Scrumptious Jumping Jacks: Part One

I caught up on grading and decided to take on a sample quilt for my LQS. My interest in this sample was high because it was using Scrumptious by Bonnie & Camille and the colors in this line made me so happy!

Taking on this project was a big decision because the owner usually lets me take up to a few weeks to finish a front if I need it, but this particular quilt was to be done on a deadline. It had to be DONE as in the front finished, back to her husband for quilting which could take a few days, back to me for binding and back to hang in the store within 10 days. This could have gone so wrong since I am teaching 7 classes at the university this semester. But I looked at the pattern before accepting and decided it would go together quickly.

Ooo! I had no idea just how easy it would be! Let's just say, the front is already done and I have only had the fabric for 27 hours. Yay for quilts that use precuts! The book the pattern is from (Quilt from Sweet Jane by Sue Pfau) is full of precut quilts that all look simple but adorable! This quilt followed the Jumping Jacks pattern and had options for either charm squares or layer cake squares. Starting with two charm packs (less cutting if you start with the 5" squares) my total time spent on the front of this quilt including cutting the background fabric came to just under four hours! Woot!

So here is the front of the quilt that is off to the quilters early! Stay tuned for photos after the quilting and binding. :)

Teeny Tiny Things

I decided on a plan for the next Mug Rug Revival Swap. My partner wants something holiday themed, which is awesome because I do not like holiday fabric for myself because I do not decorate, but I have had a few patterns floating around in my brain. So far I have strips with a bunch of little 1.5" squares and it doesn't really look like much, but it will!


I also finished 19.5/20 of the 3" half hexie pinwheels I am making (I say half because one is done, just backwards and one is done now but wasn't done in the picture) for the EPP 30s repro quilt. I had not conceptualized how big the quilt would come out with just 20 blocks. The answer is too dang small.


It was smaller than a baby quilt, which is no good since I want this to be for me! So I decided to make a whole lot more half hexies before sewing pinwheels together so that it would still be random if my color ratios were off. Originally I had 4 each of red, yellow, blue, purple, & aqua/green. I collected a few (15) more fat quarters during the Quilt Across Texas shop hop in September. Between that, what I had in my stash (Uhhhm, how do I have that much 30s repro if I never use any?!), and adding in a four not 30s repro prints that match the color scheme, I now have 7 more fabrics in each of the 5 color ways. I have already cut these into strips and am toting them along everywhere with me. Maybe someday this quilt will be done.


I also managed to finish the trivet I am making my boyfriend. It is a teeny tiny version[ish] of the quilt I made him ages ago. Here is the quilt, for reference.

Here is the finished trivet. The quilting on the trivet is the antithesis of what I did in the quilt. The quilt had tidy diagonal lines spaced 2" apart while the trivet, well, not so much. I started with diagonal lines, but it just didn't look right with the light linen background so I went with a stipple.

Here is a close up of some of the quilting. I know my FMQ still has a lot of improving to do, but I am slowly getting there. Since it is for my boyfriend, I tried to add a little heart. It doesn't look too heart-like, but that just means it will be more camouflaged.


The trivet has two layers of Insul-Bright, and the backing is grippy shelf liner so it will not slide around. I had sewn shelf liner before and it wasn't too difficult. This particular brand of shelf liner is insanely grippy, I suppose, because it was impossible to sew with my machine. What I did to overcome the obstacle was machine stitching the binding to the front through the front and two layers of batting. Then I turned the binding and stitched it to the back, but caught the shelf liner in these stitches to hold it in place. Viola; Grippy and heat resistant!


I also had some time to try a new recipe this weekend. It is for bacon jam empanadas with a really delicious cornmeal crust. They are basically the best thing ever. I'm hoping to write a tutorial for this soon. :)

Piecing, Love, and Fox Bag!

This week I converted a nearly forgotten UFO into a WIP! This L-O-V-E was the first thing I ever made with paper piecing. I used all of my most favorite fabrics at the time. My initial plan was to have this be the center of a quilt and surround it by blocks in coordinating colors. After countless bees trying to get blocks that matched, I ended up with about 40 blocks in similar colors, but only a handful actually matched. Bummer. Then there is the size: Each letter is 8.5" x 10.5" (8"x10" finished), so even sized up with double border, it really wouldn't work well with standard 12.5" blocks. So with all that, I put this away over a year ago and forgot about it completely...


...Until today! I really wanted to try out making some prairie points because I am thinking about using some for my next mug rug swap project. I don't like the old school kind for the border and prefer the interior borders. So I went hunting for something small to use prairie points on. Then I started thinking about the genius advice my boyfriend gave me.

I was getting discouraged about still not having the ruler to make the Houndstooth cover for my cedar chest upholstery project when he suggested that I make multiple covers as pillow cases and use utility foam to hold them to the chest instead of stapling to a board and screwing to the chest.

I decided to kill two birds with one stone! That's a bingo! Obviously I was never going to finish the LOVE quilt, so I ripped out a bunch of stitches and reworked it. Then I framed LOVE in grey linen prairie points.


Now I just need to figure out how to quilt the thing, and how to make this into a cover for the giant piece of foam. In the process, I learned a few things about prairie points.

1. Do not use linen without starch for your first try at prairie points.
2. Make sure the open sides of your triangles open towards the direction you will be sewing so you can avoid having to straighten every single triangle.

There was also other progress made! I finished the purse for Secret Tote Bag Swap. Now I am in the process of filling it with goodies so I can ship it out. I can't say any more about my partner since they do not have the bag yet. I keep having the urge to make fox stuff because of the "What Does the Fox Say?" video.


This past weekend was spent at the new house and I had a little bit of free time. In that free time, I was able to finish a whole lot more EPP half hexagon pinwheels. Oh! I decided to make the pinwheels turn this way. I haven't ripped the stitches out of the one going the other direction. Maybe I will still make a whole separate quilt to avoid ripping stitches.


My boyfriend and I even got a little more painting done in the future sewing room. We finally did the ceiling! Right now, the entire house is that tan/brown color on all walls and ceilings. It is fine in its own right, but a little boring. It is insane how much bigger the room feels with white ceilings. Hopefully this weekend we can finish painting the sewing room.

Hand Sewingpalooza!

Maybe it is my busy work schedule, maybe it is the [seemingly] never-ending move, maybe it is just me being lazy because it has been cloudy and rainy for a few weeks (and it is never cloudy and rainy in South Texas. We are in a horrible drought!) but I just haven't been able to find the motivation to fit in sewing as of late. That being said, I have been on a mission to do sewing.

You see, I really want to work on a houndstooth cover for my vintage cedar chest reuppholstery project, but I can't find the stinking ruler I need. Here's the thing, no one in town has it so I ordered it from Amazon. It arrived a week late and broken into two pieces, so I returned it and got a full refund which left me with still no ruler. I have been to over 10 shops in the surrounding area (September is Texas shop-hop month aka Quilt Across Texas) and no one has it! Uggh. So here is my plea: Have you seen this ruler?? If so, please tell me where!

Okay! On with the sewing. First up I have a picture of all the beautiful 3" half hexies I finished basting. Well, not all. I finished 120, but had already sewn 14 together at this point. Have no fear; I will show you what I have sewn together! I have no idea how big this quilt is going to end up, but I have known from the beginning that I do not want fabrics to repeat. Luckily this gave me something to buy during the shop-hop since I couldn't buy the ruler I really wanted. Here are all my hexies!

When I travel with my hexies, I am always scared their edges are going to get bent. If I put them in a zippered pouch, they can get bent up with the bag, if I put them in a rigid pencil box, they have too much room and can slide around. I was starting to think they wouldn't be able to travel with me, and really, what is the point of an EPP project if it can't travel? Then I found an empty mask box lying around! I'm a scuba dive leader, so I have way too much scuba gear, but in this case it totally paid off! Look at how well they all fit in here!

So perfect for 3" half hexagons!
 

I had sewn one pinwheel together last week and left it at home. Then I went out of town and had some time to sew, but I had forgotten completely which direction I had the first pinwheel going. I had a 50/50 shot of getting it right and of course I got it wrong. So now I don't know which direction to sew the rest in. Ripping it apart is going to be hard. Maybe I will just make a second quilt with the pinwheels going the opposite direction. That seems like less work, right? Making an entirely separate quilt to avoid ripping out a few stitches. FYI: I said I had 14 stitched together and each pinwheel only has 6. The final two are in the upper right corner of this picture.


I also started working on the applique I'm doing for the Secret Tote Bag Swap. I'm getting so excited about it! Hopefully I will be able to suck it up and get some machine sewing done this week. :)

Nothingness-ish

Ooookay, I didn't exactly get nothing done, but I really didn't do a lot.

I did pick fabric for the Secret Tote Bag Swap. I am making a 241 bag, but I increased the pattern size so it will be a little bigger. I have all the exterior bits cut and I think the fabric really fits with my partner's wishes.


Over the weekend, my boyfriend and I finally made some gnocchi al pesto. I have been desperately wanting to try making this. It turned out nicely, but would be better with my pesto instead of store bought.


I also completed the front of a quilt and completely forgot to take a picture of it before getting it off for quilting. I even finished more half hexagons and assembled my first pinwheel out of half hexagons, but naturally I also forgot to take pictures of those.

Hopefully you were able to accomplish a bit more than I was.

One Down, Fourteen to Go!

I am officially 1/15th through with teaching for the semester. Woohoo! So far my classes are going well. I only have a few students that seem to be problematic, but that will get sorted out. Sadly teaching full time and moving means that I haven't been able to do much sewing. But I have done a little!

My boyfriend and I decided to be pro-active and put shelf liner in every single drawer and in every single cabinet (even in bathrooms!) at the new house. This left me with a couple of perfectly sized scraps that I decided to make trivets out of. My thinking is that I will piece the front, add a few layers of Insul-Bright, and then add shelf liner instead of backing so that it will be heat resistant and grippy! Win win! In case you don't know what I'm talking about, it is this stuff:


Here is the first front I came up with:


That first one coordinates with the quilt I made for my boyfriend a while back.

I also started making my first 241 Tote Bag. I am thinking about using this pattern, only enlarged slightly, for the Secret Tote Bag Swap. Here is my progress:


I also basted a few more half-hexies!


I also made some progress on a sample quilt I am working on for my LQS.


I also started working on the re-upholstery job I'm doing on my vintage cedar chest. I picked the pattern (piecing the Houndstooth pattern!), bought the fabric, bought and cut the foam, and then went on a mission for the ruler I need. No one in town has the correct ruler so I ordered it from Amazon. It took forever and arrived after it was supposed to and was SNAPPED IN HALF. Lame. Amazon says it isn't their fault, so I can return it for some of my money back since it isn't being returned in like-new condition. Ugggh. Now after waiting two weeks for this stinking ruler, I'm back to waiting. Hopefully Amazon will do the right thing and give me all my money back. Hopefully I can find a quilt shop somewhere in a 3 hour radius (This is Texas so that includes San Antonio, Austin, & Houston) who has one and I can go buy it in a few weekends. But at least I cut the foam, riiiight?


Okay, so I really haven't done too much modern stuff. Maybe I'm in a funk. Oh well! What have you been working on?

Last Night of Freedom

Tonight is officially the last night of summer. Starting tomorrow my soul belongs to my students since I am back to work as a full-time, adjunct professor teaching 7 classes. Four of them are Astronomy and this is my fourth year teaching them. Three are physical science teacher prep classes and this is only my second year teaching them. I have been busting my butt trying to optimize my plans for all 7 classes and I'm very excited to try out my changes! This is only the second time I have taught this many classes at once, so I'm nervous. But I'm always nervous at the start of a semester. Anyways, I printed all my syllabi today!



As for crafting, I finished two quilts. The first is a super easy tossed 9-patch quilt in fall Civil War repro fabric. This quilt is one of the prizes for Quilt Across Texas-Region 4. Also, this was the first quilt to be photographed at the new house!


Here it is again in the shade so you can actually see the fabric. Oddly enough I like the other picture more. I'm not too sad about this one going away to a stranger.


I also tried my hand at invisible zippers for the first time and came up with this pillow. It is quilted with a basic stipple.


Invisible Zipper!


I finished another Quilt Across Texas quilt, this one using the official fabric for 2013. It is huuuge. Naturally I forgot to take a picture after it was quilted and bound, but it is hanging at a quilt shop in town so I can go sneak a picture later. :)


Because I am in the slow process of packing to move, I decided it would be easier to sell a bunch of stuff, so today I sold a huge laundry basket and ginormous grocery bag full of books and DVDs to Half Price books and made just over $80! I figured I could splurge on these books which came to about $10.  The Spellbinding Quilts book might as well be called "Tolkien & Harry Potter inspired paper pieced blocks." I can't wait to sew up some dragons!


I mentioned the new house, so here are house details. Boyfriend and I went to sign paperwork on Friday morning but somehow the relocation company being used by the seller didn't send out the official "you can have the house" email until today, which sucks because we were planning on using the long weekend for moving and painting, but couldn't.

But since we got official word today, I got to start painting what will be the sewing room! The top two swatches are the colors I was really torn between. The bottom one is from a gallon of paint I found in the "oops" section at Lowes. This means it is a $35 gallon of paint for $5. Here it doesn't look great, but next to those glorious blues and underwhelming brown nearly everything would look kind of blehhh.


That brown is everywhere in the house, even ceilings but we are only painting the master bedroom and sewing room.

Since I already have a gallon of the "oops" paint and am such a tightwad that I convinced myself I could love it, I decided to start painting with it and worst case scenario, it is the first coat for one of the blues.


It is still drying and obviously trim work still needs to be done (I avoid ladders while home alone) but it is definitely growing on me! Or maybe it just looks better not surrounded by the other colors.