I am giving away books as part of the Black Friday Sew-in organized by Sandy over at Quilting…for the Rest of Us.
I have received several books (some multiples and duplicates) from Lark Crafts for giveaways during the Black Friday Sew In. I am not keeping these books, so if nobody responds to the giveaway, I will be sending them along to podcasters as thank yous for producing entertaining shows.
On Friday (e.g. NOT today), I will be posting questions to this blog, yes, in this space, which you will answer in order to be entered into the giveaway.
I will let you know via Twitter when the questions are posted. If you don’t already follow me, please do so at @artquiltmaker to see the giveaway posts.
This is a gratuitous post to give Lark Craft books a boost since they are supporting the Black Friday Sew-in on Friday (thus the name Black FRIDAY). Lark is having a sale on their Craft books via BN.com. Now is the time to pick up some goodies for your quilting, sewing, and crafty friends.
I am really pleased to say that the Spiderweb top is finished. There are still a lot of things to do to get this finished into a quilt, but I am pleased, really pleased, that the top is finished.
The paper is still in most of the blocks. I had to pull out some of the paper as I sewed, but there is still a lot to pull out.
As usual, the piece looks a lot better sewn together. The sewing together brings the whole thing together. I am pleased with the overall look, though I still think the background is a bit dark. I can tell that my tastes have changed, because the new blocks are filled with much clearer fabrics, more pink, aqua, and chartreuse. I do wonder what this piece would look like with a lighter background, but am NOT making another.
Spiderweb Top
I have enough fabric, I think to make a binding. I have been thinking about the binding and wonder if I should make a straight of grain binding rather than my usual bias binding. There are bits of the border on the bias, because of the kite shaped pieces.
Because I couldn’t match up all the bottoms of the webs, there are some that don’t match up. I am going to be ok with the differences.
One thing I didn’t say, I don’t think was that I have been obsessing about making a new journal cover since last weekend. I was about out of pages in my journal and have become so used to carrying around a journal covered in lovely fabric that the thought of not having a cover was almost unbearable (definitely being overdramatic here. Bear with me). The week at work was brutal. One thing after another continuing on to Friday when I was supposed to be off. HAH!
I bought some specific fabric for journal covers and they all had some kind of text or lettering printed on the surface. There are a couple of pieces with cupcakes and bakery words that I also want to use, but these two green-ish/tinged copper roof colored fabrics are the first I have used to make journal covers.
This was a good project for Friday when my work email kept binging for my attention. They were very easy to make and, as I said, the tutorial measurements are nearly perfect. These were especially easy to make because there was no piecing.
Advertising Journal Open
I like these journal covers, but I also started mosaic piecing some oranges together to make a pieced cover. I am kind of feeling like I should spend some time on one for a change. I am using orange and the leaders and enders method of piecing. I needed some leaders and enders when I was making the Hurricane Sandy quilt blocks and this seemed like a good solution.
Letter Journal Cover
I started writing in the letter journal this morning and it is nice to have a new journal. Sometimes my journals get so full of bits and pieces that they get hard to write in — too lumpy. That wasn’t the case with the previous Tina Givens aqua and red journal cover, but I was ready to look at something new.
I read an article yesterday that the Post Office is running a fairly significant deficit. This makes me want to cry, because I love sending and receiving letters (even if I have to scramble to find the time to actually write them). It is so fun to receive a real letter or package. This journal reminds me to write letters and postcards. At least I hope it will. The color, as I mentioned briefly, reminds me of the copper roofs of the old buildings and palaces in Austria (other countries, too, but I am really thinking of Vienna).
Letter Journal Open
I now that many people don’t want to buy these Miguelrius journals, so I want to try out a journal cover pattern from my friend Chris or make a new tutorial, if hers doesn’t work for me. I want this pattern to be more accessible to more people. If you have adjusted the sizes, I would love to hear about or see what you make.
