And I Thought I'd Need a Class

Dude, I am totally rocking paper piecing, thanks to Crafty Gemini's tutorial.

A Holiday Finish: Hannukiah Mini Quilt

My Hannukiah mini quilt is complete and it's still Hannukah! Score!

There was a minor disaster to overcome when pressing the binding prior to stitching it to the back of the quilt. I say minor now, but at the time it was catastrophic. You see, my iron sputted RUST onto the pristine white of the quilt. I kid you not. I was using the steam function and upon lifting the iron found not one, not two, but three rust spots. I was livid! I called my mom for advice and then headed to google for answers. Sir Google advised me to soak the fabric in lemon juice and then let it dry in the sun. I soaked it in lemon juice but I wasn't willing to wait 24 hours and hope for a sunny day (plus wouldn't it freeze on my balcony? It's winter!). After rinsing, the rust remained so I diluted some bleach, dabbed at the spots and I am happy to report success. Phew!  I know the bleach degrades the fabric but what other option did I have?! Plus, this is a wall hanging and won't see a lot of wear and tear so I think it will be okay in the long run.

Needless to say, I bought a new iron today. It's a Rowenta travel iron that got excellent reviews from quilters online. So far, so good.

I also ran into trouble with the binding. I'm lazy and therefore have opted to sew the binding on my machine for both of the quilts I have made to date. I have decided that I will probably be happier with my end product if I stitch the back of my binding by hand going forward. I ended up having to do a bit of hand stitching on this quilt in places where stitching in the ditch on the front didn't catch the back binding and while it's onerous, it does look nice.

I am also unhappy with my mitered corners. I'm not exactly sure where I went wrong here, but they are not beautiful. I briefly considered redoing the binding entirely, but that feels like too much work, plus I'm don't have any leftover green fabric so if anything went awry when ripping it out I'd be toast. Besides, I'm probably the only person who will be bothered by the less than perfect corners (I hope!).

 

Crap, Crap and also Crap

After much deliberation, I finally settled on a new blog name. Recall that I seriously dislike the name of this blog.  So, today I tried to set up my new blog on blogger and...my plan was foiled. Someone it already using the name!  And they haven't posted in three months which sucks because, hey, if you're going to have MY blog address you better damn well use it!  

My options now are too a) come up with a new name, b) use the same name but modify the address somewhat, c) use a different platform like wordpress or tumblr, or d) keep using this blog address and name.

I don't like any of these options. 

Hrumph.

Diving In Head First

I took the plunge tonight and quilted my Hannukiah mini quilt! I am so proud of myself. Quilting specifically, and sewing in general, has been such a wonderful addition to my life. I am continuously challenging myself with new techniques and every time I try something for the first time I feel so empowered. I would never have guessed that handiwork, of all things, would be empowering.

A few observations on free motion quilting. First, it is hard on the body. You need to keep your speed consistent, both in terms of the speed of the stitching and the speed you are moving the fabric under the needle. I found that leg got restless and tight (similar to how you feel after driving long distances) and my shoulders were a tad sore although I think that's because I was so tense (I was trying to get it just right). I also wonder if my meandering pattern was too tight, meaning, perhaps I over-quilted and should have spaced things out a bit.

I really want to find time tomorrow to do the binding, but I'm having some difficulty deciding which fabric to use. Hopefully something will come to me as I sleep.

WIP Wednesday: Crafternoon Tea Edition

Okay, we didn't actually drink tea, but I spent a wonderful afternoon with one of my favorite people, the lovely Sara of Sweet & Crunchy. Sara has a real, honest to goodness craft room (so jealous!) and has given me an open invitation to craft it up with her anytime. So today I loaded my sewing machine, a bag of fabric and a quinoa salad for lunch into a Zipcar, left Levi with the babysitter and headed on over. 

Sara whipped up an adorable kippah for her son. And she did it without a pattern! With a sleeping baby attached to her! She rocks!

I worked on the special secret project that I mentioned yesterday, which isn't actually a secret. I don't know why I said it was. I suck at secrets. Also, I want to share pictures but it's not done yet and I don't want to wait. So. I am making a mini quilt in honour of Hannukah! I realize this is totally hypocritical of me, having recently complained about Christmas Crafts taking over all my favourite blogs. I have no excuse or explanation other than to say that I came across a Hannukiah quilt block online and immediately thought how great it would look with a few modifications. I decided to use white as my background fabric and instead of doing scrappy candles, I would do them in rainbow colours, and only the shamash would be scrappy. After auditioning a number of prints, I decided on the fabrics below.

Unfortunately, I'd decided on seven colours instead of eight. Silly me! I added a red strip which was really for the best, because a rainbow needs red.  I spent last night cutting out all the pieces so that when I arrived at Sara's I was all set to sew, sew, sew.

I was able to chain piece the flames. I love chain piecing! It makes me feel so efficient.  Here is the finished block:

Obviously, the mini quilt is not yet completed. I am going to use the green fabric as the backing and I'm still on the fence about which fabric to use as binding. I'm leaning towards the pink one. Any suggestions?

I am planning to try free motion quilting on this project. I've never done this before so I watched several youtube video tutorials this afternoon and this evening I started practicing. 

Free motion quilting is not easy. I want to do a simple meandering pattern. I'm not sure how long I need to practice before I'll feel ready to tackle this mini quilt. I'll probably just try another few swatches and then go for it. I'm wild and crazy like that.

WIP status report
Wonky Log Cabin Placemats - one block to go
Levi's Growth Chart - still need to embroider his height, but otherwise complete
Levi's Bed Quilt - on hold until I settle on a pattern
Farmer's Wife QAL - book has been ordered
Add-a-Border Swap - one block is done, plan to finish one more before sending out

So, what have you been working on?

PS - I'm too tired to edit, please excuse typos, missed words, etc. thx!

Fabric Frenzy

When I checked my mail today I had a delightful surprise. My fabric from HoneyBeeHumble had arrived!

I ordered an Alphabet panel from American Jane for Moda to use as the back of the quilt I'm making for Levi. You know, the one I'm having so much trouble deciding on a layout for? My most recent plan is to scrap  the Sugar Baby pattern altogether and use my Punctuation strips to make a Stacked Coin Quilt of some type.  The other two fabrics pictured are also from American Jane and are Pin Dot Mustard and Pin Dot Black Hat.

Levi and I also took a trip to The Workroom today to pick up some fabric for a special secret project I'm working on tonight and tomorrow. I don't want to give it away yet, but can to show you the FQ's I picked up.

From bottom to top: Modern Workshop, Oliver + S for Moda (I used the yellow/orange colourway as the backing for my Watch Me Grow Chart which reminds me - I was supposed to blog about finishing it in more detail.  Oops!I've just realized I); Outfoxed, Jewels in Purple; 1001 Peeps, Peeps Towers in Purple; Outfoxed, Jewels in Deep Purple; Outfoxed, Hedgehogs in Deep Purple; Kona Snow; Origins by BasicGrey, Graph Paper Kelp; 1001 Peeps, Peeps Scheherazade in Turquoise.  Huh. I guess I really love Lizzy House!

And last but certainly not least, I bought a charm pack of Flora. I hope to use this as the jumping off point for a QAL Bee Blocks and practice blocks.

Oh wait! I bought something else today. Two books. First, The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt: 55 Letters and the 111 Blocks they Inspired. Karyn of The Workroom is hosting a QAL which I plan to join.  I may use the Flora charms for these squares.  The other book I picked up is Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers. I'm still hoping to get into a Bee based on this book.

Okay, enough procrastinating! I am off to start cutting fabric for my top secret project.

It's a First, and it is ADORABLE

One aspect of quilting that really intrigues me is its communal nature. Knitting and crocheting are solitary endeavors. You can knit with others simultaneously (and I have at many Stitch n Bitches), but you rarely work with others on a singular project. Quilts, on the other hand, are often made by many people. And it turns out that the internet has enabled communal quilting to flourish. There are tons of quilt bees online and I WANT IN! Flickr seems to be the hub of activity so I have spent the last few days searching for a bee to join.

I have found two contenders. The first is a year long bee with twelve members, with each member assigned a specific month. Every member creates a photo mosaic that shows their chosen colour scheme and style.  When it's your month, you pick a quilt block (this particular bee is using the book Modern Bee Blocks which looks awesome) and all of the other members make that block using fabric from their stash. Once they are done everyone mails their block to you and ta da! You have enough blocks for a quilt. This type of bee (i.e., these guidelines) is fairly standard. I'm currently waiting to find out if I have gotten in to this particular group as they might already be full.

The second bee is not really a bee. It's a swap, which are also extremely popular in the online quilting community. In this swap, you make a 6 inch quilt block and send it to the bee coordinator. He sends it on to another member who adds a 3 inch border and sends it back to him. It then goes out to another member who adds another border, and so on, until the block reaches 24 inches.

I created my first 6 inch block ever tonight and the plan is to send it to the the Add a Border block swap once I finish one more block. That said, it's not totally perfect. It is, however, totally adorable and I'm not sure I can part with it!  I used Gen X Quilters Charmed Star Block tutorial to make this block and just for fun, I photo-documented my process.

My first step was to audition fabrics. I knew I planned to fussy cut a hedgehog from the Lizzy House Outfoxed fabric on the left. The question was, which hedgehog?

 

I was having trouble visualizing the size of the square I needed to cut so I used a bit of electrical tape on my ruler. Doing so also helped me centre my hog.

Next step: cutting. The block in the tutorial is only 4.5 inches square. That, my friends, is tiny (my wonky log cabins are 12.5 inches).

I tried really hard to make sure my cuts were accurate. In most areas of my life I move very very quickly. So quickly that I am constantly bruising my elbows and knees from running into furniture. My handwriting is messy. I break dishes. I spill everything. But, at work, I'm extremely efficient and generally finish ahead of deadline! Yes, yes, I would benefit from slowing down, but alas, I am who I am.  Suffice it to say, cutting 1 5/8 inch squares took serious concentration. Not to mention piecing these suckers! Yikes! I was really worried that my block was going to end up either too big or too small (spoiler: too big!).

The photo above is my first attempt at the flying geese part of piecing the block (apologies for it being so dark). I screwed it up.  Do you see my mistake? Yup, the direction of the print on the left triangle is wrong. I thought about leaving it as is.  It could be fun and quirky! But no. I am anal when it comes to my crafting. I had to redo it.

Chain piecing more flying geese. My first time chain piecing.  Woohoo!

Had I been aiming to complete the block as instructed in the tutorial, I would be done!  I would also be annoyed, because my block measured 4.75 inches, not 4.5 inches. I did consider ripping the top row and reattaching it because it looks like my seam allowance was too big (anal!) and ate the bottom of my triangles, but I chose not to (progress!).

The swap calls for 6 inch blocks so I needed to add a border. I think the border finishes the block off nicely.

And there you have it folks, my first bee block. What fun! I think this might be addictive.

P.S. It's allllmost Tuesday so I'll be linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.