Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Daring to be Square (and some WIP Wednesday)
I love collecting craft books almost as much as I like crafting! The book-buying habit got especially bad when I worked at a Borders bookstore for several years, and one of the last books I got before joyfully quitting was this (seemingly littleknown?) gem:
This is such an amazing quilting book! It is designed for brand new quilters, but the quilt patterns in it are so great that it doesn't matter what skill level you are. The premise is that you can make fun, functional quilts entirely out of squares and rectangles. The first part of the the book is dedicated to teaching you how to quilt, including cutting, piecing, basting, and straight-line quilting. Until I got this book I was afraid of machine quilting my quilts, and had only ever tied or hand-quilted them. It inspired me to buy my walking foot and opened up a whole new world of quilt design possibilities for me.
All of the quilts in the book are really fun (I love that owl quilt on the cover, although I haven't gotten around to making it yet) but my favorite design is a quilt called "Two Left Feet." It's the first quilt I made from the book, and I even used the exact same colors!
This was the first quilt I ever machine quilted, using Boo Davis' painters tape stripes techniques. Speaking of Boo Davis, she is the hard-rocking quilter/author. Check out her totally unique modern quilts! She also has a Flickr group for people who have made the quilts in her book, and even makes a point of commenting on everyone's submissions. How sweet is that?
Anyway, I loved that first quilt I made, and since I made that one for my Grandma, I decided to make one for myself too!
This time I got a little more creative, choosing my own colors.
I think my favorite thing about this book was that it finally pushed me to take the plunge and start designing my own quilts. I eased into it, basing my quilt design on one in the book. The one in the book looks a bit like this (link to an incredible version I saw on Flickr), a design that I liked from the beginning. However, I wanted to make a larger, bed-size quilt, so I adapted the pattern and sewed up this guy:
I decided to hand quilt this one, since it's intimidatingly large (almost king size, I think!). This is one of those projects that will take a while yet, as I don't pull it out too often.
Anyway, the point (and the Work In Progress Wednesday post) that I'm trying to make is this: I have just sketched up a new quilt design that is all mine, based on the techniques I learned from Dare To Be Square. I'm washing the fabric today and hope to get cutting it. I don't want to tell you what it is just yet, but here is a little hint:
This is a quilt I've been thinking about for a long time, and I'm excited to finally be working on it!
Even though this point is only a little about works in progress, I'm still linking up over at Freshly Pieced. It's always fun to see what everyone else is up to!
 |
| Dare To Be Square |
This is such an amazing quilting book! It is designed for brand new quilters, but the quilt patterns in it are so great that it doesn't matter what skill level you are. The premise is that you can make fun, functional quilts entirely out of squares and rectangles. The first part of the the book is dedicated to teaching you how to quilt, including cutting, piecing, basting, and straight-line quilting. Until I got this book I was afraid of machine quilting my quilts, and had only ever tied or hand-quilted them. It inspired me to buy my walking foot and opened up a whole new world of quilt design possibilities for me.
All of the quilts in the book are really fun (I love that owl quilt on the cover, although I haven't gotten around to making it yet) but my favorite design is a quilt called "Two Left Feet." It's the first quilt I made from the book, and I even used the exact same colors!
Anyway, I loved that first quilt I made, and since I made that one for my Grandma, I decided to make one for myself too!
This time I got a little more creative, choosing my own colors.
I think my favorite thing about this book was that it finally pushed me to take the plunge and start designing my own quilts. I eased into it, basing my quilt design on one in the book. The one in the book looks a bit like this (link to an incredible version I saw on Flickr), a design that I liked from the beginning. However, I wanted to make a larger, bed-size quilt, so I adapted the pattern and sewed up this guy:
I decided to hand quilt this one, since it's intimidatingly large (almost king size, I think!). This is one of those projects that will take a while yet, as I don't pull it out too often.
Anyway, the point (and the Work In Progress Wednesday post) that I'm trying to make is this: I have just sketched up a new quilt design that is all mine, based on the techniques I learned from Dare To Be Square. I'm washing the fabric today and hope to get cutting it. I don't want to tell you what it is just yet, but here is a little hint:
 |
| (this is part of the back) |
Even though this point is only a little about works in progress, I'm still linking up over at Freshly Pieced. It's always fun to see what everyone else is up to!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Christmas Sewing - Finally!
