Two more pieces

So, if you have picked up on some of my cryptic writings lately, I can finally tell you what's up.

I'm moving from Mississippi to Texas in just a few weeks!!

I am a tad overwhelmed with the task of getting our house in order for the packers to come in and do their thing. But we have been through this twice before (from CO to WA, then WA to here) and once packing ourselves and moving down the street.

All will be fine.

Because I've been preparing my sewing room for the move, I found my 5" embroidery hoop! It was a great help in this evening stitching.

Also, TAST's creator Sharon Boggons has a wonderful Stitch Dictionary on her website Pintangle.  That's where I found how to stitch this star called Algerian Eye.

The second piece was simply the stem stitch.

I felt it needed just a little extra. 

I think french knots are excellent filler stitches.

Ok.gotta get some sleep. 

I'll be back with more sometime soon.

Thanks for visiting!

Transformations

I'm really loving how a bit of color seems to change the fabric. 

Here I have green embroidery floss, and stitching lazy daisy flowers, french knots...

I threw in some backstitching...

More french knots to finish.

To help me think up stitches, I have been referencing the TAST - Take A Stitch Tuesday webpage.

This one is a lock stitch.  Stitched with two strands light blue embroidery floss, then locked with a green hand quilting thread.

It's just too fun seeing the transformation!!

Two strands embroidery floss for this stem stitch.

Testing continues...

I picked up Gutermann topstitching thread yesterday thinking that it would be thinner than 2 strands of embroidery floss.

I was surprised at how thick it is!

I wasn't too sure about this topstitching thread.

But... Maybe I just need to let it work it's own charm.

I do like the hand quilting thread. This red zigzag happens to be Gutermann quilting thread.

The purple is Coats Cotton machine quilting thread. It is slightly softer than the Gutermann quilting. But there's not much difference in stitching.

None of these threads were made for hand embroidery. It's quite fun taking something intended for one thing and letting it shine in a different light.  I wonder what serious hand embroiderers would say about this? Am I breaking all the rules in that category of needle work too?

Test, test. One, two, three...

Some stitches from today.

I might be warming up to the embroidery floss.

The quilting thread allows finer detail.

I really liked the zigzag stitch,

2 strands embroidery floss.

Of course, the quarter is for size reference.

I'm pleased with this experimental test sample.

I'd like to make it big enough for a table mat, 15" or 20" square.  Then throw the finished piece into the wash to see how those raw edges fray and fuzz up.
It'll take a while to get there. I'll keep you updated on the progress.
Thanks for visiting!

Embroidery applique?

Embroidery applique...

I don't know if it already exists.

I've been playing with this idea in my head for a long time... A very long time. 

I haven't tried it because all the quilting "rules" say "No!"

But quilting is so much different than 20 years ago. Even different that 10 years ago, 5 years ago!!

More and more we quilters are kicking those "rules" to the curb. We don't need them anymore (😝)

I have company coming in less that two weeks. I had started to put my sewing room in some kind of presentable order.  I managed to refold one stack of fabric and place into the shelves.

Then I saw the newest pile of "crumbs" that were created while I prepared strings for the Honeycomb project...

K, what better way to "organize" that mess than to sew them down!  (And just like that, picking up is done for the day.  Maybe I can just keep the door closed while SIL is here.)

It's going to be a small test sample.

Combining raw edge applique

With embroidery stitches

I like the stitches better in the daintier quilting thread than the chunkier 2 strands of embroidery floss. (Plus I think the quilting thread will wear longer.)

And in a "Ticker Tape" style using all those small pieces of fabric I just can't throw out!

I wrote about the Ticker Tape quilt in Unexpected Joys blog update Nov'17.

The difference is that I'm stitching only onto the top fabric and not onto a quilt sandwich with batting and backing. I want to hand quilt between all the pieces. 

Though, even with knots, the backside looks kinda cool.

I'm thinking the thickness of the batting won't allow me to get the stitches small enough to secure these tiny pieces. Perhaps that can be another experiment with bigger scraps sometime in the future.

But for now, I need to go review some embroidery stitches and see which ones will work best for applique.

Wishing you all the best!

Because I don't have enough going on...

So today I made videos for the Wanna Bees like I'm not swamped with tasks up to my eyeballs both in quilting and in life in general.  (I'm obviously avoiding the inevitable.)

Watana, the queen bee of the Wanna Bees, has requested that we make a quilt to be sold and the money donated to help with medical costs for a certain young girl battling leukemia.

The pattern Watana has chosen is Road to Oklahoma by the Go! Qube.  She cut all the blocks out with her Go! cutter, then handed them out to us to assemble.

