KC Quilts - Old

The Blog is Moving!!!

2006-07-24T07:09:00.000-04:00

My new blog site is finally ready and I'm in the process of making the move! The new site is http://www.kcquilts.com/blog/ and I have already published my first post there. After about a week or two all of my archives from here will be copied over to the new blog. I'm just not sure if they will also remain here or if Blogger will immediately delete this site. So... I will be in this weird transition state for a while to make sure that everyone who checks this blog finds out about the move in time.

Please change any bookmarks, links, and/or blog subscriptions you might have. Thanks!!

Pretty in Pink

2006-07-21T08:43:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Simon finally decided to take a nap (as opposed to passing out in his high chair or on the floor), so I was able to get some work done on the custom baby quilt I'm making. I'm not usually a fan of pink, but I was giving the instructions that I should be able to stand back to look at the quilt and see mostly pink. More specifically, "dusty pinks". I'm really enjoying the way it's turning out. It's pink, but in a sweet (rather than sickening) way. It's pretty in a way that will suit a little girl , or even an older girl, beyond the baby years.

Since this is a custom job, and not one I'm making to give away, I've found that I'm taking a lot more care in making it. I finished piecing the top last night and discovered that I had put one of the blocks in backwards! My first instinct was to just leave it and call it a humility block. Most people wouldn't even notice it unless they were looking at it closely. Then I stopped deluding myself and admitted that most people would notice the block and, furthermore, would have no idea what a humility block was in the first place. Thankfully, the block in question was in a corner and easily accessible.

It was my first time taking apart a finished quilt top and then putting it back together. I was afraid that I might make a royal mess of it, but it turned out just fine. Sometimes I just don't know what I'd do without my trusty seam-ripper!

Decisions

2006-07-19T08:10:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I went to church at the parish closest to my house (not where I usually go) and saw an interesting notice in the weekly bulletin. Apparently, their parish school hosts a craft fair every November and they are still looking for people to occupy booths. It's not free, but about half the cost of other local craft fairs. My first reaction upon seeing the add was, "No way!" But then I started thinking about it: how I would set up a booth, the scrapbook I would make of my work to display, all of the crafts I would make to sell, and especially the advertising I would get for my custom work. The only problem is that I have serious doubts about my ability to create enough inventory by November. Unless Simon starts sleeping on a consistent basis, I just don't have the time to produce enough things to sell. This week I haven't been able to do anything!

My husband's office building allows family members of people who work there to display and sell handmade items for free outside of their cafeteria during lunchtime. This is probably something that is more ideal for my purposes. I can have just a few things to display right around Christmas time and hope that some people are desperate for gifts. The only problem is that the people at a craft fair are looking to buy crafts (not to mention, looking to support their church) while the people at the office building are just looking to eat lunch.

I've also thought about opening an Etsy shop. With Etsy you can add stock as you create it, which is great for someone who doesn't already have a large inventory. The problem there is getting people to find your Etsy shop and then want to buy things from it.

So, I'm torn. Do I commit to the craft fair and hope I have enough things to sell and won't be totally embarrassed? If I knew someone who would want to share a booth with me that would be helpful, but I don't. If I commit, would that be just the push I need to start making things at a faster pace? Or will it just make me freak out from now until November 18th? I suppose there's only one way to find out.

Back in The Groove

2006-07-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

The blogging groove, that is. After a week in West Virginia, I am glad to be back home. Saturday evening I finished cleaning my sewing room and I am ridiculously excited about how neat and organized it is. I still have no pictures. I should fix that. It's not much to look at, really, but it's so nice to have it done. Now I just have to work at keeping it clean. Details.

I bought this fabulous alphabet fabric at the quilt shop I visited in West Virginia and have already started cutting it up. I'm going to put different colored borders around each letter and carefully piece them onto a background fabric - color to be determined. It will be a challenge to piece - lots of measuring and graph paper! It also won't be done for quite a while. This one is an intentional UFO.

The letters are all different colors - the letters in my name just happen to all be blue. I was having a hard time figuring out a word with each letter used only once to use in a picture. It seems to obvious now.

I've changed a few things around on the sidebar. You can see some new Flickr groups I've joined and some minor changes to my profile. I'm very excited about the Year of Color group started by Amy over at Happythings. I now have some additional incentive to actually break open that instruction manual for my new camera. I've been meaning to do it for quite some time, but the time never seems to present itself.

Speaking of time, I'm probably not going to have a lot of time to sew this week. I'm trying to teach Simon to fall asleep on his own, which is involving lots of crying on his part and attention on my part. I feel awful letting him cry, but he was crying when I was holding him and rocking him to sleep as well. Basically, he's crying either way. It's no fun.

Davis, WV

2006-07-12T14:10:00.000-04:00

I am stuck in Davis, WV this week. It's basically a ski resort town, but I don't ski and it's July. There's not much to do here except hike and relax. The only problem is that it's hard to relax while keeping an eye on a nine-month old.

