Keeping Organized and Obsessed with the 1930’s

Posted on February 21, 2011 by 12months12quilts

I have so many projects going at the same time, that I had to find a way to stay organized.   I’m a compulsive list maker and I love setting tasks and checking them off.  Knowing this about myself, I got a little notebook and dedicated a page to each of the 12 quilt projects, the Learn To Quilt Series and the needlecraft projects I have going.  In the back of the book I made a weekly schedule of what projects would get priority on any given day.

Every time I work on a project I make little notes in my book about what I did and what still needs to be done.  It’s a quick visual to see how on track I am.  Today I worked on the Cat Quilt and when I went to write my notes, I saw that it has been weeks since I worked on it.  I made sure to schedule out some time this week to finish the project since it is so close to being done.

This book is also a place to sketch out ideas for how I want to layout the projects.  Here’s part of the 1930’s Hexagon Quilt page with ideas for how to group the flowers:

I’m still playing around with the layout, and it is nice to have somewhere I can gather the notes.

Even though I am only accountable to myself, part of me feels that writing down project goals is the only way to stay on track.  Sadly, I have gotten a little off track with all my projects except one.  I am completely obsessed with the 1930’s Hexagon Quilt right now.  After weeks of tediously sewing the flowers, I have reached the fun part of the project- putting everything together.  I still need to make more flowers, but I want to know where I am right now with what I have.

Here’s the progression:

Step one- make the flowers

Step two- put them together with the “paths.”  This was taken last Wednesday.

Step three- Keep on keepin’ on.  This was taken this afternoon after 4 days of intense sewing.

Seeing it all come together is so exhilarating that it is all that I want to do.  I just want to keep working on it so that I can see it completed.  But, I have a deadline coming up on the Baby Quilt.  That baby isn’t going to wait, so I need to get cracking!  I’ve made the 1930’s Hexagon Quilt, my “reward” project.  Provided that I accomplish my sewing goals for the day, I can spend the rest of my project time on the Hex quilt.

Posted in Quilting | Leave a comment

Field Report From a Marathon Day of Sewing

Posted on February 15, 2011 by 12months12quilts

Now that I have Monday’s off, I am dedicating the day to sewing.  Today I spent a little over six hours working on various projects.  I got a lot done!  I worked on all three Block of the Month projects and my 1930’s Hexagon quilt.  To help speed the projects up, I used a tip from a book- I had several needles pre-threaded so that I could just keep going instead of having to stop and re-thread every few minutes.

I also got to use my AccuQuilt Go Baby! for the first time.  It was my Chanukah gift to myself in December, but I haven’t had the opportunity to try it out.  Today I decided to cut some 2 1/2″ squares of white calico for my Hex quilt so it was time to break out the fabric cutter and the 5″ square die.  It was pretty awesome!  In about 5 minutes I had about 30 squares cut.  Not too shabby!

The only consequence of my marathon day of needlework is that my poor fingers are totally torn up!

Posted in Quilting, Tips and Tools | Leave a comment

2/13/11- Things I Learned This Week

Posted on February 14, 2011 by 12months12quilts
  1. Plastic bags keep the booze out.
  2. 9-Patch makes me happy.
  3. It’s ok to let go of a project that isn’t working.
  4. Conversely- if you hit a road block, re-think the way you are doing something and rework it if you have to.

The Baby Quilt- Reboot

Yesterday I began to assemble the cut pieces of the Baby Quilt and it was not working.  I was having to go back and restitch parts of it.  Major frustration.  Despite the fact that I had put so much work into it, it was time to say good-bye to my original plan and to move forward.  I cut the remaining jelly roll strips into 2.5″ squares and am making a simple 4-patch pattern.  It will be smaller than originally intended, but at least it won’t be a pain!

Posted in Quilting, Tips and Tools | Leave a comment

Adventures in Chuppah Making: Part One

Posted on February 13, 2011 by 12months12quilts

I had a minor freak out earlier this week when I realized that my wedding is in less than 60 days.  I don’t have too much together so I whipped into a frenzy of planning and got a lot done.  I now have an officiant, the preliminary menu, table design, and all the stationary.  Whew.

