I'm in love...

There's a new line of fabric in my life. It first crossed my path when I saw the upcoming Quiltworks BOM. I liked the quilt pattern but didn't really NOTICE the print until a week or so ago. Since then, I've fallen hard.

After a hard search, I have some in my hot little hands. I found a jelly roll on Etsy and it arrived today.


It's called Architextures, designed by Carolyn Friedlander. Of course, I love the architectural elements, but even more so, it reminds me of the old textures we used to use in graphic design—Formatt, Chartpak, Letraset, and prestype—and all the old art board mechanicals we did in the dark ages, before computers/desktop publishing. Nostalgia!

The new BOM program does not start until April, and I haven't yet committed. Instead of standard piecing techniques, it uses paper piecing and I wouldn't mind learning more about that. When I first saw this quilt pattern, before I really looked at the fabric print, I was thinking about designing my own using this as a theme. Mine would have representations of homes in which I've lived over the years. I sketched out a couple and think it's all doable. So, do I buy their BOM and do it their way; customize it; or buy the fabric on my own and do my own thing?

Right now there appears to be a scarcity of this line fabric. Quiltworks is getting theirs in soon and says they're getting extra bolts to accommodate backing yardages. What shall I do? Ah, decisions, decisions.

Christmas was...

It's been so long since I posted any creations, I really don't know where to start. I'm picking a couple of random items I made within a few days of each other. (Turns out I'm making a few shorter posts in near succession.)

New rug & grand puppy

I promised my son Matt's girlfriend, Ariel, I would make her a fabric bowl. I'd had a couple of ideas along the way, but didn't get around to it until just before Christmas which worked out great because she got a new area rug for her living room and those new colors inspired this new bowl.

Taking nothing from my other bowls made to date, I think this is my favorite. This one reminds me of a raku-style pot. I was always going to use the slate blues, and maybe some browns, but the pop of mixed colors the rug suggested really made this one stand out. Shown below are swatches of the three fabrics used to make the bowl. The third one (round discs of color) are from a collection I've recently discovered and absolutely love. It's from Moda and is called Juggling Summer from Zen Chic.

Then here comes Christmas. I was invited to Ariel's mom/step-dad's house in Tulsa for their family gathering. I wanted to make a hostess gift for her mom. I was still desperate for an option the night before and asked a friend of mine who happened to be on Facebook overnight. She suggested I make one of her Task-It™ Baskets. I'd bought the pattern a few months ago and have already made a few of them. After a little hemming and hawing, it wound up being a great idea. Martha also told me that a box of Keurig 18-count K-cups fits perfectly in it. Bazinga—perfect hostess gift. I hated parting with these two wonderful fabrics, but I guess that makes the gift all the more special. (And, I replaced the fabric a few days later, of course.)

And then there were a couple of Christmas ornaments. Years ago, as a child, I had a little felt mitten into which Santa would leave a dollar bill each year. I am not quite sure what's happened to that mitten, but I was feeling sentimental about it and decided to create a new one. This started me on my quest for BETTER felt. What's readily available in sheets at Hobby Lobby is pretty pitiful. This particular felt was not their standard white, but a thicker version with glitter. (I've got a whole post about felt coming soon.) Apparently Santa has become pragmatic over the years. I got a note from him this year saying only little girls under 13 still get dollars, but he's held on to my last 'Little Girl Dollar' since 1969, and with interest (complete with CPI inflation calculator data), I got $5.93 (rounded up to $6.00). 

And then there were the Froebel Stars (Fröbelstern). A friend in our D'art group showed these to us just before Christmas. They are part of her German heritage and she'd made and boxed dozens of the beautiful ornaments to accompany the Christmas cards she sent out this year. I was immediately taken by them and came home and started folding some. I found the easiest material to use was gift wrap ribbon. It provides long, consistent widths. I first tried cutting strips of scrapbook paper but had mixed results. The star on the left is the traditional 3D version. On the right is a modified '2D' version that can be mailed flat. It loses something in the flattening, but is still interesting.

