Bear's Paw Top

I've completed the Bear's Paw quilt top... and wow! It's much longer than I realized.

I think it's almost 100 inches long. If I hadn't ran out of the darker plaid, perhaps I could have done a 4x5 block setting instead of 3x5.

But the top's done! Now I need to focus on some Christmas gifts. I'm gonna make as much as I can before leaving, and what doesn't happen I'll just have to buy for them.

Here's to hoping that I don't get sick like last year. :)

Leah

String Quilt Project

A long time ago I started saving the ends of my hand dyed fabric strips. Just stuffed and shoved into a pile, then into this baggy.

(Clue #6 refers to one of the mystery quilts I was trying to keep sorted.)


Any quilter who's worked with strings before knows that they just EXPLODE out of their spots when given air. :P

Yeah, looks like I have enough to make a block or two. ;)


Here's 9 blocks, and I made 11 more for a total of 20.

Kinda looks like those Japanese lanterns, cuz I hadn't trimmed the edges yet.


I did have a mini heart-attack moment when I broke my needle. I wasn't paying attention to the top spool, and suddenly things jammed and snapped.

Oh! Ran out of thread. Been a long time since I've ran out of top thread. :P


The quilt top pieced and ready for pinning.



A month ago I posted a teaser from the back as I worked on the binding.


All done!

Small, but has a nice heft to it, given all the fabric and seams. I doodled lines in the opposite direction of the strings. No perfection needed, done in a day. That's my kind of quilting! :)

I'm not sure what to do with it yet. I'm kind attached to it cuz it has all the hard work of me (and my mom!) dyeing the fabric. But I'm not expecting a baby (to my dad's utter disappointment, I'm sure) and my sister isn't a candidate for it. Whenever Dad pesters her for a grandkid, she'll stick up her wedding finger and say "see? No ring, no kids." :D

Leah

Guess the Quilt: It's been guessed!

Valerie correctly guessed the pattern I'm doing! :)

I took the triangles and sewed them into pairs.



Then to half of the pairs, I added a square.



Sewed the other half to a 4.5" square.



Then put together makes one quadrant.


Next I sewed a 6.5" strip to a 2.5" square.



Then another 6.5" strip to the other side of the square.


Put it all together...

...you get the bear's paw block!



One done, 14 to go.




And thanks to all the people who tossed in a guess or two! :)

Leah

Guess the Quilt: Clue 3

Well, we've got a few guesses in. :) Rosaline asked if we were trying to guess the block or the quilt pattern. In this case, it's the block. Like "log cabin" would be an acceptable answer.

Tracey in CT took a shot at "Lady of the Lake"... nope, but I'm sure the HSTs I'm about to show you could make you think of that pattern. :)

I got some HSTs being cut - gotta love the easy angle! If you want a 2.5" unfinished half square triangle, all you need to do is cut some from a 2.5 inch strip. No weird measurements!!




A pile o' HSTs.

I didn't bother to pay attention to the orientation of the fabric or the stripes. I'm too easy-going to care.

Sometimes it's just amazing that my blocks turn out ok with that attitude. :P

Leah

Guess the Quilt: Clue 2

Hmm, no guesses on the previous post. Guess there's just too many options to pick from 2 fabrics. ;)

How about if I tell you the measurements of strips?

I've got 6.5", 2.5" and 2.5". Not pictured is 4.5" strips in dark brown.


And some of the subcuts needed for the quilt.

6.5"x2.5" and 2.5" squares.

But that's not all I've done with the 2.5" strips. :)

Any closer to have an idea or two? Maybe I should offer a prize for the first person who guesses what pattern I'm doing. :D

Leah

Guess the Quilt: Clue 1

Let's have some fun! I'm starting a new quilt, and I want you to guess what it'll be. :)

Clue #1 is the fabric. It's a 2-fabric quilt. (And probably the closest I'll ever get to a "blended" quilt!)

Another hint is that it's a classic pattern.

Last hint for this post is that it's going to have an on-point setting.

Any guesses yet? :)

Leah

I don't blog enough

I do more than I actually blog about. So let's travel back to June...

It was just 24 hours after I arrived at my parents (by car), and I claimed a spot of the dining room for my sewing machine. Oh. Who am I kidding, I took over the entire dining room! :)

I could catch a good breeze with very little trouble. And I needed it, when the AC failed!