I was having difficulty making my blocks do what the directions said... I was getting a counter-clockwise swirl when the instructions said it was a clockwise swirl. ( I'll admit, I had started with my own assemble and was taking shortcuts through the directions.)

In the end, it wouldn't really matter which way the swirl was rotating, but I had to figure it out.  I also thought it would be a good opportunity to try out making video tutorials. (It's not exactly easy, by the way.) And I hoped I might help my fellow Wanna Bees in assembling the blocks.

First was laying out the pieces:

Then assembling the 4 patch:

....well darn! I thought I'd be able to add the videos to this blog update but it looks like there's a file size limit and my videos are too big.

At least I was able to upload the initial one, so you get a sort of "preview."

Anyway, in the end, everything turned out exactly the way the instructions stated. Lol, isn't it funny how following directions works that way? 😝.

I over thought the details. However, it's all good because I tried my hand at video tutorials! And maybe a Whimsy Hita YouTube channel might be a possibility in my future! (...but, more advanced in my future, because, you know... those tasks I'm avoiding!!...)

This Quilter's process

The final border on the PTQ Medallion challenge is rectangles.

After sketching a few ideas and thinking what colors to use, I finally came up with the design.

I decided the rectangles should be 1.5"X 4" finished.  Yes, I decided that measurement first then figured the triangles. (Triangles were 7" squares cut twice on the diagonal for 4 quarter triangles. This kept the long edge on the straight of grain instead of a stretch bias.)

I was so thrilled about this border that I didn't take pics of piecing.  If anyone expresses interest in how it was done, I'll recreate the process in pics for another blog update.

I hadn't decided how I was going to do the corners yet.   First was the task of calculating the sashing between the previous border and this one. It was a bit daunting because the corner ends with a triangle.

It became apparent that a little extra would be needed in the purple zigzag.  So, out came the seam ripper.  

Once the parts were removed, I trimmed the corner so the zag would perfectly line up on the intersection.

Next calculation is the corner. It will be a large triangle in the love bird fabric.  According to this next pic, it's slightly off from being perfectly square, but it will be an easy fix with an over sized triangle that gets squares up after it's attached.

The next border is my choice, if I want to make this quilt larger (and I do.)

I'll finish the corners tomorrow and think about the next border design. 

I have no idea what I'll think up next, but it's all in this quilter's process! We'll have to wait and see 😝.

Keeping busy

I've been busy over the last four days!

I'm working on a few projects at the same time.  The Baby Girl Replacement is all pieced together with borders. I need to sandwich it then it'll be ready for quilting.  I'm kind of stumped there though. I haven't decided a quilting design.  An all over stitch would be the easiest, but I keep seeing circles in those pin wheels. I can't decide!

And what do I do when I get stuck? Of course I switch gears to distract my mind from over thinking.  So I continued string piecing for the upcoming Wanna Bee "Honeycomb" class this Thursday.

I am so in love with this process!!
Just chain piecing to my heart's content. Almost no thinking or analyzing, no planning what's next, no measuring or calculating.
I love the scrappiness!! It's so tempting to sew those colorful strips together!

However, I am looking forward to making these Honeycombs. The pattern suggests light colored cream fabrics for the centers and background.  That wasn't thrilling me too much.  Instead I envisioned a light soft blue for the background.
I didn't have enough light soft blues in my stash. And that meant a trip to the quilt shop. It's an hour's drive from my house. Thankfully, one of my PTQ guildmates wanted to go on a road trip with me. Having company makes the trip shorter.

Main Street Fabrics in Ackerman, MS did not disappoint!!

I got 1/4 yard cuts is several light blues.
And now this stack of fabrics is pre-washed and ready for cutting!

I also couldn't resist some clearance fabrics to add to my stash! I have no idea what I'll do with them yet but I couldn't leave them.

I've also worked on the PTQ Medallion Challenge. The final border required rectangles. I drafted the rectangles to make a zigzag and thought the assembly was going to require partial seams. But aside from the beginning block needing to be a partial seam, a braid assembly technique worked out perfectly for the rest of the strip.

I still have to do the calculations for the sashing and corners.  I plan to have it together and ready to show at the PTQ meeting on Saturday!

And apparently, I craved some crochet action.  I saw a new-to-me stitch and had to try my hand at it.  

Bavarian stitch looks complicated. But it's a two row repeat and becomes quite addicting.

I had picked up two skeins of Caron Cakes self-striping yarn that was being clearance at Michael's.  I'll see how big of an afghan that will make. I may have to add solids, but I'll wait to see.

I'm loving the texture.

And, I spoke too soon! 

I said the Stash Tools were the only rulers that had the glow feature.

I noticed it on the Omnigrid ruler too.  I was amused with my reaction to myself, "well, shut my mouth. This one glows too."  

Hahahaha, does anyone I know really use that saying? Where did I pick it up!?!

Listen to the voices...

The center of Baby Girl Replacement is all stitched together!

It's 33" wide as it is.  I like baby quilts to be at least 36"x45".   I'm going to add a 1/2" solid teal stopping border, then one of the prints for a 3" outside border.  With luck, I'll be ready to sit at the "George" for quilting tomorrow!

So, while piecing these blocks, I was getting quite pleased with myself because I wasn't using pins to line up the Pin Wheel intersections. And they were coming out pretty well.  I took a count of how many I had done. There were Fourteen! 

Fourteen blocks that came together on the first try. I was almost literally patting myself on the back. Only 6 more blocks to make (oh, and the tiny Pin Wheel bonus blocks.)

And then the 15th block happened...

It's a little skewed. 

Truth is it's not horrible.

But I know it's there and I can't leave it like that.

As I was unstitching the seam my mom's comment from a recent conversation echoed in my head. 

"You're a perfectionist!" 

We were talking on the phone, but I could hear the pride. From the sound of her voice I could see her expression, 

eyes shining with admiration, 

A smile that reflects her compliment,

Also her wonder that I take extra care at certain points in my process.

I love that she thinks so about my work,

But I can only partially accept the compliment.

I deny being a perfectionist. I could point out a number of imperfections in any one of my pieces.  .. Then I think, "maybe that's what a perfectionist does. Always see the imperfections." Lol, then maybe I am a perfectionist. Ugh, my head goes in circles.

I rather think I am PARTICULAR about certain things, like burying the threads in Sweet's quilt.  I'm afraid I gave the impression that i bury threads like that in every quilt.  I don't! It was just my process on THAT quilt.  My process of working through my youngest leaving home. Every quilt is different.

So far, on Baby Girl Replacement, my "particular" thing was those bonus blocks.  I paid for 5" squares of fabric. I just can't discard those bits of fabric! Not if something can be made with them!!

I sewed the pieces I had just unstitched back together.  Looked at the seam intercession. And it was still off.  I had to do it over again.

Another voice echoed into my thoughts. It was from many years ago, a quilting friend. She said, "I'll restitch 3 times. If I can't correct it by that third time, it's just going to have to live that way and I'll move on." That was really good advice.

Thankfully, my pieces stitched up pretty well this time.

I think "hearing voices" isn't a bad thing, right?

Back in my Whimsy Groove

Yes! 

I want to thank you, my readers. Thank you for being there. You may be silent, and that's ok.  I know you're there 😘.

My last blog update was therapeutic for me and I guess very inspiring as well.  I was able to clear my head and refocus. I see an opportunity ahead, but first I need to get a few of these recent projects moving along. Hopefully, the next couple weeks will be full of stitching frenzy!

I decided on a pattern for the replacement of Baby Girl quilt for my Heart's co-worker.  It's called "Going Dutch" by Amanda Wilbert of Pieced Just Sew. It's offered as a free pattern on the Moda Bakeshop site - Going Dutch by Amanda Wilbert.  The pattern is written for a larger size and requires 4 charm packs. I am going to use the Tula Pink charm pack I just picked up during my recent trip.  Combining it with a solid should make it enough for a baby quilt.

Here's my start on Half Square Triangles.

I really love those happy colors of the Tula Pink collection.  Here's all the squares pressed and ready for trimming.

I pulled this ruler out of the package because the size was just about right.  I had purchased it as part of a template kit to make a wedge pattern. (I hope to get around to making one some day.)

I was surprised by the glow in the dark markings that were showing up in the shadows. It was quite helpful and I wish all my rulers had this feature!

Templates are from a small company based in Huntsville, AL. I don't think they have a brick and mortar store at the moment. They do have an online store, https://www.stashtools.com/

While insomnia struck, I put the time to use by sewing the corners with sew and flip technique as per the instructions.

By time I was ready to sleep, I had a few blocks made up.

But I am especially pleased with my bonus blocks (not part of the instructions.)

Those little 2" pin wheels are made from the corner that's trimmed off.  But the trick is to sew that seam before trimming.

I don't know what I'm going to do with those tiny bonus pinwheel blocks, but don't you think they are super Whimsy groovy?!!

And to add to all that stitching, I have also drafted the next border for the Possum Town Quilt Guild Medallion quilt challenge!! The requirement for this last border is that it must contain rectangles.  The assembly will be tricky, but I think partial seams should take care of that.

Honestly, tons of ideas have been racing through my head since the last blog update.  However, I realize now is a very good time to stay focused and stick with the plan. But how fantastic is it to have my Whimsy Hita groove back!!