Stitching in the Barn

Seriously, I just can't get this blogging thing down. I think it would be easy to document what I've been doing at least once a week, but preferably twice. I'm actually doing stuff to blog about but I have a hard time documenting. Right now, I have a horrible cold so I'm sitting back in my comfy chair and finally updating. Nothing like an illness to make you sit back and reflect on what you'd rather be doing. (my sister just Tweeted me they had this last week right before we visited them) Quilting: Now here is where I'm actually making progress. I've worked on it quite steadily for a while but then my allergies started sucking the life out of me. I've been sitting around reading blogs and  message boards for the last week and a half as my allergy medicine just doesn't seem strong enough anymore. I've found a lot of great inspiration and I'll be ready to get back at my current WIP as soon as I'm well from this cold. Here...

I wanted to make a quilt. I wanted it to be quick and easy. I wanted it to be flannel, front & back with batting. I had these flannels in my stash from a Black Friday sale at JoAnn's years ago: They're very juvenile but go together perfectly. I saw a free pattern on the internet but I discarded it as it was made for a larger number of fabrics than four and I wanted to use just these and not buy more. I decided I wanted a "simple" rail fence quilt with large blocks for less piecing. Here are the blocks spaced 4 inches apart with a 12 inch border  This looked huge and the scale wasn't right. I then spaced the rails 3 inches apart with a 9 inch border and some white fabric to block it down to 9 inches This looks more balanced to me and the blocks are only slightly smaller. I also searched Google for images of rail fence quilts and decided it needed a small inner border to contain it. I have at least 3 yards of each fabric so I started d...

I got into my sewing space this weekend to make my self a grab bag from All People Quilt.com (links to a .pdf file). I used some black denim I've had for ever and the leftover red tone on tone, from my daughter's lunchbag, for the lining. And looped closed: The denim is very stiff and unsuitable for clothes but perfect for a bag. The original option was to use 2 quilting cottons and batting in between but I didn't want the extra work on the first one I made.   I did do extra work anyways because I zigzagged the edges to finish them. The seam allowance was only a 1/4 inch and I was afraid it would fray too easy. Next time I'll use the same pattern but take a 1/2 inch seam allowance, there's plenty of room for it. I like this bag because there are no separate straps to make which makes it quicker to sew. The handles on this one are funny, IMHO, to sew together but come out awesome. I would recommend basting the loop parts before stitching them c...

I've worked on my hexies and I've gotten them all basted. Here are the next ones I've worked on: And here they are all together, I think that's a nickle in there: I've tried placing them into matching rows but it looks too uniform: Then I tried flowers which I like but they don't really sing to me: I'm working on them tomorrow at my son's music class so I'll sew them into flowers but I think I'm going to make a garland out of them for my sewing room. I don't know if I'll attach them end to end or maybe on a fake vine. Either way, I'm going to back them and either stuff them or batt and quilt them, most likely by hand. BTW my husband came home with a Necchi type 565 yesterday from the charity store for $15! We believe it was one of the first to be made in Japan since I believe the 555 was still made in Italy and this one doesn't say "Made in Italy" anywhere, though the motor and bobbin hook say ...

My son is away at camp with school this week so I managed to get in 15 minutes of play today but it turned into an hour and all I got put together was this bit of a crazy block from scraps This was my first time doing it. I read about it within the last couple of weeks and decided to go for it today because I haven't sewn for myself in ages! I really didn't want to work on a "project" either so I just sewed some scraps onto a dryer sheet. I will never use a dryer sheet again. I've read in several places over the years that you can do this but I had a few problems. I tried to iron my used dryer sheets because they come out of the dryer all wrinkly, I guess they get rid of them from your clothes by absorption. ^_^ My iron was too hot no matter what setting it was on and they left a lot of gunk on it. I gave that up and used it with all the wrinkles in it, after destroying 3 with the iron. Then, I wanted to piece a fairly large piece and the dryer she...

Back to school time has been kicking my butt. I haven't found any time to sew until I had to do this. My daughter got this bento box last weekend. It's square and wouldn't fit in her lunchbox laying flat so I decided to make her one. It's been an experience I don't want to repeat on my home machine. From Sewing projects Its 8 inches high, 7.5 inches wide and 7.5 inches deep but it kind of puffs out & looks much bigger. Here it is open with plenty of room inside: And here's a front shot: She drew the phonebox on the front pocket. The outside is actually an unfinished tote bag that was in the WIP pile for her. It's black cotton that I had interfaced and sewn into a bag shape. I just took a bigger seam across the points to make it square instead of rectangular. I bought a round and rectangular piece of plastic canvas, trimmed, then layered them to make the bottom stiff. The round one felt sturdier but I wanted nice straight sides....

