quilting vs. scrapbooking

i spent a lot of time over Christmas break working on "taite." it's been on my dining room floor awaiting sandwiching ever since. good thing i haven't had any fancy parties planned lately. (like for the last 10 years.) despite the fact that i had it blocked off, just about every niece or nephew that came over to our house in the last month decided to stand on it anyway. and my littlest lady was beginning to think it was her personal playmat. she wouldn't stay off it. but i left it there because i didn't want to have to press all those darn seams again and so i would be motivated to get it done. that just wasn't happening, however. partly because i got really into this:

project life 2013! i did a very basic version of project life last year and am stepping it up this year by using the studio calico project life monthly subscription kit combined with the "seafoam" core kit from becky higgins. love it! this is such a great approach to scrapbooking/recording your life. can't recommend it enough. heck, it even looks a bit like a quilt with all those pockets, squares, and grids. but i've been absorbed in getting this album going and finishing off the two from last year (family and baby's first year). and that got me scrapbooking other stuff, too. so i've been spending my hobby time with paper rather than fabric. this was thoroughly enjoyable for me and so much quicker than quilting. i was ready to just chuck all the fabric because sewing is so time consuming. but then i look at all those projects i am itching to complete , as well as the huge stash i've invested heavily in, and my heart melts. besides, we really are enjoying wrapping up in the few quilts we have this winter and i look forward to everyone having their own.

however, that quilt top was getting dirty. so i made plans to get it off the floor. the only way that was going to happen was going to the store to quilt in open lab time without any distractions. which is what i did today. i also had high hopes of reworking that new quilt top and maybe getting it backed and/or sandwiched, too. that didn't happen but i did get the back completed on "taite", pressed the whole top again, and sandwiched the darn thing. getting sooooo close!

there were only a handful of ladies there today so i spread out over half the classroom. i had my tops laid out relaxing on two tables, my backing on the floor, and my gear all over another table. (partially pictured above). it was awesome.

me in the middle of the mess, looking a mess. i was there from 10:30 to 5:30. really, i should have got more done, but i was having technical difficulties. my machine was going all funky on tension and the bobbin stitching. several times i had to get help from the friendly ETC staff who know the machine i have well, since they sell it in the store. yikes! it was getting frustrating having to change needles and rethread stuff and unpick constantly. i definitely need to service my machine, but since i had set the day aside i did NOT want to give up and go home. i just kept pleading with it to last the day out. which it did, thank goodness!

i was feeling pretty giddy by the time that back was done and taped to the tables. my backing was not squared off, with several different lengths of fabric on the ends but i thought it would be best to just square up after quilting. i might have been wrong about this. despite spending a lot of time carefully smoothing out fabric and the batting, and after taking an hour to pin the darling,

it was all wrinkly on the bottom. this makes for ucky quilting. not good. i was soooo disappointed and a bit discouraged. this is starting to be standard operating procedure for me whenever i do a project, though:a few steps forward and a major problem stepping me back. just when i think i'm gettin' going, i come to a detour or screeching halt.

my word, just look at all those pins!  almost 200. i can't even describe how painstaking and tedious that was. now it all has to come out. someone play the violin for me, please. well, on the brighter side, i am that much closer to getting it done. i love how it feels to have a quilt sandwiched because you can finally see the almost finished version of the product. so exciting! even if i have to do that part all over again.

this is an aerial shot of the backing. all that white stuff on the left is the batting. my daughter picked that loud and luscious yellow paisley as her main fabric. i included the green floral strip to bring out the cool colors from the top but i'm not sure it's balanced well enough by the pink primrose tile on the opposite side.

i like to echo elements from the front on my pieced backings so i used the white sashing strips and leftover mini squares. but i'm thinking that green may be too strong. well, since i have to unpin it and do over anyway, it may give me a chance to do something else instead.

