Wanted: A Clever Post Title

So if you think of one, let me know. :-)

The tree came down last weekend and my desk returned to its place in the corner, but along the other window this time, which has freed up some space.  I'm still in the process of getting organized but I'm getting there. Given that this new setup has led to long, uninterrupted stretches of sewing, I have taken full advantage.

My nephew's 2nd birthday was on the 5th and while I did give him a bunch of Hot Wheels, I hadn't finished the other half of his gift until this past Wednesday:  the bag to put them in.

See my oops? :-)

I found the paper-piecing patterns on Fandom In Stitches - totally free - and then I framed the results with a lovely little traffic print, lined it with the leftover solid from Seester's quilt and added two ribbons to act as drawstrings. It finished about 12x15".  He was thrilled. "Oh!  MAY-turr...!"  Happy boy, happy auntie.

The other advantages of gaining back the workspace is that I was able to cross off a goal by organizing my scraps.  I went from this...

...to this...

...and finally this:

Ooooh, that's one fingerprint-y desktop...

Neat and tidy. Well... they're contained, anyway.  I would like to organize further but right now, they're sorted by size. Crumbs and short strips in the orange bin, everything else sorted in large ziplocs, etc, in the white laundry hamper.

The sort also allowed me to do something I swore I didn't have time for...

I drank the kool-aid.

For the record, I don't do instagram.  I wasn't exposed to this virus through instagram.

Nope, it was y'all.

Within a two week period, it seemed that almost every feed in my RSS reader was throwing Scrappy Trips at me.  I'm not generally a joiner in the "everyone's doing it" sense (I still haven't seen Titanic, and don't intend to) but they were so pretty! And EVERYWHERE.  It was a bombardment; I was hiding in my "I don't have time" bunker but being shelled within an inch of my quilting sanity.  I came out waving my white flag. Of scraps.  That was my one rule for myself:  I had to use only scraps for these blocks.  What will happen with the back and binding? Don't know.  But for now, I'm pleased (and sickeningly shocked) that I made 36 blocks without cutting into yardage.  That's a sizeable dent in the old scrap heap, eh?

And then there's my first ever bee block for the Simply Solids Bee.  Never done a bee before but it was on my quilting bucket list, so...  Lethargic Lass asked for asterisk blocks - and they were much more fun than I thought they'd be; the fabrics she sent were different than what I usually use, too, so that was very enjoyable!  I threw it in the mail last week so she should have it soon.

Believe it or not, I actually got MORE sewing than that done last week and I have the iron-steam burns to prove it. But why spend all my projects on one post...?  :-)

Have a stellar week!

Gifts, the Second

Aha!  A week has fled by and completely unbeknownst to me.

Well, almost.  I am, please hold your disbelief for a moment, yet again recovering from a cold. Say what??  Yes, that's three nasty colds in as many months.  Yes, I'm taking my vitamins, eating right, and getting enough sleep.  Yes, I'm aunt to a toddler who is building an immune system and a substitute teacher who gets the majority of her assignments covering for teachers who have been stricken by illness in various classrooms all over the city. I figure, by the end of 2013, I'll be immune to everything! Mwahaha! [Rubs hands together.] [With Purell.]

Anyways, I have stopped coughing intensely (sorry to the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild ladies who endured the very onset of my coughing during our meeting this weekend.... Yikes!) and can return to blogging without fear that a bronchial spasm will cause premature publication.

Here is second half of the gifts I made this Christmas.

A scarf for my dad using this pattern from The Purl Bee.  I splurged for the specified yarn and was very glad I did so - it's soft, knit beautifully! and is as warm as it looks.  It even held up to six different starts without separating into raggedly plies on me.  (The pattern isn't at all difficult but it took me a while to a) cast-on the correct number of stitches and b) read properly. Once I managed to do both those things at the same time, it was quick and smooth sailing.)  One thing to mention is that because the yarn is naturally hand-dyed, it turned my hands all sorts of black.  Luckily, it washed off easily but I made sure to soak the finished scarf in a vinegar bath before blocking to try and set the colour.  Dad has been warned not to wear it with a white shirt for the foreseeable future.  Luckily, he wears a lot of dark colours.

Mum requested a bag for taking on vacation. She wanted something that would hold a little bit of shopping and could double as a beach-taking bag - something that wouldn't show too much dirt.  She also was pretty specific about the pattern, too,  so I used Amy Butler's Birdie Sling.  I followed the instructions to the letter and took my time with it so I'm very happy with how it turned out.  However, I think I'm now addicted to the good-quality interfacing.  Yep, can't go back to the 99cent/yard crappy non-woven fusibles now...  Stupid Amy Butler, raising my expectations of everyday sewing notions! (Ok, I'm not really mad, but it does change my sewing budget.)

