Tropical Waves: Front Center

Tropical Waves Details

Yesterday was a mess of events and to be rather honest I'm surprised I finished this top, I didn't have the extra strips to remake the rest of the blocks so I finished unpicking those that I'd made.  LOL and that was just the beginning of my unpicking, but that's okay here it is.

Right now the quilt measures 41" x 80"  so borders are a must to make this into a nice sized twin, what comes to mind for you?  I don't have any of the Mermaid fabric left, but I do have all of the others.  This pattern was more than generous with some of my requirements.  I noticed that if it required me to cut the 2.5" size I was told almost double what I'd need, but if I needed more like a 6.5" the extra was very little or 10.5" measurement with it's non existent extra. I suppose those that write patterns constantly struggle with this, but had I bought the fabric solely for this quilt I'd be in a snit over my extras right now.  Instead I'm happily exploring my border options with you, while daydreaming about the back.

Country Lanes - Tropical Waves

My friend Heather is back to her regular self expression questions, and I've been choosing to post my replies over on her blog.  But this one I thought you might get a kick out of.
What little thing makes you crazy?  For me it's a quilt hanging on the floor.  I want to make a quilt big enough that it covers whomever is in the bed, but I don't want it on the floor.  My DD loves to play in my bed so the covers are constantly -even on a made bed- are always at war with gravity.  I mostly pretend not to notice, but some of my more generous quilts end up sitting with square feet of quilt resting on the floor.  That makes me a little crazy.  After all if I wanted to spend that much time making something to sit on the floor I would have made a rug, instead I made a quilt - that should rest on the bed.  So that's my silly little thing.  What about you?  Do you have one?

Country Lanes to Tropical Waves

Country Lanes Turned Tropical Waves

I've been working at a steady clip on my Country Lanes Quilt.  I've decided the name is all wrong for this quilt so I think perhaps we will call it Tropical Waves amongst ourselves instead.  I had all the blocks made last night and couldn't resist starting to put everything together, and that's when I realized I'd made 6 blocks wrong.  I thought it was the book's issue, but by the light of day this morning I can see I skipped a part.  It's just two long seams in six 10" blocks so it's not to bad.  So far I've picked out four blocks and I think I have enough fabric to just remake the last two. 

Cross Block Detail

So here's what Tropical Waves looks like now, with that extra row thrown in to show balance.  What do you think?  I took this close up of one of the blocks so you can see.  It's fun working with these bright jewel tones.  Now if the breeze changes direction, I'll have a bit of salty sea air and my tropical quilt!  What do you think about the way the turtles peek out in the crosses?  I like it.  Can you see the little turtle in the background print there at the very center bottom?   The turtles in the background are more hidden and well worth the efforts of finding them.

DD with Kailey

This is a picture of DD that I took on Easter with her matching Kailey doll.  They even had their hair the same, which was a bit of a challenge for yours truly, but worth that smile.  The next day DD was bummed she didn't have another matching outfit to wear.

Happy Easter

From our Home to Yours We Wish you a Bright and Magical Easter.

Don't worry it's only sideways for a moment.

A Glimpse

As I'm clearly on a bit of a break I thought I'd post a glimpse into my next quilt.  I'm planning this one to be Country Lanes and I have already collected all the fabrics I need for the top.  The background fabric is going to be the bottom teal batik, it has turtles on it and it is truly beautiful.  My friend Vicki picked it out for me last summer when she went to Hawaii.

The large squares of fabric are going to be the fabric you see on top.  It is a white background with Teal Mermaid scenes.  They look like they are painted water colors so that should go nicely with the batiks in this quilt.

For the chains I will use the light teal and the purple, both are contrast dyed with turtles to match the opposing fabric, another fine find from Hawaii.

Lastly I have an dolphin batik (just above the purple batik) and I might use that for the binding, but I think I'd rather see how the math works out for making it a border as I do not have enough of the discontinued mermaids to make that big border around the outside, but that's okay, after all who wants a twin quilt to be 112" long?  This makes up the fourth fabric from Hawaii, see I bundled them all together because I knew someday they would be great.

While this is the fourth time I've used a pattern from this book, I've never made the entire planned quilt per the book, so this will be my first experience using their directions for cutting the predetermined number of strips.  I think this quilt will go by easily and quickly.

