Tropical Waves is Finished!

Tropical Waves Quilt 

Tropical Waves Quilt on Reverse

Yesterday I spent the entire day sewing.  Trust me things slipped through the cracks that made me a little frantic by the end of the afternoon, but look what I have to show for my diligence!  Tropical Waves is all finished!  

This quilt reminds me of the ocean both above and below so I quilted it like many of us view the ocean, complete with a sprinkling of surfers.  A steady watery quilt meander moves throughout the quilt so that it looks like the rises and falls of the ocean and a border of waves and dolphins swim over all of the borders.  DH asked if they were all boy surfers or if some were girls, so clearly I told her the ones that were female surfers were which ever ones she wanted them to be.  

Like many of my other quilts this one is fully reversible.  Originally this pattern was called Country Lanes, but the colors seemed to take it so far from Country Lanes, that I named this quilt Tropical Waves.  I started the back with an orphan block and some extra pieces and worked from there.  Before long a Tiffany look had come over the back and it grew from there.

Dolphin Border on Tropical Waves Quilt

Quilted Surfer on Tropical Waves

Now all the threads are tucked into the quilt and the binding is on.  The quilt finished up at 54"x85" which is a nice twin bed size.  Even Sunny thinks this quilt is top notch.  Okay well this is the best you get for a Sunny picture because he wasn't thrilled I made him stop grooming and look up.  I think it's a little funny that this is the best "why are you bothering me" face that he can manage.

Mr. No Quilt

Sunny never seems to care one way or the other about my sewing and quilting.  He could sleep on a soft surface but a hard one is fine as well.  He loves to sleep half in and half out of the sewing room as many of you know.  So today when I was tucking in thread ends I was surprised to see his face light up with his "let's cuddle!" expression.  Not one to turn down a bit of Sunny lovins, I called him up to me and his face lit up even brighter with his "I'm so glad I get to jump to you!" face.  After petting him for a time I went back to tucking in the thread ends of my Tropical Waves Quilt, and Sunny settled into my lap.  I was surprised that he was so content so I called for the resident camera man and this photo was taken just for you.

Hooray Tropical Waves is all quilted and off the frame, it seems like the thread tucking wont be to bad, so that is good as well.

Tiny the Quilt Model

I'm almost done with Tropical Waves, I was working on it yesterday and had high hopes to finish it, but I was fighting a headache and DH claimed the headache won when I ended up having to unpick a section of quilting, I was inclined to agree as nausea was setting in and it was clearly not a mere headache.  I'm feeling all better, though I still have a little bit of unpicking to do which shouldn't take to long and then I'll be off and quilting the very last border of this quilt, wont it be wonderful to see it off the frame?

While passing through the house I caught sight of my quilt model and just had to share.  She let me take one picture but when I started fussing with things and how it looked she said she was done it wasn't worth all that trouble.  Good thing her demands are simple; good cat food, a clean litter box, and her BFF aka DH.  Though if you are up for fulfilling wishes, Tiny would tell you that thunderstorms should be a thing of the past with only light drizzles to bring us rain, she also wishes to never be alone, and it would be nice if dirt disappeared forever.  Hey what can I say she's a cat after my own heart.

What is the Difference?

Now I was going to start this post saying I didn't have a very productive day, but the more I thought about what I had to tell you I'm certain it was a productive day.  So you decide, but keep in mind your only option is to agree with me.  First there was 10 days worth of laundry...

I helped DD with her homework.  She has spelling words each week this year, just like clockwork.  She is still on the learning side of the reading hill so when the spelling list comes home I know she doesn't know any of the words, and that causes me a bit of turmoil.  After all, I have one week to not only teach her how to read the word, but how to spell it as well.  I know she'll hate me if I make her write the entire list of ten - five times each and everyday, and there is a part of me that feels without proper reinforcement that wouldn't stick anyway.  So I've been trying to dream up new and different options to present the words in a fun way.  This is what I came up with last week that DD liked so much we did it again this week. I tell DD the word and she finds the letters for the word and puts them together.  This week I also added writing the word down on a piece of paper after it was spelled out, as I thought that would reinforce the connection between the capitalized Scrabble letters and the lower case letters she needs to use on the spelling test.

Tiny looks very disinterested, but she was really just waiting for the right moment to spell her own word. She singled out the letters TELC, which shockingly  seems to stand for language fluency matters in multiple countries.  I have only read two of The Cat Who mysteries so I'm not going to bother thinking she's smart; I already knew that.

After homework I was completely tuckered out, and settled in on the couch to start a new book.  I was to tired to read and ended up sleeping while DD curled up in my lap to watch "Powerpuff Girls" episodes that I record for her every night (they don't come on here until 10:30 pm!).

