Wordless Wed: Christmas Presents

FO: Friday FINALLY

Back in April when my sewing machine broke I was just about the sew the binding together for my "Who's Hungry?" quilt. Now finally in August I finally finally got a working sewing machine. And not the first thing, but one of the first things I did, was get my binding all together and on my quilt.

You've seen the quilt top (quite a while ago) but now I can finally show you the entire thing.

I was supposed to borrow my friend Tanya's baby for the photo shoot. But he lives a little far away and I was unable to get him. Babies lead very busy lives you know. He's almost ready to learn how to walk.

So instead of a baby model I took my quilt home and got the next best (better?) thing. A puppy model. Every time I feature Esme on my blog she always has her tongue sticking out and looks so derpy. I don't know why. I swear she doesn't always look like this. Oh well at lease she is happy.

The finished quilt size is about 61 x 70 and was made with fat quarters that were my Christmas present from my sister. Which is exciting because that means I get to keep it. Cause it was a present. Yay.
For other FO: Friday posts be sure to check out Tami's Blog for the Mr. Linky

WIP: Wednesday or is it?

Iam never sure what to call quilt tops. Are the a finished object? Are they a work in progress. The top is finished and it's not like the finished quilt will be much different from the finished top? Then again there is a lot more work that has to go in it before it is actually done.

Since this particular quilt is currently covered in basting pins I feel comfortable calling this a work in progress.

You saw the beginnings of it while it was still in its half square triangle form. But now it is all grown up and even has a backing. it is the Kona solids challenge that requires the use of half square triangles.

I even started quilting it. I have quickly gave up though because right now all I have is a walking foot. And walking feet don't do very well with all the turning that is necessary for these stars. I will wait until I have a hopping foot again. It will be much easier with a hopping foot... Which I should maybe next week. YAY

Here is sort of the idea of what it will look like. I like the negative space of sorts. and the way that the colors flow from one ladder to the other. Whoo!

WIP Wednesday: Guild edition

I have joined a Guild. And not a WoW one either. The nerd in me is jumping up and down for joy right now. Last month I decided to attend a meeting of the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild. They meet once a month and talk and plan and have a show and tell of quilts. It is hosted at Sewtropolis and a lot of fun.


And boy did I choose a good month to come! In July they decided to start TWO that is right TWO challenges. At the time I could only pick one. I went with the rainbow-y one (big surprise) But today I stopped by and picked up the fabric for the second one. That is a lot of free fabric for this very happy little girl!

The First one which I started planning and cutting immediately is the Kona Soilds challenge where you are given a charm pack of Kona solids to do with what you please. You can only add other Kona solids into the mix. I picked out the ones I am planning on using and getting to work. As a Guild we decided to impose another challenge on ourselves and that is that we must use half square triangles to make these.

Oh you notice something? That my half square triangles are already stitched? Well that is because I JUST got my sewing machine back! (YAY!) For those of you who aren't ravelry friends with me. After the awesome Kay gave me a sewing machine I managed to/ It broke on me. In about 10 minutes. turns out it had a broken part that needed to be ordered. But I just got it back in time for happy quilting times YAY!

The other challenge that I picked up today is the Jay McCarol challenge. I received a fat eighth of eight of his fabrics from his line to make something out of. Aren't they pretty? The guild imposed challenge on this one is "wonky" I have an idea in my head. And just randomly cut strips out of my fat eights and I am about to go work on them now as soon as I am done making this blog post.
The more I look at these fabrics the more I like them. They don't all exactly match but I think that is part of the charm right? AND Jay McCarol is the season 1 winner of Project Runway! I had no idea he was designing fabric now. But he definitely has a flair for it.


I'M SO EXCITED TO BE QUILTING AGAIN! AHHHH

PS: I'm trying the Mr. Linky on Tami's blog for the first time today! check out other WIP

Big Plans and Earrings

At the Moda Bake shop they're doing a Christmas in July theme. Nothing that interests me too much but a quilt by Angela really caught my eye, especially when she went and posted it in this version.

It's RAINBOW! and the perfect way to use not-exactly-coordinating-but-not-mismatching fat quarters. Today I dragged my entire fat quarter stash went through it. And came up with this.

I think I like the color pallet I maybe have to switch it around some more still and figure it out. I think though the real make it or break it of this quilt will be the background color I pick. Anyone have any suggestions? Based on the pic in my back stairwell I don't think white is the right neutral to do it with. My first inclination is to use grey. But that is because I really like the color grey so I am biased.

The more I think about quilting the more I'm getting excited for it. I finally sent the check to my sewing machine repair guy so I can replace the part that broke!
Right now though it is too hot to think about ironing. (an important part of quilting) The heat index has consistently been over 100 degrees lately. Usually averaging about 105. My roommates new favorite website is The Fucking Weather which is kind of all sorts of awesome. The point is it is way too hot to play with a hot machine, especially one that spurts out steam.

My favorite part of quilting is the large amounts of fabric and color that can go in one quilt. If I put that much different yarn in a sock it would look a little silly. But for fabric I think this is the perfect amount.

Have you noticed my problem yet? Look closely... How about this side?
I only have two purples. I need three... Does someone have a purplely-lavender fat quarter they'd be so kind to pass along? I'll trade you? I'm also looking for another yellow and green because a few of them I would like to switch out.

