Friday Finish: Witch Hazel's Medicine Cabinet, I Spy and some Fat Quarter Loot!

The first Halloween project of 2014 is done.  BAM. 

 

Also, the I Spy quilt came back from Frances...dinos on the back!

Aaaaand these lovelies I won from Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday drawing a few weeks ago - a 10 piece fat quarter bundle from Bobbie Lou's Fabric Factory arrived today.  Thanks again to Lee at Freshly Pieced and Chelsea at Bobbie Lou's!

 

Friday Finish: I Spy Quilt

Okay, so maybe I finished this on Monday.  I'm trying to be diligent about these link party things, so it's a Friday Finish.  From Monday.

Let me preface this by saying (in general and for my mother's benefit): No, I don't have kids.  No, I'm not pregnant.  No, I don't want kids right now.  No, kids are not in my near future, and no, you don't need to ask me if I think I might be "waiting a little too long for kids." 

But I do love kids quilts.  Kids get all the super awesome fun fabric because apparently grown ups can't like super awesome fun stuff anymore.  And, that super awesome fun stuff did not exist yet when I was a kid...the fabric industry just wasn't there yet back in the late 80s/early 90s.

WHERE WAS THIS FABRIC WHEN I WAS A KID?!  IT HAS THEIR CORRECT NAMES ON IT FOR KIDS TO LEARN!

Ahem. It's stuff like this that makes me like kids fabric now.  This is awesome and mark my words, I will find it and I will buy it and it will be for me and not some kid.  That's the bonus of not having kids.  I get to keep the kickass dino fabric for me and it won't get drooled on (much). 

Annnnyway.  So I made up a sample of an I-Spy quilt I've had my eye on (haha...see what I did there...fine, fine I'm done), which means I got to root through the kids fabric for cool things for the littles to hunt for while they're in the shop.  

I liked this one so much because the pattern was really different.  It's like peeking through a key hole at all the I-Spy prints. 

Here are a few of my favorites (the blocks haven't been trimmed yet, I promise they aren't that wonky for real):

And here's a few of the finished product.  26" x 39"...not as large as I'd hoped it would be when I started and didn't read the size on the cover of the pattern (I know, I know):

 

Now off to quilting!

One Bajillion Blue

I thought I had already taken pictures of, and posted this....but I didn't!  So Sam (click her name to check out her blog, Diary of a Mad Fabriholic), this one's for you!

I used one single block (I know, I had 100 to choose from and I only chose one, lol) from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

This wonderful book that I need to make more blocks from

I chose Number 77, because I thought it would be neat to make a larger block from 4 of these blocks.

I wanted to alternate lights and darks to get an optical illusion...And I needed to get rid of blue scraps.  So I chose 50 light blues, and 50 dark blues and when to town.  There are only 100 different blues here, but after all that picking, and cutting, and piecing, and pinning, and pressing, and assembling....it might as well have been one bajillion.  Hence, one bajillion blue.  

 

Right now the quilt is on display in the shop as a sample for the book.  The walls are pretty high (very tall ceiling) so from down here I know the picture isn't all that great....but you get the idea :-)  And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you....it does lack a binding. 

"Finished" Quilt: Fern Gully

This gorgeous fern fabric has been sitting around forever and I just don't know why.

Monaco by Dena Designs (Free Spirit)

What's not to like?  I guess for some the seafoam and lime green color combo could be off-putting I suppose.  Or maybe the large scale print is difficult to decide what to do with?  It reminds me of the the movie Fern Gully.  Probably because it's giant ferns, and you know, FERN Gully...but whatever.

The original Avatar.  

 

And obviously Batty was the best. This still cracks me up.  Yes, I am actually, literally "lol-ing" at this.  Still.

Aaaaanyway....I digress.  Thank god for the Villa Rosa $2 postcard patterns.  I love those little things!  Mom may be addicted to the mini charms, but I love these little patterns.  The quilts range in size, the instructions are clear and concise and they are perfect for scraps and large scale prints alike. 

So I did one.  

I just got it back from Frances (quilter) and I'll be on binding duty soon.

Snow Day, Sew Day - Psychedelic Turd

Salem has called a "chains or snow tires only" day, so that means we're homebound for now.  9" total with a change of freezing rain later! So other than sew, what do you do?

