Hita's Whimsy: February 2019

Friday, February 22, 2019

I'm excited over the Monticello slippers -

Just a quick blog update about these slippers.

Do I have to say "found on Pinterest" anymore?
The Monticello Slippers is from Pattern-Paradise.com. the pattern is offered free on the website with an option to purchase an ad-free version to download and print.
After the first pair, I determined that I will want to make these again and need the printable version. And at only $3, it's totally worth the purchase!!

Each slipper is made with doubled soles! Makes for great cushioning ☺️.

Then construction is side to side over the toe. This is probably the most difficult part of the pattern. But have faith in the pattern, follow the instructions and it works out perfectly!!

The next picture shows construction to the ankle. I'm so pleased with the shape. Btw, I'm making these in largest size, men's 13, for my brother.

The pattern offers 6 sizes ranging from women's 4-5 to men's 13-16.

I used yarn purchased at Michael's.

The sole is Red Heart's soft essentials - charcoal 131 yards bulky (5)

(there was a few yards left over after making soles for one pair of size 13 from this skein)

The top is Loops & Threads' Charisma Big - steel

328 yards bulky (5)

(I believe I could easily get two size 13s out of this skein)

I really couldn't resist stitching up a second pair!

This time the soles are made with Loops & Threads' Charisma Big - steel

328 yards bulky (5)

And the tops are Red Heart's soft essentials - purple reign stripe.

The varigated skeins have 110 yards. And though it's marked bulky, I feel it's closer to worsted weight.

One skein made the pair of women's size 7-9 slipper. I got lucky that the color repeat was nearly perfect to match.

Heh. If my blog sounds like a sales pitch, I assure you I haven't stepped in that direction (yet. I may look into the $$ for ads eventually, but for now I'm not set up that way.) When I get excited over a pattern or design I want to share my experience. I want to celebrate the designer! And also, making note of what supplies I use helps me and others make a similar product.
Lol 😊 that said... I'm willing to sell these purple slippers for $20 + shipping if necessary. Anyone want them? 😉

Thursday, February 21, 2019

I never know when inspiration is going to get me!

I was invited to join a mini retreat at the beginning of Feb. Some of my quilting friends wanted a couple extra nights to set up sewing machines and enjoy undisturbed sewing before the Mississippi Quilter's Association (MQA) Spring Gathering.

The usual plan at a retreat is to take a project or several projects and the goal is to have considerable progress, perhaps even finished tops, by the end. I took a few projects. I had to finish up Define Good. It just needed a bit more hand quilting. I didn't think to take the binding fabric with me. Once the quilting was done and the quilt trimmed I couldn't continue further until returning home.

hahah, my next pic is from March 2018. I'm embarrassed to show my design wall three projects deep. The burgundy quilt top sitting on the little design board on the floor is pretty much done now. I'm deciding what kind of borders I want to finish with. I'm leaning towards a simple 10" wide burgundy. Then to decide how to quilt it... that's probably what is stopping progress, if I'm being honest. (However, the small design board now holds christmas blocks made with the X block template... just to let you know that I didn't really clear the area. 🤔)

The first layer on the wall design wall is my Wonky Block Fractured quilt. Progress has been halted because I took on other stuff this year. It's a project that needs undivided attention. Thirteen more wonky blocks that require special fabric choices to make it LOOK like I just randomly threw everything together. I'll admit I'm kind of intimidated to continue.

The middle project is what I took with me to the mini retreat. It's a top that was inspired from.... did you guess?.. yes, Pinterest! It was a pin from Amy Friend's blog - During Quiet Time. The quilt pattern is Interlock in modern patchwork, That link takes you to her blog if you want to the pattern. I drafted my own.

However, I never dug this project out of the bag at the mini retreat.

I also took with me a tote bag full of crumbs. Crumbs are the tiny pieces some quilters usually throw into the wastebasket. My quilting friends have given me many crumbs over the last couple years. My sewing room is getting over run by them. So as a mini retreat project I thought I would organize a bunch by trimming/cutting them up for my scrap system.

I found that most of the crumb pieces were already too small to trim for the scrap system. So I started piecing them into 2.5" crumb blocks. It's very relaxing to mindlessly put two pieces of fabric together and sew.

