Lilly Pilly :: You're Done!

Another old WIP completed!  Technically I didn't start this project on my own, that would fall on my daughter Britt's shoulders.  She basically willed it to me and I was tasked with finishing it even though it's been sitting around for years waiting.  In fact, she left me with several of her abandoned projects in various stages of completion.

My goal before the end of the year was to finish the last two.  This was one of them.  I don't think the Lilly Pilly pattern is readily available, but I'm sure if you search hard enough you might be able to find it.     

LILLY PILLY
36" X 48"

I dug out this project in August (An Oldie :: But a Goodie) and went to town by finishing the applique on the majority of the pieces.  Applique isn't my favorite thing to do, but I've always thought this project was worth finishing.  So I was motivated...at least for a little while!

Then I promptly hung it on my design wall for four months!  I guess it was my way of forcing my hand or guilting me into finishing it.

It's a happy bright quilt now!  The time and effort that went into cutting each piece is crazy to think about!  That part my daughter did, but I was involved in sticking them around the tree...years ago, that I remember!

 

I can almost hear the birds chirping with glee!  Especially since after all these years they finally have eyes and legs!  I machine stitched the legs using a straight line and going back and forth a few times.  For the eyes I used one of the decorative stitches on my machine.  It's like an asterisk (*).  It was an easy way to add the detail and get ever closer to finally finishing!

 

Which brings us to the quilting!  Oh Yikes!!  Free motion.  This design I'll call 'Herky Jerky Swirl'!  There are a lot of jerky jagged not smooth curves happening!  But you know what they say 'Done is better than perfect' and this baby is done!

I'm not the least disappointed with the quilting.  Perhaps a wash and dry will mask the flaws!

See that quilt ladder?  That was the reason I was locked in my sewing room by my husband right before Christmas.  He wasn't wrapping presents, he was making me a quilt ladder!

We both work from home and neither of us are out of the house separately for long periods of time.  Were always together.  He works in his room, I work in my room and we meet in between for dinner!

He needed me in my room so I wouldn't hear the table saw and sander noise, which I did not.  After I would go to bed, he would sand, router, drill...then stain, sand and top coat.  I was oblivious as to what was going on.  He was very clever and secretive!

  

A few years ago he made an 8 foot quilt ladder for the living room, and now I have a 6 foot ladder for my sewing room!  Anyway...that was the big secret surprise.  And it was a surprise indeed!

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Workshop Prep :: Glam Clam :: Purging

I'm super excited for the 'Glam Clam' workshop this weekend, and especially excited to meet Latifah Saafir!  Our guild 'Music City Modern Quilters Guild', has set forth an action packed weekend for members and non-members.  How fun is it to meet someone you have long admired and been a huge fan of?!

Tomorrow will begin the festivities with Latifah's Bias Tape Workshop.  I do know a little about bias tape, but if you get the chance to learn from a pro you should take advantage of it!  I've spent countless hours deciding what my bias tape project will be...fabric wise.  I guess I've come to the conclusion it will coordinate with the Glam Clam quilt.

You may be surprised to learn that I am not, I repeat...I am not using solids!  Even though every instinct I had was saying 'solids, solids, solids'!  And my heart wanted to do the 6" Clammy, but went with an 8", after all it will be my first one.

  

And so I contemplated.  What fabrics.  What prints.  What colors.  Along with, what size of quilt? Scrappy?  Not scrappy?



I pondered and pulled fabric.  I stressed and pulled fabric.  I threw up my hands and still pulled fabric.  

In the end I decided scrappy-ish, and I'm going green-ish!  I'm using all my funky fabric that lingers in my stash.  Stuff that sucks, stuff that I love (but never use...because I love it) and stuff that is every thing in between.  Lime green to aqua...it was all going in.

The hope was it would deplete my stash, but no such luck!  I cut anywhere from one to 4 or 5 Glam Clams from various prints.  Not nearly enough!  I need more clammy's!

  

Tula.  Tula Plume.  Another love, another fabric that has lingered far too long.  I had just enough left over for two and of course, I had to make sure I got one bird front and center.



One thing I knew for sure about this quilt, if I didn't cut every single Clam for it at once...I may never finish it.  This way I am sure to make the quilt regardless!  I decided to make the throw quilt which required 128 - 8" full size Clams and a handful of partial pieces.  It will finish at 64" x 72", which in my mind is a very respectable throw size quilt!