Before I got there, the ping pong table was set up for playing. I folded it up and pushed it into the living room section.

It also doubled up as a quilt holder. At least it gave a nice view to people going down the stairs! :)

Can you see all that floor space though? Great for laying out the quilt blocks and pieces! I sure wouldn't mind if I lived in an apartment that was just my parents downstairs area. I'd keep the living room and dining room fairly normal, but would totally transform their family room into a giant quilting spot. Top it off with a long arm machine, and I'd never move again! ;)

Leah

It's done

Got up before the sun, stood in line for 25 minutes and color lots of dots.

That said... I really don't wanna hear anything political until tomorrow! :P

I'm thinking of picking up "Nourishing Traditions" for my birthday. It sounds like a book that's in-line with my eating style. Hmm, decisions, decisions. At least I don't have to think about buying fabric, I've got PLENTY! :)

Leah

I still quilt

...even though I'm not so good at blogging these days. No real reason, just hasn't been the highest priority of the late.

A teaser shot of my current project. Rather small, child lap size maybe, definitely a baby quilt. It's been something that I've had in mind to do for over 3 years now.

I'm having some trouble getting my brain in gear for Christmas. I just can't do it properly until my birthday has passed. I'm ready to be 26 so I can get started on Christmas! :P

Leah

Gonna pout, gonna cry

The lament of many quilters: my iron died!

Same ol' story, but the second chapter.

Actually, today was a little more dramatic - it started to smoke. I thought a piece of lint or fuzz got under the soleplate. Took a compressed air cannister, blew it like crazy, plug it back it.

Yay! No more smoke.

Wait.

Why aren't the lights on? It's hot. It feels hot.

*fiddle and fuss for 5 minutes*

Oh. Not hot now. Pooh. Bye bye iron! Glad I could get 2 years out of you. :)

Why does quilting have to be murder to irons?! :P

Leah

It's cooling down!

It's finally started to cool down. Ahhhhhhhhhh. I'm really happy that we don't need to turn on the AC any more either - the last electric bill was $160. And to think, I used to cringe when I got a $90 bill back at my old apartment.

The best thing about the weather is that it awakens my desire to quilt again. Using the iron doesn't make me want to dunk my head in a tub of ice any more. ;)

I got all the too-small blocks fixed, lost a snowball block, hasty made another, and finally put the entire quilt together. I had a couple of border fabrics to select from, I posted them onto a forum I frequent and by far the black with colorful scroll won. :)

Now the top is set aside until I get some more batting. I'm planning to get roll of 30 yards for my birthday next month. Should last me for a couple dozen quilts. :D


I've also been enjoying some fruits and veggies lately. Here's a freaking huge peach that was on sale a couple weeks ago!

Big as my hand, and took me about 20 minutes to gobble it up. Yum. :)

Hopefully hot tea will be in my future soon!

Leah

Getting friendly with the seam ripper

A long time ago... 3 years? I was in a 9-patch swap. Kona black, with batiks and hand dyes. I have all the blocks I need to make a quilt top... but with one problem.

One of the swappers (I have no idea who, as this was a central swap) didn't really grasp "seam allowance" and "pressing" when it came to her blocks.

On the left is her block, on the right is one of mine. There's obvious size difference, and no matter how much I could stretch and "make it fit", I'd still end up with boob-like humps in my quilt.


The back side is even worse.

Almost looks like I edited the photo with some twist distortion. :P

So I'm gonna spend some time seam ripping 6 blocks apart. I just really hope that the swapper could at least cut 2.5" squares correctly! :D

Is it really that hard to get a good seam allowance? Is taking an extra 2 minutes to properly press too painful? I consider myself to be somewhat of a "careless" quilter. I don't focus on making sure the points match perfectly. Any long time reader of my blog knows that I have a HUGE dislike for pinning. I'm not going to try to sell myself as perfect, but three things really make quilting easier - proper cutting, proper seam allowance and pressing.

At least this means I'm joining in Judy's quiltathon! ;)

Leah

Butterfly Twist Quilt

Just finished the binding on this butterfly and green quilt this afternoon.

Whew... talk about vibrant! And I used orange thread this time, because there's a wee bit of orange in the butterfly wings. That's the downside about using Essential Threads, there aren't a TON of color options; only about 60 or 65 to select from. Hopefully there will be more colors down the road... but in the meantime it's make do! I love the thread too much to switch to a different brand that might have more options. :)


Can I moan for a long arm machine again? Cuz this wouldn't have happened if I had one!

