Modern Quilting

Several blogs I like have recently talked about Modern Quilting. I think, at last, I get what they are saying. I've been working on a blue theme quilt for about a year. It has Prairie Points (neat) and blocks, sashing, etc - all pretty traditional. I was really struggling with how to quilt it. I decided to do it by hand and completed a simple cross with beige thread in the small paisley square. Limping along, I decided to in-line (opposite of out-line) the light blue boxes in a light blue thread. I flirted with feather templates for the border, even bought one, but couldn't commit. It just didn't feel right.

Then I saw this post by Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio (well, I can't find it now). Jacquie tries all kinds of things. I realized that I like reading her blog because she test-drives techniques that I'd be afraid to try. One was using the different stitches that the sewing machine is capable of. Another was a link to this blog Silly BooDilly. The name alone compelled me to look! Her use of different weights of quilting thread was totally fantastic and invited me to read more and more!!!

Modern Quilting: the freedom to use embroidery floss when the quilt says ho-humm to feather templates.

Yield: 83

Did you know that a standard cake mix will make 83 mini cupcakes? They take 14 minutes to bake at high altitude. When I do this again, I will invest in a cupcake pan with 48 instead of 12 places. This time I had 12 and it took a long time to make 83 cupcakes. But, I got to use my new stackable cupcake holder that I got for Christmas and it was full up! We invited some girlfriends over and had a lot of fun frosting and decorating the cupcakes. Red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

Knitting, Car Trip Projects

On long car trips I like to knit. We typically drive a very long day to see my in-laws for our second Christmas, ie New Years. This year, my knitting project was the Rose Hill Hat.

I was so excited to find Malabrigo yarn at my local, favorite yarn shop. I bought the blue/brown colorway, chunky, georgous! I stopped on my way home from work, parked in a semi-legal spot and tried to be quick. Well, chunky was not the right weight. So I went back to get the right, worsted weight. It was a family outing to Fancy Tiger. My girls were so excited about the bright colors and neat textures! I let them pick some yarn for their own hat. They picked a deep, purple and a striking magenta.

The hat knitted up really well. I learned a new stitch, the bobble, and learned how to shape the top of the hat. The instructions on House on Hill Road were excellent, easy to follow. I modified the instruction slightly to make hats for the girls - they are 3.5 years old. I knit their hats on a single long needle (instead of round needles), decreased the number of stitches cast-on, and knit two at once. There is a seam but the look is almost the same as the hat I knit for myself. My niece's birthday is coming up soon. She watched me knit the girls hats and I think she needs one too.

Merry Christmas and trying new things

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We did!

I have been holding on to my African fabric for a long time now. The colors are bold and the patterns so distinctive that they do not blend easily into my usual quilt patterns and colorways. So, I held on to the fabric but have noticed some really clever ways to use prints like these. Kelli used some of her stash for a really cute blanket just recently. She encouraged me to get out the scissors!

The cloth I chose for this first experiment is called Homme Boubou (French: homme = man: boubou = a boubou is a traditional dress for muslim men in West Africa). I fussy cut the men either solo or with a pal. The shapes are rectangles. I used a solid black to make a border. On some I used 2 inch borders. On others I wonkified (a new word) the homme boubou. On yet others, I wonkified the black frame. I used a bright, multi-colored pattern for the outer border. I made one strip just to see how they might go together. I'm not yet sure how they will all go together but it will probably work out.

I find that cutting and sewing without a pattern is more stressful than using a pattern. I am conscious of wasting fabric and thinking a head to "what could I do with this little bit?" So far, I am saving all the little scraps just in case. I worry that the shapes will not come together nicely. I think I worry too much. I've been holding on to this cloth for 15+ years. It is time. It is time to try something new.

Tabitha Bag

I fell in love with the Tabitha Bag and ordered the pattern from Flossie Teacakes. I asked and received timely advice about fabric to use. The pattern was easy to follow and I am pleased with the result. I started another one right away with a neat red paisley pattern as the inset pleats.

In other crafty news I am hand quilting a quilt with prairie stars that I blogged about a while back. I am sewing some cute jumpers for my girls that I might possibly finish by Thanksgiving. Pictures to follow.

Recently I have really enjoyed House on Hill Road. She has great book recommendations, cool crafts, and a fun tradition for her girls' birthdays.

