Monthly Archives: May 2012

HtbaS - Episode 81

A fun two parter this week with feedback, Plumed Pimpernels, pincushions, and feeling ways about things.  Enjoy your long weekend - there will be no episode next week as I’ll be on vacation at the beach!

Play

Timeless Stitch Star: Plumed Pimpernel Revealed!

I’ve been hinting on twitter and the podcast that I finished this project last week, but I wanted to wait for the reveal until the contest deadline had passed and I was sure that Timeless Treasures had received my entry for the Timeless Stitch Star contest. When they emailed to tell me they had posted my video submission on their Facebook page, I knew the cat was out of the bag! So without further ado, here is Plumed Pimpernel:
The requirements for the contest were that you use at least two fabrics from one of the two fabric lines, and that all fabric had to be from the line. I chose the Plume line (obviously), and you can see a bit more about my design process in this video (and why I chose the name Plumed Pimpernel):

Here are some other pictures, or you can click through to the Flickr set to see them larger. Here’s what the gold vine applique piece looks like from the back with all the edges turned:
Here’s the failed New York Beauty border that I didn’t include:

Detail of the pebbling around the applique shape and feathers:

Such a relief to have this labor intensive piece finished!  I’ll talk a little more about it on the podcast tomorrow, but for now, it’s hanging in my dining room!

Small Finishes: Pincushions

My friend Chris put the call out on twitter to see if anyone would make her the pincushion from the book Seams To Me by Anna Maria Horner. Not having the book myself, but always appreciating a challenge, I offered my services. I was delighted to find the pincushion caddy pattern for free (pattern and templates).

Now, there are several reviews for this pattern, which is… not exactly poorly written, but it’s just not terribly friendly what with the curved seams and non-symmetrical pattern pieces. There are several reviews of the pattern out there on the blogosphere, which are helpful if you’re going to attempt this yourself.  Anyway, here Chris’ pincushion, such as it is.

Despite my best efforts, there are weird tucks where the ball joins the tube. Alas.
And then, since I was on a roll with the pincushion, I made myself one that I got as a kit from the Shop Hop in March:
To quote Grama Eddie, “This tickles me.” I don’t know why I like fake pies, but I do.  Again, though, this was another not-well-written pattern. I added a small pouch of sand under the “pie” in the pie pan to give it some heft and additional functionality (to sharpen pins I stick in there!), and then hot glued the stuffed pie to the metal pie pan to hold it all together. Voila!

Monkey Business Tablerunner: Finished!

These little triangles have been lurking around my stash, taunting me ever since I finished the Monkey Butt quilt last year. I knew I would make something with them, and figured that 240 2″ triangle certainly wouldn’t make a large quilt of any size. So I made a tablerunner:
All the little triangely bits fit together, and then I sashed it with some Kona White and a little bit of the knit print I had leftover from the original FQ bundle.
 The backing and binding is a Kona Cocoa solid. It’s straight line quilted, measures 18×55″. And now for sale in my etsy shop!

Sunday Night Stash: The One Where Contests Hurt My Feelings

Can I just give out a giant *SIGH* since I finished my entry for the Timeless Stitch Star contest? It’s not exactly what I wanted out of the project, but I had reached the point of just wanting to be done with it last week. Of course, in the process of changing my mind a billion times over the borders, I used up way more fabric than I wanted to, and feel like I wasted a lot of it because, let’s be honest, not sure what I’d use those bits for in the future. The finished wallhanging is 24×24, but I used up 5 yards of fabric to get to that. Ugh. Pics will post here on June 2, the day after the contest deadline.
 
I also realized when I skipped last week I forgot to account for finishing the Puppy Love baby quilt. Double oops.
  • Used this Week: 9 yards
    • 5 yards for the Timeless Stitch Star quilt
    • 4 yards for Puppy Love
  • Used year to Date: 195 yard
  • Added this Week: 2.75 yards
    • Purchased a layer cake of Lucy’s Crab Shack
  • Added Year to Date: 122 yards
  • Net Used for 2012: 73 yards
      • YTD Used for Charity: 68 yards (35% of total used)

HtbaS - Episode 80

I talk about what’s driving me batty in my life and sewing this week. It’s the end of the school year, and I reaffirm that I hate making projects just for contests. Zapper says “hi!” a lot.

