Santa again (and some grannies)

Since I'm watching A LOT of television right now thanks to the Olympics, I'm making progress on some of my handwork.

Windswept Santa
July 12th

July 18th

July 28th

Did I mention I now have ALL the solid colors of DMC embroidery cotton?

Granny Afghan
July 4th

July 15th

July 28th

I have spent a lot of time getting rid of those little strings on the back.

I Love Summer!

OMG!

Remember the challenge quilt?

Very surreal considering I wasn't even going to enter it.

(All the other winners are posted over here.)

African American Quilts Part I

The Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, WA currently has a collection of African American quilts on display. I visited yesterday and thought I'd share some of my favorites.

I think most of these quilts were made purely for utilitarian purposes.  Perfection was not needed. Still, the quilts show an inherent sense of design I think most of us possess without even having to think about it too much.




Of course, some were clearly the result of quite a bit of thought about colors and layout.




I have more photos and will share them soon.

(If you're in the Seattle area, the exhibit will be up until early October.)

Finish #6

Well, kind of.
#4 was a multiple item project but I'm only counting it as one.

My little challenge quilt is in the mail today to hopefully arrive at its destination by Friday. Nothing is as much fun as cutting it really close...


I'm a little hesitant to show my quilting up close.


Love how the prairie points turned out though.
Acceptance letters go out at the end of August. If I don't get one, I'll have this little one back in my hands by the end of September, all ready to go into our local guild's quilt show where they love EVERYTHING any member makes.

A big thank you to my friends who convinced me to send it in after all. If I hadn't I would always have wondered. Now it's just a waiting game.

Edited on 9/13/12 to add: She won first place - "Pieced - Best First Time Entry" in the Hoffman Challenge!

Super Mario Brothers QAL

I really, really, really do not need another project but my 19-year old would LOVE this quilt!
And I can hopefully finish it before his birthday in December.

 

Three Rows!

 

If I fold it just right, it almost looks like a throw...

Threads

I've finished quilting the center of the challenge quilt.  Did I mention this should be in the mail by tonight?
I may not enter it though.  Not sure it's up to snuff for judging.  Not sure I care.

I now have all the little thread ends to get rid of.  Lots of them.  Thank goodness the quilt is only 24" x 24"!



On to the borders.

Basting Time!

On the bathroom floor.

(The dots are from the Rooftop Garden collection.)

Challenge Progress

Today I finished the challenge quilt top. I'm not sure I'm going to get it done in time, but I'm sure going to try. It has to be in the challenge people's hands by July 20th, which means this baby should go out in the first mail on Monday.

In this small photo you can see the design better. I love what you can do with log cabins just using different hues and colors.

Not sure how to quilt it.  Suggestions are VERY welcome.

For the Record

I know, I know.  You're bored stiff...

This post is really for my record. Just to reassure myself that I'm actually making progress. At around 20 stitches per inch, this is a slow process.

Yesterday I spent precious time I don't have cataloging my DMC thread. I only needed 46 out of about 450 solid colors!
I found an Etsy seller with very, very reasonable prices and ordered the last 46. Can't wait!

Cross Stitch!

Ran out of yarn for the granny afghan and since, as I posted yesterday, I now have a new urge to embroider, I retrieved an old WIP from the archives.

This is what I wrote in January 2008: "This guy may actually be done by Christmas 2008.."
Ha ha ha.

And in February 2009: "Hopefully this one will join its friend on the wall this Christmas."
Really?

Today I'm saying NOTHING.

Why...

...are there only 24 hours in a day?

A week or so ago, my travels on the internet led me to order 200 skeins of DMC embroidery floss on eBay. I was planning to resell them on Etsy, but...

I have always wanted to own ALL the colors.

So I'm keeping them.

Having made that decision, I hopped on over to Pinterest for flossy inspiration.

from cafecartolina.blogspot.com

from Kristen's Fabric Art on Flickr

You can buy this pattern on Etsy (and I just may).

In the mean time I have a deadline for the Challenge Quilt, a really messy house, a really weedy garden, a store to run, and multitudes of WIPs.

What is girl to do?

Two Rows!

Happy 4th to everyone in the United States. I love this country!

I have two entire rows of my granny square blanket completed. That's 30 out of 250 or so squares!

Fortunately I'm attaching them to each other as I go.

Unfortunately this does not involve getting rid of all the little strings in the back.

Any tips?

Scrap winner

Clearly there are still people out there.
The winner of the scraps is....

Happy Cottage Quilter, who said, "I love these bright colors. I would love to cut them into squares and alternate them with white for a quilt. Thanks!"
(Send me your shipping details at twiddletails{at}gmail{dot}com and I'll drop these in the mail.)

In other news, I made the little bit of challenge fabric I had work.  I was NOT going to pay $5 to ship half a yard of fabric! Where there's a will, there's a way.

Challenge

This is a challenge quilt. It involves using a specific fabric in a project.

A specific fabric I'm REALLY not very fond of, but I love a challenge.

If the judges like my little quilt it could become part of something very exciting.

Stay tuned.

(BTW, when you buy fabric online, how much shipping do you expect to pay for half a yard? I need more of the challenge fabric, but can't find an online store that will ship half a yard for less than $5! Seeing that I ship it for $1.85, I'm a little shocked.)

Anybody out there?

I've been terrible about posting on this blog and commenting on other blogs the last couple of months (or is it years?). Without going into details, let's just say my life is very, very crazy and I feel totally out of control on a regular basis.  But...I'm trying to focus and time manage and all the things that will make it better.

So it's with a bit of trepidation that I say, "I'm back".

Part of getting it all back together is sorting and clearing out some of the "stuff" I have around.
There will be a couple of giveaways in the next few weeks.

Up today:

Bright scraps from the making of my Rainbow Jane quilt.
These scraps weigh about a pound, which means it's around 3 yards worth of scraps.

How to enter:
1. Leave a comment over here telling me what you'd do with these little scraps for one entry.
2. Post about the giveaway on your blog, if you have one, then come back here and leave another comment telling me you did so, with a link to your post, for a second entry.

This is a quick giveaway.
Comments will close at 7am PDT on Monday July 2nd and I will draw the winner soon after that.

Ready to Sew

Yesterday I un-buried Jo from the papers she's been hidden under. Today I plan to get some sewing done. It's been almost two months since I last touched her!

I think I found my preferred method for joing the granny squares. (See the sunshine on the table? Yay!)

This is the "join as you go" method. I love the idea of completing the blanket as I'm making the squares.

A little blocking will probably still be needed, but at least there's no bubbling.

Grannies

Granny squares have had a resurgence lately and I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

Thank you Pinterest.

It's not like I have better things to do or anything...

I made 16 squares and then decided to try putting them together.

I REALLY want to crochet these together, not whip stitch them.

The first method I tried involves basically slip stitching the squares together.

(This is the back.)

I think my slip stitches are way too tight because my little 16 square section is very crooked and the squares are bulging.

Next up, I'm going to try joining the squares as I go.  I'm excited about this one.

Stay tuned.

A Dreary Day

It's another miserable, rainy Seattle day. Where is summer?????

At least the fabric on my cutting table is sunny and happy.

(Fabric: Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater for Moda - on sale $8.93/yd)

Something to Make you Smile

Just had to share the cuteness.

Don't these just bring a smile to your face?

(Fabric: Now We're Going Places from Timeless Treasures)

Sitting in the Sun