another paper pieced project

Paper piecing can be addictive.  Having done a few pieces in the past year, my comfort level has increased.  However...there comes a time when you think is it worth the time to do all the intricate steps.

When I was looking at the Fandominstitches website with the Sherlock Holmes patterns, Elise saw one for Ariel the mermaid that she wanted.  I told her that would make a good mug rug and she agreed. Here's their picture of her:

I took my time and got through almost all of her, except the eyelashes.  They looked so tedious.  I made an executive decision and decided to embroider her lashes instead, and really think it was an excellent move.  Here's my version:

There is a little mistake in it where I missed one little triangle of flesh color, but Elise likes it and I do too.   She took it home to use because she said they didn't have any mug rugs at home.  This one came out about 10"x10".

And in case you're interested, see my new area rug that she's on?  I decided it was time to switch out so I got it this past weekend.

The second prompt for my art journal has been posted.  It is "Somewhere, a Simple Place".  I've got one or two ideas floating around in my head, we'll see what I come up with.  In the meantime, the journal will hold more than just the prompts.  Last week I worked on a collage while Elise was painting, and the collage made it into the journal. 

Okay, that's it for now.  I hope to be back before the next prompt is up to show what I came up with.
 

December happenings

I think I mentioned earlier that I was keeping my eyes open for a chenille spread for the twin bed.  I originally thought I wanted a lavender or purple, but had a hard time finding one.  Let's face it, not that many places sell chenille spreads anymore, it's pretty much comforters.  I found one at a garage sale that I thought might work, even though it was queen size.  In my excitement of finding it, and the bright sun, I thought it was lavender...turns out it was a blue.  No problem, my friend Linda was glad to take it. 

Then I got the bright idea to look on Ebay.  Lo and behold, there were chenille spreads!  Granted, you can only go by the pictures and what the seller has to say.  But as I thought about it, being previously owned was not a problem for me.  The bed is in the toy room anyway, and won't get everyday use.  And even if it gets dirty, it can go in the washer.  I decided on a white one, which the picture showed to be in pretty good shape.  The seller disclosed it has a couple of pulls on the tufts.  For $10 plus shipping, I decided to give it a try.   It shipped immediately, I washed and dried it upon its arrival, and here it is.  Not bad at all.

Getting into the last days before Christmas, I've visited a few stores here and there.  Last year just a few days before Christmas I bought my Kitchen Aid mixer.  This year, I happened to see something that I've kind of been needing, and just splurged and bought it.  I'm glad I was able to help the economy.  :)   It's almost sad when there's nothing you really need, but little things give me pleasure.

My friend Linda and I finished the t-shirt quilt for a mutual friend.  I'm really pleased with how it came out, and she liked it too.  I asked her to let us know what her son thinks of it.

When I bought my little Janome sewing machine a few years ago, it was because my Singer had been giving me problems.  The Singer has since been sitting in a closet.  A few weeks ago I decided to get it serviced.  After having  it serviced, I decided to sew a project on it.  Well....it didn't take long to realize my Janome is my preferred machine, and the Singer will remain a back-up.  I admit it, I've gotten spoiled to choosing the needle-down position, and to having an automatic needle threader!

That's all for now.  I plan on being back before Christmas, but if I'm not,  Merry Christmas to all.

October stuff

About a year ago I had bought a new iron.  Seems like I may have dropped the one it was replacing, can't remember.  I don't think I had it a month, and I made the mistake of putting it on felt.  What a mess!   I tried to clean it, to no avail.  It was so bad that I just bought another  new iron.  However, I just couldn't see tossing the scorched one, so I put it back in my closet in its original box with its original booklet.  After all, I hadn't had it very long.

Then yesterday Lisa and Linda were over working on a quilting project, and Lisa accidentally ironed on something that attached itself to the iron.  Linda suggested putting some table salt on waxed paper, and iron it to help removed the scorch.  Sure enough, it worked.

