color group. For fun, I assembled all of the fabrics that I have purchased for this project but will not be using.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nm6JAAj2xVI/VH1Ddh-9xLI/AAAAAAAAIF0/77pbZn_NED4/s1600/IMG_31961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nm6JAAj2xVI/VH1Ddh-9xLI/AAAAAAAAIF0/77pbZn_NED4/s1600/IMG_31961.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a><br />
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A bunch of these, like the whites, greens, and yellow, were nixed when I changed color schemes. But all the teals and pinks were just not quite the right shade. But yeah, in terms of stash-busting, not so much.<br />
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Here are my lavenders (replacing green) for the project:<br />
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As you can see, the two on the left are just too dark.<br />
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And my teals. The top row are the "keepers," the bottom row is getting ditched. Most of them came out too green.<br />
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Now the pinks were especially hard. I had one that I loved and none of the others quite matched it. I couldn't find the right shade ANYWHERE. Here is the medley I had on Tuesday morning.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iod3ABeSdH4/VH1DeS7FJrI/AAAAAAAAIGE/afJRnzjSqy8/s1600/IMG_3199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iod3ABeSdH4/VH1DeS7FJrI/AAAAAAAAIGE/afJRnzjSqy8/s1600/IMG_3199.jpg" height="342" width="640" /></a></div>
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Luckily the last quilt shop I visited had an abundance of this shade, so by the end of Tuesday my pinks now looked like this:<br />
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Much better! And here are the final fabrics all together:<br />
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So, this weekend I was traveling for the holidays, so I did not bring my machine. However, I did bring all of my cutting supplies and set myself up in a nice bright part of the house for some cutting.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-foEO0mJnCSo/VH1DgKtYyqI/AAAAAAAAIGg/ii5yDhMNf1E/s1600/IMG_3212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-foEO0mJnCSo/VH1DgKtYyqI/AAAAAAAAIGg/ii5yDhMNf1E/s1600/IMG_3212.jpg" height="640" width="474" /></a></div>
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I kept running into the problem of bends in my fabric. It is a problem I have often and it drives me absolutely nuts too.<br />
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So I posted it on the trusty Quiltville facebook group and immediately got over 100 responses. The most simplest, and what worked for me, was a reminder to make sure that the fold is perpendicular to your cutting line. It sounds really dumb, but I had only been focused on my cut edges lining up and hadn't even considered the fold!</div>
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A couple of people said to just skip the aggravation and cut the fabric in half, and for my 1/4 and 1/3 yard pieces I took their advice. It does take a lot of the stress out of cutting.</div>
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I took my sweet time with the cutting, it probably took me about 6 hours overall. I find it very relaxing once you hit your rhythm. Here we are all complete! 760 pieces!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EEqX4cBXLpc/VH1DgnmWOLI/AAAAAAAAIGo/eAo1uK1WSJg/s1600/IMG_3215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EEqX4cBXLpc/VH1DgnmWOLI/AAAAAAAAIGo/eAo1uK1WSJg/s1600/IMG_3215.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here is where my cut pieces are today:</div>
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All ready to be sewn! And am I sewing them? Nope, because I am writing a blog post instead. Lol.<br />
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Go visit the <a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-1.html">linky party here</a>. The best part of this project is sharing in the joys, struggles, and successes of each other. Our facebook group has had members post who have never made a quilt before, those who have already cut all their HSTs the wrong size, and those that were done with step 1 within the same day of Bonnie's posting. We are all cheering each other on and I LOVE it! I was thinking yesterday that this project is really my Christmas present to myself!<br />
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Stop by next week for more progress, and if you haven't started the mystery yet, WHY EVER NOT?!Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-30581380220359114392014-11-23T15:35:00.000-08:002014-11-23T15:35:07.688-08:00Wrapping Things UpI've been working here on getting odds and ends finished before Bonnie's mystery starts in a mere 5 days. I have my fabrics chosen and mostly purchased, I need a few more fat quarters in two colorways but otherwise am all set.<br />
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I've gotten *most* of my Christmas presents stitched up, can't show you photos of those until after the season. But I also have been working to wrap up my Skill Builder BOM. I'm pleased to say that I have finally caught up!<br />
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Here are all the blocks laid out together:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTf60MxGZGs/VHJsA5UQbXI/AAAAAAAAIEU/ewa4ToOCdZw/s1600/IMG_3188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTf60MxGZGs/VHJsA5UQbXI/AAAAAAAAIEU/ewa4ToOCdZw/s1600/IMG_3188.JPG" height="610" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's exciting to finally see it coming together! I have never done a quilt as you go before, so we will see how smoothly the actual assembly goes. From tutorials I've read online, it looks like a pain. I believe the assembly instructions for this project will be released in December.</div>
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Here are some close-ups of some of the recently completed blocks:</div>