Inspiration All Around Me

I just finished these two doll blankets for my girls. I was totally inspired by Crazy Mom Quilts (http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com). AmandaJean had a quilt along earlier this summer making these cute 9-patch quilts. I loved the idea of making a special something for my kids to surprise them on vacation like Flossie Teacakes (http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.com/) (scroll back to when she was on holiday). The fun part was the girls watched me make the blankets and would say "that is so cute!" They don't know they are the intended recipients.

Another inspiration came from Tallgrass Prairie Studio (http://www.tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/). Jacquie posted about Iraqui Bundles of Love. She linked to the blog of a gal whose husband is serving in Iraq. He will return home soon but, like many inspired by Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, is striving to make a difference. He is collecting donations of fabric and yarn to provide to Iraqis who sew and knit. Follow the links from Tallgrass Prairie - she and he make it very easy! Time is of the essence, there is a 9-7-09 deadline to meet his departure and end of Ramadan. I mailed my box on Tuesday. While the thought of helping someone who may have killed an American soldier freaks me out, the thought that one small box of fabric might, in some small way, prevent an Iraqi from killing/hating/negative feelings about Americans in the future pushed me over the edge to send my box. After a lot of thought, I selected red, white and blue cloth from my stash.

Free Motion Quilting - still learning the basics

I bought a quilting foot and immediately used it on a baby blanket. I did a simple stipling pattern as this was my very first time using the new foot. On the back I noticed some oddities - the front side stitches were pulling through to the back creating a centipede sort of look. I emailed Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio for help. She asked for a picture. My camera is not good at capturing closeup so I drew a hand sketch. She also suggested it might be a tension problem. Thanks for the suggestion Jacquie! I think she's right so I will try to figure out how to correct it. The top came out fine, BTW - (just don't look at the back, hee-hee-hee).

PS - here is the finished quilt. Thanks for the advice, Kim. I need to get better about making time to test new techniques instead of plowing ahead.

26 Aprons on the Wall

I made 26 aprons as gifts for the Board Members of my Twins Club. What an accomplishment! The color scheme deliberately coordinates with the Rockies colors: purple, black, and silver. I took some license with those colors and made sure the material was also cute. All 26 are unique.

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin is the story of a man who found his purpose in life is to raise money and build schools in remote parts of Pakistan and Afganistan. Not back in the day when Pakistan and Afganistan were unknown, romantic, vast spaces of beauty and interesting people - but right now in the midst of wars, terrorism, and politics.

He literally stumbled into a village in the mid-1990s after an attempt at K2 and spent some time there recovering. After regaining his health, he also learned the local language, was befriended by the village chief, and promised to build a school. The book tells the story of his journey and his drive to build schools for girls and boys in places that had none. I liked this book because it gives me hope that someday things might get better in corners of the world that I previously had not heard of. It is a good read.

New Fridge, Old Friends

Our fridge decided not to refridgerate last Thursday. I called a local Big Box and ordered a new one and it was delivered the next day. They hauled away my old one. I asked the salesguy if I was crazy for doing this and he said people do it all the time. My main criteria was that it fit in the existing space. It does, we now have cold food again.

My friend of 20+ years is in town with her two boys 8 and 10. Watching my girls try to keep up with them is really cute and somewhat scary for me. We have learned how to play Red Light Green Light, Bingo, and how to make decaf lattes in the play kitchen. I think the girls have learned some new words too. I don't have many friends from 20 years ago, mostly because I moved around a lot, so it is comforting to reconnect with someone who knows me with all my quirks and neuroses. We went for martinis last night and had some real girl talk! That was great, better than great. This girlfriend and her family might relocate to a large city nearby. Wouldn't that be even greater!

My Own March Madness

I have about 4 quilts and 1 large apron project going. That's my own March Madness for you. I have taken up the Starlight quilt again, which I posted about earlier. I've come up with a cheap design wall by using a fleece blanket on sale from Target ($3.98). I used the existing bookcase and pinned the fleece to one of the shelves, this also helped to get a level design wall.

I've pinned the hexagons, although they stick quite well. I've got another fleece blanket in case I exceed my size but for now, this will do. It was useful to layout the hexagons and see where my blanks are, how the colors are coming together, and where I could use some improvement. Some of the blanks are solid hexagons, some are rubics-cube type pieced hexagons, and some are three pieced hexagons. I have started some of the solid hexagons and filled them in - mostly on the sides. So far, this is all hand sewn and I love it.

