Yes, I worked really hard over the weekend and finished the top!
I also finished the back and binding, so the piece is ready to go to Colleen. Yay!
I started playing around with colors in 2012, so this quilt has been hanging around for longer than I thought. Those first tests were a lot different than what this quilt turned out to be. I am pretty pleased with the colors, though the darker turquoises do stand out. At least they are evenly spaced.
I have another group of fabrics destined for this pattern. Regardless of whether I actually use those fabrics for n.3 remains to be seen, but I don’t think I am quite done with this pattern yet. I’ll need a different border. This one is fine, but not for a second quilt.
Finally, I can show you the third and final Sew Together Bag. My SIL n.3’s birthday is today and I already gave her the bag. She is not a quiltmaker, but I am sure she will use it for something.
Sew Together Bag for SIL #3
I am really pleased with how this one came out. I think it looks really great. I am tempted to keep it. I won’t, though.
With this STB, I have made a total of 7 Sew Together Bags. I am not sure I will make any more, though there is talk in the guild about making more for gifts. And the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club has a project that looks suspiciously like the Sew Together Bag. Sigh.
FYI: To see the All Rolled Up Tote, you can take a peek on the Organizer Club site or on Craftsy, as it is the design of someone who is not the Crafty Gemini and available there for purchase. If you want the video tutorial, Crafty Gemini is your best hope. I haven’t made it yet, so I can’t give you anymore details.
Anyway, I am taking a break from Sew Together Bags for awhile. I may be completely done. We’ll see.
Beth’s Sew Together Bag
I really like the yellow binding on this one. SIL #4 likes yellow so I distinguished this one from the other Cal version with yellow binding and more yellow fabric.
I included another fussy cut pincushion as well as a variety of blue and gold zippers.
As a reminder, I used the Quilt Barn Sew Along Tutorials to clarify points around making these bags. These posts are critical to my success with this project.
In the course of putting away fabric and other supplies from the Stepping Stones n.2 project, I came across some rich looking prints that I didn’t think I would use in a quilt, but would make a great donation quilt. One was an Anna Griffin print from the Bailey line (or perhaps the name of the print was Bailey?). The other had a kind of scrollwork design on it. Both had kind of a blood red background.
Ends Donation Top n.5
I thought these prints would not only go well together, but also with the ends of the Triple Star. Happy to distract myself from tidying, I started in on a new Ends top. I finished the top last night and will make a back soon.
I realized that I don’t talk much about ripping out stitching. I do it all the time and this week was no exception.
Stepping Stones n.2 – 1 seam left
I have been eager to finish the Stepping Stones n.2 top as it has been on my design wall for too long. In my rush, I put a block together wrong and then put it in the quilt. With one seam to go to finish the top, I had to rip out a bunch of seams. Yes, I had to. I looked at the quilt for a long time time, trying to decide if I could live with the mistake. I didn’t want to rip when I was so close to finishing, but I just couldn’t live with the problem.
Stepping Stones n.2 – 1 seam left + error
The look is almost right, but if the viewer looks hard, there is a disruption in the pattern. Also, all of a sudden two like fabrics were placed together, which I really worked hard to avoid all through the piecing process.
I am sure you can’t avoid the big circle, but refer back to the photo above to see the problem. Look down and to the left one row to the see the duplicate fabrics (not circled.
Stepping Stones n.2 – lower right hand corner – ripped
Yep. I ripped. I thought I would just take out one row from one block and sew it back in. I ended up taking part a good portion of the lower right hand corner. The photo with the arrow is before I ripped out some other pieces.
I am in the process of sewing the bottom back together and finishing the top.
“Artist Marcel Duchamp believed that his work wasn’t finished until it was seen by people–that the viewing completed the work” (pg.113).
This is an interesting quote and it makes me think. I always show my quilts, at least to the guild, before they go wherever their final destination ends up. As much as possible, I try to show them in shows. I like to win, but I am not daunted by not winning.
Once my quilt Spiky Stars won Judge’s Choice at the Marin Needle Arts Guild show (now defunct). I was VERY excited and stood unobtrusively near my quilt for quite awhile listening to people talk about it. Not all of the comments were nice, but the ones that were warmed my heart.
