WIP Wednesday: Sneaky Stars AAAAAAAAND Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween is back!

This is going to be a weird little post.  Christmas and Halloween in one post, dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria!

 Well that's what I heard.

So first of all, my WIP Wednesday duties.  Linking up with Freshly pieced, as always...see the side bar for a link to the Freshly Pieced blog. 

Sometimes, I get bored, and when I get bored...ish happens. In this case, a 25th and Pine layer cake got the star treatment so to speak.

 

I was inspired by this pattern, but I wanted to used it as a block, not as the quilt itself, and I wanted to use as much of the layer cake as possible.  

So I grabbed my crayons and got to work....I could get 5 star blocks from the layer cake, which meant I needed to figure some spacer blocks. I thought it would look pretty neat to have some subtle stars in between. 

Here's what I have so far....all the spacer blocks are done...

 See it?

Sneaky star!

This is the first of 5 focus stars:

 So there's that.  I'll finish it in time for Christmas this year...MAYBE.

Now. Today is October 1.  That means that Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween is back!  If you're not familiar with that, then here's the deal:  Every day in October I post a quick and simple Halloween themed quilting/sewing project, craft, party idea, interior/exterior decoration, food or cocktail.  It's fun for me, because hey, obviously the chick with the monster themed blog LOVES the crap out of Halloween, but I hope it comes in handy for someone else out there!

As a side note, because this comes up every year...I try to give credit where credit is due on all of the projects I post.  Someone designed it, and they deserve credit for their work!  I will post the designer's name, the name of their blog and a link to the page where I found the tutorial/pattern etc.  That being said, while I do test the links before I post, I don't go back to past posts and continue to check the links - I just don't have the time or manpower for that sort of upkeep.  If a link from years past doesn't work, the name of the project, the designer and the blog names are all there and you may be able to locate it another way.

Enjoy, and Happy Haunting :-)

WIP Wednesday: Jewels in the Mud

I'm having total writer's block.  I was going to talk about how you can mess around with color on modern patterns to make them appeal to more traditional palettes, and how very traditional patterns can be made more modern by using strange color combinations...and I was going to say something about how those "ugly" muddy colors (to me) are kind of heinous on their own but they can make gorgeous colors glow...but I don't know how to make that all pair up to sound good and how to segway into "hey check out this sample I'm making."  I guess it's just one of those brain fart days! 

So here's what I'm working on now...a traditional pattern...

I am really fond of churn dash blocks (why, I don't know), and I really like this pattern, but those colors.  No, no, no, no, no.  Do not like.  So I decided to tweak the colors, because eff the (quilt) po-lice.  I was processing some batik shipment and I saw a bright pink batik next to a Joel Dewberry stripe that's a funky grey-blue-green, and I loved it. So several fat quarters and some stash diving later...

 ...I was on my way to getting my blocks cut.  Y'all can keep your EQ and your iPhone apps...I'll keep my crayons and (usually, but not this time) graph paper.  I tweaked the coloring and distribution enough that I needed to redo the cutting instructions, so that's why there's this. 

So then I started cutting and I was feeling pretty good about the color combos.  Right now all of the churn dashes are cut, and all but 10 of the shoo flies are cut.

I promise my ironing board cover was clean once upon a time. 

I haven't been this amped about a quilt in a while.  I mean, I have been excited about quilts of course, but I am psyched for this one.  There will be more blocks with the gray-green-bluey-taupe exteriors than the pink-coral exteriors, but I think that's what will keep the eye moving and give it places to rest. 

The top block has the Joel Dewberry stripe I referenced earlier...and the bottom block is definitely more magenta than purple, but that's the price I paid for using the flash I guess.  Three blocks down, 27 to go!

WIP Wednesday: Vaudeville

Holy crap, I worked on something.  This is out of the book Sensational Small Quilts...and while sensational, it's by no means "small." 

The sample in the book was red and cream, but blah, so I did purple and cream/tan to go with a vaudeville themed black and cream print I have for the border (no, I don't have a picture right at the moment).  But I am doing it scrappy style so maybe, just maybe, my purple scraps might shrink some.  And they have.  Woo!

