Feel the Force!!

My son is my biggest fan.  He brags about my works to anyone that will listen.  He also encourages me to branch out and push myself.  This time he convinced me to accept a commission....  a quilt for a toddler with a Star Wars theme.

I was just piecing this calico and turquoise quilt top using the Quick Curve Ruler.  I am so fascinated how easy it is to piece these gentle curves.  I wanted to continue and experiment more with the technique...

I fussy cut some of the Star Wars prints...

And decided this quilt needed a center medallion.  I drafted a 20" Empire's emblem to applique.

At this point, I still didn't have much of a plan.  But I had enough pieces to lay out.

I love when a plan starts falling together!!

.... And then my son mentions that the emblem looks odd. That it would look better if the red wasn't popping out from the black background...🙄

So I re-made the center medallion using reverse applique.... And I'll admit he was totally right!

Lol, can you tell the difference?? 😜

Here, I'm so close to a finished quilt top. There's been lot of lessons learned! The Quick Curve technique does not necessarily lend itself to precise stitching.  (In the calico and turquoise top, blocks are made oversized then trimmed to correct size.)  I don't doubt that it can be perfected, but it's going to take more figuring and more accurate ruler work.  Still, I'm pleased.

I was quite happy to get to the quilting stage. Since this is intended to be a toddler quilt and will hopefully get lots of love, it's going to need a good amount of quilting. So the top is first quilted with a muslin backing because it's going to get covered any way. 

Next the soft Minky fabric is attached with a minimal amount of quilting, just enough to prevent stretch and minimize stress on the binding stitches.

Minky makes the quilt feel luxurious!

Completed in time to be displayed at the Old Man River quilt show.  Lol, I put a $500 sale price on it, simply because I haven't seen many StarWars quilts AND because I can nearly guarantee there will NEVER be another quilt like this one.

Thank goodness there weren't any offers, because....

I sold it as commissioned for $170.

And no matter which side of the Force you prefer,
Whether your Rebel at heart or lean to the Dark Side,

Seeing how happy this little guy is with his quilt makes me all warm and fuzzy!!! 😄💕

this week...and every week...

This week... 

My friend C.C. has invited me to use her long arm quilting machine.  She is a beginner just like me.  However, she is an artist, and her drawing and painting experience gives her an exceptional start at free motion quilting.  We get an early start on Mondays because the building we work in isn't air conditioned. Luckily, most days there's a nice breeze that gives me some relief.  

We've been mostly just practicing on muslin to get a feel for the machine. These sample pieces are a combination of hers and my stitching.  I'm not going to tell you which of us did what, you could probably already guess 😋.

 

This Monday I brought over one of the charity quilts to do "real" practice on. 

 

You might recognize that blue fabric.  I had left over strips from trimming the backing away from "Midnight Sails" made by the Maple Street Charity quilters.  I had just enough of a black and white large Hawaiian print in my stash that was perfect with the black and white palm trees. (Quilting was done in 3 hours. I'm not sure if that's good timing for a 45" x 60" or not. but it's a whole lot faster than hand quilting!!)

 same blue fabric but the quilts look so different!

On Tuesday I got a purple streak 😊

Wednesday is for Maple Street Charity quilting.

I love the "quilting bee" feel of sitting around the frame and talking as we stitch!

Lawana and Judy work on tops to keep us hand stitchers busy.

Thursday is usually a Starkville Hooper's day, but once a month I join the Wannabe ladies in Vernon, AL.  (There's just not enough days in the week!!)  Watana Cantrell is the amazing hostess/instructor of this group.  She has us working on a sampler star quilt.  It is set up block-of-the-month fashion, except up until now we've been making 2 blocks each month.  I missed the July class due to being in CO at the time.  I'm 2 blocks behind. That's ok, I'll catch up by next month I'm sure.

today's block makes 7 ... I'm not so sure about these colors anymore... Here's hoping the alternate blocks will pull it all together!

We also started making fidget quilts for dementia/Alzheimer nursing home patients. Unfortunately I got caught up in my work I forgot to take pictures of my progress. It seems I've gone with a Leather and Lace theme. I promise to get a pic next month.

What I did get a picture of was the how clever it is to use those little strips of batting that are trimmed off quilts just before attaching the binding. Often times these strips are thrown into the trash.

It's easy to straighten the edges and butt them together, then stitch with a zigzag and use the new bigger piece for smaller projects like these fidget quilts. Perfect!!

alright, it's not a great picture, here are 3 strips, a 4"+8"+6", joined together to make a piece that approx 18" x 24" which is a perfect size for the fidget quilts! (run on sentence? sorry!)