Seeing how well Linda's method of salt and waxed paper worked yesterday, today I pulled the iron out of the closet and gave it a try.  Can't say it worked very well, maybe a bit.  I looked on line, and found a method of using heated white vinegar.  Nothing to lose, I tried it.  Might have gotten a few particles off.  Then I figured I definitely had nothing to lose, so I dipped an SOS pad in the warm vinegar, and started scrubbing.  It came off!  

Happy days, now I have two good irons!   Its good to have friends come to the rescue, isn't it?

In recent news, Elizabeth celebrated another birthday.  Beautiful little girl, beautiful woman, beautiful person.  

 I host Bunco next month, and we always have an option of giving a booby prize...oops, guess I should be politically correct and say a consolation prize...for the person with the least wins.  Its hard to find items that specifically say Bunco, and I've told Party City they could make some serious sales if they would start carrying Bunco party stuff, but they haven't listened to me.  So I just made my own Bunco mug rug.  Pretty cute if I do say so myself...and I do.  :)

 Guess that's it for now.  Have a good week and safe Halloween...

mug rug, strings, and Christmas

Well, I've been a bit busier these days on my quilting.  But first, I need to show the mug rug I received from the Country Fair Mug Rug swap last month.  Really cute, and City Sandie did a fine job.  :)  She was also nice enough to tuck in a little extra...a western book marker, and a quilt pattern.  There are some really nice ladies on the HGTV quilting and needlework forum.

Lately I've been in a mode of wanting to use up some of my stash.  I've got a bag that I've been tossing strings into for a few years now, and its bulging.  Strings are strips of fabric left from other projects, or maybe even cut on purpose, usually from 1-2.5" wide, and various lengths.  I've been wanting to try a quilt-as-you-go quilt, and started out with blocks that were 12.5" square.  My original thought was to make it 3 or 4 squares wide by 4 or 5 squares long, and add borders.  This was my original layout, before I had all squares complete.  I could see it wasn't going to be big enough to do quite what I wanted.

So I expanded to the idea of 24 squares, making it 4x6 squares.  Then I ran into a design opportunity.  I didn't have enough of the fabric for the blue center strip, so I decided to work with some of the blocks having a burgundy center strip, allowing a design to show up.  I also added in another blue fabric for some of the center stripes, and scattered them through so it looked planned.

You'll notice the burgundy in the 4 center squares, and also in the four corners.  They're not sewn together at this point, because I'll be quilting each square individually before joining. 

Here's some of the squares that are quilted.  The blocks with one color in each square are the back side, and of course the strips are the front.  I'm just doing simple quilting on it since I'm not comfortable with free motion quilting.  A lot of people stitch in the ditch along each strip. but I really didn't want to mess with that much stitching.

I hope by this next weekend to start joining them, and getting the border prepared.  Oh, and remember I said the blocks were initially 12.5" square?  Now they're 11.5".  Funny how that works out, isn't it?  Little glitches here and there as I learn what I'm doing called for a modification.   No biggee.  My strings, my quilt.

I have another string in progress, but this one jumped out in the lead.  I hope next time I'm back to bring you up to speed on the other one.  

Before getting the string quilts started, I made a Christmas tree skirt.  It's not quite in the league with the one I made Angela and Robert, and I really don't want it to be.  That one was pretty special to me.  However, I like this one too, partly because I used some of my Christmas fabric stash.  As I put in some angel squares, that particular piece of fabric had a little note attached that it was purchased in the mid-90's, 1994 or '96 if I remember right.  Where's it going to go?  I don't know yet.  I don't put up a tree anymore, but I'm thinking it might make a nice gift to someone one of these days.  A lady on the HGTV forum gives tree skirts for wedding gifts.  I'm thinking that might be a possibility.  Or I may just use it as a little table topper.

  The pic with no borders might show up a little sharper.   Don't know yet how I'll quilt it, possible just a cross-hatch.

Guess that's it for now.  Have a good week!

another mug rug swapped

This month over on the HGTV message boards there was another mug rug swap.  The theme for this one was country fairs.

