Sunday, October 30, 2011

Pillow process

I saw these sprocket pillows on Poppy Makes blog last week and thought it could be a fun project to sew together with George.  I did a rough fabric pull (about 18 prints) and then let him choose the ones he wanted in the pillow.  He wreaked havoc on the sewing room as I cut the spokes, and then he helped arrange them on the design wall.  I thought he'd help sew them together, but he was busy drawing pictures and wasn't interested in the sewing machine until I decided to quilt the pillow front (that can of spray baste catches his eye every time..).  I wanted to make a floor cushion for his room so I wanted it to be a bit sturdier than the Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial calls for.  I added a layer of batting and quilted the front and back, but left the side fabric strip unquilted. 
Things were going well (and fast!) until I sat with George in my lap yesterday to quilt the back.  I let him unscrew the regular foot and we put on the walking foot, and somehow (did I say something?) he said that he didn't want straight lines, but curvy lines instead.  Um, ok.  Whatever you want kid. 
So we took the walking foot off and put the free-motion foot on.  Of course George caught me a little off guard here, and I had no idea what sort of pattern I wanted to quilt with curvy lines. 
I did the worst possible thing-- I just started quilting.  With George on my lap and no plan, things went downhill fast.  10 minutes into it, I knew I needed to rip it all out and do it without him (and with a bit more of a design goal in mind).  I spent snippets of time throughout the rest of the day unpicking the mess and it was nearing midnight when I finally started over.  Thank god for twitter though, 'cause in the middle of the night when you need some quilting support and can't call anybody, it was nice to be able to tweet my problems and get support from friends online.
This is what it looks like from the back:
Grey thread, busy blue print-- you really can't see anything.  But from the inside..
Can you read backwards?  It was hard to get a good pic, but I quilted his name in there :)
Other fun things about the project:
I only had half a bag of poly-fil left over from god knows when, I've probably been carrying it around with me since 2002.  I was happy to finish it, but it wasn't enough, so I decided to use scrap batting to fill up the rest.  I read somewhere that somebody cuts up her batting scraps into little squares and uses it for dog bed filling.. if you know who I'm talking about send me the link because I'd love to give her credit. 
It worked out ok for this pillow, it's a little lumpy in some areas, but it's meant to be sat on, so I think it will all even out (or get smushed into place) in the end.  While George was stuffing it, I took a little video:
Not only was I short on stuffing, but I didn't have any suitable buttons to finish the project either.  So in the greatly satisfying vein of using what I had, I decided to cover my own buttons. 


Not that hard and I think I'd do it again.  It made me feel very "crafty."

The project was a fun one.  I don't usually make many pillows, but maybe that should change.  I love seeing handmade things around the house, and this was a lot easier and faster than plain old square pillow projects, which always stall at the zipper installation phase.  Anyway, I'm glad I made this one with George, and I hope it gets a lot of use in his new room.

Friday, October 28, 2011

thank god it's FRIDAY!

Not having been a 9-5er in a few years, I've kind of forgotten the sense of relief that comes from hopping in your car after work on a Friday afternoon.  But now we've got a new reason to celebrate Fridays-- Laura and M-R had the great idea to have a moving show and tell of sorts, TGIFF, where we all link up at somebody's blog each friday and show off our recent finishes.  Different than other linky finish parties, this one travels, and you have the opportunity to host one week, should you want to.


This week I'm happy to show off the Simple Squares quilt I made for my friend's son.  Started in July, all this needed was binding for months, and I finally got it sewed down just in time for the cooler weather. 

I quilted in my default wavy line pattern.  So simple, so easy.  I wonder if I'll ever try to freemotion any other patterns...

On the back I put a large scale Alexander Henry print of Chinese toys.  It'll give Logan something to look at from underneath as well.

And here's the whole thing.  It has been packaged up and sent on its way.  Hopefully the recipient can snap a photo of the baby and quilt for me when it gets there. 

***Argh!! I was supposed to be hosting TGIFF today, but didn't plan ahead and auto-post in time for the early-rising Aussies!  Sorry guys!  The linky party for today started on the main TGIFF page because I was late!  Pop over there to link up, ok!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Sweet treats

Did I mention that I love Halloween?
So much that I make George have a halloween-themed birthday party every year?
Costas always says that we should save time and order a cake, but he just doesn't understand that it's so much fun to make sweets for the party!
Ghosts were made by piping melted white chocolate onto wax paper.  Add eyes in dark chocolate or sprinkles.

Cupcakes were from a box mix (pillsbury dark chocolate) with chocolate chips added in.  G and I made them together, then I frosted them, he added sprinkles, and I popped on a ghost.  The activity in itself was 10x as fun as eating them..

But they were pretty tasty..
For the record, we did get a bakery cake this year too, tres leche from the local Colombian place (I swear, Costas has something against American baked goods).  In silent protest, I didn't eat any, but I heard it was great.  Not as cute as my cupcakes though..
And the birthday boy-- Superman.  He was wearing two layers under the costume so it actually looked like he had all those muscles.  I have taken Jan-Maree's advice and started a file of photos to share at George's 21st.. I hope he realizes I'm doing it out of love..

So have you finished anything good lately?  You've got a few days left to put in the final stitches, because on Friday I'm hosting TGIFF!! 

Please come back and link up if you can!
I've got a bit of hand quilting to get done before I can claim to be finished.  I've actually got two projects ready.. but I'll show off one on Friday and the other on Saturday (?) for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. 
Busy weekend~
Amy'sCreativeSide

Friday, October 14, 2011

Enjoying the season

It really hasn't gotten cold here in Long Island yet, so not many of the neighborhood trees have changed, and there is a definite lack of leaves on the ground.  I'm not complaining though because the weather has been perfect (right around 70 and overcast/rainy, my favorite~), and I know the cold will come soon.  Even still, I'm doing my best to enjoy my favorite month and favorite season..

