Before They Go Back in Storage

Just a few pictures of my fall/halloween decor before things move more towards fall/Thanksgiving and these mostly find their way back to storage.

A clearance find last year that I've been waiting all year to use. Filled with tea lights someone gave me. I think the scent is Halloween Night or something like that.

A quick very little mini I threw together from the few leftover blocks after finishing the holiday runner. I still have four more blocks to find something else to do with, but I wanted a quick item to hang on the fridge (where I almost always have something decorative hanging) and this was easy enough. Especially since I was able to use binding I had already made (and removed when that project needed reworked and then never used when I fixed that project). It's nothing much, but it matches the runner - which spends weekends over the back of the chair the cat likes to scratch - so there's some coordination throughout the house. (We're rarely in the living room unless we have people over, so that's the only time the cat attacks the chairs. That I know of.)

(I'm thinking that for next year I need to make one of these barn bat quilts - or possibly just because. Way too cute!)

The only cute spider I've ever seen.

Tomorrow, these are all going away in exchange for 'harvest' and Thanksgiving decor - even though harvest is long past...

And as cold as it is right now, I suspect the winter/Christmas decor might come out a little earlier than usual too...

Momo Attempts to Help Choose Fabric

Now that I'm fairly happy with the top of the semi sampler quilt, it's time to turn my attention - and the remaining coordinating pieces - toward the back.

I initially intended to add a much larger border of flying geese blocks (following this amazing no waste tutorial which was so easy and fun) to the front - until I got a math bust crash course in just how large of blocks I'd just made and realized that was not going to look right. So, all the geese got promoted to the back - and I immediately learned that I need to be more aware of my seam allowance when sewing them together. I lost a few tips, but I think over all they still look alright.

Yes, most of this not well lit photo is the back of the quilt top, but you can see the geese and a couple other pieces I've worked out that I hope to include.

I don't know what to do to fill up all the rest of that space. The 'making backs is hard' part of me says to run out and pick up more solid gray and call it good. The rest of me isn't exactly satisfied with that plan. I'd really like to use something from my stash instead of buying more fabric - and I'd love to use something with dots to tie in with the dot piece I used on the front.

This multi-colored dot on pale blue is my most obvious option (the other dots in my stash being brown on bright aqua or orange on brown), though I have more to look through. I could work out something close to the above example - and only need another stripe of the dark grey, about 40 inches by 3 inches. I may have that much additional fabric from another project using this solid grey - but it would take me a while to learn if I really have that much excess or not.

It isn't a perfect match with the top, but not too bad either.

It's hard to tell in the lighting (indoors with the flash, at night - I know, but it was my only option right now) whether it's a good match or not. I wasn't certain looking at the pieces in person and thought that taking photos might help bring some clarity to the situation. It usually does - but I don't think it did this time...

I think I'd better dig through my stash and see if I have anything else that looks as good or better - but if I don't find anything, I'm leaning towards going with it anyway. What do you think? Horrible mistake? Go back for more solid grey? Keep hunting? I'm open to all ideas right now!




And while this quilt is still probably technically just going in the stash - and started as something I really wanted to keep due to the sampler style block choices - I'm also seriously leaning towards sending it to someone... Not knowing yet what I'm going to do with it does put extra pressure on the few remaining decisions! 

October Around Here

I know I've been kind of quiet this month.

In all honesty, that's both because I'm not accomplishing much and because I'm rarely home at a time to take photos (or try to type anything out). 

We're all fine, just keeping busy with work instead of cooking, crafting, art, quilting, or any of the other things I want to talk about here. Just picking away at work and other things that feel more or less like work.

Hopefully I'll get to some fun things before the month is out - but right now about the most I'm getting done is to constantly carry a book or two with me and read as I wait in lines or when someone else is driving for work. If things stay this busy, I may have to consider taking up hand quilting or a cross stitch project that can travel around with me during the day - otherwise nothing is going to get done!

Actually... with the holidays coming up, that might be a good idea anyway... Hmm...

Semi-Sampler Quilt gets a Border

I hadn't intended to add anything to my little sampler quilt top - even if that did leave it at an awkward size: too big for a hanging decoration, too small for a baby quilt. But, a few months of thinking on it and I decided just to go for it and make it a little larger.