I had several things in mind when I embroidered the 1^st place ribbon, and started off with the idea of a crazy quilt pattern to get in chickens, cows, horses, fruit/vegetables, sewing, and cooking…whew!  As you can imagine, that was just too busy looking for me to be able to pull off on a little mug rug.  Instead, I just looked at my western gal, and pictured her big win in the rodeo. 

I have to say that fairs are near and dear to my heart.  My dad was one of four year-round employees at the Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival in Lancaster, California.  Yes, I was raised in southern California.  In fact, his job as the maintenance man provided us with a house on the fairgrounds, so I grew up playing among the barns, grandstand arena, and even learned to drive a car on the streets of the fair.  Later on, I worked in the office 3 or 4 summers while going to school.  Can you picture all the little entrant cards for every pie, cake, jar of jelly, and who knows what else…all typed by hand because we didn’t have computers back in the late 60’s.  That was part of my job. 

As a youngster, I followed in my sisters’ footsteps, and entered a Chocolate Vinegar Cake in the junior division.  I was so proud of that first place ribbon.   From what I understand, it’s also known as a depression cake.  Whether because the original instructions call for making three depressions in the dry ingredients to add the wet ingredients, or because it didn’t use eggs and is inexpensive to make, your guess is as good as mine.   This recipe actually makes a small cake, maybe one layer or an 8x8x2” square pan.  It’s moist too.  (Now I just mix in a bowl and put in cake pan, but this was the original version)

Chocolate Vinegar Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sift dry ingredients into ungreased 8x8x2” pan

1 ½ cup flour

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp cocoa

½ tsp salt

Make 3 depressions with spoon in dry ingredients, and add these:

1 tsp vanilla                1 Tbsp white vinegar              6 Tbsp melted butter

Pour 1 cup water over all, stir together until well mixed.

Bake 30-35 minutes

Note:  batter will be thin

 In other news, Robert had a birthday this past week.  I think he was about 2 or 3 in this picture.  Time just keeps flying by!  I went over and stayed with the kids while he and Angela went to dinner.  I took my camera, but we got busy with "projects" and I didn't get any pictures taken...darn.

 Elise was over the other night and we made some cookies.  She's turning into quite the little helper.  :)

That's it for now.  Have a good week!

quilting, game-ing, and me

The baby shower for my friend's daughter Cara was yesterday, so now I can show the quilt I made.  I had made a quilt for Cara's first baby about 8 years ago, and I understand she wagged it around for years.  I can only hope this little one will like his as well as his big sister liked hers.

And here's the back side.

For a closer look, you can see I took the little characters on the front and added to the back.

It was a fun little quilt to make.  I've not had a lot of experience with fmq-ing (free motion quilting), so I did a cross-hatch quilting on it, going in diagonal lines across the quilt in both directions about 3 inches apart.  I was pleased with how it came out.  

In other news, this has been a relaxing summer.  One thing I enjoy is an "occasional" game on my computer.  :)   One of the games is Chuzzle, and I like that it has a Zen mode that just allows you to play without a lot of obstacles in it.  I'll play for awhile, then move on to something else, and when I return my score picks up where it left off.  Well.....I hit 1,000,000 points recently!  I don't know how long this particular game has been going on, months I'm sure, but now I'm working on two million. 

I've also managed to play catch-up on some taking-care-of-me chores this month.  I've been to the dermatologist and had a few spots frozen off, had my routine mammogram and colonoscopy, and a well-checkup with the related blood workup.  I'm happy to say that everything is fine.  Well, I've not heard on the mammogram yet, but should in the next few days.  I figure there's nothing critical or they would have reached me by now.  So, by getting this all done I was able to mark off a big check on my to-do list. 

That's it for now.   Have a good week!

birthdays and gnomes, oh my

July is rolling right along, isn't it?

Lily's birthday was this past week, and she had a roller skating party to commemorate turning 11 years old.  Needless to say, a good time was had by all.  Its been years since I've been to a roller rink.  It was nice to see the little supports like you see that Ashlynn has in front of her.  While Elise and cousins Cage and Echo couldn't quite maneuver it real well, it was a big hit with several of the kids who were still new to roller skating.

