Dear Santa

How is the Mrs? I trust the elves and the reindeer are all well, and excited for the big night!
Here are some ideas for me for Christmas! Go to this website: http://www.feedsacklady.com/ Then click on the "shopping" link. Towards the bottom of the page, you will find two products of particular interest to me: the Feedsack Squares and Granny's Fat quarters.
I assure you that your list will say that I have been good, within reason, and bad only when appropriate. I have finished many projects this year -just read the rest of my blog for proof. In fact, the biggest project of the year isn't even on here, yet!
Love and cookies,
JO

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30's prints

I thought I would show you all my 30's prints collection. Now, I'm not claiming they are all actually 30's prints, or that they are reproductions, or just inspired by 30's prints. Close enough for me. They were all given to me last Christmas by my Mom and Dad. So. Awesome.

I aspire to make some things where each piece is a different print, so I'm going to need alot. I have my eye on a fat quarter pack at a store down the street. Unfortunately, 30's prints have fallen out of fad. A shopowner told me they weren't moving. I said, "Duh! Everyone only wants a 5X5 square of every single print. Of course yardage isn't going to sell!" Aw well. Now I get to hunt out these fabrics where I can find them.

And, you know, Christmas is coming again, so maybe Santa will help me...

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Dragonflies everywhere!

Dragonflies and Butterflies has returned from being longarm quilted!

Can you see the dragonflies? I think I may have gone with too dark a pink thread color for the top. It's not photgraphing as dark as it really is. It's growing on me, though. Having this done wasn't even expensive! 44$ including the batting.

Hopefully I will get a chance to bind it this weekend. Look for a completed photo next week, as well as an update on Juno's Blankie.

In the meantime, I have managed to get a friend addicted to this stuff. Here is a preview of her first project:

We may have gone overboard with a theme. It has definately crossed the line from "appropriate anytime of the year" to "only in February." Whatever. It's beautiful, we're having fun, and I am trying out a bunch of new things on it.

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Very Hungry Caterpillar inches along and a quilt for the cat begins

Here is my progress so far on the Very Hungry Caterpillar. This project is now completely associated with Dexter - I high quality show I recommend to everyone! I have watched the first two seasons while sewing this guy. Is it wrong to sew a Very Hungry Caterpillar while watching a show about the trials and tribulations of a serial killer? ... Nah!... As I am unwilling to buy Showtime, I am going to need something new to sew to, though.


Here is my newest project (kind of). I've had this kit for a long time. My mom bought it for me after I lusted for it at Ben Franklin (where I picked up many crafts and lost many dollars!). I am finally getting around to making it. Currently, I'm making the blue and yellow squares. It's for Juno, one of the cats. She is really annoyed I gave away both of the blankies she was sleeping on. I think it's about time to make her one that won't go away. Also, if I don't, she will start plopping down on whatever I am working on at the time. Even when I have it in the machine. I turn my head, I look back, and there she is! So, yeah, it's a bribe. A very cute bribe. Just look at the giggling mice!

Hee hee hee!

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Moda

Moda has a fascinating video on how they make their fabrics from start to finish. Here is the link: video. They also have a bunch of pictures of magazines covers of issues in which they have been featured. One interesting headline: "McQuilting: Are We Taking The Creativity Out Of Patchwork?". Yup, we totally are. Patchwork is supposed to be hard. We are supposed to delight in the hunt for color-compatible prints, not be able to buy a set of designed-to-match fat quarters. However, I am not going to complain (that much). The former method, while challenging, can be very frustrating, and requires a huge stockpile of fabrics. I don't want to have a huge stockpile of fabrics - that's what the stores are for. Further, I find more delight in the skill side of piecing (precision points). So I am torn on this issue. Luckily, I don't sew enough to really worry tremendously.

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Dragonflies and Butterflies

So last spring I was looking for a specific black and white print to finish a certain project. I ended up visiting a number of shops in my area which I had never visited before. This had the unfortunate effect of causing me to pick up fabrics while I was in these shops. One thing I discovered is that Moda is king of the fabric companies right now. Boy, do they make some beautiful prints. What is worse, they sell sets of these prints in precut form for each line of fabrics. You can buy 2 inch wide strips, or 10 inch squares, or 5 inch squares. For someone like me, who is highly attracted to both sets of things, and scrap-type quilts, this is a nightmare. What this means is that I can buy a 5 inch square of practically every fabric Moda makes. I can collect them all! So far I have resisted. I still dream of a 5 inch square of every single 30s reproduction print ever made, however.

I did encounter a set of 5 inch squares ("nickles") that I couldn't resist. It was pouring down rain that day, and the prints were just so springy! I went home and decided to use a nine-patch crib quilt design from Quilt: Handmade Style. Too bad I'd need a second nickle pack! That gave me a chance to get the fabric for the back, anyway. Fortunately, I already had the white print. That had been for a project that never got off the ground. Thrifty!

I had to set this project aside at the begining of the summer to finish the signal flags one, but I was able to finish it off right after.

I decided to do something new with this one. I am getting it long-arm quilted at the shop. I am getting dragonflies stitched all over it! Another new thing I did: not pre-washing the fabric. Because it came in 5 inch squares, pre-washing didn't make sense. So we shall see what happens its first time through the dryer!

