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)

TWO More Finished Auction Quilts

My birthday Olympic sewing helped with the final push to get these two auction donations done. This first one is "Peace Puzzle" 54"x54"

The preschool planned and provided the children's artwork on the white muslin. I just had to make them into a quilt in any way I wanted. I think the whirlygiggles are like puzzle pieces and love making them, so that was an easy decision!

The quilting was fun. I decided to free motion outline the puzzles on both the inside and outside edge. Stipple of course everywhere else.

It's so cool the way it ended up looking on the back!

I LOVE LOVE the second one that I named "Stepping Stones to God" 54"x60". Hugely influenced by Hop on Spot and the mini I did for the advent table.

The words on the front are the title the teacher gave their project. I tried a few things, but ended up liking them free motion edge appliqued the best. Plus, you don't have to turn your quilt a million times in and out to go around all the letters!

I cut out their little feet from the squares to make them look like they were walking on stepping stones. I had to wet down a few areas to remove washable marks for centering and realized that the writing and gold glitter paint are NOT washable. They'll come right off! Luckily I didn't really damage any of their feet, but this is certainly not a washable quilt. Good thing I didn't toss it in to get all crinkly!

I loved the contrast of the diagonal lines with the striped circles on my advent mini, so I went with that again. Before making the sandwich, I used invisible thread to sew around all the circles to keep them well attached. I used a walking foot for all the lines and did it while watching the Olympics, as it was horribly boring. I really enjoy the free motion!

I can't wait to see how both of these do at auction.

My Bee Month

I just finished up the fun string Bee Beautiful block for Rachel. And now it's my month!

I got most of my fabrics during the pre-Christmas shopping spree at the Fabric Shack. And they have been patiently waiting to be all cut up. Hop on over later today to see what these little packages will become!

Use My Stash Year : week 8 (and a tip!)

With my fun Birthday/Olympic sewing, I got two more auction quilts done. Hopefully it won't be so grey out tomorrow for some pictures.

My stash in this week includes several solids I got from the Fabric Shack. I thought - hey, they should put the color name on the edge - and finally realized I could do it myself!

I kept the handy little photo checkout sheet they give you for an online purchase. They are pretty color accurate.Then I matched up my pieces with the printout. Also having a couple different cut sizes helped, too! Then I used my water soluble pen to write the colors name on an edge. It seems like a pretty good plan.

Busted: 4.444
Purchased: 8.26
Net YTD: (23.108) so that's two weeks in a row of MORE stash....oooops!

Ticker Tape auction note - the auction was last night and a friend that went updated me. The quilt went for $400.

Gnomes for Me!

That birthday money came just in time!

Click Heather's picture to go to her site and buy some yourself - I just placed my order!

Awesome Stuff (can't think of a better title)

Last night's Olympics rocked - Shaun White is awesome - and this commercial just added to it! One of the best I've seen in a long time. I somehow missed it during the super bowl.

Old Spice's blurb is even awesome: We're not saying this body wash will make your man smell into a romantic millionaire jet fighter pilot, but we are insinuating it.

...edit....I took out the embed, as it seems to be bringing a lot of comment spam!...

I did make a bee block last night. Thought I better get Heather's wonky log cabin out before Victoria's fabrics show up. I love how it turned out.

I ate leftover birthday cake, too. A good night all around.

Birthday Fun

First, the winner of the green Kei dots..... 9patchnurse, who loves to watch skaters, both fast and twirly. She just had he birthday, too! Send me your address and I'll get that fun FQ off to you.

And thank you for all the nice comments on the Ticker Tape quilt! I'll let you know how much it goes for this weekend.

I had a great time sewing all day Monday, and got two more auction quilts nearly done.

Since mail didn't come Monday, I had a great pile of things yesterday....

A thoughtful gift (from myself) from the Fabric shack.

And an awesome package that was bursting at the seams from Rebekah. I won her vintage sheet collection that has gone unused. I haven't had much luck finding them myself, and now I can stop hunting!

Finally, I got a FQ bundle from my Grandma - she laughed and said she wanted to make sure I wouldn't run out. We had just been looking over the big cabinet where I keep my stash :) I'm lucky that she's visiting my mom and dad this week, so she was here to celebrate my birthday yesterday. It was so much fun showing her all the quilts in progress around here.

Ticker Tape Parade!!!!

I present the "Ticker Tape Parade" - a collaborative quilt by myself and the 5th graders - 62" square now that it's washed, crinkly, and soft! This quilt will auction at the Home and School adult social.

All the kids had a 5" square to create, and I ironed it down to get them home (Heat-n-bond on all the bits). This of course was all inspired by Amanda Jean's awesome Ticker Tape quilt. The kids' blocks were all pieced together with Kona Ash solid blocks.

Then I stippled the solids and raw edge quilted the kids' creations. I did all the squares free motion - it kept me from having to shove the quilt through four ways for every little bit. And there were a LOT of bits. I estimate there were at least 600 little pieces!

There was one spot left, so I made a block with the school year and name. All the blocks have the children's names on them. (Can you tell I had light issues?! I had the worst time even getting things to work with photoshop.)

I chose a busy print on the lighter side for the back - you can hardly see all the strange quilting and stop/starts on this print.

My neighbor is another 5th grade mom and will be at the auction. She's planning on bidding and said she'll call with the end amount. I'm interested to see what it goes for. It was a cool project and the kids loved doing it!

Another thing to celebrate - today is my birthday! I came up with the best idea last night....since I LOVE the Olympics and also want to sew, I set up a temporary table right in front of the TV.


I plan on quilting and watching Snowcross all day today. Until that starts, I'm happy with Gordon and BBCAmerica!

Finally, for making it all the way to the end of my big party today, I have some extra Kei dots to give away. Tell me what your favorite winter Olympic sport is and I'll randomly pick a winner Tuesday night. Until then you'll find me in my sweats with my hair in a headband enjoying my birthday!

Use my Stash Year : week 7

I've been working away on all these auction quilts, so I gave into the need for more fabric. This lovely stack is from Hawthorne Threads - I've been wanting more of that ice blue Heather Bailey Bijoux for a while and found it in their shop. Since I was paying for shipping, may as well make it worth while!

Busted: 6.069
Purchased: 6.5
Net YTD: (19.293)

Happy Valentines day! And come back tomorrow - I'm going to throw a little party for myself and also show off my Ticker Tape parade.

Quilting question

I've finished making the top for the "Stepping Stones" auction top. I'm trying something new by adding letters to the edge. It says "Walking with God = Peace".

The letters and the circles are all fused to the top right now. My question - should I stitch them down before I make the quilt sandwich? I think I'll straight line quilt as a nice contrast to the circles.

I also finished my Ticker Tape quilt!!!! It's all washed and soft. But I'm out of light, so just a small picture for now. The auction is in a week. I'm beyond happy that it's done in plenty of time!

Handmade Happiness

Audrie posted this adorable little girl - and I found more of her.
This is exactly how wonderful handmade packages make us all feel.
I have certainly danced around like that on a good mail day!

I can't embed it, just click on the title 'Merci, Krista' to take you there.....

Merci, Krista ! from Capucha on Vimeo.

After

Are you sick of it yet? I may happily give this up when I'm done after spending so many hours with it....The little thread sculpture is the result of "After" all the start/stop ends of the raw edge quilting. Now I'm onto cleaning up the back. The binding is sewn and just needs tacking down. So close!

This weekend I also made Liz' apple pie - from Julie. It was super yummy and very easy (You can see my little taste test at the top. Amazingly, I waited long enough to not scorch my mouth.) I hate rolling out pie dough - it never works for me. Here you just press into the bottom! The boys have already gobbled it up, so no after pictures on this one.

Use My Stash Year : week 6

I'm chugging away at the Ticker Tape Parade - so that backing counted as 4 yards used. Hurray! And thanks for all the nice comments, they help keep me going on the never ending blocks.


Remember this clipping? (And I made this cool magnetic board for my sewing area! Thanks for the tutorial, Karen! Of course had to add on some fabric covered button magnets.)



I pulled some fabrics this week to make a mini....but thought the reds I wanted were lacking. So off to the local quilt shop I went.


I came home with these three. Couldn't pass up those aqua lady bugs!

Busted: 4
Purchased: 1.5
Net YTD: (18.862)

Joy and Dispair

Ignore all the thread ends that still need clipping. The Ticker Tape quilt is looking great!

Hopefully the process speeds up as I do more. When I stood up to admire the progress last night, I saw that I only finished about an eighth of the blocks. If you're looking for me, I'm under the ocean of unfinished quilting.

Hanging Stuff

My table runner has a new home. See that glaring sun that's trying to fade all my lovely fabric?

I noticed that the pinwheel runner was the perfect size to shade the side of the glass hutch. So up it went with 3M's command poster hanging strips. They stick to the cloth!

And although I didn't buy any fabric last week, I did get a treasure to hang in my space from etsy.

He says he can hear the Forest whisper
by Hidden Eloise at Hide N Seek.

Isn't she wonderful!? As I mentioned to Julie, get something fun for your sewing space - it helps with the fabric buying withdrawal.