Sandy from Quilting… for the Rest of Us announced the Black Friday Sew-in on Big Tent yesterday. Here is her message:
” Do you, like me, want to avoid the Black Friday shopping rush like the plague? Join me for our second annual Black Friday Sew-In! I’ll have a giveaway on my blog that day–instructions will be there for how to enter. I’ll also be opening up a linky for any bloggers or podcasters who want to do their own giveaways for BFSI. Plus, if you’re on Twitter, follow the fun using #BFSI (Same hashtag as last year but that’s okay–you’ll be able to review last year’s fun if you just keep scrolling down.)
Event Details
What: Black Friday Sew-In
Who: Quilting…for the Rest of Us Quiltcast Supergroup
When: Fri Nov 23, 2012, 12 am – noon EDT “
Pam at Hip to Be a Square has been mentioning on her last few podcasts. Hope you will be able to join in. If you are not on Twitter, you can watch along via Tweetchat by typing in the hashtag #bfsi and watching the scroll of tweets fly by.
Day 3 came and went and I am back to the drudgery of work.
Postage Stamp Star
While in sewing heaven, though, I design a block in EQ7 to use to make some Lovey blocks I promised. I saw the idea in a UK magazine called Fabrications. You can make this block as well as I am including the Postage Stamp Star Directions for your sewing pleasure! I was thinking of using these directions to set the donation blocks, but they might end up too big. I’ll see. I should probably plan the whole quilt using this setting from the start.
I made two of these for two different Lovey quilts.
4 Donation Blocks
I also finished all of the donation blocks. The blocks are ok looking, definitely cheerful, but I think, if I were to do this color scheme again, I would pay more attention to the tone of the color of the green.
Still I think these are interesting and cheerful and that some NICU baby will like the quilt.
1 Pink & Green donation block
I also started to sash these blocks. I decided to sash the blocks, but with 2″ unfinished strips rather than the 2.5″ strips I used last time. It means more cutting, but I think it will add interest to the quilt.
The Sew-in was fun. It was nice to sew at home and have others sew along at the same time.
To find out how to participate in the Labor Day Sew-in, read the previous post.
I don’t feel like I got as much done on Day 2 as I did on Day 1, but I am still pretty pleased with the amount of work I got done.
4 Pink & Green Donation blocks
I worked on the donation blocks and think I have 9 more to go before I can start chunking.
I feel like I should have gotten all of these done, but I made a couple of journal covers, which required more than straight mindless sewing. Still 4 is good, right? Immerhin, right?
Journal Cover closed
Next up: Journal covers. Did I say somewhere that I started a new journal this past week and needed a journal cover? If not, I started a new journal this past week and need a journal cover. I didn’t believe my own directions, so that meant that I made one and it was just a tad too small. I was able to cut the covers of an old journal and use it, but I still needed a cover for my new journal. I followed my own directions this time and came up with one I could use. It is a tad too large, but works.
Journal Cover open (back cover)
I am not sure why I like using journal covers, but I do. I like seeing cheerful fabric. I liked the softness and a journal cover gives the impression of more privacy. Real privacy? I don’t know, but the impression is ok with me. My journal doesn’t often leave my sight.
I adjusted the sizes slightly and might try another cover tomorrow (LDSI3). I always need covers for new journals, so making another one would mean I get a bit ahead. I would like to go back and cover all of my journals, but I just don’t see that happening right now. Someday, perhaps.
A-B-C Challenge Blocks – more sashing
I also worked on the A-B-C Challenge Blocks. I used the last bit of the half yard that TFQ returned from the Super Secret project. I was able to sash a lot of blocks with that half yard. I am fortunate I was able to find more of the grey, so I started pressing and cutting into that.
I expected to get more done, but am happy with how much I got done.
There is a Labor Day Sew-in happening on Twitter. If you are on Twitter, you can add the #LDSI hashtag to your sewing tweets and join the fun. If you do not have a Twitter account (or you want to follow ALL the tweets) you can still follow along via Tweetchat at this link: http://tweetchat.com/room/ldsi . I tweet as @Artquiltmaker. Are you surprised? Hope to see you there!
This phenomenon started sometime last year with the quilty podcasters. I think Sandy from Quilting for the Rest of Us was the first, but the others quickly joined in. There was a Black Friday Sew-in (for those who don’t shop, or get their shopping done early), Boxing Day Sew-in, New Year’s Day Sew-in that I can recall. It is a fun way to have some contact with other quiltmakers and still sew in your pajamas.