So that's the story! Here is the picture of the finished top, with the backing fabric:



I eagerly await the phone call telling me to come and pick it up!

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Ships and Flags Finished!

Bordered, backed, batted, flipped, tied, packed, and SHIPPED! Only a few days after the little guy's 6 month birthday. Not too bad, really. Here is a photo:

Since the cloud print was long gone, we have a stormy water border. This is the back fabric:



I LOVE IT! So beautiful. And nautical, too! I have a strip left over. I would love another yard, though. What would I do with it?

So there we have it - I finished something! Yay! \o/ That's not all I have finished, though! More later!

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Frogs!

Sorry for the delay, dear readers! Here is the Froggie blankie. I can take no credit for the design of this - it was a pre-made panel. It has patches of chenille and flannel, and the frogs are that new stuffed animal fiber. It is really soft. I double batted it to be extra fluffy, too!

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Sorry!

Hi blogworld! I am sorry I havn't updated in so long. I have been very busy with the science side of life. In a week, I will be become even more busy! So, just a warning, you will probably only see old projects for the next few months. If I can't do new, you don't get new.


So what have I been up to in the past couple of months?


Well, I discovered that the "B" flag was wrong. It actually has a dagged edge, not a white triangle. So it had to be reconstructed:

As I had feared, when I finally returned to the fabric store this cloud print was all gone. I haven't yet tried the others. Maybe I can sneak a trip in this week.

Another friend is having a boy. Darnit! It's like they know about my stockpile of girl blankies! I had a week to make something. I decided that I would copy something my mother made for my nephew - a Very Hungry Caterpillar applique. Now applique is not my friend. I've done it once. It involved using iron-on fusing web and the zig-zag stitch. This is what my mother did:


Looks easy! And fast! Oh no, not in my hands. So I got some perfectly matched batiks. I got a copy of the book. I enlarged the cover to a good size. Then I made plastic templates for the exact shapes... for all 20 green segments, the red head, the eyes, the nose, each foot, and the antennae. So then I cut out the fabric, and - omg - how am I going to zig-zag around those feet? I think about this while I iron over each piece's seam allowance. Mylar templates, by the way, are really neat! As I iron, I come to the sickening realization that I must hand baste the seams allowances. This takes a few days. I finally face the fact that I must hand applique the pieces if I want the shapes to be as close to the picture as possible. Positioning the caterpillar parts on the ground, which has since changed from white fleece to 12 squares of white-on-white prints, involves alot of scotch tape, some iron-on fusing web, and the window. I am currently hand-appliqueing. Here is what it's looking like:

Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Had I been in less of a hurry, I probably could have matched my segment fabric colors better to the picture. Maybe I will do that if I make another one of these (HA!). In the meantime, I am frustrated that I missed out on this fabric! It was apparently a hot seller when it came out. I am not at all suprised!

As far as the baby boy for whom this was intended, it's going to take too long. He gets the frog panel blankie that is the sole member of my boy blankie stockpile. It is super-cute (and, being a panel, was super-easy). I will show you a picture tomorrow.

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Variegated Texture

Here is a little something I made last summer. It is one piece of fabric with folds sewn into it. My husband, Two, says it's the coolest thing I've ever made! High praise from him, I assure you!

The back (which I should have photographed, too) is a green and yellow batik. I found the directions for this one in Quilt: Handmade Style. I actually got the book for another pattern (which you will see later). I am a sucker for variegated fabrics, and I had no idea what to with this one. Now I wish I had gotten the red-yellow one too! Of course, I found some other variegated fabrics (like 5), with the idea of doing this again and again!

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Ships and Flags

Here is what I am working on right now:


Ignore the yellow, but comfy mattress underneath. That is the spare bed which I use to lay stuff out on. Anyway, this blankie is for a little boy. The signal flags spell out his name! This little boy lives in Santa Barbra, which I visited once. I remember the sky and the ocean were really blue and there were white sailboats. It was really sunny and bright. That is why I chose these design elements. The sailboat blocks I modified from the ones in the Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns. The signal flag blocks I had to work out for myself from pictures on Wikipedia. Right now I am working on the ships:

I am concerned that I did not buy enough cloud fabric and that I will go back and there won't be any more! But I will cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

Oh, and remind me never to buy the cheap broadcloth again! It changes size when it's ironed even though it's been washed and dried. Lame!

I just hope I finish this thing before the kid is 20!

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My ambidextrous brain

Yes, I realize that "ambidextrous" refers to hands, not sides, but I couldn't get a good translation on "brain" or "mind." Noone would have remembered the URL.

Anyhow, this is to be a record of my projects. There is little in the way of arts and crafts I haven't or won't try. Especially textile arts. Currently, I am on a quilting binge. This has sprung from the fact that everyone around seems to be breeding, and thus a flurry of baby blankies has been needed. I am attempting to build up a stockpile of baby blankies, and it's kind of working!

Now, I've been going to graduate school for the past two years, and this has slowed things down a bit, but it hasn't prevented me from doing a few things. I will be posting what I have done in the past and what I am working on in the present.

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