Anyway, I looked up quilt shops in West Virginia and the nearest one was over an hour away: the Elkins Sewing Center. Actually, the nearest anything is over an hour away. I went to the shop anyway, and was so glad I did! I found fabrics for a quilt I need to make this month for a friend. I've been looking for just the right fabrics for the past several weeks and had been unsuccessful.

I do not have the capabilities of posting pictures here, but I most likely will when I get back. Back to relaxing I go...

Friday Update

2006-07-07T09:33:00.000-04:00

I have two projects that I'm currently working on that I have to finish today. First up is a minimoopy bunny for the baby shower this weekend. It's so close to being done that I can taste it!

Next is a zippered pouch that I'm making for myself. I figured that it was about time I stopped using ziplock bags to pack things when I go away. I'm going to pack in style, baby! I've have this fabric for several years. I always thought it was very nice, but totally impractical for a quilt. And it may be impractical for a quilt, but it's perfect for a zippered pouch!

Three Quilted Bags

2006-07-05T20:06:00.000-04:00

These bags are my latest creation/obsession. I made the blue and orange one a few weeks ago for myself because I decided that I wanted a new purse - one that was both pretty and functional (i.e. has a pocket for my cell phone so I can answer it before it kicks over to voicemail!). After making it and using it for a while, I decided that I could make it better and set about writing directions for a quilted bag pattern that had dimensions I liked better. Specifically, I wanted it to hold a few more things and I wanted the straps long enough so that I could carry the purse on my shoulder.

There's another reason I kept making bags, totally unrelated to the fact that I wanted to improve the design of the purse itself. I have so many fabric scraps and love the idea of using them all. I keep thinking of fabulous color combinations that I can create and my fingers are just itching to make them happen. I want to make a bag that is mostly white with hints of pink, but that one will have to wait until various other projects are completed. I wish I had the idea for that one before I made this bright colored one. I love bright, rainbow colors and have lots of scraps as a result. I thought that making a purse out of them would be fabulous, but it's actually a little loud for my taste. I think I need to work on being subtle ;).

I'm entering these bags in the July Whiplash competition under the "skill" category. The craft I am particularly skilled at is quilting, and these bags certainly reflect that. For each bag, I first had to create a quilt before turning those quilts into bags. I pieced many different scraps together into one large piece of fabric, basted it onto some quilt batting, and then quilted a design on it with my sewing machine. Each bag has its own, unique quilting design.

I wanted to give the blue and orange bag a modern feel, so I quilted a series of circles and triangles onto it at uneven intervals. The green bag made me thing of spring, so I quilted a flower and leaf pattern on it. I had a really hard time coming up with an idea for the rainbow bag and finally settled on the sun, because you need the sun to make a rainbow.

I'm still using the blue and orange bag as my purse (when I'm not using a diaper bag!) - I always keep the first of anything I make. That way, I don't have to admit to my mistakes to anyone other than myself ;). My mother-in-law has already fallen in love with the green bag and offered to buy it from me. I, of course, can't take money from her so I guess it's going to be a gift. That leaves the rainbow bag as the only purse without a home. In the meantime, I think I'll hang it in my sewing room so I can admire it on a daily basis.

WIP Friday

2006-06-30T08:37:00.000-04:00

OK, I'm jumping on the Work In Progress Friday bandwagon here in the hopes that it motivates me to actually complete all my works in progress. Although these particular works already have deadlines, so I should be sufficiently motivated ;).

First is a bag I've almost completed for July's Whiplash competition. All entries are due the first two weeks of July, but I'm going on vacation without my computer or sewing machine (eek!) on the second week of July, so I only have a week to finish and take pictures and post about it. I'm really excited about the bag and the competition and I hope it all comes out well. I didn't want to give away too much with the picture - just a teaser ;).

The second WIP is a baby carrier for a baby shower that is next Sunday. I will be on vacation so I won't be at the shower, but I promised to deliver a gift before I go out of town so I need to get it done soon. This is only technically a work in progress because I have taken the steps to purchase fabric and pre-wash it. Other than that, I have done nothing! I have some serious work to do.

My final WIP is my sewing room and I am too embarrassed to post a picture of that. It is a certified disaster area. There are piles of crap everywhere, to the point where I'm surprised I can find anything and/or get anything done. The problem is that I get so involved in projects that I don't want to stop to clean. So, I don't clean until the situation becomes dire. And, believe me, it's dire now. I think after I finish these two projects I need to commit myself to not starting anything else until I do some serious work in my sewing room. It's just so hard to not start new projects - I have so many floating around in my brain!

On a different note, I just discovered today that there is a quilting blogger out there called KC Quilter who actually started her blog on the same exact day that I did!! I would consider changing my blog's name, but I've already registered KCquilts.com as a domain name. And I'm planning on using it as a business name. I just feel so tacky now.

Success!

2006-06-27T10:58:00.000-04:00

After making five coin purses, I've finally created a version that I am totally happy with. AND, I wrote down all the steps in the process so I won't forget what I did and have to do all that work all over again. I have a tendency of doing most everything from memory. So far, it has worked for me, but I don't want to count on that always being the case.

