Gypsy Wife continues

I have to say I continue to enjoy "the making" of this quilt - immensely. I am using up all sorts of bits and finding lots of opportunities to fussy cut.

Having said that - I am also overwhelmed at times by too many choices. When there seems to be no constraints to the endless colour combo possibilties I am overwhelmed. The "Indian Hatchet" block (below) is 8 fabrics. I had to do it twice to get it "balanced".

Other blocks have successfully "materialized" by virtue of sitting next to each other in the fabric heap on the cutting table. "From The Heart" block (below).

Every so often I need to fold the fabrics up - put them back in the box (in colour order of course) - and take a break.

Which brings me to the next two days of piecing.

The story: I was going to make a T-shirt Quilt for my son who is graduating in a mere six weeks. I was under the impression that making a T-shirt Quilt is what all proud mom's do when marking a special event. The boy had given me a number of T shirts a few years back (which I saved of course). I was in the process of preparing to launder them when I realised I was a few short. That is when ALL was revealed. The only reason he had given me the shirts was because those were the ones "he hated!" By that time I had 2 yards of "Baltimore Ravens" backing fabric coming via post plus a bunch more fabric I had impulsively threw in my "cart" (for good measure).

What was a mother to do? Now at this point the Old Guy (aka husband) had mumbled that no "20-something year old boy wants a lap quilt from his mother". Youngman 2 (aka my son - younger sibling of Youngman 1) hadn't really seemed too enthusiastic about this project from day one. But I carry on (fulling expecting excepting that this project may spend more time on a bedroom floor with a dog laying on top of it.)
Enter Pinterest. Yes I do go there. Yes I post, and pic and love Pinterest. And this is why. Need a quilt idea for a guy? Put "man quilt" in the search engine and voila! The Bleacher Quilt.

Link to WIP on the Needle & Thread Network.

Posted with Blogsy

Gypsy Wife continues

I have to say I continue to enjoy "the making" of this quilt - immensely. I am using up all sorts of bits and finding lots of opportunities to fussy cut.

Having said that - I am also overwhelmed at times by too many choices. When there seems to be no constraints to the endless colour combo possibilties I am overwhelmed. The "Indian Hatchet" block (below) is 8 fabrics. I had to do it twice to get it "balanced".

Other blocks have successfully "materialized" by virtue of sitting next to each other in the fabric heap on the cutting table. "From The Heart" block (below).

Every so often I need to fold the fabrics up - put them back in the box (in colour order of course) - and take a break.

Which brings me to the next two days of piecing.

The story: I was going to make a T-shirt Quilt for my son who is graduating in a mere six weeks. I was under the impression that making a T-shirt Quilt is what all proud mom's do when marking a special event. The boy had given me a number of T shirts a few years back (which I saved of course). I was in the process of preparing to launder them when I realised I was a few short. That is when ALL was revealed. The only reason he had given me the shirts was because those were the ones "he hated!" By that time I had 2 yards of "Baltimore Ravens" backing fabric coming via post plus a bunch more fabric I had impulsively threw in my "cart" (for good measure).

What was a mother to do? Now at this point the Old Guy (aka husband) had mumbled that no "20-something year old boy wants a lap quilt from his mother". Youngman 2 (aka my son - younger sibling of Youngman 1) hadn't really seemed too enthusiastic about this project from day one. But I carry on (fulling expecting excepting that this project may spend more time on a bedroom floor with a dog laying on top of it.)
Enter Pinterest. Yes I do go there. Yes I post, and pic and love Pinterest. And this is why. Need a quilt idea for a guy? Put "man quilt" in the search engine and voila! The Bleacher Quilt.

Link to WIP on the Needle & Thread Network.

Posted with Blogsy

Gypsy Wife Quilt Along

I am a self confessed Quilt Store "fabric remnant bin" addict. Since most bins come with a 10 - 20 % off sticker price and are great for scrappy quilts - they seem like little rolls of bliss. Needless to say I pick them up on a regular basis. I also have quite a few fat quarters and fat eights. I recently decided something "must be done" with this mish mash stash I have accumulated.

And as luck would have it - the Gypsy Wife Quilt by Jen Kingwell fell out of the sky and into my lap. The added bonus? My local quilt store is doing it as a QAL - and - Flickr has an online QAL going simultaneously. How lucky is that?

Having perused the pattern I am thinking it looks quite doable - and since many of the blocks have borders - I can fudge the sizes a wee bit if I come up short (which I've done twice already).

