Wonky and Willy-Nilly Bright

A comment from my friend, Barbara, inspired me to pull out some other pieces that have been a PIP (project in progress.)  These are various pieces that I have been piecing just because I have pieces and it is fun to see what happens.  (FYI:  I came up with "PIP" since A Left-Handed Quilter said "in progress" sounds nicer than "unfinished")
Since she mentioned that the last few things have not been my usually wonky and willy nilly bright work that she enjoys, these were perfect.  This will be a nice lap or couch quilt as it is right now.  It would look great in a room done in neutral colors.  Hmmm....maybe I should add black borders to it-what do you think?

As it is now

OR

With Black Borders

Thanks to the wonders of digital photo editing, it was easy to see how it looks with borders.
So, what do you think?
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UFO Update (UnFinished Object)

Perhaps you remember that a few weeks back I posted a photo of a couple of UFOs.  Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, one of them grew a bit.

I decided to make an additional convergence block to go with the first one.  But, suddenly I saw a different possibility.  I added "setting corners" and cut the block on the diagonal. My original plan was to face the triangles the opposite way (pointing away from the center.)  After placing them on the floor to make a decision, it was obvious that this was the best layout.
So, what started as this:

has now grown to a bit more than double in size.  Now I must decide if it will become a bed quilt, a lap quilt or perhaps a wall hanging.  The fact is: It is still a UFO.

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Happy Weekend - and....

I want to wish everyone in the USA a happy Memorial Day weekend.  And those of you elsewhere - have a great weekend also!

During Quilt Market, the blog for Benartex Fabric brands had a fun game/giveaway. It was called "find the fabric."   You had to look at the fabric lines on their website and find three pieces that were shown.  I found them all each day and entered each day.  
I was thrilled to get an email telling me I had won.  Of course, I had no clue which fabrics I would get since the rules stated that they would be sent randomly.

The package arrived Friday afternoon.  And I was thrilled to open it and find that I got a bundle of Feathers and Flourishes by Amanda Murphy.   This fabric isn't in stores yet. I think that there are nine fat quarters in the bundle.  I love the print that is on top and the Flourish Medallion is also a great one.

Did you notice the quilted piece these are sitting on? It is my Creative Playtime piece - still in progress.
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Success- Quilt Given

Thursday, May 26th 2016, was a great day.  In the late afternoon, there was a party for my nephew who was graduating from High School later in the evening.  I took a few photos when he was opening his presents.

He was moving so there is a little blur in this photo - but I do believe I detect a hint of a smile here.

Examining the design

Yes, it fits! 

So now, I can show the label that I put on the quilt. 

And, I got folks to hold the quilt up in the hallway of the center where the party was held. 

I am thinking that I need to use this pattern again with a limited palette of colors and make one for myself.  I really love the way the design played out.

One of the greatest joys I got during the festivities was hearing of Tyler's success in school.  An English teacher had told his parents that he was one of only three people in her class that she could call on and expect to get the right answer.  That is huge in my book.  

He also attended a trade school and obtained a welding certification, so he could go to work right now as a welder.   But he has bigger plans.  He will start as a Freshman at the local Junior College next month. After that he plans to attend the University and get a degree in Criminal Justice.  I am sure he will succeed in whatever he attempts - because he will just keep on trying! And isn't that the way to success in anything?  

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Sometimes You Need It

Yes!  Sometimes you need creative playtime to feed your creative soul.
The simple piecing of the brown and white fabrics has been in my "to play with" stack for well over a month.  But I had commitments and deadlines and other things that needed done.

But today.............PLAYTIME

I would never say that this isn't work - but it is playtime for my creative soul. I have no plans as I am going.  I am following along and saying "what if?"   The entire piece is roughly 26  by 19 inches.  I am sure it will be cut down a bit.  The big Feather-Leaf is roughly centered side to side. The bottom of it starts just above center.  This piece may not be finished anytime soon, but it is great for my "few minutes of playtime."

This "style" is something I learned about in the  'Wild Quilting" class on Craftsy.   Isn't it fun?