As usual, I had grand plans for handmade Christmas presents, but seeing as how I only gave myself about 10 days to make them, I had to adjust for reality as I went. The results weren't half bad though! I decided this year to only make things for the people in my family who I knew would appreciate them. This meant that three lucky ladies got some good stuff!
First, we have Speed Quilting: Round 1 - Anne and Sergey Edition.
Yes, another Vintage Superstar. I love this pattern! It's such a fun way to show off pretty fabrics.
I got to practice my free motion quilting again. I started with a spiral and then just did rounds and rounds of petals all the way out to the tips of the star. The outside of the star is done with a combination of swirly stippling + hearts, a personal favorite:
And the back is a pretty, large-scale vintage sheet! Binding is also vintage.
Next up is Speed Quilting: Round 2 - Kati Edition.
Look, same quilt! (Almost, anyway.)
This version, for my sister, was done in more cartoon-y prints, and has a slightly more modern sheet for the back. Quilting on this one is entirely heart-stipple, with one special addition:
And finally, pillows for Mom.
She requested king size purple flannel pillowcases. Some how I made this really hard for myself - suffice it to say I used my seam ripper a lot this time. Also, I didn't realize that the flannel had a front and a back until both cases were done, and of course one is backwards. Whatever, you can' tell unless I point it out. (Sorry, Mom!)
This was the first through pillow I ever made! It was shockingly, wonderfully easy. My mom sent me the African fabric and I finally found the courage to try a pillow. I'm glad I did, because once I realized how easy/fun it was, I made this:
The heart is appliqued on, and then I just echo quilted the entire front. I loved this pillow so much I'm ready to make some for myself now!
It's been so long since my last post that, while I have more to show, I don't want to make this one too long. I promise to come back soon!
First, we have Speed Quilting: Round 1 - Anne and Sergey Edition.
Yes, another Vintage Superstar. I love this pattern! It's such a fun way to show off pretty fabrics.
I got to practice my free motion quilting again. I started with a spiral and then just did rounds and rounds of petals all the way out to the tips of the star. The outside of the star is done with a combination of swirly stippling + hearts, a personal favorite:
And the back is a pretty, large-scale vintage sheet! Binding is also vintage.
Next up is Speed Quilting: Round 2 - Kati Edition.
Look, same quilt! (Almost, anyway.)
This version, for my sister, was done in more cartoon-y prints, and has a slightly more modern sheet for the back. Quilting on this one is entirely heart-stipple, with one special addition:
And finally, pillows for Mom.
She requested king size purple flannel pillowcases. Some how I made this really hard for myself - suffice it to say I used my seam ripper a lot this time. Also, I didn't realize that the flannel had a front and a back until both cases were done, and of course one is backwards. Whatever, you can' tell unless I point it out. (Sorry, Mom!)
This was the first through pillow I ever made! It was shockingly, wonderfully easy. My mom sent me the African fabric and I finally found the courage to try a pillow. I'm glad I did, because once I realized how easy/fun it was, I made this:
The heart is appliqued on, and then I just echo quilted the entire front. I loved this pillow so much I'm ready to make some for myself now!
It's been so long since my last post that, while I have more to show, I don't want to make this one too long. I promise to come back soon!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Progress
I've been... uninclined to sew these past few weeks. I'm phase-y that way. I've been reading a bunch instead. Mostly junk, since I realized I could get library books on my Kindle (finally!) but a few quality things. I'm thinking about starting a book review feature on this blog, just so I can get out some of the thoughts I've had about interesting books. Stay tuned.
In actual sewing news, though, I made a scarf!
The fabric was an impulse purchase at Joanns, kind of a flannel with embroidered dots/stripes. The ribbon was given to me by my grandma, who has all kinds of stashes of cool sewing and crafty stuff. I have a few more from her (I think they're from Switzerland?) that I think would look nice on future scarves.
And speaking of future scarves, now that the first one went off so well, I've got big plans!
Maybe some Christmas presents?
My other sporadic achievement has been some work here and there on my pink and gray zig zag quilt, which I've come to think of as "Le Zig." It's basically 8 zigs in a pink/yellow fabric, alternating with Kona medium gray. One zig down:
After making, ironing, and trimming several hundred half-square triangles I have a newfound respect for the quilters who make them with any kind of frequency! Cutting is my least favorite part of the quilting process (except for maybe basting) and there is a lot of cutting involved in the HST process. Usually in a multi-step process like with making HSTs, I like to to each step all at once before moving on. With this project, however, the trimming was just too disgustingly boring, so I've stopped to sew together a few parts just to break up the monotony. I'm 1/8th of the top down!
