Hawaii Quilt

I bought fabric in Maui both times I've been there, and FINALLY finished the quilt and the quilting!!

But then I had a dilemma -- how does one bind a rainbow quilt??

I decided:  With rainbow binding.  I used up a few scraps of binding I'd been saving, plus added a few other colors, and I think it turned out GREAT!!

I'm off to work on the next project...

Grace the Cat, Quilting Assistant

My kitty, Gracie, has been helping me quilt again.  By sitting on them.

What a goof-ball!!

She also helps me grade papers.  By sitting on them.

So helpful...

Quilt Room Re-org

For years I've simply folded my fabrics all the same and then stacked it, but the problem is I would always need the fabric halfway down the stack, and it would just be a big mess to get it out and try to restack everything.  So, when I saw this picture on Pinterest that led me to this blog post about how to store your fabric storage, and then I also saw it on Threads Magazine's website. All that has to be done is to buy comic book storage boards, and then fold and wrap your fabric around them.

I've been working on this project for a few days now...But the embarrassing part is that I had to buy 500 (!!!) comic book storage boards to wrap all of my stash.  Apparently, I've been collecting fabric for a while.  I'll take a picture when it's all completed!  Hopefully, when I need a fabric, it will be much easier to get it out from the storage area from now on!

Art Quilt Challange

The third Sunday of every month, I hang out at Ruby Street Quiltworks with the RAQ, the Ruby Street Art Quilters.  A few months ago, a fellow group member brought in a whole stack of doilies she had got from a family member, and it became our next challenge.  I had an idea immediately -- an RV!!  Who knows where this idea came from...I think it turned out SUPER CUTE!!

Do you see the doily along the sides of RV?

But then, I read the challenge rules a little closer -- I'm not such a great rule-follower when it comes to sewing. ;)  It was supposed to be a flat item, somewhere around 12" square, so I had to make a back-up/secondary project.  I really like it too!  So, I've had fun lately...I love challenges like this.

It's really not as lumpy in real life...I'm off to sew up my next project!!

Sew Expo 2

I got one other amazing thing at Sew Expo!  I forgot, and it's the one thing I'm MOST excited about.  Please don't judge me for being so excited about this, though... the spend-thrift in me is thrilled to the core about this!  It's this fusible stuff that fuses small pieces of batting together super-fast and super-strong so the piece created can be used inside of another quilt.  (Here is the company's website.)  So, you know, all those annoying edges around a large piece of batting that I am forced to cut off because my quilt is smaller?  ALL BETTER because I can just fuse it to another piece, and TA-DA!  Into another quilt it goes!

I used to spend lots of time sewing these pieces together, and let me say, fusing is the way to go -- but it's totally a "Why the hell didn't I think of this?" idea... I was so excited that on Sunday of last weekend (you know, the day after I'd bought the stuff) I spent a short hour and half fusing batting pieces together and getting straight-up organized.

I learned a couple things while I was doing it...and who knows?  There's probably a handy-dandy tutorial on their website that says all of this stuff, but I didn't find it before I went to town fusing away:

1.  The spot where the batting abuts doesn't have to straight, just exactly the same...

So I got around this by laying the batting pieces on top of each other, and cutting through both layers.

Then, I pulled out the little pieces from under each, and the batting matched up exactly.

2.  It is REALLY sticky.

It seems to have the consistency of fusible interfacing you'd use on clothes, as opposed to double-sided fusible interfacing for applique on quilts.  Nevertheless, it's fusible, so I used my scungy iron.  I love this iron.  I wish it wasn't so scungy -- I'd still be using it as my 'daily driver'...but as you can see, it's seen better days...you can see my new daily-driver iron in the back...

And after a short while, my stack of "this is too big to throw away" batting scraps went from a mess to an organized stack of labeled, usable pieces!!

Before

After

I'm off to sew again for at least a little while...I've got lots of batting to quilt up, don't ya know??

Sew Expo

I went to the Sewing Expo at the Puyallup Fairgrounds this last weekend, and had a GREAT time with my friends Susie and KK.  We were all in a clothing-making buying mood, and I got some great pieces for a jacket and a couple of shirts, plus a darling dress pattern, and two new pairs of scissors.

Here's the story on the scissors:  I had two little snips that lived by my sewing machine, BUT then I cleaned up one day, and got all organized probably, and do you think I can find those little snips???  NO!  I'm sure they're in the proverbial "safe place".  But still -- it's very frustrating...so, I bought two NEW small pairs of scissors to live by my sewing machine, and I'm betting that Murphy's Law will kick in very soon and the other two pairs of scissors will magically materialize out of thin air.  Or a storage bin.  And then I'll have a veritable treasure trove of wonderful little pairs of scissors.

I've always wanted some dainty, gold-handled, downright fancy scissors, but for some reason, I've never bought myself any...I have a very well-used pair of silver Gingher scissors, which are shiny, but they're so...well...utilitarian!  So when the one pair of dainty-gold-goodness was under-budget, I decided I 'needed' two pairs of dainty-gold-goodness.

Here they are.  Aren't they pretty??

When the Scissor Man put them in the bag, he said to be careful -- two such pretty scissors were libel to get up to mischief in the bag.  I thought this was very charming -- he said it with such a twinkle in his eye.  He was a very nice and funny man.  But he's right -- they look like they're straight out of the Victorian Era, and if I remember my history correctly, for all their buttoned up appearances, those Victorians liked to party...

