Christmas gets here fast

September 20, 2017September 20, 201713 Comments

You know how the holiday sneaks up on us. Well, I am being proactive!

Auditioning fabric

And assembling the parts into a curved log cabin!

Funny thing about an after midnight finish. You lay it all out and it just doesn’t make sense after about 2 to 4 compositions. I went to bed and this morning I walked in and suddenly it made perfect sense!

The top is done, now comes the quilting and binding.

Are you getting ready early or are you a procrastinator like I usually am?

ALERT! Did you know that Forbes is having a Main Street Awards contest? Well, they are and one of my favorite quilt instructors is in the running! This would be Jenny Doan at the Missouri Star Quilting Company in Hamilton, MO. You can guess I want her to win right? Please go HERE and cast your vote (daily) To help her along! She has done amazing things in her community to revitalize the dying small town.

Thanks for your participation!

Save

ScrapHappy for September – the late edition

September 16, 2017September 21, 201713 Comments

Sometimes Life just gets in the way no matter what you’ve planned, but late is better than nothing.

I haven’t participated in ScrapHappy for a long time. I do enjoy making something from nothing, so I gathered together all my Kona Solid scraps and a wild little bit of leftover, multicolored Ikat fabric.

I used the Ikat to guide my color choices and used a new technique I learned on *Craftsy to make insertions in the black field. It wasn’t too hard, but matching up the existing straight lines after cutting at an angle was a little tricky!

Kinda reminded me of when we learned about refraction in school by placing a pencil in a glass of water

http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/light_refraction.htm

I cut the fabric across a previously inserted color line and then inserted a new strip of fabric

It really moves when you cut it at an angle!

It took a few tries pinning, moving, and then finally success!

And since I am late I will post the finish on October 15th. If I finish it now, I do have lots of time, then I can’t be late now can I?

~*~*~*~

ON IKAT: Authentic Ikat is a woven fabric that uses threads/yarn that are pre-dyed to produce the pattern. Ikat designs can also be printed as is the case in my little strip used for this project. Want to know more about the process? Look HERE

ON CRAFTSY: The class was Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design with Jacquie Gering.
While I enjoyed the class, my end product is not a cookie cutter of her suggested project.

Isn’t that the whole point of the classes? To learn a new skill and then run with it?

Save

Cue it up

September 14, 2017September 14, 201740 Comments

Cue the Opening theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey

I have long desired to own a bit of Kaffe Fassett fabric and never bought any “…because it is too expensive” I told myself. So, about two weeks back I finally broke down and bought a packet of 30 fat quarters. Yes, 30 of them.

And there they sat on my cutting table for the past week, because like the apes in 2001 A Space Odyssey I am afraid to touch it, or to even open it.

It is intimidating when you spend like this on little bits of brilliant jewel toned fabric. What if I open it and cut it up and make a mistake? What if I open it and nothing speaks to me?

What if, what if, what if?

What if I bought it and never used it? That would be a waste now wouldn’t it?

OK, I opened it.

Any other quilter’s out there who understand this?

Save

Process Pledge: New Quilt beginings

July 17, 2017July 18, 201734 Comments

Here is a truth that I probably shouldn’t divulge, but I will anyway, I bought this gold fabric (8 yards of it) about 5 years ago. I was excited to jump in and begin and then found the whole idea overwhelming. Too many blocks, all in varying sizes, with lots of little fiddly bits. Nope, wasn’t going to happen so early in my quilting career. 😉

So, flash forward to this month and here I am confident enough to try again with a different quilt along and able to use up all this gold and cream fabric! The color scheme is the same with a bit of Cobalt added as stones and border bits.

This new quilt along I have joined looks to be challenging, but the blocks are all the same size. I know you will be disappointed not to see my completed blocks as I finish them, but the rules for the joining won’t allow me to share my completed blocks until the end of December when the quilt top is all done! Never encountered this before, but that’s OK. I can at least let you in on the colors I have chosen and what I have accomplished thus far.