artsy-crafty babe

the finished MHC quilt

Here it is, the finished Margaret's Hope Chest quilt.  I didn't get it in the mail today, like I had planned, but I think tomorrow will be fine.  I had to keep it an extra day to get some photos of it.  I didn't finish the binding until late last night, then it needed to be washed.

When the call went out through Craft Hope to make a quilt for those in need, I knew that I had to do it.   My goal for this quilt was for it to be cheery and non-gender specific.  I pulled some fabrics from my stash that fit the bill, then started cutting away.

I didn't use a pattern, but started by cutting 3 strips from each of my fabrics, varying in width from 2-4".  Next, I sewed my strips together randomly, trying not to sew two of the same fabrics together.  I did this in 3-4 strip groupings, resulting in 4 groups of strips.  I pressed my sewn groups and figured that I could make 12 12.5" blocks from what I had (3 blocks from each sewn group of strips).  I ended up having to cut a few more strips to make some groupings wide enough, but that was easy enough.  I then sewed my blocks together rotating the strips.  The quilt wasn't quite wide enough, so I added a border.

Due to my time restraint, I backed the quilt with one solid piece of fabric.  I quilted it with my usual squared spiral, then bound it with the fun stripe to give it a little kick.

Individually, none of these fabrics really jumped out at me, which is probably why they've been sitting in my stash for a while, but I love how they all work together.  While I made this quilt, I thought about it bringing a little bit of comfort and joy to the recipient.  I also kept the family of Margaret in my mind, focusing on the positive endeavor brought about through such a tragic event.  I hope that my own positive thoughts and love are felt by the person who receives it.

Thank you Craft Hope for such a fulfilling project. 

low key weekend

Things have been pretty quiet around here this weekend.  We don't normally have busy weekends, but this weekend was supposed to be one of the busier ones due to soccer games and the kids' school fall festival.  By late Friday night Lily started feeling bad and by Saturday morning has a 103 fever, so off to the Dr. we went.  She was just getting over a sinus infection and we've been keeping a close eye on her asthma due to recent flare ups, so we wanted to make sure that things were okay.  Poor girl has the flu, most probably h1n1 since that's the only strain they've been seeing in these parts.

We sent the younger two to their grandparent's house just to be on the safe side, so it was very quiet around here.  I used this down time to cast on a new knitting project, clean up my sewing room, do LOTS of laundry, finish up the craft hope quilt (still working on the binding) and catch up on my 12 square blocks.

Sarah allowed us to make whatever type of block we wanted.  Her only request was that if we add any fabrics to please use a white or yellow toned fabric to lighten it up.  Okay, that's exactly what I did.  I love a pop of white in a quilt so I added 2 white frames.  I started out making a log cabin-ish block, but then it evolved into this.  I have problems doing proper log cabins, as you'll see in the next block.

Katie did ask for a log cabin block, a scrappy one.  If you've ever visited her blog, you'd know that this block is so totally her.  That girl loves white and linen!  Her only request was that if we added any fabrics that it be white or linen :-)  I had a few in my stash that worked.  I'm not usually a monochromatic person, but I love this.  This will be such a pretty quilt when assembled.  So feminine.

And last but certainly not least, Chris sent us a bunch of vintage sheet pieces and asked for rows.  That seemed like a simple enough request.  If we were to add any fabrics, they were to be more vintage sheets or white.  Well friends, I have oodles of vintage sheet scraps.  By the way, searching for these scraps was how the sewing room, clean up happened. 

I had so much fun and had so much material for this one, that I made another.  I easily could have made 5 more.  In fact, I'm thinking about making more blocks to do one of my own (just call me copy cat).  I hope you can use the extra block, Chris.  If you need some more to even it out, just let me know.

