Sewing-Free Day

Haha, I did no sewing yesterday!  The closest I got was using the ironing board to press the tablecloth.  Smart'N'Final had had turkeys on sale for $.99/lb, and I had a 10% off coupon on top of that, so I got the smallest one they had, and it was still 17.5 pounds.  So I invited my parents up for dinner and spent a good part of the day cooking.  Turkey, stuffing, roast veg, sweet potato biscuits, mince pies, steamed green beans, purchased cranberry sauce, and my mother took care of the gravy.  Leftovers for them and for us, for days!

And I did a wee bit of writing in the evening....

Wheels and Spirals

I'm currently working on two projects, using them as "leaders and enders," as Bonnie Hunter would put it, for one another.  The first is sewing the giant geese together into rows for the spiral quilt.  Here's a teaser picture of the layout, with the fabric I purchased to be the alternate row in the spiral:

I'm amused by the alternate row fabric.  According to the selvedge, it's called "Branching Out."  Which is the title of my guild's quilt show this year! :)  For this project, I'm on the second-to-last row of the spiral, and then I get to start cutting the alternate row fabric into strips and piecing the whole top together.

And while I've been working on that, I've also been working on these Wheel of Fortune blocks:

Can you tell that the blue one has two different blue fabrics in it?  I ran out of one, and this is very much a using-up-the-last-scraps project, judging by how many of the centers I've had to piece thus far.  I cut the light pieces out for the next block, and all that was left over was a 1.5" square for that project bag.  Gotta use it up!

Some Sewing, Some Fandom

No pictures today, but some sewing did get done.  I laid out the Giant Geese (4"x8") I received in the block exchange I ran with my guild today, and discovered that my counting skills are shite.  Rather than the 90 I needed for the spiral layout, I have... 111.  After weeding out as many duplicates as I could while still maintaining something of a light/dark/light/dark distribution, I figure I can use the extras on the back.  So I started sewing those rows together, as well as working on the Wheel of Fortune blocks.  I finished the first WoF block and cut the light pieces I need for a second.

AND I went to see Bumblebee.  I've been a Transformers fan since the 1980s, but I gave up Bayverse after seeing Dark of the Moon, because that was the tipping point when the series went from "not good, but interesting" to "this is bad, you cannot make me watch any further."  And I ended up with FEELINGS about this movie, because it was actually GOOD.  And a love letter to the cartoon series.  And a love letter to those of us girls who weren't supposed to like things that were for boys, but did anyway.

GAH.  I wish LiveJournal hadn't gone to heck after being bought by the Russians, because right now I am really REALLY missing the community of female Transformers fans who found one another there... I want my fandom friends back.  I want to talk with them about this film, and analyze and dissect it with them, and remake our community to what it once was.  I hate the diaspora.

The Grand Sewing Machine Exchange

So I suspect I threw off the timing of my Singer 401A while sewing through a cumulative eight layers of quilting cotton on one of the boys' Christmas pillowcases.  And that's something I can't fix myself, so she's going to need a spa day or three at the repair shop.  So last night I pulled her out of my grandmother's sewing table:

And in place of my $30 401A, I put in my $25 500A:

Yeah, I sometimes find vintage machines for cheap.  The two most expensive I have are my 301A ($~100, for taking to classes), and my 201-3 ($~85, to put in that $20 treadle base my parents got for me.

I had spent the last couple days gradually cleaning, oiling, and greasing the 500A, a model which is colloquially known as "The Rocketeer."  Functionally, it's almost identical to the 401A - the bobbin winder is hidden under the top, and there's an extra step for threading it.  Even more fortunately for me, even though the plug is different, the foot is the same for both machines, which meant no finagling of the presser foot mechanism in the table.  I did have to cannibalize the hinge set screws and bobbin tire from the 401A, but I've placed an order at Sew Classic for those and a few other bits and bobs.

I even tested it out, working out the kinks with the first round of stitches on another Wheel of Fortune block from Betsy Chutchian's book History Repeated.  Seems to work okay.  The clutch on the handwheel is frozen, so I can't disengage the needle when I wind a bobbin, but that's something I can work around until I get some penetrating oil to loosen that puppy up.

Boxing Day Score!

