Saturday, February 27, 2010

Use My Stash Year : week 9 (and some science)

My birthday money impulse buy arrived this week - four yards of Heather Ross Spoonflower fun! The mailman came just as I was heading out the door for preschool drop off. I totally opened it as I drove along at the stop lights - talk about distracted driving. But I couldn't wait.

I ordered the quilting weight cotton and really like it - it's just like Kona solids. I actually prefer sewing with that over the poplin her prints usually are on. The poplin feels nicer, but my stitches aren't as even and it tends to pull at the seams more. Any thoughts on why I have issues with it? I've tried lots of stuff to fix it and can't. So the Kona type weave makes me happy.

All the prints are on a little larger scale than the originals - here's a side by side. Oh, and I did all these on my scanner. Love that! No messing with it in photoshop for flash and color correction. They come out perfect the first time. Wish I had a flatbed as large as my quilts!!


I made a little pot holder as a test. Included her selvage, isn't it cute! And the Wildwood is a nearly perfect match for the pink and yellows in these prints. It was going to be a whirlygiggle but I cut one wrong and I didn't want to cut again. So just some random piecing and a first try at random line quilting.


I'm doing a little test on washability. So far here's one iteration done. I'll do 10 (as Kerri was thinking) or until I'm sick of it. I hand washed it in lukewarm, I hate having my hands in cold water, and then tumble dried. I was happy that there wasn't a bit of bleeding at all. A tiny bit of fading on the plum background...we'll see how it holds up over more washings. I'm posting the progression in my flickr account if you're interested in the results.

I finished my testing for now - report here: flickr link


I got all that new stuff, but since I sent out my bee fabric this month I have a good number on the busted line!

Busted: 9.389
Purchased: 4
Net YTD: (17.719)

8 comments:

CitricSugar said...

These are great fabrics! And your first go at random-line quilting turned out fantastic - can't wait to see it on something larger...

Unknown said...

Great post!! I can't wait to see the test results (I’m waiting to see if they fade)... some of my others have and it's super expensive... so these types of test are going to show me a lot! Are you going to put them through the washing machine???

XO, Heather

Dee said...

Isn't it fun and interesting that art (quilting) meets science in so many ways! Measuring, washing, dye lots, etc.

The fabrics are very pleasing ot the eye and I have a soft spot for that little fellow!

Tracey Jacobsen said...

cute!

And I agree... thank you for posting your test results. :) And that tid-bit about scanning, such a good idea.:)

Leslie said...

that fabric is so cute!!! i love the little potholder. the color it comes in is so pretty

~Michelle~ said...

Cute, I got my one little yard of the plum mushrooms yesterday also! I just read somewhere that you should use a 70 needle when sewing the Little Folks voile, so maybe the same theory should apply to the thin poplin??

Karen said...

What a cute little potholder! I love those fabrics!

I'll have to go check out your test results on flikr.

One of these days I hope I can order some of that fabric. It's so expensive! I need to find someone to share 1/2 yards with!

chris baker said...

I ordered mine last week, and know that I see your cute potholder, I am more anxious than ever for my post man to bring it to me!!

Thanks for testing it out for us, I got the same color scheme as you did....so it's will help me decide if I want to include the deep color or not.