A bit of this and that

I haven't done anything on my small projects sewing list, but I have spent some time stitching up other things..
like a super-belated bee block for Jackie:

And some repair work on one of George's little friends:

 (Why I attempted this with quilting cotton and a #10 between is beyond me..)

And that's about it.  We had a very full weekend with a Scouts' Barbecue and an African festival, which I may get around to posting about if I can sort out the photos.  Blogger is giving me a bit of trouble with uploads today so they may have to wait...

Got my hopes up..

This week seemed to get off to a great start.  George went back to school after 2 weeks of Easter break and I had the kitchenette and the morning to myself.  I turned on the radio and went about rearranging furniture to make a good sewing set-up..

 I moved the table over so I could plug in the sewing machine (finally!),

 (a view from the opposite angle)

And I set up a cutting area and the ironing board.  It was working out really well.  I even sewed a belated bee block for Mary~

I played on line, caught up on blogs, and even got inspired to sew something totally not on my sewing to-do list (more on that later), but then.. it all came to a screeching halt.
George got sick again (2nd time in 3 weeks) and has been home from school for the past 2 days.  I moved all the furniture back and put the sewing machine away.  Yesterday we played playdoh on the table and the little sofa is again covered in laundry to be folded/ironed.  I am back to hand stitching in front of the tv while I try to feed him and keep him from getting cabin fever.  
My big quilting projects are crawling along at a snails pace.  Maybe I'll have better luck next week?

Bee blocks

I'm frantically trying to get caught up on my bee blocks before we head off to Greece at the end of the week.. (wait, I didn't post that "how the hell am I going to fit all this cr** in the suitcase?!?" post yet, did I?)
Here are blocks I finished over the weekend:
A wonky star for Carole..

And a signature block for Maureen.. (I was in the mood for a house block)

And in case you haven't seen already, I'm guest blogging over at A Few Scraps today (talking about EPP, what else?), hop over and say hi!!

busy fingers

Which UFO will get my attention today?

The mini-quilt that's so old we used to call it a "wall hanging":

Or the overdue bee block that took way longer than a month to complete?  (but that I love because it reminded me how much I used to enjoy applique.)

Being that it's still only Thursday morning here in New York, and I've got a couple of quilters coming over for a stitch n bitch today, I think the odds are pretty good that I'll have a finish this week for TGIFF!  I'm hosting the party this week (It'll go live in a few hours actually), so be sure to stop back and link up  your finishes!

improv-- a 6 minute circle story.

I'm working on my submission for the NYC Metro Mod Guild show (read more about the traveling show here, you may be able to see our quilts in a town near you!), and I hit a snag when I realized that I couldn't get as many words on it as I had originally planned..
Wait, let me explain-- the theme of the show is "What does Modern Quilting mean to you?" and along with the quilt, we all must submit artist statements detailing our personal beliefs on Modern Quilting and how that ties into our show quilts.  I, of course, wanted to write all over mine, in pieced letters.  Like, all over it, but I realized that my design space is much much smaller than what I wanted to say.
My quilt is split into two parts, with writing on both but using different background fabrics.
The bottom letters are 3" tall, and the quilt must be 15" x 20" to be included in the show.. I knew I could make smaller letters, but didn't want to try to piece itsy bitsy fabrics to make my "b" "g" and "a" look curved.  So, I got creative and tried something new.
Ages ago I saw the 6 minute circles technique on a blog somewhere (I think it was this one), but just filed it in the back of my mind, not needing it until last week..
I drew up some tiny circles, followed the directions, and gave it a try.

On my first attempt, I removed the freezer paper before stitching as the directions suggest, but my "circle" wasn't really round. 

For all subsequent attempts, I left the freezer paper on as a sewing guide and my results improved.

Yay!  I had little circles, which I then pieced into letters measuring just under 2" tall.

Now for a bit more applique and hand work, and my tiny quilt top will be ready for basting.

Couldn't help adding in some EPP..

What I learned:
This is a great method, and I think it will experiment more with this type of freezer paper piecing for letters.  Of course, with the success of my first 4 circles, I got a little over zealous, and ambitiously tried to use the technique to piece other shapes..

The hearts worked great! until I got to the accute point at the center of the top.. um, no.  physically impossible.  But, I improvised and just needleturned the points by hand.  I still got an awesome heart, just half pieced, half appliqued. 

