WIP Wednesday!

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Wednesday just crept up on me this week! I did finally finish quilting and binding 2 different quilts.

It was my first time to do a pieced binding. I did 2 different black on white prints so that if I messed it up, it wasn't as obvious. I still can't get the binding perfect, but I have zero patience for hand sewing.

This came together ok. I LOVE the binding fabric! I have a bit left over. I don't know what I'll use it for, but it'll be something gosh darnit!

I have about 8 hexagons sewn in halves, and 6 blocks done for KQAL. I'm so excited about both! I have learned so much about seams from these 2 projects. I want to go back and rip apart something I started ages ago. Knowing what I know now, I straight jacked those things up!

Blood, sweat and sewing

The birthday fabric got all cut up and a few little swirly hexies got made. I realized I cut up the wrong white fabric after I had already done it. That kinda sucked. It looks ok, but it was going to be white on white polka dots. I'll save that for later I suppose.

I had tried the Jaybird Quilts hexagon pattern before and failed miserably. Nothing was lining up right at all. Turns out offsetting pieces doesn't work for me. This time I cut the corners off of all the pieces and its done wonders! Its an extra step that is a bit tedious, but well worth it if it comes together without me throwing a rotary cutter through a window.

Since I got an extra day off this week I spent the whole day ironing and cutting for the KQAL. I was laying it all out and not quite digging the pattern or colors I had picked. I consulted the stash and pulled a few greens and liked it even better. Then I remembered I had favorited a picture on flickr of a different style kaleidoscope and changed it to that. Unfortunately, I had already cut up a good number of triangles and strips to later be cut into triangles. I cut the strips in half and grabbed them at random to sew them together. Then, I went back and cut out the wedges. Its a bit more scrappy than I usually do, but waste not want not.

To do the actual piecing I use a highly advanced system. I call it the shake and grab.

If there are repeats I throw it back in and try again. Did that blow your mind?

Here are the 4 blocks that I got done today. You can kind of see the scrappy pieces in there. So far I'm totally digging this. I think the man child will be able to grow with this as well. There are so many polka dots in it because he goes nuts for them any time we are at the fabric store.

In my frantic excitement of extra sewing time I sliced my finger open I could probably stand to get some surgi-glue on that beast, but ehh. I bleed for my craft! I'm a hardcore quilter! My quilt group would be named like a metal band. Sewing For My Sorrows While My Machine Lay Dying. We could applique bats or gargoyles on everything and whine about other crafters not really understanding us. Oh wait, that much angst is only tolerated while in your teens. Damn.

WIP Wednesday!

Does it still count at midnight? I'd like to think so.

I got 2 quilts quilted and binded this week. The Well Crap quilt and the gift quilt. I'm kinda mad because the gift quilt had a boo boo in it. I bought the no baste batting. When I sandwiched it all together and ironed it made a weird spot on one corner. The stuff was utter crap in that I spent time ironing it and it STILL didn't stick together. So I washed it in hopes that it would come out and it didn't! I feel embarrassed giving something away that has a weird spot on it. Its all done so I don't think I could applique some extra spots on. The Hubs said he couldn't notice, but to me it was glaringly obvious.

Am I the only one going nuts waiting for the QAL? I hope not. I started another project today to tide me over til it starts. I have a firm belief in not having too many projects at once. The Bestie got me some wonderful fat quarters for my birthday and I decided to make some twisty hexagon blocks like these.

Image from whynotsew? via flickr

I have declared Bestie as my color consultant. She knows nothing at all about quilting or sewing and she found me an amazing mix of fabrics. I added in a few from my stash and a nice off white.

I have an extra day off this week. Little Man will be going to the sitters so I can spend a whole day sewing. Lucky lady is me! Wooo!

 

Linked up with Freshly Pieced

Go go go! Sew sew sew!

After much fighting and a sore neck, I got the Well Crap quilt quilted! This is the first time I've used the guide stick thing on my walking foot and the damn thing kept moving. It goes with the theme of the whole thing. Which is cool, no one is going to look that closely at the width of the stitches.

All that is left is the binding. I do it all with my machine. I'm guessing I'm one of these weirdos that likes binding. I dislike the quilting process though. I think it's because my machine isn't all that great along with me having to do it at the kitchen table. One day I will have a sewing room and I will be it's master! BWAAHAHAHAA! That's right, evil laughing and quilting.

During naptime the top of this got all pieced. Lesson learned: put cutting mat on the ground or kitchen table. All of my strips were bowed and I didn't realize it until I was piecing things. I was suuuuper careful and even use no skid buttons on my ruler. After a little experiment I discovered that my little sewing table is bowed in the middle. O_o The backing is taped to my floor awaiting the sandwiching process. That was when naptime was up, go figure. I may have see if Memaw wouldn't mind a visitor for an hour.

I've FINALLY decided on the next quilt to attempt. After seeing Urban Patchwork's tutorial I looked through some different designs and I think I've got an idea of what I want. After I finish one of these quilts I'll start it. I think that will be the push for me to make binding.

I think I'm addicted to online shopping.

There's something so wonderful about shopping that doesn't require me to leave the house. No make up, no bra, and hobo hair is my day at home style. My child doesn't scare easily.

Both of my fabric orders came in along with a trip to Joann's. My bestie has decided that she wants to start knitting. It's only fair that I get some goodies while there, plus I had coupons. Coupons + sales + bestie = awesome overdose.

There is one order I got in.

There's another. Most of it is just stash building, but a few prints I have plans for.

I thought these were beautiful prints. I love the colors and designs. Unfortunately, I didn't read well and it shows up with glitter. I avoid glitter. Glitter is the herpes of the craft world. Either the glitter will hold strong or I will have to wash this fabric until it all disappears. I can only imagine The Hubs going to work his manly man job covered in glitter.

At first I couldn't understand the big hubub in blogland over this stuff. I like some of her prints but I couldn't understand the big to do over these. The darker blue shade in this line didn't speak to me. The more geometric ones I thought were ok. Then I started seeing projects pop up with them and thought what the hell and got some. I want the dots in the blue colorway but no one ever seems to have it. I love the shades of green she uses too. The cherry blossoms are a different designer but I would probably wall paper my bathroom with that if I could.

Best. Buy. EVER! I love gnomes and this panel was WONDERFUL! I'm thinking about making a these the center of blocks or possibly applique them onto quilt backs. Maybe some kitchen curtains? Oh how I want to put them everywhere. I want to chill with my gnomeys in ever room of the house. Maybe if I hide Hubs glasses he wouldn't mind.

We kissed and made up.

My sewing space is limited. Limited is an understatement. Teeny is a better description. In an effort to make more room I decided that the Well Crap quilt needed to get finished and out of my way.

It's not what I really wanted it to look like but I dig this all the same. Now to do some simple quilting and throw some binding on and SHABOW! DONE! One thing I can say with certainty is that I loooove no baste batting. This shit I had to pin and its driving me insane.

This is said thread that I ordered. I thought this was going to be a whole lot bigger. (That's what she said! Aye ooo!) Its 1447 yards. I suppose that isn't all that much in thread world. Either way, I will put this to good use and report back.

It's here! It's here!

There is something so wonderful about getting goodies in the mail, especially when it comes from other countries.Little Man was with me when we went to the post office. He got to carry Momma's present back to the car. He was just as excited as I was.

I won eight Jennifer Paganelli Free Spirit fat quarters from Riel of  The Q and U during the Sew Mamma Sew May giveaway. They are so lovely! I can't decide just yet what to make with them. I'm thinking about adding them in with the house coat quilt, but I may save them for something with circles to show off the prints. I have many ideas for projects floating around in this sore noggin of mine.

I have two more online orders of fabric coming in as well as a cone of Aurifil thread. I get so very tired of going through spool after spool. I'm hoping it gets along well with my machine. Some cotton threads don't mesh well for whatever reason.

My Fat Quarterly quilt is coming along nicely. I have all of the pieces sewn into 4x4 blocks that need to be sewn together. I hop to get the top completely pieced together the next time I'm off work. I have a deadline on this one so I better get on it!

Fabric Folding: a love story

My name is Camille and I have a confession to make.

I love all things organizational. I love Container Store, I love labels, I love folding things and putting them into neat piles. (I also love school supplies, but that is a whole other can of worms.) My house always looks like the Matchbox aisle threw up everywhere, but all my cans face out and are organized by type of veggie. I even put the new ones in the back after grocery shopping.

Still with me? Alrighty!

It became aware to me that my fabric stash was a mess. I don't have a whole lot of fabric, but what I do have looked messy. Every fabric store has a different way of folding so nothing matched up. After googling for a while to see how other fabric junkies managed, I fell in love with the comic book boards. As I've said before, I'm kinda cheap. 10 bucks for cardboard! Plus shipping!? Uh, nothankyou.

Here is how the little fabric stash was tamed in my house. 1/3 yd cuts and up anyways.

Step One:
Pull out allllllll your fabric so its all in one spot. Do not let significant other come by as they may feel faint.

Step Two:
Lay your fabric out nice and flat, wrong side up.

This is completely backwards from what I just said. Cerebral flatulence. Do as I say, not as I do.

Step Three:

Fold selvages together.

Step Four:

Fold in half again.

Step Five:

Get out your handy dandy 6"x24" ruler and place along the right side. Grab the fabric and the ruler and turn like a page in a book.

Step Six:

Keep folding until the entire length is folded up. Keep an eye on the markings so that it doesn't end up all wonky.

Step Seven:

Press lightly on the fabric and pull out ruler.

Step Eight:

Fold the side closest to you under the top of the rectangle. This will keep all round edges on the front and sides.

Isn't that lovely!

For longer lengths of fabric you can follow the same directions through step seven. When you get there pin fabric and you are done.

The far left is 1+ yards under a bins of fat quarters. The second row is fabric from current projects and my next one, Kaleidoscope QAL. Next are solids, white, grays, multi color prints, and then rainbow order on the far right. I just got a new batch of fabric in that will have to be done the same way. My scraps go in gallon ziplocs until I have enough left over to sort them the same way.

Hopefully this will be helpful in the pursuit to tame the stash beast. I would gladly do it for someone else. Maybe at the next market I could get a sign. Will fold and sort for fabric.

ETA: I forgot today is Wednesday!

Folding frenzy!

The Hubs and I are trying to get this grown up thing going and plan out our futures a little. I'll be 27 in a few weeks and he will be 30 this fall. I've felt old forever due to my pops and creaks, and choices for hobbies. I guess 30 is the whoa damn! age for me. I suppose I feel like we need to take direction and set goals. We went out withe Little Man and looked around town at a few houses. We saw a couple that were really great but we need to see what all this home buying entails. Plus we need to do the whole credit check stuff. We even drove around through what I call McMansions. They are beautiful houses, but I can't imagine having to heat/cool/clean that thing.

This last week I put in 2 online orders. One with The Fat Quarterly, which is sadly going out of business, and one with Fabric.com. Clearance fabric + coupons = happy happy fun dance! They can't get here soon enough! I think I might have bought some fabric that will go well with the Quilt Along.

I got rid of the light gray and blue zigzags. Upon further review I wasn't feeling it. Too bland and subdued. I added in a new yellow print that fits perfectly, but the bright blue print and the stripe on the left are maybe not quite right. I haven't decided on those. I figure once I get my online orders in I can make the final selection. Cutting doesn't start til the 23rd thank GOD!

Instead of sewing today I decided that I would fold and organize my stash. I realized that it was all higgly piggly and it was too hard to see and get to. I feel much better now. I will post a tutorial on how I folded and organized mine later. I'm trying to not let it get away from me and buy buy buy so I have dedicated this one shelf on my book case to hold all my fabric goodies. Well, my new goodies. My scraps, batting and housecoats/vintage sheets, sheets for backing aren't on there. Those will take a few more hours to do I'm sure.

Wednesday's new work in progress.

I'm loving this WIP Wednesday. My "weekend" is Tuesday and Wednesday so it works out well for me. The last quilt got taken apart, but hasn't been put back together just yet. I was so annoyed at my having to take it apart. Then I reminded myself I do this because I enjoy it. So I started a new one!

I followed the Fat Quarterly Sew Along pattern. I had originally bought this red, white and black jumble for a different pattern but when I came across this one I really liked it. Plus the recipient just so happens to have her bedroom done in these colors. Win win? You betcha!

Also Don't Call Me Betsy is doing a Kaleidoscope Quilt Along! How perfect is the timing for this!? I've never done a quilt along so I'm up for the challenge. I'm even going to get a button and everything.