Sore Wrist

Hi everyone,

I have a repetitive strain injury happening with my wrist, so I'll be offline for the next two weeks.  Comments will be saved but not read or posted until I am back.  In the meantime, happy sewing!

CQJP 2013

I know, I need another commitment like a hole in the head, but nevertheless I have just signed up for the 2013 round of the Crazy Quilt Journal Project. For the past year I have been admiring all the work that was done in CQJP 2012, and I couldn't let it pass me by this time.

The big question has been what theme to use.  It hit me today:

WOOL

I have many books on wool embroidery...

...and I have never made one project from any of them! I haven't made a crazy quilt either, so this will be two birds with one stone. Well, three birds, because I've been wanting to a make a wool quilt too.

I hope to make it a sampler of as many techniques as I can fit in.  Different types of wool embroidery, some needlepoint on waste canvas, wool felt applique... and I'll use up some of those perle cottons I bought too. Dark, neutral fabrics, bright embroidery.

I want it to be a useable size for a throw, so my plan is to go big - 16 x 16" square blocks. A little primitive, big and chunky. I have loads of navy wool suiting that I never had time to make into suits when I was working, and which will be perfect for some sashing between the blocks.

I think weight will be an issue with this quilt, so I will not quilt it, just back it and put in a few ties. I also think it will be wise to avoid buttons and beads for this project, for the same reason.

It's going to be fun!

Happily Stripping

Here's the photo that got Eleanor Burns on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.  It's from Failblog, and the caption reads "Nobody wants to see that.. ever."  To me, what's really funny here is that the teenage boys (and Ellen, apparently) who run Failblog assumed that Burns didn't understand the double entendre.

I saw this when it first posted on Failblog, but it wasn't until I watched Eleanor on TQS that I heard about Ellen's involvement. I would love to say that I stopped reading Failblog because I'd matured, but the truth is that the ads became so intrusive that I couldn't hear the videos! Here's my all time favourite photo from Failblog:

Today's title includes the word "happily" because I have just figured out that I can sew strips without pins.  It is extremely freeing!  Not to mention way faster.  Right now I am making placemats.  These ones will be with the Christmas fabric I just bought at Fabricland:

 

These are nice, wide strips that will finish at 3.5" and are mostly from a lightweight home decor fabric. They went together so well that I was inspired to try it without pins. Then that went so well that I tried it with quilt fabric. First with 2" finished strips, and then when that worked, with 1" finished strips:

The real breakthrough came this morning when I tried to put the final chequerboard together, also without pins:

Every corner came out perfectly! Win!

The secret is to keep the strip with the seam allowances that are ironed upwards on top, with the seams pressed the other way on the bottom strip. This happens automatically when you are alternating directions like I did here. Then the presser foot pushes the top seam against the bottom one, and does the work for you. I have a few strip-pieced quilt projects similar to these waiting in the wings, so I am thrilled to have improved my process like this!

Although I have never read a book from Eleanor Burns, I really enjoyed her Legends show on The Quilt Show. She wrote her first book before she finished her first quilt! I identified with her quite a bit. :)

All Washed!

I think it was in June 2011 when I decided to wash all the quilt fabric in my stash. It has been an extremely long process, because, you know, I've kept adding to the pile. But, as of today, I am completely caught up! Woo hoo!

I've learned a couple things along the way:

1. I will never buy anything smaller than a fat quarter ever again. Long quarters and fat eighths are a nightmare to untangle in the washing machine.

2. My stash is never going to get smaller. Despite two supposedly "stash busting" projects, Hourglass and Texas Star, there has been no change in the size of my stash whatsoever. So I think a more reasonable goal from now on will be stasis, rather than reduction.

Now I just have to finish sorting it!


Related Post:

There was still lots to wash in January!

Some Beads for Celtic Spring

I decided that I didn't want to be stuck with all the beads at the end, so I have started to add some as I go along. It has been very rewarding:

Unfortunately, I have also found that I have a tendency sometimes to sit there mesmerized by all the sparkle instead of stitching!

The instructions do not include any information about which threads to use with the beads. Here is what I've been using:

• Mill Hill beads 62037 (lilac) - DMC 209
• Mill Hill beads 3025 (purple) - DMC 327
• Mill Hill beads 3012 (dark green) - DMC 936. These "green" beads are actually half olive green, half dark purple or blue, which gives some unexpected results sometimes. You can see that in the wreath around the figure's head, where many of the "leaves" have turned purple. I think it adds interest, so I have left it:

• Mill Hill beads 3054 (pearl gold) - DMC 676
• Mill Hill beads 557 (shiny gold) - DMC 676 or DMC 3822, depending on the location. If the beads are surrounded by the metallic gold Treasure Braid, then I found that 3822 is a better match. If there is a mix of shiny gold and pearl gold beads, then I do them at once with 676. That's what I did in the side border:

It has been very challenging to get decent photos! The colour in the first one is probably the truest - the fabric is the Willow Green Cashel linen. You really have to see it in real life to get the full impact. It is surpassing my expectations!

Lima Beans Update

Lima Beans? Update?? I know, the beginning of this project was buried in another post, so it is unlikely anyone remembers it. But, it has been coming along this week:

This is the first of four seed packet patterns from June Grigg that I bought in the early 90s and am finally getting around to.  The stitching is on 18 ct aida, and the texture and coverage are really nice.  I remember now that the texture is what attracted me to the projects in the first place, when I saw the samples in June's booth so long ago. I wish you could all feel it through your screens!

Other than some cross stitch and a few more stars, I've mainly been waffling about some design ideas this past week.  I've been over to Fabricland three days in a row now.  Yesterday I had finished my shopping and was driving out the driveway, when I had another idea and turned around to go back again! Most of my plans have been for the RVQG BOM, but today I cracked and bought some Christmas fabric too.  It's hard to say no to $5 per metre! And we need new Christmas placemats...

Filler Diamonds for Texas Star

This is pretty much all I have been working on this week. Today I have forced myself to take a break to give my hands a rest! Earlier in the week I cut some more fabric for the project, including these stripes, and the white filler diamonds.

I wanted to start putting in the white diamonds now, so I am not stuck with them all at the end. Now that I have done some of them, I am doubly glad of this plan, because the diamonds are somewhat more challenging.  The points are heavier to baste, and the white fabric is heavier too.  That's why there are holes in my finger that have to heal! But if I just add three diamonds to each star for now, I can arrange them as I like at the end:

I will have to leave a few without the diamonds to finish off the top and right edges.

I have also decided to make the whole quilt bigger. My original plan was to make it about 60" square, but recently I have found myself preferring rectangular quilts, so I am going to bump it up to 60" x 80". With a 4" border, that will require 315 stars. I find that 3 lengthwise strips from a fat quarter give me 4 to 5 stars, so I am going to shoot for about 70 fabrics total. That should be plenty of variety!

I have realized that this is probably not going to be a very blog-friendly project, because I think you can only look at so many stars, but I will try to show a few of the more fun fabrics that I have for this quilt.  The only fussy cutting I am going to do is for the stripes, so it is only here and there that a complete motif shows:

Fortunately, a little bit of mystery about how exactly each star will look keeps it interesting!