And since a certain auntie gave a certain nephew a train set, she also felt he should have a bag to put all his train pieces in.  I found a paper-piecing pattern on Etsy and then built the panels into a box bag using some fabric from my stash.  It was a last-minute project, but took the better part of a day since I had to take a simple idea and tweak it until it was no longer simple...  It's not the best sewing job but it has the choo-choos required and, perspective, the recipient is 2.  He's happy, I'm happy.

So that's the rest of my Christmas makes.  I have been doing some other sewing but that will come later.  I've rambled enough for one post!

Although..... if I squeak in one more ramble, I am overjoyed that the NHL lockout is finally over.  :D Seriously, I've been watching KHL highlights from Russia.  Still trying to decide how petulant a fan I'll be and for how long.  Mostly, I'm just scared that my beloved Leafs will trade for Luongo. If you've talked to me at all about hockey, then you already know that's my hockey nightmare....

Shadow Blossoms and The Punisher

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a fantastic end to 2012 and are already having a spectacular 2013.  I am already tripping over my feet trying to keep up and I'm hoping that will have disappeared by February.  :-)  One of my goals for the year (subject for another post) is to get a little more organized with my time and start editing in various areas of my life.  I've already started with my bedroom closet; the great weeding of 2013 has begun!

I can FINALLY show you some of the things I made as gifts for Christmas. It'll take me a couple of posts but I'll start today with the big ones.  The photos are not stellar - due to a lack of quilt holder-uppers before the day and lack of sunlight and reasonable temperatures after, it's been difficult to get a good shot.  Indoors on a cloudy day.  Blergh!

Shadow Blossoms

I have already mentioned here that Seester requested a bed quilt to go in the bedroom she painstakingly redecorated this summer.  As I had already been planning to make her one for Christmas, I confessed my intentions, we discussed colours and fabrics, a loose idea of a design, and away I went.  Once fabric was purchased (mostly Bonnie&Camille Vintage and Ruby), I okayed it all with her but that's the last she saw of it until Christmas morning.

The quilting is a mix of meandering for the main and giant pebbles in the border.  I had started out with intentions of doing much more complicated free-motion work but was stymied by both my lack of FMQ skill and the sheer size of it.  It'll fit her queen-sized bed with plenty of pillow-tuck and drape space. Big quilt. HUGE!  (Did anyone else think Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman just now? Anyone? No?)

Alas, this was the best shot I could get of the back.

I'm happy with the way the design worked out - it's my own, right from scratch, and I'm working on a pattern for it.  I do wish the fabrics we'd agreed on had more contrast in value so that it looks more like shadows from stained glass but she loves it so I don't really care.  

She also got a set of matching pillow cases.  I used this tutorial. Very easy, French seams and all.

The Punisher

The gift I was most excited for this year is this one. If I didn't make him a quilt, he'd be the only member of my immediate family that didn't have one.  However, looking at him and his interests, "quilt" is not generally a word that would make the short list of gift ideas. My brother-in-law is a giant(!) and a giant fan of the comic book vigilante, The Punisher.  This skull is his symbol.  Inspired by Dan Rouse's (Piece and Press) totally amazing work, I decided to do it in reverse appliqué. Not wanting it to be boringly solid, I decided to piece random backgrounds (another post) so that the quilt would have a visual texture to it. I had no idea if it would actually work but I gathered up my fabrics, crossed my fingers and started cutting like a hairdresser with no concept of consequences...

The skull is quilted in random jagged lines - very sharp and pointy - while the black is meanders.  I also added a few black "cracks" in the skull.  It turned out exactly like I envisioned even though there were moments in the piecing of the backgrounds that I had serious doubts.  The blacks didn't seem black enough, the whites were going to be too beige, it was all going to be a huge mess...  But it wasn't!  Put black fabric next to white fabric and all is right again. And cutting away the appliqué left all these marvellous raggedy edges after washing.

He was completely excited when he opened it.  He stood to spread it out and get a better look, and referring to the super-impressionable and parrot-like toddler at his feet, said, "You have NO IDEA how much I wish I could swear right now!"  Ah, there's nothing like censored curse words of appreciation...! :-)

The back was pieced using leftovers from the top.  It's just over six feet high and five wide, not quite big enough to fit on a bed. On purpose.  Seester thanked me for that.  :-)  It will go in his man-cave and their newly finished basement for movie watching.

So that's round one!  Thanks for reading this rather long post with very sad excuses for photography. :-)  I'm off to get working on those goals... Did I mention I joined a bee?

Early gift

Yep.  I went AWOL again. It happens.  I get busy, life happens, you've been there.  Plus, most of what I was busy with is not interesting or a Christmas secret, and then there were real world incidents that break my heart so much that I can't bear to write about them.  I've had to filter a great deal of what I've been watching and reading because as a teacher and someone with a precious tiny person in her life, my grief is too much.  For everyone who has been affected by the horror of it, my prayers are with you...