 Snow angels 

Now, before anyone says anything about the name of the quilt, it was inspired by this song...and if you mishear the "Psychadelic Furs" lyric the way I did when I heard it for the first time, and once you see the quilt, you'll understand why.

Behind the Music - The Vandals

I can't remember which pattern this came from (so hey, if anyone recognizes the pattern...), because I started this 4-5 years ago too, but I was way too into this bright fabric and it's a little overpowering, but weirdly I still like it.

Here is what I started with.  NO idea why two sides have a black border and the other two don't, but whatever.  I wasn't planning on taking it apart to put new black pieces on (I don't have the original fabric anyhow).  But seriously...talk about wonky!  It was warped from ironing when I should have pressed, and my quarter inch seams were iffy at best.  But it held together just fine so I kept it as is.

All I did was finish the pink borders (originally only the top and bottom pieces were attached) and add the green one.  I figured how could it get any brighter and any more garish?  It's a psychedelic turd...how does that saying go?  If you paint a turd gold, it's still a turd? Something like that.  Well, either way, it's fitting. (And I can hear a handful of y'all from all the way over here..."how many more times is this girl going to say 'turd'?" Probably a few more times.  It's a little funny.)

Another one for the "ready to quilt, someday" pile.

Snow Day, Snow Day - Honduran Twist

Looks like the valley is in for it today.  It started kind of snowing yesterday, but it continued overnight and the roads were a little slick this morning.  I didn't think it was bad enough to not go in to work, so I did, but some 2:30 it was getting pretty bad.  Let's just say this afternoon, my usual 15 minute drive back home took about 45 minutes (I can drive in snow fairly well, since I had to learn straight away when I got my license, but I don't have 4 wheel drive).  I got to the shop just fine but it was coming down hard enough and the roads were getting bad enough that we decided to close up shop and get home. 

About 6", with more supposedly to come.

So, what to do with a snow day?  Turn it into a "Sew Day!" I know, that's terrible, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, it is time to get some old projects together and finish them. 

Nothing shows you the progress you've made than going through old, unfinished projects.  This one was a clusterbomb.  I haven't worked on this one in maybe 4-5 years. This is the pattern I was working on:

Twisty and cute! So I opened the box and found twelve finished partial seam blocks. (That's a lime green, by the way, not a heinous looking yellow)

...and then I found a bunch of these weird chopped off pieces in both the blue and green.

 I guess I must have miscut a bunch of these, got frustrated and put it away.  Your guess is as good as mine.  At this point, it was a lot of very carefully piecing these odd little square-triangles.

What I DID learn in finishing these blocks, is that 4-5 years ago I did NOT understand the difference between "ironing my blocks" and "pressing my blocks."  Holy warpage, Batman!  Some of them were warped enough from the ironing that I couldn't trim them straight enough, and I didn't have enough of any of the fabrics to redo them.  Lessons learned!  



Another lesson learned?  Color choice.  If I had to do this quilt again, I wouldn't have gone with that green.  LOVE the blue...but not so wild about that green at this point.  C'est la vie. 

As I got it pieced together more, I was a little happier with it, but surprisingly John really loves it.  Since it's not his usual manly style, I had to ask.  He said that he loved it because it reminded him of the art from Honduras, all the bright colors and things he remembers from his childhood.  The fabric is actually called Guatemalan Flora, which makes sense...while it's not Honduran themed, Guatemala is one of their neighbors and the art style has a similar flavor to it. 

 

So here is the almost finished quilt, with John hamming it up on the top there...It would be done now, but he wants it a little larger so he can curl up in it (understandable, after all, isn't that what quilts are largely for?), and luckily we still have some of the border print at the shop.  I'll probably get the border slapped on this week and it'll go in the "ready for quilting, someday" pile.

"An elephant never forgets" (but I almost did, about this project)

Last June when we had the fire in the warehouse behind the shop, everything kind of got scattered to the winds in the hurry to get everything out of the building safely.  Fat quarters were mixed with books, mixed with patterns, mixed with cut goods...you get the idea.  We managed to keep our programs organized, but everything else had to be re-sorted when we put the store back together.