This is a little different than the previous few responses, but in line with some of the earlier ones. I really wanted to draw a threaded needle. I am trying to draw what pops into my head when I think about the word and am ready to draw. Within reason.
The thimble was an afterthought and I can’t tell if the thimble and needle are magically flying through the air or if they look like they are laying on the table.
Repeating the flower and the counter after the previous response seemed to be the right thing to do. My kitchen window is similar to this, but looks out on the wall of my neighbor’s house. I’d love to paint a tromp l’oeil painting on the side, but I don’t know how they would react. I wonder if they would notice?
Earlier this week I wrote the Quilt To Do List, because I had these little things rattling around in my head nagging. Also, I had nothing else to write about having not sewn and already gone on and on about the Spiderweb. I mean how much can you tolerate about Spiderwebs?
I had kind of a brutal week at work. It wasn’t crazy busy, but everything was hard and the most difficult partners and associates were asking me for the impossible. I really wanted to just be at home today and rest. I might be getting a cold, but I feel like I need to rest.
No, I haven’t accomplished the whole list. The Hurricane Sandy blocks for Vesuvius Mama are done. I had to rummage around for some fabric like she wanted and found some very interesting stuff in the process. More on that later.
I had never made a Disappearing 4 Patch before, though I knew the concept from the Food Quilt‘s Disappearing 9 Patch Design, so I knew the concept. This was a good excuse to try out the Disappearing 4 Patch. I don’t remember if I thought the Disappearing 9 patch was fiddly. I thought the D4P was kind of fiddly. I think I like the D9P a little better, but I am always up for learning a new blocks and I think the D4P has some interesting design possibilities. And I can make blocks until the cows come home. I don’t need to like them much to make them. You’ll have to wait for photos as I forgot to take them!
Letter Journal Cover
I wrote really small all week and made the last few pages of my journal last. I still have about half a page left. I don’t know whether that is an accomplishment or cramping my creativity. Anyway, the first thing I did this morning was start cutting for a journal cover. I decided that I would make two, then I wouldn’t be behind when I ran out of pages next time.
Advertising Journal Cover
I had already ironed fabric that I bought for journal covers, so I cut pieces. The journal cover tutorial is now really right on in terms of size. I have tweaked it a bit lately and the covers went together with little to no problems in terms of size. Also, no frustration either. Nice.
I’ll put up more photos and info later. This post was supposed to be a quick “hi. hello” and it is turning into a dissertation.
I really should have made the binding today, because I could have watched TV and sewed down the back. I just didn’t think of it. Perhaps tomorrow.
Definition: A drink, or beverage, is a kind of liquid which is specifically prepared for human consumption. There are many groups for drinks. It can be divided into various groups such as plain water, alcohol, non alcoholic drinks, soft drinks (carbonated drinks), fruit or vegetable juices and hot drinks. In addition to fulfilling a basic need, drinks form part of the culture of human society.
hot drink
soft drink
non-alcoholic drink
Drinkmaster
Eat, drink and be merry
Go out for a drink
How much water should you drink every day?
DrinkAware
Take 5 minutes to do any kind of artistic response: poem, doodle, quilt, pastel, pencil. ANYTHING counts. No rules; just do it!
Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.
The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.
I finally made the second block for the Stepping Stones test (note: when I say it is a test that means it cannot, yet, be a project). I introduced this project test in a previous post.
I finally finished the second block and it helps me see the pattern starting to emerge. It is very clear to me that the flower print with the grey background is not going to work. It muddies the line between background and the big red blob of squares that will end up center the diamond formed by the half square triangles. I like that print, but I’d like the lines to be a bit clearer than the previous Stepping Stones quilt.
I have to be clear with myself that the pattern truly emerges when the whole quilt can be seen. a few blocks just doesn’t do the thing justice.
“Huh?” you ask. “Why in the world do you need a Quilt to Do List when you have the 26 Projects list?”
“Well,” I say, “there are things on my mind to do that I must write down. Short tasks, nothing big. The 26 Projects list is for big commitments.”