I picked up a little bit of coordinating yardage, and what I thought was matching solid (it looks slightly darker to me, but I'm going with it anyway), and just did a simple border of each around the outside. This should have brought the quilt top up from 31x41 to about 36x46. Still not very large, but closer to a size I feel works for a baby present, in case that's the route I want to go with this one.

I know these pictures aren't the greatest - even for me. With the daylight hours getting shorter, and my work days getting longer, taking photos is getting a great deal more challenging. I took these about 45 minutes before sundown - and minutes before it started raining.

The print I chose for the border wasn't my first choice - but my initial plan didn't work out for the front, so I had to go with my second choice fabric on the front, and my first choice on the back. I haven't yet figured out the back - but I'm going to use at least part of that first choice fabric in it, and probably everything I have left of the solid dark grey. But that's a project for another day.

This project has been a little bit of an accident from the beginning, coming together with no real plan, so I have only myself to blame for this - but I do wish I'd planned far enough in advance to pick up a blue to use as the border instead of playing up the reds, which already seem fairly dominant in the quilt top. I do think that adding the border was the right choice, I just would have liked a chance to see what it would look like with a different color choice. Maybe next time I won't wait until so late to decide I need more fabric... Hmm.. maybe I'd better pick up some more for those future projects, just to be safe, right?

Runner: Finished

Fresh from the wash - and two photos grabbed on the way out the door.

The places where I should have basted more do blend in a bit more now that everything has been washed and softened up a bit - which makes me happy.

And all in all, the whole thing makes me happy. I love both sides and would be hard pressed to choose which one I prefer. Yes, it's a little chaotic and intense in areas, and certainly imperfect in areas as well - but I think that pretty well sums up my life too!

I've already remade the bed - which I only do in the morning if I'm expecting company or changing the sheets - and placed it in a position of honor best use at the bottom. I guess tonight's the first test to see if Momo will sleep on it or spurn it. He loved sitting on the unfinished pieces, so I'm really hoping that continues now that it's done and ready for use.

Autumn Evening

No words here tonight - wise or otherwise. Just a few pictures I managed to snag before the sun went down.

The pumpkin fairy must have visited my house while I was at work this week. Six of these little guys just popped into place while I was away from home. They're looking very festive now - but if I get the time, some of them are probably headed for my oven and eventually becoming pumpkin puree.

Runner: Pre-Wash

I didn't think quilting the bed runner was going to be a massive undertaking - it's only  about 18 inches wide! But it's also about 80" long. So, yes, this turned out to require a great deal more wrestling than I anticipated. So difficult, that I pulled back my quilting from the three directions of lines I'd hoped to include, to only two.

I think it turned out alright with only two lines:

On the 'Halloween' side I quilted with my usual just-barely-off-white thread.

On the 'Christmas' side, I quilted in a color change purple/pink/aqua thread.

Both sides of the quilt show that I had some issues with my basting not being tight enough or frequent enough to hold the fabric in place during quilting. I'm not pleased about that, but this was a test run with a potential batting for a larger project and I'm glad to have learned about it on something so small scale and unimportant. I'm also hoping that these issues will blend a little better with the whole after a trip through the wash/dry cycles.

Getting pictures of the whole piece is a challenge, but I've done my best:

The sides really don't coordinate with each other, but that's alright. The quilting works well enough on both sides (though I do still wonder how it would have looked with the additional diagonal line which should have broken each rough diamond into rough triangles) - and I'm surprised and pleased with the way the black binding works with both sides.

I'm off to throw it in the wash and see what happens next!

Yesterday...

Yesterday didn't go as planned. At all.

Woke up to a little snow.

Then mostly didn't manage to accomplish anything on the list. Which sadly, was not because I was too busy quilting or reading or eating cookies.

My latest pair of new winter boots broke - as I was putting them on for their first wearing.

Not quite the great start to my day. So looks like I'm 0 for 3 in the new boot shopping department.

Then, while attempting to return those boots and get all my other errands accomplished - something unexpected came up and ate about 10 hours of my day. Sigh.

On the other hand... at least a little progress was made.

Um, in case you can't tell - I'm basting the holiday runner pieces together. It's not much progress, but this weekend, I'm going to claim what I can!

Fabric Crushing...

Last week I managed to squeeze a stop to my favorite local fabric/quilting shop (between a series of meetings nearby). I ran into the store to see if I could still get a little more Sweetwater Hometown fabric for adding a border to my semi-sampler quilt. Knowing how easily I can get sucked in, I told my husband (also attending the meetings) to come get me after fifteen minutes.

