My problem child!

Whenever I'm quilting, I constantly have to move Lola around because she likes to sit on top of wherever I'm working, which causes a lot of problems.  Once I was cutting fabric and she swished her tail at me, almost making me cut her tail.  I nearly had a heart attack.  Another time, she sat on top of my sewing machine and jumped down unexpectedly, nearly getting her tail sewn in the process. 

Lola has decided that the sewing room is her domain and that she has to keep an eye on me, at the same time keeping the other cats out.  You can often hear me yell, "LOLA!!!!" at her antics whenever I'm sewing.  She probably thinks it's a term of endearment, she hears it so frequently!

 

But it's hard work trying to disrupt the sewing process.  Sometimes Lola has to rest, right in the middle of my ironing table!  LOLA!!!!

But no matter what trouble she causes, I adore this little girl and her brand of wreaking havoc! :)

It's been a while ...

Happy 4th everyone!

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  June is always one of the worst months for me at work, so there hasn't been much free time.  Whatever time I had, I worked on all the swap blocks that I committed to and for the first time, I was late on a couple of blocks.  It was not a good feeling!

You can check out my Flickr photostream to see the recent blocks that I've made.  I made over 60 blocks for the various swaps because for some of them, I had to make multiple blocks.

When I played hooky from making the blocks, I've been trying out a new technique with dyeing.  I saw a quilt in which the quilter used washable Elmer's glue gel as a resist for the dye, and it was beautiful!  A resist keeps the dye out of wherever it is applied so that you can apply different color dyes in the same area.  Once you wash out the glue, anywhere where it is applied stays the color of the original fabric. 

I tried to find a tutorial, but couldn't find anything that was detailed.  So I tried out what I thought was the process and tweaked it until I got the results I wanted.  Here is the most successful of my attempts:

I used Kona White as the base and applied the glue in a wavy grid pattern.  Once the glue dried, I painted each section with Dye-na-flow silk paint, which works like dye.  Some of the paint flowed into other sections, so I have to figure out how to fix that, but I really liked the white outline caused by the glue.  I want to try a drawing next to see how it goes. 

First, though, I need to get all the June swap blocks out of the way ... :)

Sewing Room - Finished!



My sewing room has been almost finished for a while, but it is only recently that all the finishing touches like painting, organizing supplies, etc. have been completed.  Here it is, small but packed!

View from the stairs:

The industrial serger that we have had for over 30 years.  This machine is sturdy!  It can serge any number of fabric layers easily, which is why we haven't replaced it.

I love peg boards, so I had a small one put in for the scissors and square rulers.  On the left is the magnetic bulletin board.

Wall shelving that holds my favorite quilt books, supplies, and sound system:

Since I'm involved in many bees/swaps, every month I write the name of each bee on a post-it.  The little post-its are individual blocks, and the larger ones are for the 3X6 quilting bee.  When I'm done with the block and it's packaged to go, I remove the post-it.  I love it when all the post-its are gone - it means that I finished the blocks for the month.  Now, if only I can stop signing up for new ones ...

My ironing table, which used to be one of my dad's work tables. It's not in the best condition, but has a strip of outlets in the back and is just the right size to hold the TV that I got for Christmas.

The smaller design board:

The pegboard that contains the majority of my tools and threads:

My two favorite sewing machines:

My scrap containers:

The shelf that contains my craft magazines and dyeing supplies.  It's also great for hanging smaller quilts:

The fabric closet that contains my current fabrics.  The shelves are 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep and fabrics are sorted in two rows on each shelf.  The containers have fabrics that are sorted by color and/or type and are 1/2 yards or less.

I love this space and try to spend as much time as I can in it.

Vote for me!

I've participated in Sew Happy Geek's Play Competition, and the voting has just started.  It's my Ghastlie Queen of Spades quilt (see post).  If you like the quilt, please vote for me!  I know that I'm shamelessly lobbying for votes, but it's my competitive nature. LOL. 

Actually, all the quilts are great, so visit the site to check them out anyway.  The link is:

) http://sewhappygeek.co.uk/index.php/2012/05/28/play-most-popular-linky-party-voting-starts-tuesday/

Enjoy!

Modern She Made Swap - Finished!

May's been a busy month!  I signed up for a bunch of swaps and didn't realize what I had committed to until I made a list and saw what had to be done.  What was I thinking????

Every spare moment I've had this month has been working on projects.  This quilt is one of them.  It's for the Modern She Made Swap, in which you make an item for a secret partner and I'm very happy with the end product.  My partner didn't have a preference on what item she wanted, and based on her Flickr photostream, she likes rainbow- colored quilts.  As a result, my choice of fabrics was pretty easy.  The only stipulation of this swap is that there needs to be something circular in the quilt.  I thought this was a good opportunity to practice the 6 minute circle.  I love this technique - it's so easy! 

I hope my partner likes this quilt because it's on its way to her country, with a few treats.  Enjoy!

Ghastlie Queen of Spades

I finally finished my entry for the Play - A Miniquilt Competition hosted by sewhappygeek.  For this competition, you select a playing card and interpret it in a miniquilt.  My entry is:

Close up of the spider web quilting:

The Ghastlie Queen of Spades, Mathilda Ghastlie, is attended by her niece, Cordelia.  I wonder why Cordelia needs a hammer?  Must be to knock the competition out of the way. ;)

The miniquilt was inspired by this version of the Ace of Spades image that I found on Google.  Is there anything you can't find on Google?

This card design was perfect to showcase the Ghastlie fabrics that I love.  In fact, I've been playing with the idea of hosting a Ghastlie art quilt swap with other Ghastlie aficionados.  Wouldn't that be ghastlie fun?  (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Just 3 for May!

Setting a quilty goals for the month was really helpful in getting some of the projects done.  I'll start with my new goals and then updates on the projects that I wanted to finally finish. 

My three goals for May are:

1.  Finish my Oh My Stars quilt.  As you can see, most of the blocks are done, and just have to be sewn together, as well as adding the sashing and border.  I haven't decided how to quilt it, but I'll be happy if the top is finally done!

2.  Finish the Quartered Log Cabin quilt.  I was the Queen bee for 2012 Modern Block Swap in November, and my bee-mates made such amazing blocks for me, with the exception of one person who never returned the block.  Hate when that happens. :(  The quilt will be a wallhanging for my living room, and the layout will be 5 X 3 blocks, so I have to make 2 more blocks to finish this wallhanging.  I plan to quilt this wallhanging and I hope to do so by the end of May.

3.  Finish the Retro Flower quilt.  I hope to finish this quilt within the timeframe of the quilt along.  At first, I was going to make only 12 blocks, but once I started, decided to make 16.  Unfortunately, I only cut enough fabric for 12 blocks, so I have to make the remaining 4.  I still haven't figured out how to quilt it, but like the Oh My Stars quilt, I'll just be happy if the top is done. 

Update for April's goals:

My three goals were to:
a) finish binding 3 wallhangings
b) finish my niece's quilt before she turned 1 (within a week of the original post)
c) making my sister's Braided Star quilt

The biggest accomplishment was finishing Selah's quilt just in time for her birthday!  I was so happy and she liked it a lot, or at least her mother said so. :)  I also finished the wallhangings and either displayed them or finally gave them to their intended recipients.  The only goal I didn't achieve was the Braided Star quilt, but my sister was fine with it because I decided to dye some fabric for the quilt in her favorite colors.  So overall, a successful month! 

Thanks Tracy Jay for setting this linky party up!  My WIP pile is slowly going down!