Oh No!!!!!

This is what happens when you AUI--Applique Under the Influence!  No, I wasn't drinking.  I had a bit of surgery on Monday and was taking narcotic pain relievers.  I stopped after yesterday morning when I spent most of the day "high" and most of the evening "hung over."  I guess I should not have tried stitching.  I do cut my background squares oversize, but still, I measured and the snip goes slightly into the block.  So, do I fix it or start all over?  The perfectionist in me thinks about starting over, but the practical me is demanding to fix it.  Should I applique a bit of white over the top?  Or cut off the whole edge of the block and sew on a strip?  Which would be less noticeable?  Does anyone else have a suggestion?  Help!

Snappy Here Insert Title

This is my version of the I.S.T.H. (Insert Snappy Title Here) Schnibble for this month.  It is, of course, inspired by Sinta, who said the letters were rearranged and should be S.H.I.T.

I elected to use charm packs of the Urban Cowgirl fabric.  I LOVE the line.  The soft, vintage colors are great.  I also ordered yardage and initially choose one the the plaids for the setting triangles.  I made the blocks and laid everything out.

Then the trouble began.  The plaid looked choppy, but I thought it would work.  I picked out the lace looking fabric squares for the border, but I didn't have enough of the fabric I used for the block background to use with it.  I tried something else, and the stips looked terrible.  I didn't want to rip all of that out so I tried something else.  Nothing was working.  Finally I bit the bullet and ordered more fabric.  I decided to replace the plaid with the creamy rosebud.  It worked much better!  It didn't take too long to finish it up.

In the photo above you can see the lace-like fabric.  When I was choosing the charm squares for the quilt, I only used two colors--the green and the blue in the blocks since the original pattern used just two colors.  In retropect, I wish I had used the yellow as well, but I do have quite a bit of left-overs for another project.  The fabric is getting hard to find!

Aloha,
JoAnne

More Fun with Terrain

Last time I showed you the Terrain flimsy I made for my sister's wedding present.  This time I'm going to show you some accessories.  When I make a wedding quilt, I usually like to make a bed skirt and other pieces to complete the look.  I find it especially important if the colors aren't typical "home dec" colors.  The Terrain quilt was somewhat easier because the background is white.  Instead of making everything, I had been looking at the Moda Bakeshop blog and found something that inspired me.  I just spent over a half hour trying to find the post that inspired me, but I couldn't.  What I did find were three of four projects that I "must do" ha ha. 

So I ordered a plain white pleated bedskirt and 2 tailored shams.  (King size!)  I also got a Terrain jelly roll and I went to work and created these:

This is the bedskirt. 

And this is one of the pillowshams. 

Behind the skirt.

 So what I did was take the jelly roll and pull out one strip of each fabric.  I had a yard of the purple fabric for the "backing" so I did not use the purple strip from the jelly roll.  I cut the strips in half and created strip sets.  I randomly sewed strips together until they were no more than 24 inches wide.  I stopped there because I wanted them to fit under my ruler without having to fold.  Once all the strips were sewn into strip sets, I cut across them making 2.5" strips.  So now I had strips of  squares.  After I subcut all of the different strip sets, I sewed them all together to give me yards and yards of squares.  I sewed the strip to the bottom edge of the bedskirt, right sides together. (Right on top of the hem.)  I pressed the strip set over, to extend the length of the bedskirt.  Next, I cut purple strips wider than the 2.5 inch strip sets.  I think I cut them 2.75 or 3 inches wide.  I sewed them end to end to get yards.  I pressed a 1/4 inch hem along one long, long edge of the purple strip, and then sewed the other long raw edge along the raw edge of the stip set, and then I pressed it around to the back.  Cutting it wider left it possible to have a bit of the purple strip showing on the front.

I carefully pinned it into place and then stiched from the front.  In the picture above, you can see the bit of purple from the front--creating a "binding-like" look.  I did the same thing around the pillow sham.   In that case, I just enclosed the flange of the tailored sham. 

In retrospect, I wish I had taken photos of the process, but I'm delighted to have been able to customize ready-made objects instead of making them all myself. 