I went directly to the fabrics I wanted and made my selections.

Mission Accomplished!

Only to learn the shop computer was down. Not a huge issue, as they still have the option of handwritten receipts, but it slowed things down a little - and gave me just enough time to walk past the area I know is my weakness: precuts.

And yes. I gave in.

How could I not!?

Sweet Serenade - and I am smitten. The charms, of course, are what sold me. Music, soft abstracts, and chevron-ish prints in cream, dark grey, aqua, light blue, and kind of a coral/orange (or parchment, ink, turquoise, opal, and amberlight - as it's described by the pros). While the yardage of the chevron (apparently called Turquoise Shilling?) I just had to pick up looks a little loud in my picture, it's not quite so intense in reality.

This was absolutely a splurge purchase (so much for the constant attempt at only buying what I need) but I do already have a plan for it - both a pattern plan/idea, and intended recipient/s. Probably. I have a family in mind for this fabric (because I think it's perfect in every way for them) but I'm not sure I'll have any reason* to make them a quilt any time soon.

So, as much as I want to play with it now, I am putting it away so that if/when I do have a reason to make something for them, I'll have at least a start (and a plan) on hand.

But in the mean time, I may have to pick up more next time I rebuild my fabric money envelope...






*What I'm trying to say is that I want to have this on hand in case this couple joins so many of our friends in becoming parents soonish, but ... I don't know if that's in the plans - and I don't want to pry. So, I'm hanging on to this in case. If not, I'll either use it for them on something else or I'll certainly be happy to put it to use myself.

My 2012-2013 Reading List Wrap-Up

This is just going to be talking about books. And maybe some math. If that's not your thing, come back later in the week when I hope to have a little more sewing/quilting/crafting progress to share. 

Some background:
In October of 2010, prompted by a very disappointing surprise cliff-hanger ending to a book I'd enjoyed up until that part, I started keeping track of the books I completed reading throughout that year. What I had intended to be a fairly simple list of title, author, and a short note or reaction quickly turned into a series of spoiler-filled summaries, and paragraphs of reactions. Later I started rating books on a 1-5 scale mostly based off my enjoyment and feelings immediately upon finishing the book. 

In the year between October 15, 2012 and October 14, 2013 I completed reading 85 books - which was about 28,767 pages (not including pages of sources, citations, or previews for other books). 

Of those 85 books: 

• 43 would probably be considered Young Adult
• 7 would probably be categorized as Romance (only)
• 10 featured zombies or the equivalent undead type creatures
• 7 were fairy tale retellings 
• 4 were non-fiction
• 4 were graphic novels
• 4 were repeats from previous years (all from the 2010-2011 year actually)
• 12 were written, co-written, or edited by Mercedes Lackey (and none of them were re-reads since I started tracking in October of 2010). 
• 5 were written by Cherie Priest
• I also read multiple books from Julia Quinn, Robin LaFevers, Cassandra Clare, Kendare Blake, Jonathan Maberry, and Julie Campbell. 

Mathematically, I averaged just over 7 books per month.
The highest finishes by month happened in: January and February (9 each), March and April (8 each), and July (10). It's no surprise to me that these were the months where I spent the most time traveling or otherwise with less access to sewing machines and internet. 
The lowest finishes by month happened in: October (1 in the 2012 half month, 4 in the 2013 half month). 

My average rating was 3.5 - and despite giving out four 5 ratings, this year I didn't give any 1's. 

Looking back on the year, I'd say the standout titles were:

• "The Summer Prince" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• "Bible, Gender, Sexuality" by James V Brownson
• "Scarlet" by Marissa Meyer
• "Vessel" by Sarah Beth Durst
• "Fire & Ash" by Jonathan Maberry
• "Below Stairs" by Margaret Powell
• "The Next Best Thing" by Jennifer Weiner
• "The She-Hulk Diaries" by Marta Acosta
• "Dark Triumph" by Robin LaFevers

This list doesn't include all the books I gave a '5' rating, but is mostly made up of the titles I find myself still thinking about even months after reading. I think that's probably a better determination of what's really caught my attention and gave me something to think on than a ranking I give immediately after reading. 

I have several books 'in progress' that I'm hoping to wrap up relatively soon. October being a half-month is a little bit of a motivator to get some of these finished at last. These include the third book in the Game of Thrones series (which I've been working on all year), three books that I'm reading aloud with my husband, and at least three more books I've started for my own enjoyment! 

