Sunday, July 21, 2013

A Hot Week

I started the week knowing I had a baby quilt that I needed to get finished. Baby was due any day.  I volunteered to make this quilt 6 months ago.  I actually started it and made all of the blocks weeks ago. Every night this week I sat down to do something productive with it and got lost doing some other  small project.  I'm blaming the heat for the total lack of focus.

I did a little of this, these are 2 inch unfinished 9 patches, more about them in a future post.

  
And a little of that, self stripping knit wash clothes that I started while on vacation earlier this month.




 Well baby came on Monday, I found out on Thursday.  That was the motivation I apparently needed.  Thursday night I put the front  together. Since the blocks were already done  it took less than 2 hours to finish.





Friday night I put the back together.



 This too was a speedy job. Saturday between errands and eating ( a very important part of our Saturday) I sandwiched and quilted it with a wiggly grid.  Got up this morning and did the binding.


Called  that pretty close didn't I.  That's all I had left of the red thread when i finished attaching the binding.


While the quilt was in the wash I was feeling giddy that it was finished and made a cutie pie stuffed bear to go with it.



There is a back story to this quilt.  When I volunteered to make it my niece, friend of the mom, didn't care what I did so long as it wasn't baby ish. Her husband asked if I could do something reflecting the new dad's love of the New York Rangers Hockey Team, he didn't care how much or how little.  Sounded like a plan to me. First problem was that we couldn't find any yardage for the team anywhere. My niece and her husband did find a pair of mens PJ bottoms with Ranger logos in a knit fabric.  Not ideal but heck, it worked.

As you can see from all of the pictures I pretty much treated the front and back as separate quilts. His and hers.

Really happy with how it all turned out.  I still have a little of the Rangers fabric left and a little of the green left, I'm thinking maybe a bib or two before I turn it over to the new owner.
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Thursday, July 11, 2013

My Modern Quilt and More Bowl Buddies

In between my last several projects I attempted my first “Modern” quilt.   Several months ago I first saw this quilt that I wanted to make. I had a big problem starting the quilt because I never wrote down where I saw it.  I knew it was in a new book.  Name? I knew it was done by someone I kinda sorta follow, who?
 
 
 
I did ask around but I couldn’t describe it well enough to get a hit. It was just a fuzzy memory. About 3 weeks ago I tripped over a title that sounded familiar and lo and behold it was it.  The quilt is “SCATTERED” by Allison Harris at Cluck Cluck Sew, and is found in the book Modern Quilts From The Blogging Universe.    So sad, I can’t remember how you are supposed to type the title of a book,  sorry all you English majors out there.
 
Anyway, here is my Scattered. I used a charm pack and threw out the band on the pack so I cannot give credit for it.
 
 
I used the left over charms on the back to give me that little extra I needed on the width.
 
I sent the quilt to Sarah at Sweet Potato Quilts to quilt it for me.  She did her usual stellar job.  She sent it directly to the address I was using for my Florida vacation and I was able to do the binding while on the trip.
 
 
Please excuse the pictures.  My original intent was to bring it home and take pictures with my camera.  At the last minute, 6:00AM Wednesday, I decided I wanted to leave the quilt in Florida, so I took pictures with my cell phone.  I’m not quite as steady at that hour of the morning as the cell phone would like me to be.  I also missed taking a close up of the loopy quilting that went so well with the triangles.
 
 
 
All in all I am thrilled with the results and the ease of construction.  I see several more of this pattern emerging from my sewing room.
 
Another of the projects I've fit in is another set of Bowl Buddies.  Couldn't post these before vacation because my friend J always checks my blog just before we get together because she knows I will have made her something.
 
 
These are such fun to make. Just had to make her a set.
 


              I gave them to her last Thursday and she was surprised so I can now post the pictures.

 

 

 

 

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Monday, July 1, 2013

Stamp on It Blog Hop - My Turn



From day one I knew what I wanted my stamp to reflect about me.  Well about me and Tink, after all I am Tink’s mom.  She is pretty much the center of our life whether we want her to be or not.  She is that type of gal, a very A personality.

I mentioned this hop to a local artist, Andrew Cifelli, and told him what I was planning.  A stamp with Miss Tink’s picture  in the center, a title and Postage stuff at the edge.  He offered to do an ink and watercolor of Miss Tink working from this picture.  




My biggest issue was what I wanted to do with my idea to best  showcase this stamp and Andrew’s work. Not a quilt or a wall hanging. 

I started with a tee shirt and found it very disappointing.



Since I waited until the last minute to take the pictures we are fighting the elements. It is very rainy and humid here today.  I walked outside to a better light than indoors and the camera fogged up.  We had to wait for everything to equalize.

Then a mug rug, 



better but still not what I want.





Then I remembered that a while back I saw a tutorial somewhere to make a Mouse Pad.  I googled it and came up with several ideas on how to do that.   This seemed to be a perfect venue for what I envisioned.



Wow I now know I need to go back and add the scallop to the mug rug.  I think that's the mug rugs problem. Without the scallop it's not a stamp.



For Mouse Pad I did as fusible applique.  Did a little free motion quilting and made sleeves for the back for a place to put something that would keep it from sliding.  I used the rubber stuff they sell to keep throw rugs from slipping.  I found it at Target for a lot less than the suggested shelf liner. This mouse pad is loosely based on the tutorial where I saw the original idea. Thanks Debbie from the Quilters Table.   http://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/2013/05/wordy-mouse-pad-tutorial.html
 



Some History:
Tink is a rescue.  Her full name is really Tinker bell.  Not a very bullie name but when she came to us her name was Pixie which was even less Bullie. Us being Disney types formalized it to Tinkerbell.   She came to us about 5 years ago.  She came with her share of issues and tons of love to give.  She loves people but not other animals.  She is a snuggle bunny. And in spite of her weight and short legs has been seen up on the kitchen table, the bed, the sofa’s, lawn furniture etc. etc.  She is afraid of the dark, motor cycles and the garbage truck.  She came to us as a very aggressive dog, trying to show she was in charge, MJ wasn’t so sure that we made a good decision and he was ready to call it quits two weeks in   I, on the other hand, had promised her a “forever home” .  .  I had so many bruises at the end of the first month, my dermatologist asked if I was in an abusive relationship.  Please understand, none of the bruises were from anger.  She had been locked on a porch for the better part of the first 2 years of her life.  She just had no idea that when 90 pounds of dog runs across the room and jumps into your lap to give you kisses it will be painful to the recipient. Same with her jumping on you as you walked in the front door to acknowledge that you came back to her.  We got a trainer.  More for us then for her and after about 6 months we were a very happy family with absolutely no regrets.

I hope you like my stamp in all of its incarnations.  It is who I am and what I am proud to be, mom to a wonderful rescued animal.

Now please take a few minutes of your time and visit the other folks that have designed stamps reflective of who they  are for this very insightful hop.

Thanks to Mdmm. Samm and Thearica for all of the background coordinating and the cheering us on that you do so well.  And special thanks to Andrew for the lovely drawing of sweetness. Here is a listing of the remaining presenters.

July 1



 
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