It was overwhelming but now, I am choosing to concentrate on all the incredible blessings in my life and remember why I love this season so very much.  Peace, hope and love.  I am extremely grateful, extremely hopeful, wishful for positive change, and finally, finally, able and inspired to blog.  Sigh.  And here we go...

***

If you haven't come across Cindy's blog, Live a Colorful Life, you're missing out.  Not only is she talented, and marvellous, wonderfully funny, she's about the nicest person I've never met in real life.  :-)  When she asked me if I wanted to do a private swap, I instantly and nervously said yes!  We decided on pouches, though we were both a little skittish on zippers.

I knew the one I made would have to be full of colour so I went to the rainbow side of things.

Plus, I got to play with teeny tininess which always makes me happy. Then I added a little Saskatchewan and sent it off.  Cindy blogged about it here.

A week ago, this marvellous package arrived.

It's beautiful!! And huge!  It's now my new knitting project bag (and the zipper is perfect.  Yes, perfect. The one I did?  Well, Cindy was nice enough not to mention the amateurish installation...)  Cindy does these amazing things with selvedges.  And this hexy flower is no execption! Somehow, I've missed taking a decent photo of the inside (so hard to get good light these days!), but the fabric is perfect and there's two big pockets.  And then there were the goodies she threw in!

California honey, chocolate covered jumbo raisins and almonds (completely gone, by the way - so good!), a wonderful bag of pretty buttons (I have a weakness for buttons) and a box stuffed full of 1 1/2" squares. Joy!

Plus, something I've longed for since she opened her etsy shop, a custom pin cushion, all of selvedges and so completely perfect.

I won't lie and say that I didn't get a little misty-eyed, because I did.  I was terribly sick and had a bad migraine to boot so it's timing was amazing.  My thank you email feels inadequate.  I am so lucky to have such fantastic people like Cindy in my life...

And now, I have a month's worth of blog-reading to catch up on but as I am officially on holidays, officially done shopping, making and wrapping, and officially into the buttertarts, I will be able to do so before 2013.

Regardless of your faith, background, geography or politics, I am wishing you peace, love, and hope today and every day of the year.

Much love,
Carly

Flying Geese Scrap Tip

Wow - hello, two weeks later!  I have been offline this week (and  owe a few back emails....)so that post I intended to do last Monday kinda went the wayside. I won't bore you with too many of the details but I'll tell you that it involved a ton of subbing, getting panicky over the arrival dates of ordered sewing supplies (which led to frantic sewing on all things I have right here so that when said arrivals actually happen I can hit the ground with the sewing machine running), an improv evening masquerading as a Bond girl/spy, and a day of guest directing for the upcoming Christmas dinner theatre of "Sorry! Wrong Chimney!" in Eston, SK, which was soooo much fun.  (PS - if you're looking for a pleasant drive, and a fun farce by really lovely and talented folks, you should totally go.  They've put together a heck of a show! Dec 6, 7, and 8) Phew! If you're exhausted just reading that, I don't blame you.  You can understand why I've been falling asleep a little before I go to bed lately.  :-)

Decent wig, eh?  (Save the ragged bangs.) Add in a very thick Russian accent, red lipstick and gold lame and you get the picture...  "Ah, pleh-zure to meet you, Meester Bond."

Anyhoo!  In my frantic sewing of things I can't share for another month, I did have the wherewithal to snap a few photos of a trick I came up with while working on my Swoon, since the project I'm working on has similar building blocks.

If you've spent any time reading this blog, then you know I love scraps and hate wasting even the tiniest of pieces when they can become something else.  Flying geese blocks have potential for a lot of waste. However, if you take a little bit of time (which is negligible if you're already marking lines), you can actually have the scraps sewn together before you even trim your geese.

This method only works if you're using squares and rectangles to build your geese. If you're using triangles, you've got different scraps entirely and will have to find other scrap-saving tips. :-)

Flying Geese Scrap Saver Tip:
Step 1) When marking your diagonal sewing line on your square, draw a second line 1/2" away from the first.

Step 2) When positioning the square on the rectangle, face the second line towards the corner of the rectangle as opposed to the centre side. If you've sewn flying geese before, you're familiar with which side is the scrap side.  You want the second line on the scrap side of things.

Step 3)  Chain piece:  Sew along the first line to make your flying geese block.  Turn your chain of geese around.

Step 4) Chain piece: Sew along second pencil line.

Step 5) Trim/cut your flying geese blocks between the pencil lines - 1/4" from each - to separate the block from the scrap.

It's tidier if you use a rotary cutter but scissors work, too.

Step 6) Viola!  You have both a flying geese block and a bonus half-square triangle ready to square up for use in another project.