I solved my zipper problem by consulting the search engine at Crafster.org. It is my new favorite place on the internet. I'm sure most crafty type people have known about it for quite some time, but it's a recent discovery of mine. If you want to know how to do something, do a search on it on Craftster and you'll probably find more than one post explaining how to do that very thing. Brilliant! So, now I can shorten my own zippers. As a result, zippers are my new favorite thing and I just bought a whole, huge amount of them on Ebay. Yay zippers!

Baby Pants - Practically Free!

2006-06-24T09:21:00.000-04:00

I found instructions for making baby pants from old t-shirts here on crafster. The original tutorial can be found here. The tutorial on crafster specifically tells how to make the pants from old t-shirts (which is fabulous, since you don't have to hem the bottom of the pants!). The original tutorial gives instructions for making pants out of just about anything, and I needed it for help with the elastic waist.

I know what you're thinking - I wasted two perfectly good shirts to make one, little pair of baby pants. But the beauty of it is that these shirts were already discarded. My husband and I went through all of our clothes this spring and made a huge pile of clothes we no longer wore. We bagged them up and I asked my husband to remove them from the house and donate them to charity. Well, he removed them from the house, but they only made it as far as the trunk of his car - where they remained for a month and a half! He claims that he brought them to a drop-off point, but the bin was so full that he couldn't leave the clothes there. I know - lame. Anyway, it ended up being a good thing because I was able to go back and find some shirts to resurrect into pants.

I copied the pattern for these pants from a pair that are a little fitted. I think the next pair will be made with more room in the legs. Simon likes the pants, but he says that he wants to be more stylish.

You can see a photo set of the whole process here.

Somebody Stop Me!

2006-06-23T08:47:00.000-04:00

I made a little lined, zippered pouch using a method I found on Craftster, but it didn't come out so great. So, I made up my own way of making one and here it is! I need to make another one so I can "perfect" the method. I want to use interfacing next time so it's stiff. Also, I want a smaller zipper, but apparently they don't come any smaller than 7"?? This is really my first foray into zippers, so I don't know. Perhaps I can get them shortened at the store...

It's a Quilt, It's a Purse...

2006-06-21T06:55:00.000-04:00

It's a quilted purse!!!

The purse I am currently using is really a tote bag. I made it two years ago and it's a sad, floppy affair. The colors are awesome: black on the outside with a bright pink on the inside. However, the pockets are so large and bulky that they get in the way more often than they actually help hold things. And I can never find my cell phone in time when it starts ringing. So, I figured it was time for a new purse. A real purse. One with bells and whistles.

The idea of using scraps to make the purse came to me one night when I should have been in bed, but was instead trying desperately to convince a cranky baby to go to sleep and let me do the same. The mind visits funny places when it is sleep deprived. Anyway, the idea stuck and I thought it was a fabulous one: using up scraps is great because it helps to make my sewing room neater by reducing the clutter and I don't have to spend any money to make this great purse since I already have the materials!

I gave myself a zippered pocket to hold all those things that fly around my purse and I can never find. It is currently holding a wallet, a business card holder I bought from Three Green Apples, a chapstick and a pen (I made sure the top was on!). And look over on the other side at that snazzy cell-phone pocket! It even has a little velcro clasp to keep the phone from falling out accidentally. With all these added features it has become apparent to me just how low maintenance I am. The only thing that is actually in the main portion of the purse is a pad I use to write grocery lists. In addition to the organizational features, I put in a magnetic snap to keep things in the purse and to keep pickpockets out. I also covered a piece of cardboard with fabric and placed it at the bottom of the purse to give it a nice, sturdy bottom.

By the way, the business card holder is empty because I still don't have business cards. I'm hoping that innocent bystanders with notice my groovy purse and ask me about it, giving me the perfect opportunity to pull out a business card and tell them that, yes, I make these purses and other fabulous quilted items! This plan will backfire entirely if I don't have business cards.

Since i have a nice, new purse I decided that I needed a matching wallet to go with it. My current wallet is just too big and I want a smaller version. I found this super-easy pattern for a wallet here on Crafster.org. The wallet holds all my essential cards and fits in my zippered pocket with room to spare! I feel so coordinated.

KC the Dog: v2.0

2006-06-20T13:13:00.000-04:00

Here is my second attempt at making a stuffed puppy. I decided that the embroidered face just wasn't working out, so I used felt instead. I also gave him a diet: skinnier torso. I think he looks better, but I'm still not satisfied that he's done. I just don't know what I want to do to make him better!

And, I must admit that I have a problem. I gave Simon this dog as well as the first dog. I felt bad that his dog was not as good as this dog and I didn't want him to feel slighted. OK, I just wanted to make him happy. He likes the dogs, but prefers toys that make noise when he hits them. He's such a boy.

Quilting For Charity

2006-06-19T07:58:00.000-04:00

Being a stay-at-home mom, I try very hard to save money. I have cut back on lots of things: cell phone, cable, new clothes, eating out, etc. However, I feel lots of guilt in cutting back on donating to charities. If I can't donate my treasure, then I must donate my time and talent. I have a goal of making several quilt tops a year for charity. However, since I'm trying to save money I've challenged myself to make charity quilts entirely from fabric in my stash.

