I had an hour on Monday and, still in cleaning mode, I needed to get that ‘C’ off of my desk. It was the bottom of the Leaning Tower of Paper Pisa and the Leaning Tower was not getting any more stable. It needed to go. I wanted it on the wall, so I just put it up. I didn’t look for a stud or make perfect other letters. I just did it.
Create Supplies
When I arrived home from work, I immediately went down to the computer with the printer and printed letters that I thought might be big enough to see. The font ended up being 700 pt! I did try 800 pt and 900 pt, but they were too big and I didn’t know how to center one letter on the paper.
Create in process
After printing one letter on each page, I cut the letters out and traced them on scrapbook paper.
This started a long time ago with a photo I saw via another member of the Creative Mom Podcast Circle and a photo that she posted. Then I saw more possibilities in Anna Maria Horner’s Handmade Baby book. I talked about it back in June or so. AMH’s are more fiber related. I haven’t done either, except take this first step. Immerhin.
Other ideas:
I may put some paper behind the letters to make them stand out a bit more at night. During the day I can see them well enough. At night, they kind of blend into the life sucking beige.
One could just print out letters on a sheet of paper and put them up on the wall as a stop gap measure.
One could print out letters on fabric and embellish.
I decided not to kill myself taking photos this year, so I browsed and took a few snaps. If you would like to see a few photos from the show, I have posted them on Flickr. I may post more, so you may want to go back to the set and look next week or this weekend.
The quilt posted is by Jim Haws and is one of the best I saw. Keep in mind I didn’t get to look at all the quilts. I saw a lot of autumn colored quilts, a number of quilts with complicated piecing, lots of special exhibits.
WOW! I have been lackidasical about almost everything lately and was shocked to see how many comments I have and haven’t read! WOW! Thanks everyone! Keep them coming.
Media
Mark Lipinski’s Fabric Trends Magazine: the latest issue has a cool website. I tried to buy the new issue, but only could find the previous edition from before Mark started working on it. I’ll have to go back and look again in the near future.
Mark also has a new radio show on Toginet called Creative Mojo with Mark Lipinski. It is on iTunes. Mark seems to be working hard on getting his name and cute mug out there! Call 877-864-4869 to call into the show. Eric Anderson answers the phone from Dallas.
I listened to the first episode on iTunes and thought the discussion with Tula Pink about her fabric designs being ripped off via Walmart was interesting, because of the social networking aspect.
Mark also talked with Dr. Eric Maisel. I started to read one of his books and just couldn’t get through it. I think he had good things to say, but I couldn’t read them. I think, perhaps, Maisel’s other book, Coaching the Artist Within, might be better. One thing that intrigued me was his mention of a purpose statement. He briefly talked about a multi-step process he coaches artists through to create a purpose statement. Hhhmmm. Remember my Purpose Journal? It is time to get that baby out and a purpose statement might be an interesting reason to really start on it.
I also listened to the second episode. I liked the section with Mary Beth Maziarz, but thought that he went on a bit too long about being a hoarder with his professional organizing guest, Amara Wylie.
I am marginally interested in the Urban Homegoods Swap. Not in actually doing it, but getting ideas from it. A La Mode blog has a post with a number of the projects. They are a great source of inspiration and filled with clever ideas.
From Eye Candy section of the Media Department comes this gorgeous blog post that is a series of wedding photos. Don’t know the bride or the groom; I know the person who made the quilts that covered the hay bales guests sat on during the service. I also like the idea of giving preserves as a wedding favor.
Year of the Quilt!
From the City Quilter (NYC) Newsletter comes this excitement: “AMERICAN MUSEUM OF FOLK ART BIG quilting things are in store for us in what the AMFA is calling the “Year of the Quilt”, starting with the opening on October 5th of an exhibition of 35 quilts which will take up 3 floors at the Museum’s main 53rd Street location. This exhibition runs through April 24, after which “Part 2” will open on May 10. SUPER STARS is a parallel exhibit taking place at the Museum’s Lincoln Square branch that explores the role of stars in quilts. This opens Nov. 16 and runs till Sept 25! So mark your calendars, this is the year to see quilts in New York City!”