Ms. Bloomston advocates selling work via a ‘lemonade stand’ and by that she means a low entry overhead venue such as a local craft fair or farmers’ market. She also mentions online retail. I am not interested in making much of an effort to sell my work. I have had offers, but they have been laughably low and not worth me not having the quilt. I make quilts for the pleasure of making them.
Carrie also mentions sharing via social media. I think this is important, but I think live viewings are more important. I do both, as you know. Use social media for yourself. Don’t expect the world to flock to your site or account. If they do, it is an added bonus.
She give some tips for showing work as well, which is a nice bonus.
Go forth and share!
You can see the last post on this topic from a few weeks ago.
Nota bene: we are working through Carrie Bloomston’s book, The Little Spark. Buy it. Support the artist. Play along. There is much more to each spark than what I am writing. The original chapters will help you. Go buy Carrie Bloomston’s book, so you get the full benefit of her fabulousness! You can see my book review, which is what started this flight of fancy.
Ruth gave out her sheet of instructions for her Color My Quilt at the last meeting and I got right down to business. I was going for sparks of color on a dark-ish background.
I may not be quite done with the piece. I wanted all the color contained so I am contemplating that plum/burgundy strip. I have a few weeks to decide.
Again, all of these were from my scrap pile or bins.
I talked about my entries a few weeks ago. Once I get to the fair, I like to go and look at my entries right away to see what I won, if anything.
Beth’s Paper Wreath
Planned Improv Quilt at the Fair
I got some prizes, but not many. Of my entries, two got prizes, the paper wreath which I expected and the Planned Improv quilt, which I did not. It is almost a guarantee I will not get a prize for a quilt, so i was thrilled to even get an Honorable Mention in any quilt category.
Flapper Apron
Zip Away Organizer – open
Cal shirt for Paul, Christmas 2017
Superheroine apron
I was sad that none of these projects got prizes. The Flapper apron is probably the most ordinary of all of the projects, but it does have a great shape and interesting construction. The others are all very creative, especially the fabric placement on the Cal Shirt and the way I created a corset look on the Superheroine apron. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I did well last year, so I can’t complain too much.
I have some quibbles with the categories. They don’t have a bag category and they should. There were a number of bags and the bags have to compete against everything in the sewn accessories-non garment category. My Zip Away organizer would have been better in a bag category.
I also think they need an apron category. There were a lot of aprons and mine would have done better it they weren’t competing against a tailored jacket.
I really worked hard on the shirt, especially finishing the inside seams with French seams, so it was letdown not to get any prizes at all for it. It will be interesting to see what they say.
SIL #2 cleaned up. She got four prizes including a first for her fabulous two-sided shell table runner. I did well last year; it was her turn this year.
It has been awhile since I made a pet bed, but the schnibble bag was getting too full.
The fabric is one of the last I got from Amanda, *I think*. I had to trim the gusset a little as I thought it was too long and made a long tunnel in the opening, which makes getting the schnibbles into the pet bed, without much on the floor, difficult.
I thought I had a lot of schnibbles, but the bed isn’t even half full. Refer to my post on having less time to sew. 😉
Christa Watson has a new pattern out called Stepping Stones. It looks like a reimagined Rail Fence to me, but who am I to say? I had to stop contemplating the names of blocks, however and get back to sewing.
Stepping Stones Border Block – Left Side
I try to make a CrockPot meal for Mondays so that we can come home, eat and I can go to Craft Night in a timely manner. Craft Night was at my house on Monday and the meal was over and done before I even needed to prepare the tea and all. I had about half an hour of time, so I raced up to my workroom and sewed! I didn’t have a lot of time over the weekend to sew, so this was a good way to scratch that itch for sewing.
Stepping Stones Border Block- Right Side
I wasn’t able to finish a lot, but every little bit helps. I had cut some fabric, so I could work on a couple of border blocks, which I did. These blocks will allow me to put together another row of the top.
The green and blue HSTs indicate the middle of the quilt and prove I am halfway finished with the top. I know you believe me, but sometimes I need to prove to myself I am making progress as slow as that progress might be.
Aside from cutting more pieces, which I have mentioned, I have to make a few more HSTs. I can’t actually see one corner of the quilt, because there is some stuff piled in front of it ( 🙁 , I know). Once I sew the latest row to the top, I’ll be able to pull the quilt up and really work on the bottom.
