Workie Work, Busy Bee

So...now that we've all had our fill of Halloween goodies...we're back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I've been busy at work on new samples, a few wedding quilts (no pictures because those folks read this blog), and an experiment in quilting weirdness.  But it was time to get in gear for Christmas, and let me tell ya, it felt really bizarre working on Christmas things while I was trying to enjoy my favorite spooky season.

Stonehenge Christmas table runner panel.  I wasn't really wild about the panel itself, but I was asked to do it as a sample.  The quilting made it a little more interesting, I think.

Little circles on the border.  They're not perfect, but half decent for a second attempt. 

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Ghost Runner

This is a quick, cute appliqued table runner.  You could change up the length of the runner, and the face of the ghost really easily to make it your own. 

Thank you to Debbie Williams at eHow for sharing!
 
CLICK HERE to get the the tutorial!  Click on the picture to get to the next step.

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Ghoul's Night Out Table Runner

 

This spooky table runner by Grace Wilson for Maywood Studios is fun and versatile.  How great would this look on your buffet for a Halloween potluck?  This is shown using Maywood fabrics (which look great) but you could take it into creepy territory or make it bright and whimsical.

If Halloween isn't quite your thing, this would convert beautifully to a fall or harvest themed table runner perfect for your Thanksgiving table.

CLICK HERE to get the free pattern

Finally a Reason to Learn to use the 45 Degree Line on my Ruler!

I've been at this quilting thing for 4ish years now, and all this time I've stared at my 6.5"x24.5" ruler at the 45º mark on it and wonder what on earth I'm supposed to do with it. I know I'm not the only one, I've heard time and time again about people getting intimidated or confused by how or why to use that line. Well, I found a reason to use it and you know? It wasn't difficult. Like, at all. Once you get the hang of the first cut or two, it's cake!

So I decided to do the Spirals Tabletopper by Designs to Share with You. It's looks way more complicated than it is, and it doesn't require a ton of fabric to make...so, perfect!

Here in Oregon, Summer has been an elusive beast this year. And even though it's just barely starting to feel summerish, the tree in my front yard is already donning it's fall colors. Yes, in July, and no, the tree isn't sick. And at the shop, fall fabrics are starting to arrive and people are gearing up for their fall projects, so I decided to (even though all of me wanted a bright, summery tabletopper) go for a more fallish theme. These are the fabrics I chose:

 

The turkeys are a lot more vibrant than they appear here, and that dark fabric is actually a very deep black-green, with a hunter green speckle. It doesn't photograph well, but it matches up with the turkey's feathers very well (in real life). 

So until after I got my basic pieces cut, I didn't realize I'd need a little bit of 45º know how. I don't know what I was thinking I'd be doing method-wise to put it together, but I guess it just didn't occur to me that a 45º cut would be a possibility. Siiiiiilly me. 

 See? When it's broken down (the above is the first round) you see the definite need for a 45º cut. So, how on earth did that work out using that line? Because, I mean, I'll be honest, my method was to just eyeball it until I read through the instructions. Imagine that. But all you have to do to guarantee your cut is on that 45º and correct for the next round is get that 45º mark on your ruler lined up with your seam, and then line up the corner of the rule with the edge of the fabric the cut will need to equal. Then all that's left to do is hunker down and take the cut. Easy peasy. See?:

 So here's Round 2. Maybe I'm one of those "looking for faces in clouds" people, but uh, is it just me, or at this stage does it look like a swastika? The pattern stops here with a note that says if you want it bigger cut a few more strips. ....I went out into the living room after I got to this part and asked JOhn what he thought of it. He said he liked the colors, and I asked if it reminded him of anything else, perhaps...and he immediately said, "Swastika." Soooooo....there you have it:

So I went ahead and added the third round. I like it MUCH better. I wish the colors photographed better, but I assure you, it's very fallish and it really does match.

The pattern itself leaves a little to be desired in terms of instruction, it's not always clear as to how to put it together, but on the other hand, it wasn't difficult to figure out. Once I got my fabrics cut, piecing the whole thing too all of maybe an hour, hour and a half. So it's a quick and reasonably simple pattern to make, so if you need a quick bit of decor to freshen up your seasonal home or a quick gift for someone...this is a good bet!

Lovely Frankenstein's 24 Days of Christmas: Quilt-As-You-Go Tablerunner

Photo Courtesy of V & Co.

Tablerunners always make great gifts, but sometimes when time is as limited as it is now, getting one pieced AND quilted AND bound can be a little, well, rushed and we're all saying, "...forGET that...how's about a gift card?" (which, by the way, gift cards to The Cotton Patch make awesome gifts! Hey, I'm not one to forego a chance at a shamless plug). Well, this is a darling quilt as you go table runner, so you're hitting 2 birds with one stone here, and all you need are strips - no blocks, no squares, no appliques - just strips. You could easily make this a season specific project or something to be used any time, and it goes together in an hour or two...probably the hardest pqart is just picking the colors! CLICK HERE for the tutorial, and thank you to Amy of Diary of a Quilter for sharing!

Lovely Frankenstein's 24 Days of Christmas: 10 Minute Table Runner

Photo Courtesy of Quilting Nanny

This table runner, designed by LaRae Bunnell Clark is a snap to ake and a perfect way to showcase any large scale print you have, Christmas or otherwise. Plus, you have an "excuse" (not that you need one) to use some really fabulous buttons to make that fabric pop even more. I found this through Marge over at Delaware Quilts, but CLICK HERE to go straight to the free PDF. Just a note: though this pattern has so kindly been provided for free by Ms. Bunnell Clark, if you intend to make this for any other reason than for yourself or as a gift for someone - for example, to sell at a market or to teach as a class - I would suggest contacting her for permission to use her pattern first.