  • Please vote for Good Mews (Zoom and Zapper’s cat shelter) to win a makeover! Just scroll down and make two clicks by May 22. Helper Cats thank you!
  • Enter the Blogger’s Quilt Festival
  • Totally forgot to mention this on the podcast, but if you’re quilting or sewing this weekend and not at Market, chat on twitter with the hashtag #NMSI for Not Market Sew In.
Play

Blogger’s Quilt Festival: Lavender Kiss

As you may know, the Blogger’s Quilt Festival is going on for all of us who can’t make it to Market this week. It’s time to ogle some quilts!
Amy's Creative Side
I’m showing off Lavender Kiss, which was formerly known as Purple Swoon.  Why am I showing it off? Because I’ve gotten 3 separate thank you notes for it!

I made this quilt as a gift for my husband’s first-cousin-once-removed’s wedding. The bride is genuinely one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met, the sort of person who is always smiling and nice and (more importantly to me) is never fake about it.  She and her new husband are young and starting off from scratch, and her father (my husband’s cousin) died several years ago from a heart attack while driving. She’s handled this with grace, as she does everything, and deserved something special on her wedding day.

I wanted to make the newlyweds a quilt that they could enjoy and pass down to their kids. I also wanted to play more with the Swoon block, and experiment with value.  It’s machine pieced and quilted on my domestic machine.

Can you guess what her favorite color is?

The wedding was last month, and within a few days of it, I received a thank you note from the bride’s grandmother for it.  Later that week, I got a note from my MIL. And then yesterday I got a thank you note from the bride. I’d call it a successful wedding gift.

Puppy Love - Finished!

I finished this project last week, but wanted to wait until it got delivered before posting pictures.  This is Puppy Love:

 Puppy Love is a baby quilt. The center is the card trick block, and the border is mostly solid with the doghouse pieced in.  The bones and pawprints are fleece applique - nice and soft for the baby!
And no, contrary to twitter rumors (*cough*GRETCHEN*cough*), it’s not for me. I made this quilt as a commission for a friend who is going to be a Great Aunt for the first time (I beat her to the punch - I had a grandniece before I had kids of my own!).

HtbaS - Episode 79

I talk about dipping thread, applique the Sharon Schamber way, and the commission baby quilt. My kids are so generous with the Mother’s Day presents that they gave me a cold.

  • Cindy’s new Fluffy Sheep Quilting shop opens on May 14th! Enter the giveaway on her blog on Monday!
  • Dip your thread in mineral oil. Sounds squicky, but it’s okay. I promise.
  • To learn more about Sharon Schamber’s applique method, check out her book Piece by Piece.
Play

A Picture-Filled Weekend Recap

I would have included these with the Sunday Night Stash Report, but was too engrossed in Mad Men to go fetch the camera. Also, it’s possible I was too lazy.

It was Saturday Sampler pick-up weekend at Tiny Stitches, so I got the next block for Grandma’s Garden and Memories of Provence:

“Wear clean underwear” is this month’s grandmotherly advice.
I also got a quilt top pieced for a commission quilt for a friend. This isn’t the whole top, but as soon as I got it on the floor to audition border fabric, Zapper started helpering.
And then we had the “Applique the Sharon Schamber Way” class Sunday afternoon. We were learning a technique more than completing a project, so the sample is rather small. I’m planning on using it in a quilt for Project Linus. Fused (before stitching) on the left, and stitched on the right:
I’ll talk more about the method we learned on the podcast next week.
And finally, a touch of awesome. I’m afraid that I don’t properly express gratitude, enthusiasm, appreciation, or other positive emotions appropriately at times, mostly because I’m just not a gushy sort of person. But I was truly touched when my friend Alison from my guild handed me a package before the meeting and said she had made me something because it made her think of me when she saw the pattern.
 It’s a fun zippered pouch! With a black sheep! I was telling my husband that I needed to think of a way to work it into some gathering with his family, and he suggested wearing it as a hat. A pope-ish sort of hat.
Obligatory mirror self portrait! Which… no. Zoom concurred. Think I’ll use it to carry my next wool felt project instead.
P.S. - Yes, that is a lot of toilet paper. Don’t judge.