La Grandmere

La Grandmere. Named for my grandmother because I worked on this quilt on the way to and from her 100 year birthday party last spring. I got a lot of comments from the flight attendants and looks during layovers. I hand quilted this one using a fan motif. This quilt was a gift from my husband and came from France as a kit. I ran out of the dark brown and the only source I could find was from a web site in Japan and in Japanese. I enlisted the help of my friend Hide to complete the transaction for me. Interestingly, the cost of the fabric was comparable to what we pay in the US. I frequently hear that Japan is a very expensive country so I was a bit surprised.

On a completely different topic - if I were singing for my life/in a sing off (American Idol - last week's show), I would sing Tall Trees in Georgia. Eva Cassidy sings this one so beautifully. I cannot sing but I feel it is important to be prepared, just in case. I used to sing this one to my girls when they were tiny babies. Now when I sing, they usually say "no songs!"

Another Cute Apron

I finished this apron for my friend Summer. She has an eclectic collection of blue and white dishes that would look great with this apron. I uploaded this picture with Photobucket so am experimenting with that. It uploads the picture really big and then I have to shrink it down. I'd like it to upload a thumbnail-size picture so will work on how to do that.

We had bitter cold here but today the sun is out and it feels good. I am making really good progress on handquilting. It is really nice to just sit with my husband, and frequently a cat, and quilt. I have a killer callous! I started a new quilt with a modified nine-patch design and Prairie Points. I am very excited about this 3D effect and texture to the quilt.

My Grandmother

At 100 years and 8 months, she passed away in her sleep. She taught me to sew, draw, be happy when camping in the rain. She and my Grandpa used to drink powdered milk (blek) and mix it in a purple container called The Purple Cow. We camped a lot in Michigan, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. She was very creative and thrifty. I have a beautiful rug she made from scraps, a Dresden Plate pillow sham, and a pencil sketch of a pheasant. I have some gifts from her when I was little including a pink sewing basket that I still use to keep fasteners in. I have a stuffed cat from a calico type quilting fabric. I have a dried flower Christmas Tree that I hang on my front door at Christmas time (and others).

I went to her 100 year birthday party. It is a nice memory for me. My Grandma asked me several times if I had a house and what it was like. From her perspective having a house meant security. She would frequently say "that's good, dear." She liked soup, hot water, and especially ice cream.

I will tell my girls about their Great Grandmother and hope they have some of her creativity and purpose.

Christmas Sewing

Long time no post. I've been sewing like crazy! I made a mom and 2 daughter aprons from three different blue and brown fabrics - they all coordinate to make a set. I hope my friend and daughters like them. I made another apron for my twins club gift exchange. I was so pleased my apron was traded three times! I got lots of really nice compliments on the apron. I made a apple and green apron for my friend Kate who has a very vintage kitchen. I made a Christmas apron but have not finsihed it yet. I made a brown and pink apron for a local friend of mine. She makes the most wonderful soaps! I made two Birdie Slings for two girlfriends. I made one with blue handles and lining - like the one I made for myself (previous post in July) and the other with red handles and a red-orange lining. Well, the reds and oranges really did the exterior fabric justice! Much more so than the blue, even though I am much more of a blue person. When I bought the fabric for this project, I had my two friends in mind. One is more like me, we could be sisters. The other is fun, eccentric, and kind of quirky - the red and orange is for her. I have a couple more aprons in mind...

My husband and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in early December. We had a really nice night out at a restaurant where we went when dating. We walked the route of one of our first dates in downtown Denver. We talked about falling in love and our hopes for our family. We exchanged our gifts - traditional wood for 5 years. He gave me a really cool bamboo bowl. I gave him a wood bench. It was a really nice evening on lots of levels.

News on my QOV - I got an email that said due to poor weather, they didn't get such a great turnout at the ceremony where they were giving quilts to Veterans. So, our Social Worker, Marti, is holding on to our quilt, waiting for the right soldier. She says our quilt is on display to highlight the Quilt of Valor program at her facility. Marti is keeping me up to date on the status of our quilt and hopes to find a new home for it soon.

Quilt in Progress. I previously posted about a quilt I got as a kit - it is teal, brown, I was doing a fan design for the quilting. Well, it has been sitting on my To Do table for quite a while. I realized that I like the fabric backing but not for this quilt so I was neglecting the work. Last night during Gray's Anatomy I started ripping. Of course this is painful but I am really happy thinking about the new backing fabric I will find. I am also thinking that I will quilt this by hand. One of my favorite blogs, Lazy Gal Quilting talks a lot about hand quilting. She gave some good advice about hand quilting a few months back. I'm gonna try it. I like hand sewing, I find it relaxing and cozy in the winter months. I'm not so fixated on the end product of this quilt so I feel like I will enjoy the process.