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Spiderweb Tablerunner Tutorial

I love textural tablerunners, and this lovely spiderweb tablerunner from The Crafty Cupboard delivers. Use felt or wool for your spiderweb, and fabric of your choice to put behind it. Neat!

CLICK HERE for the tutorial. Thanks Melanie!

Fall Tablerunner

My fall allergies dang near have me down for the count, but at least this fall tablerunner won't make me sneeze...unlike the changing season...

This little beauty goes off to the quilter tomorrow and then up as a sample at the shop. Now it's time for a heavy dose of Nightime Benadryl and a good long sleep.

Wait, what? It's June all ready?! Shut your mouth!

Indeed. June all ready. Where have the last 6 freakin' months gone? Just wondering because apparently I've been asleep, zoned out or something. ::blink::

So. Those of you that know me know that to say I'm a workaholic is a disgusting understatement. I always manage to get myself stretched six ways from Sunday and then wonder why I'm so dang tired all the time. Lets put this is perspective for a moment, and then determine my sanity (oh, and a preemptive shut up to the peanut gallery :D). I have a "for real" job, and a "fun job." My "for real" job is mornings and part time, my "fun job" is close to full time (not including work done outside). I have a house, dog, family and friends that sometimes want some of my attention - thankfully I don't have to add a boyfriend or husband to this. Up until December, add full time credit hours at University to this, too, and last January (2010) I had a THIRD job in the mix. I have a side project that I'm working on and pushing through the system, that's super exciting (to me) and eating a lot of time (and patience...not my strong suit!). I'm a workin' machine! Honestly though, this isn't a complaint whatsoever. I love it. I'm one of those weirdos that doesn't know what to do with herself when she has "free time." Heck, I can't even manage to sit and watch my WWE without having to do something else at the same time...cross stitch, applique, sew, Sudoku, whatever...

I'm not trying to toot my own horn here (even though that's definitely what it's looking like, I know) but in the last month, I finished 3 projects. Pretty darn good for me I'd say! I'm a notorious project starter but not finisher. I forget/get bored/get frustrated and leave it alone for a long time/run out of fabric *gasp* and just plain don't finish. I'll start 3 projects for one I don't finish. UFOs GALORE!

That being said, in the last WEEK AND A HALF I have picked up 4 new projects and I have 1 quilting job I need to do for someone. Luckily only the latter has a deadline...

-I've got a super cute fall table runner, which will be neat...it's got little appliqued pumpkins on it.
-There's that damn chicken quilt, which, by the way, the pattern was wrongity wrong and I'm 5 flippin' inches short on my last border. Thanks for nothing, pattern! *grumble*
- There's a 900+ piece quilt from the latest Australian Quilter's Companion I'm doing...still gathering black and whites for that though...it'll be cool when its all said and done but good LORD I don't want to piece all that nonsense /whine.
-As of yesterday I picked up a row quilt out of a Guatemalan border stripe. It'll be pretty rad looking because I fussy cut the buh-jeezus out of the stripe, but I gotta get some go-withs to fill it out.

All in all, looks like I'll be staying off the mean streets of Keizer (I can't say that with a straight face...bahahaha. Keizer's pretty calm except for this guy, who after seeing him on the news I'm pretty sure is the posterchild for bat-crap-crazy

(True Keizer Story. I'm not offended by the sign, I mean, hey, beauty of the First Amendment right there...it allows you to demonstrate to the rest of the street what a looney toon you are. What I find funny as all get out is the fact that he originally had the spelling of neighbor correct, then changed it to a misspelling. Yeah I know, of course that's what I would take away from it...a grammatical error)

Well, after that dose of crazy, I'll leave you with my hound, telling me with his big ol' bug eyes that he wants me to stop trying to bind the quilt...little Lord Fauntleroy over here wanted to lay on it instead, but I kept moving it as I was stitching...I forgot, who is it that owns who? :)



Late Night Sewing Adventures

If you know me, then you know that I am a night owl to the umpteenth degree. I stay up late and wake up waaaay too early, though not 100% by choice. So what do I do? No, I'm not out drinkin' with the college kiddies. I'm not watching Powerball (okay, so I'm probably watching WWE)  or heck, I'm not even reading. I'm out in the middle of the living room sewing, and sometimes I get a wild hair and try something new.

This is the case with the other night (I can't remember which other night, one of 'em recently...is it bad that at 23 I'm losing track? I need a vacation, lol). I have never really delved into the wild and wooly world of templates. Based solely upon the reception of template usage in Block of the Month - oh yes, there was groaning - I kind of just assumed they were a pain in the keester and I more or less avoided them. But *someone* delivered a subtle hint to me that they wanted me to try them, by putting a freakin cute pattern in my cubby box at work...Mom...

So I gave it a go, and you know? It wasn't hard at all. I don't know what all the griping was about! It took a few extra minutes to draw trace out the templates onto some template plastic, but I had those and all the fabrics cut in less than 45 minutes. The only issue I encountered with the pattern was that it was a wedge type design that converges in the center rather than going across in rows; that in and of itself wasn't the issue, the issue was just the bias on those edges stretching because someone got irritated at sewing it together wrong and tore out the stitches too vigorously, thus stretching the bias and making the center bubbly. Ahem.

 I used fabric from Jinny Beyer's Outback line (the two black pieces) and the rest is from M&S Textiles' Australian Aboriginal fabrics. I think I have Audrey Martin Napanangka and Bea "Nambooka" Edwards featured here.

I love it and it looks great, but uh, I screwed up the middle. That's suppused to look like a peppermint candy, you know, every other one? I got irrtated and pulled out my stitching and put it back together and in the process stretched the bias and made it bubble in the center. Luckily the fabulous Carol can fix that little issue in quilting! But anyway, not bad for a first go!