Design Stuff Monday

Yesterday I did a bunch of shopping for MOTU, so to reward myself I went to Joann's and used up some coupons.  I got this nifty book which has literally opened up entire new worlds for me.  I never thought to quilt using paper stencils.  Duh.  I think I need to get myself some thinner paper, but for now just plain printer paper is working ok.

I played around with the new stencils, using some leftovers from the last round of QFKs. I made a couple of these and turned them into Valentine's gifts for some unsuspecting friends.  Muahaha.

The paper should be thinner...it's hard to get off as is.  If I wet it, it mostly works but some stuff still lingers.  If I don't, I'm afraid I'll rip the stitches.

I kind of like the slightly damp effect here.

I have (as usual) a couple projects going on right now.  In addition to the quilt for the neighbor, I signed up for one of the kids in the Wrapped in Hope program.  My girl likes dancing (but not ballet) and the color orange.  Her birthday is in March, so I need to get working on this.  I'm cheating and using a modified version of the QFK pattern for this.  I have a lot of the dark orange and a bit of the pink/orange hearts and the lighter orange.  So that pic up there is the basic pattern I'm using.  Grey is the focus print (dancers), and the rest of the colors are self-explanatory.

Blocks and strips cut.

Trying out the first few blocks.  I'm still mid-strip-sewing, but I wanted to see if this would even look ok.  I think it works.  I'm excited to try some of my new paper patterns to quilt on these!!

I also have the wedding quilt and the colonial quilt for our bed in progress as well...should really put some more time in on those.  They're just really big and slightly overwhelming right now.  But I'll get there.  Really.


UPDATE!!

I actually finished the entire top before going to bed last night.  I don't have a good picture of the whole thing, but here's a sneak peek anyway:

Happy Monday!!

Finished Pictures

 My quilt is done!  Top!

Back!  I used a charm pack of Martinique for the rows on the back...I think it ties the whole thing together quite nicely.  The binding is stuff I cut off the sides, so there are little splashes (I like that name too Jo!) of Martinique along the sides as well!  Love love love! 

It's in the wash now, so I'm finding ways to delay going to bed so I can put it in the dryer before I sleep so it'll be ready to show off at work tomorrow.  I have a fan club, what?  :-D  Ok, not really, but I've been trying to describe this one for weeks, so its time is due.

The One That Didn't Get Away

I've officially decided to keep this quilt.  I'm in love with it.  I even had fun with the backing. 

Naturally, I needed the quality inspector to make sure it was worthy of completion first.

Here it is all laid out.  I've quilted it too, but I don't have pictures just yet.  I used a grey thread that matches the backing, and simply stitched down the diagonals.  It's definitely a "don't look too close" quilt, but it's mine.  :-)  Hoping to put the binding on tonight so I'll have done pics tomorrow.  And I'll likely bring it in to the office to show off.  :-D

Design Strip Twist Monday

The strip twist top is coming together nicely.  I have the top three rows sewn together...just 5 more to go!  I'm not sure what I'm calling this one, nor what I'll do with it when it's done.  I'm starting to think I might keep it for myself...selfish, I know.  :-)  I got this fabric to make a bed quilt for MOTU and me in the first place, so I guess it's not so wrong. 

I got these two sets of fabric to make a quilt for our sainted neighbors (right) and possibly another one for me to keep (left).  It's hard to explain the pattern I'm going to try, so I won't bother until it's in progress.

If all you want to see is quilts, stop here. 

This is our back yard right now.  That mound is actually a car...no joke.  Fortunately, it's not one we use frequently, but still.  Anyone out there in a warmer place need a nanny or something for the winter? 

The snow is so high that Kini doesn't have to jump up to the window anymore.  She can now simply walk up the pile outside the kitchen window and poke her nose against the glass. 

I spent 3 nights in Cambridge last week, and this was the view from my hotel room.  Pretty spectacular.

Different day, same window.  Love it. 

Slicing, Dicing Design Wall

I know I'm a day late with my design wall, but better late than never, right?

First up, I've unearthed the Valentine's quilt from last year.  It's currently about 60x80, so I'm going to add some borders to it, then sometime this week I'll figure out something for the backing and baste that sucker.  Hopefully it'll be ready to ship by mid-month.

Next up, the Shower Quilt.  I've been slaving away, slicing and dicing the fabric for this, and wouldn't you know it?  By sheer dumb luck, I have EXACTLY as much fabric as I need from what people gave me.  My back up plan was to use the stuff I got when I went to pick up our marriage license. That'll go on the back now.

See, not so organized, huh?

Believe it or not, there's a method here.

The final stack up.  Some 430ish strips later, I'm ready to start piecing. 

And a picture of the older brother of the wedding quilt.

Saved a Horse

I can't  believe I never posted pictures of this finish!  I sent this off to Alishia in July, but didn't post then because she didn't know I'd sent it...then forgot to post!  (Or at least forgot to post with correct tagging...)

Anyway, here's the final outcome of Alishia's Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy quilt:

To make the label, I cut a piece of the binding material and turned it backwards.  Maybe I need to make an "inside out" quilt...hmm...

For now, I'll stick with traditional.  First block, done.  Not too shabby, huh?  :-) Since the sashing will be some variant of weathered maroon, I'm calling this one "Colonial Home".

