The NY Tornado has spun in again and I'm a winner!

First things first, I am a winner 2 times over from Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day this past December.  I didn't have a chance to host a giveaway this year but I was pleasantly surprised to be able to enter a few and even win two prizes.

Look at this cute little guy made by Kelly at Widget Worm.

It's such a darling pin cushion I'm beginning to realize why people end up with collections of them.

I also won, what I thought would be one jelly roll, but it turns out I won both from Tara at Quilt Barn.

I am thinking hard about what to do wtih these babies now.

Thank you Kelly and Tara.  I'm a very appreciative winner. :)

Now, another fun tidbit to report. The NY Tornado fell into the home that is actually known as the "Black Hole of all Chain Lettters".  Turns out, it almost applied to the NY Tornado but luckily, (or not so luckily for the quilting community) it managed to escape and arrived back at my home this week.  I am not going to delay, this time, instead of sending it to family members, I'm wrapping this baby up and sending it to someone I've met in quilt-land.  I am sure it will be a huge surprise but I hope against hope that she and anyone one else who receives it will keep up with the game and pass it along.  Time will tell...  :-)

Here's a photo to remind you of how lucky you would be to get it. -snicker-

Cheers!
Beck

ps - Please note that if I were planning on selling my quilting services, I'd never send this out based on how my skills were then vs now. However, that is not my goal in my quilting life and I am sending this with only the hope people will get a chuckle.

BAD SIL & BROTHER

This post is written solely for one purpose. To tell on my brother and sister-in-law. The last holders of the Tornado. The ones who tried to forward it without following the "rules." Alas, they were unable. The karma of the Tornado thwarted them and when they took it down from it's hanging perch a 2nd time, they were informed they were going to be mentioned specially in this blog.

So here you have it.

Rick, Karen, the "rule" is HUNG in a prominent place in your home for 1 week before you can banish it to another home. Deal with it.

Love you! B

NY Tornado - Part 3

I have bitten the bullet, I'm the first to hang the NY Tornado and now it's time to let it spin along. See the photo below, this is the view of the halls right as you walk in the front door. It's in a prominent place...

I hope many of you who receive it do come along and post a comment to this post letting us all know it's arrived and moved on.

Now, just for you readers, a copy of the note going along with the NY Tornado.

"CONGRATULATIONS!

The NY Tornado has touched down and now you have to handle the aftermath but first, you must know the Tornado has been sent to you by someone who loves you dearly and wanted you to experience it, just as they had. Here’s what you must do to be able to clean up after this particular Tornado.

This Tornado must hang in your home, in a conspicuous location for at least one week (longer if you desire). When you take the Tornado down, sigh the back with the pen provided. Include your first name, city and state. Last name or other family member names are optional. Next, mail the NY Tornado on to a loved one you know will be as grateful as you were to receive such a surprise or, if and when possible, simply hang this Tornado in the home of your loved one. (Please, no holes in the walls, simply remove a picture and use the nail already created.)

Once the NY Tornado is on its way or has been hung elsewhere, please post a comment to this blog, http://sarcasticquilter.blogspot.com/, or send an email to me at _X_ and I will post the notice of where it was and has gone to. This should help us all keep track of where the Tornado has last been spotted touching down. We will share the love and beauty of the NY Tornado as long as possible and with as many as possible.

For the story behind this quiltlet, and the reason for its journey, please read the back of this paper. Thank you for your humor and participation!

Kindest Regards, B (a.k.a., the Sarcastic Quilter)
The NY Tornado Quiltlet’s abbreviated story:This quiltlet was created as a result of a quilting challenge. The challenge was to use specific NY Beauty block patterns and an ugly fabric you had in your stash. The challenge was called “Beauty and the Beast” and the object was to use your ugly fabric in a large area of the block but to disguise it in any way possible using the pattern and other fabrics. The rest of this story is posted on my blog but in short, I am proud I did exactly what I was supposed to do. The ugly fabric is the off white fabric with colored clouds. However, I cannot get past feeling this quiltlet is still ugly and sitting with family, I wondered aloud what I should do with it now that it was complete. A joke started about leaving it in someone’s home but that’s limited to those few who knew the quiltlet’s story. Then it made sense. Share this quiltlet and its story with many. Too much work went in it to throw it away but no one really wants to keep it (and really, if the quilter feels like that, is it a no wonder others do?) Since it looked like a tornado ripping apart city skyscrapers to me, I named it the NY Tornado and I am watching it spin out of my home and to each and every one of you. I hope it doesn’t get stuck in one location too long and I really hope you enjoy passing along this proverbial fruitcake to the next lucky recipient as much as I enjoy seeing this get passed on to you."

Quilting Challenges -part 2. The Beauty and the "Beast"; the NY Tornado

The challenge I previously wrote of is over. I did not receive the most votes as a Beauty but I did not win "dis"-honorable mention either. Some people actually voted for my quiltlet putting me somewhere in the middle of all entries for a job well done. I'm surprised but do appreciate their votes.

My accidental design looks a little more purposeful now and I need to let you all know, it has a name. My ugly fabric (the clouds in the background near the corners) has led to the creation of the "NY Tornado." What can I say? It looks like a tornado ripping apart a NY skyscraper to me.

My family, who's been a tremendous source of humor, encouragement and sarcasm throughout this challanged must be thanked at this time. I may have lost the desire to keep going if it weren't for the constant questions, "Is it done yet? Is it still ugly?" The answer now is, "Yes and yes." The final question, "what are you going to do with it?" led to a few ideas.

The first, my sister's dog needed a new pillow. Hmm, just didn't seem right for all the hard work.

