Glow

Here is my ornament for January.

 

This is Bent Creek's 'Glow'.  I've had it stitched for many months, just waiting on the beads.  I finally finished it this morning.

 

To see more ornaments: http://stitchinglotus.ca/2013/01/ornament-sal-january-check-in/

Doom on Design Wall

I've completed 8 out of the 30 blocks in the Project of Doom quilt.  Some of them don't match the original blocks because when I make a mistake, I'm trying to salvage the block.  I've invested too much time in the embroidery to start again from scratch.  Anyone who hasn't done this pattern will probably not notice my variations.

 

This has been a fun quilt so far.  I'm having to force myself to stop sewing to walk the dogs and go to the grocery store. 

 To see more design walls: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/28/design-wall-january-28-2013/

Stash Report, Project of Doom

This was a good week for fabric usage.  I finished my Easy Street top!

 http://sewingoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2013/01/easy-street-top-complete.html.

Used this week: 6.75 yards

Used Year to Date: 12.75yards

Added this week: 0 yards

Added year to date:16.25 yards

Net Added: 3.5 yards

 

This is how I estimate the amount of fabric used in my quilts.  I assume there are 1440 usable  square  inches in each yard of quilting fabric (40 inches across X 36 inches wide).  I know that quilting fabric is usually about 42 inches wide, but I use 40 inches to account for the selvages and squaring up trimming.  Then I multiply the length of the quilt by the width of the quilt in inches and divide that number by 1440.  In this case (95x95)/1440=6.27 yards  used.  I added about 1/2 yard to that to account for all the seam allowances in the quilt.  I know 6.75 is just an estimate, but I don't think there is a way to get the exact yards used in a scrap quilt.  Let me know if you have a better way to estimate.

 

To see more stash reports: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/28/design-wall-january-28-2013/

 

I've been working on my Project of Doom Quilt too.  The limiting factor in this quilt is how quickly I can get the titles of the books stitched on the spines. I'm doing ok with the paper piecing. It's been really fun hunting through my stash to find fabric for these blocks.  I have a lot more neutral fabric than I realized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy Street Top Complete

Yay!!! My Easy Street top is done.  I don't love this quilt, but I do like it, and I'm glad it is done. I am especially glad that every stitch of this quilt came from my stash, most of it from my scrap bins. I thought I was going to have to do a pieced border, but I dug deep and found a big piece of green that was a gift from a friend.  Thanks, Holly!

 

 

 

 

I expect every Bonnie Hunter quilt to be a test of endurance.  If you want a quick quilt, don't attempt one of her mysteries.  I do them to use up my scraps.  Not the nice strips and ironed squares, but the raggedy unironed wads of fabric that I save but don't really want to deal with.  Bonnie's quilts force me to make something useful out of scraps and crumbs that a lot  quilters would toss in the trash.  To me, this is a form of green quilting, and I feel good about the free quilts I get from my junk fabric.

 

 

 

 

Mouline Rouge in Purple

My husband gave me a gift card for Christmas to get Long Dog's Mouline Rouge framed.  This is the biggest item I've ever had framed.  When I started this (in June of 2004!), I was only thinking that I wanted to be able to see the linen.  I wasn't thinking that using 28 count linen would mean a huge piece and huge framing costs.  I kept the cost and the size down a little by not using mats.

Many thanks to Ming, Juli, Gaby, Dane, Ilsa, and Angela who helped me though a stitching slump and worked on this too.

Mark's Rhino

My son has an excellent art teacher in high school. http://drhsart.com/ Last fall he had the kids each copy a line drawing by an old master.  My son was out sick the day the kids chose their projects, so he got stuck with a very detailed picture of a rhinoceros ( I am not sure who the original artist was.)  It took him hours and hours to draw, but here is the result.

 

I am amazed that all 3 of my kids can draw.  Neither my husband nor I can.  Art instruction in my elementary school was a once a month happening.  The art teacher had no room of her own but traveled to classrooms with a cart of supplies.  I don't remember it being very fun at all.  Since my experience in elementary school wasn't great, I never took art in junior high or high school.  But I've always wished I could draw. 