As usual, this is probably far more interesting to me than anyone else, but I always look forward to getting to spend a few minutes wrapping up a years worth of reading. I may have started this whole process with the idea of keeping track of what I read - and which authors are worth going back to - but I've found the entire thing has improved my enjoyment of reading as a whole. I can't say I'm a better reader now than I was before, but spending an average of an hour thinking about each book while I recap it and react to it has made me more aware and more selective about what I find worth talking about or suggesting to others.  

Although I don't plan to change much going forward into my 2013-2014 reading year, I am going to push myself to finish more books this year. Not to have more books read at the end of the year, but to push a little harder to finish books I start but find difficult, dull, or want out of for any other reason. While this freedom to quit made for more fun and relaxing reading overall for the last couple years, in this coming year I'd like to get back to pushing myself a bit more to finish things that don't immediately seem worth the effort. 

Anyway - here's to a new reading year, and to all the books on my 'coming soon' list that are that much closer to falling into my eager hands! 

Progress

Happy Go Lucky Quilt

Yet to Do: square up, buy fabric and make binding, bind, wash.
I'm still debating whether I wash this one or just call it done as is. It's so lovely just how it is, I hate to think of 'messing' it up by washing it. If I don't buy/make some color catchers (just to be safe) this week, then I'm just going to call this one done as is and go w/o the washing. 

Semi-Sampler (small) Quilt-to-be?

Progress: add additional border, make a back, baste, quilt, bind, wash

Pansy Patch Project

No recent progress.
Yet to Do: finish piecing tops together, make back, baste, quilt, bind

Our Bedroom Quilts  

Yet to do:

• Cut Reunion fabrics for tops
• Cut sash
• Piece each top
• Pre-wash fabrics for the backs
• Piece each back (choose more fabric?)
• Baste both
• Choose thread/buy thread 
• Quilt
• Make binding 
• Bind
• Wash

Holiday Runner 

Yet to Do: square up, piece top, make back, baste, quilt, bind, wash

Green/Koi/April/May Mini Thing...

Yet to Do: decide if it's a chair cover or a wall hanging and finish appropriately...

Waiting to Start:

• Something with vintage sheets?
• Gift Bags
• 
  

Busy Work

I've been trying to cram a few smaller projects into my limited sewing time - because some of the things that I should be doing require way more energy than I actually have.

Really, most of these smaller projects started because of this: 

This is my desk and sewing chair. Not the most beautiful little thing. In fact, it certainly looks better in this picture than in real life. The wood isn't quite that luster, more a dull brown, which isn't so bad. What's really a problem is the fabric on the seat. It's a textured neutral that has seen better days. It's beginning to wear out, and it's quite grimy looking in places. It's done well for three years - especially for a free craigslist chair - but I'm ready for something a little more fun around here. 

I started by looking at my collection of oddblocks to see if there was anything I could expand into being a chair cover. And initially, I thought there was. 

Remember this little guy? It was just about the very first pieced block I ever made. Of all the pieces I have hanging out waiting for a home, I thought this might be my best choice - and I even have some of the coordinating fabric left in my stash. 

So, after doing a little repair work to fix a couple areas where my seam allowance wasn't where it should have been (which really means where I didn't manage to grab one layer of fabric at all!), I built it out a little, first with coordinating pieces, then eventually with a scrap from another project, until it was about big enough for what I had in mind. 

Okay, so, this picture isn't the greatest. But it's what I've got and it's too dark and rainy to fight over it now!  

It's ... okay.... The browns of the fabrics and the wood go fairly well in real life. But it also makes me feel a little cat lady ish. Which, don't get me wrong, I am a cat lady, I'm just not sure it's quite what I wanted to go for. 

So, then there's attempt number two. Which got started the first time I decided this was possibly too cat lady chic (prior to adding the intensely green pieces). 

I pulled some of my very favorite and very hoarded pieces out, the last scraps of the fabric that matches my April Flowers/May Showers quilts and a few more pieces I've decided probably coordinate, and started making something completely different. 

Which I love. 

But I'm not sure I can use as a seat cover. 

If I use it on the chair, at least some of the colors will be lost as it wraps around the edges of the seat (unless I really stuff it, which might be advisable?), and that's just too tragic to think on. 

