Mario Update

I worked on the Mario block on Friday and today and it's still not quite done! I pieced together each row, and need to sew each row together now to create the block. Slowly but surely it will be done. And today it occurred to me that I could have tweaked the pattern to make fewer blocks that were larger. It wouldn't have been so tedious as what I'm doing, but I know the end result will look amazing. I dread the part about actually quilting the sandwiched parts! I'm a total novice at quilting and it seems that after spending so much time creating such an intricate quilt top, that the quilting should be awesome - like the Mario characters or just the word "Mario." Oh well. I'm a long ways off from having to deal with quilting.



Progress on August 22

Progress on August 23

Chain-piecing saves so much time!

Just showing how small each square is!!

I also worked on the Man Quilt a bit. Just sewed the two pieces of red flannel together for the backing. I didn't have much time to work on quilt projects today. I was so tired when I was working on the Mario Quilt, I made stupid mistakes and had to spend quality time ripping seams to redo. Oops. Maybe I'll get more done tomorrow. I had high hopes for the weekend: finish Mario, and sandwich two quilts.

Fabric!

I received the much anticipated shipment of fabric for the Mario Quilt. Somehow I ordered the wrong color. I need yellow and ordered this odd, kind of green, shade of yellow called Celery. Oh well. I'm sure I can use it for something. I saw a UPS driver early in the day stopped at my neighbor's house so I was excited to think I would also receive my package. But no such luck! The driver left and I waited another 5 hours to receive my package. I don't know if it was the same driver or a different one. I worked for FedEx for awhile and I know that if it had been delivered by a FedEx driver back in my day it would have been on the same truck. But what do I know?



Yes, I get a bit excited about fabric and quilting

Most of the fabric I need for the quilt blocks

TGIF

Why I'm happy it's Friday, I don't know. I'm currently unemployed so the days and time mean nothing to me. Oh well. I worked on the snowball block baby quilt yesterday and completed the quilt top. That was a fun project. I took my time and made sure the seams were all 1/4 inch. It looks great, but I realized the rows are out of order. The last row is missing a color so the pattern is off, but someone I put that row up where a correct row should have gone. Oops. I don't care enough to fix it. I started this project a long time ago and the blocks themselves were odd sizes, so I did the best with what I had. I'm not overly perfectionistic about my quilting at this point because I'm learning and experimenting.

Snowball Christmas baby quilt

It amused me to put so many pins in this tomato

It's been awhile

I didn't forget about this blog, I just stopped quilting for a long time. I got distracted by other things and by nothing, but now I'm back to quilting and thought I would resurrect this blog to chronicle my adventures.

The following is an update on my current quilting projects.

1st Finished Quilt Project:

In December 2013 I finished my first quilting project. I didn't like the Jeff Quilt I worked on years ago, so I used the blocks to create several baby quilts instead of the one queen size quilt. I figured that I probably should start with smaller projects, since I'm a noob, so I can actually complete the project without feeling so overwhelmed. So this is my first completed project:

 

 

I did very basic quilting with an old Singer I borrowed from my sister-in-law. It was a great experience and I appreciate her help in assembling the quilt sandwich and other helpful hints on quilting.

 

 

 

 

Another baby quilt I started working on with blocks from the Jeff Quilt:

 

 

I got distracted by life and even began another project that I found in McCall's Quick Quilts February/March 2012 issue. It was around the first of the year, so I decided to use some of my Christmas stash to create this snowball block quilt:

 Then I had other important life stuff to do and didn't work on quilts for awhile. Recently I decided to organize my life, starting with my house, so I cleaned and organized my quilting supplies. When I saw all the fabrics and started projects I was inspired to create once again.

So I have the quilting bug again, and I want to create! However, I also have enough free time on my hands to do other important house projects that have been on my To Do List forever, such as painting the kitchen. So I've been working on that for several days for several hours per day, until my shoulders and back are aching from stretching and reaching to paint the high cabinets. Today is a break from painting so I decided to update this blog and add current information before I work on a quilt project or two. I think having multiple projects is a good idea so I can switch from an intricate piecing project to something relatively simple such as the snowball baby quilt.

My current quilting binge began with an original pattern I designed and pieced together years ago before I lost interest. I decided it would be a "quick" project to finish it, making it into a Halloween wall hanging. It is almost done, except for the binding, which is pinned to the quilt and ready to do by hand. I distracted myself with painting and yet another new project so I haven't finished the binding, which would be done in an hour or two since I'm not a speed hand sewer!!