Fabric bowls...

Two fabrics + 80 feet of clothesline = Fabric Bowl

We were invited to a friend's 50th birthday celebration. I knew I wanted to make Leesa something, but what? As it worked out, I was able to wrap each of the two fabrics two ways which gave me a four-level range of gradation. When I purchased the fabric, I was thinking of mimicking a zebra pattern. I knew, a few rounds in to the base, it probably wasn't going to succeed. But I kept on, lightening the black/white balance until the top four rounds which were my darkest tone.

Made from 2011 BOM Batiks

A few days later (I think that was last night) I started my own bowl. Months ago when I was working on my BOM batik quilt, I saved .5-inch wide strips intending to make a fabric bowl someday. This was also before I took the class. From the background color fabrics, I cut the supplied 3-inch wide strips down to 2.5 inches. I started with the dark tones, worked into the middle and light tones, and finished with more dark strips.

Paper piping ready to be wrapped

Instead of using clothesline, I tried out some paper piping cord. I bought this stuff decades ago when I was sewing spa and makeup bags from vinyl-laminated fabric—it was c.1988-1991. One thing I really liked about using this piping is that it is on a spool so unwinds easily with no tangling or twisting. I LIKE. I worked directly from the spool; wrapped the cord at the sewing machine; then stitched a bit and wrapped some more. I like the shape of this one—a little curvy and a turned down lip. Got this one done mid-afternoon.

More Giardiniera

I've been wanting to make something special for a young friend of mine from the same fabric as my Lemon Pepper Poppy Quilt. I cut mostly .75-inch strips from the remnants and arranged them into a pattern I liked. This wound up being another bowl with a 6-inch base (as were the two previous ones above) with a slightly turned under lip. I loved it for her! And she loved it, too!

I've got a couple more bowls to make for friends and family while I'm still in the bowl-building groove.

from The Gourmet Yarn Co.

Two weeks ago, I took a class at The Gourmet Yarn Co. on knitting the Spectra Scarf designed by Stephen West. Owner Margaret Schroeder taught the class. It was a sluggish start but after two hours, we all got the hang of it. I've been working on it off and on and am pretty pleased so far. The only part I didn't like was finding a mistake I couldn't live with 70 rows back. Yup. A big part of knitting is fixing mistakes. I'm getting better at it. I pulled the 70 rows; managed to get all the stitches back on my needles; and am now back about where I was before. I've learned a couple of things through this project. First, I've been purling incorrectly for years. I was throwing my yarn the wrong direction and twisting my loops. Ugh. And two, with long sessions of knitting, I've much improved my hand positioning/use and cut down of lots of extra repetitive motion. I am only about 25% done, so there's lots to do. It takes a certain kind of faith/folly to knit in the summer on 113˚ days while dreaming of cooler temps down the road.

Tosh Merino Light (Ruby Slippers) and Crazy Zauberball

I fell in love with this scarf when I first saw it on TGYC's Facebook page in a near-Cherokee Red and blues/gray variegated yarns. They were out of the red when I bought my supplies, so I chose a plum and orange/taupe/gray/purple variegated yarns. I still think I'd like to do a red one that will remind me of Fallingwater's tower of windows.

Two years later...

Back in July 2010, before I gave serious thought to ever making a quilt, I came across this quilt when I was merely fabric shopping at Oklahoma Quiltworks. I was in the midst of becoming enamored with poppies. This was one of two quilts I fell in love with. Only recently has its colors reminded me of Italian giardiniera—simply lovely pickled vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, and peppers. Did I mention I loved bright greens and oranges together? I bought fat (22" x 18") and linear (44" x 9") quarters of each of the fabrics with the idea of making little fabric yo-yo discs, but with no final project in mind. Those pieces became the beginning of my now-sizable fabric/fat quarters stash.

Fast forward a bit. I came across a pretty little quilt pattern called Lemon Pepper from Madison Cottage Design. What attracted me to the pattern was that it was made of fat quarters, and I have lots of those on hand. I made the crib size one, with a bit of variation. It called for 35 blocks (five across by seven down), but I made 36 blocks and arranged them six-by-six. That total helped me mathematically as well. Oddly enough, I did NOT build this in Photoshop first. That said, it meant I organized the fabrics differently.