However, it seems mindless sewing wasn't going to last for long. I put together one flying geese block just for the fun of it. I couldn't bear to trim it down to the 2.5" measurement. And it grew into a wonky flying geese strip about 6.5" long.

One of my quilting friends, Judy Stokes, is a flying geese enthusiast. I walked over to her sewing station to show her my work. Next to her was Brenda Crownover's sewing station. Brenda does exquisite needleturn applique and hand quilting. She made a needlecase to carry some of her smaller quilting supplies. That needlecase became my inspiration! (I'm going to try to remember to get a picture of it and edit it in here later.)

My flying geese strip was close enough to the width of her needlecase.

Once I had a purpose, there was no stopping! This looks like a pile of mess, yet there is a method here that was working well for me and it was all coming together lightspeed!

Ok, sitting behind my sewing machine IS a pile of mess. There is a "too small" for me. The pieced rectangle will not be thrown but the rest of it made it's way to the garbage bin.

My friend Ebba Kellum gave me a piece of batting so I could continue with the quilting. And I finished my needle case the next day!! It's a beautiful reminder of the mini retreat at Lake Tiak O'Khata, MS with my wonderful friends!

I love the way it folds up and sits close by. Now my task is to fill it with useful take along quilting supplies!

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

"Define Good" - for the Mountain Quiltfest 2019 Guild Challenge

I had just enough time after finishing Whimsy's Doodles to stitch up a Christmas wallhanging!

My quilt guild, The Possum Town Quilters, participates in the guild challenge at The Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge.

Guilds are either given a theme or allowed to choose a theme within a theme. This year the theme from A Mountain Quiltfest was "choose a national holiday." And PTQ chose Christmas.

I thought I had an easy go with my Christmas quilt. I was going to finish this braided table runner that I made in a class with Watana Cantrell at the Wanna Bees in Vernon, AL.
I mean, it's already pieced! All I needed to do was trim, put a border on, sandwich it, and quilt! It's practically done, right?! But I wasn't inspired.

Instead, I looked at Pinterest.... I know, I KNOW! I mention Pinterest in just about every update. Ahhh, but there are so many great ideas out there! I revisited my quilts - Christmas theme board and saw the Dear Santa Wallhanging just waiting for me to realize that's what I had to do all along.
Unfortunately, I can't put in a link to the source because the website link is broken. The pattern is "Dear Santa Wallhanging" from Sew Happy Me quilt blog by Lesley Boost. She can be found on FB too, SewHappyMe. In a recent FB post she mentions that she's working on the website, so hopefully it will be fixed soon and I'll come back and add a link.

I dug out my fabrics. Tried this one and that one. How is it possible reds can clash so strongly with other reds? Seems that any red should be complimentary with another red, right?
But I was happy that I could pull all the border from my 2.5" scrap pile. I ended up having to run to the store for the main stocking fabric. I didn't have any large red and white check and I felt that's what was going to make the quilt.

I would have loved to needle turn applique this but again I was looking at a deadline. I opted for fusible applique and buttonhole stitching with black embroidery floss. It was a quick project.

Until I decided I had to hand quilt it as well (my poor fingers still weren't recovered from Whimsy's Doodles!) See, I had ordered a holly stencil at the same time that I had ordered the outside border stencil for Whimsy's Doodle. And now seemed the perfect time to use it!
Now looking at it, I like the holly along the bottom of the sock here.

After quilting it all the way around, the holly seems to get lost. If I make this wallhanging again, I'll only have the lower part with holly and maybe quilt a 1" cross hatch on top.

I'm pleased with the finished result. Made for my contribution to the PTQ guild quilt challenge 2019. And this quilt I'm keeping for myself.

"Define Good'

made and handquilted by Naomi Perry

Feb. 2019

By the way, this is the fourth PTQ guild challenge i have participated in!

#1 - 2015

Beauty of the South.
It was actually made for the Ultimate Guild Challenge not the Mountain Quiltfest guild challenge but I'm including it anyway as it was the PTQ guild challenge that year.
It is one of my pride and joys and has won a few awards in the following years.

#2 - 2017

Ostentatious was given away in a blog giveaway soon after Mountain Quiltfest.
The challenge was Black and White and one other color.