 

 

 

And finally, with my quilting mania in full swing, I decided to create a quilt for my friend. I asked which colors he likes, and he told me blues, silver, and greens, and after a moment, he asked if I could make him a Mario quilt. I did a quick Google search and found this Mario Bros. quilt pattern several places, but I like The Recipe Bunny blog so I added it to my favorites for future reference. It's a labor intense quilt with cutting 1 1/2 inch squares by the thousands, and then piecing together rows to create 16" blocks of different Mario Bros. characters. I like it, and so far it's been a challenge and an adventure. I bought the colors to finish one block, I chose Mario, and then I searched online for a good source for Kona solids by the yard at a decent price (local prices are high, even on sale). I found Fabric.com and ordered almost $60 of Kona solids to finish the Mario quilt. I've been cyber stalking the shipment via UPS since I was emailed the notification that my purchase shipped. I should have it by Friday, so now I'm feeling the need to work on my Mario block again!

 

 

William is still my helper when I quilt

 

More than enough squares to create Mario

 

I laid out the squares to see how they fit together

 

The three rows I completed last week
 

And finally, my kitten, Tabitha Tangerine passed away in 2012 of leukemia. She was an awesome kitten and she was greatly loved by me and my other critters. A few months after she passed away I was offered a kitten that a friend had adopted for her daughter, but it just wasn't working out to have a tiny kitten in a house with rough dogs, so I adopted him. I named him Dexter Kai Fluffybottom, and he's such a sweet kitten. He also fits into my little furry family perfectly, and he is just know getting familiar with my quilting hobby. He wasn't sure what to think at first, so he didn't want to jump onto the table to investigate. So he found the next best option:

That is where I'm at these days. I absolutely must quilt now. It's been days and that is not acceptable. Keeping busy keeps me sane.

 





A New Daughter

I went to The Gathering Place in Rupert, ID to check out the holiday fabric selections and then to take photos of the interesting old buildings downtown.



I was considering getting into my car to drive to a new location across the town square to take pics when I noticed a young man and woman walking down the street towards me with a tiny kitten following them. Intrigued, I asked if the kitten was theirs. I assumed they were intentionally walking the kitten and it was trained to do that. Not so. The woman told me they  decided they didn't want the kitten because she scratches people (duh, she's a kitten!) and they were thinking about the safety of the baby they are expecting. So they had opened the door and tossed the kitten out into the world, expecting her to just go away. Instead, she followed them.

I walked away with a guilty conscience that I needed to rescue the kitten from these people who obviously didn't care if she was eaten by a dog or hit by a car. I didn't want another pet because it's going to be difficult to find a place to rent when I move back to Oregon (sometime... I cannot live in Idaho forever because I hate this state), but I eventually convinced myself that I could rescue the kitten and find a good home for it. I know a few people who are crazy animal lovers, who know other crazy animal lovers, and I was certain that someone would adopt this beautiful kitten. So I did get in my car, and drove down the street in the direction the couple was walking. I parked and ran across the street towards them. The noise of my flip-flops scared the kitten, but she came right back and went to her people. I asked if they minded if I took the kitten because they didn't want her. They didn't mind. They added that they called her "Spice" because she's an orange tabby and they already have a white cat named "Sugar." The plan was to have this kitten outside with the other cat.

I almost changed my mind and left the kitten with them, but then just had visions of them tossing her into a canal, or off a bridge, or managing to ditch her and she would be road kill. So I took the tiny kitten home. I tried to write Craigslist ads to see if someone would adopt her, but I had Internet problems and couldn't post the ad. I asked my animal lovin' coworkers, and one considered adopting the kitten, and the other asked a friend - who said no thanks because she already has three cats. Then all three of the cats at my house got colds, and went to the vet for vaccinations, and then I started cuddling and snuggling with the kitten, and saw how much she loves the two adult cats I have - and the feeling is mutual.

So, her name is Tabitha Tangerine... Tabitha because she is an orange tabby with spots like a Cheetah, and tangerine because it's orange and I happen to be using Strawberry-Tangerine Twist shave gel :) She is approximately 13 weeks old and it seems like she was meant to join my little furry family. She also enjoys watching me work on quilt projects.

Tabitha with Tiger.

Tabitha with William

And speaking of quilt projects - I have two vacations days wrapped around this weekend so I intend to work on one or more quilt projects. Tomorrow I'm going on a road trip with Mom to Idaho Falls but other than that I have no plans for my mini-vacation. I do so enjoy having paid days off when I can do nothing or anything. Perhaps I will post sample pics of the Outdoor Adventures I've had since April this year. It's a lot more than it seems when I list the places, and look at the photos!!