The instructions for this quilt were not exact. It said 'mix it up.' Random order? How does one make order so it appears random? That took my brain on quite the hamster wheel ride. Each block contains nine fabrics. Nine. Like Sudoko. I can find a solved Sudoko puzzle and assign each fabric a color number and arrange them accordingly. Ouch. It started out as a good idea but wound up searing my brain. So I ranked the fabrics and noted/classified the nine as three greens, three reds, and three grays. I let the greens dominate the order. Oh, did I mention in this strip quilt, each row is made of three widths of strips. Sorting strips to make the 36 blocks was another short course in random order. 1-2-3, 2-3-1, 3-1-2, 3-2-1, 2-1-3, and 1-2-3. It made sense to me. Once I arranged each three-strip, nine-piece block, I knew I didn't want them jostled. I got the idea to lay each block's components within a 'page' of a filing sorter—31 plus 12 slots (below).

I got it all pieced together and wound up taking the top with me to Prairie Quilt where I'd gone for a demonstration, but I hadn't really thought about what I wanted to use for a backing. Loved the demo on hexagon piecing. (I absolutely love the folks at Prairie Quilt! If I ever need to buy another sewing machine, I'll get a Pfaff from them!) The demo was upstairs which is also where they display their sale fabric. And from across the room, my eyes lasered in on the same orange lantern pod fabric used on the front! Okay, to have a real appreciation for this amazing find, consider this: I found this two years later, in a completely different shop, AND on sale for 30% off! Divine providence for sure!

The last trial for this quilt was in the quilting. I still have not gotten comfortable with free-motion sewing. It's kind of like 'random order'—very foreign in feel and uncomfortable to do. But maybe I could build up some muscle memory and power through it. So I did. I used my Bertie's BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) to stagger, swirl, stutter, loop and curl my way over my quilt's surface. I told a friend it looked like I had Tourette syndrome spasms—and I probably inappropriately cussed a few times, too! Sigh. I finished up the binding and now it's done! Haven't a clue what I'll do with it, but think I will use some of the left over strip pieces for some gifts. I glad to have another project done, especially because it goes back to the beginning of this fabric journey of mine.

Almost done...

Stars Over Bali Skies BOM complete quilt top

Yippie! Hurrah! Hallalejer! My BOM quilt is almost done! I finished the November block and added the border for December. Next, I need to purchase/prep backing, then send it out to be quilted together. Add binding, and DONE! An aside from last month, that troublesome block was really no trouble at all. Maybe I still have the luck of a novice and didn't have the sense to be scared of it! Gonna lay off BOM's for awhile (this one lasted 10 months) and see whatever sewing mischief I can find for myself! I am thinking about taking a class on making fabric bowls; finding projects using a few dozen of those hundreds of fat quarters (which I've recently reorganized! [see below]) I've collected; and dabble in this-n-that.

From Simple Gifts Artists Sale

I've been having quite a time with the Zipper Bracelets I made for the Simple Gifts Market last month. In addition to selling quite a few to friends and customers, I sold over 30 to Blue Seven, a specialty gift and clothing store. That was pretty exciting. I haven't decided if I'm going to continue making them or change 'em up a bit. I've got all sorts of tools and supplies so think I'll be playing 'jewelry' in the future, too.

I finally got tired of my fat quarters collection being only 'kinda' organized. I dumped out each of the boxes, re-color-coded them, organized them as images on my iPad, then refilled the boxes. Ahh, Fabric Peace. Yes, this is how my brain works. Scary, I know.

Mostly fat quarters—three boxes plus batiks!