As usual, Mom and I generally each have a few projects (samples) we're working on in the classroom.  At the time, we just had to stuff those projects in bags and get them the hell out.  I found a few of the ones I was working on, but unfortunately a few were missing.  Most of the merch was stored at my house a few blocks away, but as I ran out of room, some went to my folks' place too. I looked at her house, came up empty handed and assumed that everything was out of my house at that point so, my project was among the missing.

The other day I was neatening up my sewing room and I came across a big ziplock baggie full of blocks.  Lo and behold, there was my project, which by this point, I had just about forgotten about.  All 12 elephant blocks AND the pattern (score!) had been in my messy sewing room since June! So the other day I took them into the shop...squared them up, picked a sashing and....boom. Ready to quilt!

It'll make a cute addition to the kids' room at the shop.  Just need to reorder the pattern and there you have it.  This would be cute for a little boy or girl...or make it bigger (and not a stupid 1.5" sashing) for a grown up who likes elephants too.

Mental Health Quilt - "Finished"

Whelp...it's pretty much done.  Got the Mental Health Quilt back from quilting and I'm very happy with how it turned out!  I didn't want the quilting to compete with the design, and I think the dark grey swirls did the trick.  They're there, but you can hardly see them until you're right up on it.   Thanks Mom and Frances for your input!

Now it'll going to sit in the ol' binding pile for a few months.  Because I do not enjoy binding.

2014 First Finish

 Another one bites the dust!  I almost went with a purple inner border, but got talked out of it since "I do purple and gold a lot."  I'm not quite sure I'm in love with the blue yet - I still think I should have followed my gut with the purple - because my eye goes right to the blue before the center of the quilt.  Who knows, maybe it'll grow on me?  But the rest of the quilt I absolutely love.  I've been waiting for a reason to use that chevron, and I'm really happy with how that paired up.

Sunday - Not a Day of Rest!

Today was a really, really full day.  I intended to sleep in, but after a 6:30am call from John, before he went out to the fire line, I was really cat-nappy.  I kept waking up and at about 9:30 I gave up?  Sunday, a day of rest? Pssh.

I completely forgot the Silverton Art Fair was going this weekend, so I called Mom up and to see if she wanted to come with me.  She, Dad and I ended up going, and wow...Sorry guys, but this year was disappointing!  Usually it is such a great fair, but this year it seemed like there were fewer vendors, and among the vendors that were there, a lot of them had similar stuff...lots of metal garden decor that was similar, lots of jewelry that was similar, lots of similar style paintings...only one booth stood out, and she was a doll/jewelry make that had a lot of spooky themed stuff.  I wish she would have had a business card available!

But once we got back, I got to binding a few samples that I needed to finish for the shop.  I got the Thanksgiving quilt done, and I'm just about finished binding the Halloween panel.  When I got home, I got the Generation Q quilt from my last post ready for quilting, as well as a Fall quilt and a Christmas quilt that have both been waiting to be finished in my backlog.  Looks like we'll have a change of the guard in the shop pretty soon...it may be August but it's time to get ready for Fall and the holidays....Already...Despite all the samples, I am NOT ready for the season to change yet! Wah.

I need to get pictures taken of the quilting-ready and 100% done quilts...I promised Isabelle I'd have them posted on Facebook tomorrow, so I have no excuse to not have them posted here.  Until tomorrow~!

Spring is in the Air...

I WISH!  Anyone else tired of this cloudy/rainy/one day chilly, next day chillier crap? At least it's warmer today :-)

Anyway, I have been trying to blow through old projects and get them finished, quilted and to wherever they were supposed to go.  This little beauty I have had for about a year and a half just sitting in a ziplock bag and I got it done.  

Now it's off to the quilter to get quilted up with some flowers in variegated yellow thread.  I'm not a huge fan of pink or yellow, but I LOVE those big dots. 

Modern Quilt: Terrible Twinkle

Got the first 3 quilts back from Frances...my Dino quilt from about a year ago (yeah, only just finished), the Tula Pink Salt Water quilt and the modern style stars quilt.