My design wall was a bit small, but I managed to figure out a layout for the most part.  At least I have all the rows marked and ready to hit the workshop running!  The backing I have already decided with be all scraps, all left over prints and then some.  

If that doesn't take care of a good part of my stash then nothing will!  Purge quilt #2!

Have you made a Glam Glam Quilt?  I'd love to know what fabrics you used.  Picking fabrics is always the hardest part!

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Mindless Stitching :: EPP:: Striped Hexie (?)

I've been calling this shape a hexagon...it is not!  A hexagon has six sides, this is an octagon because it has eight sides.  A stop sign...I know this!  Math lesson over! 

I saw this design on Instagram, good old Instagram!  At the time I was in need of a mindless project for my evenings and when I saw it, I knew it was the one for me.  



The reason I've called it a hexie is because that's the name of the pattern!  I wonder if they know it's not?!  Funny how one thing gets stuck in your mind and stays there regardless of right or wrong.

You can get the free pattern here:  'Striped Hexie'  from Tierney Barden.  I knew I would be using solids just as Tierney had, after all I've plenty of scraps that would love to be used. 

 

I wasn't sure how big I would go with this, so I set about making color combinations that would give me a flowing rainbow of choices.

Note:  this batch of octagons ended up not being in the first picture piece.  I made a terrible mistake...you'll see!

Once I got my colors together, I cut my strips and began piecing each grouping together.  I used a glue stick to secure the fabric to the template and make sure my stripe was lined up correctly.   I prefer thread basting as opposed to glue basting.  It is most certainly a personal preference.



With a lot of English Paper Piecing (EPP), you have to decide how you want to stitch the pieces together.  I decided I'd start by making sets of four.  



After laying out all my octagons and settling on a layout, I grouped and marked my sections and began stitching.

Why didn't I use that batch of octagons?   Let me tell you!!  When printing templates of any kind, you are told over and over to print actual size and sometimes their is that little square that should measure 1" so you know you are printing correctly.  This I know.  This I have done time and time again!

Except this time apparently.  I didn't realize I had two different sizes until I had every single piece basted.  It wasn't until I laid out all my beautiful pieces did I realize I totally mess up.  



You can see the difference here.  I could have kicked myself and boy oh boy did I have a swearing tangent!  After all the careful color pairings and not duplicating any color, I was left feeling defeated and so damn mad!

Once I got over the self pity, I sorted the sizes and tried to reconfigure something with what I had.  I ended up having to make a few more using the correct size, or the size I decided to go with.  Luckily, it worked and I was able to breath again.

I'm not sure what I did or how I did it. Probably printing on different days, using two different browsers or printing from iBooks is a good place to start.  

Yet one more lesson learned...again!



I'm adding white squares to the sides and think I'll end up adding a border or negative space around it.  I did have to cut extra squares in order to do this.  Thinking back, I remember measuring a square, printing a template from Incompetech that was that exact size, cutting the squares, holding them up to the original square (which wasn't the original square at all), trimming them again ... at that point I should have known something was fishy!

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I'm in Retreat

Well, not exactly!  I'm going on our first Music City Modern Quilt Guild Retreat this weekend! Not just our guild's first, but my first!

  

I do quilt all the time.  Practically every single day.  This will be different.  Spending the weekend with a bunch of crazy fun, super talented and like minded people is going to be the best ~ EVER!!

I've spent the last couple days prepping.  Getting fabric cut, filling WIP bags, sorting through fabric. Little time has been spent on what to wear!  Because really...who cares?!  



I've remembered to pack my power cord and foot pedal, imagine forgetting those two things!

  

I have all my prints and solids (not shown) ready for another Denyse Schmidt quilt.  This time using her 'New Bedford' collection.  I think it'll be amazing!



I also decided Hazel needed to come along for the ride!  I've decided my couch would be spruced up with two pillows using Anna Maria Horner's 'Echinacea' fabric.  I think they will make a boring old couch pretty jazzy!

My color wheel's are in the mix!  I need a few more before I can hope to make something out of those 4" rainbow wheels!  

Stop me now!!!  I'm thinking of another project I would love to bring!  Yikes!  You would think were going to be gone a week!  We'll see how that plays out!  Kona Highlight is the star of that one!

We all have heard of or been the lucky recipients of Swag Bags, right?  Because the retreat is on the heels of QuiltCon, how could we...our guild...not have a Swag Bag?  Mind you it isn't as fancy or stuffed with fabric goodness, but it's the thought that counts!