I participated in another mug rug swap this month, and the theme was "In the Garden".  I had in mind to find fabric with gnomes on it, but no luck.  However, in my search this pattern for a paper pieced gnome kept popping up.  I've done very little paper piecing, but decided to give it a try.   Here's the pattern's picture:

I was really pleased with how it came out.  In fact, I had to make another one so I could have one too!  

These little guys have different hats, beards, and bindings, otherwise they're pretty much the same.  Not knowing quite how to choose which one to part with I put them in a sack and pulled one out.  My swap partner got the white bearded gnome, and I've kept the gray bearded fellow.  I used a batik for the background, and really like the shaded look.  It sets the tone for being in the underbelly of the garden, don't you think?

I liked the paper piecing so much I can see more of it in the near future.  First though, I have a baby quilt to complete for an upcoming shower.  You'll see pictures of it in 2 or 3 weeks.

That's it for now.  Have fun summer days...

off to a good start

Ah, 2013 is moving right along.  I've been doing  a bit of sewing here and there.

While I was in the journal-making mode, I came across some fabric with dachshunds, and immediately thought of Virgil and Brenda since they have one.  After I got the fabric home, I noticed that alternate rows of the dogs running across were upside down.  That didn't really thrill me, so I cut out the strips with them right side up, sewed them together, and proceeded from there.  It came out cute, and only after mailing it did I pick up on something I hadn't intended...2 identical rows are next to each other.  Ah well, it's still cute, and they seemed to like it.

In December I signed up for a mug rug swap over on the HGTV quilting and sewing forum.  I was drawn to this swap because it was one-on-one, meaning I didn't have to make a bunch of things, just one item for one particular person.   I was matched up with EvelynB, a very talented lady here in Texas.  This was an initial mug rug swap, so I was to use her initial "E" and work up something from there.  Some use embroidery or applique and/or objects that start with the letter.  I deviated a bit, and used it as a monogram with the mug rug itself telling a little about her.  I appliqued the E, and kind of crazy quilted a rug depicting her and her husband as young retirees having fun and enjoying life, and items to represent her children as well as her sewing hobby.  The backing reflects Texax Tech as her alma mater.

While looking at EvelynB's posts to get an idea of what she might like, I came across a posting showing a tree skirt pattern with boots that she designed.  I'd been looking for something I liked to make for Robert and Angela, and her skirt with boots is just right. She graciously gave her permission to use her design, so thank you Evelyn!  Here's her picture from the HGTV boards.  Since they have a size limitation, it's definitely small but you can get a good idea of what it looks like. 

Here are three of my boot blocks.  5 more to go, and then I can work in the rest of the design.  Sorry about the small picture, I'm having problems downloading pics from my canera into the computer, so this is a phone picture.

Okay, guess that's it for now.  Maybe it won't take me another 2 or 3 weeks to get back and show you my progress.  :)

let the sewing begin!

Such an exciting day!  Emma and I had our first sewing session together!

We took a few minutes to get familiar with her sewing machine.  She had sewn a bit on it before this, but was glad for a refresher course.  We adjusted the tension to get a nice stitch on both sides of her fabric, and then she sewed several rows of stitching to get comfortable with guiding the fabric through.  For an 8-year old girl, sewing can be an intimidating process, but she was so willing to get right at it.  

She happened to have a UFO (unfinished object) in the form of a doll quilt she had started previously, but was not able to finish.  This worked out really well, because she already had the squares cut for the one remaining row.  Emma laid them out in an order she liked, and stitched them together.  Once the row was completed and ironed, she attached it to the other two rows.

I helped her with another pressing to keep it nice and neat, then we added a backing to it.  I cut the backing, and she did the stitching and pulled it right side out.  Another pressing, and I helped her stitch the opening closed.   She and her mom liked the idea of a tie quilt, so I showed her how to tie it off with embroidery floss, though we could have used yarn.  I left her with the homework assignment of finishing  the tying off and making the bed for her doll!