Well friends, a quilt is calling.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week! 

just dreaming

 
Now that it is Thursday already and I haven't done a thing other than the painting night, I realize that my craft to-do list was only a dream.  And with the kids' soccer games this weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday, it looks like I won't be getting much done then either.  Dang!  There's nothing scheduled tonight and the house is fairly picked up, so maybe, just maybe I can do some work on that quilt.

Speaking of quilts, I'm still behind on my 12 square quilt squares (what's new?), which officially ended in September.  I definitely need to move that one up on the priority list.  Some squares have started rolling in from the PTQB, which is exciting.  I love what those girls have come up with.  I have a feeling that a certain 8 yr old will take this quilt over once it is made.  It is right up her alley.

This really does deserve a post on its own, but that little Ava of mine is something!  She acts all sweet, but underneath she's a little spitfire.  All my kids have done some stupid stuff, but she seems to do it 10x's worse. 

Just this week she dumped an entire bottle of fingernail polish in the sink - HOT pink.  The nail polish was out of her reach, but she figured out a way to get to it.  The entire sink is now HOT pink.  I  haven't taken the time to kill some brain cells cleaning that stuff off.  On Monday afternoon she and Alex were innocently coloring on my bed, but then Ava decided to color ON my bed - the blanket, the sheets, and my coverlet, all of which I just washed on Saturday.  It will wash out, but I'd like to have clean bedding for at least a few days.  Is that too much to ask?  While she was at it, she also colored all over the back of my bedroom door with a crayon. 

I was hoping that was it, but then yesterday I noticed something funny about Oreo, our cat.  Is his fur pink?  Why yes, it was pink, and not just a little bit.  What the???  SOMEBODY colored the cat.  I asked the kids and they all denied it.  Then I questioned Ava some more.  I told her that she wouldn't be in trouble, I just wanted to know how she did it.  She answered me "Oreo was sleeping on Alex's bed, so I colored him".  ***this photo was from today, so he's had a few days to clean it off.  his paw was the only thing we could keep still enough to photograph, taking a picture of a cat is really hard! 

If she's quiet and you ask her what she's doing, she'll answer "anything, mama".  Oh, how right she is!  That girl, what in the world am I going to do with her???

my new favorite

Sorry about the wait.  I had every intention of photographing this quilt to have a post ready by Tuesday morning, but I had a laundry delay.  Due to a load of damp towels in the dryer (hate when that happens), I wasn't able to dry the quilt as soon as I wanted, and by the time the quilt was dry, I was too pooped.

What took me so long to finish this thing?  I pieced the top in December, bought the backing fabric in January, but then didn't touch it again until a few weeks ago.  I had to look back at my blog archives to figure out which fabrics I had wanted to use for the back.  I don't think I planned on using the yellow fabric for the binding, but I like it.  I'd have to refer to my archives again, but I'm pretty sure I pieced the top by just sewing fabric scraps together until I had a "block", then I sewed the blocks together without using any sashing.  I love improvisational piecing.  It has totally spoiled me on traditional piecing.

I quilted this using only horizontal straight lines.  I love it.  I'd sew one direction, turn it around, then sew the other way.  When I finished it looked like waves.  I was very curious to see how it would turn out after washing & drying.  I'm so happy the waves are still there.  I did a much better job making my "quilt sandwich" this time, so there were very few puckers during my quilting.  In case you were wondering, I don't use a walking foot.  I just speed through a straight stitch on my industrial sewing machine.  That thing sews so fast!  One day I'd like to try stippling or some type of free motion quilting, but this machine doesn't have the ability to drop the feed dogs and I don't have a darning foot.  One day maybe, but for now I'm happy with my straight lines.

I know when I pulled this back out to work on I said that this would be our soccer game quilt, but I'm not so sure about that.  I love it too much to lay on the ground!  Yep, it's my new favorite.

**it is impossible to take a photo of a quilt on the floor without Ruby laying on it.  I was able to get her off for one photo, but she left her pig ear right in the middle of the quilt.  Silly dog!

drunk strings and a spiderweb

I finally got around to playing catch up on my Pieced Together quilting bee blocks this weekend.  Whew!  I already had all my templates prepped, so all I had to do was sew. 