These are my first hexies. I made them while my son was having his music lesson last Friday. The background is supposed to be white but it wouldn't come out right: (ETA: I've replaced the picture with a better one) They are to make this hexie holder from Connecting Threads and are 3/4 inch on one side. I tried to start putting the inside of the tote together and found I didn't like it very much. I had previously bought a cool box from the school supply area to hold them while my tote was being worked on. The box is working out great so these will probably end up in another mini quilt instead. I find it so relaxing that I put together a few more the other night before bed when I couldn't get my mind to shut up, then I slept extremely hard. At least all the basting is making good use of all the thread I bought from them.

I'm so busy with sewing and back to school. I also feel like I can't get enough sleep. The other day I felt like I barely made it back from the grocery store and everyday at work I get worn out earlier than usual. I just keep saying "School starts Tuesday" then I'll be able to collapse without anyone home during the day, or stay up and sew ^_^ My week started out with my mini quilt. I got all the blocks pieced and played around with the setting. I thought I took pictures of different setting but I guess i didn't. The blocks: They are about 3.75 inches square. The last seams went together so fast I was surprised to see it finished. I now see why a lot of mini quilt makers sew a 1/4 inch seam and then trim it to 1/8 inch. My 1/8 inch seams were a bit inconsistent and I had to back a few with interfacing because the fabric was unraveling weird and I didn't want to get a hole. But I'm happy with these.

I just finished watching The Quilt Show's latest free episode featuring the gorgeous quilts of Philippa Naylor . She has some amazing bright and colorful quilts! Her quilting and trapunto are exquisite and she shares her techniques and tips in this episode. The best tip I saw was what she uses for gripping the fabric for machine quilting. Here's a screen cap: It's that drawer liner stuff that looks like a puffy web and grips. I'm so excited about this tip! No more hot gloves in the Texas heat for me! She just cuts a piece 4in by 6in and places her left hand on top of it and grasps the fabric with her right hand to move it. I'm going out to get some today! She also shared her experiences of living in Saudi Arabia for 15 years, it was enlightening, to say the least, and took a tour of some of the vendors at the Houston International Quilt Festival after the show. It was a really great episode and has inspired me to try trapunto, someday ^_^ My ...

Here's the 2-patches that have already been paired into 4-patches: The strips were originally cut 1 1/4 inches to make a small coin block, that never got made, long before the BOM, which is what I'm using these fabrics for now. I cut some strips out of the Kona white and tried to sew them with an 1/8 inch seam. It turns out the 1/8 inch mark on my presser foot wasn't accurate and they ended up smaller than they should.  I have carried on though and turned these into 4-patches, which I'll now have to trim to 2 inches square, and make sure my next seams are a true 1/8 inch. The 4-patches will then be turned into 12 16-patches that I'm going to play with to figure out a setting for my quilt. I've been having loads of fun with this! I think a mini quilt is a perfect idea for all the hot weather we've been experiencing here in Texas.

I used Inkscape to make a layout for my BOM quilt: I really liked this one! Maybe I need to make a mini mock up to test out how it looks. (crossposted to my LJ)

I've finished piecing the top for my Halloween wall hanging. Right now it's about 22 inches wide and over 50 inches long. I'm going to trim it down to a rectangle but not soon. It's too hot too handle all that fabric right now and I'm short on sleep and will be for a few days. As it is, I'm not sure I've done it well but I'll figure it out when I'm more alert. It's so hot here in Texas that biggish projects aren't very appealing right now.  It was uncomfortable under all the fabric when I was piecing the long sashings on. I'm thinking of working on something smaller or turning my blockofthemonth  round 4 project into a quilt-as-you-go project. I'd like to get a book on the subject first to decide how to go about it and whether to machine or hand quilt it. (crossposted to my Live Journal)

I've so gotten into sewing this week that I've often forgotten to eat! It totally satisfies my cravings. Here's what I've done: My Halloween quilt is coming along. I'm trying to get the bat fabric to go in one direction and the angles I have to cut are weird but it's coming along. This is my layout so far: Some of the pieces have been sewn together on the diagonal. I'm hopefully going to work more on this today. I'm joining the blockofthemonth  group (on Live Journal) this round and I'm so excited! This is my first BOM, here's my fabrics: I used the B&W filter on my camera phone to take the second picture. The B&W photo shows the color values of my choices. That is one of my favorite tips that I saw/read somewhere along the way. These fabrics were given to me by my MIL. She made sets of decorative napkins out of them and I got a ton of leftovers. This BOM inspired me to use them, as soon as I saw it I knew I had the pe...

Finished: The Maneki Neko quilt from Fat Cat Patterns is done! He's hanging on the wall and hopefully welcoming the money into our home ^_^ This was a fun quick project. I learned a lot and he's cute. I didn't do much quilting within his body because I didn't know what type of filler would work and if I could do it well. I followed the lines in the background print for the quilting outside the cat like a 5 year old but I'm still happy with the practice. I quilted scales on the fish and heavily lined the mouth and collar to make the rest of the cat pop out. I would never give this away because of the inexpensive fabrics involved. The fish was made with a higher quality scrap and it fused better and didn't fall apart when I quilted around the edges, unlike the white. Quality is worth the price. Next time I'll try not to skimp. It's 12.5 inches square which I think is a perfect size for me to try new techniques. Modification?: My labyrint...