Kailey's Basket

Newly Made Basket

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'd like to make this basket for Kailey, my daughter's Easter doll.  I stalled pondering colors and also because I didn't want to start another project without making some headway on the quilts I'm already working on.  That was so wrong!

Patisserie's latest issue gave me the opportunity I'd been denying myself.  This little tote is adorable!  One side says DD's and the second side says Kailey.  I was concerned about it's ability to stand up, so I went crazy with the padding inside - it has two layers of Warm and White Batting, as well as a layer of tear away stabilizer - in between the batting layers that I put in for added stiffness.  The result is just to cute.  And makes me want sit and play dolls for the rest of the afternoon.

Basket Stands on it's own too!

Kailey is all ready for Easter.  She has been dressed in her Me and My Dollie Easter dress, complete with under things, and has been to the spa.  Okay, truth be told I sat down with her body parts while DH restrung her and cleaned them with q-tips, a tooth brush, and baking soda.  It worked great and her skin is a beautiful clean bronzed tan.  Last night I treated her hair to a Downy dunk and now it is much better.  The ends still aren't perfect but much of the rest of her hair has taken on a luster I'm sure it hasn't seen in years.  Pictures?  Are you kidding?  You have to wait until I post Easter pictures.  Sorry this close to Easter - and with a daughter that can now navigate to my blog...  You'll just have to wait.  I also took a bit of time to put in the original braids back into her bangs. At first I just sort of took a lock of hair that looked about right, but then I discovered the wig clearly shows which hair to take and which to leave, simply in the way it was woven.

Is Dad Mowing Again?

I have a collectible doll, it is numbered 1979B the year my mother married my father.  Kailey is the 2003-2004 American Girl Doll of the year, DH and I were married in 2003 so that makes Kailey extra special.

I tried to convince Tiny to give you a friendly look for this picture, but she just wouldn't have it.  Still she's our girl and we love her.

Say What?!?!?!

Out of binding?

Today I finished up the quilting on my daughter's Tennessee Waltz Quilt, which I often have called Patisserie as that is the name of the fabric that inspired me to make the quilt.  It has been a difficult road to this point so I was thrilled to find the end of the road in sight, when a new speed bump jumped in my way.  I didn't make enough binding.  Okay I did - I made more than enough, but I also made a very special Christmas present for a friend and as my already made binding matched so well I used a piece of that to bind the Christmas Present and now I'm short binding on this.

Quilted the Love right into the Quilt

So in my stash I have a 3" x 6" leftover piece of the binding fabric.  As I have 60" more to go...  So the question becomes do I order a FQ of the fabric and hope after all these months the dye lot is the same - haha.  Do I try for something else in my stash?  I have a pinkish purple batik that doesn't match as well as some blue that I might sacrifice...  Oh the trauma!

Hearts and Stars Quilting

Now I just realized I didn't tell you how I decided to quilt this quilt.  The suggestions everyone made were wonderful and I tried to include everyone's.  I thought Sue's suggestion about shooting stars was great but I couldn't master drawing shoot stars (there was always trouble with the tails) So instead I stitched the words "Shooting Star"  In fact the quilting is mostly words, I used it like a note putting in all the things I'd want her to know about herself.  Some words that made the quilt were Sweet, Tender, Compassionate, Smart, Creative along with her name.  Sort of a moral booster from me.

Quilted in Quilt Label

This quilt is two sided and I didn't make a label so I stitched the Made by information right into the quilting.  Now while you could possibly quilt a quilt using words alone I thought it best to add a bit of filler, so I added loops, stars, and hearts.  By the time I was wrapping up the quilting the hearts were coming much more naturally.  You see I make a heart by drawing one side and then lifting the pen to draw the second side.  You don't have that option when sewing.  The heart has to be formed with a single line, period. For me that means start at the bottom come up loop around and then back down to the point.  I'd read weighting one side of the heart a tad bit heavier aka bigger, helps, but I haven't found that to be true yet.

When making stars I tried to see them either alone or in groups of three when ever possible so it's one  star for each human member of our immediate family.  I also made a few triple hearts that all connected at the base and one or two that the hearts nested within each other.  That's the challenge, because you have to keep your shapes balanced while leaving room for growth.  I'd say plain echos are easier.  

Trimming up the Quilt

How do you trim your quilts?  I trim mine to the front piece of fabric and go back and check the back to see if I need to true it up again (when the back perhaps wasn't as big as it should have been.  It works for me.  I just sit with my scissors and carefully cut.  What works for you?  Any particular way?  Perhaps your big and brave and use a rotary cutter?  Perhaps you know some showmanship tip?