Look at me like I am a lunatic. I don’t care. I AM a lunatic. 😉 These are the small things that I wanted to do over the weekend, but didn’t because I was madly sewing Spiderweb blocks. Why? I don’t know. I am driven to get that quilt together.
The thing about the 26 Projects list is that none of those projects are time sensitive. The projects above are short. I don’t know why I can’t just tear myself away from the Spiderweb long enough to do them. I can’t seem to. I don’t know what will happen when the 26 Projects list is finished.
I have firmly moved into the realm of obsessiveness with this project. I don’t know what got into me this past weekend, but I worked on sewing the blocks for this Spiderweb piece like a person possessed. I had about 7 blocks (sewn in groups of 4) sewn together last week and now I have about 108 sewn together in groups of 4.
By Sunday night I had all of the groups of 4 done and laid them out on the workroom floor (top photo, left). The piece will be large. The original pattern I drew called for a layout of 8 blocks x 10 blocks. I was glad to have the layout and some idea of what I had been thinking except that I ended up with 20 extra blocks.
Hhhmmm. One of the drawbacks for me of leaving a project to languish for so long is that I can’t really remember what I intended. I am pretty sure I didn’t intend to make 20 extra blocks and not use them. I looked at the quilt and the blocks and thought about adding them or making a companion quilt with the extras.
Spiderweb with added blocks
After much thought, I finally decided to add the blocks to the quilt. I couldn’t add them to the side because of my border blocks, so I would need to add them to the middle and make a couple of additional border blocks.
As I may have told you, my workroom floor isn’t large enough (would it ever be?) for a quilt of any size, so I had to take advantage of a half an hour after work to lay the whole thing out on the living room floor. The furniture and life debris still is in the way. The arrows are pointing to the column of blocks I am adding. I am 4 blocks short to complete the column. I will print the foundations, make the borders in between sewing the rest of the new column together in order.
Spiderweb laid out
I have to admit that I wasn’t sure my scheme would work. I tried to look at the layout drawing and figure out from that if my changes would work, but I couldn’t tell. I needed to lay all the blocks out.
I can be impulsive. I just started sewing the leftover blocks into blocks of 4 and figured I would work out the details later. This isn’t always the best strategy, though it does makes for some interesting design challenges. Fortunately, as I said, in this case, it worked.
I don’t have all of the leftover blocks sewn together. There is also one block whose seam allowance is a bit off. It is bugging me, so I will need to fix that.
Spiderweb marked
I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough of the background fabric, so I was very frugal while making the border blocks. This fabric is so old that there was probably not even a whisper of a chance that I would be able to find this fabric again. I pieced parts together where I was short. It turned out that I had plenty of fabric in the end, but I am glad I was frugal. I don’t think anyone will notice my frugality.
Because the blocks are different (center and border) as well as oriented in different directions I marked each block with a number in the lower left hand corner. This tells me where to place the block and in what orientation I should position it. I often do this, if I find a layout I like and I want to position certain blocks or colors specially.
In the “Spiderweb marked” photo, you can also see how I added two more blocks to fill in so the gap where the border blocks will go did not look quite so gaping.
Spiderweb new column
I always hope that the quilt will draw up when I sew it together. The blocks have already drawn up a bit, but this will definitely be another monster.
It feels good to immerse myself in this project and I am excited that I have made such progress. I really didn’t expect to have so much done by today. I wish I could just spend a week doing nothing but sewing. I don’t know if that experience would get this mania out of my system, but it might lessen the feelings a bit. Perhaps such a focused time would make the feelings less special. I suspect having a week of time where I didn’t have to do anything but sew would make the mania worse.
Yes, after YEARS this quilt is finally finished. I love finishing quilts. I love working on them, too, in case you hadn’t noticed, but finishing a quilt is awesome as well. I am pleased with how this one came out.
It is a great pattern and I would encourage you to try it out.