Now that Christmas is rapidly approaching, I've really got to get sewing again. I've figured out what I want to make, and read most of the library books I could get outside of the wait list, so hopefully I'll be able to get some more things done lately!
In actual sewing news, though, I made a scarf!
The fabric was an impulse purchase at Joanns, kind of a flannel with embroidered dots/stripes. The ribbon was given to me by my grandma, who has all kinds of stashes of cool sewing and crafty stuff. I have a few more from her (I think they're from Switzerland?) that I think would look nice on future scarves.
And speaking of future scarves, now that the first one went off so well, I've got big plans!
Maybe some Christmas presents?
My other sporadic achievement has been some work here and there on my pink and gray zig zag quilt, which I've come to think of as "Le Zig." It's basically 8 zigs in a pink/yellow fabric, alternating with Kona medium gray. One zig down:
After making, ironing, and trimming several hundred half-square triangles I have a newfound respect for the quilters who make them with any kind of frequency! Cutting is my least favorite part of the quilting process (except for maybe basting) and there is a lot of cutting involved in the HST process. Usually in a multi-step process like with making HSTs, I like to to each step all at once before moving on. With this project, however, the trimming was just too disgustingly boring, so I've stopped to sew together a few parts just to break up the monotony. I'm 1/8th of the top down!
Now that Christmas is rapidly approaching, I've really got to get sewing again. I've figured out what I want to make, and read most of the library books I could get outside of the wait list, so hopefully I'll be able to get some more things done lately!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
WIP Wednesday: More Plans than Finishes
First of all, the view out my window as I type this? So pretty:
Now that's done, on to the one thing I managed to sew this week: my completed Drunkard's Path Baby Quilt! Inspired by a comment on last week's WIP Wednesday, I think I'm renaming it the Mod Baby quilt, which sounds cooler. Plus, the little guy who will be its owner has two seriously cool parents who fell in love through a classic rock/Beatles appreciation club that his mom started - I think mod is probably a good style for him! So without further ado:
It took me almost a week to figure out how I wanted to quilt it, and I ultimately settled on diagonal straight lines. It's in keeping with the symmetrical style, and it was such a pleasure to use my cranky walking foot on a small quilt for once; it went off without a hitch! The back looks nice too, I think:
I started a knitting project, something I do for a month or two every other year. I'm hoping to keep my interest up until I at least have two gloves.
I had originally planned to make the gloves fingerless, but changed my mind; when I showed my husband my progress, he asked me why I had decided to leave those particular fingers exposed, not realizing the thing wasn't finished! I've been trying to imagine what purpose a finished glove of this type might serve...
The only other crafty thing I managed to accomplish this week was some fabric shopping.
So now I'm off to cut some of the fabric I talked about last week, I think starting with the pink/yellow/gray zig zag quilt. I love having the whole afternoon free to get some quilty work done. Happy quilting to everyone else!
Now that's done, on to the one thing I managed to sew this week: my completed Drunkard's Path Baby Quilt! Inspired by a comment on last week's WIP Wednesday, I think I'm renaming it the Mod Baby quilt, which sounds cooler. Plus, the little guy who will be its owner has two seriously cool parents who fell in love through a classic rock/Beatles appreciation club that his mom started - I think mod is probably a good style for him! So without further ado:
 | |
| The Mod Baby Quilt |
I started a knitting project, something I do for a month or two every other year. I'm hoping to keep my interest up until I at least have two gloves.
The only other crafty thing I managed to accomplish this week was some fabric shopping.
 |
| These will one day be purses, probably for the arts and crafts gallery at my work. |
 |
| The leftmost fabric is so soft and pretty it can't be anything other than a scarf for me! The other two I plan on making into large purses; if I have my way they will be very cool, so stay tuned! |
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| Awesomely weird Swiss fabric for 25c at Goodwill. For the coffee table, I think. |
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| This one was just to cute to pass up, and from Joanns of all places! |
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| The sheet pile keeps growing... I'm going to get to it any day now, I swear! |
So now I'm off to cut some of the fabric I talked about last week, I think starting with the pink/yellow/gray zig zag quilt. I love having the whole afternoon free to get some quilty work done. Happy quilting to everyone else!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Knitting break
I like to do something with my hands while we watch tv at night. Usually it's a bit of handquilting on one of my long term projects, but last night I needed a change. Enter a new pair of gloves, to help get me through thus cold Oregon winter! I'm close to finishing the first one, but only because I was having so much fun knitting again I had to watch an extra movie...
