Determined

I am determined to finish this quilt SOON.

I finished the quilt top before Baby came to us. I have finally found time to finish the quilt back. Hopefully this will mean making a quilt sandwich and figuring out my quilting design soon. I can't wait to snuggle under it. (Obviously, kitty can't wait as well). The pattern is from Elizabeth Hartman's book: the Practical Guide to Patchwork

Nothing more wonderful than a gift

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.  ~Martin Luther

Today I handed off a labor of joy to some good good friends. A quilt as a wedding present- something I always hoped to do, and I finally have done it! And it felt great!

Based entirely off the wedding (invites, ceremony, dresses, flowers) I managed to get it to them only nine months after their wedding. But hey, I'm new at this quilting thing, so I get to take that long to finish something.
Here it is, just the quilt top pieces, partly sewn and pre quilting and such:

Can you see the embroidery hoop in the lower right corner? That's because I embroidered flower traced from the into 8 squares:

Husband designed a square for their names and wedding date:

And the back matched the color of the bridesmaid dresses, with some leftover blocks thrown in:

All pictures were taken post washing- so the crinkly goodness shows extreme. I free motion quilted this sucker, which was a first for such a large project. And it was fun! Really fun! I know there are lots of mistakes, but none that take away from the overall awesome-ness of the project.
Finally- the binding. I found the perfect striped binding online and couldn't get over the cute factor:

Not a great picture to show off the true cuteness of the binding. Just the same, I stand by my statement of cuteness.

Handing this off to our friends was the MOST fun I have ever had giving a gift. There is nothing like a quilt. NOTHING! So fun to make, so fun to give, so fun to use. Nothin' better.

soon

I have a huge quilt coming together... but now pictures because its a gift for good friends and I'm going for the surprise factor.
But soon. It's keeping me plenty busy. With the hubby out of town for a few nights, I'm expecting to make some major progress.

Finishing Homework

Homework Machine

by Shel Silverstein

The Homework Machine , oh the Homework Machine,

Most perfect contraption that’s ever been seen.

Just put in your homework, then drop in a dime,

Snap on the switch, and in ten seconds time,

You homework comes out, quick and clean as can be.

Here it is – “nine plus four?” and the answer is “three”.

Three?

Oh me…

I guess it’s not as perfect

As I thought it would be.

I had a flashback this Friday. A flashback to late night science projects, late night history papers, late night dioramas, late night math cramming. This Friday night found me desperately finishing the homework for my mod-pillow quilting class at Modern Domestic. 

A mess of fabric. Improvisational piecing taught by Elizabeth of the blog Oh, Fransson!
And I found it incredibly hard. A fantastic exercise in getting things right but not "perfect". I had to let go my symmetry and grids and just let the pieces come together. 

And come together they did. 
I three squares done early in the week and felt pretty good.

Then, the week exploded and nothing more got done. The second day of class loomed closer and closer, until...
Friday turned into a late night sewing frenzy with pieces going together until 3:30am. But I finished them. 9 blocks of improved goodness. I "squared" them up. Laid them out. Admired. I mean- look at them. Even with the bad lighting I find them awesome. 

I got the sashing between them. Snapped a picture. Dragged myself to bed. Homework completed. Just in time. I spent class Saturday morning yawning. 

Coming soon- a completed pillow. Both the front and back are quilted, I just need to sew them all together.

From paper to quilt

 Here sits the start of a quilt:

And here sits the inspiration for this quilt:

 Yes. A wedding present long over due.

Here sits the inspiration in the middle of all the fabric that will turn inspiration into quilt:

 And here sit the first blocks:

... wonky 1/4" seams... but we'll get there.

A quilt.

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."
Louis L'Amour

This quilt must give a thank you to crazy mom quilts, who led the quilt-a-long that kept me motivated to the finish line. 

My quilt. Finished. My mind desperately races to begin the next project. Wait! Stop! I need to admire this beauty for a moment.
The front: Billions of squares going round and round and round and round....

The new machine my husband purchased for our one year anniversary worked like a dream. I threw the walking foot on and went for it when quilting time came. 

The Back: FLOATING SQUARES!! All 8 colors I used in the front. Booyah. I take full credit for this part of the design.  

 The only real issues I had came from not getting it quite flat when I basted it together. A few wrinkles in the quilting.  I'm still feeling pretty good. I think some of the shrinking and crinkleing during it's first machine wash will hide some of the flaws. (Who am I kidding... in my eyes, it's flawless. I love this quilt)

Close up of the front:  the very center square. Where it all started...

 Special thanks to the man behind the curtain. Also, this one shows my quilting pattern:

 I did a scrappy binding, it has all the quilt colors in it.

Another Helen Handcraft completed. Now... on to the next beginning.

the cat helping me sew...

Cats sleep anywhere
Any table, any chair
Top of piano, window ledge
In the middle, on the edge
Open drawer, empty shoe
Anybody's lap will do
Fitted in a cardboard box
In the cupboard with your frocks
They don't care
Cats sleep anywhere!

Eleanor Farjeon

Today, Tesla helped me baste my quilt. Which lay in the sun. Then Tesla forgot her job as official helper and fell asleep.

 Even so, I got this sucker pinned together.

 

Up the stairs I went to get it quilted. Tesla came as well. Ready and eager to start her duties as quilting helper.

 ...and she fell asleep on my fabric stash. Well, now I know why it takes costco packs of lint rollers to keep my projects cat fur free.

She expressed only slight annoyance that I had the audacity to disturb her with a picture.

The hexagons have found me....

"Laura was sewing two long breadths of muslin together to make a sheet. She pinned the edges together carefully and fastened them with a pin to her dress at the knee. Carefully holding the edges even she whipped them together with even tiny stitches."

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Hexagons. Taking the quilting world by storm. And now... me. 

Lake time found me basting fabric to paper hexagons.

The car ride home began the whip stitching (BY HAND!!) together.
Winter evenings will be full of hexagons. I will sew them together until my fingers are calloused and strong. I will have a blanket of hexagons.

In the meantime, it's a lazy Saturday in bed with the cat.

She sleeps on a recently thrift-ed quilt, a true find with hand quilting goodness all over it. We listen to Bobcat football (the cat listening to the Cats) with hubby. A wonderful day with sewing and crafting in the future. And chicken soup. Pictures to follow.

From the start

I'm just at the start of a quilt...
Look at this wonderful fabric, just waiting to be cut-

The flowers in the middle were the first fabric I picked and the rest of the fabrics are colors from it.

Now, to begin the cutting.

"Who Hoo" will this go to?

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money, 

Wrapped up in a five pound note.

"The Owl and the Pussycat"

Edward Lear

I finished a quilt without a class and all on my own! And there are owls all over it!! What a wonderful thing!

Okay, on my own is stretching it. Without the class at Modern Domestic, taught by Elizabeth of oh Fransson! this quilt would not exist. I referred constantly back to oh Fransson's blog for tips with the quilt sandwich and binding. Tips that made no sense to me before I had a live demonstration of them. (I'm a hands on kind of gal)

 

I also took inspiration for this quilt from Cluck Cluck Sew. I made it smaller and learned a bit about planning for quilt dimensions. I should take a photo of my planning page in my idea journal- I'm pretty proud of it. Numbers, colors, careful planning. (And still, I had some errors- but I worked through them all)

I went with a pea green flannel background. Soft a cozy for the little guy who is getting this one. I also managed a binding on my own. Well, with reference of some tutorials for reminders.

The quilting process itself... less than satisfying. I kept meaning to get over for some open sewing time at M.D., but never did. I just shoved it through my machine and did some stitch in the ditch action. It worked, but not pretty. But it worked. And the people getting it will never know it could have been something different. I'm not ready to commit to that new machine until I know I'm really committed to this quilting and sewing thing. 

Oh, those Owls. I picked up the Owls at Bolt in Portland during their sale. I'm so glad they've made it into a project.

Pictures of crazy nine patch quilt

My camera has been found! Right in the drawer where it's supposed to be!
Here are some pictures from my quilt class at Moder Domestic. The class was taught by Elizabeth of oh Fransson!
The view from the front:

I think the bottom one shows the texture of the quilt better- washing it really gave it the crinkled look. 
I'm very proud of the free motion quilting- I did a circle pattern. I'm hooked on free motion quilting! I can't wait to try more!

I also did a hand sewn binding. I learned so much in this class!
We even did a pattern on the back-

I'll say it! I love this quilt!! I'm so proud of it!!

Crazy Nine Patch

Another quilt finished! YEAH! Thanks to the class at Modern Domestic I had a chance to learn more quilting from Elizabeth of oh Fransson!
Until I find the camera... no pictures. But it should be noted that on this quilt I did free motion quilting and binding for the first time. Plus, under Elizabeth's direction I got a feel for making a quality quilt sandwich. (Almost makes me hungry, just thinking about my sandwich!) A thanks to my husband, who joined me on the hardwood floor as I taped and stretched and pinned all the layers together.
In the meantime, the picture for the class is here: Crazy Nine Patch

A try on my own

 During Sew Mama Sew's  Handmade Holidays I spotted a quilt that looked like something I could handle on my own, after my one quilt class. It was through Modern Organic Fabrics. I decided to make it for a teacher who was expecting a little girl. Pink, green, and ladybugs were the theme of the shower... so I went with it. I was really guessing on the sandwiching and the quilting. But I had fun.