A tragic moment in quilting

On Saturday I decide that I want to do some sewing, so I can claim that I busted stash! I selected to do Bonnie's Carolina Crossroads clue #5. Uh, yeah, nevermind that I haven't done 3 and 4 yet. :P

I cut out what I need for 100 quarter-square triangles. My first time using the Companion Angle in this manner... I predict more QSTs in my future! :D

Then I'm merrily sewing along. After doing over 150 seams, one QST's corner finally got chewed up because the back fabric folded over. So I pull it off the machine, seam rip it, and prepare to sew again.

Whenever I have thread tails, I use a small corner of scrap fabric, just in case there's a nest of thread or something before I chain sew. I noticed the tension was terrible on the bottom of the scrap. Hrmm. Then I take a closer look at my triangles...

Oh man!! Is that bad tension or WHAT?! Nearly gave me a heart attack, how could my beloved Bernina spew out something so ugly? The worse I've gotten were pokies, and minor thread tension adjustments fixed it all. How in the world was I gonna fix this?

I did take some cheer in the fact that "only" 40 pieces had bad tension. I couldn't see anything to indicate a sudden change. It was literally fine with one piece, and terrible on the next.

First thing I did was clean out the bobbin area. Just making swipes at any lint. I tried to see if the bobbin thread was wrapped around something or such, but nothing. I took the bobbin out of the case and completely rethreaded it.

Then I did the same to the top thread. Snipped next to the spool and rethreaded it from scratch. Sewed another corner scrap... yay! My lovely tension is back. Whew. :)

So somehow, somewhere the thread must have come out of place somewhere in the machine.

Now what to do with all those bad pieces? Rip them out? I tried that with one piece... whoa! Talk about stretching a bias edge. :P

Then it hit me, why not just double sew them? I'm already using a scant quarter-inch seam allowance (as you can see by the needle's right position, not center of the foot), so the little extra bulk of thread isn't gonna hurt anything.

So much for stashbusting this past week. Ok, I did cut up about a yard of fabric for the QSTs. :) But otherwise, nada.

Not all is lost though, I did get those blocks into tops earlier this week! :D

Leah

Winning the "Bad Photography Award"

Oooo-whee. That's one wonky picture. But it showed the colors the best. I was kinda blind shooting, by lifting the camera high above my head.

This is Ann's Summer 2007 mystery. I'm planning to use the "sunset" looking fabric for the border. Maybe a blue for the binding?

In other words, I made myself pin for a second day in a row. :P I think it's because I'm avoiding cutting anything... because my cutting mat is cluttered up and I don't wanna clean. So I pin instead. Makes so much sense... not. :P

Actually, I was looking around on Quilter's Cache last night, and I saw The Dandy Quilt and was feeling an urge to make a quilt out of that pattern... wait a minute! Isn't Ann's mystery sorta like that block? I'll just put those blocks together instead. :)

At least I saved myself from starting yet another quilt project. ;)

Leah

Music = Mojo

I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my quilting "mojo" back. :)

Remember when I did Renee's Fall Mystery? Well, I mentioned that I wanted to make it a bit bigger, by adding a row of blocks to two sides.

I made the blocks back in October, but they just sat... until tonight! :D I turned on the iPod and plugged away, and now I have the desired top I want. It'll have a yellow binding.

Why did I put it off? Cuz I knew I needed to pin the additional rows to the quilt, and I HATE pinning. Yes, it's that bad. I'd gladly hand sew some bindings down if they would do my pinning. I try to piece and press my fabric correctly so I can avoid the need to pin. I actually prefer to have my corners slightly off than to grab a pin. I really hate pinning. I have set aside quilts and UFOs because I hit a point where I need to pin, and I just don't wanna. :P

The problem is that I'm starting to have quilts scattered around that I've stalled at; and I'm gonna lose their pieces if I don't put them together into a top! It's not so bad if the quilt is scrappy, but like the one above? I don't want to imagine myself trying to redye the perfect shade of green or yellow, just cuz I have a little pin annoyance. :)

