Stash Enhancement

It was time to bring my sewing machine in for annual maintenance, and fortunately, my girlfriend Lisa's was due, too. We made a date to drive to the Pfaff dealer in Arnprior on Saturday to drop them off. Sure, there's a Pfaff dealer in Ottawa, but I wasn't impressed last time I took my machine there for maintenance and now prefer to go elsewhere. Besides, my sister-in-law's mother works at the quilt shop in Arnprior... that doesn't entitle me to discounts, sadly, but the company is good.

I have a load of fat quarters in stash and was determined to walk out empty-handed, and it almost worked. Then, I saw the bolt of fabric that was made with me in mind, and the next thing you know I was juggling co-ordinates and trying to figure out exactly what to do with the beautiful stuff. Here's what I added to stash that day, despite my best intentions:

That center green one is the one that I lost my composure over. It's orange and green and leafy and so very me.

See? I was doomed. Now to find a project to showcase it in.

Anna Karenina

It is finished, signed, admired, and given away. The colours and size were dictated by it's recipient, my adoptive mother; all else was left to my whimsy. The name was dictated by the audio book I listened to it as I sewed it up.

Draped artistically over the shed... (don't ask.)

The "B" side:

On the bed:

Mum laid down to have a nap under the quilt the day I gave it to her, but she got too busy admiring the stitching to sleep. I'll take that as the best compliment I could receive.

It Is Finished!

Six courses, five finals, five days. Holy crap, it was a stressful week. However, it's all over now for a precious three weeks. I should know my marks next week... although I recognize it's completely arbitrary, I fought like hell to stay on the Dean's List. Time will tell. I should know that in mid to late Sept.

"Finished" not only refers to my mental state, but Mum's quilt. 3 hours in the sewing room saw the border put sewn on and down and the quilt signed and named. "Anna Karenina" will show up on the blog soon for your viewing pleasure.

And now, tomorrow comes my reward... four days, three nights at Ste. Anne's. No laptop, no coding, no stress... just good books, good music, good knitting, wine, food, pampering and relaxation. Bring it on.

See you next week!

Anatomy of a Quilt-As-You-Go Quilt: Part 2

So we left off with the sashing or "grout" fabric attached, front and back, to a single quilt block. Now we being the process of marrying up more blocks.

With backing side up, lay out your second block in the strip. Matching at top and bottom, lay your first block, with sashing attached, on top. Open up the bottom strip of sashing and match it's unfinished edge to that of the block on the bottom.



Pin the heck out of it.



This is super-awkward to sew, as the sashing seam from the top always wants to get in the way, but with a finger guiding it and a little bit of persistence, you should be able to accpmplish something pretty close to 1/4 inch seam.



This is the magic moment, when you unfold your project and realize what you have. Here's the innards of the join, where your two 1/4 inch seams should snuggle up against each other sweetly. (Some quilters sew along this seam with a zig-zag stitch, though I never have. This zig-zag would, of course, show on the bottom though not the top.)



This is the folded sashing from the top, brought over to show you how sweetly this seam finishes off.



This is a view of the bottom of the quilt, where the unfolded sashing has now joined the two squares. Only one more step remains...



A pretty decorative stitch, if you please, or even a careful seam along the sashing, one or two threads from the edge, to secure the folded sashing in place along the quilt top. As this quilt is a crazy quilt, a decorative stitch suited the project just fine.



Repeat, and repeat, and repeat... make strips of quilt that will in turn be joined with the same techniques! Borders, if desired, can be attached this way too.

Happy quilting!

Anatomy of a Quilt-As-You-Go Quilt: Part 1

Not long ago, you saw me with just a huge pile of individually-quilted squares. They're lovely, but how, you may well ask, do I transform the many into the whole?

Wonder no more. Below is a quick pictorial to walk you through the "quilt as you go" technique. For further information, may I recommend "Reversible Quilts" or "More Reversible Quilts" by Sharon Pederson; also "Crazy Shortcut Quilts" is a good reference.

This is your starting point. (The books will give instruction on how to get to this point... this is by no means a comprehensive guide but a nudge in the right direction if you're puzzled as to how this whole thing works.)

You'll be making many strips of your sashing material (sashing is the "grout" between the "tiles" of the quilt that pulls the whole thing together.) One strip will be wider and folded in half; the second strip will be narrower and unfolded. Exact measurements of these strips vary from project to project, and from author to author; in this instance I am using strips 1 1/8 and 1 3/4 " wide.

The two different strips must always occupy the same place; if you begin with the wide on the top, stick with it throughout the quilt. Choose (I generally prefer the folded strip on the top, but this is almost completely arbitrary) and line up the strips with the edge of your first block. The unfolded strip will be placed right-side towards the quilt block; the folded strip will have its raw edges on the outside.

Pin this sucker down like there's no tomorrow. Be sure to catch all the layers, while maintaining that lovely straight edge.

Now, throw your 1/4" quilting foot on, and sew through all those layers.

Trim the sashing even with the top and bottom of the quilt block.

This post is a little picture-heavy, so I'll leave off here; watch for Part 2 soon.