All the blocks are done, and all I need to do is finish assembling the rows.  Three down, three to go!

I have to have it sideways on my design wall, so it really isn't wider than it is long.

Tina keeps trying to lay down on keyboard so I guess I'm done...

THANKS TINA :-)
(yes, her under bite is so bad her tongue sticks out.  Poor sweet girl.)

WIP Wednesday: Seasonal Projects

Well...I'm kind of back at it.

The past couple week have been wild and just plain crazy, but things are starting to regulate some.  But there's no rest for the wicked and seriously, the holidays are creeping up on us before we know it. Yes...Christmas in July.  It's an odd little world we quilters live in that we think about Christmas projects in July, but then again, these things take time, so we have to think about it.

So I just finished a smaller than expected Christmas table runner, and I have a Halloween lap quilt in progress, and I'm cutting for a fall table runner too (though, this one is a little more intensive piecing wise than the Christmas one).

Nothing totally exciting, but it's just a little something.

WIP Wednesday: Sea Worlds

Sea life is the name of the game lately.  This is the second sea themed quilt I've worked on this year (I'll post about the other one later).

Unlike the first one, this one has given me fits since the get go.  I have never simultaneously loved and hated a quilt so much.

I am using a panel from Robert Kaufman, and boy is it beautiful.

 My favorite block, but the others are just as pretty.

So I used the book "Panel Play" to work with this, and that book is awesome - lots of great ideas, and lots of math...which, math is NOT my strong suit.  I'll get to that.  GROAN.

After cutting the panel apart, I realized just HOW CROOKED the thing was.  I actually had to enlist my mom's help with some tailoring skills to get these suckers straightened out.  

Squidge, pin, squidge, pin

After much squidging and much pinning, it came out as square as it was going to. 

 

Oooh bubbles.

So I had collected a bunch of coordinating colors, which I was (and still am) pretty excited about - blues, turquoises, teals, greens, golds, coppers and beiges.  Not my usual brights, but worth it so far

Wee!

But here was the issue.  Panel Play showed a variation of this panel done up and it was so, so cool.  But the panel pieces cut down to a much odder size than mine did, and so I knew the math would start to vary from the book.  So I went in, did my numbers, and "just KNEW" that the borders wouldn't fit right.  I was so excited when the side borders fit exactly.  I love it when my math is wrong to my advantage!

Too long here...

IT'S GOING TO FIIIIT!

So I started in on the top and bottom borders, feeling pretty damn spry and confident about how well it was working out.  I did have to make a couple more blue/green themed blocks, but whatever, it was all going swimmingly...swimmingly...sea worlds...ha.

But I should know better than to get confident.  

Oh hey top row, you are WAY too long.  If anyone heard a chain of random swears in the night on Monday....that was me getting my ass swiftly kicked by the karma gods of quilting.

So I'm all set to rip out, resew, and squidge, pin, squidge, pin.  I'll be taking out one 6" block set and resewing.  It'll still be a little big, but I'll be able to fudge it in there.  I was just hoping to be done.  But it will be done this week and I can't wait to see the whole thing together!  I have to say...this one I'm going to have to keep (besides, John likes it...which means once it's done it won't leave his sight lol).

WIP Wednesday: The Power of Three

I wasn't kidding when I said I was pulling out some OLD projects.  This. Is. OLD.  Well, old for me.  It's from 2008-2009.

I remember I was working on this for a sample, and I getting frustrated with it, and put it aside.  I put it aside for so long that the fabric sold out, and as I said, "well, shit," I shoved it aside again.

Some very, very valuable lessons have been learned since then:
#1.  Keep the pattern with the project when you have to put something aside.  Lord knows you won't remember how it goes together six years later.
#2.  That 1/4" seam ain't no joke.  Learn it, live it.  Because when you have to put something away, having that 1/4" mastered means you won't spend an hour and a half ripping apart, and reassembling shitty blocks.
#3.  Take some damn notes as to which fabric is which.  Because you won't remember which pieces are which after they have chunks cut out of them six years later.