If you are in or around or near NYC, get thee to the shows, because I want to hear about them!
Learning
Have you heard of Unclasses.org? No? Me neither until a few days ago. It looks like people can create online classes there. There are a number of sewing classes posted.
Apartment Therapy Color Wheel
I saw this color wheel on Apartment Therapy. You know what? I want a large framed version of it to hang in my workroom. I think it is so cool, especially with the colored pencil like texture. I also really like the huge variety of different colors.
Just Do It!
We hear that catch phrase all the time. Nike might have trademarked it, but it is everywhere. I recently read a blog post by Michael Nobbs who draws. He wrote about microworking and I love his theories on how microworking helps our creativity, especially in our busy lives. Michael Nobbs draws and draws my attention to other artists who use drawing as their medium. He put me on to Nina Johanssen from Sweden, who did a great coffee sketch last year that I love. Michael is right. A litte work all the time goes a long way.
Tupperware Freezer Mates
You can also help your creativity by being organized. I saw these great Freezer Mate storage containers from Tupperware when I was cruising their site. They are great for going to class kits and for organizing small things. I can also see them put to use for small projects you are taking to class, squares or other bits of fabric designated for a certain project or a multitude of thread. Perhaps they would be good for beads? I don’t know since I haven’t actually tried one out. I have a pink Tupperware box from the dark ages that I use for my class kit and it is great, because the lid never falls off. You can purchase them and help the preschool of my friend’s children by using this link. It’s 23½-cup capacity and $49.50 price tag are significant.
Tutorials
Have you see this interesting tote bag? It is called a Bagsket and Foofangel has a tutorial for making it. I first saw it on Linda M. Poole’s FB page, but she didnt’ have the link. I poked around and then someone found it, so I took a look. Linda made it with her Seahorse fabric collection and the bag is really cute.
I put up a page of tutorials that I have written. Check out the AQ tutorials page. It is under the AQ Info page.
Supplies
My iron died. I don’t think it is completely dead, but it was dead enough so I couldn’t
Black & Decker Classic Steam Iron
use it, which meant I couldn’t piece. I bought a new iron – a Black & Decker Classic Steam iron. I had been thinking of buying one and this was the perfect opportunity. It was a little over my normal iron budget ($20 or less), but I went for it.
UGH! I sincerely dislike this iron. There are a lot of good things about it. It has great heft. Wonderful steam. The bad part is that the thing does not glide over the fabric. Of course it doesn’t! The sole plate is not Teflon. UGH! I really didn’t like it, but felt like I was stuck with it until it died. I had already opened it and used it.
Machines are not my forte’. I can operate them, but I usually eschew knowing how they work. One day I was driving down the street and heard a clunk. When I stopped, I looked under the car and there was a piece hanging off of the exhaust system. Not in my plans for the day. I drove to my mechanic with my car making such a loud noise that I couldn’t hear the radio and had to endure the local homeless man, who hangs by the Methodist Church, pointing at me as I drove by (turnabout is fair play, I guess). My mechanic couldn’t fix it, but he wired the piece to the car and sent me to his colleague. I went. They said they could fix it and I should come back in half an hour. I was in a neighborhood full of fast food places, a computer repair shop, a notary/check casher/mortgage broker, a bank and a small Walgreen’s. Off I went to Walgreen’s. It doesn’t take a half an hour to peruse Walgreen’s, so I sloooowwwwllly walked up and down each aisle, carefully looking at each item. Finally, I came to a small housewares section.
Living Solutions Iron
Yes, I needed lightbulbs. Yes I needed an 18 foot extension cord in white and WOOHOO they had two irons. I looked at the two carefully and decided on the less featured filled Living Solutions model. I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and like it. It glides over the fabric, was less than $10, has steam and not auto shutoff. The lack of auto shutoff is a double edged sword. I need to make sure I unplug it EVERY time. It isn’t a GREAT iron, but it does the job.