But I'm not sure it's quite perfect enough to use as a mini-quilt/wall hanging kind of thing. Some of the wonky got a little more wonky than I'd planned, and I'm not sure if I see 'intentionally wonky' when I look at it, or 'whoops!' But the colors and patterns are things I love. It would be a shame to hide it away somewhere...

I also hate to think of making a third attempt at what was supposed to be a quick and easy solution. But I'm beginning to suspect I'd be better off just choosing a remnant or a nice fat quarter and using it as one piece instead of attempting to do something more quilt-y... 

Decisions, decisions!

I've got time - and I've got to find a staple gun before I get much more invested... But... any input?

Little Bags Toward Holidays

I am well aware that the holiday season is still months away - but yes, I  am joining the diy-ers who are getting a little jump on the holiday projects.

This little stack of fat quarters is joining the pile of 'wrapping' bags.

Not exactly traditional Christmas colors, but - that's kind of the thing around here. Our stockings are green/blue/brown (yes, the cat gets one), and most of our other between Thanksgiving and Valentine's decoration items are on a similar 'winter-ish' color scheme.

The collection of wrapping bags - in a variety of qualities as I get better at sewing - has been growing since I started sewing. I can't say it's been an inexpensive collection, or particularly cost saving yet - though that was the long term goal. At this point, I do it because it makes me happy, and because I hate seeing the waste of wrapping paper after presents are done...

I don't always take the time to line my wrapping bags, though I think that makes them look nicer and last longer. I expect that adding a line of zig-zag stitch or a trip through the overlock machine could lengthen the life of the unlined ones - and I probably should give that a try before the unlined ones start wearing too much... But so far my all time favorite way to make bags is to generally follow the In Color Order Lined Drawstring Bag tutorial.

I managed to pull together the majority of six bags in a little over an hour:

The bags themselves are completely lined and stitched, but I haven't yet made the drawstrings for any of them. I'm still toying between fabric drawstrings or going with ribbon instead.

I did go for a little bit of embellishment with the largest of this set. Initially I rejected the idea but the other two-fabric bag just felt like it needed a little something extra - and with a huge pile of laces and embellishments waiting to be used, there was really no reason not to give it a try! So far it's probably my favorite one, but the drawstrings might change that yet, depending what I do.

I used three different kinds of grey fabrics for the lining, simply because those were the other fat quarters and scraps I had lying around waiting for a use. The solid is a little darker than ideal - and now I'm wishing I'd saved it for other things - but I love the other two. I can't decide if I like the honeycombs better or the textured-look. I do have exterior fabric for at least one more (hopefully two more), but I ran out of easy choices for lining and turned my attention to practical matters (patching two pairs of jeans, one of which I need for work tomorrow) instead of searching through the stash for another appropriate lining.

Winter-y Runner (in Progress)

My initial goal was to make something that would turn my runner into a dual holiday/season runner, and since turkeys and wheat (the Thanksgiving options) simply didn't appeal, I decided to jump straight into the deep winter holidays with these two fabrics:

I only had a half-yard of the candy and a yard of the trees, so instead of running a pattern throughout the length of the runner, I wanted a pattern of quilt block work in the center with larger fields of the trees on either end.

For the center, I went with the classic disappearing four patch, starting with four 6.5 inch squares.

The ending result is very busy - but I love it. And since this is showing just about the entire height of the runner (about 23 inches), I think it's appearing a little more busy than it really is... maybe...

Either end does have a larger field comprised mostly of the tree fabric:

You might notice a little extra fabric there? That's exactly how 'short' I was from making it work with just the pieces I purchased. So frustrating! But rather than going back to the store for that scant amount of fabric, I took apart the other fields and added a coordinating patch of blue on the other end, which helped tie it in a little better. I think.

Getting a picture of the whole piece was difficult - but I did my best.

You can see both blue/teal patches (which have a bit of gold metalic print on them). I think this also shows that it really isn't quite as incredibly busy as it could be if the disappearing four patch continued over a larger space with these two rather busy prints...

It isn't quite what I envisioned turning out when I started, but I'm very happy with it so far.

I'm not worried about basting the two pieces together, but I am a little concerned what I'll do for quilting that will work on both halves. Once again, I really wish I had a machine that would allow me to work without feed dogs, but I have yet to find a way to make that work over here. Guess I know what I'll be trying again next time I have a few minutes!