I did finish something!

I completely forgot! The very first thing that came out of my box of goodies at retreat was my block for our Guild raffle quilt:

 Our finished blocks are due at our next meeting and I didn't want to forget to do it until the last minute, so this was the first thing I tackled at retreat and sadly the only thing I finished :(

But I'm hoping to sew more this weekend, so that should make up for it!

I also wanted to show you what our parameters for this years Guild Challenge is. (Does that sentence even make sense? If not, sorry!) This year for our Challenge quilt, we all had to reach into a container and blindly pick out a box label. Here's what I got:

Depending on the label you chose, you then have to create a quilt using any technique that uses atleast 3 of the colors from your label. Your quilt can be any size between 12" x 14" and up to 40" square. I really like this challenge and I already have an idea in mind. It's a pattern I've admired and wanted to try for some time now, but never really had a reason to actually do it.

I'll fill you in more as I go, but all I'm giving away right now is incorporating old denim into the design. I think it should work!

Are you working on anything fun this weekend?

Challenge Quilts

So our guild does a Challenge project just about every year. This year is a new concept to me and maybe you all could help me out (or offer suggestions as I go along)

This year's challenge is "Not Playing With A Full Deck", we each chose from a deck of cards. Whatever card we chose, we need to make a quilt no larger than 12" x 14" that depicts the card.

We can use our imagination and do any embellishments, painting, whatever to create it so it has more of an art quilt feel to it.

So which card did I choose?

My gut keeps leading me back to an idea similar to a project I did in school while I was studying Typography. I'm playing with it thinking that I'm going to try some applique with the "new to me" method where you baste along the seam lines and then the basting perforations should make the applique easier... Atleast that's the hope.

So if you were given this challenge, what would you do? I'm going to play on the computer and see if I can come up with a design to replicate. I'll keep you posted!

Mixed Feelings

Today is a day for me with mixed feelings as I'm sure many of you can relate. 10 years ago today I was in High School, the entire school was in the gym listening to a presentation by grandparents of one of the victims of the Columbine shooting (off to an eerie start)... Then one of the teachers runs into the gym and announces to the whole school, "The World Trade Center just got bombed, the US is under attack!"

Needless to say, the rest of the day no classes were taught. No lesson plans were followed. Every single classroom was watching in awe as part of our country began to crumble in front of us. There were fears that the draft would be reinstated and many of our friends would soon be off. Several parents came to the school to collect their children early in fear of an attack on our school.

Today I watched much of the coverage of the 10th anniversary of this somber day and reflect on where we are today. I am thankful for the country we live in and the sacrifices many people have made, civilian or enlisted. I am honored to know several members of our armed forces that have served. I am grateful that many friends have gone into battle and returned home. All but one have returned home unharmed (physically at least...)

I am also thrilled to have my Father-In-Law home after he voluntarily worked in the Green Zone in Iraq for five and a half years. It was a lllooooooonnngg period of unknowing and fear that I will never forget. It is truly a blessing to have him home with us....

But - today I am happy that my beloved Browns are playing the Home Opener (and leading at the moment :] ). I have been able to quilt and finish a project and start another. I am home safe and got to spend it watching football with my husband...and quilting... What more could a girl ask for?

So, without further ado, here's the quilting on the Wonky Triple Rail quilt I just finished:

 I quilted free-form swirls all over this one for a lighter/fun feeling. This quilt is just so cheery swirls seemed perfect for it.

 By the time I added borders the top measured approx 34" x 42". Not knowing how large this quilt would be I got a yard of the backing fabric and would go from there. I wanted the pattern on the back to run up and down (I didn't want to the animals to look like they were tipsy or anything) so I was about 6" short on my backing length. I took a few strips of coordinating fabrics and added them to the back. I think it turned out pretty cute!

AND here's my Challenge Quilt for our Guild!!! Don't you just love it?! I have been seeing a gazillion spiderweb/kaleidoscope variations on the Internet and thought that would be a fun block for this challenge. I was originally thinking of doing more of a string version of a spiderweb block, then my Mom and I were searching a few blogs the one day and I noticed this by Cindy (also a Chef on the Moda Bake Shop) and I knew I had to make it...

The only thing was her blocks originally were made out of 6" and 4" strips. I only had a Fat Eighth of my challenge fabric to use and I had to use all of it. The solution - I thought to get the most out of my challenge fabric I would place it in the corners. There was NO WAY there would be enough to use it as one of the main fabrics. So I started with those pieces being cut from a 4.5" strip. I would cut as many as I could and go from there...