I had a talk with my mom, who has been a drawing teacher in her past, about wanting to learn to improve my drawings. My dilemna is that I want to learn to improve my drawings and I don’t want to learn what normal drawing teachers want to teach me.
My Young Man made some comment and my mom (his grandma) said that I had always wanted to learn this way, that I wanted to get into a topic myself with minimal direction and then get specific help. She continued that she thought that is why I had always been bored in school.
I thought it was interesting to hear my mom’s take on my life, even a small slice, and to hear her having this discussion with my Young Man while I was sitting right there.
Anyway, she gave me some tips, which I will try out. She also said that she could see the improvement in my work, which turned out to be a much needed boost to my ego.
See the original prompt for more information about this project
Another quilt is finished. This one didn’t take very long, aside from the cutting, but it was a monster to deal with. The binding took me a long time. I probably spent 10 hours on the binding alone.
This is a gift for one of the nephews. Hope he likes it.
I finished the Frosted Stars blocks as I mentioned, so I was a bit at loose ends for what to do next. I am planning to go out of town so I didn’t want to unwrap the Jelly Roll, which is required in the next step of the Frosted Stars quilt project, until I had time to press all of the strips with Mary Ellen’s Best Press. As I mentioned, with the Zig Zaggy quilt, it makes the Moda strips much easier to handle.
I looked around the workroom, which needed to be tidied in a BIG way, and saw a few half done household and charity projects.
Perfect.
I got to work.
The first was one napkin from the four (or 6?) that I cut out at the end of July/beginning of August. I don’t like making cloth napkins, but I like using cloth napkins. I also like the fabrics, most of which I would use for quilts.
Anyway, I straight stitched around the two FQs and then proceeded to perform the most odious task of napkin making, which is to press the seams, so that when I turn it inside out the bottom fold is the same width as the top fold. It never works and for some reason this drives me crazy. It takes me forever to even get it to a point where I can stand to use the napkins. Once I get this part done, it is ok. I find it especially humorous that the one person in our house not old enough to drink loves the Martini napkin. Very entertaining.
Anyway, this napkin is done. I have a yard and a half of 3 different kitchen related fabrics that are waiting to be napkins. I can’t wait.
Merit Badges October 2010
The Court of Honor was on Friday and the Young Man was awarded 4 new merit badges. It took me forever to sew his last batch of merit badges on to his sash. In fact, I believe I did it the day of the Court of Honor. Since I was clearing off surfaces anyway, I sewed on the merit badges and resewed his troop numbers on. The handsewing I had done when he first joined the troop was coming undone and looked crappy.
He was awarded another 100 year special merit badge so I unsewed the one he had already received and sewed them on in such a way that they were symmetrical.
Anal, I know. I want them to look good, especially if I have to sew on all of these badges. Don’t get me started on my well developed and long rant about the BSA not having a sewing merit badge as an Eagle requirement. It is crazy to have a bunch of sewing that needs to be done and no merit badge to teach them how to do it. Another commentary for another day. I do need to remember to find some thread that matches the the shirt – a beigey color that I would never normally buy.
Million Pillowcase Challenge Pillowcase
After doing a bit of unearthing, I found the parts for another pillowcase, so I sewed that together as as well. As I was doing the French Seam (remember Twiddletails directions for the burrito pillowcase?), I started wondering if I could do a French seam on the gift bags I make. I really like those French seams and am glad I learned how to do them.
I had a piece of fabric purchased recently for a gift bag. I thought I could make it quickly, so it had been hanging on the arm of my chair for a month or more. Since I was finishing things up, I decided today was the day to get that fabric off the arm of my chair.
Ribbon Candy Gift Bag
I also decided it was the day to try a French seam on a gift bag. I am pleased with the way it came out.