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This embroidery block took me forever simply due to the hand stitching. I worked on it very slowly over time while sitting in front of the tv. The circles are made using piecelique, which I like but don't love. You can see glue stains all over the hoop because I am messy. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xobTPhg15A4/VHJsDGOkxcI/AAAAAAAAIEk/SrR9ItmSXwU/s1600/IMG_3179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xobTPhg15A4/VHJsDGOkxcI/AAAAAAAAIEk/SrR9ItmSXwU/s1600/IMG_3179.JPG" height="640" width="602" /></a></div>
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Here we have the first paper pieced block, the iron. This block and I did NOT get along.<br />
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<br />This block was made up of many long, thin pieces, which are very hard to paper piece because they aren't secured to the paper in enough spots. The instructor used freezer paper but you can only do that if you have an inkjet printer, and I have a laserjet so I had to use regular paper.<br />
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And then I got about halfway through quilting it and determined that I wouldn't have enough thread to finish the block and didn't want to go on a wild goose chase to try to match the color, so I ripped it all out. Then I was quilting it the second time and this happened:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nY0FtASm6RI/VHJsAhrCsXI/AAAAAAAAIEM/v7R-NcLC-6s/s1600/IMG_3154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nY0FtASm6RI/VHJsAhrCsXI/AAAAAAAAIEM/v7R-NcLC-6s/s1600/IMG_3154.JPG" height="484" width="640" /> </a></div>
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So, more ripping ensued. Like I said, this block and I don't get along.</div>
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Next came the sewing machine, with much more manageable pieces.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U0Qu71gbhlc/VHJsIaF5q-I/AAAAAAAAIE0/hk91niC47NM/s1600/IMG_3162.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U0Qu71gbhlc/VHJsIaF5q-I/AAAAAAAAIE0/hk91niC47NM/s1600/IMG_3162.jpg" height="486" width="640" /></a></div>
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And the bookshelf, which I had a lot of fun with. The pattern called for a glue method that I did not appreciate, so I pieced it.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RhkkLxrmeDU/VHJs1mEcpoI/AAAAAAAAIFQ/yt-2oLd48dU/s1600/IMG_3159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RhkkLxrmeDU/VHJs1mEcpoI/AAAAAAAAIFQ/yt-2oLd48dU/s1600/IMG_3159.JPG" height="422" width="640" /></a></div>
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And finally, the folded quilt. My quilt binding pieces don't match up perfectly but I think it still looks fine.<br />
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Phew! Now, onto my bee block and a few other fun odds and ends before the big mystery begins!<br />
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2228527612509121432.post-26215216001370570182014-11-16T07:59:00.002-08:002014-11-16T07:59:56.145-08:00Final(ish) Color ChoicesOkay, after more agonizing and tossing of fabrics all over my floor, I have a mostly complete color scheme. As I previously mentioned, I recently purchased a fat quarter bundle of a line called "geofabulous." I love the bright colors and the way they interact.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3yLjeIxkQP4/VGjGnLBnStI/AAAAAAAAIDc/iUh0fuErsgA/s1600/IMG_3055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3yLjeIxkQP4/VGjGnLBnStI/AAAAAAAAIDc/iUh0fuErsgA/s1600/IMG_3055.JPG" height="522" width="640" /></a></div>
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I was also intrigued because the pink and teal match Bonnie's color card exactly. So the other day I sat down with some of these prints and tried to match them. Here is what I came up with:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjYAYwT2yFw/VGjIPXzHfBI/AAAAAAAAID4/PxjVHNpQYfM/s1600/IMG_3140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjYAYwT2yFw/VGjIPXzHfBI/AAAAAAAAID4/PxjVHNpQYfM/s1600/IMG_3140.JPG" height="404" width="640" /></a></div>
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The bottom flower or mandala print is what the colors are based upon. It got a big thumbs down from my mom but I showed it to the ladies in my guild and they were ok with it.</div>
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There are a few remaining questions, and I need to decide the answers fast.</div>
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<li style="text-align: left;">Do I use the lime or lavender as a stand-in for Bonnie's yellow? The other will replace Bonnie's green. The yellow is a single large print instead of many scraps like the other colors. On the one hand, the lime has that brightness that the yellow has. On the other hand, lime is a shade of green so shouldn't I leave it with the greens and make the lavender the yellow?</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">As I relooked over the fabric requirements, there are a LOT of blacks and whites in this quilt. They are clearly an important component of the design. To match that fabric line I was trying to go for more beige and navy. But maybe I should stick with black and white. The two options are below.</li>
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Beige and Navy:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F5vTIkkJeZg/VGjH5qb_V-I/AAAAAAAAIDs/3ZP7Wbe24T4/s1600/IMG_3150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F5vTIkkJeZg/VGjH5qb_V-I/AAAAAAAAIDs/3ZP7Wbe24T4/s1600/IMG_3150.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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Black and White:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZoSr6GorOsw/VGjH5qpl6XI/AAAAAAAAIDo/OR2LmxPVdgo/s1600/IMG_3149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZoSr6GorOsw/VGjH5qpl6XI/AAAAAAAAIDo/OR2LmxPVdgo/s1600/IMG_3149.jpg" height="488" width="640" /></a></div>
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What do you think? </div>
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<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05842922540642707997noreply@blogger.com0