My local quilt shop collects unfinished quilt tops for Project Linus. Several times a year, they have a "quilt in" where people volunteer their time to finish all the donated quilt tops. I'm hoping to be able to join in the quilting once Simon is no longer breastfeeding. In the meantime, I can keep making tops. Project Linus always seems to be in need of quilts for boys, so I gave this top one a camping/fishing theme (you know, rather than flowers and butterflies!). There are lots of prints with cabins, bears, fish, etc. It's rather busy, but I didn't have any solid fabrics in my stash to compliment the prints. I like to think that a little boy would appreciate all the business, anyway. There's lots to look at!

Happy Father's Day

2006-06-18T10:49:00.000-04:00

I've always loved redwork, but I don't really know how to embroider. OK, that's not entirely true. I've looked at diagrams of how to embroider, but I need lots of practice. So, I got some quality practice in by making these onesies for Father's Day. My husband appreciated it more than any thing I could have made for him to wear ;).

KC the Dog - Take One

2006-06-15T08:32:00.000-04:00

This was my first time drafting my own pattern for a toy and my first time sewing with microfleece. Both turned out to be a bit of a challenge. Hopefully KC the Dog v.2 will look a lot better.

I love the microfleece for a stuffed animal. It is so, so soft and is easily shaped with the stuffing. However, my sewing machine seemed to have problems handling the fleece and I'm not sure what to do to fix it. It kept skipping stitches and I was only able to fix it by sewing the seams twice. Another problem with the fleece is the embroidery. I embroidered the eyes and nose on his face after he was stuffed. Well, apparently the fleece is very stretchy and distorts the embroidery. That is why the eye on the cotton is so much bigger than the eye on the fleece. Next time I will use an embroidery hoop and embroider his face before sewing and stuffing his body.

As for drafting the pattern - I don't think he came out that terrible. His body is obviously too large. He looks fat and squarish. I've already adjusted my templates to make him skinnier. I just hope he isn't too skinny next time! I also think his legs are a little too long and possibly too skinny. But I'm not changing the legs yet because they might not look as skinny with the skinnier body. I really like the way his feet and ears turned out. I'm not sure about the head though. The flat face isn't very doggish, but I wanted to stick with a really simple pattern for my first time. His eyes are too far apart, I think. We'll see what he looks like next time, I guess.

My test market isn't sure what to make of the puppy. He's more interested in chewing things than cuddling them. I made the puppy nice and big so he'd be good for snuggling. And he's so soft, too! I think it's time to introduce a lovey - Simon is having serious sleeping issues. Maybe KC #2 will do the trick.

Chinese Coins Wall Hanging

2006-06-13T08:50:00.000-04:00

I made a quilt very similar to this one about a year and a half ago. It was a wedding gift for a good friend. At the time, I cut out twice as many fabric rectangles than I needed and saved the ones I didn't use in a tidy pile in my sewing box, where they waited. And waited. I'm not sure what inspired me to finally dig them out, but they sure were happy to see the light of day!

I really enjoy this project because it is an easy way to use up some scraps. I love scrap quilts and will often buy those $0.05 pieces of fabric they sell at the quilt shop, which defeats the point of using up scraps but what can you do? It would work with any number of color or fabric themes. I have a lot of bright colors and think it would be nice to make a wall hanging using all of those brights - like a rainbow - and do the borders in a light blue - like the sky. It would make a nice decoration for a child's room.

The rectangles were cut to 1.5" x 3.5" pieces and there are fifty total (ten in each row). There was no hard and fast rule as to where to place each patch - I just tried not to place any similar colors next to each other. The sashings were cut to 2" and the outer borders to 3". I put two sleeves on the back, so it could be hung either vertically or horizontally.

It's a quick and easy project. Unfortunately, it took me much longer to complete than I anticipated because half-way through I sliced my finger with the rotary cutter! When I tell people who don't know much about quilting that I got eight stitches from a sewing injury, they think I am crazy. When I tell people who do know about quilting about my rotary injury, they think I am crazy for a completely different reason. They seem to think that I cut my finger because I put it directly in front of the blade and then rolled right over it. Let me assure you that it didn't happen that way! Somehow, my blade slipped up over the ruler and embedded itself right into my finger. I always knew they were very sharp and that I needed to be very careful, but accidents do happen I suppose. Still, I feel pretty stupid.

My husband, who thinks he is very funny, thinks I should call this quilt "the Emergency Room Quilt." I am not taking his advice, although it does make for a good story. It's a shame that I do not yet have business cards, because several nurses and other hospital-type administrators asked me about the cut and quilting and it would have been the perfect opportunity to talk up my business and get some advertising in. Of course, they might not want to consider buying a quilt from someone who, as far as they know, can't sew without mutilating herself. Oh well.

Somehow, the quilt managed to not get any blood on it. Thank goodness for small miracles.