French seam with Ribbon Tie
My one concern was the ribbon tie. I insert a piece (usually recycled cloth ribbon) into the seam and reinforce it. I didn’t want the French seam to mess up the ribbon. I need the ribbon to close the bag. I couldn’t quite imagine how it work in my mind, so I tried it out. The key turned out to be just keeping the ribbon out of the way of the needle and inserting it properly in the first place. Above is the inside of the bag after I sewed the second seam.
Inside/Outside of Gift Bag
Above is the bag with the right side facing out, but with the top folded back so you can see the French seam. I like the fact that there are no raw edges anymore. These bags get a work out even if it is just once a year and the French seam will make the ones with these seams last longer. You can also see how perfectly the ribbon comes out of the side. YAY!
This process kind of freshened up the process of making gift bags for me as well. I have a lot of Christmas fabrics needing to be made into gift bags, so perhaps I will do it now. I could make some for my SIL as a treat.
Here are the Frosted Star blocks. After all the drama of this project, I have finally completed a major hurdle.
The next task is to sew the border together. The border is made up of Jelly Roll strips. We’ll see how that goes. I probably need to get a Mary Ellen Best Press refill to get through all of those strips.
The thought of all of those strips makes me think that I am done with Jelly Rolls. Time will tell though. As I love to yell at the baseball players on the radio “it’s not over until it is over!”
The Upside Down 9 Patch Columns is suitable for 4, 5 or 6 fabrics. It uses the same pieces from last week’s block. I simply turned the middle column upside down before I sewed it together. I love doing things like that, because playing like that can make a completely different block.
Post your link to a completed block in the comments section.
The Block-a-Long will be on hiatus for awhile. Check back for its reappearance.
My Fabric of the Year 2009 project is finally done. DONE!!!
I was pretty sick of it when I quilted it back in April, so it took me awhile to get the facing on it and then the sleeve. Fortunately, the label is part of the back.
This is not the most spectacular photo, but it is better than nothing and, I hope, you can get the idea. I am thinking of hanging it in my office . I can get a better picture if I do that.
I find it really interesting how the colors fall as I press and cut. I do rearrange the diamonds on my design wall, but I generally just grab the next fabric, press and cut. Sometimes, I decide I don’t want to press one color or pattern just yet. They all have to be pressed, so I don’t do very much selective pressing.
I was amazed at this group, because of all the brown and orange that fell together AND it is the month of Hallowe’en.
Note from the Management: Please comment and let me know if you would like to see this project continue and why
Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.
The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.
Definition: A metamorphic rock formed by alteration of limestone or dolomite, often irregularly colored by impurities, and used especially in architecture and sculpture. A piece of this rock. A sculpture made from this rock.
I am pressing and cutting patching like a mad thing. I am progressing, but not fast enough. I have to keep at it. The edges are on my mind at the moment. I think I will buy Fast2Cut ruler from C&T and the diamond edge ruler from Creative Grids. I haven’t received any answers to my inquiries about whether they will work with the diamond ruler I already have, but have to get prepared to sew this quilt together in one weekend.
Here are four of the blocks I have made for my Frosted Stars project. There are a couple of things I found and a couple of things I decided.
I found that the red is not working. It is too intense for this project, so I am not going to include any other red in the blocks I have made six blocks so far, which is slightly less than half of what I need.
I also decided that I would use the turquoise primarily for the background triangles. I decided that I am going to include a couple of blocks with the silver for the background triangles. I am also going to include a couple of blocks with other blues. Perhaps I will include only one, perhaps more. I haven’t decided.
My next step is to cut a bunch of background squares so I can put more blocks together. I haven’t worked on these blocks since last weekend as I have either not been sewing, pressing and cutting diamonds or have been working on the Zig Zaggy back.
A few days ago Kathy posted the quilt below on her blog, Finishing Lines. I love the way she has matched the thread to the piecing. I like to do that as well, so the quilting is a design element, but doesn’t overwhelm the piecing. Check out Kathy’s blog for some really cool inspirational pieces.