 

the mini squares show up nicely against the green and pink strips but kind of blend right in to the busy yellow piece.

i now feel like i can give myself permission to make a small doll quilt with some leftovers from "limb" so i have a practice piece for stippling because i am still mostly decided to stipple this but want some experience with it first. this quilt has been almost two years in the making. i do think i will be able to pull it off by daughter #2's birthday this year. she will be so excited.



wip and a happy little helper elf

thanksgiving weekend i pulled "taite" back out. i spent hours pressing all those darn seams on the back because they'd gone haywire since the last time i worked on it. i think i hate pressing seams open. it seemed such a good idea when reading elizabeth hartman, but this was not the project to try it on - way too may small seams going on. i felt like i wasted so much time doing that pressing, but it was a necessary build up to finally getting my border on.

the border had me worried because i wanted to do one long cut - over 60". guess what? i did it! and it worked. no elbows or nothin'. i was very proud of myself and grateful, too. then i went and sewed the wrong sides together on my first strip and had to spend a whole lot more time unpicking it, time i could have been sewing the other strips on.

and so it goes. i definitely saw surprising improvement in my cutting skills, but i am no expert yet. still making mistakes constantly. sometimes i wonder when it will come naturally, if ever.

after most of a saturday, i finally had that darn border on and my top is complete.
now to piece the back.

i spent most of this past saturday figuring out my back, cutting the main piece, and putting together all the little leftover squares from the front to work into the back. about 1/3 done as of now.

this is what my dining room has looked like most of the month because i am not picking that top up again until i have it sandwiched and basted. i've blocked it off with chairs and it has worked pretty well except for when the dog runs in the house, some cousins want to look at the candy houses, and when my happy little helper elf decides to examine my work:

she just wanted to be by her mama since everyone else was gone. i loved the unexpected hugs on my back as i worked, but not the quilt trespassing and her interest in my cutting or the mini pieces everywhere. life with baby!

other wips to report: the baby quilt has the raw binding sewn on, it just needs to be turned and blind stitched down. hallelujah! almost there.

wip wednesday

thanks to general conference, i got so much done this weekend! i worked on whatever was available as i could through out the 8 hours of inspirational listening and sewed at the machine in between sessions. it was like crafting ADD: blanket stitch this one, clean out my sewing caddy, help kids with stitching projects, press some fabric, more blanket stitching, cut a new blanket, sew here and there, figure out this border, etc. fun! i definitely didn't get bored of any one project. in fact, i didn't even get to all the things i wanted to work on.

i can't decide if i am more proud of finishing nearly 3 of the 4sq blankets or for pulling taite back out and making some progress. my daughter was definitely happy to see work on her quilt underway once again. maybe by this next birthday i'll have it done?

this border took some time to fix. i'd previously pulled off the border because i didn't like the way the angled seams looked, so i had a pile of stringy-edged, angle-ended strips of various sizes. i didn't want to spend time doing the math to make everything even, so i just pressed and straight-cut the ends, then lined them up around the outside. since i wanted to add more blue to the border, i had purchased and cut the blue background pop daisy print (bottom two strips) to add to the border, but i couldn't make it work out evenly and just pulled it all together. i pieced the other three fabrics and sewed on. none of the strips are evenly-sized, unlike everything else in the quilt, but it bothers me a lot less than the diagonal seams did. it's good enough. in fact, when i look at the top, i don't even notice this because they all blend so well together. time to move on and get this baby finished! just need to decide how wide to make the outer neutral border. i have precut jelly roll strips in snow, which i used in all the blocks, but i think i might want to make the border wider/quilt a bit bigger by using a wider border. then again, i really don't want to cut anymore. hmm. probably should have done a snow inner border, the blue/green border, and then another snow border. too late now - i am not pulling this off again.

completed:
ollie's 4sq (#11)
hailey's 4sq (#12)

started:
lanee's 4sq (#13) - top and back completed, edging started

in progress:
taite - added blue inner border
oopsy daisy baby six and one half dozen quilt
ladybug softie - pressed fabrics, located pattern

in the wings:
out on a limb
baby's 4sq

trips to the store: none!