Cute right?

My daughter designed the front of the tag, as for the back...well isn't it so true?  

Little treats, little goodies, little bits of love!

Off we go to Paris!  (Paris Tennessee!)  I'll report back on Monday!

Rowing Along

Here I go again!  Starting a quilt with very little direction!  The bare bones are there, the fabric is there, the idea was not 100% there!  

The end of the month will be my beautiful and talented daughters 30th birthday.  It's shocking!  Time does fly by far too fast, before you know it your baby is grown!  The one thing she asked for was a quilt.  That I could do.  With a monumental 'Three-O' coming up...it would have to special and I hope I can deliver on that!

April Rhodes ~ Wanderer

The fabric is a bundle I bought not long ago.  The theme of this quilt will be a Southwestern vibe, these certainly will play well in to that. 

This past week has been a fury of work!  I'm determined to have the top finished by the end of the month. (her birthday is the 27th)  Honestly, I tried to find a pattern that I thought she would like, but she wasn't having it!  'Mom, do your thing Twiggy thing' she says.  Gulp! I took a deep breath, cringed, cried and went for it.

The blocks are a combination of pieced, fussy cut and paper pieced.  I had to made a couple paper pieced blocks in EQ7, very simple ones!  Like this one below.

I have two 'X's on the front and plan on adding a second to the back...Roman Numerals...XXX = 30! Subtle, but fitting.

Row by row I go.  Trying to figure out something spectacular on the fly!  It's a good thing that my husband has been working away from home the past week.  I had fabric and paper everywhere!

Squares, diamonds, diagonal.

Delectable Mountains.  I was going to use a variety of fabric in each block, but it seemed far too busy.  Like it isn't already!

There's still a few more rows to add, mostly for spacing.  It's getting there.

The quilt will be at least a twin size quilt and I plan on using wool batting.  This one I am not going to quilt, not me, no way!  I'll send it out with a huge sigh of relief!

I'm not totally feeling it, but I think it'll come together.  It was a struggle, as are most 'design as you go' quilts.  

Stay tuned!!

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Clear Vinyl WIP Bags

My how a week flies by!  Last week I shared a piece of clear vinyl I bought from fabric.com, hoping to use it one day for some WIP zipper bags.  Well, we all know how things like that go! You get something for a future project and think... not now... there are other things that must come first, but in the end you cannot help yourself.  You keep thinking about it, you gotta do it...

WIP Bags

So I did.  One bag led to two, two led to three, three led to 'why can't I do it like this', which led to 'I think this would be better'...which led to I am out of clear vinyl now!!  Seriously! Good news:  My itch has been scratched!

Here it is, the clear vinyl.  It is 8mm thick, medium/heavy weight.  Honestly, I didn't know what thickness to get.  I just popped this in the cart and thought it would be fine.

I also mentioned that I was going to buy the pattern for the vinyl bags from Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts.  Which I did.  I couldn't very well think of how to make these by myself, and the pattern helped immensely!

As always, the hardest part was picking the fabric!  Why...I don't know.  They are just bags! Eventually I settled on fabric and a zipper!

According to the pattern directions, I needed a 12" zipper.  This one will need some cutting, but it will work.  The zipper will have zipper ends. 

11" x 11"

I got so 'in to it' that I didn't take pictures during the process.  So, yeah.  First zipper pouch. It works.  The zipper opens.  That's a good thing!  But notice the horrible pucker on both sides of the zipper!  Yikes!  I felt like I must have done something wrong.  I reread the directions and wondered what I did wrong.  

The binding was attached like a normal binding.  I even machine stitched it!  Kind easy when it's a clear project!  

I was still feeling pretty good regardless of the flaws.  And I sure as heck wasn't going to give up!  I ain't no quitter!

Day two.  I was giving it another go!  Fabric, zippers, zipper ends for two pouches at once. Check and check. 

Zipper casings attached.  Everything is going according to plans!  Yes!!  Let's move on to the zippers...there has to be an easier way, something that won't pucker!

This time I folded the vinyl away from the casing.  That way I have fabric, zipper, fabric...which should make things go much smoother all the way around.  I found that vinyl is super sticky and it slips and slides.  I'm sure that's what caused of puckers!
  

8" x 8 1/2", 14" x 14"

  
It appears folding back the vinyl was the solution.  No puckers!  It still isn't perfect, but I can live with this.