So, with a bit of new math and equipped with my trusty Kaleidoscope Ruler by Marti Michell I started cutting. I had this quilt together in no time. I honestly think it took about as long to lay out the quilt to arrange the colors as it did to piece it together. Quick! I like it!

It's still not quilted but it was too stinkin' cute not to show it off. I have to prepare the backing still (all 10 fabrics added to the Challenge fabric have to be on the back of the quilt) and I will quilt it simply this week.

Let's see, this weekend I finished a top, a quilt and put borders on another to get quilted this week AND I started another top... Productive week if I do say so myself.

So, now that I'm done blabbing, how are you spending your day? What projects are you working on?

Little Things

I've been working on some small projects lately like this:

This is a small quilt that I used leftovers from this tutorial. I cut up all of the pieces once I had made the kid's scarves and had a bunch of them laying around. I had always intended on using these pieces to make a triple rail quilt as a side project, piecing them here and there in between making other blocks.

I started using these as my "leaders and enders" or "thread-bunny" - meaning - when I was done making blocks for another project and had to stop to press, or just stop for the day, I would normally use a scrap to run through my machine so I didn't have loose threads. It really helps when you start the next piece not having to grab the threads each time and it helps keep the tension in check overall.

So, as I was sewing along I would start putting 2 strips together and setting these aside. Typically when sewing I sew in stages - I cut alot, I piece alot, then I press alot. I think it makes it go faster overall. So, when I would get to a bunch of pressing I would press the triple rail pieces too.

Before you knew it I had a bunch of blocks that I "wasn't even trying" to make!  When all was said and done I had 34 blocks and 1 strip left. I went through my stash and cut up 2 more strips from similar fabrics to make 35 blocks.

I started putting the blocks together just as you normally would... and it was boring - honestly. This fabric is fun and exciting. It needed a but of jazz or something. So I took apart the couple blocks I had sewn together and went back to my ironing board.

I spritzed each block with Best Press spray and pressed them until dry and crisp. I took one of my smaller rulers and laid it on each block at an angle cutting the 6.5" squares down to 5.5". Then I started sewing these blocks back together for a "modern" triple rail quilt.

So what do you think? I'll be quilting this quilt later this week and I'm hoping to finish my Challenge Quilt later today too so it can get quilted this week as well. I will be back later to show you pictures of the quilting!!!

Don't forget that if you live near the Northeast Ohio Area, this quilt will be FOR SALE as well as a Queen Size Quilt raffle at the Wildwood Quilt Guild Show in Mentor, OH the beginning of November. It's only a 1 day show, there will be several vendors for shopping, goodies to munch on, and quilts for purchase! Also, the chance to win a Queen Size Quilt!!! (You do not need to be present to win) I will post more information once we get closer to the date! Hope to see you there!

Gotta go quilt! I'm so close to finishing this Challenge Quilt! I hope you'll like it!

Challenged

In more ways than one... but this first one is fun! I promise :]

My guild, the Wildwood Quilt Guild, likes to do a challenge every year or so. The fabric above was given to each member to use in their challenge quilt. Here's the rules:

Since it's for 2011
you must make a quilt or project using ALL of the fabric provided (it's a Fat Eighth)
you have to use 20 blocks (they don't have to be the same block (that's the 20-- part)
add in 10 other prints to the fabric provided for a total of 11 fabrics (the --11 part)
and have it ready to hang at our show in November...

So I had this idea of what I wanted to do, but didn't know exactly how I wanted to do it, and only using 11 fabrics in 20 blocks - you could say I was challenged alright!

I just recently got my fabrics to go with the challenge fabric and I'll keep you posted on that once I'm back on my feet again (Chest pains started acting up a bit, no worries - I've almost finished a book!) I'm hoping to get back to sewing later this week.

SO my question to you is - with those restrictions, what would you make?

Small Triumphs

 So this is what I have been up to for a while now and not by choice... I have this "thing" (I'll call it a thing because it's not a disease it's not an infection, just a thing) called Costochondritis where from time to time the cartilage that connects your ribs to your sternum gets inflamed and is quite painful. So I rest and take it easy for a couple days until it goes away. So all the plans I had for quilting last weekend were toast before the weekend began.

This time around it's been worse than it has in a long time so I've been off my game longer than anticipated. I have nothing good to show you for quilting but I do have a discussion...

Small Triumphs - As in knowing your limits to a point. I've heard from several people that the best course of action with anything is to fight small battles. I heard of this awhile ago described in the Rule of 3 - each day only focus on the top 3 things on your to do list and get those done. If you focus on these you'll more than likely get way more done than you imagined and you actually get things done since you're not focusing on the HUGE to do list we all give ourselves.

