- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, June 26, 2011
C'est finit
It's true... I work better under pressure! With the deadline of the home visit looming, I managed to get the binding on How Do I Love Thee just in time to sew it on in the car. I washed it at my mom's on Father's Day morning and gave it to my darling little nephew that afternoon. It is so darned cute that I am seriously considering only making bright baby quilts from now on.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Oh the irony
Those who enjoyed the threadaholic post will appreciate the irony of what I have to say next. I have a new name for "How do I love thee". It is "The Finisher". I finished 5 spools of thread on that baby quilt. In its defense, none of the 5 were brand new spools, but in various stages of use. I powered through the finishing of two spools, calling upon my wealth of extra thread, but was forced to admit defeat when I ran out of the clear thread I was using on the top. The bummer was that I was literally 3" away from being done with that part of the quilting and it was Sunday night. No fabric stores open. So I poured a glass of wine and took a bath.
Terrible photo, but you can at least see the piecing madness.
Terrible photo, but you can at least see the piecing madness.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Sew Sue Me
I know... How is it that I always seem to post in January, June or July? Some sort of odd cosmic quilting thing. Anyway, here's an update (are you sitting down?): haven't actually finished anything since January. Shocking, I know. As I was poised on the edge of greatness, I am a little surprised myself.
Dark and Stormy
Hard to believe that this one isn't done yet. I did mean to quilt this at a meet up in January, but got hung up on backing fabric. I wanted flannel, the the extra wide stuff so I wouldn't have to piece it. Couldn't find any I liked, so I used it as an excuse to work on other stuff. As of today, it is finally basted and is in the quilting queue for tomorrow's quilting meet up. I mean it this time. Really. *UPDATE* (Is it possible to actually update something that hasn't been posted yet?) D&S is quilted! Queued up for kamikaze sewing on my upcoming road trip. Should be delivered by the end of June. It really is prettier up close though.
Dino-mite
This one actually took me a lot longer to piece than I thought. Those darn little dinos would not let themselves be appliquéd. I tried raw edge and immediately ripped it out. Same for the blanket edge stitch. Ended up with good old fashioned satin stitch. Which took quite a long time. Got all the blocks pieced and decided it was still wanting something. I proceeded to add 8 inches of border (the Wee One picked out the second border from another quilt I was working on because, "Mama, it looks like the sky."). Ah, that looked better. Went to piece the backing. Sadly, I had measured backing for a borderless quilt. So, 8 inches. On each side. Um, yeah. So when I went to purchase more backing fabric (a crazy conglomeration of cartoon dinos picked out by the Wee One), of course we could not find any more. Unfortunately for me, I took the Wee One with me to get more fabric. Enter the Quilting Moral Dilemma: Aesthetics vs. Recipient Desire. Since I could not get the original fabric, I wanted a coordinating fabric. The Wee One, however, caught sight of some Licensed Character theme flannel and immediately started campaigning for an entirely new backing. Having three yards of the crazy dinos at home, there was no way I was scrapping that for an entirely new backing. Not to mention the new favorite fabric felt like it was made of cardboard paper mâché. Eeeewwwww. There was no way I was sewing that to a quilt. Hysterical melt down in the quilt shop, but I stood my ground and we left with a coordinating flannel. That too has been basted and is ready for quilting. Still thinking about how to quilt it though.
No borders
How do I love thee? Let me count the squares. And triangles.
I think I mentioned at some point that my baby sister was having a baby of her own. We found out she was having a boy after I had picked the perfect pattern and fabric for a little girl. And had ordered both. So, baby boy. Pink jelly roll, not so helpful. Maybe I can still use the pattern though with some more boyish fabric. Except that the pattern is pure craziness! It is alternating strips of pieced 2" squares with solid strips appliquéd with teeny triangles. I thought there must be a Super Secret piecing method. Um, no. I am piecing 273 2.5" squares. How much do I love you Everett? 273 tiny squares. And another 60 some odd teeny triangles. That, my friends, is love. But it is sooooooo cute.
Dark and Stormy
Hard to believe that this one isn't done yet. I did mean to quilt this at a meet up in January, but got hung up on backing fabric. I wanted flannel, the the extra wide stuff so I wouldn't have to piece it. Couldn't find any I liked, so I used it as an excuse to work on other stuff. As of today, it is finally basted and is in the quilting queue for tomorrow's quilting meet up. I mean it this time. Really. *UPDATE* (Is it possible to actually update something that hasn't been posted yet?) D&S is quilted! Queued up for kamikaze sewing on my upcoming road trip. Should be delivered by the end of June. It really is prettier up close though.
Dino-mite
This one actually took me a lot longer to piece than I thought. Those darn little dinos would not let themselves be appliquéd. I tried raw edge and immediately ripped it out. Same for the blanket edge stitch. Ended up with good old fashioned satin stitch. Which took quite a long time. Got all the blocks pieced and decided it was still wanting something. I proceeded to add 8 inches of border (the Wee One picked out the second border from another quilt I was working on because, "Mama, it looks like the sky."). Ah, that looked better. Went to piece the backing. Sadly, I had measured backing for a borderless quilt. So, 8 inches. On each side. Um, yeah. So when I went to purchase more backing fabric (a crazy conglomeration of cartoon dinos picked out by the Wee One), of course we could not find any more. Unfortunately for me, I took the Wee One with me to get more fabric. Enter the Quilting Moral Dilemma: Aesthetics vs. Recipient Desire. Since I could not get the original fabric, I wanted a coordinating fabric. The Wee One, however, caught sight of some Licensed Character theme flannel and immediately started campaigning for an entirely new backing. Having three yards of the crazy dinos at home, there was no way I was scrapping that for an entirely new backing. Not to mention the new favorite fabric felt like it was made of cardboard paper mâché. Eeeewwwww. There was no way I was sewing that to a quilt. Hysterical melt down in the quilt shop, but I stood my ground and we left with a coordinating flannel. That too has been basted and is ready for quilting. Still thinking about how to quilt it though.
No borders
How do I love thee? Let me count the squares. And triangles.
I think I mentioned at some point that my baby sister was having a baby of her own. We found out she was having a boy after I had picked the perfect pattern and fabric for a little girl. And had ordered both. So, baby boy. Pink jelly roll, not so helpful. Maybe I can still use the pattern though with some more boyish fabric. Except that the pattern is pure craziness! It is alternating strips of pieced 2" squares with solid strips appliquéd with teeny triangles. I thought there must be a Super Secret piecing method. Um, no. I am piecing 273 2.5" squares. How much do I love you Everett? 273 tiny squares. And another 60 some odd teeny triangles. That, my friends, is love. But it is sooooooo cute.
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