Housework can wait - there is quilting to be done!

It's been a quilty week, in between my other chores. 

I now have a 2 ft square section of my A Quilter's Mixology quilt put together. I have enough fabric cut out for a 4 x 6 ft finished quilt, and more fabric I can chop up. This will be a nice big quilt when completed.

Just a few minutes ago, I finished putting together the top for the baby quilt. Its been on the living room floor way too long and I'm having house guests this weekend, so it had to get put together. Oh, gee, what a shame that I had to spend so much time quilting this week when I could have been doing housework. I'm all broken up about it. Additionally, I now have space to lay out the modern rainbow quilt I have planned. ;) Happiness! 

I think I will be quilting this with circles and I haven't decided whether to go with white or green and blue variegated for the thread. Opinions?

Slow Sunday Stitching

Linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts.

Yesterday was a little rough, so I put away Fall Fairy and pulled out a new start. I fully intended to finish a page before putting her away but it just didn't happen.

Last Update

As of 08/09/2015

 My new start isn't really *new* per se, but is a restart of a restart, The Fairy Spell by HAED.

Last year I started The Fairy Spell on 28 count with two strands over one and I only made it a couple hundred stitches before deciding that 2 x 1 was too dense at 28 count and I couldn't manage it.

2x1 on 28 count - yuk!

I restarted on 28 count using 1x1 and it came out much nicer, but then I discovered that the "evenweave" wasn't very even and would produced a stretched image at the end, so I scrapped that one too. 

After that, I tried a couple different types of linen for various projects with mixed results. I really hated having to grid and attempting to work around the fishing line or metallic thread. I thought it made my stitches skewed and uneven. I also made an attempt at parking, various finishing techniques, and cross country. All in all, a learning experience.

The end of the story is that I finally found a fabric I like, it comes pregridded and the evenweave is actually even. I now use 25 count DMC magic guide for all my HAEDs and I love it. This does unfortunately mean that I scrapped four projects before I figured it out but they were not very far along and I am much happier with a restart than with struggling with fabric I don't like.

At the advice of a blogger that I asked about how she stitches her TW projects so quickly, I set up a poor man's version of the Pako Thread Organizer. A block of styrofoam and a copy of my thread list later, and I have a fully functional thread organizer with interchangeable thread lists.

Before I start stitching, I thread several needles in the colors I need and stick them into the organizer next to the correct symbol. It takes a couple minutes to set up but saves time flipping through my threads later and eliminates wishy-washy-ness about which color to stitch next.

The Fairy Spell 

I started in the lower left hand corner this time, so that little blob actually represents a page finish ;)

Project Journal 2.0

A couple weeks ago, I made a medic belt flag. I promptly dropped it in the mail without bothering to write down dimensions or construction details.  Oops, especially considering that this isn't the first time I've wanted to remake a project I designed and not had any instructions to follow.

For a little while I used a physical journal, but it was often getting lost in the shuffle of my cutting table, or I would forget to write down what I was doing. 

Today, I decided to make a Project Journal in One Note, which if you did not know yet, is now free for all platforms, syncs across all devices, and notebooks are now shareable! Love it! One Note has come a long way since I started playing with it several years ago. 

The tabs at the top are project type (quilts, garb, other) and I still need to add a few more. The pages on the side will each be dedicated to an individual project. 

I really like this system so far, especially since I am very unlikely to lose my computer and it is much easier to add pictures and formatting is a breeze.

It will also serve as a record of items I've made and probably make writing tutorials and blog posts easier. I can add progress photos!

I've decided not to attempt to back log everything I've done but as I work on WIPs and UFOs or start new projects they will get added to the journal.

The most unsettling thing about OneNote is there is NO SAVE BUTTON, which is disturbing to a chronic save-button-pusher like myself. OneNote saves everything automatically in the background as it is edited, but that hasn't stopped me from looking for the save button yet!

This and That

I've been playing around with online framing companies, thanks to the recommendation of one of my readers (OhSewCrafty is working on some gorgeous Joan Elliot projects.)

This is what I am leaning towards for framing.

I did want lavender but the framing company doesn't offer the shade I was interested in. Purple seems to be a hard color to come by, but mauve and dusty rose are prevalent. I played with a few other combinations with dark frames or darker mats but the one above is my favorite so far.

Minimal craftyness going on at home. I'm still spending a lot of time cleaning up the house and throwing things away or setting them aside to donate. The hardest thing so far was paring down my stash.

These three boxes contain about a third of my stash. I *hate* the idea of just donating them because this is all very useful fabric, so they will be going to my church's sewing group. I am finally willing to give it up because I realize that I don't like most of the fabrics (florals, paisleys, novelty, and 30's reproductions.) I'm not even sure where they came from, but away they shall go, and I know they will get used where they are going.

I have found a little time to work on a couple quilts (a block here and there) and last weekend I had some solid stitchy time in between loads of laundry, so I expect that there will be some good updates coming along soon.

I really want to start a Dresden plate quilt and have set aside all the material for it (100% from stash!) so who knows how long I'll be able to put off a NewFO. There is always something new to try :)

July WIPocalypse

 Well it is WIPocalypse time, hosted by Measi@Measi'sMusings. The question of the month is:

What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece?

Well, first I must admit that I have no self control when it comes to starting new pieces. The more time I spend rolling in my stash, the more likely I am to start a new kit. So the first step is to stay out of my stash and off the internet, because there's always something new to buy and work on. Budgeting crafty money also helps prevent new starts. The second is that I drop a project when it gets boring or frustrating - and so I typically pick it back up a few months later when it is no longer boring. (I have a friend who is disciplined enough to finish each project before she starts another one. Extra brownie points to her!) If it is still frustrating when I get back to it, it will probably never get completed because I believe that working on projects I don't like is a waste of valuable crafty time. I have no set rotation and work on what I am interested in at the time. I've heard some people refer to this as a "Screaming Rotation" - whichever project screams the loudest gets worked on.

I do have a couple small updates. I finally took Library Kittens back to work with me and was able to get a little done this week on my lunch breaks. Most of the progress you see happened a few months ago but some tiny bits happened this week.

Before

As of 07/31/2015

Rather than carry Library Kittens back and forth, I'm just going to leave it in my desk so that it is handy when I have time at lunch (i.e., not using my lunch break to run errands).

Although I haven't touched Fall Fairy since last weekend, here she is again. I was able to get quite a bit done over the weekend. Page one is filling in nicely and starting to bleed over into the other pages.

Before

As of 7/31/2015

 On my way home today, I stopped to buy a frame for Butterfly Profusion, which is at an awkward 11x11 finished size. There are no mass manufactured frames in 14 x 14. The best option was 12 x 12 but there aren't any mats to fit. I asked the lady there how much it would cost to just have a custom built frame and I would do the stretching and framing myself and it was MORE expensive to frame it myself than pay them for the framing also.

Long story short, I walked out without a frame and with no intention of paying ten times (and that's at 65% off!!!!) what the kit initially cost. My next option is to call some local needlework shops and see if they can recommend a good framer in the area. I would rather have some someone who specializes in stitchery do the framing or do it myself if I can purchase an affordable frame.