I'm going to join a quilt guild

I've spent a lot of years with the internet quilting community. Heck, you wonderful people on the other end of this web link have been my guild.  However, I made a commitment to myself a while back that once Hubs retired from the military and we settled for a few years in one place until the kids graduated, that I'd start meeting some of you and some new quilters in real life.

I started with the Sewing Summit and a class in TN.  At the end of Dec., I was invited to an impromptu day of sewing at a fellow and local IGer's house.  Kim at My Go-Go Life graciously hosted myself, Katie of SwimBikeQuilt, and Amy of AmyLouWho fame.  I was able to get a little quilt binding done and I most certainly was able to enjoy the company of friends (meeting Kim for the first time).  During the conversation shared, Katie reminded us of the DC Modern Quilt Guild meeting coming up and I marked it in my calender.

(Amy, Kim, Katie)

In the same mindset to meet people in real life, I attended today's DC Modern Quilt Guild for a day of sewing, guild business and show and tell.  I was so pleasantly surprised to see there were a few blog authors I read or have read, Flickr feeds that I stalk or IG users I chat with as attendees.  The atmosphere was open and welcoming and even though I arrived late, sewed a bit on the floor and didn't have any official show and tell (I was able to show the blocks for 2 projects I have... the members asking to see what you are working on if you don't have a finish handy), I really enjoyed myself.  I will gladly join up and plan to submit my dues next month for the year.

It's always so nerve-wracking to walk into a place where you aren't sure of the environment or if you will be comfortable or welcomed. To be pleasantly surprised. It's also very nerve-wracking to stand up and introduce yourself, hold up a couple blocks in their rawest form to show other quilters, many who you have an inferiority complex about (whether true or not).  Honestly, why do we do that to ourselves? Why do we always have this insecure question of, will my work be good enough?  I make a lot of mistakes and I love my quilts for them b/c they are unique and yet, I still have that nagging fear of acceptance.  ugh...

I digress... I held up these 2 blocks for what I was working on. One, a bit of an impromptu sew along over on IG.  The hashtag, for you IG users, is #xplusalong.  This is the second impromptu sew along this month, the first being a scrappy trip around the work (using a tutorial from Quiltville.com) and I decided that when I did these, because they are quick blocks, I could make these my Quilts of Valor quilts this year for donations.

 

The second block is this never-ending Jinny Beyer quilt for my sisters.  I am committed to completing this one this year and openly asked anyone to feel free to question me on its progress if it crosses your mind.  I want all the incentive/help to stay on target as I can get.  

The attendees gave me warm and fuzzies, with oohs and ahhs and asking for me to hold them up for pictures.   It's so nice to have oohs and ahhs and the nice thing is, it's freely given by you and everyone else because I found myself sufficiently interested and impressed in what everyone else was working on and/or their finished projects and the creative process through all.

Is this what I've been missing all these years by not being a part of a guild or have I landed into a good one with a great group of folks willing to share, listen and enjoy each other and each other's creations?  

I'm a happy bean at the moment. Thank you, Katie, for reminding me of the meetings and thank you DC Modern Quilt Guild for being so welcoming and warm.  I'm really looking forward to being a part of this group this year.

Cheers!
Beck

Crazy Girly Quilt

I started 2 quilts last year with nothing more in mind than improvised piecing. The first one I worked on was a little more structured and the subject of today's post.  It's a child's throw quilt.

The top was completed but then it sat until my 7-year old niece came to visit.  She saw it and wanted it. Hmm, would you have said no?

So, I threw it up on the frame and knocked it out in a couple of hours. Simple meander with little flowers.

I'll be sending it down to her at Christmas-time, I think.

Linking up to AmyLouWho's Sew and Tell Friday (2 other July finishes in case you are interested: Rainbow Trails and Sue Does Her Own Thing). Check out the other finishes if you want some good inspiration.

Cheers!
Becky

Another finish!

This is one of the charity quilts. I made it intending to send to Japan after the earthquake but was unable to finish it. So, it's been sitting here.  At this point, I am not sure where it will be donated but it will be donated.

I used the QAL pattern from Old Red Barn's QAL in 2009. It's quick to put together but looks oh, so pretty, in calico fabrics. The binding was made from leftover strips of the fabric so it's got a nice scrappy look.

I practiced the leaf and cabbage rose continuous line quilting pattern again on this one because it fit the roses on the fabrics so well.  You can see the striped backing here and a screen shot of the quilting.

Yeah for another finish! 

Cheers!
Beck 

Make Life Quilt complete

To remind everyone, this quilt top had no home and since the colors ran in the wash and stained fabrics before I even pieced it, I decided it would be blocked and I'd use each block as a practice block for quilting.  I loaded it with that intention. I even started in the border practicing feathers, leaves in the inner border, squiggles around the corner, etc.  They looked like crud b/c I had no plan, I was just quilting.  I always need a plan or I am not happy with the results.

The other thing was, I was so bored and impatient with the practice!  This quilt was going downstairs in the teen lounge area (aka, unfinished basement with a couch & tv for the teens who are too good to be with us adults) and I just didn't feel like spending a lot of time on it. Even though I know that the practice would be better for me in the long run. 

Suffice it to say, I just started a medium meander to finish the dang thing out and while not a bad looking quilt, definitely one I'm happy to have crossed off the WiP/UFO list. I saved my batting and put some scrap fleece on the back.

Not an ugly quilt...but not a loved one either, poor thing. I think the only thing that kept me going was the phrases, "make life beautiful" for example.  Turn the ugly into something... that's what I did with this quilt.  I turned it's disappointments into a useful and cuddly quilt for the kids by adding the fleece.

How are your projects going?

Cheers! 

Beck

Just a peak

A quick preview of what's on the frame, waiting to be quilted.  Remember this one? -wink-

Cheers!
Beck

Progress. A little at at time.

Today's post isn't about words, it's about pictures.  Today, I'm posting a picture of a few of the projects I've got going on.  I have been restless lately b/c I want to quilt my Swoon quilt but am waiting for batting to arrive. I thought I had it when I loaded the quilt but nope!

Anyway, I've finished a block from the Little Birdie stitch a long. I haven't cleaned away the markings or pressed it yet but you can still take a look.

I've finished a couple more of these blocks for the Jinny Beyer UFO I have hanging out there.

I've been making up a pattern using my Wee Woodland jelly roll.  This is as far as I've gotten. Before I start stitching crazy angled fabric, I'm sitting on it. I am not sure I want to have the angled fabric strips coming off the middle square or if I want to have it hang in each side. We'll see. It's not a project for any purpose other than playing with pushing myself to be creative so no hurry.

Finally, I've made some progress on my son's Monopoly quilt, which also is a "make it up as you go" design.  However, I am pretty sure that even if I don't like the finished product, he will and that's all that's important. Regardless, so far I don't dislike it or like it but it is growing on me. :-)

So, what are you up to? How does your progress look?

Last little thought, I had a nice Mother's Day. Kids were helpful with some house items (like moving boxes out of the garage) that I really wanted done and we cooled off with ice cream at a local stand.  Thanks kids!

Cheers!
Beck

My month in review...

I know I've been away for quite a bit and I apologize. Nothing going on here except life, as usual.  The days disappear on me. That said, I've worked hard on the DWR and it's done! I have just washed it and if the sun comes out today, it will have a photo shoot so I can present some pictures to everyone.

I completed a top for St. Patrick's day but didn't get it quilted.  I hung just the top so I didn't have a blank spot on my kitchen wall.  Doesn't look so bad.

I also completed an Easter wall hanging for the kitchen.  Played around with formats.

Eventually ended up with this one. Then I went crazy playing with the quilting. I don't particularly like it but it was practice and for that, I am okay with it. The first layout above was my initial choice but I didn't want to buy fabric and had none that worked because it was off balance with the brown. I like the fabrics bit not overly enthused about the quilt.  I got something on the wall, though!  I'll probably do something else next year  and let this one be a table mat instead.

Finally, I managed to corral my kids who are now 12, 15 and 15 (soon to be 16) and my sisters and their neighbor's daughter (14) and we went to FL for a week.  We went to Disney's Magic Kingdom,

Disney's Hollywood Studios,

and Universal's Island Adventures (the one with the Harry Potter portion).

WE HAD A BLAST! It was hotter than normal for this time of year but still worth it.  So much fun and I think I enjoyed giving the kids memories more than anything... well, perhaps except the Harry Potter Village. Holy fun, batman! There was so much to enjoy.  I'll leave you with one picture though that sums up how we felt.

I'm in the back row on the left, my youngest, J, is next to me. The second to last row is: T (friend), P (son), Sis1, Sis2, K (daughter).  This ride had us all give a scream.  And check out the other riders, too.  They couldn't help themselves, either.

If you have kids who love HP and you aren't afraid of lines or heat, get them to this park. It is worth it to try the butter beer and pumpkin juice, pay for overpriced wands, see Olivander's shop, and just experience the atmosphere of wonder and cheer. My kids grew up with the HP characters in the movies and it simply felt like we were visiting a relative's home town (along with hundreds of others! LOL).

Cheers!
Beck

I'm doing my part to expose a very big secret - Pilot Frixion Pens

Are any of you readers like me and hate, absolutely hate, using the chalks (all varieties and colors) and even all the different pens and pencils out there for us quilters/sewers to draw on our fabric with? Whether it be for a quilting motif or a applique placement marking?

If you haven't tried any of these yet or if you have and don't mind using them, let me explain why I hate them and why I've begun feeling frustrated at my quilting frame.

Why I hate:
1) Some don't write well.
2) Some don't come off well and I hate rubbing with a damp cloth over quilting stitches!

Why am I starting to feel frustrated at my frame?
I'm not a good artist. I draw stick figures and my sense of spacing and design have not yet improved enough to free-hand/free-mind quilting motifs into all my quilts.

I read Green Fairy Quilts, blog and I am jealous.  Flat out, green-eyed monster, jealous of her creativity the designs she not only comes up with but executes.  I love her work and found myself thinking, "I should send a quilt out to get quilted like that one day." Of course, I immediately could not justify the expense b/c it would be a quilt for me, and not a show or anything and don't I have a 17" throated machine named Midge sitting on Mr. Sumo the frame?  Why yes, yes I do.  Then I sat down to figure out why I was so jealous. I realized it was because I felt I didn't have the freedom to set up designs like she sometimes does, meaning, I didn't think I had the patience or desire to do custom quilting.  I felt it was a chore to draw the designs before I quilted and get them off.  The alternative is to quilt over designs printed on paper and tear away the paper (lots of work). I suppose I could also use water soluable stabilizer but that would get expensive, don't you think?

Then I was reminded by the Man up in the sky, that when one sits down to get rid of an ugliness (like jealousy) in oneself, good things come.  I opened up a blog post the next day by Susan at Quixotic Crafter. She commented on tessting out a pen (a pen you can buy at Staples, Target, and probably even Wally World, too) for her applique marking.  She wrote on the fabric and then, with her embossing gun, applied heat. The ink disappeared. As she mentioned (and I later read on the box), it won't reappear unless the quilt is exposed to 14 degrees or less temperatures.  No kidding!!!!

That's the secret, folks. This WORKS!!!! I'm so ecstatic.  Really, I'm beyond ecstatic.  I need to send Susan wine, or chocolate, or fabric for sharing this.  I need to send the person who figured it out something good!  And, Pilot, the manufacturer, are you reading? You should be marketing yourself in the quilting community!  Holy extra profit, batman.

 These are erasable pens and Pilot's niche is the ink is developed so the heat from the friction of the eraser on the paper, removes (erases) the ink from the paper. Obviously, some clever crafter somewhere thought to try this on fabric and use an iron or a dryer.  (At least, Susan's post says you can use an iron for heat but I haven't tried it.)

I tested it on scrap fabric (blue, red and black ink) with a blow dryer on the high setting.  Worked like a charm.  So, I started marking up my Double Wedding Ring. 

Then I quilted and then I erased.

Of course, then I remembered I loved you and I know I like it when I see something in action so I showed you the simplicity of this all.  Similar videos but in the second, I count out the 4 seconds it took to get rid of the ink.

Video One

Video Two

What do you think? Are you adding these pens to your shopping list now? I'm seriously thinking of stocking up on more than the initial 3 I bought.

This solution is great because it enables me to see what a block will look like "all done" and whether I like it. In this instances, I felt the center of the ring didn't have enough quilting so I added more of a design to it. 

In the wedges, I tried out several designs and erased all until I got to the feathers and liked them.  I love these pens! 

Hope you try them out, too and let me know your thoughts.