When it came to the chuppah, my original plan was to buy one, but we are really trying to keep costs down so I decided to make one.  I went online and read a bunch of DIY stories on making a chuppah, but they all had to do with the structure not the fabric.  You see, it is traditional to use a tallit as the covering, usually one from a parent.  Well, I am the only Jew in my family, so that isn’t an option.  Plus I like the idea of making the chuppah with fabric that I can then use to make my own tallit.  Luckily I stumbled onto a message board post on theknot.com about DIY chuppahs and got the information I need.

Today I went to Joann’s armed with an about to expire coupon to look for fabric.  The first section I looked at had exactly what I needed.  Yay!  I then went to the lace section to look for something pretty to edge the fabric with.  Our colors are pale green and ivory and bingo, there was a beautiful ivory, crochet trimming with a pattern that reminds me of the evil eye talismans, the hamsa.  I’m not a superstitious person, but it is my wedding day and little warding off of the evil eye couldn’t hurt!

Here is the fabric and trimming that I purchased:

 

Stay tuned for Part Two!

Posted in Other Projects | 2 Comments

Hard Lemonade Disaster: Why Plastic Bags Can Be Your Friends

Posted on February 11, 2011 by 12months12quilts

I read in one of my books that you shouldn’t store your fabric in plastic bags as they can get musty and moldy.  That’s good advice for long term storage, but for short-term, portable storage I say the opposite.

Last Sunday my fiance and I sat down to watch the Superbowl and enjoy a craptastic buffet of food and drink.  While he went high brow with a nice bottle of wine, I kept things classy with a couple bottles of Mike’s Hard Pomegranate Lemonade.  What does this have to do with fabric storage you ask?  Stay with me.

Towards the end of the first half, I got a little to excited about a Packer’s play and my hand knocked over the aforementioned bottle of booze.  My purse was sitting open on an ottoman next to my side table and the bottle poured right into my purse.

The fact that my leather purse is now soaked with maroon booze is tragic enough, but inside said purse was a bag containing my in progress 1930’s hexagons.  Luckily I had the fabric sorted in several plastic bags, so the only loss was a small spool of thread that was floating in the outer bag.  I had to re-bag everything since the outsides were splattered with booze, but it could have been a lot worse.

I do have to take the purse to a repair shop to see if it can be cleaned.  I lost two notebooks and my white cardigan was covered in maroon stains, but the fabric was saved.

On another note- I have given up on the Anchor Quilt.  This project is supposed to be fun, but the poor cutting job has made it really unpleasant.  I am going to substitute it with the Double Nine Patch Quilt that was going to wait until next year.

 

Posted in Quilting, Tips and Tools | 2 Comments

Status Report for January

Posted on February 4, 2011 by 12months12quilts

January was a busy month!  I didn’t get to do as much work as I had hoped, but still got a lot done!

  • Block of the Month Quilts- I have the first month block done for all three sets.  Next Monday I start month 2!
  • The Baby Quilt- I had hoped to be done with this quilt by now, but my Sundays have been so crazy that I haven’t been able to work on it.  I need to sew one more strip to the 2nd block then the bare bones will be complete.  Once the two large blocks are done, I will cut smaller strips to create the quilt top.  I have to have this quilt done by the end of February since the baby it is a gift for is on the way!
  • Cat Quilt- Thisclose to being done.  I need to finish the borders and assemble the whole thing.  I’m hoping to be finished with it this weekend.
  • Storybook Quilt- I barely got to work on this project all month!  I spent some time today and have all but one row of the panels done.  I am hoping to finish all the panels on Saturday.
  • Anchor Quilt- This is my most frustrating project due to the person who cut the pieces.  So many of the pieces are so poorly cut that I am having to do more work than the pattern requires.  I was also very frustrated to be almost done with a block only to find a missing piece.  Grrr.  I have 3 blocks assembled, but they need to be trimmed.  This quilt was originally titled “Funtime Quilt”  it is anything but a fun time.
  • 1930’s Flower Garden- Slow and steady is the key to this project.  I have about 22 finished flowers and 5 more in progress.  I really need to get a queen sized flannel sheet so that I can begin to pin the completed flowers to the sheet.  That way I can see the layout and how many more flowers need to be done.  In a few weeks, I will get to use the AccuQuilt Go Baby! for the first time.  I will need to cut the white calico for the flower paths and will be using the machine to do so.  I’m excited to finally get to use it!
  • Learn to Quilt- January- The top is done.  I need to sandwich it and do the binding.  I’ve put it off since I have never done a quilt binding.  I’ve always done the inside out method.  It is important to me to learn how to bind a quilt and I want to find someone who can teach me.  I went to a seamstress last weekend for my dress fitting and she is a quilter.  I’m going to call her up and ask her for a lesson.
  • Kitchen Herb Cross-Stitch- This is my bedtime project.  I usually work on it in bed while watching TV.  I have one of the herbs completed and am 60% done with herb #2.  This project should be done in a few months.
Posted in Quilting | Leave a comment