If your wanting a closer look at any of my pictures remember you can always click the image to see it larger.

 While I think about my binding issue I'm going to tuck all the little threads you just saw into the quilt, until next time, Happy Stitching!

Catching Up

What does catching up mean to you?  For me it reminds me of that old telephone prank, "Is your refrigerator running?  Well you better go catch it."  But that never was funny.  What would you need to do to catch up on whatever is making you feel behind?

In my case I was behind on Sue's Scatty Stars Christmas Quilt-a-Long BOM, yes seriously behind.  So yesterday I cut and today I sewed myself right up to date.  I even have a couple of weeks to enjoy being caught up!

Scatty Cats, Dogs, and Monkeys

 So here are all of my stars so far for my Scatty Stars Blocks.  Sensing a theme perhaps?

DD has been a real ham and feeling under the weather lately so I took a couple pictures of her too.  Take care!

Small Block Meets Tiny Quilt

3.5" Quilt -Coaster

After another debacle with the Patisserie Quilt, I started working on the 3.5" blocks for the Dresden Plate Quilt Border.  The first one I made was to small by a hair so I boosted my triangle size then I really got down to work.  While I made all 8 bitty blocks I thought about that one loner.  What to do with it?  Especially as my desire to make tiny blocks is non existant.  So then when I was wrapping everything up I realized I'd made a second extra, why not make a tiny quilt aka a coaster with them?  So here it is, the smallest quilt I've ever made. I'm planning on leaving it on DH's night stand and seeing what happens.  He really does need a coaster there.

3.5" Snowball Blocks for Border

The snowball blocks themselves actually turned out really well.  Being a bit oversized allowed me to square them up at 1/4" offsets from the points of the center fabric, which was better than trying to guess at an edge.  See I even added a pack of needles for reference.  Boy I hope they look good with those 18" Dresden Plate Blocks!  I haven't squared up the main quilt yet and for that matter my folded border will need ironed with whatever new iron I pick before I can progress very far with these.  I thought I might go ahead and sew a block to one end of each of the lighting bolt fabric strips, as it seems like it will save time later.

Quilt Love.

On a different note, remember your visit to my sewing room yesterday?  When you came face to face with a glaring Tiny?  Well I thought I'd post this picture to balance the other one out.  Now tell me how can you scat a cat clearly so relaxed!  I wish I could sleep that good!  And for the record she knows we can't resist her beautiful white belly and uses it against us regularly.

Were you wondering about Patisserie?  Well this is it's current fight.  The fusible didn't hold here and ended up with the quilt back sewed to itself.  Luckily the stitches picked out without to much trouble.

Fusible Batting, Right.

Welcome To My Sewing Room

Welcome to my Sewing Room

Oh Please Come in!  I've waited so long to have you for a visit that I'd gotten a little shy of your arrival!  I'm so glad your here.  Please it's a small room, so you go first.  Yes, there right in front you see the cornerstone any sewing space - the cabinet I keep my fabric in.  Yes old friends are there, along with any WIPs that are awaiting a shopping trip.  It's early so I'm still on my first and only cup of coffee.  Par-chance do you see the mug rug on the table?  Sue made that for me for Christmas.  And there in the cabinet that beautiful pile of blue fabrics, middle shelf next to the Snake Quilt?  That was a special sewing room gift warming from my friend Vicki.  The top shelf is a jumble because I put all of my non quilting fabrics up there when I reorganized everything.

As you can see DH insisted I take the computer when I moved out of the kitchen.  He claimed my new kitchen table is much to small for a computer too.  So I took another table, this time from the living room.  It was made long ago perhaps before I was born as a shop table for my Grandfather's workshop, how fitting it is in my sewing room now!

Everything has a place, sort of...

Beyond the bright streaming sunlight, it seems like I have everything organized.  Books, finished quilts, and notions.  The only new addition is the wooden chest my DH made, yes it's a tool/tackle box, but isn't it nicer to say it's a chest in a sewing room?  Perhaps I should call it my sewing box.  Remember those tiny little boxes women were expected to keep ALL of their sewing notions in?  Tell me who came up with the silly idea that sewing notions could ever be put away?  They still make those little boxes by the way.  Some are quite pretty.  I've long since given up looking at them.  After all I don't have anything small enough to put in them!