Which brings us to the second part of this post. Over the winter I decided (or rather was just too lazy to keep studs in) to let the piercings in my ears close. I didn't get them pierced until I was 18 and found them to be a hassle more than anything else. So I've decided that I should pass my earrings on to someone that would actually use them. Or repurpose them. I'm not picky just so
long as they are put to good use. Here is the lot.

(Promised to someone)

(Promised to someone)

(promised to someone)

(promised to someone)

If you're interested leave a comment, contact me on ravelry or twitter, email. There are a lot of ways to get in contact with me!

These aren't all of them. I am a collector of stuff. So I will post more later. But if something catches your eye let me know! Surprised by the lack of rainbow earrings?

The Sun is shining, it's a beautiful day.

And I am the luckiest girl in the world!

It is wonderful out today. I spent some time in my back yard with Beverly, my spinning wheel. Listening to music and noise and spinning in the back yard.

I said Hi to Sampson who lives next door and is the most energetic dog ever.

Mostly just taking in the sunlight because it finally feels like summer.

Remember how I got my spinning wheel? It was from a kind and wonderful woman named Beverly. And now less than a year later (just shy of a month to be a year apart) I was given a wonderful new present.

Why yes that is a new sewing machine. This time from a kind and wonderful woman named Kay. I just got to sew on it today and it runs really well. And is head and shoulders nicer than my old machine. She was also nice enough to spend me bobbins and a shank separately from bringing the machine over. I met Kay over in the MOHS group on Ravelry along with her mother and her daughter. Three generations of crafters, amazing. And they are all nice and sweet as can be.

I think the name of my new machine is going to be Kay. I hope she doesn't mind.

It also came in what I think is the cutest bag ever.

Duct tape is my only friend

A few weeks ago when I first attached my design wall, i used command hooks and painters tape. Well it kept on falling down and down and was annoying and refused to stay and got annoying. So I went back to my old favorite way to get things to impermanently stick to walls. Duct tape... it is strong sticky and doesn't leave a residue. Why didn't I use it in the first place?


Oh? The owls you ask? They look familiar you say? Want a better look? okay let's pull back...

I finished my quilt top! YAY!

for the close up!


I have to clean my room (oops) before I can baste my quilt and hope to be sewing it tonight!

potentially stupid (updated)

Earlier this week I did something really silly. I ironed on my cutting board and my little makeshift board isn't very heat proof and the resulting heat from my iron warped my cutting mat (oops). Feeling like I should have known better (because I totally should have) I began looking for ways to fix my cutting mat. Number one response was "leave it on the sidewalk for a day and let the sun warm it flat again. Seeing as my sidewalk currently looks like this


I don't really think that it is an option... yeah. The wood plank is to cover up the giant crater in my sidewalk.

I also read then warm water might do the trick so I gave it a bath on and off for a few hours yesterday... still didn't work.

currently I just have some heavy books on it lately hopefully it'll straighten itself out. I have a smaller mat I'm using right now but cutting on it'll probably get quickly annoying.

I'm a liberal arts major we really don't have heavy text books.


***UPDATE****

I really am potentially stupid, I forgot that one of my roommates is a chemistry major
much better.

WIP: Wednesday Who's Hungry?

I know it seems like the only project/thing I've been blogging about lately is my Who's Hungry? quilt. And you might have a point. But it's just that I recently decided that I really wanted to finish it the blocks are easy so why haven't I finished it yet? even more recently I decided that I was going to finish this quilt (including the quilting) in April. Seeing as it is not april yet it looks like I'm probably in pretty good shape. However, my boarder number 1 fabric isn't supposed to get here until April 5th. Wish me luck!

Enough talking time for quilt progress:
I am eight blocks from being done with the block part of the quilt top

They mostly made out of blocks with a corduroy middle, but them a few of them are a semi irregular four patch ish type block made out of the middle scraps like this one:


They are not intentionally wonky... I'm just not good at peicing lots of little squares together, I don't think the tape marking 1/4 inch is straight on my machine right now. I should try to fix that.

Sunday Stash: On monday!

Alright, so it's technically not stash because it is for a specific project (specifically the borders and backing for my who's hungry quilt). And it is technically Monday afternoon not Sunday. But I just got it and wanted to show it off.

My blog. My rules. Yeah, that's right.

WIP: Wednesday quilt making

Why, what is this held up with command strip hooks and painters tape? sitting up in my corner so nicely?


Maybe you need a better look, perhaps one further away?



It's a design wall! when I was cleaning my room a while back I decided I needed one. since I live in an apartment with three roommates and I'm not allowed to put holes in the walls or damage them in any sort I had to be creative with how to attach the wall. as you can see by the space it takes up that there isn't too much room for it.



Now for the quilt top. if any of you have been reading my blog you will know that this set of fat quarters was my christmas present from my sister. I'm turning them into 7.5 in squares. Not to sure how I'm going to put them together yet but this is what I have so far.


I especially love the owl fabric and turning the owls into little one eyed monsters at the seams.

Sorry for the crappy picture quality I don't know what is going on but if you

paloozaing

Here are blocks eight and nine of the palooza

Initially I was hesitant about the applique in block number eight but the heat n bond wonder under worked just sooo well and I could get the original placement of the gesse right in this block so I sort of made my own placement, but hey it worked out. Also, you'll notice that my long strips on the side are seamed. that is because I'm working with layer cakes and can't actually make a strip that is 10.75" because well, layer cakes are only 10" oops.

Block number nine was so pretty but I'm not sure about my color choices. I was nervous about it because it contained the smallest geese yet. But actually they turned out pretty decent if I'm allowed to say so.