I attended my first class late last month and read there was an errata on the first block. I noted this and continued making the block. I checked everything carefully and laid out the block before stitching and - voila! I screwed up my block (Colour Wheel block). Ironically as I was in the process of making this error, my mind was entertaining itself about being a bit more "Dr Suess - like" in my approach to quilting. You know -instead of becoming paralyzed due the fear of imperfection just asking myself "What would Dr Suess do?"

Well after stitching and pressing, I prepared to take my first pic of my Gypsy Wife and oh! to my horror! this is what peered back at me...

I'm certain even Dr Suess would have used his seam ripper on occasionHmmmm. So my first challenge - what would Dr Suess do?

(Let's face it - even Dr Suess had his limits...)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Gypsy Wife Quilt Along

I am a self confessed Quilt Store "fabric remnant bin" addict. Since most bins come with a 10 - 20 % off sticker price and are great for scrappy quilts - they seem like little rolls of bliss. Needless to say I pick them up on a regular basis. I also have quite a few fat quarters and fat eights. I recently decided something "must be done" with this mish mash stash I have accumulated.

And as luck would have it - the Gypsy Wife Quilt by Jen Kingwell fell out of the sky and into my lap. The added bonus? My local quilt store is doing it as a QAL - and - Flickr has an online QAL going simultaneously. How lucky is that?

Having perused the pattern I am thinking it looks quite doable - and since many of the blocks have borders - I can fudge the sizes a wee bit if I come up short (which I've done twice already).

I attended my first class late last month and read there was an errata on the first block. I noted this and continued making the block. I checked everything carefully and laid out the block before stitching and - voila! I screwed up my block (Colour Wheel block). Ironically as I was in the process of making this error, my mind was entertaining itself about being a bit more "Dr Suess - like" in my approach to quilting. You know -instead of becoming paralyzed due the fear of imperfection just asking myself "What would Dr Suess do?"

Well after stitching and pressing, I prepared to take my first pic of my Gypsy Wife and oh! to my horror! this is what peered back at me...

I'm certain even Dr Suess would have used his seam ripper on occasionHmmmm. So my first challenge - what would Dr Suess do?

(Let's face it - even Dr Suess had his limits...)

 

Posted with Blogsy

The Hex- athon...

I've been making loads of these little hexagons (actually by some standards I think they're pretty big - 2 inch sides) and I've got quite a stack building. I'm impressed at how quickly the basting is going now that I've developed a bit of a "production line".

Because I do most of my sewing in the evening - I find it a bit daunting to thread the wee size 9 sharps I'm using. I had read somewhere that it was handy to pre-thread a number of needles onto a single thread and then pull them off as needed.

I was quite delighted to discover that I can thread 16 of these little beggars lickety split in natural light (I'm talking a minute or two).

I then wind them back onto the spool of thread and secure them. And there we go. I pull them off individually with a length of thread ( one arm's length bastes 2 hexagons). Since I usually make 6 - 8 hexagons per night - there's no need to worry about threading needles!

 I'm using a Royale Hare brass support spindle to hold the spool. It's heavy and the thread spins off nicely. 

Last but not least - everything packs up in a couple of decorative tins and sits nicely ready for use at anytime...

The Hex- athon...

I've been making loads of these little hexagons (actually by some standards I think they're pretty big - 2 inch sides) and I've got quite a stack building. I'm impressed at how quickly the basting is going now that I've developed a bit of a "production line".

Because I do most of my sewing in the evening - I find it a bit daunting to thread the wee size 9 sharps I'm using. I had read somewhere that it was handy to pre-thread a number of needles onto a single thread and then pull them off as needed.

I was quite delighted to discover that I can thread 16 of these little beggars lickety split in natural light (I'm talking a minute or two).

I then wind them back onto the spool of thread and secure them. And there we go. I pull them off individually with a length of thread ( one arm's length bastes 2 hexagons). Since I usually make 6 - 8 hexagons per night - there's no need to worry about threading needles!

 I'm using a Royale Hare brass support spindle to hold the spool. It's heavy and the thread spins off nicely. 

Last but not least - everything packs up in a couple of decorative tins and sits nicely ready for use at anytime...

A new project in process...

Okay - so my last quilting "gift" (in which I try to bring the kids over to the "traditional Christmas Stocking darkside") was a complete bust. Being somewhat miffed (understatement all around) I went into quilt hibernation for the rest of the winter.