My Least Favorite Part of Making a Quilt

2006-06-07T07:38:00.000-04:00

Wikipedia has the following to say about quilt labels:

During the late 1900's, the quilt community started to encourage quilters to label their quilts, starting with a name for the quilt, in addition to their own name, and completion date for the work. This was an important step in taking the craft of quilting into the art realm. A quilt's name implies there is some meaning to a quilt beyond its creation, to whatever degree. Though meaning maybe found in quilts without names as well.

I am a big proponent for quilt labels. Whenever somebody shows me a quilt they have made by some relative or other, I immediately look for the label and am almost always disappointed when I don't find one. However, I can't really blame the quilter for not putting it there, because I hate labeling my quilts.

I think it's because, in my mind, I am already done with the quilt and am ready to move on to some other project. Taking the time to make a label is just delaying all of the new quilts that are living happily in my brain from making their debut. So, most often, I don't label my quilts right away. I tell myself that I will label them later - when I get around to it. For a while I was just embroidering my initials and the year on the back of quilts, but I have recently rededicated myself to making actual labels. I'm going to try to make them interesting - not just a little white square. I started small, but hopefully as I make more labels they will evolve into more artistic expression. Or at least some kind of expression.

Fabric Addiction

2006-06-04T12:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to the Quilter's Unlimited Annual Quilt Show, which was great fun. There are always so many quilts on display that it is often exhausting just to get around to viewing them all. There was one quilt that used these adorable fabric panels that I thought would be just perfect for a little boy's quilt and I fell in love just a little bit. Not long after viewing this quilt I was walking by a vendor and noticed that they also had a quilt using these same fabric panels. Well, I went right over there and discovered that they were selling them and knew they would be mine!

I bought two panels, just in case I messed up any of the prints on the first one. That way, many years from now when I actually get around to making something out of them, I won't have to start crying when I make a mistake. I say many years from now because my son is only 8 months old and will not be in need of a twin-size bedspread anytime soon. But I bought this fabric especially for him and now I can spend many long months pondering what exactly I will do with these cute, cute blocks.

Feeling Very Productive

2006-06-03T22:33:00.000-04:00

I made my third softie last night for a little 8-month old. She is the daughter of some friends who will be visiting this weekend. This one is a free pattern offered at neststudio. It's called a minimoopy, although it's really a bunny. At first I thought it was a little freaky looking, but now I find it totally endearing and I kind of want to keep it for myself. I suppose Simon might be getting one of his own soon.

I also recently finished the last of my unfinished quilt tops. I really like the way the quilting came out on this one. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture that really shows it off. I'll have to do that sometime soon.

With the completion of this quilt, I now officially have no more unfinished projects to work on! I'll have to fix that by starting several new projects. I just went to a quilt show and bought a whole bunch of new fabric, so I'm feeling pretty inspired. And I want to start using them all right away! It doesn't seem fair to make one set of fabric wait while the other one gets to have fun. They should all have fun at once. That way, my sewing room can once again be cluttered with many unfinished projects. Or should I say, works in progress?

My Second Stuffed Animal

2006-05-30T09:03:00.000-04:00

I got the pattern for this bunny at craftster.org. It was rather more challenging than the duck I did last week, so I fully anticipated this being a bit of a trial run for the bunny. I was going to use microfleece so it would come out soft and fuzzy, but I decided to just use some cotton scraps I already had - it would save me money, and why would I want to spend money on the practice bunny!!?? Well, it turns out I was right in not spending money on this fellow. He may look OK in the picture, but he is not so stellar in real life.

I was really excited after I finished the head, because I thought I did a really good job with that. Except, of course, for the way too floppy ears. I decided that for any future bunnies, I would lightly stuff the ears so they could stand up better. Also, I realized that I needed to use the same color thread as the fabric. When quilting, I can use white thread to piece everything together and it hardly ever shows, but this red bunny has all of these cream-colored threads peeking through the seams.

The body was a bit tricky, but relatively easy to figure out, considering that the directions were in Japanese. Stuffing the body proved to be the most challenging part. I'm hoping that fleece will be a little more forgiving in the stuffing department. The most challenging bit of all though was attaching the head to the body. I stitched them together, but it was so hard to maneuver the needle since the parts were so stuffed and not very giving. The head came out a bit crooked and very floppy. I used some fabric glue to keep the poor bunny from constantly getting whiplash.

I had no problem giving my duck to Simon. Sure, he primarily used it for chewing and sucking on, but I'm a firm believer that my crafts should be used and not just displayed. And that's what babies do with everything. I had intended all along that after I finished the bunny I would hand it off to Simon and let him do with it as he would. But now the bunny's head seems so fragile that I don't think it would survive long in Simon's clutches. I think I need to improve my methods before giving Simon a bunny. And maybe make it out of fleece. That way, it will be more cuddleable.

The problem now is that if I don't give the bunny to Simon, what will I do with it?

K.I.S.S.

2006-05-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

I finished the quilt! As you can hopefully see, I decided to go with the straight line quilting. I figured that since it was a baby quilt, it didn't need to be busily quilted. Too much quilting might overwhelm the quilt. Of course, it didn't hurt that it took less time to finish that way.