First up is a drunk love block Jody.  I must admit, when I opened the enveloppe and saw the template and the diagram, I nearly croaked!  I was so worried about messing it up.  I cut out each piece and kept it all pinned together until I was ready to assemble it.  Much to my surprise, it went together pretty easily.  I LOVE how this block came out.  I think I want a quilt like this.  This quilt will be wonderful when put toghether.

Next is the components of a string quilt for Sandy.  She requested that we didn't sew the 4 pieces together, which was fine with me.  These blocks are so pretty and fallish.  They remind me of a pumpkin.

And lastly, I made another spiderweb block, this time for Sam.  You'd think by now I'd have it down, but I have to look up the paper piecing instructions for this kind of blocks every time.  I think I've finally got it.  Maybe.

Now, the next challenge comes in getting these in the mail, which I WILL, along with the other set I finished a few several weeks ago (so sorry about that!).  This month is my month for sending out fabrics, so that's also on the agenda this week.  If you're in the bee and recieve my fabrics, no hurry on these blocks at all, okay? 

I haven't forgotten about my 12 square peeps - your blocks are next, promise. 

mission accomplished

I wanted a quilt sandwich by the end of the week, and that's exactly what I got.  Breaking it down into small chunks made it much more do-able.

Night before last I played with my backing fabrics and decided just how I wanted them.  Last night after the kids went to bed I pieced them together.

Tonight, while the kids were running rampant I pin basted.  Normally, I would have waited to do this after they went to bed, but I was in a rather pissy mood and needed to do it them.  I threatened them to STAY AWAY FROM THE QUILT.  It worked.  They left me alone and my quilt got basted into a sandwich.   Now it's all ready for some quilting.  (they weren't wild the entire time, Matt did manage to wrangle them with bedtime story)

I'd like to spend some time this weekend quilting, but I already have my Saturday night planned.  My friend and I are having a girls night out including dinner, some painting at Corks-n-Canvas, and maybe some drinks afterward at another friend's house, who I haven't seen in ages.  I'm so excited!   It should be a fun evening, indeed.  I'll have my camera with me, but I can't guarantee that I'll use it.  It seems like when I'm having lots of fun, the camera never makes it out of my purse!  Don't worry, photos or not, I'll give you a full report next week.  Have a great weekend, friends!

finishing what I started

I think all my uncompleted projects is giving me crafter's block.  No, that isn't entirely true.  I can come up with numerous things I'd like to create, but I'm blocked at starting them.  My guilty crafter's conscience keeps piping up "finish what you started!". 

Okay, yeah, that sounds like a plan.  When I wrote about making a quilt for soccer games the other day, I quickly realized how silly that was considering the quilt tops-in-waiting I already have.  Remember these?  Either one would be perfectly suitable for the kids to lay on.  They're both on the small size, more like lap quilts, made from scraps, which is what I was going to use. 

I even have the backing fabrics for them, but I when I pulled them out, I had a hard time remembering which went with which.  I think I have it figured out.  My goal for the rest of the week is to have one of these quilt tops ready for quilting this weekend.  That will only require piecing a back and pin basting.  I think I can do that.  I think I'll start with the darker one, much better for hiding grass stains.  Who knows, I may get on a roll and have a quilt ready for the next game! I think my guilty crafter's conscience is feeling better already.

my completed quilt

Boy, this sure feels good -- taking a just finished quilt out of the dryer is one of the best feelings!! 

When I started this quilt over the summer, I thought I'd complete it in a snap, especially considering that the quilt top was just about finished as soon as I started it.  My plan was to use it in my living room on my brown slipcovered chair.  Well, since then, I got sidetracked and have totally redecorated my living room, including recovering that chair.  When I chose to change things up in there, finishing that quilt was no longer a priority.

Now I think I'm going to use this quilt in my bedroom.  It's the perfect size for covering up with when napping (wish I had more time for that!). 

While working on this quilt, I came to the conclusion that I am a sloppy quilter, and this doesn't bother me one bit.  Nothing is completely square, there are puckers on the front and wonky quilting lines.  No worries, I think that makes my quilt even more beautiful.  All those imperfections are proof that this was made by hand.  My hands.  There is beauty in imperfection. 

For me, making a quilt is not just craft, but an artistic expression.  I don't like to use quilt patterns, I find the freedom of random piecing exciting.  I love mixing color and pattern.  Very often, I am surprised at the outcome - I like not knowing what the quilt will look like in the end.  

Right now, making quilts satisfies me.  Everything about the process is interesting - picking out the colors, the fabrics, how they will go together, the backing, and the quilting process itself.  I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot more of these...after I get a few more of my completed quilt tops made into quilts, that is.

**a few details: the back was pieced using the off whites that weren't the correct match to my original sashing.  When I ran out of the off white sashing while piecing the front, I didn't bring a sample with me to match up in the store, so I ended up buying 3 different off whites.  Who knew there were so many off whites??  I quilted the quilt using straight lines all around the perimeter (on the sashing), then I divided the quilt into 4 quadrants and did a big square spiral in each.  I used off white thread for the top with red thread in the bobbin.  My tension was a little off, allowing the red thread to show through on the front, but that didn't bother me.  I washed the quilt with vinegar because I was afraid that the red would bleed on the off white - it seemed to do the trick because there was no bleeding.  Overall, I'm very pleased with my work!!

distracted

An annoying aspect of having a puppy is their short attention span.  This drives me crazy when I'm bringing Ruby out.  She's sniffing, about to do her business, then oh, there's a lovebug!  Oh, there's a toad!  Oh, a rooster cock-a-doodle-doo'ed!  Oh, there's the cat!  And by this time, I've been outside in my front yard in pajamas for 10 minutes and Ruby has yet to pee!  So annoying!!!

Well, I kind of feel like Ruby right now.  I went upstairs Friday night to work on quilting my red quilt, but noticed that my scrap basket was over flowing.  In picking up the overflow, I started looking through the scraps, and before I knew it, I had picked out some scraps for another quilt.  Then, I started sewing it.

Yeah, so much for starting that table top quilt.  Eh, a happy diversion?  Once I get this current scrap quilt completed, I'm going to work on assembling my other quilts - promise!  Well, maybe not. I know myself well enough not to make that promise.  When it comes to sewing projects, I have the attention span of a gnat (or a puppy)!

By the way - charcoal gray, yellow-green, and fuschia-plum, LOVE it.  This color combination makes me very happy.

about that "new" quilt...

One day I was looking through my flickr stream and came across this picture of my dining table with my table quilt from last fall.  I love that look - so clean, bright, and homey.  I miss that look.  Earlier this summer I moved that table from my dining room and into my living room so that we could put our old, bigger dining table in that space.  As a family of 5, we needed the table space. My table quilt doesn't fit the bigger table, so what else am I to do other than make a new table quilt?

I'm pretty much sticking with the same colors as the first table quilt, (which now resides on the platform rocker in the corner), but I'm making a different pattern.  I'm trying my hand at a string quilt.  I think this will be fun.  I don't want it to be too fussy, so I'm going with a big 16" block.  Since I'm not using scraps, I can do this, I think.

It may seem a little crazy using a quilt as a tablecloth, but for my family it was very practical.  Yes, we did actually eat on it.  At first I picked it up at every meal, but then I got tired of doing that.  It did get dirty, but it washed well.  It was great for absorbing spills (we have LOTS of those).  For some reason, I'd rather just throw a spilled on quilt in the wash than have to drag out a mop and use up towels.  With this project waiting in the wings, I guess I had better get busy finishing up that red one - I'm about 1/3 done with the quilting.  Soon, very soon.