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
WIP Wednesday
At last, a post coming from the comfort of my own home! Internet access has been established, although I'm still working on adding Wifi. And to be perfectly honest, home isn't quite as comfortable as Starbucks has been, given that's it's been below 50 degrees outside and our baseboard heaters don't really keep it much warmer than that inside. Luckily, there are lots of quilts here to wrap up in! So on to the quilts themselves!
Finished: Disappearing Parisville
Ok, I actually finished this a week or so ago, but I haven't gotten to brag about a finished quilt on WIP Wed for awhile! I'm also really happy with this one, since it's a large full size and is currently living on my bed! It's not the first bed-size quilt that I've made, but it's the first that I've actually finished - there are in fact three WIP large quilts in various parts of the quilting stage! Now that it's so cold here, especially at night, I might have to make an effort to really finish some of them.
In Progress: Drunkard's Path Quilt Along
For my Drunkard's Path baby quilt I now have a top (blogged Monday) and as of today, the back:
It's not exactly what I had imagined, but it will do. I'm just glad it's finished; I must be out of practice or something, because I had to take apart and redo about half of these seams! I just kept sewing the wrong pieces together, and even made some cutting errors (one of my worst fears!) I think I just wasn't as focused as I could be because I'm not really interested in this quilt anymore; I need to finish it up so I can send it off and start something new!
Speaking of finishing projects, I made myself a little checklist to help keep me moving along.
It's fun to check things off, and helps me see where I need to put in my sewing time! Which brings me to...
New Projects: Could there be more things I want to do?
1. Brian's Christmas quilt: I have several yards each of Kona Bone and Schoolbus; I'm just trying to figure out how to deploy it. Ideally something like this, which I've been wanting to imitate forever; although I'm not certain, since I hate all the fabric waste the comes from cutting curves.
2. I have a yard each of seven different pink/yellow/gray fabrics that I bought almost a year ago, and finally decided to make a nice zig-zaggy quilt. I even sketched out a plan:
Alternating stripes will be Kona Medium Gray; there is probably even enough fabric for two quilts!
3. And finally, my vintage sheets collection has gotten awfully large; I think it's time for a new Superstar quilt! I put all of my prettiest, bright-colored sheets in a stack, and will have to refine the collection to eight:
One last thing - since I have at-home internet access now, I'll be starting up my empty little Etsy shop for real, hopefully next week. There will be fat quarters of all these lovely sheets there!
So now to link up and check out everybody else's progress!
Finished: Disappearing Parisville
Ok, I actually finished this a week or so ago, but I haven't gotten to brag about a finished quilt on WIP Wed for awhile! I'm also really happy with this one, since it's a large full size and is currently living on my bed! It's not the first bed-size quilt that I've made, but it's the first that I've actually finished - there are in fact three WIP large quilts in various parts of the quilting stage! Now that it's so cold here, especially at night, I might have to make an effort to really finish some of them.
In Progress: Drunkard's Path Quilt Along
For my Drunkard's Path baby quilt I now have a top (blogged Monday) and as of today, the back:
It's not exactly what I had imagined, but it will do. I'm just glad it's finished; I must be out of practice or something, because I had to take apart and redo about half of these seams! I just kept sewing the wrong pieces together, and even made some cutting errors (one of my worst fears!) I think I just wasn't as focused as I could be because I'm not really interested in this quilt anymore; I need to finish it up so I can send it off and start something new!
Speaking of finishing projects, I made myself a little checklist to help keep me moving along.
New Projects: Could there be more things I want to do?
1. Brian's Christmas quilt: I have several yards each of Kona Bone and Schoolbus; I'm just trying to figure out how to deploy it. Ideally something like this, which I've been wanting to imitate forever; although I'm not certain, since I hate all the fabric waste the comes from cutting curves.
2. I have a yard each of seven different pink/yellow/gray fabrics that I bought almost a year ago, and finally decided to make a nice zig-zaggy quilt. I even sketched out a plan:
3. And finally, my vintage sheets collection has gotten awfully large; I think it's time for a new Superstar quilt! I put all of my prettiest, bright-colored sheets in a stack, and will have to refine the collection to eight:
One last thing - since I have at-home internet access now, I'll be starting up my empty little Etsy shop for real, hopefully next week. There will be fat quarters of all these lovely sheets there!
So now to link up and check out everybody else's progress!
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