internet purchases: fabricworm package arrived

once apon a time

once upon a time i dabbled in quilting. i took a class or two with friends.eventually, i even braved designing my own quilt pattern.  it was a fun new hobby i was really enjoying. then i got pregnant and somehow the joy has flown. i'm hoping it's temporary and hormonal only.

yesterday i was visiting with my friend jill, who took one of those classes with me. she said she'd finally been able to download some pictures she took of our class. today i got them in an email. it made me all nostalgic for my long lost hobby.

 a shot of me and my chain pieced blocks. chain piecing is the best! so much faster than doing each bit separately. it does take some thought so you don't mix up blocks, but is not too complicated and definitely worth the extra bit of brain power you have to expend when using it. man, i really do like those heather bailey fabrics i picked for that quilt.

alas, that quilt top, minus its border, is still folded up laying on my neglected sewing table. the backing still needs to be planned out and assembled. my 8 year old daughter is now 9.  her birthday came and went without her promised quilt being completed. such a sad story, in a quilting-world kind of way.

jill also sent me a picture of her fabric selections for her quilt. she was brave enough (and savvy enough) to pick several fabrics from a variety of lines and manufacturers in her palette of lime green, pinks and reds, and turquoise blue. love it! her quilt is currently awaiting a little quilting on the border and its binding. she's several hours and steps ahead of me. can't wait to see it finished. that might be a little ways off too, though. not because jill's pregnant like me but because her kids are now home from school for the summer.

quilt class, two and three

last week, on class #2, i took several photos of everyone elses work, but neglected to get one of me while working. that tends to happen somehow.

mequell and her cute piggy tails got busy cutting her strips. then she got to tackle working with minky, that snuggly yet slippery stuff. i hear it's miserable to work with, but worth it. haven't been brave enough to try yet.

carol, who didn't want to be photographed with her blocks, and her friend heather are both using oh, my! by sanae for moda. totally different look from my quilt. so much fun variety.

lucinda chose just wing it by momo for moda. i've got a jelly roll of this line, too, and am waiting on yardage, which will of course only wait on the shelf when it comes in. i really like some of the small butterfly florals. not a fan of purples, generally, but i don't have to buy the whole line now do i? i like the pinky reds, blues, and greens.

hard at the pedal, front to back: louise, marge, and marti. everyone was at different stages of completion, mequell and i being the least done, i think. we'll get there. slow and steady.

diana looked farther ahead, but she's actually a hold over from last month's class. love the soft colors in this line: breakfast at tiffany's by fig tree for moda. it's got some very sweet polka dots.

and here's a cheesy picture of me with my two different block styles. i went home with good intentions, but then my week got packed and by the time i had free moments on saturday, i didn't feel the least bit like sewing. after running some errands with my baby girls, i lounged in bed and read a whole book. really nice saturday!

this monday, i was ready to get down to business again. so ready, that i didn't even bring my camera since i promised myself i was just going to sew my little heart out. i of course immediately regretted that decision. jill did take a photo of me with my chain pieced blocks, but i don't have it. i did sew a whole lot, and even got permission from the mr. to stay longer than usual. but my top is not quite done. it needs it's small inner border and a larger outer one. i'm thinking i'll just make the thicker border out of the "snow" fabric, but i'm not decided just yet. this is what i brought home from class:

getting these laid out within the pattern bounds of alternating block styles and not having any of the same color next to each other as well as trying to have one of each color in each row of five was rather like doing a sudoku puzzle. i could never get it exactly right. the two blocks with the blue pattern in the center turned out too close to each other, but overall it's pretty balanced. now i just need borders and the top is done. i think that'll have to wait til class next week. we're supposed to bind next week, but i'm taking the freemotion quilting class next wednesday night and want to wait to learn how to stipple quilt this. at least it frees me up from worrying about sewing on it at all this week when there's so much else to do for easter.