When I woke up and felt in much nicer spirits so I finished folding the last load of laundry, and started to pin Tropical Waves on the quilt frame.  I had actually started this project two other times. The first time I discovered that the uptake leader is bigger for a reason and mine was in the wrong spot.  So I had to switch all those around.  Then when I pinned it the second time I only thought I started pinning at center, but had really started at the 3/4 mark so I had to unpin everything.  Needless to say after that I walked away and let it sit for a couple of days.  Yesterday the pinning went much more smoothly with the only hiccup being some hamburger helper noodles stuck to the bottom of my pot and trust me no one cared.

So you see how can you call that an unproductive day?  Yet that was how I felt; perhaps it was due to the nap, or the matronly laundry that I somehow forgot I did.  I think we judge ourselves to harshly sometimes.  I didn't get that quilt quilted, I didn't do this or that thing that I needed to do.  But the question becomes what did you do instead?  A nap?  Cooked dinner?  Study?  More to the point, remember that all those things matter too.  Regardless of how you intended to run your day, enjoy this one no matter what it throws at you.

Quilt Back for Tropical Waves Done

Okay this one has been done for a while, but the trouble with the camera downloading and then I was on vacation (more on that another time) and before I could make it home I started having awful fevers that are even now plaguing me, but I missed you all so thought I'd show you this.  I think this way holds true to the Tiffany look some fellow bloggers thought this piece was getting.  I took off the floral print and instead you can see the purple inserts I made.  As well as the additional borders around the outside.  It's pretty hard trying to always remember to make the back so much bigger for the frame.

Now where is that cat? I know you're looking for her. Oh Tiny?!?! There she is, guess that's all you were going to get.

The new sewing machine is here!  It arrived in the clearly not a sewing machine box that you see Sunny smelling in the picture below.  I felt so lucky when I saw the delivery truck pull up.  Knowing it was heavy I even threw the door open wide and the delivery man was able to place it on our tile entry instead of the wet concrete.  I'm not sure he's allowed to do that, but I found it especially nice.

 Every time I look at it, I think if the Little Elna is little this is a beast!  If a standard mechanical sewing machine is 30% plastic this one is less than 5%.  As a special added bonus to it's 39 or so pounds is that the feet are suction cups.  I'm not talking about those crappy ones they stick on every cheap bathroom accessory, now these are hefty and when you pick up the machine there is an extra pop before they give way and allow you to take the full weight of the machine.  That makes for added fun getting the machine positioned but should really help it stay put in the frame.

Don't sew your leaders!  :-)

So here it is all loaded on the frame.  I plan to practice a bit with the machine unthreaded today so we'll see how that goes.  My DH is always delighted by new mechanical toys (clearly regardless of their nature) and stitched the first row of stitches claiming it was much much smoother on the carriage than he'd thought it would be, and that's after how many weeks of sliding the empty carriage.

So what do I have here?  The red thing on the black arm is the velcro for the stitch regulator, only time will tell if I like that more or less then the standard frame's controls.  Of course it's an Inspira Frame, with a Janome 1600P on it.  This is one of the three machines that will work seamlessly with the Inspira Frame.  I'm using purple fabric to practice on with pink serger thread because I heard the Janome 1600P likes that.  I think I'll be able to see my stitches easily this way and thought it would be prettier than plain muslin.

What else?  Oh yes when I put the machine into the frame, yes I weakling me did it, against even my own forethought and better judgement, but I was so excited; I had trouble with it hitting one of the bars, but of course when DH got home he automatically raised the entire bar system and leveled it so it's perfect now.

Stitchinpenny expressed some concern over the seemingly missing back for Tropical Waves, and I would actually like to say that I'm working on it, I seam ripped out all the Amy Butler fabric, and picked out all the loose little threads before the excitement really started happening here.

Tropical Waves Backing Borders

I've been working on the back for Tropical Waves this afternoon, and I thought I'd show you where I'm stopping today.  I'm really not sure about that Amy Butler Fabric at the top and bottom, but I think it will flow better after I have another border or two on.  Currently the back is 42.5" x 81.25" and ideally I need it to be 59"x98" to give me a 2" comfort zone around the outside of my already made Tropical Waves Top, I don't know about you but I'm feeling like a child's book saying "How many borders will it take?  1, 2, 3, 4... over and over.

In the mean time I thought I'd photograph a picture of my "tidy mess" so you can see I'm not crazy and I have to say if you think it's a real mess, I could certainly show you a mess or two.  Mess what mess?  That's how quilts grow isn't it?

Beginning A Back for Tropical Waves

I've been entertaining the notion of a purple batik for the back of my Tropical Waves Quilt.  But I've been unable to find anything that really sparks my fancy, so today the top caught my eye and I started pulling out fabrics that looked like maybe they would match for the back.  One single orphan block later, it started to come together.  I like the way I grew the first block so well that I made a second just the same. I'm not certain where to go from here, but it's nearly dinner time and I have much to do before I call it time to make dinner.