Eloise, aka Ellie

Checked out the Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar today down at the fairgrounds. I pretty much got what I went for, an adorable sock monkey from Fried Okra, aka Adrian Mix. I was especially tickled to find a 'just perfect' little sock monkey for a little one coming into the world in a few short weeks. But this one is mine. She is Eloise, but I'm gonna call her Ellie. I absolutely love her dots and stripes (dashes?). Maybe her last name is Morse. And that big, cheesy grin—what a girl! She's already got a built-in sock monkey family here and they welcomed her with open arms. I'll get a picture of the whole gang posted next time. I also picked up some wonderfully fragrant handmade soaps. I'm a sucker for a good scent!

I've almost completed my first year of quilting. It's been a fun and productive time—new sewing machine, lots of fabric. And while the BOM is my magnum opus, I've enjoyed all the other smaller projects, mostly for other, especially the baby quilts.

C'mon 2012! Whatcha got for me?

A dozen roses...

Several months ago, my friend Denise, shared a photo of a some bedding she wanted to buy, along with a pretty decorative pillow that completed the ensemble. It's a very pretty grouping from Target.
At the time, I believe they'd just upsized to king-size which presented a perfect shopportunity! Good girl! About one month ago, she approached me about making some fabric roses that would match to go around two bedside table lamps. We visited, I took photos, and I got a better idea of what she wanted. I even got to take the pillow with me!

Shopping for matching color for roses and perhaps, for curtains

Right after that, I went to the Hancock Fabrics down the street to get some ideas. Apparently I was so entranced, that I did not realize they were closing soon (half the lights going out didn't nudge my awareness meter a bit) until I saw them locking the door after another group of shoppers left. I was thinking it was getting kinda hard to see the color matches with the dimmed lighting—did they not pay their light bill? Apparently those were not the only dim bulbs in the store. Duh on me—they close at 6 p.m. on Saturday! I took pictures of matching and complementing fabric and apologetically left the store. They were very kind and said they wouldn't have kicked me out until they'd finished vacuuming. By the way, it's difficult getting this color to photograph consistently, but trust me, they really were close matches!

The option that excited me most was one that resembled mattress/pillow ticking fabric. Even though Denise also liked the ticking, she still opted for the matching solid option. I used 3.5" x selvage-to-selvage width strips; sewed them into tubes with long basting stitches; turned them inside out; pressed crisply along seam and opposite edge; folded each; stuffed the 'stem' in an upside-down drink carrier until I was ready to hand-stitch through each to hold together; and then ironed on a interfacing circle on the back to cover the stitching.

As I was about half finished, I had the feeling I wanted to store/give them in an interesting container. My brain, working like the conveyor contraption at the dry cleaners, creaked, clicked and clacked until it came up with 'hey, there's that Braum's cookie package that's almost empty!' Ah, ha, I have to get rid of that last peanut butter cookie—big sacrifice for a friend and all. So, just a little while ago, I dropped off to Denise her dozen roses—actually a baker's dozen! She loved them, but maybe was a little disappointed there was no cookie hiding at the bottom.

This past Tuesday, I attended my first class at Oklahoma Quiltworks. I learned how to do paper piecing. It's a piecing technique that is incredibly precise in creating/aligning points, but required my brain to limber up far earlier in the day than I'd normally try. I liked the process. I loved the results. Shifting my paradigm of approach will take some time. I can see it being very practical in some applications but not necessary or desirable for all. Debbie Aldridge taught a fun and informative class! And get this, we were so spellbound by the instruction, none of us pounced on the snacks (a three-flavor danish ring from Panera and some mini-muffins) until after the class was over!

My other in-progress piece is a baby quilt for a lovely little lady who joined the world on the 17th of this month. These are some of the pieces. (More details in posting to come.) After a little hit-and-miss, I am to the point of pinning together the quilt sandwich. I hope to have it ready to deliver next week. Can't wait to see that precious little girl, Cairo!

Block of the Month Quilt...April...

Maple Star Block

Let's see—the opposite of procrastination must be obsession. That's my overdrive mode when that new packet of fabric and instructions hit my hungry little hands. I started this journey in March. This month there were only two basic block patterns—Maple Star and Milky Way.