The Ostentatious blog update tells you how it came about.
I also blogged the guild challenge at mountain quiltfest with pictures of all the PTQ participants.

#3 - 2018

Whimsy's Wish
It's an adaptation of a Barbara Cline Cookie Cutter design.
I blogged about the Another Mountain Quiltfest week but briefly mentioned Whimsy's Wish.
I'm surprised I didn't blog about it. Whimsy's Wish reminds me of wishing on the first evening star for happiness over 23 years ago. And my Heartbeat danced into my life!

Ahhh. It's definitely been a fun look down Memory Lane!

Here's hoping for more guild challenges for many years to come!

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Whimsy's Doodles becomes an heirloom.

Ahhhh. It's been forever since I've updated! Almost my entire focus has been on the Whimsy's Doodles quilt. I have to warn this is a lengthy update, so if you are tired of hearing about Whimsy's Doodles, you should skip this blog post, or just scroll through and look at the progress pics 😉.

Jan 28, 2019
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Feb 11, 2019
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This picture taken with my phone camera doesn't do it justice. I thought I had a photo of the whole quilt without fold lines 😏. I may return later and edit a better pic in when I get the quilt back in March. But I can't wait until then to publish this update!
No worries! I have plenty of progress photos!!

It all started as a creative free form exercise. I blogged about starting in Doodles with needle and thread.

Sept 25
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I have to admit it was very awkward for me. I thought I was going to make a few wavy lines for my first stitches, but a triangle formed instead. I just went with it and continued with a few rounds. Then formed wavy lines around it.

Then the curly cue! I have no idea what happened there. My needle and I were not having the same vision at all!! Oh, it hurts how awkward it looks!! But one of my rules for this exercise was that I would not be taking any stitches out once they were in. So these crazy shapes stayed. (I eventually dismissed this rule because of the possibility of entering into competitions.)

And I decided to name my needle Whimsy. Stitching became a partnership between us. And in a way, it seemed to give myself permission to let go of the need for a plan and hand the doodling to her.

I guess we have to use what ever process we need to turn off the rational planning side of our brain and turn the creative side loose!!

Whimsy works for me!!

Sept 26. 2018
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Sept 26, 2018
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We came to an understanding...

We fell into a rhythm...

Sept 29, 2018
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I didn't want to put my needle down.

Sept 29, 2018
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Whimsy was on a roll.

Sept 29, 2018
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Oct 1, 2018
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Oct 2, 2018
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In less than a week, but many hours of stitching, Whimsy and I were progressing nicely.

Oct 2, 2018
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Oct 5, 2018
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Oct 6, 2018
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hahah, I'm trying to give you a break and not include ALL my pictures, just a select few. But, you know how it is. Watching the blank space being filled one doodle at a time. I was amazing myself. My stitches were turning into a piece of art!! And it's coming from within me!

....are you getting a feeling that I was getting a bit full of myself about now?

Oct 8, 2018
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Everything wass working well. I wanted to try something different. Like a spiral seperate from the previous stitches. It was ok...

Oct 9, 2018
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..until I kept adding stitches. And the spiral was becoming flat.

Oct 15, 2018
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I couldn't figure out what exactly had me unsatisfied. I didn't know how to fix it. So I moved to the other side and continued with petal flowers. (Later, I went back and took stitches out. That helped bring some dimension back. Lesson for me here, sometimes more is just more, not merrier or better.)

Oct 17, 2018
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But creativity wasn't really flowing. I think it was around this time I had already decided I would enter Whimsy's Doodles into competition, but I hadn't decided which category. The choices were miniture - less then 24" or small hand quilted - over 30".
The indecision prevented progress.

Oct 29, 2018
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Yet I stubbornly kept trying to continue stitching... unsuccessfully, I might add.
I browsed (desperately scoured is probably more descriptive) Pinterest for inspiration!!

saved to my phone on Nov 6, 2018

The result is that I don't have many pictures between Oct 29 to Dec 10. Stitching was probably at a minimum. Along with my indecision, I also has more pressing life obligations, mom duties, upcoming Christmas parties, and homemade Christmas gifts to go with those parties... other things had to be priorities...

