Progress on the Jeff Quilt

I cut the fabric into the correct sizes for the Jeff Quilt - that is, the fabric that I have because I am short on most fabric. DOH! I figured I might as well work with what I have and figure out what I'm missing. It seems I'm only short on four fabrics, which is better than I thought. Now I'm debating whether I want to raid my stash for solid colors, or wait and buy the colors that are a perfect match. Decisions, decisions...

New Quilting Book

I was out and about doing errands and stopped at Hastings to see if they had Led Zeppelin bumper stickers - they did not, and I wept. I did, however, buy the Mothership CD at Wal-Mart so I am getting my Zeppelin fix. So I checked out the quilting books, starting at the bargain or clearance shelves. I found a book called Creative Scraps - Quilting with bits & pieces on sale for $7.99. A coworker has been bringing in one quilting book at a time and letting me look through them when we have down time. The two books she's brought so far are hardcover with spiral binding. I've decided I really like books with spiral binding so the pages don't get ruined from excessive use and page turning. The book I bought today has a hardcover and the spiral binding so I'm doubly happy.

I didn't work on any quilt projects today, but I did watch two movies, shopped (only had the patience for one store and then Hastings for fun), mowed the lawn, washed clothes, and bought some tulips and Asiatic lilies to plant. I'm going to plant them in a half barrel tomorrow. They are going to brighten up the boring and bland front yard... if only I bought a few solar lights, too. Maybe next paycheck. I want to work on a quilt project, but I doubt I'll have time tomorrow. There's just never enough time in a weekend.

Quilting under the influence of Mountain Dew, Led Zeppelin, and M&M's

I'm frustrated that I feel so... I don't know what. Bored? Lonely? Overwhelmed? Sad? Blank? Lazy?

So I worked on two little projects tonight. One, to experiment with a quick and easy method of making pinwheels that I saw on a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial video. I've never made a pinwheel, but with all the scraps and bits of fabric I have now, I want to just experiment with making different samples of blocks. Just because. I want to make so many things, I might as well settle for a project that is low commitment and offers the variety of experimentation and instant gratification that I want. The pinwheel turned kinda wonky when I "squared" it - but I don't mind wonky. I blame the sugar and caffeine... because listening to Led Zeppelin could never have a bad influence on me.

And two, I made a Block of the Month from the Desert Sage Quilt Guild. I like the idea of this block, but I created a Frankenstein block because I didn't have enough of the night sky fabric. The Frankie part isn't bad, it worked, but the corners don't match up and I'm in no mood for imperfection! Oh well. I will get over it by tomorrow when I wear bunny ears to work.

Memory Quilt

My uncle Steve passed away on April 4th after having a heart attack at work. My dad went to Illinois to sort out the estate and brought back some pots and pans for me, wrapped in Steve's old flannel shirts. When I saw the shirts I decided I would make a Memory Quilt. I've wanted to make a Memory Quilt since I heard of the idea, and now seems like the perfect time to make one. I want to use photos of Steve, and his shirts, and make wall hangings for his brothers and his parents for Christmas gifts. I'm washing the shirts tonight, but need to take time to plan the quilts. I also need to purchase the transfer paper to put photos on fabric. It will be an adventure.

Quilting 101 - Stash Building

Jamie brought more fabric from the Senior Center fabric sale on Friday. There was a box for Marcia and I to dig through, as well as a big plastic bag that has the smaller pieces of fabric. I adopted a lot of new fabric.


Way too many colors to take individual pics of them all!



Smaller bits and pieces of fabric.



Sir William providing the usual QC on new quilting items.



He really just wants to burrow in it and chew the plastic bag :)


I haven't done much this week due to laziness and overwhelm. I want to do so many different projects that I just have a difficult time focusing on one till completion! I was chatting with Jamie about the handquilting for the Man Quilt and she suggested I use wax for the thread to avoid having it tangle and knot. That little issue (knottiness) is a big discouragment for me and I feel the need to pull thread out of the Man Quilt where it knotted and made a mess. I stopped at JoAnn's after work and bought wax, so maybe I will gather the courage to attempt the handquilting again!

