Nana's Flower Garden

I finally finished this today!

The permanent fabric marker I used on the label seemed to hold up just fine in the washer. No bleeding or running. I guess we'll see how it holds up long term, but in the meantime I am very happy with the results.

Nana fell last night and hit her head. She seems to be okay but they are holding her in the hospital overnight for observation.

Got something done!

A couple somethings, actually.

Here are the blocks I sent to my swapper this month. He sent me two also, which was pretty cool. I will get those pictures soon, have no fear.

I was actually loathe to part with the black star block and left it on my design wall to look pretty for a while, but it has finally been packaged and stamped for shipping.

And the other thing I finished was on my Project 144 list. Here is Jack looking completely sweet in garb I made him - notably, I finished sewing his brown shirt.

He was all frowny-faced, trying to look serious, but I did catch a smile after I gave him a little grief.

And here is the label I made for the quilt for Nana, which I have decided to name Nana's Flower Garden (you quilty- people out there will get the play on words.) It just needs the binding hand stitched on the back and a good washing, to see if the permanent fabric marker is actually permanent.

My first official attempt at labeling a quilt, so I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Getting It Done Update

Alright, well I feel very accomplished on a day in which I had to work. I've been concentrating on my Get It Done list for this month.

I recently rearranged my sewing area and I love it! It is so much easier to do piecing now, because everything is close at hand. I purchased a small cutting mat and ruler and put them next to my sewing machine, on the left, and I have my mini ironing board and iron on the right. I no longer have to get up and walk around to the table every time I want to press a seam or trim something.

This also means I have access to my ENTIRE large table, making it much more useful. And yes, there is a sneak preview of my paper pieced stars, which are on my list. I'll post those when I get them quilted (QAYG). My sewing machine apron is too large though, I will eventually make one about half the size of the current one.

The other thing on my list was Nana's quilt. Finally found the gumption to get it basted.

And I started quilting it. No FMQ this time, I'm still finding that much too frustrating. Walking foot only for this baby. Going to keep this one simple and practice my FMQ on the star blocks.

Okay well I'm officially out of steam for the night and headed off for some shut eye.

Thursday Threads

I think the reason I spend so much time daydreaming about new projects its because I can't work on them! Until after Ragnarok, all my sewing is falling into the necessity category. And I'm fighting the urge to start new projects until I complete a few.

I finished my purple sucoat, mostly. Except for a little hand work, its done! WOOOOOO!!!!!
One project off my UFO list.

 

 I also decided I want to make a sampler quilt. Again, I'm not a huge fan of most traditional blocks. I recently acquired a copy of 50 Paper Pieced Stars by Carol Doak and I think I will make my sampler quilt from that book. I'm planning on using my red/white/black fabrics for this quilt.

For the block swap this month, I'm going to do my swappee's teal and lime block in the Ohio Star pattern. I don't have a picture handy, but if you visit Wombat Quilts there is a great picture of it!

And last but not least.. finished the quilt top for Nana's Quilt! I'm only a month behind schedule on this baby. The angle is a little funny on this picture, but that is okay.

Mother's Day

Yes, its Mother's Day. And I'm supposed to be out with my in-laws, giving Nana her finished quilt. Only I spent the entirety of yesterday watching TV and fighting a nasty cold. So, the quilt didn't get done this week, as I had planned. I did make some progress in the last week though, and here it is.

This is what I had planned, but the choppyness of the inner blue border always bothered me. Even more so when I put it together.

See what I mean? It looks a little awkward.

So I took it apart, and came up with this:

Much better!

However, it is still not going to get it done today. So in a way, this annoying cold is a bit of a blessing, because it gives me another week to work on this quilt. What's the line from the Richard Rahl books? "Nothing is ever easy.."

Get It Done - May 2013

Yes, I know I've still got a few days left but it doesn't seem that I'll be getting my list anywhere close to done this time around.

1. Nana's Quilt

I finished piecing the main portion of the top a week and a half ago and its been sitting on my design wall with one humility block still in place (or should I say, the wrong place) ever since.

 I finally decided on a border today.

But I'm going to try to connect the inner blue border across the corners. I'm just not sure how to illustrate that in EQ7.

The rest of my list just didn't even get attempted.

However, I did finish the following projects, that were not on my list:

1. Bind "Disappearing Cube Trick"

2. Made a Sewing Machine Apron

Which really is a thing of beauty because it was made completely from my stash from a scrap box of 9 inch squares and I got to use some ugly fabric for the back that I never have to see.

However, it did make me realize that I need to rethink my sewing room setup. Right now the L-shaped table is really convenient but I can utilize only about 60% of my cutting table. I need a better plan.

Its getting to be Ragnarok time, so my list for May will be mostly garb related.

May Get It Done List

1. Finish Nana's Quilt completely by Mother's Day
2. Make three garb shirts for Jack
3. Make at least two pairs of garb pants for Jack.
4. Finish my gray surcoat, and my purple surcoat.

April isn't quite done yet, so I'll update this later if I make more progress.

What Border?

I want to do a pieced border for Nana's quilt, only I can't decide which one.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

Anyone have an opinion? I'm open to suggestions.

Oh, Sigh

Linking up to WIP Wedneday...