This is my all time favorite coffee mug (though I've been drinking an awful lot of tea lately..)

And this has become my favorite handmade gift..
Starting pre-school has meant that George all the sudden has tons of friends just his age, and we've been getting birthday party invitations like crazy~  I don't know any of the parents (or the kids) well so I didn't really know what to go with, but then I remembered how much fun George had with his apron, and how much Sabrina loved the one we made her.  Every 3-yr-old wants to help mom in the kitchen, right?

I put the elastic in the neckstrap on purpose this time, and it worked out pretty well.  The birthday girl loved it and I'm sure I'll be making more of these soon.
(He was such a good model this time, thanks George~)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Merrill's Stars

Today I'm happy to share with you the EPP star quilt pieced by my good friend Merrill.  She doesn't have a blog, but she's a huge supporter of mine, and my favorite weekly playdate (glad our kids get along, we sure have a lot of quilting to talk about..).
I introduced Merrill to English paper piecing right after I started Travel Quilt #3, and she took to it pretty fast.  Over the past year we'd keep each other motivated and trade diamonds when we got sick of our own stashes.  She added the last star to her top this week, and I asked her to write a post to tell you about it..

Merrill's Stars

I remember the first time I saw Jessica's travel quilt. I was in awe, but thought there was no way I could possibly make anything like it. After all, I had only been quilting for two years. I can barely sew a straight line. Being a new mom, I hadn't sewn in quite a while. And I had never hand pieced anything.
Jessica convinced me to give it a shot. I decided I would make the quilt for my daughter's "big girl' bed - which I figured would give me a few years to finish the quilt. I decided on a bright color scheme with off white stars. I ordered my 1 1/2 inch 60 degree diamond templates and cut my diamonds while I waited for the templates to arrive.
My first hexagon star took me over two hours to complete. At this rate, I thought, I'd probably have to revise my timeframe. Maybe it would be done by the time she went to kindergarten. Luckily, my speed improved.
I basted diamonds and assembled stars whenever I could - during naps, when my husband had Parent-Teacher night at school and during Monday Night Football. If his teams were doing well, I had more sewing time. Because of the Jets, plenty of stars were made during football season. The Mets, however, did not work out so well for me.
One year later, I finished piecing the stars. I've chosen a bright pink fabric for the inside border. Now I just need to learn to applique.
Thank you, Jessica, for convincing me I could do this. It's been a great learning experience with a beautiful result.

No Merrill, thank you. 
Thank you for understanding and encouraging me.  I've searched the internet for like-minded quilting friends and it's really awesome to have a friend in real life (and in my neighborhood!) who appreciates how completely crazy I am about quilting.  Your quilt is beautiful, now let's work on the borders..
 
 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The problem with UFOs

is that when you pick them up again (the lucky ones), you can't always find all the pieces..
I wanted this spiderweb to be a big project, so I went out and bought plain newsprint at Office Max, big sheets, 18" x 24".  I cut them into 11" triangles, and made a nice template for the kites out of hard plastic.  I started the project, and then it got pushed aside.
For the longest time I kept one triangle pinned to my design wall so I wouldn't forget about it completely, and I stopped myself from using the 4 yards of taupe fabric in anything else, but when I started back in last week, I couldn't find the kite template for the life of me.
I rearranged the sewing room since then, pulled everything out of the closets in August when the roof got a leak, and did a huge sort and pitch overhaul to get rid of some clutter.  I had almost given up hope of finding it, but lo and behold, there it was, slid right between my other rulers.

and now I know when I started this quilt, March 22, 2011.  What were you doing then?
Do you do this too?  I have the habit of putting the date on anything and everything, to record my life through material possessions.  Any templates I make, any sketchbook entries.  I even wrote on the underside of the Ikea furniture I built for George.  I think there's something about seeing the passage of time in my own handwriting..

Maybe that's why I write on my quilts too.

*ETA:    it's just an archival safe black ZIG marker.  for labels I stablize with freezer paper, but on the diamond stars I just write really slowly..
(blogger isn't letting me comment on my own blog!)

Sunday, October 2, 2011

October

isn't it fitting to make a spiderweb quilt in October?
I don't remember when I cut and pieced the first triangles for this one, with it's soothing taupe background, but I have been focused on it for the past week, and I hope to continue through the fall.  There really isn't a deadline, I want it to be big, big enough for our tall queen sized bed (at least 100" x 100"), and I don't really have the money to have it quilted yet, so I'm not rushing. 
I've wanted to make this one since I finished George's and daydreamed about it countless times as I pet the one that covers his bed.
New bedroom, new bed.  The quilt finally fits!
I love this pattern.  I love string quilts, but the spiderweb is very balanced, yet there's still so much to look at.  I'm happy that I've worked on a bunch of projects since I finished the first one, so my strip scrap stash is new, different, and overflowing. 

In this first set of blocks I've pieced, I'm subconciously drawn to coral-reds and yellows.  I was amazed at the lack of blue strips.. I don't like to give it much thought as I string piece-- choosing more based on size and contrast than color, but when I notice an unintentional theme emerging, I try to mix things up again. 

It's funny that even after just 16 triangles, or 4 blocks, I'm already bored of the strips in the scrap bin I've been pulling from.  I allowed myself to rifle through the misc-sized scrap bin and pull some strings, but I don't want to just take out all the pretty ones.  The uglies will never get used up if I keep passing them over, and who knows, when pieced in next to another block, the uglies might get cute again.
Have you seen AmandaJean's whole-cloth quilt?  that backing fabric, I totally understand what she mean when she said that she didn't know if it was horrible or beautiful, but there, in the quilt it ended up in, the fabric was perfect.  See, you never know..

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...