And no, safety pins don't count, I like doing that, it means that I will be free-motioning soon. :D

I recently realized that listening to music can really help distract me from minor issues and give me the desire to keep plugging on. It helped me not focus on the fact that I need to pin tonight. The downside is that I can't read or sit at the computer and multi-task very well. I keep getting distracted by the song words and out comes the typos. :)

(And how does a deaf girl enjoy music? I don't catch the words. I'd guess I have about a dozen songs that I actually know the words to. The rest I either enjoy without ever figuring where they sing [too soft, too fast of a beat, too bouncy music] or I keep trying to figure it out. I'd guess I only learn about 3-4 new songs a year. The country channel on TV can be a big help, but I haven't watched in ages. :P But music for me is a lot like listening to foreign opera singers - they sound real nice, but you don't have a clue what they're saying!)

Leah

Just in time

Just in time for Judy's stash busting report! ;)

Once upon a time... back in October, Ann Smith posted that she wanted testers for her NYE 2007 mystery quilt. Me! Me! Me! I was fortunate enough to see her email as it landed in my box, and was among the chosen. :D

The mystery was in three basic colors. The background (black), Color #1 (pink), and Color #2 (blue/greens). I boldly decided that I should do queen size.

We had to keep track of the time it took us to sew and iron each clue, a total of 21. For me, it took about 900 minutes - or 15 hours - to just sew the top and iron the pieces open for the next step. This isn't counting the washing, ironing, cutting, and any other prep! Phew... :)

And no! I didn't do it all in one day. I did most of the sewing back in November (yes, the secret side of my super high sewing energy). I had all the blocks done and the sashing ready to be sewn... then I got hit with the triple infection and didn't turn on my sewing machine until the next year. I like to be dramatic sometimes. :D I actually started to get back to the quilt on January first.

See all those heart points? Lots of diagonal sewing - so that meant that I could put my bonus HST method to work.

I ended up with 200 of those little buggers. Ok, they measured 2.5" unfinished. Small back then, but nothing compare to Bonnie's mystery!

I turned them into 50 pinwheel blocks.

Good thing I had 50 when I needed 48, I lost one. Then found it 3 weeks later. :P

I split open and swirled the seam on the back to distribute the bulk.

I love how it creates a secondary pinwheel!

Then here's the quilt in progress. My arms ached from reaching up so high, so I didn't get the top row of triangle pieces in place.

I set the blocks on point, 6x8.

Makes a good baby size...

...but I'm planning to put on some more borders and extending it to lap size. I know, I didn't get the corner pieces on yet. The colors in the last photo are more true than the one in the heart quilt.

I was a very busy bee in November, completing 2 quilts, 2 more tops and turning a leaders & enders project into a top. And I couldn't show you anything about Ann's mystery! :)

For anybody wanting the pattern to Love Surrounded, you can join the QT Mystery Quilts Yahoo group and get the pattern. This group is designed for mysteries only, and stays on-topic. I'm guessing the pattern will be available all January, and likely February. Ann will eventually take it down and have the pattern available for purchase.

Ann usually does two mysteries a year, the New Year's Eve and one in the summer. I love her mysteries (so well formatted!) and do them every time.
Summer 2005
NYE 2005
(No mystery for summer 2006)
NYE 2006 (Which I still haven't pieced into a top yet...)
Summer 2007

I'm pretty picky about mystery quilts, and there are some people I just can't stand how they present their mysteries. Hearing "oops! I mean, cut ABC instead of XYZ... sorry if you already cut them." isn't very encouraging! :P And no, I'm not talking about Bonnie's. :) But Ann is on my gold list for mysteries.

Making this mystery quilt busted over 10 yards of fabric! I'm gonna have to buy some more Kona Black soon. :)

Leah

When I'm 76...

My dad just sent me an email about what's going on over there, about a thousand miles from me, zip lining!