Since it was over a month since my last post, I am skeptical about posting again before Christmas. I will wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays.

QOV Destination

Last Sunday I received my destination for my Quilt of Valor. I was instructed to send it to a social work with the veterans health care system in Little Rock AR. I got all my stuff together and mailed it on Wednesday past. Godspeed little quilt. I simultaneously want the gift to be anonymous but I also want to know who receives it. I included some information about the quilt and quilters in case the soldier wants to know. I included my email address to the social worker in case she can make time to let me know about the recipient. I work with a man whose son is supposed to be deployed for his FOURTH, yes 1-2-3-4 tour in Afghanistan/Iraq. Somehow that seems like too many to me, and to his Dad too.

QOV Waiting for Destination

I got my Quilt of Valor back from the long armer. The pictures do not capture the beauty of the work she did. There are dense patterns next to feathers surrounding the stars. Some stars have unique quilting inside the center to highlight them. The setting blocks have scallops in the small blocks and a simple flower pattern in the larger blue block. Truly art. When I washed the quilt (yikes!) and put it in the dryer, it came out like a grandmother's quilt that had been loved and washed for years and years. For the label, I did a semi-wonky log cabin and used fabric markers to fill in the name of the quilt, etc. I finished the presentation case and a short journal, which describes how the QOV came to be. I am waiting for my "destination." Then I will send it off and hope the soldier likes it and feels appreciated. It was a joy to make and to think about who may receive the quilt some day.

Had an odd experience at Hancock Fabrics this weekend. Typically I'll shop when I have the 40% off coupons. Sadly, I lost my coupon but shopped anyway. I was buying fusible interfacing and asked if it counted as a notion or a fabric item. I was told neither, but that the manager sometimes counts it as a notion, sometimes as fabric. I think it should count as something so I know when to use my coupons!

Cute Aprons

Trying to use Photobucket to upload and store pictures for my blog. First attempt: successful at linking. Unsuccessful: picture took up whole space, I didn't have any words for the picture, had to play with the edit function. What I really wanted to write was here is the picture of the aprons I previously blogged about.

Catus Opus

I finished the Sawtooth Cats quilt after 2 years of hard work. I got the pattern from the City Stitcher. It is my first foundation piecing quilt and after a few rippings and cursings, I got the hang of the piecing. The cat backs, tails and border were all foundation pieced. I added a few touches of my own like embroidering the cat face and heart with coordinating floss, instead of thread. I followed the pattern's quilting suggestions and used my standard sewing machine. I added more quilting to the spaces above the cat's backs - the voids were actually a bit large and with washing, I was concerned the batting would bunch up. I started with a blue and beige theme but decided that more color was needed so branched out. The scraps basket at my favorite quilt shop was a wonderful source of color and cheap scraps. The cats in the middle row are real cats in my life - the gray and caramel ones on the ends are my mom's cats Oliver and Noelle. The white with black is my mom's dear cat Peaches - she was so soft. And the black cat is my cat Bruce. I hung the quilt in the girls' room and they like to count the cats and talk about the upside down cats.

Quilty Update

I finished the quilt kit for my niece in time for my mom to take it to her. I haven't heard if she liked it but it was fun to make. It was challenging to think about all the steps and photograph them along the way. I ended up with 8 pages of instructions that I printed in color and bound with a simple binding. I included the strips for the rail posts and the batting, backing, and pillow backing. I am pretty pleased with it. I hope she likes it.

Our office had our baby shower for my colleague. I made her daughter a quilt (previous post) so she would feel special as the big sister. I know my colleague liked it. She told me today that her daughter loved and it hasn't left her side. She made a fort out of it, took it to dinner and to bed. It made me so happy that she liked it. I put a label on it that said "Romie, Big Sister."

I made two aprons recently for a friend from my Twins Club. The apron was for her and her daughter. I used a vintag-ey apple print with red bias tape. The mother-daughter aprons were a big hit with my friend.

I read on another blog about how pictures use up "allowable" free space on these blogs, then you have to pay for more space. She had all sorts of great instructions for minimizing the size but now I'm all freaked out about space and size! So, no pictures today. I need to learn more about this.