Progress on the Jeff Quilt

I had a major quilting binge and finished the blocks to assemble into the BIG blocks for the Jeff Quilt. I wasn't thrilled when I laid it all out and saw the color combinations and how the different fabric patterns went together. It looked like a circus quilt which is miles away from my intention. Oh well. This is where I ended up:



I took a photo of each block that I need to sew together so I can remember the order the blocks are in, and which ones belong with which. I dislike this quilt less with time, so I will probably work on it again soon. Now I understand why quilting can be a cold months hobby. I'd rather be outside having adventures than inside sweating like mad to work on quilt projects! And this weekend I may be camping for the first time in 8 years.

Beware of The Nearly Naked Quilter!

Yes, it's hot in my office/quilting room. I find a sport bra and shorts are about all I can stand to wear in this room when the iron is on, the sewing machine is on, and lights are on so I can see what I'm doing. I turned the computer off to lessen the heat, which didn't seem to make much difference, and I was sans music! I have a box fan blowing cooler air from the hallway into the room, and yet, it's flaming hot. Oh well. It's manageable... or I can take off more clothes. LOL!

I completed more blocks for the Jeff Quilt. I'm down to the last 11 blocks and then I can figure out how to arrange them so I can sew them together. I'm excited. This quilt has kind of gotten weird in the colors, but I really like the color combinations of two of the blocks I made today:

Project #8: Christmas tree skirt

JoAnn's and Hancock Fabrics have Christmas fabric on sale so I splurged. So much for my self-imposed banishment from fabric stores! At least everything was 50% or more and today I had the need for an instant gratification quilt project, so I started a Christmas tree skirt. It is not finished, but at least the top is ready for the next step.

Red and blue fabric with snowflakes. I have a thing about snowflakes!

I hate summertime

Mostly when it's hot, like it's been for the last two days. Everyone else griped that is was too cold and rainy when it was supposed to be Spring, and then Summer, and now like magic it's scorching hot. I hate it!

I've decided to just work on quilt tops for now. I screwed up the backing on the Man Quilt for my brother and have been so discouraged I haven't touched a quilt project in almost two months. I went to the Boise Basin Quilter's Quilt Show last Saturday and came home feeling inspired again.

I took about 360 photographs of quilts that impressed me, and now my computer or Internet or both are acting up and I've having a difficult uploading pics before my computer freezes again or the Internet connection fails. Anywho, I've completed 22 blocks for the Jeff Quilt. I made some "creative" changes to the color scheme - aka I didn't have enough fabric and decided to use what I have in my stash rather than spend more money that I can't afford to spend right now. I will post pics when my computer/Internet allows me...

My workstation is being used again :)

11 completed blocks

William is helpful.

I used shades of blue for this block when I'd intended it to be red. I think blue looks better.

The original red block, but with different shades of red from my stash.

PS - I was naughty and bought some goodies from Missouri Star Quilt Company's website. I love their quilting tutorials, and decided to check out their sales. I bought Christmas fabric to make a quilt demonstrated on their video :)

New Fabrics

On Friday I took a detour to Hancock Fabrics to see if they still have the fabrics I need for the Jeff Quilt. Of course, I was only able to find two of them, so I bought half a yard of each (they were even on sale) as well as two 99 cent fat quarters.

  

I love Halloween fabric but don't have any. This is the start of my Halloween stash!!



I also love Christmas fabric but only have some scraps that were donated to my cause. Now I'm starting a Christmas fabric stash, too!!

I have been slacking on my projects, but today I'm washing a bunch of fabric so it's ready to be used. I will make the Block of the Month blocks, and I want to assemble the quilt top for the Mother's Day quilt to at least show Mom I am working on a project for her! This weekend was a waste. On Saturday I went to a parade with my parents, and then I went home and back to sleep for the rest of the day. I slept late today and am very unmotivated. I managed to cook spaghetti, clean the dishes, and am still working on laundry... my To-Do-List is almost a mile long and most of it involves cleaning or quilting... I even have "bathe the dog" on the list. Hm. I think I'll play the Sims 2. Honestly, I think I'll just go back to bed.

Desert Sage Quilt Guild meeting 4.28.2011

My favorite time of the meeting is the Show-And-Tell. This time a lady showed a bunch of quilts her mother made and shared stories about them. I wish I'd caught her name to give her credit for quilts in the pics I'm posting.


Samples of the BOM for April.



Instructions for the BOM.



 

 

I saw this quilt at the quilt show in April.

 

 

 

The lady who made this created the design herself. I like it. Another take on a fish themed "man quilt."

 

 

 

 

I want to attend a meeting of the Magic Valley Modern Quilt Guild to see how they do things. I want  more demonstration and learning, as much as I enjoy the Show-And-Tell at the Desert Sage meetings. The next meeting is on a Saturday after I'm at the 24 hour Relay for Life, so I think I will have to catch June's meeting at their regular time on Thursday.