 So today even though it could only be for a few minutes I tended to these and fertilized them for the Spring...

And gave these little lovelies some sun and TLC. That was #1. #2 was to send out my Quilt Guild's newsletter - done! And #3 was to quilt within my limits. It was only for an hour or so broken up with small breaks in between. But since I only focused on those few things I also was able to work on new pattern designs, take a nap, read some of my book and go grocery shopping.

Basically I want to inspire all of you that even when there's difficulties put in your path, plans get ruined, or you are laid up on your back for a few days there are still Small Triumphs to be had and all is not wasted.

I myself was forgetting this only a few days ago when I thought I should have been better but wasn't. I was angry, depressed and worst of all bored which made matters worse. But then I had to take a step back, relax, breathe and get my bearings.

So it's going to be a few more days before I'm fully back to 100%, but since I took these small victories (however small they are) it's still a victory and I can look ahead and prepare. That way when I am back up and running full speed I can breeze through what should have been done and move on to the next thing - 3 items at a time.

I hope this helped some of you out. Sometimes it's good to have a roadblock of sorts. How do all of you seem to cope with day-to-day difficulties and bumps in the road? Let's just have an open discussion (just leave me a comment) and we can all help each other out. Maybe there's an alternative to what I mentioned above. Maybe another tip or trick you might have up your sleeve. Whatever it is I'd love to hear it.

Have a great weekend and I will hopefully have some quilts to show you next week!

And they're off!

The quilting machine that is! I truly honestly forgot how much fun it is to quilt (that is when it's going good) but I also forgot how physical of a process it is. You really do not realize how involved it is or how many muscles you use doing it until you REALLY feel it. Or it could just be that it's reminding me how out of shape I am - nah, that couldn't be it!

I attempted to quilt three projects on Tuesday within a very short window of time. (error #1) And then I still had to do a final press on all of them before each one was loaded onto the machine. (error #2) Also, I changed threads, top and bottom, for each quilt. No two quilts used the same color in them at all, and I forgot how much time that took. (error #3)

But aside from those small things I seem to usually forget about when my Wonder Woman persona comes into play - you know those days when you get up and have a to do list that's a mile long and think you're going to get it all done and then some - HAHAHAHA - I should know better, really. I couldn't finish the biggest project, the quilt, and I had to call it quilts for the day. It was over half done, only had a little bit left to go, but I was done. I was physically exhausted and I had a husband at home wanting some dinner soon, so we left it til tomorrow.

My one job is just down the road so once I got off of work yesterday, no biggie, we went and finished it and I LOVE IT!!! I'm giving this one as a gift, and I really hope she'll like it. This is just a shot of the back that I added this little pieced stripe into with a label already in it (my good thought for that day). I will show you the front soon, it needs to get trimmed, a couple threads need to be buried, and it needs the binding added. Then I can take pictures and send it to the printers - and then you can see the front. I hope you'll like it too! It's a brighter quilt, some of the fabrics used on the front are in the pieced stripe on the back. Be on the lookout for the preview of Candy-Coated Dreams in the near future.

You remember this one I showed you a couple weeks ago? This was the latest version of the Charmed Living Runner, now it's all quilted. I just free handed this puppy (as I do with all of mine that I quilt) I added some loops and the occasional holly leaf every so often. I tried to get a close up of the quilting detail so you could see it, but you'll have to look closely (If you click on the pictures, it should enlarge them). I used a Signature Variegated Thread called Woodlands. It has a little red, tan, and black in it that worked really well with the fabrics I chose. This runner will be for sale at the Wildwood Quilt Guild's Annual Show this November so if you're in the Mentor area, stop in at the Senior Center on the 7th and take a look at all of the wonderful quilts on display. We also have a quilt that will be raffled, other quilted items for sale (like the runner) and about 15 vendors selling all kinds of goodies as well. Stop on out and see us, this quilt could be yours!

Well, now that I have quilted these projects, they are in need of binding that I'm wishing the binding fairy would show up and take care of, but I hear she's off duty this week. Figures. I guess that means I know what I'm tackling today, and tomorrow, and the next day, but I enjoy it so it'll be fine.

As mentioned before, I will be working on releasing the pattern to Candy-Coated Dreams in the near future as well as working an another Moda Bake Shop project. Stay tuned in for that too! Well, this day has to get started at some point and I'm thinking there's no better time than the present. Tata!