I still have many jelly roll strips, misc. blocks from the quilt, and other scraps.  Usually, throwpillows and or a wall quilt made of "leftovers" becomes the first anniversary gift.  Or the third.  Or the fifth!

A Quilt I Can Finally Show

The end of last year saw me busy, busy in my quilt room working on lots of various projects that couldn't be "shared" at the time.  I'm trying to remember to share them now.  This one is a big project.  It is currently in the box to be mailed to my long-arm quilter as it is KING Sized (one of the biggest quilts I've ever made).  I was working away on it towards the end of my husband's deployment.  I was trying to get it finished before he got home because I had drug my machine downstairs and was piecing while watching tv.  I don't have a tv in my quilt room and when I work up there I listen to audio books or music, but this project was big and once a few blocks were completed, it got fairly repetitive.  So I was merely piecing away.  I had my whole schedule filled so that last week wouldn't drag by.  Then he called.  He got an early flight!  He would be home 3-4 days early!  This was good news, but it meant I had to pack up everything, with maybe 16 blocks remaining.  He got home and took leave for a few weeks, so it took a while to get it back out and finish it.  Then I kept making cutting errors and I didn't have the fabric to allow for cutting errors!  I had planned to make extra blocks, though, but now I didn't have quite as many to choose from.  But enough "chat," here is a picture:

It features "Terrain" by Kate Spain and is the free pattern sheet to accompany the fabric.  Of course, Kate's version of this quilt only contained 16 blocks, if I remember correctly, and this one has 64!  I ordered the fat quarter pack of the entire collection.  It was lots of fun to pair up the fabrics and play with the arrangement.  Here is another view:







This is one of the corners.  This quilt is so huge that it is difficult to photograph the whole thing.  The quilt is for my sister and her new husband.  They got married last summer--it is the second marriage for both of them.  I love this pattern because of the "X" and "O" effect in the block.  I love it for a wedding quilt (XOXO= hugs and kisses).  I also like the title of the fabric:  Terrain, because to me it suggests "new ground."  Anyway, they have saw it before Christmas, so I can share it with you now.  It was easy (it just took a while to make all those blocks.) I think the most difficult part was laying it all out and "tweaking" the arrangement on a barely large enough living room floor.  My plan was to have about 10 extra blocks so when I was trying to get them arranged, I would have plenty of choices. (I didn't want similar colors and patterns next to each other.)  I did have a few extras but it took a while to get the right arrangement.  Luckily, the stairs are there and I could look over the railing upstairs down onto the layout. 

I'm pleased with the way it came out, and it looks so fresh and pretty.  I was a bit concerned that it might be too feminine for my new brother-in-law, but he really likes it, too!  And there is more to show you  next time!

Aloha,
JoAnne

Still here--for now!

I had such a great month with my parent's visiting, but I sure haven't had much of a chance to blog or share lately!

1.  The first thing is that we got the RFO.  We are moving to Ft. Eustis, VA.  It is on the penninsula south of Williamsburg and north of Norfolk.  I have loved evey minute in Hawaii but am looking forward to having 4 seasons again.  I am not looking forward to wearing long pants and sleeves and closed-toe shoes, though.

2.  This month's Schnibble...  Yikes!  For some reason it is not coming easy.  First I struggled on the setting triangles, and then I hit the nine patch borders.  I chose a wrong fabric and I don't want to rip it all out (of course I completed them both before I "auditioned" them) so I ordered more fabric.  I think my major problem is that I never really fell in love with the pattern to begin with, so I may end up tweaking it a bit. 

3.  I did it!  I signed up for this Block of the Month.

Sarah's Revival.  I got the January shipment and actually got 2 of the 4 blocks done while my parents were here.  The next month came with 4 more and now I'm almost done with the third one.  So while part of me wants to "keep up," I mostly got this so I would have lots of handwork to do during the move, when I'll probably be 2 months without a machine.  Here is the first one:

And here is the second:

My favorite technique for applique is to needle turn with the "back-basting" technique.  I tried many different ways, but this is by far the eastiest, most accurate, and most portable I have done. 

I think that is all for now.  Hopefully some Schnibble inspiration will come soon.  I don't want to post a picture, because I'm too embarrassed!

Aloha,

JoAnne