I was flipping through old quilting mazagines at work today and found a smaller project to try. It's an 14" pillow with a delightful Fall leaf. I want to try applique, and this is a small project compared to even a lap quilt, so I'm going to see what I can do this weekend.

And finally, a little funny I found in a quilt magazine:

Eureka!

On Friday the Senior Center hosted a sale on a fabric stash that was donated to them. I couldn't attend because I had to work but Jamie went and brought a huge bag of fabric to me when she came to work later in the day! I don't know how many yards it is, but it's a lovely variety of styles and colors... and only $20 (if you know anything about fabric prices you can appreciate how awesome this is!). There's even batik and Kona fabric, which I have never used before because I am cheap when it comes to fabric [poor would be a more appropriate descriptor]. I want to work on a Block of the Month project for the Desert Sage Guild and so many other projects this weekend, which means tomorrow since today was swallowed whole by an unexpected road trip adventure to Utah to retrieve a car from airport parking, but right now I don't feel well. I think I have allergies, or a ninja cold attacked on Friday around 3:30 p.m. and has been making my sinuses suffer ever since. I just started sneezing, got all congested, and my eyes were watering with no warning whatsoever.

I did take pics of the important things, like the new additions to my stash. Due to combination of family events tomorrow and feeling like poo, I may not accomplish anything tomorrow but reading and sleeping.


THE STACK!



These remind me of spaghetttios.





I see fussy cutting in my future to use these...



 

I have maybe 3 yards of this one!!

Jamie is my hero! I was giddy as a schoolgirl on Friday after work when I finally had time to look through the bag of fabric. It really made my day.

Relay for Life Quilt #2

The second Relay for Life quilt is now on display and raffle tickets are available. It's much fancier than the Man Quilt I was part of assembling, and they took the time to handquilt! Crazy, but it is beautiful. They went all patriotic with a red, white, and blue theme, too. I will buy a couple tickets next payday.

Very nice quality but it's not as fluffy as the other one :)

Time for the Blanket Show

Ice cream eaten, movies watched, and it's too late to start anything else. I forgot to post one more pic with the previous post. I had an epiphany about how to remember the sizes I was supposed to cut with the Jeff Quilt fabric: I wrote the description of the fabric, and how many of each size I was supposed to cut.  I posted the note on the closet door at eye level so when I'm standing at the work table it's right there to remind me. It sounds simple, but it's gonna save me lots of frustration and wasted fabric! I posted one note at a time so I didn't have to search for the fabric I was cutting. I just glanced up and then measured and cut. No big whoop and it was done.

So simple, and yet so brilliant (not being serious of course).

After the Great Debacle of 2011...

On Sunday I went to JoAnn Fabrics for a few items that were on sale, and then I started working on my projects. I assembled the 5 Maple Leaf blocks and then laid them out to see how the colors look together. I have fabrics I haven't even cut yet to make more blocks. The Maple Leaf quilt will be at least a full-size quilt, and I'm not set on the pattern that I took a pic of for this blog. That won't be determined until I make more and more blocks and just see how it looks! I'm also thinking of using sashing, or a border or two... it's not the best laid plan but at least I'm making blocks in the correct size!

I got a wild hair and decided to make one sample block of each of the 4 blocks for the Jeff Quilt. First I sat down and pondered how to use the colors I have, and figured out that I don't have enough of most fabrics. Doh. That happens when you just start shopping like a crazy person because fabric is on sale and you didn't take the time to figure out how much you need!


Mad scientist calculations to make a Jeff Quilt.

 I have enough of each fabric to make a sample block (and more), so that's what I decided to do. I ironed out the wrinkles, measured and cut, pinned and sewed, and pressed the seams. It was fast, easy, and a rousing success after the Saturday night debacle.

I stayed up too late, scared my dog and cat by wearing shorts and a tank top to cool off - the lights, computer, and iron in the room sure warm the place up - and was very happy with the results of my efforts. I think of this quilt as happy colors, and it's a cheerful quilt, which is something I joked that I wouldn't do.