I'm very excited to have finally finished this quilt. It had been hanging up on my wall waiting to be quilted for months! It has another friend that is still hanging up there, but I'm working on another softie before I tackle that one. I fully anticipate having both finished by the end of this week. I'm feely really productive - so many projects are being completed!

Quilting Dilemma

2006-05-26T11:13:00.000-04:00

I'm about to start marking a quilt top that I've had ready for months - only now I'm torn between two different quilt designs. One is straight lines and will be very easy to do. The other is full of circles and will be much more time consuming. I want to do the circly one, but I'm not sure that it will look any better than the straight lines. Why put all that effort into the quilting if it's not for better results? But then, it might look much better than the straight lines. I need to just bite the bullet and make a decision!

My First Softie!

2006-05-23T19:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I took a book out of the library (Teach yourself to make soft toys: simple techniques and patterns for stuffed animals) so that I could learn how to make stuffed toys. I thought that since KCquilts is partially named after Casey the Wonderdog, we should have a little mascot. So, I want to design a stuffed doggie that will represent Casey Quilts. This book does a great job of teaching me to make soft toys, but not how to design my own toys. I guess I have to figure that out for myself.

I started by making a duck because the duck is one of the simplest designs in the book. Also, it is one that I don't actively dislike. I'm rather proud of this duck and thought it looked pretty good. However, when my husband came home he laughed and said that it looked like it has cancer of the beak. I'm still not sure exactly what that means except that I think he should try making his own duck and then we'll see what that looks like!

Anyway, I suppose I'll try making a few more of the designs from the book before trying to design them myself. I have a feeling that I will need LOTS of patience for that endeavor.

Quilting the Quilt

2006-05-19T07:41:00.000-04:00

Well, I've started quilting the dorm quilt and it is a beast. As previously mentioned, there is not a lot of room under the arm of my sewing machine. This makes quilting such a large quilt difficult, but it is possible. However, it is so not my best quilting job. The stitches are not even. They are very small in some areas and then large in others. I would be most embarrassed to give it to someone, except that its intended recipient will never notice such details anyway. My husband says that I'm probably the only one in the world who would notice, but I know he's wrong. I guess I won't be making any such large quilts for sale until I got a larger machine to go with them. That's ok. I really like the fast turn around of the baby quilts much better. And I have so many that I want to make!

Behold the Holder of the Pots

2006-05-17T08:09:00.000-04:00

I love making homemade gifts for people. I also love receiving homemade gifts from people. It's just a nice feeling, knowing that someone took time and effort to create something special for you. The problem with making gifts, however, is that after so many years you start running out of ideas of what to make for people. At least I do. I've made pillows, wall hangings, aprons, and tote bags. This past year was the year of the potholder.

Potholders are great because they are a small project. Since I had a newborn, I figured that potholders were the way to go for Christmas this past year. It was a great success, but that same newborn must have sucked out all my brain cells because I completely forgot to take pictures of any of the potholders! This one here I made for my grandmother's birthday, which is a month before Christmas. I was able to take a picture of it this past weekend when I visited her for Mother's Day. She has it proudly displayed in her kitchen, where it is never used.

And that is a topic for another day: how most people think quilts are too pretty to actually use. Sigh.

What to do With a Bridesmaid's Dress?

2006-05-10T07:31:00.000-04:00

I have two bridesmaid dresses and I know I am never going to wear again, despite certain ads that try to convince me otherwise. I've thought for years that I should make something out of them - that those expensive dresses shouldn't go to waste sitting in a closet never to see the light of day again. I thought that maybe they would make nice pillows to give to the bride in question, but pillows didn't seem special enough and my pillows always seem lumpy anyway. Then I got into quilting and thought that I would one day make a lap quilt out of all my bridesmaid dresses.

Well, it's three years later, I only have two dresses and they are scarlet and lavender. Short of petitioning my friends for all of their bridesmaid dresses, that lap quilt just isn't going to happen. Although I do like the idea of making a quilt and passing it along every month or so to a different bridesmaid so that she can claim that she used the dress again. And everyone could take pictures with the quilt to show to all their friends who complain about not using those dresses again.

That is a project for another day. For now, I've decided to take the plunge and actually do something with one of my dresses. The first step is stripping it for parts:

Now that I've actually dismantled the dress I'm hesitant to do anything with it. My first idea was to make a small wall-hanging that is a sort of wedding announcement commemorating the day. It would have the bride and groom's name, the date of their wedding and a nice scripture quote all embroidered by hand. The bridesmaid dress would serve as the borders to the wall hanging. My other idea is much more elaborate and may be beyond my skills, but would be an excellent way to expand my quilting abilities. It would be another wall-hanging, but an art quilt. It would be an actual bridesmaid done all in fabric, holding a bouquet of silk ribbon embroidered flowers. She would be viewed mostly from the back, but with her face in profile. My biggest problem here is that I'm no artist, and would need to use a model to get all of the proportions right. I'm hoping that my sister will pose for some pictures this weekend. Maybe she'll even give me a bridesmaid dress ;).