Nov 19, 2018
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.... like Prince. He's probable telling me, "that's enough with the quilting, Mom! time to CUDDLE!"

Nov 24, 2018
obligatory cat pic

December. I finally decided to enter in the small hand quilted category which meant I had to add more fabric. Which meant I had to figure out some borders... with a deadline fast approaching!

Dec 10, 2018
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I used wax paper to help me visualize. In the end, I decided to keep it as simple as I can with a small 2" blue border and then a wider white outside border.

Dec 10, 2018
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I also had to add batting! Since I had started with a scrap of batting that happened to be the right size to fit in the quilting hoop. It was hard to match more to it because I didn't know where the batting came from. (Lesson here, keep batting bags to store left overs in so I'll know what brand and content and ...)

Oh wellI, I managed and the result is not bad.

Dec 12, 2018
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Notice the mitered corners?

Dec 12, 2018
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Time to get quilting again! I turned it over to Whimsy and away we went!

Dec 13, 2018
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...many 10 hour days... with a beeswax thread conditioner heart made by my brother Nathaniel Hernandez.

Dec 14, 2018
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Every free second of the day was spent doodling. I was even dreaming doodles! I couldn't stitch fast enough.

Dec 14, 2018
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... reaching the first corner was joyous!

Dec. 17, 2018
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I learned that I tend to think in small scale. The problem is that hand stitching doesn't lend itself well to very fine details. Details get lost in close stitching, like the swirl in the center of this next doodle. In the future I'll have to work on enlarging my scale. Still, I'm pleased with this doodle.

Dec 17, 2018
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Time for something with a more organic feel. ...ummm, again I saw clumsy. I was determined to embrace the imperfection and hoped it would blend in as the stitching continued...

Dec 21, 2018
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That first corner took a whole day to fill in.... 10 hours! With that as a gauge, I calculated that it would take 60 more hours to fill in the center!! my brain was screaming "DEADLINE, DEADLINE, DEADLINE!!!"

Dec 23, 2018
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Making it to the second corner was a huge relief. I'm wasn't really keeping track of time. Another lesson here, if I ever do this again I will keep a log of stitching hours. This would be for my own benefit, also, the first thing everyone asks is "how much time have you put into this?"

Dec 26, 2018
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I'm also going to have this quilt appraised. It'll be good to know the value for future reference and insurance purposes. Part of the appraisal form asks for how many hours to complete the project. There are many reasons to keep track!

Dec 28, 2018
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Eventually, (if it's God's will), it will be given to my first grandbaby (who is still just a dream at the moment.) I need them to know the value.

Dec 28, 2018
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Even New Years Eve was spent stitching!

Cheers!

Happy New Years 2019!

Dec 31, 2018
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Touched the third corner!! So close soooo close!! It's very encouraging.

Jan 2, 2019

And the final corner! I do admit, I used bigger motifs. They blended in well though and you can't really tell.

Jan 4, 2019
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Onto borders!!! My thoughts were that these would stitch up faster because I wasn't doodling anymore. I did draft my own cable to fit the blue border. I drew it onto interfacing and pressed a herra marker over the interfacing to transfer the lines to the quilt. I thought it worked pretty well. There's a bit of an imperfect flow to the cable that pleases me. (I am trying hard to embrace imperfection as perfect in my own work. It's very liberating!)

Jan 5, 2019
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Jan 8, 2019
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I found running nine lines at a time quite fun. It took six days to go around the first border. It seemed forever and my fingers were getting sore but there's no time to stop.... because.... "deadline!"...

Jan 11, 2019
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Outside border. I had ordered stencils online from the Stencil Company. I was so happy to see this design was perfect as is for the outside border and there wasn't any need for major alteration. The most that was needed was stretching the motif connections a 1/4", which isn't noticable at all!

Jan 11/2019
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Jan 17, 2019
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The outside border is the only place I allowed myself to use ink marking. I used the blue pens with ink that disappears by spraying water on it. However, the water apparently just spreads the ink. So when the water dried the ink reappeared where the edge of the water had pushed it. It caused a little bit of concern for me. Thankfully, when the whole quilt was submerged in water and washed there were no signs of the blue ink at all. phew!!