One thought I had was to grow them up side by side like this, but I think perhaps I'd like to spilt them up a bit more like the picture below.  Or maybe I should flip them again this time off point?  Time will tell and hopefully some inspiration will find me in the next 12 hours or so.  I'm not on a deadline, but it sure would be fun to come back to my tidy little mess and work on this a bit more.  Haha, got you with my tidy little mess didn't I?  Pet the pet, and hug the family, okay?

Tropical Waves Top Complete

Last night after DD was in bed, my husband went off to the sewing room to detox.  LOL, now what was he doing in there?  Playing computer games, but this way was more fun to say.  So while he did a bit of that (I got him hooked on the game, so no love loss there) I decided to add the borders to Tropical Waves.  The top is all done and the final size on the top is around 54"x94" so that's a pretty decent twin size.

What do you think? I took the pictures for you first thing this morning.  Tiny looks really settled, but in truth I only spread the top out long enough to take the picture, so she only just got up there.  I think I'm leaning towards a single piece of fabric for the back.  Perhaps a batik with purple and teal, perhaps something simple, none to fussy.

I once found the perfect water fabric, Atlantis by Sentimental Studios for Moda in blue.  I bought seven yards when I found it to use for my Hawaiian Ocean Applique Quilt, and I wish I'd bought every last piece they had.  I'm always thinking of quilts that could use such a pretty fabric for the back.  Oh well I'm certain the right fabric for this one is out there too, the joy of course comes in finding it.

I ordered the FQ I needed for the binding for Patisserie, would you believe they told me 4-14 days?  That seems a bit wide open.  No matter I have plenty to do in the sewing room until my package arrives.  What are you working on right now?  I was shocked yesterday when I visited fellow blogger Penny's Blog, and discovered the Quilt Festival is next week.  Wow that was quick.  Last year I really really wanted to make it through the entire list, but I didn't, some people may have and all the more applause to them.  We'll see what this new festival yields, some pretty quilts at the very least of that I'm certain.

Tropical Waves Plans Itself

I came up with a border for Tropical Waves, and when I did I thought, hey it can go on two different ways, how about I get the border sewn together without sewing it on and hold a vote right here and see who likes which way better. Great idea right?  Well the trouble with the border I picked - once I laid it out I could see there was very much a right way and a wrong way for the quilt.  So guess what?  I decided the quilt decides this time.

See to the left how the crossing line of teal moves through the border's corner block, while continuing on the same line?

Now in the second picture look past the tip of the quilt back towards the crosses, see now how the purple diagonal is completely parallel to the purple in the corner block of the border?  I think this way will frame the quilt nicely.

My new iron arrived this morning, first thing, I was rather surprised as we're normally on the "oh I forgot" evening pass.  After much research I elected to buy the exact model my neighbor loaned me?  Why?  Oh well let's see, it never peed on me the way the old one did, it has a bigger sole plate so ironing goes more quickly - but weighs the same as my old one.  It also has more steam settings than I would have dreamed possible.  Do you know what I say to those set it wrinkles now?  Shot of stem!  Hiss - Gone and that's nice.

So after I was done with the border of Tropical Waves, instead of sewing it on I started pressing the folded border for the Dresden Plate Quilt, and that went fine as well.  Not sure how long I'll keep the box, I like to always have my iron at my fingertips, whereas having the box implies I will put it away at some point.

A little bit of Knit

Knit Dishcloths

I started these yesterday afternoon while I waited for DD's bus.  I'm surprised I've gotten the first one done already.  Seems practice does add to your speed.  These are dishcloths.  I've always had this on going problem of the towel sliding into the sink or worse onto the floor as it dries, so as the slightly long and skinny dishcloths, I made for DH for Christmas, seem  to slip less, I went the extra step and knit pearl stitches into the center stripe.  I'm hoping they will provide a bit more resistance against slipping.

I took the picture with the little pearls down as they don't show as well as the knit side.  What do you think of my little loops at the end?  I've been putting those in at the end of my dishcloths lately, it doesn't take any extra work and I feel it makes them a bit more versatile.  Not to mention now they can hang from the loops to dry!  LOL.

This yarn is another cotton ball because the cotton is so nice to work with and provides a nice texture when knit.  This little pair will be off to my neighbor's as a just because gift and of course because she lent me the use of her iron for me to alleviate my quilting itch, shh don't tell.  I bought the yarn when we were out shopping together the other day she liked the green and I thought the blue made such a fresh blend I couldn't resist buying it.

In case you're wondering I have cut the strips for the triple border of my Tropical Waves Quilt, but I am waiting on my new iron - due from Amazon on Monday!!!  - before I proceed further.  I will be so glad to have an iron in the house again and that's from a person who hates to iron.  How did I get here?  I actually liked my neighbor's iron so much that I bought the exact model she lent me.  I'll tell you all about it after it arrives.

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.

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.