Here's what the stars quilt looks like all finished. I ended up naming it "Terrible Twinkle" which is a quilt name I've been wanting to use a while.  Long story, but the abridged version is that a few years ago, I was in an accident that pretty well destroyed my lower back.  A genius at Kings Dominion while I was on vacation in Virginia decided to put two people down a water slide at once...we met in the middle and the impact was 100% to my lumbar vertebrae.  I have never in my life been in more pain than in that moment, it was intense.  Well, after being pat on the head and sent home by the ER, I flew back home in incredible pain.  After 3 days the pain got worse and I gave in and went to the doctor, who aside from popping my leg back in joint (who knew?) gave me vicodin.  Let me preface this by saying...I hate taking pain killers. Hate. Vicodin does two things to me - makes me sick to my stomach in a big way, and makes my brain fly away, two sensations that I am not a big fan of.  Well, I got bored and went back to work the next day, but I hadn't taken the painkiller yet. I ended up in so much pain mom twisted my arm into taking the meds, and monitoring me to make sure I didn't get too ill.  So she put me in a spinny chair and had me roll around putting patterns away.  I was a total looney toon, and as I was putting the stuff away (in weird flippin' places) I misread a pattern called "Twinkle Twinkle" as "Terrible Twinkle."  I remember laughing myself even stupider, and interestingly, because I am apparently easily amused, I still think it's hilarious.  So now my wonky star quilt is called terrible twinkle.  Bravo, vicodin!

I Love the Holidays...but Thank God it's Over.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know...captain diligent blogger is at it again.

Anyway...Christmas.  I know I say this every year, but man...never again!  This year, with the exception of my boyfriend (for whom I bought a Playstation 3, and who has several quilts already) and my aunt who requested an ornament exchange, everyone got made something sewn.  I made more wall hangings, table runners and tablet cases than you can shake a stick at, and yes, I even quilted (and bound) them myself.  I have a wicked callus on my right middle finger...from binding, not from road rage, I swear.

And the thing is...I have next to no pictures to prove it!  Damn the bad luck, I had to do a factory reset on my phone and because I am techostupid, I managed to lose a good chunk of my pictures between the phone and Picasa...who the heck knows where they are in cyberspace now.  I guess it's a good thing I don't have naughty pictures on my phone, huh?

Here's the few that I DO have...

 <-- A wall hanging for my grandmother, who loves elephants.  She also has a fondness for the colors of 30s prints.  The pattern is from a Modern Quilt Block book, but without the embroidery.  I drew out an elephant and hand embroidered it in the center for her.  I hate hand work, but love my grandma, so I
did it.

 My cousin Sam is a big Doctor Who fan...and since I didn't have the cash to get him some Doctor Who thing, I made him one.  For this I printed out a picture of the Tardis, used spray adhesive to affix it to the fabric, and stitched over it in varigated thread. Yep, I'm a tracer! But it turned out really well and he loved it.  I echo quilted around it in black. Yeah...and my toes are there for size comparison

 My uncle Tom (Sam's dad) is also a huge Doctor Who fan, which is a large part of why Sam is a fan.  There's an episode where there are these weeping angel aliens who are going around and killing people (I'm simplifying it a LOT, go watch the episode if you want the real scoop), and they are super creepy.  He'd mentioned getting a weeping angel christmas tree topper, and so I decided to make him a weeping angel wallhanging.  I took an open domain paper piece pattern for the Doctor Who weeping angel, and had it blown up by 250%.  Even at that size, some of the pieces were stupidly small.  But I am really proud of how it turned out, no matter how teeny those pieces were...I'd hate to have done this as a 12" block like the pattern was designed for.  Yeesh.

 Dad of course is a lifelong gearhead, so of course he had to have his cars and bikes.  He loved it, and asked why I chose to fussy cut the car I did.  I had fussy cut the yellow car because I needed to pull out some more yellow...I really had no reason for it.  As awesome coincidence would have it, that is his favorite year model of that car, and has had his eye on one.  Whelp...let's just say I totally knew that and picked it for that reason...not because it was a yellow car.  Yep.

 And for my friend Isabelle, I stitched her up this while I was watching the movie Insidious (you know, a classic Christmas movie...ha).  She has a lot of stress with work and school, and when I saw this is my "Subversive Cross Stitch" book, I knew it was perfect for her.  Besides, everyone needs this reminder once in a while...whether you enjoy the language or not.  I tossed it in a neat frame I found at Goodwill and voila...foul mouth cross stitch for a foul mouthed girl (she's not too bad...I'm worse, lol)











I made several more things but yeah...the evidence is lost.  I need to try and get more pictures of them to repost someday but you know...we'll see :-)