Savers, the best of the local thrift stores, has a discount of 30% for seniors on Tuesdays.  So I usually take the boys down to my parents' place and pick up Mom and we all go shopping.  Well, this week Christmas was on a Tuesday so Savers nicely shifted senior day to Wednesday.  Squiddle wanted to stay with Gampa and play with the new Duplo blocks he and Jazzy got for Christmas.  Jazzy was asleep in the car, so he and Mom and I went to the thrift store.

Mom's big score was $.50 for a Scandinavian Christmas candelabra.  (She apparently now has FOUR.  I have one.)  Me?  Well, my biggest score was this:

On the left, seven and a quarter yards for $5 (minus 30%); on the right, a four and a quarter yard piece and a seven yard piece for $8 (minus 30%)!

That'll make up a couple of nice quilt backings.  (And here I thought the "twelve yards of backing" on the card my sister-in-law made for me was, ahem, wishful thinking....)

Christmas Success

We spent Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncle's, Christmas morning on Skype with my husband's family, and Christmas afternoon at my parents'.  The quilts were all a success - well, Jazzy's slightly less so.  He was very distracted by the various toys he got.  But Niecelet apparently buried herself in her quilt when she opened it, and Squiddle spent a solid minute jumping up and down saying "Tinkerbell!" when he opened his.  Both boys got a shower last night, then into the new jammies Santa left for them, and read the new books Santa left for them, then slept on fresh bedsheets, with their new quilts and matching pillowcases.  Hooray!

For myself, I got several books I had wanted, a couple of them quilty.  And my sister-in-law, who makes the most wonderful cards, sent me a very neat quilty card!

So all in all, it was a good Christmas.  I hope yours was, too.

Christmas Sewing, Done Done Done!

Got up yesterday morning and trimmed the Tink quilt.  Found the Tinkerbell-dress-green remnant I'd set aside for binding.  Prepped that, and sewed it on:

Wrote out a label.  Stitched that on by hand.  Pulled together some leftover fabrics and whipped up matching pillowcases for each quilt.  During the middle of which, my 401 developed what I'm assuming is a timing issue.  Switched to the 15, finished things up, wrapped some presents, went to bed.

*thud*

(Also did other stuff - last bit of grocery shopping, dinner at my parents', post-sewing-jag cleanup, etc.)

Quilting, Done!

No pictures again, because I was jamming on quilting the Tinkerbell quilt yesterday, and was up until half past midnight doing so.  Bad Kristin!  But it's done and dusted and just needs trimming, binding, and a label.  And, honestly, the label can wait until after Christmas if needs be.

Also done: 90% of the grocery shopping, and converting some of that shopping into three batches of gurka (Scandinavian pickles) for smorgasbord with my aunt and uncle's family on Christmas Eve, and smorgasbord again with my parents on Christmas Day....

Finally!

I got the Tinkerbell quilt basted yesterday~!  And Wonderful Husband distracted Squiddle by playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild while I did so, so despite my basting area being the living room floor right next to the sofa where this video gaming was happening, it's entirely possible Squiddle still hasn't seen the quilt. 

I then dragged the 15 over to the big sewing desk, getting my quilting setup ready... and we decamped to get more work done to my car (worn rotors) and to go to Boomers, a mini-golf/arcade/rides place near my parents.  We drive past it almost every time we go to my parents' home, and Squiddle has been asking to go there for months.  So we finally did!  My mother joined us there and we went on a couple rides (Wonderful Husband and Squiddle on the bumper boats, and myself with both boys on the little train, since we did not trust Jazzy to ride it without an adult).  And then we mini-golfed.  I'd forgotten how much fun mini-golf is!  Squiddle kind of got it (he did best when an adult showed him how to hold the club and helped him, though he was fuzzy on the "don't pick up the ball until you've got it in the hole" bit.  Jazzy, being two, didn't get it at all, but he didn't mind, either, until it was time to leave.  Which is why I carry around packets of fruit gummies in my bag....

After picking up my car, and getting home, and dining, though, I finally set to quilting!  I'm doing free-motion quilting in the center panel, in the pink squares, and I think in the turquoise cameo border as well.  I got most of the center panel done - I just need to do the flowers on the bottom right, then I can move on....