Grumble, grumble, grumble; gripe, gripe, gripe.

So this is The Power of Three by Quilt Woman.  My sample was out of the Za-Za-Zing line by I-Don't-Remember-Who.  And yes, since all I have left of this pattern is the cover, I will be assembling this by looking at the picture and winging it.  How hard can it be?

 

LOL

Actually, after about an hour of figuring, I think I have how it goes together down.  And if not?  Well, just like skinning cats, there's more than one way to assemble a quilt.  BAM.

SO here's what I have so far.  This is going back away for a few weeks until I can finish up the (several) projects I have to finish within the next 3 weeks.  

Don't worry, I took some of these apart and redid them, because WOW  o.0

Did I mention half of the blocks I found were in various states of completeness and missing-pieces-ness?  Thankfully I at least kept the extra fabric with it. 

WIP Wednesday: Witch Hazel's Medicine Cabinet

...of the handful of you wondering...YES HALLOWEEN ALREADY.

We got in Halloween fabric, Spooktacular by Blend Fabrics and obviously I loved it and obviously I had to make a sample from it.

CUTE.

I made this pattern up a few years ago, but that just goes to show how good I think it is if I feel inclined to make it twice.

I like it so well because there's so much room for focus prints without being just giant squares.  These are only 9.5" squares.  I've got all the colors arranged.

Just the bottom row is 100% done.  More work to do on the rest...maybe I'll have it finished in a week or two!

WIP Wednesday: Granny Squares

This is another long term WIP.  After seeing a granny square how-to on another blog (I can't remember which one, it was several months ago) I thought it would be a good way to eat up more scraps.  The one I saw had a 100% white background with each block divided by sashing, but I thought it might be neat to have the block separated by background colors.  So, each block has a different background color in a solid fabric, and then the squares for the interior of the block would be scrappy. 

So I made some, put it away, made some, put it away....and neglected to take notes on how I needed to trim the squares.  Now three of them so far are about 3/4" too big.  Those I will be ripping apart, trimming and reassembling probably last thing.  But this time I was smart enough to write down a note about trimming those pieces and put it in the box for next time. 

Nice, but WRONG by 3/4"

But here's what I have so far.  I think there are 25 or 30 total that need to be done. 

I'll finish the rest one of these days.

WIP Wednesday: Halloween Dresden Plate

I already posted about this project here, but this is a very looooong term work in progress.  I don't think I'll be finishing this one for a year or more (hopefully not too much more).  Like the rainbow houndstooth quilt, this too is a mental health quilt that I work on from time to time when I need something mindless to do. I intend on hand appliqueing them down (we'll see how long I actually commit to that), so yeah...this is going to be a slow moving quilt.  That's just fine by me.

So I'm working away on my Halloween Dresden plate quilt.  I finally got all of the blades done.  All 400 of them.  Each 16.5" block requires 20 blades, and right now I'm sitting on a 4x5 block quilt.  I think I might be crazy.  I'm thinking of adding another 5 blocks to make it a 5x5 block quilt.  Someone save me from myself.

But right now I'm only working on the assembly of the outside of the plate. It's amazing how much they shrink down as you sew.  Ooh. Aah.

I haven't picked out what I want for the background, (though, for this I have a couple ideas) or the circle in the middle of each plate (for which I am totally and completely undecided) yet.  It'll come to me.  But in the mean time, I'll just sewing plates as I get the time.  Besides, I don't want all that bias on the blades hanging out all nakie for too long.

Here's one finished one.  Only 19.5 more to go.

Linking up with Freshy Pieced's WIP Wednesday....see the right side bar for a link to the blog.

WIP Wednesday: Borderline

So WIP Wednesday is a THIIING apparently so I guess I might play along.  WIP Wednesday.  Maybe not every Wednesday.  I like UFO better than WIP, but I suppose there is a slight distinction there. 

So today I decided a panel looked sad and lonely and needed to have something made from it.  It's a black and white panel of 28 different blocks.  I neglected to take a picture of the panel before I cut it up.  Oops. 

