Sunday, December 26, 2010

Lazy Winter Break

it's so nice not to be in school year round.  Of course being so close to the end of my program, I can't slack all break (the library is calling my name.. a research topic is buried there and I must find it before the end of January), but it's nice to have a lower daily stress level and get to enjoy lazy days with George. 
Totally inspired by blogland, I have been doodling while he colors.



He likes it because he can color in the feathers as I go.  I don't have a quilt ready for quilting yet, but with my month in 2 bees coming up soon, I'm hoping 2011 will see me at the machine a lot.  I'm ready to try some new things..

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!

I must have been a very good girl this year...

Wishing you a warm and wonderful Christmas!!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Raise your hand if you've been working on a binding this week!

What is it about the end of the year that makes us all frantically try to finish SOMETHING quilted before the calendar changes years?

For me it is this quilt, which as of right now doesn't have a name, but I'm leaning towards "Stashbuster 2010."  Please let me know if you have any better suggestions.

What?  you're wondering why you haven't seen this quilt before?  No, I didn't just whip it up in the week since my last blogpost.  It has actually been in progress since the spring..  Inspired by this corner of the quilt I bound last December, I wanted to try to make something that
  1. Used colors I actually decorate with.
  2. used up a lot of stash fabrics
  3. Looked simple yet held surprise areas of cheerful detail. (See, I've been playing with monochrome for a while now..)
I got it back from Shannon earlier this week and though I had wanted to have it finished and under a tree in a different state by Saturday, that's just not a possibility at this point.  The recipient should understand.  ATM she doesn't know it's hers, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't read the blog.  It turned out so much nicer than I thought it would.. at some point the top wasn't working for me and I stalled on it for several months.  Glad I forged ahead though, the quilting really smooths it all out and gives it a unified feeling. 
I love this quilt now, it turned into everything I had wanted.. and it matches my guestroom (and my family room) quite well.  That aged muslin outer border is a color I've been obsessed with all year.  So glad I used it.  I wonder what color will hold me captivated in 2011.. What was your "color of 2010?"

Ok, back to binding.  This needs to be in the mail before the new year.  Good luck with all your last minute holiday sewing!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Logic, where it was meant to be

Jacki sent a pic of the miniquilt on her dormroom wall.  Perfect, no? 

Of course now I want to make the coordinating quilt all the more...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Thank you~

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes throughout the week.  I think in the last 2 weeks I realized why I needed to change blogs from Littleshika to Life Under Quilts... I guess in my 20s I tried really hard to project an image of who I wanted to be, especially in online communities.  It hit me last week that now that I'm in my 30s, I'm much more comfortable being me.  I don't need to hide behind cutsy icons or made up self-images.  I've never struggled with self-confidence, but still, it's really freeing to know that I'm happy with myself, including how I present myself to others.  I feel content to be a grown-up.

I learned a lot about you guys too, and wow!  ask for anonymous comments and you'll get them!  I had a total of 40 comments on my last post, the highest ever for this blog. Thanks everybody~
The average age of my commenters is 36.  The ages ranged from 22-64, and only one reader is the same age as I am.  Thank you so much for playing along, it's really interesting to put ages to names now (for those who didn't choose to be anonymous), I think I was only really really surprised by 2 responses,  but hey, now I know.  I also learned that most commenters (unless they were months away from a milestone birthday) seemed comfortable with their age.  The commencement speaker at my college graduation included in her speech a passage about not getting hung up on the college years being "the best years of your life," but to enjoy every stage.  That has been some of the best advice I've ever received.

Speaking of things I received... This package came in the mail a few days ago after a loooong journey from Athens..
and look what was inside!

Of course I want to try the recipes soon (almost made one tonight but didn't have a carrot on hand), I think Constantina chose it for me partly for the quilt inspiration.. (THANK YOU!!)

This book showed up on my doorstep yesterday too.  What a lucky birthday girl I am~  I really have the most thoughtful friends.  Thanks you guys.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

31

Ok, before I get into the body of this post, today is my birthday and I'm 31.  After a discussion at the Metro Mod mtg yesterday, I'm curious to know how old you are.  Please take a second and post an anonymous comment with your age only.
Just trying to get a grasp of blog-reader-demographics.  please play along :)
Ok, now on to the fun stuff..

