Saturday

On typical Saturdays I take my girls to the Farmer's Market for veggies and gluten-free baking. Today was not typical....The Pixie slept in and both girls wanted to hang out in their pj's for a few hours. So I let them.

By the time they had been sufficiently fed, dressed, and allowed to have unreasonable tantrums it was too late to hit the farmer's market. We still wanted to go shopping, so we went to a fabric store we don't usually shop at because they were having a sale. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I have no idea what these are but they're pretty and they were immediately chopped up and added to stash.

The other three huge cuts were purchased with the House Of Love in mind. Remember House Of Love? I has been waiting to be finished for months. I still love it.

These are destined for backing and binding. What do you think? Will it look good? Do you have any great ideas about how to quilt it? I have no clue....help!

I've been on a roll with blocks for Rambo Bright...the total number of large blocks is now 37 out of 49.

 I have also been toying with the idea of starting a long term piecing project....so long term it would take a year just to make the top (one block per week).

 Or maybe I could get a little feedback from the couple who will be receiving Rambo Bright. Maybe they hate it and I have to keep it.

 Perhaps I should consider entering it into a quilt show. I think all local quilt shows happen in the fall, though.

 I may just content myself knowing that the recipients thrive on colour because they are crazy artists. They will love the quilt.

 If I end up showing off this quilt it will be brought to my LQS for brief admiring. And more pictures will have to be posted here, of course.

So, what do you think? Love them? Hate them? Passively indifferent?

Saturday's Free Confession of the Week: I have a new addiction. I can't help myself. It's kale chips. Cheezy Chipotle Raw Vegan Kale Chips. Ask me for my recipe if you dare. You'll get addicted, too.

Headband Tutorial

Spring break is here! You wouldn't know it from the freezing fog that has enveloped my world today. The signs of spring break include: the Punk shopping with the Pixie and I.

And shop we did! My LQS was having a sale and I picked up 8 meters of fabric at $5 each.

I love these stripes, and I went wild for the pebbles! I'll make my headband out of this print.

The last piece is this fugly green. It looked much better in the dim light at the sale racks in the back of the store. In real light it's a sinister shade of chartreuse. I'll save it for backing, unless anyone wants a straight up trade. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Now for a first run-through with the headband I designed. Ready?

1. This is the pattern. Cut out two on the fold.

You will have two pieces that look like this.

2. Place the pieces right sides together, and pin onto a scrap of batting.

During pinning, I placed a 3 1/2" piece of elastic in one short end. (Note to self: buy more black elastic.)

I also used my double pin trick to delineate start and stop points to allow for turning.

3. Sew around fabric edges using 1/4" seam allowance. I backstitched an extra time over the elastic. This will be a heavy stress point.

You can sort of see in the above picture that I skipped sewing the end without elastic. This is very important! I sewed right to the ends and backstitched. Then I picked up the presser foot, shuffled the fabric into the new start position, and kept sewing without cutting the thread. You can see better on the batting side.

4. Trim.

5. Turn and press. Do not push out the non-elastic end all the way. Leave the seam allowance tucked in.

6. Pin the opening closed.

Push the free end of the elastic into the open end of the headband, being careful not to twist it. Stick a pin in to hold it.

7. Double topstitch around the entire piece. Backstitch at both stress points.

8. Brace yourself. Model for the camera and hope that random aiming hits the target. Posts pictures of yourself wearing completed headband on the scary internet.

I'm certainly not normally this Caucasian, but with the flash right at the end of my arm....you get the point.

Things to do differently next time include using elastic that matches more closely, and redesigning to take an inch off the width. I was also debating adding an extra 1/2" to the elastic length, but I've been wearing it while writing this post and I like the snugness.  I have a plan to do a paper-pieced headband using a similar pattern. Oh! Oh! What if I.... scalloped the edge of the pattern before cutting? Or quilted the whole way across instead of just topstitching? Or sew with a solid fabric and use FMQ in contrasting thread to add visual interest?

So many ideas! But it'll have the wait. I did promise my girls Easter dresses since Mommy didn't make them new Christmas dresses. To the big box of stash I go!

Bunny Trails

Last night I cleared my desk and prepared to allow inspiration to lead me. The leader/ender chains took up a lot of space on my cutting surface.

Chains + chocolate batik = Bunny Trails!

I know I want to hang this piece vertically, but I still haven't confirmed which way is "up." Horizontal gives pretty pictures, too.

As I type, "Bunny Trails" has already been [spray] basted and is awaiting free motion quilting. I've already purchased the thread, too.

See? Necessary items...more cream for the Green quilt; a mottled grey for Rambo Bright; two spools of King Tut (Joseph's Coat and Cobra); one spool of 50wt Auriful cream for piecing; and fresh oil for my machines. I love me some King Tut.

And, because Sunday is the best day for it, I present my latest photographic work. I call it "Pixie on a Piano."