Left to right is my mom, sister Sarah, brother Ben, my dad and Pops. Today is Pops 76th birthday!!

I can't believe he actually went zip lining, cuz I feel a little chicken about doing it at 25.

You can see Ben on the left, and Pops on the right. And some GIANT pinecones in the tree on the right.

When I'm 76, I hope I'm half as brave as he is! :D

Happy Birthday Pops!!

Love,
Leah

He's all mine!!

Lookie at what my husband gave me today!!!!! A teardrop emerald ring, with little diamonds on the side!!!

Oooohhwhee! I never saw it coming. Took me totally by surprised. Handed me a bag with a sandwich in it for me... wait, what's that white box?

I'm still stunned, especially since this has been a rough week for me and I haven't been able to put on my best face. And said face's eyelid has started to blister (I rubbed it too much in my sleep thinking there was something in the corner of my eye) and attractive is the last word in my mind. :P

Now I just can't decide, should I have it sized to fit my ring finger or my middle finger? I think I'll do middle finger...

Christmas is certainly brightening up, even though I'm gonna be late with my side of the family's gifts. :)

Leah

Triple the fun

Had my husband take me to the doctors last night and I have three infections - my ear, my sinus and my throat. Whew.

At least my husband has been a saint through all this, being at my beck and call, getting me food and drinks as needed, making sure I'm taking my meds, turning a blind eye to the horrific mess in the apartment. Yeah, totally a keeper and he's all mine. :D

But really, can somebody bump Christmas off for another month? Please?

Leah

Uh oh...

Got another ear infection in my left ear this time. I had 2 days worth of antibiotics left, so I took one pill 4 hours ago and burst into flames! I thought it'd be ok because I didn't react to them until 7 days later back in October. But instead, I look something like this.

I really don't wanna go to the doctors again... *throws a tantrum* ugh.

Can somebody please put Christmas off for another month? All I want to do is soak my face in ice water and huddle in bed. :P

Leah

Carolina Crossroads Clue 2 Completed

That title is a bit of a tongue twister! I'm glad 2 didn't start with C too. ;)

I completed the 9-patches tonight. Wait. That's too easy to say. I completed putting together nine HUNDRED squares!!!!!!!! That's better. :D (But that's 800 seams!)

What's so sad is that if you put all the 9-patches together, it'd only cover 30x30 inches. All that work, for such a little amount? :P But I bet the finished results will be spectacular!

The bad thing about this mystery... it makes me forget that Christmas is like, oh, 12 days away! Ack. Nothing like putting panic in myself... and I haven't really gone shopping yet. Not to mention that I'm not celebrating with my side of the family this year, so it's no fun to think about buying them gifts and not be able to watch them open it. It's really fun to watch their expressions as they open your gifts, especially if they happen to be quilts! Like last year. :)

Leah

Vote for your favorite!

Help me decide which version I should make! The only difference is the center of the Ohio star blocks - one is green, one is purple. Poll is on the right of the post.

Ohio Stars with purple center:



Ohio Stars with green center:


I'm planning to do this quilt while I wait for Bonnie's next clues. I'm starting to think that my guesses at her mystery are off - there's some gaps in my figuring. So why not just do both? :)

Leah

A new quilt

Today I've been working on Bonnie's mystery.

I've got clue/unit 1 completed - rail fence blocks. I've started on clue #2, but probably won't have that completed until Sunday or Monday. At least I should be ready whenever clue #3 comes out! :)

I can not explain it, but when I'm working on a mystery quilt and the more I handle the pieces and think about them, the more I feel like I need to solve it! Ahhh! Drives me nuts. I had to stop in the middle of sewing and draw up the quilt in EQ5. Below is what I *think* the mystery results will be.

Except much bigger than my drawing, it'll have 4 star blocks in both directions. I just didn't want to click and fool around with more blocks.

Then I wondered... what if I added some purple?