Of course, this has now led to my version.  As much as I like and appreciate the pattern, and I could never have thought of this on my own, I wondered how it would work 'my' way. Just a slight variation...

I didn't feel the zipper tabs were needed.  They look good and all, but they also limit the opening size.  Surely I could skip this step.

So I did.  I also moved the zipper closer to the top.  Either way is fine.  I just wanted to give it a test run.  
  

13 1/2" x 15 1/2"

You see that I totally went bonkers with this clear vinyl thing.  I was hooked!  (kinda like mini mini quilts a couple months ago!)

Project bags stacked high with WIP's, important fabrics, little blocks and scraps!  You could use them for anything...anything!  

You might be thinking a good old Ziploc works perfectly fine, why go to all the trouble and time for these?  I say why not?  Look at them!  Color...cute...variety!  

One yard of vinyl goes a long way! 

Sewing with vinyl or oil cloth can be tricky.  It sticks, it slips and slides. 

• You need to use longer stitches when sewing with it.  Small stitches may cause your vinyl to tear away like a perforated piece of parer.  
• Go slowly and gently pick up the vinyl as it moves through the machine to prevent sticking.
• Fold the vinyl away from the casing when installing the zipper.

Let's talk about cutting vinyl!  Believe me when I say it's tricky!  You can't see it very well with a ruler on top.  It sticks to the rule and shifts easily.  I have a plastic vinyl on the backs of my rulers and it made it nearly impossible to cut accurately.  I ended up flipping the ruler over which didn't solve the problem completely.  

I found that cutting the back piece was best done after the front was complete.  Inevitably, you have to trim up the front and it seemed to always be a different size that the back.  

My take on these bags and the pattern:  The pattern is well worth buying, especially if you are like me and need a jumping off point.  I wouldn't have known where to start!  That being said, you could easily figure it out with out a pattern.  (me, not so much)  Personally, I like the bags without the zipper tabs.  Easier access when opened up and they look clean and finished without tabs.  Buy the pattern, give it a go!  

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Heavy Metal

So, today was all about experimenting.  Colors, fabric & design.  This design may look familiar to many of you.  I made an original block for Fabri-Quilt New Blog Block Hop, the tutorial for the block is here:  Casual Link. 

Top: 36" x 36"

I will admit that I love my block, when it is combined with other ones.  So excited in fact, that I had to make a quilt faster than a speeding bullet!  You can see a shot of it here:  Just The Basics Ma'am.  I have yet to finish it, by finish it I mean quilt it!  I'm waiting for an idea to hit me.  In the mean time I wanted to play with the design and see where I could take it.

The fabric I picked is Heavy Metal, a Windham Fabric.  I bought a fat quarter bundle in June, bound and determined to use some of it, any of it.  It has a little sparkle and shine with the metallic spots.  Gold, silver and bronze.  

The colors are gorgeous and picking just a few for this project was so hard!  I even asked my daughter to 'advise' me.  She wasn't much help except to say 'go with your gut mom'! No help at all!

This is kind of a tropical palette.  There are times when I want to go crazy and wild, pick an unexpected combination, live on the edge!  

This is my idea of living on the edge!  Hold me back!  The yellow-ish, green-ish, chartreuse-ish...that's wild!  This piece has been sitting on my shelf for a year.  One year!  I haven't a clue what it is exactly, I just know I love the color.

The project...oh yeah!  Colors picked, fabrics cut.  But wait, what was I thinking?  I had to do some fast thinking when I cut the white/grey color.  Remember I said I bought a FQ bundle? Not enough for four blocks!  I don't think you can tell where I pieced together the 2" squares, but I was short 2 of them.  At this point I'm thinking I'm screwed!  What was I thinking?!

Then I fiddled, scrimped, and finagled myself to finishing the four blocks.  Hindsight:  I would have used a solid that I had plenty on hand of.  

Once I added the borders, it not only framed the center well, but beefed up the size!  I was thinking it should become a baby quilt.

Looking back, there are a few things I would change or do differently.  Color placement for one.  I think using four colors for inside and four outside would be interesting.  I might even make the corners angled.  

Which leads to many more ideas!  That I like!  I enjoy taking a design, playing with it and changing it up. 

It was fun cutting in to fabric that would otherwise sit for far too many months.  And especially fun to use my block again.

When you work with a pattern, do you like to change it up and make it your own?  Or strictly stay inside the lines?  

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