Towards the bottom you can see a bit of the backing fabric that got pinched. Not a big deal, right? Well... when I was quilting that part, it started bunching on the top too. Instead of taking a moment to figure out if something was wrong, I just smashed the top relatively flat and hoped for the best. Nope, that's not how it works. :P

The quilting was just loops this time. I was running out of steam after free-motioning the ferns on the green zig zag quilt. So I picked something easier and wouldn't use a lot of thought. And if I accidentally crossed thread over, one would just assume it was another loop. :)

Still needs to be washed for "optimal usage", but I've moved onto the binding of the last trio of quilts.

Leah

Green Zig Zag done

The first of the trio is completed! I tackled this one with a lot of energy and interest for something new, which I can't say the same for the other two.

I love how crinkly it came out after washing. Just the kind of quilt you want to pull up on yourself and cuddle with. :)


And in a move that makes no sense at all... I used dyed orange backing fabric. That's one way to make the quilting pop!

Selective shot, of course. I'm not perfect, I'm not going to delude myself that I am, but I don't have to photograph it! :D I had a boo-boo where the backing folded over and I quilted on it. Then when I was trying to seam rip it apart, I accidentally snagged the wrong thread. So there's a certain section that's looking a little chewed up and thread heavy from re-sewing... I wish I could say live and learn, but I've lived through this several times now! Just one of those moments where I lament and wish for a long arm machine. ;)


My inspiration for the "endless cornstalk leaves" came from Suzanne Earley's Meandering Magic. You can get both books at her shop.

Well worth the money in my opinion, even though I don't have a frame set up for quilting. Somehow certain designs really started to click and make sense after I read through her books. Best of all, it makes me want to go beyond meandering and looping. :)


Here's the pattern I was planning to do:

But I just couldn't get comfortable back tracking. I know, practice, practice, practice. I'm happy enough that I branched out, period! ;) The result's pretty stunning, and nobody's looking for the mistakes.


I've also been keeping busy with other stuff. Last week I felt like I was trying to play superwoman! Some cooking for the Labor Day gathering at the in-laws, went to Tucson last Tuesday and spent $51 on gas and $51 on olive oil!! I think I got a better deal with the gas for once. ;)

Wednesday was my quilt guild's garage sale... ugh, didn't do as well as I hoped. I priced out over 100 yards of fabric, but only sold about 15 and made $37. But there's a noticeable dent in my stash, cuz 100 yards is still in my car! :D I really thought it'd sell better, cuz everything was $2/yard, including a bunch of Thimbleberries plaid and Christmas fabric.

Thursday the internet went out and it was kinda boring, but we got the living room super cleaned and I finished the binding on the zig zag quilt. We also went out to dinner, dipping into the grocery funds.

Friday the cable people came over, and I cleaned the kitchen too. Made for a nice relaxing weekend. And they better not charge us for that visit, as it wasn't our fault! :P

Saturday I did the weekly grocery shopping, and spent only $33.69!! Whoo. :D See, we're planning to buy a gaming laptop for my husband, cuz his won't cooperate, no matter how many times we've taken it into the shop, and the fact that we've replaced almost everything except the computer box and hard drives. We've reached the "enough" point, we just can't keep thowing money at it. Apparently it works fine with web browsing, so it'll become my computer. You know, as soon as I can cut the 5 year comfort I have with my current computer... augh. :)

My only request for the laptop was that we pay for it with cash. We've bought my husband 2 computers on credit... I'm done doing that! The credit card is paid off, it's staying that way. So, major budget time. $297/month for food, eating out and any stuff we need. Once we're out of money, we're out! We do have a 50 pound bag of rice, and 25 pounds of pinto beans, so we won't be starving any time soon. :P


And if you made it this far, have a cookie. ;)

Part of the menu planning includes a weekly sweet so we're not tempted to get a shake or run to the store for some ice cream.

And of course, I still have plenty of fabric, I can make hundreds of quilts. :D I am going to run out of batting at this rate, and would love to buy a roll... but I'm counting on the fact that my birthday is just 2 months away! ;)

Leah

Yeesh!

Bad connector on the outside cable box? Equals no internet connection.

It also equals a very clean living room, a tidy kitchen and one quilt binding done. :D

Off to catch up some more on my blog list.

Leah