When Good Quilts Go Bad

Have you ever just lost interest in a quilt.  Like entirely??  I find that after making a good start on my indigo quilt... it just doesn't do it for me any more.  I keep thinking I should pull it out and do some more - but I feel no compulsion to even look at it, let alone sew it. 

Remember this one?

This is the first quilt that I have ever felt like this about.  I feel so guilty.  I mean, there are other quilts that get put away for one reason or another, but I have every intention to finish them at some distant point in time.  This quilt I just can't be bothered with.  It's so frustrating, I still like the quilt pattern, I think it is kinda cool... so what is it?

But on a positive note - I may be able to use the fabrics (along with some others) to make something completely different!

On a different note, oh to be 6 again when the comment "you're looking colourful today" is taken as a compliment.  Visualise bright red lace look leggings, multicoloured autumnal coloured sun dress with pink jacket and pink socks.  Delightful!

Cutting templates

The thing I love about doing applique with fusible web is the pretty much instant effect - trace, iron, cut, place on background, do you like it? Yes - iron - done (well, apart from the blanket stitch or whatever).  You know what it looks like early on and can tweak fabrics and placement before committing to that final iron.  You do need to work out right from the beginning which pieces are going to be unders, and which are overs - to ensure that your fusible will be properly attached to those pieces that will underlap another piece.

Other techniques have their positive and negative points.  And sometimes it's fun to experiment with another technique.  I decided to do My Whimsical Quilt Garden pattern using a machine applique technique, where you cut all the templates first from freezer paper.  So a bit of prep work required before you even really start looking at fabrics.  This is why this project has sat in a drawer for months on end - I just needed to get the next block prepped.  And it's not even really that bad... a bit of a Nike moment - Just Do It!

The way that I transfer my pattern onto my freezer paper is that I don't.  I start with a photocopy of the pattern layout and a piece of freezer paper big enough to fit behind the design (do you need your template reversed or the same as the original - with freezer paper having different sides, I need to use it with the shiny side down).  If you are doing several blocks using the same design - easy - layer your freezer paper upto 6 layers deep.  Next using a stapler put a staple into each design shape - put a few in on bigger areas or long skinny ones that might shift as you cut.  If you can't reach into the centre of the design with your stapler - leave those ones until you have cut some of the outer pieces away, and then staple the internal ones.

Staples added - couldn't reach the centre of the flower or the upper
part of the stem, so came back and stapled those later.

Then start cutting around the shapes.  The idea is to cut directly on the line as accurately as possible as this is going to be the final template shape.  NO TRACING!!  Where there is a shape completely inside another shape (as in the circle in the middle of a flower) cut through the outer shape in one direct line, then cut around the internal shape.  Because I'm going to be ironing the shapes onto the back of my fabric pieces, the iron will hold the cut line back into place.  You end up with every shape cut out individually stapled to the original copy.  Leave them like that until you are ready to do something to them (such as when I iron them to my fabric) so that you don't lose track of what they are - and if you did multiple copies make sure that you number the copy as you remove each staple otherwise you will end up in a terrible mess.

Showing the cuts to allow access to the internal shapes

Can you use this transferring technique for other things other than freezer paper machine applique?  I don't see why not, although to date I haven't tried anything.  I think it would be good for transferring images to cardboard templates where you can't see through them and they don't really run through printers very well.  Also for some of the weird things you end up having to make with/for your kids (I'm thinking arts and crafts projects here).  I'm sure there are other applications too.

The Last Day of October

One of the books I have on order is a sampler book of japanese taupe blocks.  After a quick squiz of a friends, I was (a) inspired to order the book and (b) reminded of how I love the subtleness of these fabrics and my grand plans of yet another quilt.  It was also time to do my last row for the round robin.  Stars aligned and I found a great grouping of fabric to match the existing rows, and made me realise that actually I had quite a few of the japanese taupes fabrics, certainly enough to get started with the block of the month pattern I bought ages ago, anyway.

So the little stem I started to illustrate the bias stem tutorial (part of block one) got pulled out again, and after a bit of ferriting, ironing, messing around... I started to accumulate the components for the first block.

The stem with some new leaves and berries

The bluebird block... not sure if the bird fabric is quite right, but
we'll see how it goes...

The rest of the block components... still need to finish
the blanket stitch fusible applique, and join them together.

A lot of this quilt has been pieced from scraps so far - and I really mean scraps.  Strange little triangles, odd strips remaining from other projects... it's really fun remembering why you bought it in the first place, and what quilt it has been in already.  Of course, I will need to buy more fabric...

And this led me to pull out one of my other hairbrained schemes to use up scraps... an applique quilt using invisible machine applique and using a mix of scraps that fit into a completely different colour scheme.

A couple of blocks from My whimsical Quilt Garden pattern

I've decided that I am going to do one block from each pattern each month.  We shall see how longs this committment lasts!  After the experience I have gained from round robins this year, that is: deciding you are going to complete a small portion of a larger quilt with a monthly deadline; I have great confidence that I should at least get some of them done.

Now, back to the round robin row.  I have to be very discrete because this month I've been working on Ms Lottie's, so I can't give too much away.  If you've been keeping track of her blog too, you'll remember her original row:

And this months theme was birds and bees...