Progress might be painfully slow, but I am making progress. It would be really great to finish this top before July 7, but we will see.
I mentioned on Twitter (see sidebar if you want to follow me) that my Oliso had started to have problems. I could deal with them for awhile, but the poor thing just became exhausted and confused and I had to reach out for tech support. Tech support for an iron sounds weird, but I think that is what it is.
Oliso’s tech support is great. You get the same person each time (perhaps they have only one person and not a lot of problems?), which is important to me. I really dislike having to go through my problem each time I reply to a support ticket entry. Ryan, the tech person, told me how to reboot my iron (crazy, right?) to get it’s brain back in order and when that was not a long term solution, he worked with me to get the iron fixed.
Oliso irons have a warranty, but mine was old, so it wasn’t free. I think I have had the Oliso for 3 years. I know I bought it on MassDrop. Ryan, my new friend, didn’t care where I bought it, which was nice. I got a deal on the repair, but I think what happened is that they just sent me a new one. It is exactly the same as my old one and works great.
As you know I can’t sew without an iron. I have a Sunbeam as a backup and for DH to iron whatever he needs to iron. I used it as a test to determine if I needed a replacement Oliso or if I should go back to buying cheap irons. My iron strategy used to be to buy a cheap iron at Target whenever I had iron issues. Sometimes, my stepdad can fix the cheapies, but not always. The Sunbeam was fine, but having to sit it upright every time was a hassle. Yes, #firstworldproblem, I know. I like the stability of the Oliso always being in horizontal position. The iron sits on the ironing board next to the bathroom door, so there are a lot of opportunities for it to get knocked off. It has happened.
Still, the Oliso is pricey even at the reduced rate I got for the repair.
The horizontal position is, I realized, also good for my hands and wrists. That little bit of extra weight can make a difference if my hands are hurting me, whereas sliding the iron over to the units or fabrics is not completely weight free, there is little wrist flexing involved and every little bit helps.
I decided to pay the money and get the Oliso repaired. It is back in action. The Sunbeam is put away for stand-in duty in three years and everyone is happy.
I am not affiliated with Oliso. Just a happy customer.
I made really good progress over the weekend. I had only a few seams to sew in order to finish half of the quilt. The quilt is starting to look like something!
I have had to cut a lot of blues and greens for the border, so that is taking time, but at least I can do a few at a time in between everything else.
Looking at this half makes me think that I might have to work on another one of these. I would like to see the framework of the red diamonds more filled in. On the other hand, if I used more red, would the Sawtooth Stars (check the middle, right under the red square) show up? Perhaps fabric with less contrast? Red and pink or orange and yellow? I’ll have to play around.
I also need to work on the border of a new version. This border is ok, but not great. Not sure why, but it isn’t doing much for me.
As I have probably mentioned 300 times, I was super behind on the Color My Quilt project. I worked through the 5 I had to do methodically. I didn’t do anything crazy and was able to make some progress.
Leann’s Color My Quilt Shard – June 2018
Leeann had a landscape theme and I just copied the colors into a big chunk.
I am not sure if this is what she wanted, but it will work in some capacity. She can cut it up to fill in spaces, though I wonder if people actually feel ok about cutting up the shards?
I should have mentioned earlier in the week a reminder about the parameters of Color My Quilt. This project started last year with Karen’s idea. It is a guild challenge where one person per month volunteers to receive shards. The selected person provides a sheet with an idea, colors, poetry, a quote – basically some kind of inspiration to willing participants. The participants make a shard. It can be a block or a chunk of scraps in the right colors or almost anything. I think it is interesting to see what the chunks look like together. So far only one quilt has been made. I am curious to see if others get made.
I wasn’t sure what to do with Helen’s prompt. I thought about it and considered different options for a long time. Finally, I gave up and decided not to do it.
I think that was what I needed to do, because, shortly thereafter, I thought about ROYGBIV. I decided that making a long strip in color order would be the thing to do. It would fulfill Helen’s wish and it would be consistent with my effort to provide a different shape for people to work with.
I just pulled pieces out of my scrap bin and that seemed to work well.
