Treading Water

It's Wednesday, NO Thursday!!  Do you ever feel like you are barely keeping your head above water?! That's my week so far!  

With custom orders and my husband's birthday surprise, I've been in the waves, under the waves and over the waves!

Husbands are a funny lot!  I always struggle with what to surprise him with for his birthday or any holiday.  This year I decided to make him his very own Lava Flow.  Our dream vacation was Hawaii a few years back and I know he fondly dreams about it all the time...more like obsesses over it!

I messed around with it, adding and taking away...cutting and trimming.  And eventually ended up with something I was happy with.

Turned out, once he figured out that it was Lava, he really loved it!  Men!

I was asked if I could make this mini bigger...as in 18" x 36".  She will be moving in to her new home by the ocean and wanted something to hang over the sofa.  I needed a challenge, so began I did!

I got out the BIG mat for this project!  Wouldn't it be fun to have a cutting table this big?  I guess I do, but I mean to leave up forever!

I started with a wall of strips!  Having yardage was such a help.  I could cut a strip from selvage to selvage and be sure it would be long enough.

The most aggravating part of this process was cutting the curves.  Only because this girl needs to change her blade!  

I am over the moon happy with this!  But the true test, will my customer be happy?!  I sent a few pictures and much to my relief, she was thrilled!  Sweet!  Can't wait for the quilting!

It's funny how everyone has a different vision.  One lady told me she loved these, but to her it reminded her of mountains.  The Blue Ridge Mountains.   And another custom request was born.  Try #1.

This is the first version.  She thought the white and grey looked to beige.  In this picture it kinda does.  I wanted a little texture, so I used 2 different whites and several greys.  In person it looks more white!  Plus, she wasn't happy with the dark blue ~ too much!

No problem, just whack off the bottom and change it up!  Try #2.  I was sure the top would end up being okay in the end.

She wasn't sure.  I didn't want her to be unhappy with it.  Sometimes it is hard to mix two visions together, but we'll get there.  Whacked off the top and stuck with one white a few grey.  Try #3.

Less white, maybe a little blue.  Better, but more blue please.  Try #4.

The entire time, I'm getting a bottom here, a top there and putting them together for the fun of it!  

We still haven't quite reached the perfection!  I will keep going until it is right.  After the grocery store, the dentist, the laundry...I hope to get this buttoned up!

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Beware of The Blade!

First up, I'll share the progress on my Wave Mini Quilts.  I've been feverishly working on them for days and days.  Just when I thought I was near the end...I had another idea!  How could I not make another one when all the fabric is already strewn across the dining room?!

'Motion of the Ocean' was the first post on this series of wall hangings and I'm happy to say I am in the final stages now!

I may have gone slightly mad!  I ended up making five total ~ I just couldn't stop!  That meditative trance I get in while doing this is sickening!!

This was the last one.  The one that needed to get the hell out of my head so I didn't hear those voices any longer!  The idea is a sunset on the ocean.  Ebb & Flow.  I believe I accomplished it for the most part.  In some ways it reminds me of Koi Fish in a pond too!

While I had the entire house to myself for a few hours yesterday, I set about quilting them all.  I change the thread a lot!  Besides the gradation of the colors, I like the thread to do the same.  Close, wavy organic lines work great for me!

Back

Making the binding is kind of a pain, but I like it to semi-match the piece. So I choose to torture myself with piecing it together.

This is the set of five before quilting.  My plan today is to finish the bindings.  

As long as I stay focused, alert and...

 BEWARE OF THE BLADE!

I know we've all done this at one time or another.  Nicked yourself with your rotary cutter. That little touch of the blade, the shock of it and then you look...and a tiny drop of red appears.  You know what I'm talking about!  

On the final cut I was going to make yesterday...seriously the last cut, I cut the fabric and as I was putting the cutter down in a blink of the eye the blade crossed over my hand as the blade should have retracted and simply sliced my wrist.  Shock & Awe!  Shock that I could be so careless and awe that that dull blade could be so sharp!

And so, my daughter fixed me up.  Called me a baby a few times, raised her voice and became Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) forever more to me!

It looks harmless enough (which is what I though about my rotary cutter). Luckily it didn't go deep enough to hit that vein in the middle of it!

Safety first.  Which is why I got the retractable rotary cutter in the first place!  I guess I will chalk it up to a freak accident!  Be aware of the blade!!

LINKING:

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WIP Wednesday

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It's Good To Be King! (bed runner that is)

As I'm sitting here watching the torrential rain, not wanting to venture out for the much needed thread or that trip to the dreaded grocery store.  It seems a good time to blog about a project that has been finished!

When I first received this custom request, the first word I saw was KING.  My eyes glazed over for a split second until I realized it was a King Bed Runner.  I was intrigued, as I had never made a bed runner, let alone ever thought about it.