Things I Learned This Week

Posted on January 30, 2011 by 12months12quilts
  1. Wonder Web is a great tool for someone like me who has difficulty cutting out shapes.
  2. “Mistakes” make your projects unique, especially when using a kit.
  3. When using a pressing cloth with fusing web, make sure it isn’t colored.  When you dampen the cloth it will bleed.
  4. Best intentions are just that.  I can set my schedule for the week with blocks of time for working on projects, then life will come by and slap my schedule silly.
Posted in Quilting | Leave a comment

Wonder Web- You Truly Are Wonderful!

Posted on January 25, 2011 by 12months12quilts

I’ve been putting off my “Learn to Quilt” January project for weeks.  Why?  Because it required me to do the two things I am most afraid of- cut out shapes and applique.  With January slowly coming to an end, I could procrastinate no longer.

I went to Joann’s on Saturday to get everything that I needed and went home to start.  The instructions said to use fusible web and the first benefit is that it is so transparent that you can use it as tracing paper to make cutting out the shapes easier.  Fear number 1- calmed!  The shapes weren’t perfectly cut, but I don’t want my project to look the same as all the others, so who cares!

I finished cutting all the pieces tonight and began fusing them to the background fabric with the Pellon Wonder Web.  Didn’t quite get the placement right, but I’m pretty proud of myself!

Once everything was placed, I got out my quilting frame (this has been sitting in the package, on my shelf for 5 year- seriously!) and began to apply the applique stitching to the edges of the snowman.  I won’t be winning any awards for the beauty of my stitches, but at least I am doing something that has terrified me up until now.  All of the Learn to Quilt projects require applique, so I will have 12 months of practice to refine my stitches.

Here is my fused snowman, pre-stitching:

Posted in New Skills, Quilting | Leave a comment

Rocky Road Indeed

Posted on January 17, 2011 by 12months12quilts

One of my goals for this year of quilting is to become better at technique.  Most of the quilts I have done have been pretty free-form and don’t need to be as technically precise as other quilts.  That’s one of the reasons why I like the paper piecing method.  I don’t have to be precise, the method does that for me.  But, I don’t want to go through life only making one type of quilt, so I’ve begun the Joann’s Block of the Month Quilts.

These quilt blocks require precision and are pretty time consuming.  I’m not to the point where I can eyeball the 1/4″ seam, so I have to get the ruler out and mark all the pieces.  Once they are sewn, the seams need to be pressed then the pieces marked again.  This process is repeated until the block is complete.   I’m not really enjoying it, but I know that this process will only help me down the road.

Today I completed my first block for the “Tulip Twist” quilt.  The block is titled “Rocky Road to California.”  For a history lesson on the block, click here.  Rocky Road indeed!  I was very precise- I measured my squares and trimmed the pieces as necessary.  I was accurate with my seam allowance and pieces the rows so that everything lined up.  Except that everything doesn’t line up.  I’m still pretty proud of my block, but wish I could figure out what I was doing wrong!

Posted in Quilting | Leave a comment

“War Wounds”

Posted on January 17, 2011 by 12months12quilts

My poor hands are in bad shape.  I had sewing calluses on my fingers to begin with, but they were formed using your standard sewing needles.  I was advised to use the John James “sharps” for the Hexagon Quilt so as to make the thread nearly invisible.  Yikes, sharps are right.  The needles are extremely thin and both ends are very sharp.  My calluses are not enough.  My fingers are peeling, I have a huge cut on my thumb and another on my index finger.

The worst part of all this is that while I really want to be working on the Hexagon Quilt, I am forced to work on other projects while my fingertips adjust.  I had hoped to finish the Hexagon Quilt in time to enter it in this year’s Marin County Fair.  Seeing as how that is in July, I need every bit of extra time to work on it.  We shall see!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment