Spray Basting / WIP / Pre QuiltCon

First off: How many of you are going to Quilt Con?! I am so excited!! I live a mere 3.5 hours drive away, but I can only attend on Saturday. If you see me, please say hi! Also, I have tons of family in Austin and spend a lot of time up there so if anyone needs restaurant/bar/fabric shop recommendations, let me know! Now back to the present err, past...

Let me describe yesterday, which happened to be a typical winter day in Corpus Christi, Texas: we hit 80 degrees in the afternoon coupled with 65% humidity, and 40mph wind gusts with sustained winds of 20mph. Okay, okay, so it was 65 degrees day before yesterday and today and it isn't always this windy (usually 10-20mph is standard) but that just means in the summer it is at least 100 humid degrees outside, which means we have heat indices of 110+. Yuck.

Note: Do not ever try to spray baste an 84" x 84" quilt. EVER! Seven feet: What was I thinking?!?

But I digress; back to yesterday and my spray basting adventure. I decided it would be the perfect day to try my hand at spray basting. Aside from the fact that I had to spray baste outside in the vehemently uncooperative wind due to dogs inside and no easily cleanable/large enough surfaces, it was pleasant. Here are a few photos showing the process.

 It is not the spray basting's fault that because of the wind, I found myself screaming curse words in my driveway and furiously stomping on duct tape and mailing tape. Yes, it was so windy I had to tape nearly the entirety of the edges with duct tape, and it was still getting pulled up. I also ran out of duct tape, and switched to mailing tape. Then I ran out of mailing tape but luckily had a new roll that is now nearly gone. I do not blame the spray basting.

So, ignoring all of the things that could obviously not be attributed to the spray basting and doing a perfect world comparison of the two, ZOMG, I LOVE SPRAY BASTING! I want to move somewhere less windy just so I can use it all the time.  But if I moved, that would mean moving away from the adorable and territorial squirrel living by my garden who spent the whole time I was outside chattering at me. Literally folks, the whole time. Chatter chatter chatter.

I still pinned around the edges, just because I'm paranoid and a creature of habit, but gosh, this was not even necessary. Quilting was such a dream with the spray basting. That could be a spurious variable because this was my first time quilting on my new Husqvarna Viking Emerald machine.

I quilted diagonal lines 2 inches apart allover the quilt. I started the first diagonal line from corner to corner, marking it by taping a piece of yarn and tracing with a pencil and ruler. 

Here are some close-ups of the quilting! Mmm, I used Moda Crackle for the backing. 

So here is the whole quilt, in all its glory. I dub thee, Man Quilt. Everyone I show it to says "ohh, my husband/son/boyfriend/etc would love that!" which tells me it truly is the perfect quilt for my engineer boyfriend. I'm too practical and not at all romantic, so I gave it to him today instead of saving it for his birthday. Did I mention it is 7 feet by 7 feet? That makes photographing difficult.

Thanks to the horrible wind, here is a photo showing how the backing coordinates with the front.

Also, the wind was so bad that the quilt was stuck to the fence which was cracking me up.

 I have been trying to wrap up a few little projects this week. I managed to finish two more of the cathedral window pincushions for my friends. This first one is for Toni.

This second one is for Rhonda.

I also finished the giant cathedral window pillow for my friend/dive buddy/yoga instructor, Salinda.

For scale, this is the pillow next to the pincushions.

Today I also finished the February block of the month basket block from the local brick and mortar quilt shop I go to. This one was much more enjoyable to make than the one from last month.

Lastly, I pulled this out of the bowels of my fabric bins. When I first started quilting, and had only made easy peasy 6" square patchwork quilts, I decided to make an eye. I didn't know what paper piecing was. I didn't know what applique was. I didn't know how to assemble a y-seam. Somehow I managed to make this, and got so frustrated that I put it away forever until now. Hopefully it will get closer to being an eye soon. 

BOMs away!

As predicted, I have not been doing too tremendously much. I did make some progress on the wedding quilt, but that will be its own post. This darn semester. One week in and I am already disliking the shuffling back and forth from teaching on campus to working my normal job.

I guess no one would like 12 hour work days, huh?

What I am most proud of today is the fact that I started and finished my August BOM for the Designer Mystery BOM from The Fat Quarter Shop... In one day!! Wooohooo!!!

So this is block 3. Not my favorite, so far. But it is very pretty. Maybe if the two red fabrics were the same I would like it more. 

I am too tired to write any more. Hence the saving quilt progress for another post. Plus, I have to be up in 8 hours. Yuck.

Is the semester over yet??

Moving at a Glacial Pace

As the title hints, I am not getting much done, and it looks like that will only be getting worse! But there is good news from a professional standpoint that is causing my anxiety and lack of quilting time. As you may or may not know, I have been working as an adjunct professor teaching Astronomy labs at a local university. Our department is in turmoil because the department chair left, leaving physics classes without a prof, so they juggled and filled them. Then that left 3 education classes without a prof.