Oh, and by the way, I am not jealous of anyone anymore. I found my block and have a solution. I am not as good of a quilter as she is, nope, but it doesn't bother me in the least. I am so stinking happy to be able to move to my own next quilting level, that's really all that ever mattered.   We forget, too often, that it's the journey that is so rewarding.
Cheers!
Beck

Preparations for the weekend

Before I get too embroiled in my post, I want to note I joined a swap and you can, too! It's so simple. Just 5" charms out of 1 yard of fabric. That's all the work you need to do.  Check it out and join us, will you?

I really wanted to show you a picture of something completed or even started and well on its way.  However, I didn't have anything I could show. 

I began to wonder how that could be and then I realized this week, for a lot of time, was about getting organized so that I could just "go" with whatever suited me this weekend for projects.  This weekend, by the way, will be all about my projects.  Because I'm still pondering what to do as the quilting motif(s) for the Make Life top, I decided not to load that.

So here you are, this is actually what I accomplished this week so far:

1) I spent a lot of time wondering why I bought the chicken fabric at this little store, Cottonseed Glory Quilt Shop, in Annapolis, MD. The other fabric, Maxine and the flowers, I know I'll find a use for. I took a spur of the moment trip out to Dover, DE to surprise my mom and have a Mom/daughters weekend at Dover Downs Casino. My sis, SIL and mom were there and I just showed up to surprise mom. We had a great time and if Sis ever lets go of the photos, I'll post photos of just how nutty we got.

2) Son #1, P, and I finalized a design for his monopoly quilt. And then we saw a pattern adn thought we'd use that.  Go figure.  The fabrics have been pulled out and await the rotary cutter.

3) I loaded the quilt frame with my old double wedding ring quilt top in a fit of, "I'm tired of being cold at night and therefore I'm finishing this dang thing." Of course, I loaded it, pulled out the backing and realized that while my top measures 108"wide, the backing fabric is a few inches short.  I do believe that is because I pre-washed. So, I need to add a small border. This took out some, "I'm cold" incentive and now I ponder what border to use and contemplate ironing the back sometime soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Oh, here's a question, I'm thinking about trying a tarpunto effect in the circles of the quilt but I'm hung up on how much waste I'll have from the batting. I want to. Oh, how I want to, but I man, cutting out all that batting around the tarpunto, do I really want to do that? 

4) Also, while considering what quilt to put on our king sized bed, I pulled out the top from P.S. I Quilt's QAL. I realized it was too small for my bed. And then I realized (and come on, has this ever happendd to any of you?) that I had a bunch of blocks left over. I went, counted, found I had enough to add a row to each side. I thought I had planned for a king sized quilt! lol  So, I sewed the two rows this week. When I pull out the iron for the DWR quilt back, I'll get these pressed and added to the Postage stamp top.

5) I managed to choose and cut out fabrics for the Made in Cherry Star QAL. But wait, I didn't just plan for one 60x60 quilt, oh no! I decided to go patriotic and cut out fabrics for 2 quilts! I plan to finish these as 2 of the 6 charity quilts I've committed to. I'll donate them to Quilts of Valor.

6) Finally, I choose my fat quarter bundle, Sip of Summer from Connecting Threads, which I had sitting around from last summer. This is for the Swoon QAL I've joined. (You know, because I didn't have enough to do.)  I tried different backgrounds. Dark blue didn't work as pretty in real life as it did in my mind. White was too white.

How about that tan, basket-looking print? No, didn't work for me.

Maybe the mottled, dark green?  Hmm, that's kinda neat but do I want a quilt with all that green as the background to the stars? If I keep it, would I do the sashing the same or use a different color and if so, what color sashing would I use? 

Or maybe I should play it safe and just use the standard muslin.  The color works with the FQs.  It's a question about stepping out of my comfort zone or not. It worked well when I made the Pinwheel Sampler but can I get lucky again?

My last note, a good one and a sad one. Good news, my FQ bundle from Fat Quarter Shop arrived (for a string quilt probably on next year's agenda) and they are gorgeous! Also arrived, my LSU fabric, which is sad b/c LSU gave away the Championship game last Monday and I'm still a wee bit bitter (okay it might take until next season) about it.  No LSU quilt on the near horizon.

So, how have you spent your week so far?  Was it as productive in non-productivity as mine?

ETA- I slept on it after writing this post and I think I'm going with that mottled green. It's different, for sure, but I want the starst to pop and while the muslin works, I don't feel the stars would blend with the background for a softer quilt. I want ones that stand out from the background.  I'll decide what sashing, if any to use after the blocks are put together. Wish me luck.

Cheers!
Beck