How wonderful it was that the NYC Metro Mod guild meeting happened to fall on my birthday weekend!  So I baked these, which were so yummy.  The quilting was amazing, as usual.  I am continually amazed at the versatility of these quilters.  One meeting it's EPP hexies, the next a super huge log cabin, and another time it's a totally modern free form block of solid strips.  (Yeah Mary, it's all you).  I love learning about these artisans through just a glimpse of what they choose to share at each meeting.  It's like reading a really good book but you only get to read one chapter every 2 months.  It's not so much drama and suspense, but getting to watch the relationships form and creativity unfold.  I don't think there could have been a better birthday present..
Lisa and I covertly planned to wow them with two finished spiderwebs side by side.  To our surprise, Carol had one to show too!
Nicole's medallion.  Excellent placement of values..

Kim's hand applique.  They give me free-time envy..

I remember discussing this quilt at 15 mins play a few months ago, but I was stunned to put two and two together and finally see that the quilter was Margaret, OUR Margaret.  It was so cool to see this quilt IRL.

Mary's finished quilt from the Threads Together Bee.  I love seeing Bee blocks reach the "finished quilt" stage.

And here's how our scrap challenge project is coming along.  In May I took home a bag of Janet's scraps.  I made a bunch of "housetop" blocks and showed them off at the October meeting, but didn't know what to do with them after that.  Andrea quickly volunteered to add on to it, and we passed it on to Victoria yesterday.  So it has become sort of a collaboration/Round Robbin by accident.  Love it!  Can't wait to see what it looks like by February.  If I had to guess Victoria's path, I'd say she'll either slash it, or add on to make it king size.. what's your prediction?

Saturday, December 4, 2010

16 patches

How did I not see this until now?

I have heard this book mentioned a bunch of times in my years hanging out in quilt-blogland, but it wasn't until last week that I was curious enough (or smart enough?) to do an interlibrary loan search and request it.  I want to own this book, is it still in print?

there is so much in here.  I mean, so much good information/inspiration.
but this week, i'm in love with 16 patches, and the 16-patch-on-point border in specific. 

IN LOVE i tell you!

so I tried some, getting over my initial hesitation because the thought of stitching together sixteen 2" squares from a laid out block plan just seemed a bit too--- fussy (?) to me.  How in the hell would anyone want to suffer through doing that enough times to have the right amount of blocks for a border?!  (of course, you can see I didn't actually read the book before trying this, i just looked at some pictures... In my defense, I was technically reading it over Merrill's shoulder while she was here Wednesday, but I did go back and read the instructions more carefully after I made several blocks..)
Luckily, I have just spent several days cutting and piecing strip sets for the Mystery over at quiltville, so I thought I'd give strip sets a try for this too.. I started sewing strips, cutting them into 2" sections, and then piecing 4 patches, but that made my seams all nuts in the back.  So then i had a brilliant idea... why not sew two sections together on the short side, making one LONG strip of 4 squares?  Brilliant, I know! (and if I would have read the book first, Gwen & Freddy actually tell you to piece 4 strips together before subcutting, but I couldn't see that far ahead..)

One day's worth of stitching (an hour at naptime and 45 minutes before bed on Thursday) and I have 10 adorable 16 patches in monochrome turquoise.  The initial plan was to do just one long side border with them, kind of like the collaboration quilt in the book, but once I started playing with them on the design wall, I'm wondering if I shouldn't do two side borders and keep the applique only on the bottom, or do top and bottom applique..

Oh~ the design struggle!  What to do? How can I make this quilt?  But I'm loving it.. loving being so deeply involved in this project.  I've been obsessed with a quilt before, but here I feel consumed..
I know there is plenty of school work to keep me busy over the next 10 days until winter break (only 10 days!), but I think this quilt will probably steal some of my time too.  I've still been appliqueing slowly during George's baths, but at least it's something.  I know I'm headed in the right direction...

Free Zoom Quilt Class, October 20.

    Free Live Online Craft Class Learn to quilt with Jessica Wed., Sept. 9 Tues., Oct., 20, Nov. 9 7:00 – 8:00 pm Sign up now.   Take one or...