I had Milky Way in March's blocks, but this month's was a little different—the three Milky Way blocks overlap. I am still not quite sure if the object of the exercise was to blend or differentiate the pattern. The three colors are distinct enough but when butted next to each other, some distinction fades.

In March, I showed you a photo of a completed quilt—objective in 8-10 months. (I'm still not sure if this is a 10- or 12-month program. I've seen conflicting information.) This time I wanted to give you a slight glimpse of March's finished panel, along with April's panel in the foreground.

Basic Block Layout

The manner in which the instructions are written and fabrics are supplied provides specific directions/fabric for the pattern blocks, but the backgrounds are completely free form. I do very little spontaneously, so it's not surprising that I started filling the backgrounds with carefully arranged, rotated, and repeated strips of four different combinations of six different fabrics each. When I needed to fill larger, smaller, shorter, or longer areas, I added or removed individual 2.5 x 2.5-inch squares to fit. The instructions provide basic graphic explanations, but I like expanding on them. I use Adobe Photoshop to plan out the whole project—in color, with grids, and cutting information. It helps me walk through the project and anticipate most possible concerns/challenges.

Bali Pops batiks framed in orange and blue

Since finishing on March's blocks/panel, I've been working on another quilt top. Several months ago I bought a Bali Pops pack of 40 brightly colored (Mangoes & Margaritas collection) batiks—2.5 x 42-inch strips. I considered different 'strip' patterns but eased myself into panels of finished two-inch squares. Shortly after purchasing the pack, I decided I must arrange all 40 strips into color spectrum order. Done. Then what? Okay—25 squares in each block; first block colors 1–25; second block; colors 6-30, then 1–5 at the end; third block, colors 11–35, then...etc. To not make it look so predictable, I serpentined the order of the colors and rotated the blocks to create a bit of visual chaos from just too much mathematical order. Don't believe me? I can show you the Excel spreadsheet I used to plan it. Yep, that's so totally...ME! I have only completed the top. I have more batiks in purple and yellow-gold to patch together for the back (in a much simpler pattern and fewer pieces). And it will get a vibrant lime green binding around the edge. Tom kind of adopted my first quilt and uses it for naps in the TV room. This one will be mine for pretty much the same purpose. So, do you think I'll be able to sleep under all that color?

Strip away the color and you're left with value

One thing I've been trying to explore is the importance color value. I've bought red and green filters to aid in this. Yeah, they work but I wanted something easier. This week I discovered I can use the digital camera on my phone (which has a black-and-white photo option) to not only take photos, but preview in grayscale. WOW! Compare the two photos of the same subject and you can see how different color values pop or recede. As I get more involved in designing my own quilts or choosing colors for others' patterns, I know this will be an excellent tool.

Now that I've got all this piecing out of the way, need to move on to some other projects. Stay tuned! I'll be posting illustrated instructions for making the pet food bags soon!

PS—Speaking of tools, I welcomed the arrival of a new sewing machine into my home last week! I've been perfectly content with my c.1975 Lady Kenmore free-arm machine for the past few decades. My mother had bought it new for herself in hopes of updating from a decades-old Singer Featherweight. She never really liked the new machine and never got the knack of threading it. My first sewing machine was also a Kenmore, but a bit farther down the line, features-wise. I think I got it in early high school. When she gave me hers (late 1980's?), mine retired and went off to a friend. So, welcome Bernina Aurora 440 QE. I'll have more about this a little later. I plan on naming her (another Gwen-inspired notion) but think the name 'Bernice' has already been taken.

The Project Girl Fat Quarter Giveaway...

Hey friends, friendly passersby, blog surfers, etc....I wanted to let you know the The Project Girl is offering an awesome fabric giveaway on her website. Jen Allyson is a great designer of scrapbook papers and has outdone herself with this new fabric line, Quite Contrary. For every 100 comments she receives, she will give away ONE full set of 21 fat quarters (up to FOUR sets). Get on the horn...spread the word. Visit her website and see what all the commotion is about and leave a comment...the more comments she receives, the more she gives away!

Spread the word....I know I wanna win!