This is it's companion photo "Punk on a Piano."

This is just for Gramady. The Pixie gets more and more impish as she gets older. The Husband may telephone and apologize to you.

The Pixie and I were doing a sea animals puzzle the other day, and she was very precisely identifying everything before placing the pieces. However, she had never seen an otter before.

She declared that it was a "Sea Gopher."

Introducing: Rambo!

When I ran out of steam calculating the yardage needed for the Green Quilt I passed the numbers off to my accountant (yes, you read that right). And guess what? She miscalculated and I ran out of fabric...I may need two more meters.

Although it may make no sense to the non-quilting crowd, I am stoked that the green quilt has been put on hold for a couple of days.

The working title for the new quilt is Rambo Bright. The above photo represents about a quarter of the fabrics chosen to grace this beauty.

 I love that the colours in this picture are almost true to life.

Delicious red....my trouble colour. There never seems to be the "perfect" red. It is my favorite colour, however, so I settle for all reds and not just the perfect one. To me, trying to find the perfect red fabric is like trying to find the perfect red lipstick - it might take my entire life.

 These are a selection of neutrals that I might need....or I might not.

I also pulled every violet (and one purple!) I could find that hasn't been previously claimed. It's not much, but so very necessary according to the intended recipients.

The vague plan for Rambo Bright is crumbs, stars, and other improv blocks; possibly set on point; then bordered by some Nate blocks a la Malka. It's a Newlywed quilt and the groom is a Very Tall Guy so this will be a very large quilt.

I started slicing and sewing:

And I located some binding trimmings that will make beautiful improv geese:

I also chose a binding for my Dark Side WIP....revealing soon.

Counting the Irish Chain, Green Quilt, Rambo Bright, Dark Side....maybe I should have more than 4 WIPs? I haven't even begun the Mona Lisa door hanging, and the conceived Cathedral Windows throw pillow. This year is already so exciting!

Beneficial Talent

There are many reasons why a quilter will choose one LQS over another when it's time to buy fabric. There is one store in my shopping radius that I will not go to because they like to choose colours for you, trying to make sure everything is matchy-matchy. The last time I was in there they tried to make me feel like I had no sense whatsoever simply because I did not know the producer's name for Malka Dubrawsky's new "Stitch in Colour" line of fabrics. Looked at me like I was crazy, they did: she actually asked me if it was a real fabric line.

It may have had something to do with me not looking like a typical quilter (purple faux-hawk and all). Meh.

However, at my "home" LQS they appreciate that I know my way around cotton. In fact, they never offer to help me choose fabric.

Why, you say?

I have a queer little (awesome) talent for colour memory. I do not have to take a focal fabric in and then match colours using the dye dots on the selvedge. All of my colour choices go together because I say so. I can see a colour a few times and just know what will look good with it. Or, as in the green quilt, I can match very similar colours and it'll still look good together when I get them home.

Today I bought these greens to supplement the scraps I already had.

Looking at all the greens together makes me so happy. None look out of place....good mix of values, shades, tints, scale.

While it's not a talent that begs to be bragged about, it does come in handy when I'm out randomly adding yardage to my stash. Keeps it cohesive. Makes me happy.

 Progress so far: 237 squares cut. 420 to go.

And I chose a lovely unbleached muslin for the BG. I hope they'll still have some when I have the money to buy it. (You were right about the cream, Diane.)

Seeing Green

This morning I ransacked my entire stash and scrap bins (excepting flannelette and denim) for warm and cool colours. I rediscovered that my stash is pathetic.

The warms:

The cools:

For the past few months I have been collecting greens for a quilt that has a design date of October 24, 2011 on the pattern. So I pulled all the (pretty) greens out of the cool stack.

Then the question became: Do I have enough green to do a queen sized quilt? I drew up a full sized pattern and calculated yardage - several times, because I'm rather retarded with numbers. I put it up on my bulletin board and started cutting.

Upon further reflection, I made the pattern slightly smaller (for a finish size of  114" square). I recalculated yardage. Again. I needed the book (The Quilter's Ultimate Visual Guide) to walk me through the series of calculations every. single. time. I'm still not done.

But I do have a very neatly organized basket of little squares. 90 down, 567 to go. And then backgrounds and sashing. This could take a while.

Instead of using a pure white (bleached muslin, same as the 9-Patch)for the background and sashing, I'm thinking about a creamy colour or maybe even a light grey. Any suggestions?

While I debate, I changed my stacks again. From this:

To this:

There is one WIP in the green bin (Husband's Irish Chain), and mending in the white bin. Once I get this mountain of green chopped up, the leftovers will go back into the blue bin for the warm/cool string creation. This way both projects win. My projected date of finish for all three quilts is the end of March.

Also, in my world, unicorns fly through purple skies and eat marshmallow lollipops.