Grey Day

Got no sewing done yesterday. I had a very grey day.  Wonderful Husband finally dragged me out for some lunch and we went to see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, which was very very good.  But I did receive Bonnie Hunter's new book, String Frenzy, so at least I have that to look at... after I get Squiddle's Tinkerbell quilt basted!

Short Post

No pictures today because yesterday's main sewing was Wonderful Husband's Christmas present!  and he might peek at this blog, or see it on my monitor.  But it's successfully done, dusted, and wrapped.  He is taking this week as vacation time and did me the favor of taking the boys to the Long Beach Aquarium for a couple hours while I sewed.  He also bought Christmas cards and made sure we got them written, addressed, and sent out.  Hooray!

I did get the backing for the Tinkerbell quilt sewn together, but that was all quilting-wise.

A Finished Flimsy

Sorry for there being no post yesterday.  I had worn myself to a cross-eyed frazzle, and after pinning yet another border in backwards, I threw in the towel and went to bed.

But!  Yesterday morning I pinned the last border on the Tinkerbell quilt the right way, and got it sewn, so it's now a finished top!

You can see in the lower right purple strip where the brown spots stop... that's my substitute strip after I ran out.  I can say it proves it's handmade! :)  The quilt turned out a little larger than I'd planned, finishing at 76"x68".  Well, it's not like Squiddle's going to be getting any smaller....

And I thought, why not post a picture of my original sketch, for the record.  This is my "back of the envelope" (literally) planning!  It's almost all in here, except for the two thin dark blue lines that led to me widening the purple strips, to make up the numbers:

And this afternoon we stopped by M&L Fabrics so I could get some flannel for the backing.  Since the quilt is for Squiddle, I let him choose.  Initially he chose a baby-print pink, but I offered this one as an alternative and he liked it as well:

Someday, when he's a teenager, this quilt, predicated on his loves of Tink and pink, may embarrass Squiddle.  But I kind of hope not.

Also today, I found these books at the thrift store!  For three dollars each.  Score! *happy dance*

A Galactic Finish

I finally got some pictures taken of Jazzy's Christmas quilt!  But, alas, I've hit a snag on Squiddle's - I'm one 2" width-of-fabric strip short of the purple fabric!  So I need to see what I can get that will be a match.  It was a remnant when I bought it, so I'm not holding out much hope of finding the actual fabric.

But, in the meantime, here are the beauty shots!

The sunlight shot, to show off the colors to their truest.  It's a simple design, but I like it.

I kept the quilting very simple.  Diagonal lines making an X across each block, and vertical and horizontal lines in the sashing.  Combined, they make a star in the stars. For simple quilts like this, this is my favorite easy quilting pattern.

And my silly little detail that makes me feel clever.  I did three lines of straight-line quilting in the border.  Then I stitched the black binding to the back, flipped it over to the front, and top-stitched it down with the same thread, so it looks like another line of quilting.

Tink, Again

Today was a bit of hustle and bustle of housecleaning in the morning, then getting out so two sets of potential buyers could look at the house.  While we were out and about, we helped my mother get her Christmas decorations out of the rafters, as well as setting up her tree for her.

But I did get a bit of sewing in.  Here's the quilt top as it stands (lays?) now:

I am a bit miffed that I cut one Tink cameo in half (seam on the upper left) but given I didn't realize it until I had sewn that entire side... I was not going to rip out 56" of seam, cut a new piece, and sew it in, not when I was going to be the only one who cared.

On the other hand, this pleases me:

See the seam?  Where is it?  No?  Good.  Looking at it from the other direction:

 Aha, there the seam is! I tried out a new pattern-matching technique and it worked like a charm.  Both the top and bottom border have two joins in them, and they're effectively invisible.  What you do is: 1) find the matching point for two strips; 2) iron the fold of the match point on one of the strips; 3) place it atop the second strip and glue it down (I have some fabric basting glue); 4) when the glue is cured, open it up and sew right on the fold line; 5) trim away the excess and press.  I can't remember where I learned the technique, other than it was on one of the blogs in my sidebar, but it's genius and it works!

Domestic Goddessery

No pictures today.  A good deal of yesterday was spent doing house stuff - cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc.  Then I took the boys to the zoo for a couple hours, as I'd promised them.  And after that I was wiped.  To the point where I was laying down in a darkened bedroom when Wonderful Husband got home.  Fortunately I'd thawed some chicken, so he took care of cooking that and some mac'n'cheese for dinner.

I did finish sewing the second dark blue border onto the Tinkerbell quilt, and half of the turquoise one that was next.  Hopefully I'll be able to get it all done this weekend....

Tink!

Yesterday, as events allowed, I chugged away on Squiddle's Christmas quilt.  I made things more difficult on myself, of course, by adding two more borders to the scheme.  Which, to make the math work, adds another 4" to both length and width from my initial design.  But it just wasn't going to look right if the dark blue framing the center panel was only used in that one spot!  So here's the quilt as it stands right now:

The top and bottom dark blue strips got pinned on, but I decided a relatively early bedtime would do me good.  I'm actually quite pleased by how it's turning out - if I didn't know the first dark blue border was pieced, I would think it was part of the panel.

(And Wonderful Husband said that if he didn't know better, he'd think the whole thing was a panel!  Which I suppose means that my workmanship and color choices are good on this.)

Ornaments!

A semi-important anniversary: as of yesterday, Wonderful Husband and I have owned our home for ten years! *happy dance*  I love doubled-digit anniversaries (of which we have four) because they're nice and easy to remember.

This has been a week of ornaments!  So about a week ago I blogged about the Christmas ornament I made for my guild's exchange.

Then a couple days ago we got a box of Christmas presents from my talented sister-in-law (hi, Kate!) and in it was this:

It's all folded fabric.  Squares?  And the only fastenings I can see are some pins just at the top.  When I am slightly less stressed, I must find out how she made it, because it's fascinating and wonderful and I love it!

Then Tuesday night at guild, my friend Vicky gave me this:

Isn't it pretty?   I love how folding the double-sided circle of fabric just right gives the impression of a cape and collar.  And the wings are so soft!

And then, of course, there was the actual guild ornament exchange, in which twenty-one of us participated this year.  And I got this lovely folded-fabric hexagon/star:

Again, I want to study this and figure out how it was done!

In comparison to all of these, I feel like my miniature quilt block was, well, second-rate.  I just hope that whoever got it liked it.

Final Christmas Quilt, Go!

Squiddle has at various points asked for a Tinkerbell quilt, a pink quilt, and a quilt that is blue in the middle and pink on the outsides.  He does not want to help me design the quilt, he wants it to be a surprise.  And when it's done I should give it to Santa to give it to him.  So, with that in mind, here's my rough layout:

It will radiate out in concentric rings, starting from the left.  The Tinkerbell panel will be the center, with a narrow border of dark blue to bring it to the size I want.  The blue might be too dark - thoughts?  But that's followed by a border of 4" pink squares.  Scrappy, because I don't have enough of any single pink to make it work.  Then a narrow border of the purple fabric (which has coffee beans on it... ^_^;;), 4" of the coordinating Tinkerbell print, another narrow border of the purple, and a final border of scrappy 4" pink squares.  And I plan to bind it in green the color of Tinkerbell's dress.

If my math is right and the creek don't rise, it should finish out at 64x72"....

Lincoln's Got The Blues

I've got January's Block of the Month all ready to present at guild tonight.  I picked Lincoln's Platform in blues and a 10.5" finished size.  I did my samples up in three different blue/white-or-cream colorways, to get and give a sense of how the block might feel.  First, the "classic" color set:

And I just noticed that if I squint a little, it looks like the corners are each quarter Churn Dashes, sashed.  Hmm....

Next, I did it in a "conversation" fabric, the Dr. Who block I didn't like so well the other day:

And, finally, in a more muted color scheme, with an 80s/90s floral print jazzed up by the tiny gold glitter stars on the background fabric.

Red Stars At Morning

I finished the Round Robin! And I really, really like it, to the point of wishing I could keep it for myself!  I think I need to make another at some point (and maybe one for my mother as well, it's definitely got a Scandinavian feel to it)....