For the record, on HSTs I recommend pressing seams open but as this was the ONLY one I pressed that day, I went with the quick press-to-the-side.  Geese I always press towards the outside.

The size of the half-square block will truly depend on the size of your flying geese but a reliable estimate is subtract 1" from the short side measurement of the geese block for your HST.  For example:  my geese block unfinished is 2.5" and the HST trims to 1.5".  Obviously it's small but if you're geese are larger, so are your HSTs.  The Swoon has 3.5" flying geese and my HSTs trimmed to 2.5"...  Regardless, they are already sewn and you don't have to mess with bias-cut tiny scraps.  Yay!!

Okay, off to return back emails and race out for batting.  I foresee many sore safety pin-poked fingers in my near future....

Gratitude and Re-do'ed

Boy, a week goes by quickly when you're sick/busy/add any descriptor here....!

I have a schwhack of thanks to hand out.  (Yep, it's a word.  Okay, it's a collection of sounds...)

1) A HUGE thank you to everyone who nominated/voted for my quilt, Homespun, in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival!! I'm flattered and humbled to have won Favourite Scrap Quilt.  And totally floored!  Thanks so much!

Thanks to Sew Fresh Fabrics for sponsoring the category. And everyone who commented or even looked at my entry, too.  And to Amy, as always, for hosting. And the Academy... (Okay, going too far...)


2) Thanks to Rita at Red Pepper Quilts who had a giveaway and FabricSpot for the fat quarter bundle, which arrived already!  Karen at FabricSpot is lovely, they're set up in Ontario, the selection is great and her shipping rates are awesome.  Go check it out! I'll wait.

Pretty pretty!

3) Thanks for all the well-wishes over my cold - I'm feeling much better now. :-)

***

I did manage to get some sewing done this week, most of which I can't show.  Then there's the sewing tool case which I made from some of the leftovers.  Or rather, two sewing tool cases.  The first did not turn out well, not because the pattern wasn't good (it's a great pattern), but because of decisions I made during the process.  I share it now in the interests of transparency and to stop anyone from getting the impression that I know what I'm doing all the time.  Ha!

I'm embarrassed by how badly this turned out... The case and the photo. 

It was lumpy, and in failing to take some measures to ensure proper seams, I missed the top pocket fabric in the seam and had a sloppy fix.  Also, since I was using patchwork, the seams pulled when I turned the case right side out and looked awful.

Now, if you've been by here at all before, you've probably figured out that I'm a very stubborn little thing and despite being beaten by a pattern, a recipe, or series of mistakes.  So naturally, I tried again, with some changes.
1) I used patchwork leftovers for only the front pocket and back fabric.  The rest I used scraps of solids.

2) I trimmed and made sure all my fabric layers were matched up after every step.

3) I layered the batting on top instead of the bottom so that all my patchwork seams were thoroughly sandwiched.  Also, I strategically placed my turning hole on a spot where there would be no intersecting seams.

Much happier with my mulligan.  I used this pattern which I found via The Sometimes Crafter.

Nominated and other news

I have been very busy the last little while and most of my internet time has gone towards checking in with folks who were close to Hurricane Sandy on the east coast or near earthquakes on the west coast, OR soaking up the fabric beauty of the quilt festival! Speaking of the fest...

My quilt, Homespun, has been nominated in the Favourite Scrap Quilt category in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  Thank you so much to those people who did the nominating.  There were 621 quilts entered this time and there wasn't a dud in the bunch so I'm very flattered!

It's blushing!

Voting for favourites goes on for another three days - and you don't have to have entered to participate! Vote here.  And I won't take it personally if I'm not your favourite - there are some amazing quilts.... :-)

Other than that, I've had my hands full over here - mostly with stuff I can't show up until January - but there is the odd thing I've managed to complete/start/ponder.

I finished up my name tag for the local quilt guild and am very happy with it.  Except for the back. Because I'm just that neurotic.  The Newcomer Tea is this evening before the meeting.

Bad tension....

And it looks like the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild is a GO! If you're local and interested, get in touch.    It was great to meet some people in person that I'd only known through the internet before (Hi, Patti!) At our meeting, we also pestered the proprietor of our LQS for details about the fun in Houston last week.

Tiny piecing looks almost as pretty on the back...

I'm working on a randomly pieced background tutorial.

I'm battling a cold.  Again.  I tell you - I had an iron constitution and aggressive immune system.  Then I had a nephew.  Tiny people come with exposure to germs heretofore unknown amongst your regular circles. Viruses fierce and treacherous!

There was some luck related news this weekend, too, but that will have to wait until later this week.

So, yes, this post wasn't much more than a pop-in but I felt like posting a little and wanted to keep myself from a tangent.  I hope everyone affected by the hurricane and earthquakes are doing okay and life is quickly getting back to normal for them - you're in my prayers!