No Sewing Does Not Equal No Quilting

2006-05-08T07:52:00.000-04:00

I had a very busy weekend and never made it down to my sewing room, but I did make some quilting progress. First, I created templates for the quilting pattern I need to trace onto the dorm quilt I'm still working on. I really hope that I can quilt it on my machine with the tiny underarm space. If not, all that tracing will be in vain and I will have to tie it. I hate wasting time like that, so I really hope that I can machine quilt it. Also, it will look much better that way.

I also broke out the graph paper this weekend and designed two baby quilts. I'm trying to make quilts that I design entirely by myself, using books for ideas and inspiration instead of taking patterns straight from them. I'm playing right now with interesting pieced borders to go with the quilts. I'm also playing with color combinations. The really frustrating thing is that I can design the quilt in such a short amount of time, but it takes so long to actually make it and see what the design looks like when completed. This is especially true when you have four other projects you are already working on and must finish before you start any new designs!

Completed!

2006-05-05T08:47:00.000-04:00

I finally finished a project, but it's not a quilting project. Nevertheless, now that it's out of the way I can concentrate more on quilts.

The carrier took a lot less time than I anticipated, but came out rather different than I had envisioned. I thought the green would show more. I didn't realize just how large the pocket was on the front and, consequently, just how much it would end up looking like a beach umbrella.

I won't go buy more fabric. I swear!!

By the way, I completely forgot to give credit for the pattern. I got it from Beth, who was so kind as to share it with the internet. Thank you so much!

Not Another Project!!???

2006-05-03T07:26:00.000-04:00

I finished piecing together the top and back of the Virginia Tech quilt, but I still need to mark the top for quilting, baste it, and actually quilt it together. But, apparently, that won't stop me from beginning yet another project. I really have a problem. Now I have one big quilt, two small quilts, one wall hanging and this new project in the works. Somebody needs to stop me.

It all started when I decided that I wanted a new baby carrier for Simon, since he is a gigantic baby and it would be much easier on my back if I had a carrier. A friend introduced me to the Mei Tai baby carrier, so I started looking into them only to discover that they were quite expensive. But then, I found this web site giving instructions for how to make one. I was sold and immediately went off to buy fabric instead of waiting for a sale or a coupon, like I should have done. This was when my real problem became apparent.

The fabric store had so many lovely fabrics to choose from that I shopped around for way too long. I pulled all kinds of bolts off the shelves and played with different fabric combinations until I probably made the staff very angry. I had such a hard time choosing that, if I had the time and money, I'm sure I would have bought fabric for three or four baby carriers. As it is, I'm already doubting the ones I chose. I mean, they're nice, but maybe some other combination would have been better! What if it doesn't look as nice in a baby carrier as it does as a bunch of pieces of fabric???

I have to stop dwelling on it before I start a stash of fabric for baby carriers like the one I have for quilts. Really, I only need one obsession.

Spring Has Attacked My Fabric Stash

2006-04-30T18:20:00.000-04:00

I visited my fabric stash this morning with the following assignment: find fabrics that make you think of Spring. This collection on the left is what I was able to come up with. The pinks are a collection of reproduction Civil War era fat quarters I ordered from Keepsake Quilting. The greens are just light greens that I thought complimented the pinks nicely, but there is nothing reproductive about them ;).

I used these pinks in a sampler quilt two years ago and the leftovers were resigned to my stash. They are just so nice that they need to be used in another quilt. I've been planning for a while to use these in yet another baby quilt, but mixing them with the greens and some white in a scrap quilt. I have an extreme love for scrap quilts. The only problem is that I usually end up buying more fabric to complete the scrap quilts, when the goal of such a quilt is supposed to be to use up what you have - not to buy more to go with what you have!

Anyway, there are clearly more pinks than greens, so I will most probably buy a few fat eights of some more light green prints to go in the quilt. I think it will be the next baby quilt I start, after I complete the two baby quilts that are already started. I need to learn to finish one project before starting another!

Goal: Achieved!

2006-04-28T21:55:00.000-04:00

My goal was to finish all 60 blocks by the end of the month. Hooray for me - I finished before a deadline!! I started laying out the blocks into the completed quilt top in anticipation of sewing them all together, and it wouldn't fit in my sewing room! I don't have that problem with baby quilts ;).

Books on CD

2006-04-27T07:51:00.000-04:00

It is quiet and lonely in my sewing room. I have a radio down there and keep it tuned to NPR. I really enjoy NPR at certain times of the day, but I lose interest when I hear the second airing of BBC news. That's why I take books on CD out of the library.

Listening to books on CD while I quilt is a fabulous way to pass time and it allows me to not let my reading suffer from the fact that I am spending an increasing amount of time quilting. However, you should really only attempt to listen to fluffy books while quilting. It needs to be a book you don't have to pay super close attention to, since your attention will be focused on the quilting.

The Harry Potter books are fabulous on CD. Right now I'm listening to the latest novel in Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts Series. While it's not literature by any stretch of the imagination, it's a really fun read - sort of a guilty pleasure. I've only just started the book, but there is a character that's been introduced who is a stay-at-home mom and has an embarrassingly extensive knowledge of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Needless to say, I've been relating to her a lot. And laughing a lot. Good read, er listen.