...And you will never guess who they offered them to.

Okay, well you might actually guess [correctly] that it was me since I am the once writing this.

Yay! These are three REAL classes with their corresponding labs. Now that I am teaching so many hours, I might actually qualify for full time professor status. Not tenure track or anything, but a major pay increase and benefits! If I do well this semester and they let me continue, I might be able to leave my second job!

So, I have not been doing much quilting because I have been madly scrambling to make up a plan for the semester and syllabi since classes start Wednesday and I only found this out late last week. Ahh!

I did get some stuff done though, so yay!

I finished month 3 of the Buck a Block blocks. This is the block I chopped my finger up working on, so it was a personal triumph to finish.

Look at how adorable that bunny fabric is!! Aaaawww.

I also finished cutting up all of the charms for the Rainbow Charm Swap I'm taking part in.

I also finally decided on a pattern for the quilt I was so stuck on. It is for two friends who are getting married in October. He wanted just plain squares, and she wanted modern. Ack! What they did agree on was the color palette: Browns, greens, and blues. But I finally decided what I wanted to make, drew up a pattern and bought fabric. I love when fabric is sorted and in order. It makes me so happy!

I figured if I didn't start now, this thing would never be finished in time with my crazy semester so I even started cutting strips.

I also made some progress on the Hawaiian applique pillow, but I left it in my car and it is way too hot in South Texas to run outside to take a picture.

On the Bench

Well, I am officially out of commission as far as quilting/sewing/cutting/piecing go for a while. Well, I might not actually be, but I haven't tried to do anything yet. Details at the end so those of you who get squeamish when people talk about accidents/blood/etc don't have to see/read it.

I have been working on a lot but not accomplishing too much (unless blocks count) since my last post. I have, however, finished a bunch of Block of the Month/Buck a Block blocks. Blocks and blood are all I talk about in this post. Exciting, huh?

As I mentioned before, I am working on the 2012 Designer Mystery Block BOM from The Fat Quarter Shop. So far, I have finished the first two blocks, and am loving the fabrics, the patterns, and the fabrics/patterns working together! I also received the ingredients for block #3 in the mail on Saturday. Do the happy mail dance!

Here are blocks 1 and 2, which turned out better than I could have dreamed of!

I also tried my hand at the Wonky Cross block from Sew Mama Sew. I increased the initial square size to 12.5" and the strips to 14" long (keeping 2.5" width) and after finishing the blocks, I probably should increase the width of the strips (and subsequently increase the length to compensate) because keeping them the 2.5" width made them look out of proportion in the finished block.

The pattern itself was super easy to follow, except for the whole getting the cross to line up part. On the brown block which I made first, everything lined up without me even trying. Then when it came time for the blue block, I made the mistake of trying to line everything up and of course I failed. So I ripped the stitches out and tried again, and again, and then gave up. It is supposed to be wonky, right?

 This is a definite potential bee block pattern! I made two opposite blocks because I just adore those two fabrics together. I have made so much our of them together. They are like my dream team of fabrics. Poppies and wood grain, what could be better? Here is a close up so you can [hopefully] see what I'm talking about.

Moving on! For those of you unfamiliar with the Buck a Block concept I mentioned in the beginning of this post (not sure if it is just my local quilt shop that has it or if it is a well known phenomenon), it is a neat idea!

For the one I'm in now, you buy, up front, 4 yards of the background fabric and then buy each block bundle (fabric and pattern) for $1 as long as you complete the previous month's block on time. If you do not complete your block by the first of the month, you have to pay like $5 (still incredibly cheap!) for that month's supplies instead of $1.

This particular Buck a Block is all basket blocks. I have never made basket blocks because they looked too old lady for me. But after I completed the first month's blocks (they give you enough fabric to make two 10" blocks each month) I am changing my opinion. Mostly because I just love, love, love the print on the fabric.

Those little birds are adorable!! Spwee! June is done! I'm going back to buy more bird fabric! Too bad I didn't take a close-up when there was still daylight available. What cracks me up though, is that I am at this quilt shop almost every week just wandering around and buying insane amounts of looking at fabric, but so far we are in month 3 and I have never noticed any of these fabrics! So far 2/3 fabrics are things I absolutely need in my stash.

For the background fabric, we are using muslin. I have never used muslin in a quilt before and I still am not too sure how I feel about it. I have yet to figure out which is the right side vs wrong side once I stack my cut bits in a pile. But it irons really well and doesn't seem to pucker, so that is nice!

Anyways, because of not being on the shop's newsletter despite countless tries by myself and the shop employees and being out of town a lot, I did not find out about this Buck a Block until last week. So I bought June, July, and August up front. I also finished the blocks for July this afternoon and I enjoyed this pattern a little less. Hard to tell if I liked it less because I liked the fabric less or if I was just frustrated with the pattern.

Oh well! They turned out really pretty, no matter how I felt about it.