You'll just have to use your imagination!  There is not however
any nudity (although are the birds wearing clothes??)

And my great pride in being almost caught up with my stitch-along has returned to the plodding along stage - situation normal.  Week Four almost finished:

Just a few more letters, a star and a heart... very cute!

Are you any closer to finishing any projects?

Maybe I should call this blog "An ongoing list of projects and ideas that are started and never finished".

The Last Day of the Holidays

The last two weeks have actually gone kind of quick.  For a change the kids have semi-behaved, I've done some sewing... enjoyed time with friends... chilled out and relaxed... all the things you are supposed to do over the holidays but don't always get the chance to do.  Anyway...

I woke this morning to find two more projects attached to my design wall...

wonder how that happened??? (technically this is attached to the carpet... the
design wall ran out of room!)

This is the problem with buying new books and looking at peoples blogs... it just puts new ideas into your head and before you know it your brain explodes and you know what comes next - new projects!

This one started it's life as a charm pack from The Country Yard

and this was the original project which was a sample in the shop
and after a bit of measuring and figuring, was definitely do-able...

but then "A Few Scraps" gave a tutorial on doing a double disappearing
nine patch block, whereby I first discovered that the original project was in fact
a "disappearing nine patch" block... and has somehow now become a double.  I'm really
proud of the fact that the white on white is something from my stash... and I bought
a few metres of some solids from Spotlight which have really come in handy for several
projects so far.

And you know the cover of one of those jelly roll books I was telling you about the other day... well, on the cover of one is a handbag quilt made from Layer Cakes (10" square packs), and when my mum went on her big trip to England, I asked her to buy some fabric that she liked, that even if it wasn't really english, would remind us of her trip.

This is one of the layer cake packs she bought back.  If you haven't ogled
any French General fabric yet - you need to see it in person.  Hard to describe, it
has a very elegant depth to the designs...

Couldn't help it - couldn't stop - just had to do one... I know I'm an addict and they should set up help groups...

Although I like the handbag quilt too, I'm thinking of turning
them into vases - and putting a few modern flowers into the top. Can you
see it??

And just to show that I have been trying to be good, some nice progress on my Xmas stitch along blocks, with week 3 finished:

and week four is almost done too!  I'm sure I'll be on Santa's good list this year - perhaps he'll bring me fabric... or at least the postman will when my order from fabricworm.com arrives... then again - maybe I'll be on Santa's naughty list when the visa bill comes??

Whats up?

Every now and then, someone asks "so what are you sewing at the moment?".  I'm usually too embarrassed to answer honestly... and say "oh, you know, all sorts."  So if you really want to know...

Putting together the units for another cushion...

A charm square pattern from Oh Fransson! using a pack that
I won from a blog draw...

Putting another log on the fire... I mean, a few more logs on
my wonky log cabin block for my Buggy Barn quilt...

Making up some blocks to set my Sew Happy Me
stitch along units in so they have some friends using a Figgy Pudding
charm pack and some matching fat quarters...

and when I'm not sewing... some new books.  I'm a bit
of a sucker for jelly roll books.

Now when I say I'm sewing these at the moment... I actually mean I'm sewing them all at the same time... the phrase obsessive/compulsive comes to mind... I think of it as chain piecing outside the box.  I have other projects that I'm making - just not at the moment, so they're sitting in their work in progress boxes.

Not too shabby

While I haven't actually received these yet, I am happy with the post production photo that the printer sent. 

I'm not sure if there is anyone in NZ that prints on twill tape... but have found the process quick and easy through www.twilltape.com which is American.  If only the post was quicker...

A Finish! A Finish! ...and some new friends

It certainly has been a busy weekend.  The kids have taken their father for a cycle along the new Okaihau cycleway, which runs along a hundred or so year old unused railway track.  It is now raining.  I hope they're having fun.

I on the other hand have stayed home and put the finishing stitches into my binding of my Baby Billboard Quilt. Woohoo!

I have a lot of respect for those people who capture lovely pictures
of their quilts in all sorts of relaxed, natural scenes.

I completely lost my head and after congratulating myself on my rather limited purchases so far over the holidays, I ordered some new books (knew I should have stayed in bed), and some twill tape labels to add to the backs of my quilts.  I have put labels on two of the quilts I have made - I know - I'm naughty - but if I have some cool looking twill tape ones, there should be no excuse.  Fingers crossed that they are what I want... limitations of ordering over the internet I suppose... and they do actually look cool.

On a bit of a different topic, after much excitement (mostly me) and construction (mostly my husband) yesterday, we housed our two new guinea pigs - Cookie (the darker one) and Cream (the lighter one) in our back yard. 

Hutch a-la make it up as you go along design

The internal lodgings, complete with raised sleeping (and pooping)
platform and cantalevered steps (OK we watch Grand Designs too). And can
you see the guinea pigs cowering in the corner?

A bit of a closeup

They weren't too keen on getting their photo taken!

They are hopefully both female... and are slowly getting used to their new home.  With a bit of time they should get more friendly (instead of looking like their going to die everytime you approach them) and we should be able to handle them.  Well, that's the plan anyway.