Finding Time to Sew

2006-04-25T07:55:00.000-04:00

I have a six month old (Simon), and he is my full time job. Finding the time to quilt while doing that job well is quite the challenge. I have a system that is working this week, but he may decide next week that it is no longer a good system and he hates sewing and the fact that I sew and then I will have to find a brand new system.

Simon usually takes a morning nap about 2 hours or so after he wakes up. As soon as I can get him in his crib, I take a quick shower and then go downstairs to work in my sewing room until he wakes up. This usually gives me about 30 minutes of sewing time. Once he wakes up, I change him and feed him and play with him a little to make sure he is truly awake. Then I take him down to my sewing room, place him in his exersaucer and put on some lively music for him. He bounces and squeals along to the tunes while I sew and chat to him. This gives me an extra 15-20 minutes of sewing time if he's in a bouncy mood.

I'm hoping to be able to sell some quilts relatively soon and I won't be able to do that while sewing for only 50 minutes a day, so I have needed to sew in the evening as well. My husband and I have recently started using Google Calendar and I used it to schedule quilting time for myself from 7-10 PM on Mondays and Fridays. I did this so my husband will know that he is on baby duty for that time. He's responsible for putting him to sleep and checking on him if he wakes up. Last night was my first night of this system and it worked great. I just hope the baby continues to adhere to the schedule!

My First Stash Sunday

2006-04-23T07:24:00.000-04:00

I got the following piece of fabric from my Aunt Ginny about two years ago. I believe she got in Japan when she went there to teach.

I love the complimentary colors. I just love the whole thing, but I'm afraid of ruining it. That's why I haven't made anything out of it yet. I'm thinking that I'll eventually make some sort of wall hanging out of it. Maybe I'll cut the flowers into squares and frame them with a white fabric. Then I'll place them and surround them by blue, orange and white squares. Or maybe not. Maybe I will cut out the flowers and applique them onto a patchwork background. Either way, It will probably be another two years before I can make up my mind. In the meantime, I'll just drag it out every once in a while to admire it.

Does Size Matter?

2006-04-22T08:37:00.000-04:00

If you check out my quilting portfolio you will notice that most of my quilts are on the small side. I especially seem to concentrate on baby quilts. There are a few reasons for this:

I know lots of people having babies and they make lovely gifts.
The smaller the quilt is the less time it takes to complete it.
Baby quilts are fun and cheerful to design.
My machine doesn't have a enough space under the arm to accommodate a quilt much larger than a baby quilt.

I love my sewing machine. I have a Bernina Activa 125. I was going to say that it was the low-end computerized Bernina model (which is still really good), but I can't find it on their products page. It's great because it's a high quality machine, but it doesn't have many bells and whistles. I don't need fancy when all I do is sew straight, with an occasional zig-zag stitch. The only drawback to the machine is its lack of space under that arm.

Two days ago I got my current issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting and discovered an article on extended arm sewing machines. It's my dream machine - no frills and lots of space under the arm. However, it doesn't appear that Bernina makes one and I do love my Bernina. Also, I'm not willing or able to spend $1500 on a machine right now. And I do love the baby quilts. Maybe in ten years when I decide I do want to take the plunge, Bernina will have developed one of their own. Here's hoping...

Extra-Long Twin

2006-04-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

For the past two weeks or so, I have been working on a quilt to be used in a college dorm room. For those of you who don't know, the beds in college dorms are an unusual size: "extra-long". It's basically a twin bed with an extra 5" on the end. Since a standard quilt size for a twin bed is 65"x95", an extra-long twin quilt would need to be 65"x100".

Now, I don't know about you, but my quilts are never the recommended dimensions. I do try though to get them as close as possible. So, I figured that with 10.5" blocks I could set it in 10 rows with six blocks per row in order to end up with total dimensions of 63"x105". Hey - I sure am glad to know that engineering degree is coming in handy!

Speaking of degrees, I got mine from Virginia Tech - the same institution where this quilt will one day be residing. The school colors of Virginia Tech are orange and maroon: quite a challenging color combination for a quilt. I decided to minimize the orange by using it as the center of a Log Cabin block, rather than the traditional red or yellow. And then, for the full orange effect, the back of the quilt will be solid orange.

My goal is to have all the blocks done by the end of the month. This is quite an ambitious goal for me, but I should be able to do it provided I don't get sidetracked by another project. It's just so easy to be sidetracked when I have so many ideas floating around in my head. I started making a list and had to stop when I got to ten. I think that writing them down was a bad idea. It makes them more real and harder to ignore.

First Post

2006-04-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

This blog is a first step towards making my quilting more than just a hobby. I would eventually like to have a whole quilting webpage, with this blog being just one small part of it. It will be designed by my husband, the fabulous magical webdesigner, and will be hosted at its own domain name (once I think of one I like).

In the meantime, I will use this space to talk about projects I'm working on and projects that are floating around in my head. Hopefully I can inspire other quilters out there, or at least entertain them. I also hope it will inspire me to complete projects on a more regular basis and not just start more unfinished ones!