Betsy did the center star, which measures 12" square.  I added the corner stars, at 6" square each, and the sashing in between them (1" red/4" white/1" red so I remember later).  The colors in this photo are pretty spot-on, though the stripey red is actually a true red with thin white stripes, not a pink with red stripes.

I also got the first of the Block of the Month samples sewn up, using up a scrap of Dr. Who fabric I picked up at Costume College at some point.  I... don't like the block as well as I thought I would.  Wonderful Husband pointed out that might be due to the busy-ness of the fabric.  I'm going to sew up two more sample blocks in different colorways, so I'll see if he's right.  Regardless, I need to take a couple step-by-step photos for the handout.  I've got the text for that done, but I need to finalize the layout.

Red Stars At Night...

Well, Jazzy seems to be on the mend.  There was a third round of vomiting all over his bedsheets on Friday night after I wrote Saturday's post, but Saturday he actually ate food (some popcorn in the afternoon, and French fries at dinner) and it stayed down.  And the rash is healing up, even if the diarrhea isn't yet gone.

But!  Other than those charming health details on my youngest (which I provide here to record them, and because I know his grandmother reads this blog [hi, Mary!]), yesterday was spent working on the Round Robin project that's due at guild Tuesday night.  The center is a 12" Lemoyne Star, two reds on a white background.  So I'm making four 6" Lemoyne Stars to go in the corners, and some sort of sashing to go in between them.

Somehow the colors on this picture turned out very orange. Ignore that.  Both fabrics are actually a very pure red.

Fortunately, one of the quilting books that isn't packed away had the pattern I needed for this.  Less fortunately, it was the classic variation with set-in squares for the corners and set-in triangles for the sides.  Y-seams are more finicky than I want to deal with right now, so I'm happy that I know my triangle tool well enough that I could figure out how to split those squares and triangles and make the piecing easy on myself.

(I'm also happy that Betsy's block was also constructed that way, so I'm not taking the half-assed way out.  I'm matching her technique.)

Sicky Baby...

No photos today.  Jazzy spent most of yesterday feeling poorly.  A still not yet talking 2-year-old with diarrhea and a consequent rash is a pitiful thing to behold.  I even got thrown up on twice!  Fortunately, I had a sense the second volley was coming, so I got the two of us into the shower in time, making cleanup much easier.

Yeah, fun.

But at least he's been docile while sick rather than screaming or combative.  Still, I hope this passes quickly and he feels better soon.

And despite being a cuddle object most of the day, I did manage to get his Christmas quilt done!  Now I switch to Block of the Month and Round Robin mode for the weekend, and as soon as those two projects are done, I move on to Squiddle's Christmas quilt.

One other bright note, I finally did manage to order Bonnie Hunter's new book, String Frenzy, this morning!  And, as it came with a free download of her Hunter's Star variation, I got to read through that as well.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Jazzy's quilt is about done - five more minutes of quilting should finish it, and then binding, the label, and a wash.  Yay!

And Squiddle and I made some sugar cookies this afternoon during Jazzy's nap!

Also, remember that probably 1950s quilt top I got for free at the Orange Grove Quilt Guild meeting last month?  I finished its soak in Oxyclean, rinsed it several times, and hung it to dry in the shower while the rain poured outside:

The Oxyclean did what I hoped it would.  The age stains disappeared, and the more egregious marks also for the most part vanished.  For example, this stain:

Was reduced to this:

Miraculous, no?  However, there was one loss.  This block:

Well, all the color vanished from the fabric, and all that's left is this:

I'm trying to tell myself that it would have happened during washing of the finished quilt anyway.  No other blocks were affected.  This was a free quilt top.  It's not museum quality by any means.

But I need to decide is I'm going to leave it as is now, or find a suitable fabric and replace the block.  Thoughts?

Stars, and Stars of the Stage

Sorry, no post yesterday due to late night (OCQG evening board meeting) followed by an early morning (OGQG meeting).  But, with Wonderful Husband's aid, I did manage to get myself and the little boys up, dressed, and out the door to my parents on time, so I was able to get to the meeting on time, and sign up for the April workshop with Edyta Sitar.  Which hopefully I will not actually be here for!  But I'd rather be signed up and miss it than not be signed up and miss it, if that makes sense.

There was no speaker at the Orange Grove guild this month.  Instead, we were treated to a mini stage musical by The Pennyroyal Players. "Piecin' It Together" was hilarious, heartbreaking, and highly enjoyable.  If you ever have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it!

I have three things due at guild next week: Block of the Month, with all that entails, my part on the Round Robin challenge, and something for the ornament exchange.  That last one, at least, is now done:

It's a 3" block (each square and half-triangle is 3/4") that I got from issue 32 of Miniature Quilts.  Which was published in 1997.  Wow, the magazine is old enough to drink!  The block is definitely not perfect, and my hand-quilting is lamentable, but I put effort into it, stretched my skillset some, and it's done.

Two more guild things, and two more Christmas quilts, to go.  Jazzy's is under the needle being quilted right now, and Squiddle's... is still in the planning stages.

(I was going to do one for Wonderful Husband as well, but I'm taking mercy on my sanity and punting that deadline either to our anniversary or Valentine's Day.)

A Finish!

Autumn Colors is done, binding, label, and all!  Here it is laid out on the floor pre-washing:

And a beauty shot of the flannel on the back:

Post-washing, it finished up at 49.5" x 63.5".  So it may end up as a kidlet bed quilt.  Or it may live on the back of the sofa, offering a pop of seasonal color and something to snuggle under while watching the TV.

Things I learned: binding with batiks, the corners turn out nice and crisp!  Also, that I am slightly disappointed by the quality of the Robert Kaufman flannel I used for the backing.  Snuggly, yes, but also starting to pill up just a touch after just one wash!

But all in all, not a bad way to use up 78 four-patches that came into my possession from somewhere unknown....

Stars In Their Eyes

Everything Squiddle has been saying lately makes me think I'd best rethink my planned borders for his Tinkerbell quilt.  He wants something that's "blue in the middle and pink on the sides."  And a bedroom that is all pink, even the floor.  (My mother's response to that was that she had already done one pink bedroom, for us girls.  I remember that bedroom.  The strawberry pink we picked out was very... virulent.)  He also wants to be an old train engine, like Thomas, except pink all over.

Right.  Much more pink needed on that quilt....

But for today I got a bit more work done on Jazzy's quilt!

I got it all basted during Jazzy's (enforced) nap.  And clearly my math was off somewhere because I had no room to spare on the length of the backing and batting.  Still, it works, however barely!

I also got to do a bit more hand-stitching on the binding for Autumn Colors.  I'm on the last side!  I'm hoping I can get it finished tomorrow morning during Jazzy's speech therapy.  That way I could show it off at guild this week and next...

Seeing Stars

Ugh.  We had to be gone too early and for too long today because of three house viewings.  The timing threw off our groove and plans.  But at least we did get down to the Christmas event hosted by our realtor's company.  Squiddle got his picture taken with Santa Claus.  Jazzy flatly refused to have anything to do with it and would not come down from my or Wonderful Husband's arms.  How strange in some ways that a child who likes to run so free, is so mistrustful of strangers.

But this afternoon and evening I persevered!  While chili simmered on the stove for supper, I sewed and sewed and sewed.  And I got Jazzy's Galaxy quilt top done!

And after dinner, I got the rotary cutting supplies and flannel from the garage, and pieced together the back.  Tomorrow, if I'm lucky, I'll get to bring in the batting and make a quilt sandwich....

Watery Things

Yesterday we had the rare experience of a rainy day here in SoCal!  It was glorious.  Well, I say "day"... it rained in the morning, and then again in the evening.  It stopped before noon.  Which did make going to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific an easier drive.

Here are my boys with seal and sea lion tank in the background.  A big moment of hilarity was when a sea lion pooped right in front of us! But despite the implications of this photo, the aquarium was packed - at least half a dozen buses of schoolkids there.  I need to remember to go in the afternoon, not the morning.

And, since Wonderful Husband was working from home today, I got him to hold up the mermaid quilt for me.  It was 54"x66", but I measured it up after washing and drying and it's now 52"x63".  I'm also calling this "what you can make with five remnants from JoAnn's."  This is to be a Christmas present for Niecelet.

Now back to working on the Galaxy quilt....