Finally Pictures

I finally got around to getting the pics off my camera, so here are some things I've meant to show you.

First off, a super-fun afternoon project: a quilted pencil-case. The fabric is left-over from the quilt I made for my niece.




The inside, in a coordinating fabric.

A close-up of the quilting.

My cat had a visitor come calling this week.





We live deep in the 'burbs. The developer's equivalent of strip-mining took place before the houses were plopped down, so the wildlife that used to live here was pushed out or killed. This chipmunk is the first I've seen in two years... nature slowly adapting and creeping back to the land we took.
(PS... Liz has since informed me that this was a red squirrel, not a chipmunk, and that this is even better. :) )

Next... a juicy pendant that Velda sent me for my birthday...



She knows I'm crazy about orange! It was a perfect gift... thank you. :)

The Citrus Poppyseed cake I made yesterday. It's a truly decadent cake, with gobs of butter, sugar and eggs; but it's such an infrequent treat (once a year!) that I can make and eat it guilt-free. Almost. :)





Martha Stewart, I ain't... I couldn't smooth out that icing for the life of me, but since it was being eaten amongst family, I didn't sweat it. It tastes wonderful, despite the crappy decorating job.

I need to return to these...



so farewell for now!

Signs of (Crafting) Life

I've since finished the companion to that lone fingerless glove I teased you with ages ago.



I've also completed the lovely Whisper cardigan from the Interweave Knits Spring magazine.







I absolutely love this knit and am thrilled to have finished something so lovely. I wore it for my final database exam and I think it made me 5% smarter.

There's also signs of life in the sewing room.





Mum Janet's quilt is coming along nicely... I love how it's working up. The neutrals are so elegant and the top stitching in the high-sheen rayon is delicious. I'm sure she'll be delighted with it!

Finally Finished

My niece's quilt is finally done, and I am extremely pleased. I bought the fabric that inspired this whole journey last Easter, and it is supremely satisfying to go from a selection of Northcott charm fabrics to this.





The fence isn't tall enough to display the whole quilt, so... (cat included for scale. :) )





A close-up of the super-cool reversible border technique I tried and loved.



I am so very pleased. I've turned out some lovely quilts in my time, but I am most proud of this one, and I believe that there will be one seriously tickled three-year old in Nanaimo when she receives this gift; a pretty quilt for her first big-girl bed.

I took this along with my machine to a not-so-local quilt shop; the machine needed servicing after miles of sewing, and I needed to show this quilt off to an audience who would understand the blood, sweat and tears that went into it. They were suitable impressed, and paid me the highest compliment I have had as a quilter: they want me to teach a class!!! How cool is that? I'd love to do it, and my mind is percolating already with ideas for a sampler and course outline. She said spring would be good, so I have all winter to plan.

I also picked up the fabrics I need to complete my next work of art. My mum loves creams and neutrals, and hasn't been able to find a bedspread that she liked. Well and so, darling daughter to the rescue. Check these colours out and fall in love.







That's 36 different fat quarters in assorted shades of gold and cream, with some absolutely divine backing and sashing fabric and lovely rayon accent threads. I am so excited!

As You Sew, So Shall You Rip

I'm in the home stretch on Abby's quilt. The mind-bogglingly tedious yet terrifying free-motion machine quilting is finished, and all I have to do is sew the four border and four corner pieces to the main quilt body. It's not quite as easy as it sounds, as I'm quilting-as-I-go, which means that there's two seams to be sewn for each piece to be attached.

Yesterday I carefully pinned a long side border piece to the main body. It's a large quilt and hard to handle, but I eventually got it all pinned down smoothly. I sat back for a minute for a quick quality check before I began sewing, and was glad I did- somehow I had pinned the piece on upside-down. Crud. What a lot of work gone to waste. I unpinned it and left it alone in disgust overnight.

Today I came back in to the sewing room, eager to re-do what I had to undo last night. Carefully making sure the pieces weren't upside down, I re-pinned the border to the body and did another quality check. Yup. Looked good. I sewed the straight seam, fighting against the bulk of the quilt and feeding it through the machine. A quick iron, and then another round of fighting, this time to sew the decorative zig-zag stitch that holds the "grout" in place. Full of pride, I ironed the top out and then flipped it around to admire the other side.

And realized I just sewed that damned border on backwards.

Both Sides Now

I set myself a deadline- I wanted to have the top of my niece's quilt done before Wayne and the girls got home today. They came home at a little after 4, and I had to delay greeting them for about five minutes, while I completed the last seam and trimmed the edges a bit. Here's both sides:



The "A" side, made with super pretty Japanese motif fabric.



The "B" side, with Northcott "Quest for the Cure" charm packs bought at the Stash and Dash Shop Hop in the spring.



It's not a quilt until it has a Feline Stamp of Approval.



Not to be bested by Kate's mastery of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket, I promptly cast on a pair of Cookie A's Hedera socks, done with magic loop, toe-up, two at a time- a new technique for me. Fiddly at first, but I have the hang of it now, and can see it being used a lot.