 

All three of my kids had excellent art teachers in elementary school, and all 3 of them took some art in middle school.  I like that they  had a creative outlet at school.

First Flowers of 2013

About 10 days ago, I noticed the hellebore I got from the plant sale last May I had started to bloom.  I wanted to get a picture, but we were had rain for days on end, and it wasn't worth getting wet to get a picture.  I finally took on on Sunday.

 

I've never planted one of these before, so I don't know if one plant has 2 different colored  flowers, if I got two plants instead of one, or if the white flower will turn purple too.  All I know is that I am grateful for any flower that blooms in January. 

The daffodils are peeking through too.  Some of them should bloom next month.

I forgot to mention in Sunday's post how I'm doing on my personal goals.  My diet was better  last week (a lot less sugar and junk food, more veggies).  But I only made it to the gym twice last week, and only got the dogs walked 3 times, not 5.  Part of that was due to the weather.  It rained and rained.  Then it snowed.  I had a colonoscopy last Thursday and lost a day exercise  to due to the prep.  I don't have to have that test done again for 10 years!  It feels good to have a medical test that shows no problems.

 

Stash Report, Project of Doom

I bought 5 yards of fabric last week.  It was corduroy backing for my one block wonder quilt. I was looking for purple or lavender fabric, but I ended up with dark pink because the pink was 54 inches wide instead of 42.  That extra 12 inches in width makes a big difference when calculating how much  backing to buy. 

Used this week: 0 yards

Used Year to Date: 6 yards

Added this week: 5 yards

Added year to date:16.25 yards

Net Added: 10.25 yards

 

I got the quilt to the longarmer last week too, so I should have some fabric used to report soon. 

 

 This weekend I've been working on the Project of Doom Quilt.  So far I have 3 blocks done.  This is my first real paper piecing project.  The paper piecing would be pretty easy except for the fact that I have to get the book titles lined up sort of in the middle of the books' spines, and I feel like

I'm working blind.

 

 

 

 If you have ever done paper piecing, you know what I mean.  The embroidered piece goes right side down, and the printed pattern piece lies one top of it with the printed side up.  I have to feel the embroidered titles to see if they are properly placed.

 

 

  In one block I ripped out one seam 5 times before I got something that was acceptable (not perfect, just acceptable).  It seemed like a good idea at the time to embroider the titles before I put them into the blocks.  Now I'm wondering if I should put the blocks together and then embroider the titles. Except that I'm using  soluble canvas.  I don't think it would be a good idea to wash the blocks after they are paper pieced.  I think I would get a lot of distortion by doing that. 

I am not sure why this picture uploaded on its side.  It looks right on my computer.  I like the little green vial with the frogs in it. Very Harry Potterish, I think!

 

To see more stash reports: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/20/stash-report-week-3-2013/

Project of Doom

I've completed one block in my Project of Doom paper piecing project. To see a picture of the fiinished project:   http://sewhooked.com/harry-potter/

 

For those of you not familiar with Harry Potter, this is a bookshelf with a crystal ball on it.  The patterned showed a white crystal ball, but I wanted to use a Stongehenge fabric to make it look foggy and give it some movement.

 I quickly realized that the paper piecing wasn't going to be the issue in this quilt, but getting titles on the book spines was. My sewing machine is about 16 years old.  It is a Bernina 1260, which I love.  It still does about 90% of what I need it to do.  It even has decorative stitches, which I rarely use. And it can do rudimentary letters. 

The main problem I've run into is that the programing of a title into the machine is like trying to text a long message on a number pad.  If you've ever done this, you know what I mean (to get an 'R', you have to press the 7 key 3 times). Then you have to hit the store button after every letter. There is no screen to check and make sure you have hit the right letter, and many Harry Potter titles are quite long.  So it isn't uncommon to type the whole thing in and stitch it out to find out a space between words is missing or the wrong letter put in.  Then there is no good way to edit.  You can't just backspace like you can on a computer or even a phone number key pad because there is no screen.  You have to start all over.   Maddening!!!