I stayed home while much of the family went to see Cal play in their new stadium. I want to see the new stadium, but when given a choice between sewing and watching football with 70,000 other people, the choice is clear.
I had the Young Man, of course, and one of the nephews home with me. They are close in age and hang well together. I worked on the laundry and tidying the house. Feeding those boys turned out to be a major undertaking that I didn’t expect, as well. I went through: 2 bowls of potato salad, 5 pieces of cobbler, 2 pot pies, a bowl of goldfish, a bagel, frozen yogurt and smoothies. WHEW!
As mentioned, I am sewing more slowly than usual, but I did make some progress on various projects.
K-man Pillowcase
First, I finished a pillowcase that the nephew (above nephew) started sewing awhile ago when he was home alone with me. I didn’t think he was going to finish it anytime soon and I kind of wanted it out of my workroom and on his bed.I talked to him and he was fine with me finishing it.
What a pain this thing was to finish! It was much too narrow. I don’t know what I was thinking when I cut it. I had to add pieces to make it marginally wide enough. My nephew is an easygoing child/Young Man, so I think it will be fine.
A-B-C Challenge Blocks – LDSI Day 1 Progress
I started to sash the A-B-C Challenge blocks. They are looking good, IMO. I am really liking the grey.
One of the bonuses that I didn’t expect was that after I sashed a number of the blocks, I was able to see how much better the grey sashing looks as opposed to using white. I may not have considered white, but the design wall is white and having the un-sashed blocks next to the sashed blocks shows a big difference. I also think that the grey is really setting off the vibrant colors of the blocks well. Glad I chose that grey.
Pink & Green Donation Block #1
Yes, the new color scheme is Pink and Green! I like the black on white, but needed a bit of a change. I don’t use green much and after trying out the yellow, I thought green might be a good challenge. someone said that it looked like 1980s Papagallo. I have a vague memory of that store (??) or shoes (??). Not sure, but the comment made me smile.
What do you think? Is using a color as a ‘neutral’/background successful? You can reserve judgement until the quilt top is done, if you like. I do think it looks cheerful.
Pink & Green Donation Block #2
All of this means that I finished sewing together all the groups of 2 2.5″ patches I need for the next donation quilt, so I pressed and resorted them into groups of 8 and started making blocks. I made a total of 3 blocks yesterday and may be able to finish the rest of the blocks today. I don’t know. We will see.
Mrs. K can see some of the pink fabrics she sent me in these blocks. There are also a lot of pinks and greens from my fabric closet as well. It was kind of fun to pick greens, though looking at these blocks I wish I had stayed with one slice of the color wheel rather than going more scrappy. This is one reason I like these donation quilts. I can try out different combinations, not only of color, but tones of color to see how they work together. I might have another one of this color scheme in me. We will see. I still have a lot of pink squares cut.
Pink & Green Donation Block #3
As previously mentioned, I make these donation quilts as a leaders and enders project. My main project at the moment is sashing the A-B-C Challenge blocks. This means that I don’t know how long the donation quilt will take. I have a vague goal in my head of finishing the top and bringing it to the BAMQG meeting next week, but I already have the Pink Donation top to bring, so I don’t feel obligated. Still, it would be nice.
EPP Star
My final accomplishment of the evening was to unsew and then re-sew a half hexagon star while I watched football with the family. More info, generally, can be found in the previous post about this project.
The footballers (first game in the new Cal stadium) called on their way home from the game and asked me to bring the boys over to SIL and BIL’s house to watch the Michigan game. We are new fans as a niece attends that school. I agreed to pick up Chinese food on the way. I packed up the boys and my hand work project and headed over at the appointed time. The lighting wasn’t that good, thus the poor photo. I’ll get a better one when I take a photo of a group of stars.
None of these projects are really new or exciting for you, perhaps, but I am fond of them.
Monday was the Boxing Day Sew-in, which was organized by Sandy and contributed to by various other podcasters and quiltmakers. I have to say that I jollied myself along to get involved and am glad I did, because I had a great time watching the tweets scroll past AND making major progress on the Stepping Stones.
Somehow the Stepping Stones project was well on it’s way to becoming a chronic UFO. I don’t know why. Somehow it just became a chore. I think that starting it around Thanksgiving and then not having my usual sewing time to devote to it contributed to the feeling.
Spending time on it on Monday and getting cheers from others participating in BDSI was the shove I needed. The support felt great and the project is well on its way to completion.