Then I was going to get started on the blocks for August but somewhere between July blocks and August blocks, I decided it would be a great idea to chop off a big chunk of my finger with a rotary cutter. This must be karma for laughing at the safety gloves they wear on the Fons & Porter show on KEDT Create.

Anyways, if you get squeamish at the sight of blood, you might want to leave now or just scroll quickly down to the comment section (aren't I the optimistic one today?).

You have been warned.

Do not keep looking if the sight of gore makes you light-headed.

No, really.

Even if it just grosses you out, you might want to stop now.

Better safe than sorry. (Tell that to me next time I laugh at the safety glove!)

So, in case you ever wanted to know, this is what it looks like right after you run a new-ish rotary cutter blade over your finger that happens to be carelessly flopping over your ruler.

Good news is now that I have tried that out for you, you never have to give in to curiosity and try it for yourself! :)

Not too long ago I had a near-horrible quilting accident.  I dropped a rotary cutter and when I jumped in order to avoid it landing blade first on my foot, I ended up hitting myself with a hot iron. Luckily I was still jumping so I really didn't even get burnt.

I also scuba dive.

Boy, do I need less dangerous hobbies, or what?

I am linking up with BOM Monday over at What a Hoot Quilts!

WIP Wednesday

Okay, here is my real WIP Wednesday post for the week. I hardly finished anything, but we will still go ahead and start with that.

Here is a block I made with scraps. I like the double pinwheel a lot, but the lighter aqua fabric just looks too light. This block is in desperate need of ironing, so just ignore the wrinkles and puckering, please.

Now on to the arduous process of the monstrosity that is the quilts for Jonathan and Chloe. J&C are my cousin Claire's two children who are 7 and 5 respectively. I was not yet a quilter when they were born. My cousin Claire has been getting peeved that all our cousins who are having babies now are getting quilts. So, I told her I would make them both quilts. The interest that has been tacked on for waiting this long has turned them both into big quilts.

I have finished the front of Chloe's quilt. I used the "Big Blocks" pattern. This pattern is so incredibly easy. I finished cutting & piecing all of the the front in one evening. I swear, it felt like I was making that magic jelly roll quilt everyone is talking about. Here is the front with my obligatory driveway shot:

FABRIC SPOTLIGHT TIME!!! Do the fabric spotlight dance!!! Wooohooo!!!

Okay, now that the dancing is done, I can talk about the fabric. Well, one of the pinks. I bought this fabric when I was visiting family in Hawaii with my boyfriend this past May. My aunt in Hawaii actually helped pick it out, and then I decided to use it in Chloe's quilt so it would be like my aunt was involved. I love all the hibiscus fabric I got in Hawaii. Next time I go, I'm bringing back a whole suitcase full because it was so incredibly cheap! This is the one I used in Chloe's quilt:

Cute, huh?

I already have the back picked out for both of their quilts. Chloe is getting the absolutely perfect (unless you want to use it for a boy) in every way Berenstain Bear fabric and Jonathan is getting a super rad dinosaur Batik I found. 

Before I move on to Jonathan's quilt completely, let me stay on the topic of things that I am actually making progress on!

First off, the Block of the Month by mail thingamajig I signed up for. Here are pictures of the first 2 patterns and fabric. My goal is to finish getting everything cut out today while my jam is boiling. I might even start piecing tonight. Might being the operative word there.

I also finally got off my butt and bought fabric in the Modern Quilt Guild colors. I have seen some beautiful blocks and these colors just go together so well. I am determined to make something fun! The women at my local quilt shop were cracking up when I started organizing the fabrics by color. Yay! OCD! But gosh, don't they look so pretty together when you finally get all your ducks in a row? Love, love, love!

Now, I can put it off no longer. I must talk about Jonathan's quilt. I had started his quilt with the intention of making some really cute dinosaur blocks I found in a rotary cut block book ages ago. So I cut out all the bits for the t-rex blocks, and was about to start cutting the triceratops bits when my mom sees how teeny tiny the blocks are and tells me to stop immediately because that is just too much work for this quilt. Ooookay.

Time for plan b. Cute little zig zag quilt pattern from Moda. Nice, simple, what could go wrong, right?

Pshaw. You already know what is coming once someone says "what could go wrong" about a quilt pattern.

I cannot make this quilt. I don't know if it just feels like I am going nowhere, or if I feel guilty for using a more difficult pattern on his than I did for Chloe's, or if I don't like the fabric, or if I am just so frustrated from packing everything up, mid quilt for the construction in my house that is seemingly endless. /end rant

So, here is where I stand on this quilt. The blocks have been pieced together and sorted into rows. The rows have been labeled and clipped together with pins so they don't get all willy nilly during construction. But they have not been stitched into rows, and frankly, I do not want to. I have never felt this apathetic about a quilt before. Ahhh! Maybe I can just give him a pile of pieced squares? What 7 year old boy doesn't want a tower of what looks like sewing scraps??