Please take a seat at my Sewing Machine

Now for my prize, my delight and joy.  The old kitchen table.  DH wanted to finish the top before he'd let me have it for myself, but I stood firm.  We have never finished the top of this table, because Sunny is clumsy and digs in with his claws to catch himself when he falls, so every indention, ripple and grove has meaning.  When I'm not sure where to go with a project I just rub my hands over the growth rings and the answer is there, under my fingertips.  It might sound like a line but it's really more like magic.

Tiny loves the Sewing Room

Patisserie is in the machine right now.  Fighting me every step of the way of course.  Perhaps you'd like to sit down and have a go at it?  I'm certain I recall free motion quilting being easier last time, but no worries I'll quilt it.  I'm guessing I'm beyond 1/3 but not halfway done.  Are you missing Tiny?  Well she loves this room.  She was just hiding from the vacuum, I ran in honor of your visit, see?  She's right here.  For whatever reason it seems to be about 10 degrees cooler in here than the rest of the house, not to mention it's nice and quiet.  Of course my issue with her welcome presence is that sometimes I avoid sewing to let her sleep.  Shhh, don't tell or the quilt police will be after me!  Doesn't she look so peaceful?  Okay you're right she looks a little mad, but that's because I kept waiting for her to close settle before I took the picture.  I know a dog person would say "scat" but then you wouldn't have any more furry help and only yourself to blame.

My Meerkats in the Window

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!  The Meerkats will watch you leave and we hope you'll visit again soon.

Blue Dresden Quilt ~ Stitched Up ~

Blue Dresden Plate Quilt Top

Today, I got up and first things first set about sewing together the Blue Dresden Plate Quilt. Oh yes that's what I said. I finished up the remade block two days ago and it was time. As I sewed together each row I was reminded why so many other steer away from a large quilt. Funny, until today I was thinking this was just normal sized compared to some quilts I've made. But now I know, Appliqué adds weight.

Wow, What a Big Quilt! At least that's what went through my mind after I hung it up for you to see. What was your first thought? My second thought was okay now I need to figure out the border!  

Dresden Plate Border Concept 2

While I was cutting the black triangles that turn the entire quilt on point I cut one... okay three wrong. But I keep working because that's all you can do, short of stopping and having a cry and who knows if it's worth crying over until everything on hand is dealt with. Now I owe a world of thanks that the fabric store I ordered from makes me order fabrics by half yard increments, so I had enough extra to squeeze by. Not enough for that crazy pieced border I showed you the other week, but quilters thrive on accidents, because we either dream up another way or we grab the credit card.

So here's what I'm thinking.  The lightest blue from the Dresden Plates making up a tiny folded border. Then the blue lightning bolt fabric also from the Dresden Plates (painstakingly saved from myself mind you) with tiny snow ball blocks and then binding the entire quilt with another blue from the Plates.

Blue Border Fabrics Demo

Here's my demo of the involved fabrics. These would be a case of cutting strips and going from there. The bottom most one that resembles crackle is the one I'm considering for the binding. I'd say I'm 90% firm on everything, except that last print for the binding. What do you think?

Not Thrilled... Fusible Batting Review

In my last post I told you I'd review the batting I'd purchased for My Tennessee Waltz Patisserie Quilt.  Now let me preface this:  I contacted the company and they told me it's defective batting.  Now while that may be true I thought I'd post a quick note.

This was Fusible Batting, the directions say to layer together all three layers and then iron them together.  Simple right?  While fighting this product my DH said "if it sounds easy; it's to good to be true" and surely in this case he's right.  I would highly recommend anyone wanting to try Fusible Batting, to buy the smallest amount possible and use it with a small project.  I don't mean a twin sized quilt like Patisserie, I mean itsy bitsy, like a tiny wall hanging.  If it works for you okay, then try it in a slightly larger size. Work your way up to a crib size.  This product was so bad that my heart goes out to anyone using this product on their first quilt thinking they'll try the easy way first.  

Now that my quilt is fused - sort of.  I have no choice but to continue with it.  So as I blunder, complain, and cry I know you'll be here to get me through it.  Because we know it's going to be a beautiful quilt when it's done...

As always I welcome those with an alternative viewpoint to post a response, after all perhaps you've found a source that wasn't defective...