Starting Point
This is where I started. Looking at it now I find that I had made good progress. My whole problem was my attitude. Perhaps I am a fickle creature and if I cannot work on a project intensely, I become angry at it and want to move on?
During the day, we were all tweeting our progress and I was using my cell phone to take pictures. I hope the pictures are acceptable quality.
Center Done
By 10:30 or 11am, I had finished the center part of the quilt. I was able to start in on the border. As you may have seen in the previous post, I decided to modify the border so it looked more finished. As such, I needed 4 corner blocks that were slightly different from the side blocks and then 20 side blocks.
Corner labeled
Again, I was able to finish the corner (4) blocks and 2 of the side blocks. This allowed me to take a look at the way the corner would look and if my design had the desired effect. The quilt top always looks different once sewn together, but I think it will suit me.
Yesterday, I sewed several big chunks together. this is another monster quilt, so it is taking me some time to get it sewn together. I would like to have the top and back done by the time I go back to work on the 2nd. I had really big sewing plans and the holidays got in the way.
Now back to listening to my audio book and getting this baby finished!
Just so you know: I am not writing this at 3am. I am sleeping, but I scheduled this to post at 3am for you crazy people 😉 who live in different timezones and are already up and sewing.
Other organizers and participants:
Sandy of Quilting…for the Rest of Us. Sandy has a post or two up about #BDSI already. She is the main gal, so head over to her site for all of the instructions and excitement!
Pam of Hip to Be a Square Podcast. If you don’t listen to her podcast, you should. If nobody can make you sew, Pam can.
Tanesha of Crafty Garden Mom. Love her podcast, especially the book reviews.
Katie of Katie’s Quilting Corner. Katie has made the most amazing progress in her short career as a quiltmaker. If you look “all in” up in the dictionary, you will see Katie’s picture next to the definition.
There will be prizes.
Giveaway #1
Sandy and Pam are organizing all that and I am just contributing. I want people to have fun, but I don’t want to do too much work. Mostly I am lazy. After racing around for 3 weeks with holiday preparations, houseguests, having a cold and not sleeping, with a sprinkle of major baking on top, I am tired.
Here is some info about when #BDSI starts at which locations. This chart/information is completely cribbed from Sandy’s post. She did such a good job, I only had to edit it a bit. 😉 Thanks, Sandy.
BDSI Giveaway #2
To help you with the time zone math–starting at midnight at Sandy’s house means that BDSI starts at:
7:00 p.m. Dec. 25 in Honolulu (PST)
9:00 p.m. Dec. 25 in San Francisco (PST)
5:00 a.m. Dec 26 in London
6:00 a.m. Dec 26 in Berlin
2:00 p.m. Dec 26 in Tokyo
4:00 p.m. Dec 26 in Sydney
And, Sandy says, “24 hours is 24 hours no matter where on the globe you’re standing. So, for some of you, BDSI will be ending on December 27th. And that’s OK with me.” We on the West Coast will get an extra 3 or 5 hours, though fat lot of good it will do those of us visiting the rellies or sleeping.
Boxing Day Sew-In will officially end again at midnight EST–as soon as December 26 ends at Sandy’s house (frigid North) –24 hours of fun! Giveaway winners will be announced on December 27th.
Sandy writes “(Thanks to The World Clock time zone converter at www.timeanddate.com, ’cause I sure can’t do that math myself!)” I added San Francisco and Honolulu, because SF is a very important city and who doesn’t love Hawaii?
Follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #BDSI. Even if you do not have a Twitter account, you can go to Tweetchat, enter the #BDSI hashtag and follow the tweets. People have already been tweeting.
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Now to the fun stuff:
I think I am going to continue to work on the Stepping Stones. I have boatloads of Half Square Triangles (HSTs) to make. I have been using the Triangle Technique, but would like to try Katie’s fish technique again. I have done it before, but it has been awhile. The site where she found the Fish ‘template’ does not have a template for the size of HSTs I need and I don’t want to take the time to make one. Perhaps for another project.
I also received some pizza fabric with which I want to make some pillow cases for the Young Man. My mom made him a Food Quilt (yes, he will end up with two eventually) with a pizza border, so I thought some pizza fabric pillowcases would be a nice addition. We’ll see if I get to that. Perhaps in between HSTs.
I also have the G block for the A-B-C Challenge to make
I could do anything on the 26 Projects list and make progress, so the ‘future is wide open’ as that song says.
I have pillowcases planned for the nieces as well.
Never a dull quiltmaking moment around here!
Hope you enjoy BDSI! Look for the Block-a-Long block tomorrow.