It looks better than a raw-edged machine applique, and faster than hand appliqueing the whole thing.  I'm pretty sure I'd do it again.
(Btw, heart blocks are for the 15 minutes play Scrap bee.)

For Lisa

The end of the month never seemed to be such a big deal to me before, but now that I'm in so many (too many?) bees, it always seems like the month is over before I know it.
Lisa was queen bee for July in the NYC Metro Mod guild bee.. she sent a red triangle and told us to do whatever we wanted with it.  I knew I'd make a house (one of these days I want to make a house quilt for myself..), but didn't like my first attempt (dark sky) so I tried a second.  A bit better, but maybe the chinese folk toy fabric (Alexander Henry, 2004) was too big of a scale for this project.  They'll stand out anyway..

p.s. getting the hang of twitter slowly.. not so obsessed that I've stopped sewing yet.

A good start to July

4th of July weekend was awesome~  A little beach, a little baking (2 BBQs with friends), and enough sewing to make me feel normal again.

Orient Point State Park, Long Island, NY.

Dessert Pizza

 I made a couple leaves for Glen for the Scrap Bee over at 15 minutes play.. challenging, but I think I needed a challenge after mindlessly stitching all those diamond stars.. see more over on that blog.

I also whipped up something really adorable for George, but he's treating me like the papparazzi and won't pose for a good photo.  Maybe he'll be more cooperative after naptime..

collaborative quilting

As much as I love this aspect of  the "modern" quilt movement, with all the virtual bees and group projects in guilds, today I want to show you a much more personal type of collaboration where two people work side by side to create one project, a little bit at a time. 

Removing pins is one way that George contributes to my process. Sure, it slows me down some, but sometimes it's nice to go slow.

And this is what we were working on (crappy pic, the sewing room gets terrible light in the afternoon).  These are my blocks for the Rosey Little Bee.  I had January '11 and so far I got back 8 blocks from the participants (there are 13 of us, so 4 more should be coming).  My favorite block so far is by Pam. Awesome, no?  This was a UFO I started last year sometime, inspired by a quilt I saw at the 2009 Empire Guild show in Manhattan (read more here).

I like how it's coming along.  I've got a handful of half-finished blocks that I've been working on slowly.  The one George and I finished today is the middle one on the right side.

SAND

Letters complete!

We went to the beach on Sunday and George had a great time searching for shells.  He wouldn't hold still for a photo, so I took one of us instead.

When I tried to get C to pose and make a good shadow, this is what he did to me.. the Greeks give horns instead of bunny ears.  how romantic. (I have a photo of C doing this to his mom, I can only guess it's an affectionate gesture..)

The bulge is my purse, btw.  My butt is big, but not that big.

I'm experimenting with the gorilla pod I got for my birthday.  I was able to get a photo of both hands by attaching the camera to the buttons of my sweater.  Neat, huh?

I made this block for Tanya, for her month in the Rosey Little Bee.  I tried string piecing onto tissue paper and it worked pretty well, tearing off with ease.  Putting the 4 blocks together though was tricky, the bias edges (especially of the toile), stretched more than I was used to.  I have always left the paper on until after I pieced the whole top when paper/string piecing and it has always been a challenge to get the paper out of the seams, so I tried something new and .. i need to keep trying.  Shannon said something about piecing onto plain newsprint, has anyone tried it?

Mail Call!

The following went out today:

a HUGE bag of scraps to Bonnie, via the 15minsplay scrap swap.

a baby quilt for Jake.

a wedding magazine for my cousin Janel (so glad I don't have to plan a wedding this year!)

and some bee blocks:

Snail's Trail for Lesly

Improv Crosses for Pam

Wonky Stars for Susan

No good mail for me so far this week, but packages have been arriving for my birthday boy...

Mail Call!

Mail In:
Fabric for an Ohio Star block for Claudia.

Mail Out:
A star block to Dee for the Incredible Shrinking Quilters Bee

An orphan house block to Amber for her Houses & Trees project

A thank you envie of kitty fabric for Amy, in return for the great selection of reds she sent for my Travel Q #3. (sorry, no pics).

Oh, and the 60° Diamond EPP Quilt-Along group is all set up!  Come check out the piecing we're doing~