Mmm, yes! I'm liking this. Not enough to derive from Bonnie's pattern, but it always can go into the "someday quilt" file. ;)

How about a little more purple?

It looks fine close up, but not so much when you just see a thumbnail.

In all honesty, I have no idea where this pattern is going. There haven't been any 4-patches in the mystery yet. That was completely my own doing. :) I just had to fill my need to put it down on paper.

***************

No quilts completed this week! Are you shocked? ;) Let's just say that the "blessing" of being a woman has left me more tired this week. Not to mention I have a new freezer to fill up. ;)

I used about 2 bobbins this week, all in piecing.

I busted about 10 yards of fabric. This includes various green, pink and white fabric for Bonnie's quilt - I might have some strips leftover. Let's not forget the half yard that I gave to the guild's Christmas swap.

I received .75 yards this week, all from the quilt guild's Christmas party.

Seems like when one week has a good bobbin result, it has lower stashbusting results. Good fabric busting is lower bobbins emptied, and therefore less machine time. Tic for tac?

I'm just happy I have my quilting mood back after this summer! The heat did me in and I just couldn't bare the thought of turning on the iron most of the time. But now it's nice and chilly (about 40 degrees outside), I want to make quilts! Lots of quilts! Warm quilts! Cuddly quilts! Quilts! :D

Leah

Off of my high

Looks like I'm off of my "quilting high" this week. Barely any sewing done, much less an entire quilt! :P

Here's a picture of the fabric I brought to the quilt guild's Christmas swap.

Yup, half a yard of one of my hand dyes. I know... the rules were half a yard of new fabric... but who'd complain about opening this? :) It was an experiment of purple and orange. They don't blend that well, as you can see in the bottom right corner.

Then this is the fabric I unwrapped, and nobody stole it!

I was kinda surprised, a lot of the more attractive fabrics were being stolen. Couple ladies eyed my piece, but nobody took it. Maybe because it's Laurel Birch fabric and they already have it? Well, I don't have it, and now I do! :D I can get 32 5" squares out of that half yard. So I think it'll be the center of something. Squares or stars... I don't want to cut it up too much and ruin the birds.

And I really thought I was going to come home with the exact amount of fabric I arrived with...

...but nooooooooo, they had to hand out a FQ to everybody. Mine has little silver sparkles in it. Probably will get whacked up into 3" squares or strings. :)

Now I'm putting my attention towards Bonnie's mystery quilt.

Leah

Christmas Party

Tomorrow is my quilt guild's Christmas party.

I made popcorn balls as my contribution to the potluck.

We also need to bring in half a yard of fabric for the white elephant exchange. Hope I don't end up with a bright red piece! :D

Leah

Christmas is here!!

Christmas came today. :D My in-laws told all their married children that they could do a "couples gift" for Christmas, up to $300. Well, this baby is $268. After taxes, we're just below $300. :)

I'm pretty happy about getting a deep chest freezer. I've been wanting one for some time, so I can stretch out my Costco trips more, and stock up on good deals from the store. And theoretically, in the long run we'll save more money.

I think tomorrow I'll get a couple gallons of milk that's on sale for $1.99/gallon. Yes, milk can freeze just fine, shake it well after thawing. :)

Leah

Scrappy 9-patch completed

All done with the 9-patch!

It started off very fast, but slowed down to my normal quilting pace.

I think it'll be a Christmas gift for a swap I'm in. Don't worry, it's not a swap that's been blogged saying "please don't blog about it". :)

**********

Still it's been a good week. I redecorated my blog. Of course, green still remains the dominant color. That'll probably never change. ;)

I completed a quilt. That's pretty good. ;)

I busted another half-yard of fabric in the binding.

I used up 6 spools of bobbin, most of them on the quilting of the 9-patch.

Here's the bad news (sorta)! I won 8 lovely FQs from Serena, but hopefully it'll never see the inside of my closet, but actually get put into a quilt soon. I already have an idea for them.

So more fabric in than "out" this week, but I'm moving in the right direction. :)

Leah