Then there are the technical sewing issues that aren't mentioned in the owner's manual.  You DO need to use a hoop.  I have many, many hoops, but all of them are for hand stitching.  They are too tall to slide under the presser foot, so every time I want to stitch a title, the foot has to come off and be replaced.  Machine embroidery thread is a must if you want to be able to read the titles after you stitch them.  It is a little thicker than regular thread and makes a big difference in legibility.  My machine does only 2 fonts, one of them is a script that is almost illegible, so I stick with the block letters.  My machine can only do 2 sizes of letters, one has normal proportions, one is short and fat, and again, legibility is a big issue. 

I did a lot of practicing before I got something I was happy with.

 

 

 

 

I still wasn't entirely please with the way these 3 books turned out, so I went to Hobby Lobby looking for waste canvas to try stitching them by hand.  They only had 8.5 count, which would have been too big.  Then I went to AC Moore.  They had 8.5 count waste canvas, but they also had 14 count soluble canvas.  It was a little pricey, but I bought some to  try.

 

I was pretty happy with the results.

 

 

 

By piecing the canvas, I was able to get 9 books out of an 8 x8.5 inch piece.  I haven't tried rinsing out the canvas yet, but if it goes well, this is the technique I'll probably used for most of the rest of the books.  It takes me between 30 minutes and 2 hours to stitch a title, depending on the length of the title and which font I choose. I might try some 16 or 18 count waste canvas if I can find some.

 

 

 

 

Stash Report, Chemo Caps

I'm headed in the right direction now.  I used 6 yards this week as backing and binding for Orca Bay.  I also worked on Easy Street yesterday, but it isn't quite done yet.  My DH gave me a gift card for my birthday to get a quilt longarmed, but I'll have to buy backing for that first.

Used this week: 6 yards

Used Year to Date: 6 yards

Added this week: 0 yards

Added year to date:11.25 yards

Net Added: 5.25 yards 

 

To see more stash reports:

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/13/stash-report-week-2-2013/

 

As far as my personal goals, I walked the dogs 5 times last week (10 miles total) and got to the gym 3 times (cardio twice, weights once).  I'm still sore from the weights. Not so good about eating less sugar.  We had birthday cake left over as well as chocolate from Christmas. 

 

I  finished another chemo cap this week.  Since December I've made 4 caps.

 

 

I'm a self-taught knitter with poor technique, but they only take me about 4 hours to do.  So far I'm using yarn left over from the caps I made my sister.  She preferred cotton yarn because the soft acrylic yarns made her head sweat, especially when she went to the gym.  I made one hat last year for knots of love (http://knotsoflove.org/), but they are very fussy about the kind of yarn they will accept.  I'm going to see if my oncologist's office knows of chemo patients who could use the ones I make instead.  My goal is to donate 45 to charity, but not necessarily all this year. 

Orca Bay, Bound at Last

I finally got Orca Bay bound yesterday.  I had some issues with the binding because I used the same corduroy for the binding that I used for the backing.  The next time I make a corduroy binding, I need to remember to add a little to the width of the binding to adjust for the corduroy's thickness.  The next time I make a quilt with a pieced border, I need to remember to add a thin outer border.  I think binding would be neater if I weren't working around so many seam allowances.

 

 

 

 

If this quilt were a gift, I'd go back and neaten things up a little more.  I like gift quilts to be as perfect as I can make them.  This quilt is super warm because of all the seam allowances and the corduroy backing.  Done just in time for our 70 degree weekend!

Easy Street Progress

I've finished sewing all the blocks, but they aren't stitched together yet.  Every bit of this quilt came from my stash.

 

It's really hard to get a good picture because the quilt is so big, and I don't have a design wall.

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed seeing it come together, but sometimes I felt like the piecing would never end.  It will take a while to get the rows together, I think, since there are so many seams to match.  Right now, about 80% of my intersections nest.  Thanks to Bonnie Hunter for this mystery pattern!  I'd never attempt something this complicated on my own.