But now with spring coming up - and my interest in woolly projects on the wane - I've started to look for a portable cotton sewing project that I can work on in front of the boob tube. In need of a little stash enhancement I headed to my LQS (? is that what they call local quilt stores?) for some inspiration. I had planned on actually going to find a magazine and returned with some great fat quarters instead! (surprise surprise!)

This fat quarter bundle isn't traditionally my colour palette - somewhat subdued, but the little fabric piece with pictures caught my attention and I was suddenly transported back to a really comfy memory in my childhood.

My mom has always been a sewist (for more on this controversial term go here). Long rolls of fabric spread out across the floor and kitchen table, pins tucked into her shirt or pursed between lips as she places pattern pieces on the fold line. Checking the bias. Removing - re-pinning - reexamining. Huge black-handled metal sheers. Always reminded to "step back" as she prepared the first cut. Deep breath. The cut. And now we are committed.

Sewing while children nap. Sewing after we went to bed. Sewing pants, and skirts and shirts. A baby blue cape for Easter, dance recital outfits with sequins and fringe. Halloween costumes. The annual flannel pj's for Christmas day. Raggedy Ann & Andy. Paddington Bear. And now she makes quilts.

So back to my little packet of fat eights. The good news? When I went to pay for it I was told "50% off"... OOOOO! Yippee! The bad news? "50% off" means "no more anywhere  -aka - discontinued." That put a damper on things. Checked online - Ebay - you name it nothing. So then I headed down the "okay how do I use this to my advantage?" trail...

Ta - da! I'm making a lap quilt. And I plan on learning how to paper piece it. I'm think of a hexagon daisy type pattern - whereby the centre of each large daisy will showcase one of the little vignettes in the panel piece.

One of the wonders of the internet is pretty much anything I need to know - I can find it. (I know - tell you something don't already know... right?)

But I did go to YouTube and found out that I'd like to try paper piecing. I went to Selfsewn to learn how to do Basic English paper piecing. I've joined the Big Hexagons QAL  and I'm busily printing out hexagons on freezer paper  (I got the template online from The Sometimes Quilter ).

(Note: Luckily after I did this picture I realized I needed the hexagons on the wrong side of the fabric).

(More to come shortly)

A new project in process...

Okay - so my last quilting "gift" (in which I try to bring the kids over to the "traditional Christmas Stocking darkside") was a complete bust. Being somewhat miffed (understatement all around) I went into quilt hibernation for the rest of the winter.

But now with spring coming up - and my interest in woolly projects on the wane - I've started to look for a portable cotton sewing project that I can work on in front of the boob tube. In need of a little stash enhancement I headed to my LQS (? is that what they call local quilt stores?) for some inspiration. I had planned on actually going to find a magazine and returned with some great fat quarters instead! (surprise surprise!)

This fat quarter bundle isn't traditionally my colour palette - somewhat subdued, but the little fabric piece with pictures caught my attention and I was suddenly transported back to a really comfy memory in my childhood.

My mom has always been a sewist (for more on this controversial term go here). Long rolls of fabric spread out across the floor and kitchen table, pins tucked into her shirt or pursed between lips as she places pattern pieces on the fold line. Checking the bias. Removing - re-pinning - reexamining. Huge black-handled metal sheers. Always reminded to "step back" as she prepared the first cut. Deep breath. The cut. And now we are committed.

Sewing while children nap. Sewing after we went to bed. Sewing pants, and skirts and shirts. A baby blue cape for Easter, dance recital outfits with sequins and fringe. Halloween costumes. The annual flannel pj's for Christmas day. Raggedy Ann & Andy. Paddington Bear. And now she makes quilts.

So back to my little packet of fat eights. The good news? When I went to pay for it I was told "50% off"... OOOOO! Yippee! The bad news? "50% off" means "no more anywhere  -aka - discontinued." That put a damper on things. Checked online - Ebay - you name it nothing. So then I headed down the "okay how do I use this to my advantage?" trail...

Ta - da! I'm making a lap quilt. And I plan on learning how to paper piece it. I'm think of a hexagon daisy type pattern - whereby the centre of each large daisy will showcase one of the little vignettes in the panel piece.

One of the wonders of the internet is pretty much anything I need to know - I can find it. (I know - tell you something don't already know... right?)

But I did go to YouTube and found out that I'd like to try paper piecing. I went to Selfsewn to learn how to do Basic English paper piecing. I've joined the Big Hexagons QAL  and I'm busily printing out hexagons on freezer paper  (I got the template online from The Sometimes Quilter ).

(Note: Luckily after I did this picture I realized I needed the hexagons on the wrong side of the fabric).

(More to come shortly)