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Binding On, Washed and Ready

I think the title says it all.   I have completely finished the red/white/black quilt.  The binding is applied - all by machine.  The quilt has been washed -with color catcher sheets to catch loose dye.  I do that for every quilt but considering this had RED and WHITE together it was a must.
I put the quilt over my bed for the photo.

The quilting went very well.  I am happy with it.  The binding went on amazingly well.
Let me ask:  When you are sewing the binding onto the quilt, do you ever go "OH no! What if I didn't make enough? "   That happened to me today.  But of course there was plenty. There is even some leftover.   And speaking of the binding, I suppose you want to see it too.  If you don't, you should stop looking NOW.

This was a black and white batik type fabric.  Cut on the bias, it resembles the zebra print that I used in the quilt.  I think it added a great finishing touch to the quilt,     The quilt is labeled, but I can't show that until after the presentation - just in case.

I am happy that the quilt is done and looks good.   I am also happy that Craftsy is such a good platform for learning.  I have taken classes from teachers that I would likely never get to study with on Craftsy.   I love the quilting classes - but there are classes on so many things: Sewing, Cooking,  Embroidery, Cake Decorating, Woodworking, Jewelry, Paper crafts and more.

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in posts may be affiliate links for which I am compensated if you click through and purchase.

100 Per Cent - Quilted

Yes, that is correct.  I have finished the free motion quilting on the red/black/white quilt.

It is ready to be trimmed and squared.  Then the binding and label will be added.  The best part is that I should have it ready for the deadline on Thursday.  I hope the young man loves it as much as I do....but if he doesn't - I will be happy to keep it.

And just as a wild thought - there is more than a mile of thread in the piecing and quilting on this 80" by 80" quilt.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to Christina Cameli for her Craftsy Class on Free Motion quilting.
And so you know,  Christina blogs at A Few Scraps.
And a big THANKS to Linda at Life, Quilts and a Cat, too - for teaching me how to pin baste.

Friends are the best gift you can give to yourself.  And remember "to have a friend, be a friend."

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Quilting Away

There isn't a lot going on to show  you. I am quilting the quilt in an all over pattern.  So far I am halfway done.   But last night I heard a strange sound and saw this:

That big spool of Aurifil Dove gray is empty.  Fortunately,  I have one more so I will be able to finish the quilting with the same type and color of thread.
And just to give you an idea  of how the quilting is looking, here is a photo of the back.

It is a lot of work, but I do love the results.
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Basted and Moving Along

This morning my friend and I met to baste my quilt.  She gave me a very good lesson on how to baste on a table.  We got my quilt basted in short order with lots and lots of pins. Then, after thanking her many times, I took my quilt sandwich and headed for home.  I had a couple of chores to do along the way so that slowed me a bit.  But once I got home, I could hardly wait to begin quilting.  After all, I have to be finished completely with this quilt one week from today.

So I plowed right in.  I have decided to attempt doing an all over design.  I am trying to keep a larger scale with my quilting but I think it is a bit close still.

I have discovered that I prefer to quilt on solid colors so I can see what I have quilted.  I considered turning it upside down and simply quilting on the white backing.  The down side to that is that the safety pins are all on the top side. That would be a bit difficult short of re-pinning the entire thing.  So, I am going to continue along.

Don't forget that the Craftsy Birthday Sale is going on through May 21st. 

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Ready for the Next Steps

As of Tuesday night, my quilt top is finished.  This morning was spent making lots and lots of binding to go on it.  Tomorrow a friend is going to help me baste the quilt so that I can quilt it.
Here it is all folded up and ready to go.  I even have the binding wound onto a "bobbin" of sorts so that it will be ready to apply when the quilt is quilted and squared.

I am really happy with the quilt top.  It came together beautifully.   When I cut the bias binding, I had to watch my own video on cutting bias binding, just to be sure I didn't waste the fabric.   I think this binding will add a nice finishing touch to the quilt.

 I am already thinking about how I want to quilt it.  I think I will go with a large spiral  or a paisley shape as those are really easy for me.  After all, I have limited time to get this finished. Of course, since this is an 80 by 80 inch quilt, I may use more than one design.  The large solid areas offer a great chance to do some showboat quilting.