When Rachel first contacted me and let it be known that she had been quietly 'stalking' my shop and my quilting style seemed right up her alley, I knew I had to work with her! After a little back and forth with ideas, size and colors we came up with a plan!  

22" x 88"

The finished bed runner!  Sand, Sea and Sunset.  Perfect for condo living on the beach! Rachel was amazing to work with.  I loved making each intricate panel for her, but really loved that I had been given creative control to do what I do.  

The gray back ground lets each panel and color stand out.  I was a quilting demon with the waves!  Lots and lots of horizontal organic lines!

Creative photography...I love shooting pictures from crazy angles just to see how it turns out.  This shot was my favorite!

Besides the runner, there was a pillow cover in the mix too!  

20" x 20"

Of course staying with the theme, I incorporated all three panels in to one lovely pillow! Classic envelope closure in gray and again, lots of quilting.  Except for the pillow I used different thread colors. 

You never really know if someone is going to like the finished product in person.  Selling on Etsy has been amazing for me.  Perfect solution to my quilting obsession.  That being said, the majority of people do not come back to let you know how they liked something. Even when you make custom quilts for them!  I know...I maybe a little insecure!  

Rachel came through!  Not only did she let me know right away that she loved her new bed jewelry, she sent me pictures!  

I kinda want to live here!  Gorgeous room Rachel!  I am ecstatic with the finish and that you love these.  Thank you again for having complete confidence in me!  

...and it is still raining...

LINKING:

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Bed Runner WIP

Have you ever made a bed runner quilt before?  This will be my first time.  I have never ever considered it before, it never crossed my mind...never.  I'm always up for something new, so when I was asked if I could make one, well heck...why not!

I guess if I look at it a little differently, I could just say it was a large table runner!  I'm not sure why I didn't think of that before!

The theme will be pretty evident.  The design will be familiar if you have followed me.  

SAND

OCEAN

SUNSET

The sand panel design is a new one.  I wasn't sure if I could pull that off or not.  About half way through I had my doubts (which is normal when I do this kind of work).  But I have learned to keep going.  You never know where it will end up or how it will turn out.  And really, its only fabric...bite my tongue!!

The three panels will end up being about 18" square and the finished runner (for a king size bed) will be roughly 22" x 88".   I hope, hope, hope that the gray will pull it all together.  And then quilting. Usually I would quilt tight wave lines in several different thread colors.  I'm leaning towards the same quilting technique, but using gray thread and quilting from one end to the other.  Thinking on this one!

And since I was in the improv wave piecing mode ~ 

I tried one combining ocean and sand!  This was good practice for the pillow I need to make that will coordinate with the bed runner!  I plan on adding a little sunset to the pillow! I think it will tie everything together pretty nicely!

LINKING:

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Creative Flow

I love being in a creative flow!  Sometimes it seems like I think too much about something and it usually ends up not good.  Letting go is a good thing!

I've done this design before.  I knew I could change up a few things and do it again.  Maybe even improve on my idea a little bit.  The other day I pulled out the scrap bucket and went to town.  I love doing improv.  To me, it feels.....freeing?!  Hard to describe.  Let's stick with I love it!

I pulled out every blue I had (almost), cut some strips and placed them on my design wall.  Rearranging them until I was happy with it.  

I started with the lightest and worked my way through the pile of strips.  Letting the 'flow' flow!

This was the first batch of blue strips, but I ended up pulling many more during the process. 

I used all kinds of cottons including some gorgeous Kaffe Fasset Shot cotton.  

I sometimes look at this kind of thing I do and wonder what people think.  Mostly those who are not quilters.  Do they see just the color, but not the detail?  Do they wonder WTH... what's the big deal?!  Just wondering out loud!

  

The last one I did like this, I added bubbles flowing to the top.  This time I decided I would not do that. I struggled with the binding as well.  I ended up piecing together the binding trying to keep the flow.  I kind of like it!

Quilting this was very much fun!  I used half a dozen different colors of thread and 'waved' out!  So much fun and so fast!

So, a few stats on this mini quilt/wall hanging. 

35 different shades of blue

78 quilted wave lines

13" x 17 3/4" 

I was having so much fun with this one, you guessed it...I had to do another!  I always wanted to do a sunset.  Here is my version of that.

I only used 30 different colors in this one.  But there are still 78 quilted lines!  It will be the same size as the blue waves and have the same kind of binding.  

I think I got it all out of my system now.  It was a fun, rewarding and happy process for me!  Actually, I'm debating on doing one more!!!  Seriously.  I was thinking Canyon Sandstone.  It would be so pretty in terracotta, orangey browns...to be continued!

Linking To:

FABRIC FRENZY FRIDAY

CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP

FINISH IT UP FRIDAY

SEW SOLID SUNDAY