Great job Emma.  I enjoyed our lesson.  I see great things ahead.  :)

In other news, Halloween has now come and gone.  Here are three of my favorite little trick-or-treaters.

the making of Flying High

Well, the Scraps to Treasure challenge for 2012 has officially come to an end, so I'm free to post about my entry, Flying High.   As you recall, everyone was given the same sets of 6" squares, and we were allowed to add a certain number of squares and fat quarters from our stash, with the challenge to create a quilt.

It all started last winter as I was trying to come up with ideas for the 2012 challenge.  I thought about a few options, and this one evolved from thinking about things that fly.  Flags, birds, planes...those were the obvious.  I wanted to take a bit of a whimsical turn, and came up with flying turtles, getting a chance to look down on their surroundings.  I thought, even if they could only be 12" off the ground, it would be high for them.  :)    Here's the first sketch.

Its important to have an idea in mind because when you send in your initial squares for the exchange, you're allowed extra of that fabric to use.  Knowing I'm looking at sky, even without a totally firm idea in mind, I went with three blues.  We were only required to send 2 squares for each, but by sending in an extra square, I gained an extra bit of blue to use.  I took a couple of pics of my fabrics, but they didn't come out the best.  Instead, here are the fabrics each of us started out with, and I'll try to put an arrow on mine...though it's rather obvious when you look at the final quilt.  :)

So I received my squares somewhere around the end of April.  Plenty of time to finalize my thoughts, put it together, and be totally at ease in the process.  Yeah well, that is unless you procrastinate like I did.  By mid-August I had about decided to forget about it, my muse wasn't speaking to me about quilting.  Then Labor Day weekend rolled around and I decided to jump on it and see what I could do. I gathered together my sketches, laid out the squares, and just started pulling them together and sewing.  First were the turtles and their parachutes.  One turtle or two?  Same size or different?  High or low?  Greens worked well for the landscape the turtles were flying over, with a couple of teal blues thrown in for a lake.  Browns and tans across the bottom gave an interpretation of the road of life.  Not always smooth, a few bumpy spots and unexpected pot holes.  I also decided some mountains might be a nice touch, so I pieced them together.  Going with the Flying High title, some flying geese were an obvious choice, and the pinwheels were fun. 

Since we were able to add a designated number of extra squares from our own stash (only 1 6" square of any given print), I pulled out an eagle and fussy cut him for the corner.  As it was coming together, I thought it still needed something.  My bathroom rug caught my eye, and in an aha moment, the idea for a row of houses came together.

A square of dragonflies made its way into the bottom left corner.  Those dragonflies eventually were used for the backing and binding.

Of course there was a bit of frog stitching going on (rip it, rip it), but by the end of the weekend the top was pretty well stitched together, and by the next weekend I had it sandwiched and ready to quilt.

Flying High didn't come out in the top ten this year, there was some pretty strong competition.  Yes, I admit I'm a tad disappointed, but in the end its all about enjoying the process and being happy with the result.  So in that regard, yes, it's a winner.  :)

blowin' in the wind

As I've mentioned, recently I've been trying to finish a few of my ufo's.  I started piecing what I call Blowin' in the Wind around 2005 or so, maybe a year later.    I had originally come across this picture of a raffle quilt that Hill 'n Hollow Quilt Guild had posted on line, a group in northern Arkansas.  It really resonated with me, and I couldn't get it out of my mind.  Sorry, I don't know the name of the original creator of the pattern to give proper credit.  I don't think this picture shows Mr. Wind up in the left hand corner, blowing the leaves around, but he is what really captured my attention.

I looked for a pattern similar to what the guild used, and I found a leaf block in one of Jennifer Chiaverini's books.  I used different autumn flavored fabrics, and there were several days of taking the stem blocks to work so I could applique the stems in place on my lunch hour.  I decided not to go with a bed size quilt, rather a smaller version.  Mine finished out at about 45" x 49"

Wah-lah!   Another UFO completed!