And this evening I picked up this project again (finally!!). 

I'll admit there some steps in quilting that I do not care for... 

burying threads would be one of them. And now this task is behind me, "YAY!"

The next daunting task was printing some memory pictures onto fabric for the back of this quilt.  For the past three years I've been doing all my internet activities from my phone, even this blog.  It was working just fine for me that way, except for special printing jobs, I'd have to run to my Sweetling to do it from her computer.  Thankfully, she set everything up so I can log into my accounts while she's away at school during the week.  Now, I need to relearn all the programs that will make my life on the computer easier 😆.

Also this week, I made a facebook page, Hita's Whimsy, to post items that I have been inspired to make and that are available for purchase. I believe I've got paypal ready to accept payments... 

This is a huge step for me and an incredible learning process.  What I need is someone who's already done this type of thing to talk me through it!! Or just ask everyone to have patience as I figure it out.

And then finally Friday (which is still tomorrow for me because I haven't got to bed yet), I'll have my Sweetling home for the weekend!!  Saturday is Parents Day at MSMS.  We are looking forward to it!!

So, except for Tuesday, this is my typical week.  Seems to be a LOT of quilting going on!  😁💖

Loosening the apron strings...

... this has been all my focus for weeks now, still not much quilting going on...

My daughter has earned herself enrollment into the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS).  It's a residential high school for Juniors and Seniors.
The application process to be selected as a student is VERY rigorous. There are several steps that include deadlines, proof of high gpa, taking the ACT, writing essays and a personal narrative, providing work samples, and obtaining teacher and counselor recommendations!! It's a long list!  The only thing I'm aware of helping her with is proof reading her essays and driving her to the school to turn the application in.  She truly earned enrollment herself!
Well, we just moved her into the dorms this past Saturday.  Thankfully, she had a few projects she wanted to do in the days preceding move in day. She had me sew up a floor pillow out of canvas material.  It was the first time back at my sewing machine in about a month!  I forgot to get a picture of the pillow 😏. But I did get several pictures of the pillow she embellished 😄.
It started out a plain white pillow..

 She went to Pinterest to get ideas on a design.  With a picture of a bicycle drawing displayed on her phone, she lightly pencil sketched it onto her pillow.... and jumped right into stitching as she learned embroidery stitches as she went...

 I love her "can do" attitude.  I want to be more like her!! She completed her project, from start to finish, in less than two hours!

 And look at those it itty-bitty flowers made with French knots and Daisy stitches!!

Of course, it's only been three days and I'm already missing my girl!!

... So... On top of my girl moving into a residential school, my son has also found a coding school he wants to attend, Eleven Fifty Academy.... It's three states away!!!
This causes so many mixed emotions for me.  He is our first born, the precious miracle that made me Mom!  From the moment I learned he was conceived I became a better person.
He's my biggest fan, always encouraging me to complete projects, to start selling my work, to take commissions, to get a PayPal account for receiving payments (I'm still working on this one, soon!)  My son tells me he's proud of me and my work!! I wonder how many mom's get to experience such praise from their young sons?
It's heartbreaking that he has to move so far away, but I celebrate that he has found inspiration to spread his wings. Above all emotions this mama has about letting go is that I'm extremely proud he's decided to take this huge step.
And guess what? He also had a project that involved using fabric... In an unexpected way!! The vinyl on the paneling in his car had pealed off.  He googled how to re-cover the unsightly paneling and confidently tackled the job!!

 It looks pretty good!!

Unfortunately, it was high noon, and I made him park in the shade. Which ended up being off the driveway and in the grass... Both of us now have tick bites up and down our legs 😫.  I guess that's the price to pay when deer are allowed to roam wild in the neighborhood.

I did complete one of my own projects!

Here's the knitted dragon scarf.  I'm quite pleased with it 🤗.  I hope the little guy receiving it thinks it's just as cool as I do.

And guess what?  With my apron strings loosened for her and practically completely untied for him, I'm back to quilting again!!

This scrappy red and white top was started at the Maple Street charity quilting group.  All the fabric came from donated scraps given to the group. So for me it's an experiment in mix and matching scraps. And I am discovering I'll need more practice because this looks a bit too busy for my taste!

(Don't look too closely, only half the blocks are sewn up, this is not the final layout.)

And I'm hoping to finish this cutie next 😄.