Last week, I was given a present from a friend who had been on a pilgrimage to Spain.  It is a lovely coffee mug with a design of bulls running.  I love it! It is big enough for a large cuppa and I do love my coffee in the morning.

I also love the bright colors in the mug.

Oh yes!  I got word from Craftsy that they are having a birthday sale.  There are lots of classes on sale for 50% off.  I know that Christina Cameli's Free Motion Quilting Essentials Class is 50% off. Without Christina's guidance and teaching, I would not be ready to quilt a large quilt on my domestic machine.
 But there are tons of other classes that are half off also.  It is a great time to buy a class - even if you can't watch it right now.  Why?  Craftsy classes are yours forever and you can watch them when YOU are ready.  So, why not grab that discounted class today at the Craftsy Birthday Sale.
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Embracing the OOPS!

Let me preface this by saying that I am reading a book on creativity. (A good practice if you want to grow creatively.)  This book is "Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard" by Jill Badonsky.   Today's joy is brought to you by the muse of Practice, Process and Imperfection.  Her name is Spills.
Spills motto is to take a mistake and make it bigger and better.  Good idea for my current quilt!

As you know, I cut the fabric to the wrong size.  You may also know that I had a limited supply of that fabric.  Spills laughed and said "Now is the time to soar! Spread your wings, c'mon let's fly"
So.......

I did!

Instead of trying to "rescue" the fabrics, I decided to use the big blocks and make some small blocks to go with them.  I found some charm squares in my stash that had red and white in them. (There is also green- but printed on the red, it looks black.) So I could use those for the smaller pieced disappearing nine patch blocks.

Electric Quilt play time yielded this:

I have enough fabric to make the top and the border.  Of course these are not the actual fabrics - but you get the idea.
There are only eight of the small disappearing nine patch blocks.  I had 4, so I scrounged in my stash for a few more bits of fabric and managed enough to make it.
The large blocks  will be used as I have them, but I also have my blocks made with the leftover pieces.  Spills, the muse,  said that I could use those as needed and make it a bit more wildly creative. I like that idea.

After hunkering down at the sewing machine and cutting table -and pressing station, I finished all of the pieced blocks. I used the rest of the large pieces to make the "too big" D9P blocks.   I went to my design floor (ha ha) and laid out the center section of pieced blocks.

I think this is going to work out just great!
Nice flow- Check
Graphic look - check
Nice variety of fabrics in the chosen color families- Check!

Next up will be cutting the fabric for the solid color blocks.  Then piecing the rows and columns into a top.

This is going much better and faster than I anticipated.  I may actually meet the deadline.  Ya-Hoo!
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Reality Check - Test Block

Sometimes you need a reality check. In my Saturday post about a quilt I am making, I mentioned disappearing nine patch blocks.   It had never occurred to me how to make them come out to a particular size. But I figured that someone had probably figured it out.  So, I went googling.   There it was ->  a nice formula for making the size you need.  I read it, and was so happy!  One of the example sizes was exactly what I was looking for: a ten inch block.

Where was my brain?  It said to use 7 inch squares. (Think about it!)  The nine patch when sewn is 21 inches square - and you are going to cut it so you lose 1/2 inch either direction. It will be a 20 inch square - not a ten inch square.  But, but,  it was on the internet on a quilting site.  I just took it at face value.  So now I have lots of 7 inch pieces of my fabrics. I could cut them into 3 1/2 inch squares...but NO!!!! that makes a 9 1/2 inch disappearing nine patch.

How did I figure it out?  After cutting all the pieces on Saturday,  Sunday afternoon,  I decided to make one with the fabrics I had cut.   Before I had the nine patch sewn, reality had smacked my upside the head. OUCH!  But now I was curious - what did she mean???  So, I trudged on. After I subcut the 9-patch, I saw the light.  Each quarter was a 10 inch square.

We were discussing a different unit!   I think of a disappearing nine patch block as the 9-patch cut and reassembled. She thinks each quarter is a block. I took some other fabric and made one from 4 inch squares (it makes a 10.5" block) but I trimmed it down to 10- inches.

Giant block on left - what I wanted on right

The question now-  What path do I take?  Make the giant blocks for part of the quilt? Cut the 4 inch patches for the 7 inch squares (lots of scraps left that way.) Or just go for a field goal?