I think I need to practice updating more often and in smaller bits. I've been thinking it over the past couple of days and realized I was going to make one giant post after the project I'm making is done. I need to either make posts more often during the progress or cut to the basics so it doesn't take over an hour for me to write up a post. I'm normally much more succinct verbally but tend to type up a storm. Sunday we picked up a small pineapple on sale at the grocery store. It tasted so good it was gone in a day. Last year, I had found some information online about growing the pineapple top. I searched around and found this page: http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Pineapple/pineapple.htm My pineapple top is drying out now and will hopefully get planted. I have a bit of a brown thumb but this looks doable. If it doesn't work out, I'll try again with the next pineapple. On the quilting front, I'm in the middle of an applique' project. It'...

Our trip to visit family in Houston was great. Everyone loved the little quilt I made for my Niece's baby. I'm sure they're all wondering when they'll get theirs next. Well, they can keep wondering. Here's the best picture I took. I hope they send me one with the baby, probably in the winter. Due to limited funds we went to art museums while we were there because they were free. Houston has lots of them for free or free days during the week and I think I've seen my share of art for the month. I have had art overload! All the art has inspired me to keep sewing, which is a very good thing. Here are a couple of things I've sewn since I've been back, and after finishing 3 days worth of laundry: This is a 12.5 inch block made of batiks that I picked up at a local quilt store one day. They had a BOM program but I didn't go back for the rest. I really like this one because the centers of both my four-patch units and hourglass units came ...

I really didn't mean to be gone so long. I lost my password, but then I wasn't sewing anything of worth to post about anyway. I do step back from posting more often than I think I care to admit but I don't think I've ever gone this long before, 5 months, without posting. I must admit I got drawn into my other favorite internet pastime, reading fan fiction. Then the fun wore off and I got back into quilting and sewing, which also seems to prompt me to share what I've done. The baby quilt I was working on should have been finished a long time ago but I've just recently put together the blocks without the border. This is my final placement of the blocks and shows the colors very nicely. It was on my wall at this point.

It's been the largest amount of snow in 32 years falling all over the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex today. Some people have said they've lived here since the 30's and 40's and have never seen this kind of snow. It's a once in a generation occurrence and we're here to witness it. It's pretty awesome when you think about it. We put a ruler outside earlier today to measure it.   This 12 inch ruler showed about 8 inches at noon today and it hasn't stopped snowing. I looked outside earlier and the ruler had disappeared under the snow by 8 pm. The snow is still going strong now at 10 pm and isn't supposed to end until after 2 am in my area. I think if we were getting our normal heavy winds, it would have been a blizzard today. Fortunately the winds were light and our power didn't go out. There was so much snow we didn't have to settle for making a snowman today. My husband and kids made a snow beast. It was supposed to be a moose but we didn'...

I finished my son's quilt on Wednesday! I wanted to post a picture today but the weather wasn't cooperating with us. We took it out yesterday to get a picture because it was a beautiful sunny day but the wind kept catching it. Hopefully we'll be able to do it tomorrow when we'll have an extra person to help. Look for a long post on that soon. Meanwhile I've started on a baby quilt for my niece.  Here's what I had a couple of days ago: Two sets of four patches and all the strips pieced.

My daughter had a quilting project in art class. Actually, it was a painting project that used quilt blocks. They were to pick 4 quilt blocks and place them in the order the teacher wanted. The teacher also had rules about the colors and tints. They were supposed to pick 3 colors and 1 tint. She obviously hadn't quilted before. My daughter broke the rules anyways and made tints of 2 of the colors. I think she knew instinctively that the colors would blend too closely together. She is the real artist in the family. This project was done in December so she thought she would be able to give it to me for Christmas. It was chosen to be displayed in the main hallway and stayed at school. Friday she got in the the car after school and said "Merry Christmas!" and gave it to me. I love it and pinned it up this weekend in my quilting space. I know it's going to call to me to make it into a fabric quilt one day.   Edited 2/6/2010 with a picture that better represents the colo...

These are my two wonderful machines that I do my piecing and quilting on:  

I made this quilt for my MIL. She loves decorating for Halloween, she's sews also and I knew she would love and appreciate this wall quilt. She showed it to everyone:

that took a long time to complete. These two quilts had been languishing in my UFO (Un-Finished Objects) pile for quite a long time. The reason was because I had the intention of working on them by hand. I really don't have much patience recently to finish them so when my husband bought and fixed my Necchi last year I used it to finish these by machine and get them out of the pile. The first is a labyrinth quilt:

This is the first baby quilt I ever made and it never got delivered:

I don't remember when I made this quilt and I haven't hung it up in a very long while but it was one of my very firsts.  It's a very small purple and red-violet Irish chain quilt. The reason it's a Harry Potter quilt is because I embroidered some symbols familiar in the early Harry Potter books into the open spaces: