Progress!

Working on my quilt top, finally finished piecing the main part of the top, now I just have to add the border. Naturally I had to do all this while geeking out to my favorite TV shows, Heros, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Heros, and Amazing Race. Woot! June is looking very obtainable as a goal!
On the wall:

Getting Ironed:

I'm Sewing Again

It's simple, if I am not working on a project or doing some type of quilting I let my poor little blog languish while it wait for my updates. Well, I am sewing on a project again! It is a Layer Cake and I decided I needed some bright happy fabrics to chase the winter blues away. Luckily my stash is still brimming with bright happy fabrics. Last week I went over to my friend Sue's house and worked on cutting out the pieced for the this quilt and the next day I started sewing on it. It is so satisfying sometimes to put together something that someone else has figured out the yardage and what not and I just cut ant sew. I've committed to a challenge at my quilt guild to finish it by June, binding and all. So, here goes....

Storm at Sea is going to Nashville!

I just read my email as saw that our group project has been accepted to be shown in Nashville AQS show in August!!! Eight of us are in our group, under the category of a "The Ultimate Guild Challenge Quilts".

How I divide my three blogs

Sometimes I have a hard time dividing how I organize my three blogs. I am writing this more for myself to keep track of, but it will help you, as you stumble onto my blog, navigate all my entries.

All serve a purpose and all are quilt related.

This blog, flippytale Quilter is for general musings about quilting and day to day quiltiness. Just like what I am writing right now....

My STASHBUSTING is more about my works in progress and I will transfer blog entries from this blog as they relate to a specific project, but many entries are unique to that site. I have a list of my UFO's there as well as a 100 yard stashbust tracker and a "finish 25 quilts this year" tracker. I like those, they keep me motivated. I wasn't specific about which 25 quilts needed to be finished, just as long as 25 are completed this year, that includes new ones started along the way. Okay, I'm not that disciplined to just work on existing UFO's. .....I am an "artist" and must create.....argh!

Then my Wall of Delights are my finished quilts. Many entries were transfered from my web site to here (my web site is soooo out of date because I, don't laugh, know how to upload new stuff to it anymore) I will transfer entries from the Stashbusting to the Wall of Delights as I finish a project. I do try to go back an check all my links as I go to make sure there as a track back to each projects.

Complicated enough? I guess that is how my brain works, it won't be the first time I've been accused of making a system more complicated than it needs to be. I think I do it out of the need to figure stuff out and stay interested in projects. If it is complicated, I will fool with it. If it is too simple I will get bored and move on. Just wired up that way...

Al-righty, thanks for looking!

Two Quilts Given Away

I presented my two service quilts to my guild's president last night at our monthly guild meeting. She is collecting 108 quilts for a long term care hospital and that is how many beds are there. We are half way there as many people brought their finished quilts to donate.

IKAT-like Idea Contemplation

I was looking through one of our fancy design magazine at work yesterday. Yes, I get paid to look through magazine! Well actually when it is in relationship to trend analysis, which I have to do for the stuff that I design for a living. Anyway, I came across these images made me think of Ikat weaving or Kente cloth, it would be interesting to take a photo and create a similar effect out of fabric using strips. Ikat traditionally uses pictorial image motifs tie-dyed into the thread of the warp and sometimes the weft.

I think this is a woven rug (the caption was in French), it is so graphic and would look great in fabric. Colors?

It appears to be less organized than Bargello, which is more geometric & abstract.

Wikipedia had some good definitions.
A cool glossary quilt related terms.


BTW, I stayed up until midnight last for the final push of finishing the binding for the service quilt I was making. Now both are done and will given away tonight. On to finishing the wedding quilt and then I will be working on my own projects for a while.

Yeah!

Leaf Quilt - Bigger for Laps

I am much happier with the larger size, just have to do some quick modifcations to the backing and I can Sandwich! It is about 61 x 45", just right for a TV snuggle. Need to finish it before the 31st so I can mail it to the Bride in time for her June wedding.


Next stop, I still have to finish quilting a charity quilt before May 22nd
This is me basting it, I've already planned the quilting for it. It doesn't count towards my stashbusting since I am only doing the quilting on it, so rather it is a donation of my time.

Some technical notes...

PS, I didn't actually stitch through the tissue paper, I used it to "trace it to memory" a few times before I stitched the real thing. I also had a practice piece that I do a few warm ups on before I got started each time.

Upper Left is an overall sketch, Upper Right is the nub I would practice sewing on, Below are the tissue drawings of how I wanted to quilt.

Storm at Sea Pictures

Overall it still looks the same, but you can see evidence of beads and a binding. The centers of the Daylilies and Cosmos have Gold beads. The Rose has Clear beads and Crystals on the petals to represent Dew. Everything was free-motion quilted except around the main structure, those were stitch-in-the-ditch.

Storm at Sea is DONE!

I am adding the last beads and still have to come up with a label (oh, why do I always whimp out on my labels???) I plan to hang it up tonight before I go to bed so I can see if first thing in the morning... with all its sparkly beads! Wow, I embellished something ... what next ... raw edge piecing??? Never say never!

Oh dear, and I got out my bead box, and looked at all the bright shiney beads I've collected over the years.... I feel a beading fest comming on, something I've resisted for a long time. But it will be okay as long as I resist buying new ones.

Final Push

The only parts left on my Quilt are

-Quilt the Corner Blocks
-Quilt the Cosmos Blocks
-Quilt the Daylily Blocks
-Quilt the Center Rose
-Embellish above with some clear and gold beads in the centers
-Sew sleave on
-Print & Sew on Label

some sketches of my quilting ideas:

Please, Just a Few More Minutes

Like most kids I would beg for a few more minutes of sleep before getting out of bed and going to school. That all changed when I was in college, I gained a nagging sense of responsibility and would wake up at odd hours with the undying obligation to get things done. It hasn't changed.

And it is why I feel like this has been finals week. I feel like I've worked all semester and now am cramming for the big exam. Putting extra hours into my final project before submitting it for the big critique. I went to Art School, so my finals were projects and often all nighters. Not staying up all night anymore to finish a project, but sewing until midnight most every night (no sleeping in, either) sure feels pretty close now that I'm older! Especially when I am trying to stay alert at work....

Deadlines at work, deadlines for my quilt! Busy, busy, busy!

Okay, about my QUILT! Stipple quilted the background areas, only the blocks of flowers left to do. Sewed on the binding and just moments ago put my final stitch in on that. Deadline is Tuesday, March 27th, and all with out calling in "sick" to work either (that's cheating!)

Binding Making Progress:

Free-motion Quilting in background:

Only part to quilt are the flowers:

Set Right

I sewed the two side panels on correctly and now have it back up on my design wall, I need to figure out my quilting strategy, make the sandwich and get started. Most likely this weekend when I am rested and focused.

Argh! Too Much Un-sewing

I was so happy yesterday because I had finally gotten my Storm at Sea top put together. I had spent the morning ripping out stitches from the center so that I could add the center corner blocks. Once it was reassembled I added the two outer sides, checking to make sure that the center was upright. I ironed it and pinned it up on my design wall to step back and admire my work. (I thought, "oh, goodie I can pick out my backing and binding now!") But, NO! What did I see? I had sewn the to outside panels on upside down! Bleah!!!



So instead, I spent the rest of my evening ripping stitches so I could set them right. I know that many viewers would not know they were upside down, but I would! I can't believe I didn't double check them before sewing.

In Living Color Quilt is DONE!!!!

Put the last stitches into the binding last night!!!! Yeah! Now I need to focus on my Storm at Sea project...

WIP Weekend

Living Color Top - Bought low loft polyester batting Friday, basted the sandwich together on Saturday at a sit-n-sew, freemotion quilted it Sunday, am working on the binding now, once the label is written it should be ready to give away at the next guild meeting



Based on 48 units of this block, all strip pieced from a pattern I found on line "Living Color"


Free Beginner Quilt Patterns

Fabric Cache

I was fortunate enough to receive a basket of fabric from an aquaintance last summer (we did not become friends...long complicated story, not to be revealed here). Most were not something that I would want personally, but I planned to share with others. But, I ended up not giving most of it away like I planned, I have instead, felt obligated to create quilts from the stash to give to others. I would rather see a completed quilt go to someone than bits of fabric just go into someone else's stash for who knows how long.

So I sew, for someone else, I don't know who yet, but my own projects wait for me to fill this need.

So far three have been made and in different stages of completion, all are traditional;
a quilt has been made from the plaids I found,

a blue hued quilt made from an online mystery quilt (it wasn't a mystery when I started, I already knew the pattern, but enjoyed following the direction),

and now a nine patch that is predomantly green and brown. It has grown, but I started with 20 six inch exchange blocks from my guild.


I must have enough for two or three more left in the cache.

The traditional patterns are fun to make because sometimes I just need to sew stuff together and not analyse the design too much. Rotary cut ... zip ... sew ... zip ... think ... think ... meditate ... create.