The best laid plans can fail without the reality check.  Whatever happens, this will be an interesting quilt because I am going to run with it and see what happens.

Stay tuned.
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New Quilt in the Works

Today,  I realized that I needed to make a quilt for a reason.  I need to make it in a short period of time also.   I have about 11 days to make the top, layer, quilt and bind this one.  YIKES!
Of course, I need fabrics that I don't have.  The colors need to be red, black and white.  I have some of all of them, but not enough of any of them.  I discovered this after I planned the quilt.

To get started I went into Electric Quilt and started playing with designs. My first design looked like this:

This would take a lot of solid fabric - and I checked the requirements in the program to find that I didn't have enough red or black fabric. And for this to look really good, the black and red needs to be the same black throughout.  I am really trying to use up some of what I have ---so I said, try again!

Take two is this quilt:

Or, I may go a little bit smaller and use option 3.  The black and white fabric is not exactly what I will use if I go this way but I have a bw batik  that will allow for a bit more diversity of fabrics. 

The pieced blocks are disappearing nine patch blocks which are pretty fast to piece.  My plan for those was to use some fabrics I bought on clearance at Connecting Threads.   When I  found them in my stash, I realized that I had already used some of them- and they were fat eighths rather than the fat quarters I had erroneously remembered.   So, there isn't enough of those either.  But I cut all of the squares that I could manage for the nine patches and set them aside.

Then I took the leftovers and started piecing them into larger pieces.  I managed to make 5 of my ten inch squares. And there is enough left for one more.

The lower right is not all joined but will be the 6th block.    I will use these in place of six of the disappearing nine patches. It will all work out to be just fine.
I didn't sew the nine patches yet.  Since I need more fabrics, I want to wait so that they will be nicely mixed up.
Now if I can just stay focused - I can do this!
And in case you are wondering, the quilting will be something that I can do quickly- and probably in a larger scale than the practice pieces I have been quilting.

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More Quilting and a Birthday Surprise

After reading the nice comments from my post last night,  I decided that I needed to do some more quilting on the "practice pad" and see what I could do with it.
So I sat down and started playing.  I added a few lines, I did part of a feather and just let myself go.
Then I trimmed it down to cut off the part where the thread problems happened last evening.

So this is roughly 10 by 11 inches.  Now I really like it a lot.  There is some lovely testure in the piece.  So what can I do with a piece that size?  I am open to ideas.

Now about that Birthday Surprise.  Did you know that Craftsy is turning 5 years old this month?  As part of the celebration, they are having a big sale on some of their best selling kits and supplies.

 How about some fabric?  

Or perhaps some yarn?

I suggest  you go soon as theses sales always have items that sell out.


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A Little FMQ Practice

I am finally getting back to my sewing machine.  My decision was to try a little free motion quilting practice.  I tried a few designs that are all "beads on a string" type designs.
Here is the overview picture:

 After shopping for quite a while, I found the foot that I really wanted for FMQ at a price I could live with.

 I do believe that this is the foot that Christina Cameli uses on her machine for teaching FMQ on Craftsy.   There is a thumbscrew on the top that allows you to easily adjust the height of the foot.

When I started on this piece, there started being missed stitches.  So I said, hmmm, I have a thin thread in the top and a slightly thicker thread in the bobbin. So I switched to make them match.
....Nope still happening.
Hmmm..
So I remembered reading/hearing (who knows where) that a dull needle can cause that.  So I pulled out a new pack of needles and put in a fresh needle.  Ah!  that helped a lot.  But I skipped a stitch or two later - then I realized that being out of practice could be impacting that.  Luckily this will become a practice pad,  so I just kept going.
I love a design that Christina calls "tuft".

Tuft on left, sylph on right

You can sort of alternate the spacing of the design to make it blend across the quilt. The sylph design is fun too - especially since I already like doing pebbles.

The interlocking square spirals were not so good, but I tried it.  My corners need a lot more work to be "square."

My opinion of the new quilting foot?  I think I am going to love it a lot.


Linking up with Confessions of a Fiber Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday


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