OK, I'm going to go do some sewing and use my fancy-dancy new scissors...

Another entry!

Before Christmas, I found this great book called "Modern Bee:  13 Quilts to Make With Friends" and I promptly bought three copies -- one for me, and one for each of my two quilting friends.  Because, how perfect is that?!?  THEN I found that the first project in the book, the Mosaic Tiles Quilt, had a Quilt Along going on!  I hope I've figured out how to enter the Quilt Along, but I have no idea...these contest things aren't very clear, I've found...

OK, so my husband just got a great new job that will involve us traveling more and flying stand-by.  This is so great and we feel so blessed, but at the same time, not checking our luggage is creating some stress for me -- how big can those bottles be?  and a quart-sized bag?  TSA's website has become my new friend because I like to make sure I'm following the rules.  But what if I follow the rules and my bag still gets searched?  Here was my first thought: I don't want anyone to see my undies or have them fall out of my bag!  My husband said that he felt I might be the only person who is worried about this, but I'm ignoring him :) and I used the Mosaic Tiles Quilt Block to make myself a bag to put INSIDE my suitcase that will house my unmentionables in a pretty fashion!

I used the bag pattern from the Winter 2014 issue of Modern Patchwork magazine.  I liked the bag, but not the block they used, so it was perfect.  First I made enough Mosaic blocks to make the size I'd need for the bag.

My favorite color is purple, and I had some great turquoise and purple fabrics to go with the purples.  I also got a chance to use my favorite gray polka dot, and a small piece of antique kimono silk that I'd collected somewhere along the way.  The back of the piece I quilted is a gorgeous piece of cotton lawn that is left over from a dress I made in high school.  It's so soft and luxurious, so it was the perfect bag-insides for a skivvies-carrier...I quilted some waves, and then I quilted some straight lines.  I didn't do much quilting because I used so many favorite fabrics -- I wanted the fabrics to be the focal point, not the quilting...

Then I made the bag, and I'm very pleased with it!

 It's much bigger than I expected, which means if my husband is nice, I might put his underwear in my bag to hide them, too...but only if he's good. ;)

FINISHED!!

My cat quilt for the Riley Blake Challenge with the Modern Quilt Guild is finished!  For whatever reason, when I saw these fabrics, I totally thought "cats", especially the orange swirly one -- looked and acted exactly like my Gracie:  lots of energy and orange-on-white!  I've titled it "Cats I Have Known", and the names of all the cats in my life are included in the quilting.  I love how it came out, and I can't wait to enter it...give me a couple minutes to figure out the unclear entry area...

Gracie approved!

The WHOLE quilt!

Up close...

Up close...

Each cat has a name of a cat I've known quilted on it...

Each cat block is quilted differently,
cuz, you know, all cats have different personalities...

Sea-HAWKS!

My Seahawks won the Superbowl!!  I AM SO EXCITED by this!!  I can't even begin to tell you how hard it's been to be a Seahawks fan some years...like all thru the 80's when they were really up and down...and the 90's when they were really up and down...and 2005 when they got skunked in the Superbowl the last time...

So, anyway, my husband and I, as lifelong fans (and we really are lifelong -- I mean, I was just a little kid watching with my dad every Sunday) REALLY wanted a celebratory t-shirt that said Superbowl Champs -- but do you think we could find any????  Every store in our area has sold out.  We keep seeing people wearing them, so the t-shirts exist, just not when we go to stores.  So, instead of posting a pic of us in our new tees, we're ordering them online, and we'll just have to be patient for awhile...

But what will I do on Sundays now that football season is over?  I need something to watch while I sew and quilt.  Luckily the Olympics (another lifelong sports passion of mine) starts today...

Holiday break, how I miss you...

Oh, Holiday Break, how I miss you.  January 3, my last post, was so long ago, and I was coming off such a great time of sewing.  Then, the quarter started, after the change in the GED test, and all of a sudden I have no time for sewing.  All of my time is being spent writing new curriculum for my class that has to be new because of the test's change...

To keep myself from TOTALLY being in a "woe-is-me" mood, I've been taking pictures of projects I have hanging around my house...you know, so I remember that I can sew, even if I'm not actually doing it...

Here is the wall-hanging I made for my laundry room...I mean, doesn't every laundry room need a quilt on the wall??

I LOVE the quilting on this wall-hanging.  It makes it feel so airy...

Hopefully this weekend, while my hubs is out of town, I can get in some sewing time...

If I do, I'll be sure to take pictures...

This pattern designing stuff is addicting...

I've had two more pattern ideas, so I'm working on writing the patterns.  Then, I'll make a sample to test my instructions, plus have something to photograph for the cover.  I wish I had them done today -- it's a gorgeous, GORGEOUS sunny day outside today!!

I'm also working on the baby quilt I talked about the other day.  I'm loving how it's coming out.  SO SO cute!!  This is not my final arrangement -- I'm just putting them up on the design wall as I finish them so I can admire my work.  Right now I pretty much only have low-volume blocks done.  At the bottom of the cut-fabric-stack are some brighter, louder-volume fabrics.  So, those blocks are coming...this quilt will definitely be a mix of things.

Back to work!