WIP Wednesday #36

Wednesday again. How does this happen with such frequency?

I have spent most of my available sewing time this week working on Farmer's Wife blocks (come back for Farmer's Wife Friday) and Snow Angels.Yesterday I mentioned some of my math problems in regard to Snow Angels. I thought I had the border all planned out but then things went in a totally different direction.

Right now you may be asking yourself this question:


How long did it take her to come up with such an inventive and creative border for this quilt??

You would be surprised. I had planned to use the leftover jellyroll strips on two sides, but it was just too busy, so they will become part of the back.

Then I auditioned a stack of fabric in different combinations. I thought about using a narrow red border to "stop the action" and then add about a 4" border of some of the prints.I even really liked the polka dots, particularly because it was not part of the line and added a little extra "something." But it was still too busy, and I wanted the circles to continue, not be stopped.

 So then I thought about how I wanted to quilt it. I want to use perle cotton in red, blue and two shades of pink, and maybe some white. I really like the circles created as a secondary design and want to emphasize that so my plan is to quilt 1/4" inside each grey piece. Then I decided I would like to finish off the illusion by carrying the quilting into the border. Kind of like this:

I didn't want to piece the solid grey borders, and that's how I ended up fussy cutting a cute little girl on a swing for each corner.

Does that make any sense? Have I thoroughly confused you? Awesome. My work is done.

So go see what everyone else has been working on this week.

WIP Wednesday: Minnesota edition

I just returned from a quilting retreat in Minnesota (details to follow tomorrow). It took me the better part of the retreat to get these nine blocks done. You would think I could have gotten more done in 2 1/2 days, but it goes a lot slower when you are working with templates and curved piecing at the same time you are laughing and talking. I managed to do some Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks too but I'll post those on Friday, and I finally started the Blockapalooza quilt-along (which incidentally has been finished for a long time...) and completed one block but I can't find it haven't unpacked yet.

So...this is it for this week, my Sherbet Pips flowering snowball quilt (taken directly from the suitcase, therefore explaining the wrinkles). I'm looking for another name and would welcome any suggestions.

No, it's not a big quilt. Yes, it would be nice if my design wall were a bit larger.

This is quite possibly my favorite block:

Or maybe this one:

Now go see what everyone else is up to. And come back tomorrow to find out what lessons I learned by going out of state to a fabulous quilt retreat.

WIP Wednesday: Supernova Starburst

I looked up the definition of supernova. There were several, but I liked the wording of this definition the best:
"the explosion of a star in which the star may reach a maximum intrinsic luminosity one billion times that of the sun."

I present to you Supernova Starburst:

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this quilt. The explosion of colors, the hot saturation in each block, the subtle luminosity. 

Most of my batik fabrics had been given to friends as it seems the "modern" quilt movement doesn't generally embrace batiks. But when I looked at the colors of Lee's blog button and my stash of batiks, I knew they were made for each other.

 I paired all those gorgeous fabrics with some cooling Kona solid grey to really make the colors pop.

I think all these triangles that were trimmed off will somewhat appear on the back of the quilt. They are much too pretty to toss.

I also have this stack of scraps. It isn't enough to make a Supernova quilt, but I'll send them to the first person who wants to give them a good home.

So that's what I've been working on in the last week. Now go see what everyone else has been doing.

WIP Wednesday #33: What I am and what I am not

What I am: a quilter. I love cutting fabric into little pieces and then sewing it all back together again.

(My second Supernova block--could have used a better pressing--sorry, Lee. I LOVE these blocks!)

What I am not: a bag lady.

That being said, the Amy Butler Weekender Bag is finally done. Finished. Complete. Never to be done again. At least not by me.

It looks like it is ready for a tropical vacation.

 I know I sure am ready for a vacation after making this bag.
Alternatively, I'll just take one of these.

(NOTE: I cut the tulip fabric straight. The crookedness at the bottom happened during the construction. At this point, I don't know how it happened, nor do I care. And it's not because I had ordered one of those special cafe mochas.)

What I love: The fabric. Jessica Jones' Outside Oslo is gorgeous. You can see the Weekender that her mother sewed here. She was my one-person texting support group throughout the whole process. Hers turned out perfectly. And here is why. She is not a quilter. She is a bag lady. In fact, she just finished this bag. See what I mean? She also knows who she is. Plus she has the perfect little model for her bag.

But I digress. I had one-yard cuts of the entire line (you can order from Marmalade Fabrics) so I ended up using four different fabrics--three for the outside and a different one for the lining.

What I wish I had done differently: other than not starting it in the first place (oops, did I really just say that?), I wish I had made the straps longer so I could use it as a shoulder bag.

I also wish I had done the piping differently. Rather than going to my dad's house and using his industrial sewing machine (he used to do upholstery), I would have used fusible interfacing to fuse the raw edges together, as someone suggested. Ultimately you end up with three lines of stitching, each one getting closer and closer to the cording. Because his machine sewed so closely to the cording itself the first time, it was really hard to cover up that stitching when I assembled the bag.

I previously posted pictures of binder clips needed to hold all the many layers together. Also be prepared for a pile of these totally misshapen pins.

The fun little "surprises" I added: In the picture on the front of the pattern, the bag has an Amy Butler tag. So I decided to do a little "branding" of my own. That's what selvages are for, right?

So, once again, just to be clear:

What I am: a quilter.
What I am not: a bag lady.

I think it's important to know these things about yourself.

Now go see what everyone else has accomplished this week!

WIP Wednesday: Caution--Curves Ahead

While the Weekender Bag and I are still maintaining our separate lives, I finally have a finished quilt top. After spending nearly three glorious days with my friends and my sewing machine, the Single Girl quilt top is completed. Do songs ever endlessly loop through your brain? The whole time I was sewing Single Girl, and including times during the night when I would wake up briefly, I could NOT get Beyonce's song, "All the Single Ladies," out of my head. Okay, Beyonce, I get it. The name of my quilt is "Put a Ring On It." I'm pretty happy with it. Um, both the name and the quilt top.

This was the view from my ironing station.

After all the curved piecing that SGQA entailed, I was kind of on a roll, and moved on to my 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee, the same block done in six different color schemes. Of course each block will be in the hands of a different person, but even with all the variations in colors, isn't the secondary circle design cool?

It's a little hard to see with the bottom right block because it's quite busy, going into a quilt for little boys, but I sure had a good time making this block

I'm planning on doing a Sherbet Pips quilt using this block. I got the block information from Mary at Molly Flanders. It's called Flowering Snowball. Thanks, Mary!

By then it was late Saturday night and I was tired of curves. So I started working on Supernova. Yes, just a bit behind on the schedule. I had changed my mind so many times on which fabric to use. Then I was staring at Lee's blog button, with all the hot hot hot colors against the cool grey.

I haven't sewn with batiks in ages. In fact, most of them have been given away. But for some reason, I had saved all the colors Lee used in the button.

 So here is my first block. I adore the block and can't stop staring at it. Worth the wait, I think!

Don't forget to see what everyone else has been working on this week!

WIP Wednesday: Dear AB Weekender Bag:

Dear Weekender Bag:


If you and I are to maintain a lasting relationship with each other, I think now would be a good time to take a little break from each other to evaluate our feelings. I don't know about you, but personally I'm feeling a little frustrated. You have forced me to bring new players into this relationship(Note: Have binder clips handy if you attempt this bag), and while they helped me deal with certain, um, "issues," I don't desire to have them around on any kind of regular basis because I just don't want to "go there" again, if you know what I mean.

I also find you to be rather demanding in monopolizing all my free time. I have other friends projects I would like to spend time with as well, not just you.

At this point, all I can say is that it's a good thing you have such a pleasing exterior, because otherwise, I would have no hope for any kind of continued friendship. I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but you have some inner demons that definitely need some therapy...and I'm not sure I'm the person for the job but I'll give it my best effort.

I'll call you when I'm ready to resume this relationship. In the meantime, I'm off to see what everyone else has been working on in the past week.

Sincerely,

Frustrated in Fresno

WIP Wednesday

Two things:
1. How could it possibly be Wednesday again already?
2. How could it possibly be June 1st?

Okay. Now that we have that out of the way.

I have spent most of my sewing time in the past week working on the Amy Butler Weekender bag. Progress thus far: all pieces cut, some pieces fused to interfacing, 5 yards of piping made, exterior pocket and handled sewn to the front and back of the bag:

I may have mentioned my abnormal fear of fusible interfacing--which really just stems from vague references in pattern instructions (example: heavyweight fusible interfacing) and then going to Joann's and seeing rows of interfacing behind the counter so I can't touch anything and do some comparisons.

Thank you to all pattern designers who give me more detailed information as to the actual product you are using. Fortunately Amy Butler's pattern listed the specifics. But then you come home with a few yards, along with yards and yards of information. I decided to get it all organized for future reference. First I wrote the brand/number on a small corner of the actual interfacing. Then I got some page protectors, cut out one set of the fusing instructions, taped it to a piece of paper, along with a sample of the front and back of the actual product. Voila.All these pages will go in my super-cute three-ring Orla Kiely binder that I picked up from Target a few months ago.

My next project involves a craft organizer bag from one of my new favorite books, 1-2-3 Sew by Ellen Luckett Baker. When the pattern called for "ultra heavyweight fusible interfacing," I could feel the prickles of uncertainty start again. Weird, I know, especially to those of you who fuse on a daily basis. So I emailed her for more specific information, and within a couple of hours I had my answer. Big sigh of relief...

By then I needed a break from the Weekender and thoughts of interfacing, so I started working on my blocks for the 3x6 Mini Block Exchange. I had already decided to do the Flowering Snowball block, a block with gentle curves that I first saw at Molly Flanders here.

Monday night I was about to turn the light off in my sewing room when I looked at the block again and thought, hmmmm, I wonder if you could sew jelly rolls strips together and cut the corner pieces out of that. Out came the Sherbet Pips.

Does this ever happen to you? You have a lot of projects you are already working on and then something pops into your head, you start working on it right away, and all those other projects get shoved down the list?

Oh, wait. What am I saying? Of course this happens to you. This is WIP Wednesday after all! So go here to see what everyone else is working on this week.