 

To see more Easy Street progress:

 

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=19

2013 Goals

I don't usually make resolutions on Jan. 1. I wait and set goals until after my birthday.  My birthday is just too close to Jan. 1.  I don't want to make some big diet resolution and then blow it 6 days later  by eating birthday cake.  I don't care what my diet goals are, I will eat cake (specifically pineapple cake with whipped cream) and ice cream (always butter pecan) on my birthday.

So here are my goals for 2013:

Eat less sugar.  Eat at least 3 fruits/vegs a day.  I know 5 would be better, but lets be realistic about this:  5 rarely happens in my world.

Walk the dogs 2 miles, 5 times a week.  Get to the gym 3 times a week for cardio.  Weight lift once a week. Again, twice would be better, but I hate weights.  Once is better than I'm doing now.

Knit chemo caps for charity in celebration of my sister's remission.  She is going to be 45 this year, so I'd like to get 45 caps done.  This will not all happen in 2013, but I can get started.  I'd also like to learn how to knit socks.

Cross stitch Valentine's exchange piece.  Work on Bent Creek's Sleepy Hollow.  It won't be done for this Halloween, but I can have it done by 2014.  Think about stitching all the Partridge in a Pear tree ornaments I have, at last count 9 charts by nine different designers. 

Quilting:
 2011 was the year of the scrap quilt.
2012 was a  UFO finishing frenzy.

 This year I want  to learn to paper piece. I also want to learn to like paper piecing.  Just from the tutorials I've seen, it looks slow.  Slow is not my thing in quilting.  If I want slow, I cross stitch.

I bought fabric last fall for another One Block Wonder Quilt.  Time to pull it out and get moving it.  I also need to complete the Easy Street top, my selvage quilt, and the batik sampler quilt.

I'd like to make a quilt entirely from recycled fabric.  I have some home dec samples I'd like to do something with too (bags, pillows).

I'd like to use more fabric than I buy in 2013.

That's enough, I think.  In 2011 (The Year of the Scrap Quilt), I broke my wrist in Feb. and didn't complete all that I wanted to.  I know I need to be realistic in 2013, so if I complete 75% of my goals, I will be satisfied.

New Year's Stash Report

Last year, I added 60.25 yards and used 80.5 yards, so my net used was 20.25 yards.  I've never 'kept score' before, so I really didn't know what to expect or what would be a good net used number. I am satisfied with it because I used more that I added. 

This year I'm starting off with a bang.  I added a bunch of fabric this week because I'm planning a new project. 

Used this week: none

Used Year to Date: none

Added this week: 11.25 yards

Added year to date:11.25 yards

Net Used:  none

As soon as I complete my Easy Street top, I want to start working on the Project of Doom Quilt. http://sewhooked.com/harry-potter/

 I want to learn to paper piece,  I know a young lady who would love this quilt, and she is graduating from college this May.  I am new to paper piecing, so it may be a stretch to finish the quilt by then for her.  Also, if I decide I absolutely HATE to paper piece, I am giving myself permission to give up on this project.  The fabric I bought won't go to waste, in any event.

I anticipate that my numbers will look better soon because Easy Street top will be completed in the next couple of weeks, and I have another quilt ready to bind.

I can't get the photo uploader to work today, so no pictures. Sorry!

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/06/stash-report-week-1-2013/

Fourth Quarter, FAL Goals

I didn't do a great job on my FAL goals this quarter.  I wanted to get this quilt done, but I didn't feel like working on it.

 

Same thing with this one:  no progress.

 

 

I did a little better with my cross stitching.

 

 

Went to

 

And

 

 

Went to

 

 

I completed the finishing on this one too.

 

 

 

But I misplaced these others and didn't find them until after Easy Street started, so I didn't work on them.

 

 

 

My biggest  'completion' wont even count because it didn't get quilted. It went from a bunch of blocks:

 

 

To a completed top:

 

 

I think belonging to a FAL this year  helped me get more completed than I would have gotten done on my own.  I am going to join Crafty Garden Mom's FAL in 2013 because she counts craft projects in her finishes.  http://www.craftygardenmom.com/2012_12_01_archive.html