Next, hang it above my sewing machine in my sewing room as my new "quilt of shame" to remind me how bad a buying whim for fabric really can get. No, dismissed. The NY Tornado is too small for the space and my other quilt of shame still has too many helpful reminders to take it down. Reminders like:

- BASTE when quilting.
- Binding should not have thread showing through it on the front!
- Squaring up doesn't mean quilt first then try to straighten edges later.
- SID really means stitching IN the ditch, not wavy lines around the ditch.
- Pulling the quilt through the machine results in puckers and uneven stitches.

(Yes, for those of you wondering, it really is that bad. At least color choice is okay but still, it servces me well to remember there is something to be said for following instructions.)

Back to the NY Tornado, another idea. Just leave it in someone's house. Aha! Now we are on to something! Hmm, leaving it where they can see it might just lead to their being able to hide it in my own suitcase when I go home (my family is a couple hours away from me.) If I hang it for them to find, that's a great joke but I don't yet have the heart to see my work just thrown out, no matter how ugly we all think it is.

Wait, let me back up here. We do still think it's ugly but this is a relative term. My sister, sister's friend, mother and father (the primary players in the term "we" being used throughout this post) all believe I did accomplish making something out of the ugly. It would not suit the taste of anyone we know, but that is half the fun of the final version of what I've decided to do with the NY Tornado. Amid cocktails (maybe too many?) at mom's and dad's, we decided the Tornado needed to touch down in as many homes as possible, especially in our family! Could we get it to V's dad in CA? Oh, that would be funny? And Aunt S, the look on her face when she sees this! How about J in FL? lol He might wonder what we've all been smoking and if we smuggled any in the NY Tornado for him.

Yes, the plan has been hatched and with everyone's good humor, will be a success. The NY Tornado is going on tour.

A thank you to the host of this challenge and the creator of the NY Beauty Block patterns available to us participants for use in this challenge. Challenge is the most appropriate word and despite my lackluster feelings about how the NY Tornado looks (fabric choice-wise), I'm thrilled with the final product.
Stay tuned for Part 3 to read how the NY Tornado may blow into your home next!

Quilting challenges

Alright, let's talk about "quilting challenges." I belong to a few online quilt groups through Yahoo. Since I don't have the availability or desire to participate in an actual guild right now, these online groups are a wonderful place to connect to others more experienced and just learning the art of quilting and piecing.

Often, there are various block swaps and challenges posted for the group's entertainment and education. For many reasons, I've avoided all of these but recently, I chose to join in. The challenge: pick an ugly fabric from your stash and using a set of pre-chosen block designs, make it look beautiful in a 4-block quiltlet.

I decided this challenge was for me. I had an ugly fabric. I think I may have inhaled some glue accidentally somewhere at Joann's because I have no other explanation for why I purchased it.

Also, I knew this WOULD challenge me to take more risk in choosing coordinating fabrics and planning an overall design. It would also, as I've come to find out, teach me about the entire process of piecing from start to border. More about that later. Lastly, I knew this was my chance to practice paper-piecing and curved-piecing. Neither of which I've really ever had any success with before. So, I took a photo of my ugly fabric and joined.

It took me 3 weeks to figure out what other fabrics I could use. I tried many, I even enlisted my mother and friend to help. Kudos to mom, she was a trooper and thanks to my dad who bore with me and mom laying fabrics out on the living room floor and talking over his news channels to figure the best ones. I sewed the blocks all up, still believing this to be the ugliest thing I've ever created.

I sewed the four blocks together without sashing and HATED them. Since I had a couple errors in my curved piecing, I had to square the blocks up and in doing so, I ended up shaving off some of the paper- pieced triangles. When those blocks were combined together, it made for uneven seams and incomplete triangles. As inexperienced as I am, I knew I could not hide these with quilting. I had to figure something out. I took apart the 4 blocks.

I searched the internet for ideas beyond just straight vertical and horizontal inner sashes and saw blocks set at an angle. I don't yet know if this is "legal" in the challenge, but I adopted this idea and created long triangles to add to the sides of my blocks. It worked and started to give my blocks new dimension. I was beginning to have hope this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Okay, sewed up the newly built blocks into a quiltlet but something was wrong. When I drafted my quiltlet and reviewed the draft, my eye was drawn around the quilt by the design and colors. However, once sewn, my eye jumped from one place to another and the quiltlet coloer was all jumbled and confusing. After an evening staring at the quiltlet and my drafted version, I figured out what I did, the triangles were on the wrong sides of the blocks. I couldn't leave it that way so I took apart the quiltlet again, took the long triangles off the blocks, repositioned the triangles, resewed them and then resewed the blocks together. Finally, my quiltlet was taking shape and directed my eye like it was supposed to.

Still ugly, though. There's just no escaping that.

Okay, so next I "audition" a couple border ideas and decide a simple, solid color is the way to go. My, oh my, it makes a bunch of difference. This quiltlet is not looking quite as ugly.

Well, maybe I'm speaking too soon.

At this point, I've only got the quilting left and then the binding. One week to finish so I'm trying to get myself away from "pondering" and to start "doing." However, I felt compelled, after putting on the border, to post here and let you all know, if you are like me and cannot visualize a finished product but can only visualize a part at a time, then join small challenges like this. It doesn't necessarily change the process of doing one part, then deciding the next part based on what the first looks like and so on but it HAS taught me to expand my mental zone to ideas and colors I would normally overlook. It has also taught me that sometimes, when I only have a piece of the puzzle complete, it may not be as pretty as the finished product so I should keep going and not get discouraged.

I'll post photos later, once the challenge is complete and let you know if I won "dis"honorable mention for ugliest quiltlet. It was decided to add that to the challenge because while some folks are able to make their ugly fabric beautiful, some of us aren't. All I can say, though, is I'm proud I'm sticking with this and I am having fun through it all and that may even be because I can't make this stinker look pretty. -wink-