Design (Table space right in front of my sewing machine) Wall Monday

So last night I learned something very important about marriage that no one told me before I said "I do".  Apparently, somewhere in what the deacon was mumbling, he must have said, "do you, Kathryn, agree to relinquish all furniture building abilities to your husband such that you so much as touching a piece of furniture being built will render it completely useless?"  Of course, in the heat of the moment I said "I do!" and have thus lost all ability to assemble furniture.  So while MOTU was gently pushing me away from "helping" with this project:

I was working on this gem:

Finally, the start of OUR quilt!  MOTU had requested a "traditional" block design for our bed quilt months ago, and I've been so wrapped up in throwing together simple quilts that I just haven't even started on ours.  Until this weekend!  I got the following quilt done (and up for sale on Etsy) so now I have time to work on our quilt.  I can't promise I'll get it all done in one fell swoop, but here's hoping at least the triangles go together quickly.  I've already got one shortcut for making them a little nicer to deal with...we'll see what else I can come up with.

Here's Rag Train, all finished!

I take that back...mostly finished.  I need to continue fraying the back side (hence no pictures yet), but that'll be one night in front of the TV and then done. 

Friday Night Recap

Sorry, these are a bit out of order, but here's what we got:

In an effort to cool the room off, I kept the fan in the window last night.  Directed at the design wall.  Sigh.

The fan did not do this. It's better now, I promise.

I feel like these need to be a quilt for something spectacular...like maybe MOTU's friend's vintage store (James, need a quilt to go with those coolots??)

Saw this at Petsmart last night and couldn't stop giggling. 

Came home to this scene...sorry Shelby...

A finish!  QFK #7, Kitty in the Mirror (take a close look, you'll see why).  I was sober, I swear.

SQUEE!  I got this gem for $5 at a yard sale today!  Can you say "steal"??? It now houses my DVDs, batting, batting scraps, and utility (duck cloth, fleece, etc) scraps. The drawers are unfinished, but they'll get a nice coat of paint maybe next weekend.  Something to match the new bedroom.

And finally, the latest crime scene.  Seriously, this is just disturbing.  It looks like piggy took a bullet to the head, but really it was just Kini.  I guess I should feel better knowing that, if any burglar ever came in and let her out, then laid on the ground for a while, she'd make quick work of his ears, nose, and maybe fingers.  But only if he was full of fluff.  Fat burglars, you've been warned.

Tonight I'm back in the sewing room, but I'm not sure what I'm doing...the design wall is a wreck  and I'm feeling lazy so I'm not sure I want to clean it up enough to work on that.  Mai's quilt needs to be laid out again before I can work on it.  Maybe I'll do some more boutonnieres (one of these days I'll spell that right on the first try).  Oh, I guess I can show those off too:

I think I like the first better than the second (the ribbon doesn't do much for me), but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make the back not look like crap.

 Took one of the successful ones and tried wrapping the wire around the flower...well duh!  It holds better, but I need to make the stem shorter next time. 

Anyway, that's the update.  Hope everyone else had a productive night!!

ICHDW?

I can has dezine wallz too?

YES I CAN!!!

The weekend's evolution:

Forgive the poor picture quality - I left my camera at work, so I was using my phone for these.  All the blocks for my quilt have been sliced and diced, and now I'm working on sewing together the rows.  It's a slow process, so I actually took a break and started on the last QFK that I have in my pile...think I won't be requesting more from them for a while, as every time I do it seems to take me MONTHS instead of the weeks they request.  Maybe next year I'll be more active.

In any case, regarding this "me quilt".  I won't lie...I'm not completely in love with it.  There's too much red I think.  I think at best it'll end up being a couch quilt or maybe a guest bed quilt for people who come visit in February.  I'm sort of a little considering selling it...anyone interested?  It's 4x6 blocks, and blocks are roughly 15 inches to a side (probably closer to 14 by the time hacking is done)...so what's that, 56x84, give or take?  It'll fit a full-sized bed nicely I think.  I haven't done anything even close to quilting yet (in fact, I don't even know that I've got batting for it right now), and the backing is up in the air.  If you're interested, shoot me an email or leave a comment and we can discuss.  Otherwise, come visit next February and enjoy it yourself!  :-P

This weekend turned out to be pretty great.  MOTU and I had a little tussle on Friday night, but mostly that's because I hadn't really realized how *real* this USMC thing is getting, now that he's going through MEPS (he went Wednesday).  I keep saying I've come to terms with it, and that I'm supporting him...I have and I am, but the fact is I don't want him to go.  Like, seriously.  If I could live with myself telling him to forgo his passions because I'm too selfish to want to see him hurt or killed or worse, I would.  But as the woman who's 2.5 months shy of promising to love, honor, and cherish him for the rest of our lives, I simply can't take this away from him.  My God I wish he'd pick anything else in the world to be passionate about though.

So maybe next year will see a shift in my patterns and causes.  Maybe I'll find a VA hospital to volunteer at and donate to.  Maybe Kini will be calm enough to be a therapy puppy (HA!) for the veterans there.  Maybe it'll all work out like it does in the movies.  Or maybe it'll work out  better because we're stronger than those silly 2-D movie personalities.  At least we don't have real kids yet.  Just strange 4-legged ones.

Speaking of, the balance in the house has once again shifted.  Kini is back in the kitchen, but so is Shelby.  She's moved out from under the sink in the bathroom and now sleeps on a towel on the floor by the fridge. I think we did this to ourselves...we've been getting food for her from the fridge to reward her for being 'brave' and coming out of whatever room she's haunting at the time.  Now, you can't even open the door without her stepping into the darn thing.  Last night I was the most loved person in the world.  I was in the kitchen, making a PB&J for MOTU, and every last one of the critters (MOTU included) was arranged around me, staring expectantly at what I was doing up on the counter.  I had the sad job of informing all but one that they were not to be eating what I was making.  Shelby didn't even hiss at the other two!  I wonder if peanut butter could solve that whole fiasco in the Middle East...maybe I'll send MOTU with a few jars when he (inevitably) gets deployed.  It'll help him make friends with the locals, I'm sure of it.  :-D

In any case, I need lunch.  If you're curious what I'm eating, check out my cooking blog!