But lemme tell ya.  Not all panels are created equal.  I love these blocks but HOLY CRAP IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN PRINTED ANY MORE CROOKEDLY.

Pre-trimming crookedness. That's not even the worst one.  That's just one.

Yeah....it was pretty bad.  But the blocks are still cute anyway.  I ended up having to trim them all to 5.5" to get them all the same size.  

 They were so crooked, they turned out pretty wonky.  Wonky blocks for a wonky girl.  That'll do.

But I decided to put the black blocks with turquoise and the white blocks with blue.  For someone who doesn't generally like blue....I sure am making a lot of blue quilts lately.  But it looks neat, I think.  There's no pattern, I just bordered each block.  Doesn't really warrant a pattern.

All I need to do is assemble the rows and get the quilt put together.  The wonkiness seems less pronounced to me know that that blocks are finished.  They're still weird but I don't feel like they're glaringly so anymore. 

Lifesavers

I have been feeling SO unmotivated lately, hence, no updates.  Getting the flu last week certainly didn't help.  While my fever finally broke on Friday, I still don't feel 100%.  I can't complain though...I haven't had the actual flu since I was 8, and no, I don't get flu shots (unless my grandmother physically drags me to Rite Aid to get one, which, she has done that).  That doesn't explain the few weeks prior, but you know, whatever.  Not motivated, end of story (I guess).

So anyway...I'll try to catch up on posts. 

Here's another scrap quilt I've been working on.  I got the idea from Pinterest. 

 

Apparently, based on seeing it in other pins, this is a quilt from Red Pepper Quilts.  I realized this AFTER I started making it, of course.  I have no idea what the original dimensions are, but I used 5" squares for my Nine Patches, so it's going to be pretty large once all is said and done. The original above has a very neat and tidy color scheme, but I was trying to deplete scraps, so I went with 9 colors to each block, with 2.5" sashing all the way around.

Here's mine...the blocks looks a little gross on their own, I admit it, but I'm pleased with how they turned out when I got the first bits of white sashing put on there..

I need to get the horizontal sashings put on yet, and the rows attached together ( the rows themselves are already assembled), but that's another job for another day.

Work in Progress: Urban Ninja

Every now and then, instead of doing another sample for the shop, I want to dive in to something that doesn't have a deadline...something frivolous and ridiculous and for no other reason than I want to.

A few years ago, Mom gave me three of the pared down charms square packs of Andover's Swoon line.  I say pared down because when one says "charm pack," one usually thinks of Moda's Charm Packs that have 40 or more pieces in it.  Thankfully (for so many reasons) there are other companies doing these packs instead of just Moda - the difference is, is that their packs don't always have as many pieces in it.  These packs from Andover were small - 3 colorways with maybe 5 or 6 pieces per colorway, and only one piece of each per pack. 

I loved this fabric but never found a good pattern for it, and the yardage of it is long, long gone. I decided it was time to just wing it and use it.  I wanted to do a quilt of Friendship Stars, the stars that to me always looked like ninja throwing stars

 Friendship Star (Left)

                            Ninja Star (Right)


Totally the same thing, amiright.

After I sewed all the blocks, I was one block shy of a 5x5 quilt...so there's an empty space for the block that will feature the owner of all those fancy pantsy throwing stars....the Urban Ninja!  I haven't drawn him out yet...but soon. 

Other than being able to be silly about the ninja theme, the thing I'm enjoying most is that even though the pattern itself is simple, it's forced me outside of my comfort zone.  Typically, I wouldn't just put all those colors together in the stars themselves - I don't usually work with an orgy of pattern AND color together, so having all that business in the stars was a little something different for me.  Also, I'm a big fan of tonal prints in unexpected colors for backgrounds, and I don't usually use solids, but this one I did use just solids for the backgrounds.  And, I prefer applique to piecing, so winging even a simple pieced block without a guide is different for me too.

The Urban Ninja snuck up on me and changed my style for this quilt! I don't know when I'll be getting it quilted...hey, maybe I'll try my hand at quilting a bigger quilt too!