I said I would "quilt for the Dark side," thus avoiding the use of shiny happy colors. Now I'm in love with color and want to just make more quilts! Right now, I like to assemble the quilt tops. I'm not sure when I'll be more interested in the finishing aspect of quilting. Maybe when I learn how to handquilt with more accuracy and speed! I am going to make mini quilts with leftover batting and scrap fabric to practice. I need to learn the running stitch to make my life easier.

But tonight I have two free Redbox movies and I'm going to eat ice cream and watch them. If I have time after the movies I shall work on handquilting or maybe cut more fabric for blocks. I did have enough of the dog print for the required number of rectangles. If I don't have enough red, I may have something else I can use from my stash. That's why crazy quilters have fabric stashes!!

A Tale of Epic Failure

I'm sorely disappointed and embarrassed by the mistakes I've made tonight working on my projects, but this blog is to chronicle learning how to quilt, including mistakes. I think I would have been better off lying in bed with Sir William, reading a zombie book, than to start working on quilting projects.

I began by making the backing for the Man Quilt. I measured and apparently cut one side shorter than the other so it barely matches the ends of the border. I will refrain from repeating the colorful narrative used tonight with each failure but I assure you it sounded like a house of obscentities tonight - even if it was mostly said in my head. Then I laid the backing, batting, and quilt top together on the floor in my bedroom, the only room where I can close the door and escape from my pets. William is a brat about attacking quilts on the floor, burrowing under them, and using his claws to grab at the fabric as it's floating through the air. I began to baste the layers together and felt pretty good about what I was doing. And then I realized I was basting the layers to the plastic table cloth (to protect them from the critter prowled-upon carpet) beneath them. Yes, first obscene word muttered out loud. There wasn't really enough space for me to work on the quilt so I tried using the safety pins. The same problem occurred, catching the stupid table cloth beneath. I tried lifting the layers enough to not catch the table cloth and it seemed to work.

I didn't have enough safety pins to do a proper job, but I hoped it would hold. I brought my prize into the sewing room to begin handquilting. OMG I want a long arm quilting machine! Actually, once I got situated and into a groove, I was doing okay. I realized there's no way I'll finish this quilt before my brother's birthday, so I thought I'd try using my sewing machine to quilt. NOTE: I was only doing straight stitching along lines, nothing fancy. I thought it would be easy. It might have been, but my sewing machine caught twice, something about the bobbin thread knotting, and that was it. I gave up for the day. I folded the Man Quilt and placed it on top of the bookshelf so William won't nap on it. It looks more quilt-like now, fluffy with substance, since it's been snadwiched. I know William would be sleeping on it right now if I'd left it on the table.



I still love this quilt. It just won't be completed by the deadline.

I was peeved and frustrated, but wasn't going to let the Quilting gods laugh at me. So I decided to work on more Maple Leaves since the fabric was already cut and I was in the mood to quilt. I was moving along, working in a production method, making all 5 leaves at once. I pinned the pieces together and took them to the sewing machine to chain piece them to save time. This is what I did:

Another choice word was uttered when I noticed this "doh" mistake.

For those nonquilters who don't see the mistake, I was supposed to sew two lines diagonally across each side of this fabric. Not down the center (where I was just supposed to separate the pieces after sewing the half triangles together). Not down the middle of the two correct diagonal lines. And I chain pieced this mistake times 5! Actually, I caught it before I messed up that badly. I sewed down the center of each one, and made the three diagnal line mistake 3 times!! I almost cleaned up and gave up for the night, but I decided I'd be tenacious. I got my seam ripper and spent quality time removing unnecessary stitches. The angrier I am, the more determined I am to do something right. I eventually got everything correct and ended up with the material for 5 new Maple Leaves:

And after getting that far, I had to go another step and assemble the stem pieces. I knew I wouldn't be up late enough to sew each block complately together, but I do have them all ready to be assembled tomorrow... after I sleep in to make up for staying up ridiculously late.

I did not square each block, and the stem part especially is not square but ask me if I care tonight... this morning, it's too late to be awake fretting over mistakes I made on a quilt!


What an adventure it's been! I'm going to bed now.