I'm so happy with this quilt top, finished it last night, very proud of myself as this is the most complicated quilt I've attempted yet and it came out gorgeous! Took a picture to post, and looked closely...

And then I noticed my humility block. It shouldn't be hard to spot. It seems I have a date with my seam ripper after Bible Study tonight. *sigh*... Just glad I caught it before I put the borders on.

I think my new rule will be to leave a completed flimsie on the design wall for a few days to make sure I didn't miss anything.

April Block Swap - Purple Bear's Paw

I joined a block swap this month! Its hosted over at www.quiltingboard.com. Every month you are paired with another quilter. You make them a quilt block and they make you one. My swap partner this month has the theme "Bear's Paw" blocks. I asked if they had any preference about color choices but they said anything goes! After some internal debate and examination of my stash, I decided to go with this color scheme:

My other option was browns/golds/fall colors, which would of course look incredibly cool but its spring. Or at least, it should be spring. Did you hear that Mother Nature? ITS SPRING! And it seemed like kind of a dreary color scheme for spring. So, purple it is! My sometimes-favorite color. This particular version of the Bear's Paw block can be found over at Quilter's Cache along with instructions for making the block.

And a quick update on Nana's Quilt... its coming along quite nicely and I still love my design wall.

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story - please see my sidebar for a permanent link. And check out some of the other great projects on that linky party!

Design Wall Happiness!

I just wanted to take a second and introduce you all to my new favorite thing ... my very own Design Wall! I've wanted one for a while, but the debate is WHERE and WHAT fabric. I finally just stuck it in the spare room that we are using for storage. I would have rather put in in my sewing room but there just isn't space. I used some fabric I had on hand (its burgandy) and I will upgrade to white felt when I find some on sale. Also, I'll be able to make it bigger then, as it is only really large enough to put a lap quilt on right now.

And now, Kaelyn's Design Wall, featuring Nana's Quilt!

Oh and... cookies!

Yes I made the recipe. They are okay, have a little bit of a muffin flavor rather than cookie flavor. I would probably just use a standard oatmeal chocolate chip recipe next time with the craisins and white chocolate chips. But hey, still cookies!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

Paper Piecing Extravaganza - Sort Of

This weekend didn't go exactly as planned, but I did have great time on Saturday. I ended up working overtime (not fun) but then I got to attend my cousin's basketball game, spend the afternoon with her goofing off, and chilling with my friends. And on Sunday I was fighting with my FMQ. It seems my sewing machine is determined to give me a hard time. Back to piecing until I can come up with a solution to my quilting problems. Right now the lightweight invisible thread is wrapping itself around the spindle as it comes off the spool, getting caught, and breaking.

 My first English Paper Pieced block! Hand sewing is slow but its very relaxing. Wouldn't recommend it if you are in a hurry though. I'm thinking about picking up a pack of apple core or tumbler templates for use with my scraps.

Check out this stack of batiks and blenders I purchased from ebay for a steal! I'm so thrilled but I can't decide what to do with them. Maybe a stained glass window quilt? Or Mariner's compass, or paper-pieced stars.  Oh the choices! Its about 8 yards of fabric.

And last but not least, the stacks and stack of pieces for Nana's Quilt. This took several hours to cut out and I'm not quite done yet but I'm getting tired of cutting. I think I'll paper piece for a while and finish cutting as I go. Keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough background fabric. It looks like its going to be a tight squeeze to get all the pieces cut.

Inconceivable!

"Humperdinck.....

Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!"

Yes I just watched The Princess Bride again.  I love that movie. So many priceless lines that are applicable in everyday conversations.... such as "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." and "You mean you wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept"

Anyway, my venture into Princess Bride was spawned by a desire to see how much work I could get done in a specified period of time and a movie is the perfect timer. The trick you see, is to not get distracted by all the projects I want to do but haven't started yet, or to get distracted by all the new and cool projects (like this great Quilt of Valor idea I have, or the English Paper Piecing method I want to get set up to take to Rag with me) that are out there, but instead focus on sewing for an hour and a half. Its tough being chronically creative.

So what did I accomplish in an hour and half? Not quite as much as I would have liked.

Let me first start by saying that this paper-piecing project turned out to be a little trickier that I initially anticipated. I think it has to do with some of the odd shapes of the flowers. I would stitch a piece on, open it up and find that it didn't lay at all where I intended. Oops. So here is my method for eliminating that little problem. Also, reduces waste!

1. Print a cardboard template and cut each piece out.

2. Use a little rolled piece of masking tape, sticky side out, to tape the template to the WRONG side of the fabric. (This seemed to be where most of my mistakes happened while cutting, so be careful)

3. Cut 1/4 - 3/16 of an inch all the way around.

My stack of pieces. This will make 8 quilt blocks.

So, this is where I started (two blocks partially started and one finished) ....

.....and an hour and a half later I had cut all the pieces for 8 blocks and started stitching them

Next up is Prince Caspian, another one of my favorites. I'm also very familiar with it, so I don't need to watch the movie to see it play out in my head! That makes it much less distracting.

Oh and FYI, although I'm probably the only person silly enough to actually do this... spray starch is bad for paper piecing patterns. It makes the ink bleed. Wait until you remove the paper to starch the block.

... I'm not left-handed...

Linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday (see my sidebar for a link), even those these blocks aren't complete yet!