Lots to tell

I have several different things to share, so I am going to break them up into different posts.
First story- I went to Indiana for a few days. I took my guild challenge project with me, but I cut my pieces ahead of time so I could take less stuff. I went with the plus blocks and was feeling pretty proud of myself for doing the math correctly. Wanted to use all the pieces, but I couldn't get a complete final row because I didn't have one last square. I used fusible fleece for the backing, quilted it, cutting the back and it looked good. I even showed it at the guild meeting, but something seemed off. It wasn't square. How that slipped by me I have no idea. so even though I had shown it, I ripped it apart, sewed on an extra row by salvaging a scrap and made it square. I did some franken-fleecing to make it work, but it did. If you look closely you can kind of tell that the bottom row is off.

Since I had already cutting the back, I had to do a pieced back. Again I salvaged the scraps to make it work. It totally did and I am feeling pretty pleased with myself. I need to stuff it and use it!

Kind of a bad picture, but here is the final result.

Herding cats, also known as a fabric swap

I skipped the first two rounds, but jumped in for the third round of the Tula Pink 10" Square swap. To save a little postage, we are doing two rounds at the same time and need a couple more people. Mama Spark organizes and I have no idea how she does it. It really is like herding cats. She does have cats so maybe that experience comes in handy. Her blog post has all the details.

http://mamaspark.blogspot.com/2013/03/tula-pink-10-fabric-swap-and-giveaway.html

Yeah, I've been busy

I went on a trip. That story may make a reappearance if I work on something I brought back. I have been doing some crafting, but not a whole lot.

I worked on the Woodland Sampler. I think February turned out well. March is cute, but I left out the 'March' text because it was bright yellow and I didn't care for that. I am waiting to see what colour 'April' is before I decided. I also signed up for the Springtime Sampler. There are 25 frames with a number in each. The control freak in me has shown up with this though. March 21st is the start of spring- the equinox is technically on the 20th, but 21st is the 'traditional date'. The sneak peeks I've seen are more Easter/April themed. Even if I consider them April dates, April 25th is nothing. I guess it is a sampler not a countdown, but I don't get the numbers then. I think I may leave out the numbers. I can always stitch them back in.

I've decided to the Virtual Quilting Bee with Amy Smart (Diary of a Quilter). It just seemed like fun. Her posts are very well written and I think that is what sucked me in. A fat eighth solid bundle from Pink Castle Fabrics went along with it, so I went that route. I don't have any super bright/rainbow type quilts so I figured I should try that. The stack is very pretty. The first block is out, but I haven't done it yet.

I am also working on another toddler height chart. This one has progressed much better than the first attempt. That was so awful. I'm using Riley Blake this time. I am starting to like Riley Blake. I used to be strictly Moda before. Oh and I LOVE Art Gallery. The feel of the fabric is fantastic.

What I REALLY need to be working on is my Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild Madrona Road challenge. I want to do a pillow of interlocking plus blocks. I just can't get motivated.

I think that is it. Wait, one more thing. Fiber Flux is having a crochet along. It is a beginner/refresher one. My plan is to participate. I haven't crocheted in years, so I figured this would be a good way to get back in. I don't have yarn yet, but I am in luck! Fiberpalooza is March 23rd in Winterset. I have missed the first two years, but Emily went last year and thoroughly enjoyed herself. Heartland Fiber Co does a great job with their in store events so I am sure this will be just as good.

Machine binding?!

I'd promised Emily a Nook holder for years now, but finally got around to it this week. She loves camo and pink. The sequins are because I like shiny things.  I used the Moda Bake Shop 'Bookkeeper' tutorial, but rotated it so that it was longer than wider and added the sequined elastic.

I used flannel on the inside so the screen wouldn't scratch. I even used my machine to sew on the sequined elastic. Everything went great till it was time to put on the 'binding'. I decided to machine bind it. I should have hand stitched; it wasn't a lot and I should have sucked it up. NIGHTMARE! I have a tendency to have wider binding on one side; I pull further over one side to hide the sew-on-the-binding stitching. That doesn't work for machine binding. I ended up using a zig-zag and turning it into kind of a flange by stitching in the middle of the front binding so it stayed on the edge of the back binding. This is my second time with machine binding and my corners turned out a bit better than last time. I used a suggestion from a blog that said when you stop a quarter inch from the corner, sew off the edge. That helped get beautiful mitered corners on the back which means it would work great when hand sewing. The other problem I ran into is since the binding didn't run all the way around, I had to start at the end of one strip. I couldn't get it started. I kept getting caught and stitching in place. There was also differences in bulk through the project so my zig-zag is of inconsistent length. Any suggestions on what to do? 

Seems like I didn't enjoy the process, but I did. Again, it is because it is going to a friend. I hope she likes it. 

Two steps forward, two steps back

This Saturday was an all day sewing day with the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild. It was a lot of fun. This was first real 'group sew' and I was a little intimidated going in. I had a great time and quilters make excellent bakers. I didn't get there super early and I left a bit before 8 o'clock so it was about a 9 hour cutting fest. I didn't take my machine; just my cutting mat and my 2011 FQS BOM. Still only done one block. I cut about 7 months worth and then quit. I was getting tired and I had sorted the blocks by number of fabrics and cutting difficulty. Instead of sorting with decreasing difficulty, I sorted with increasing difficulty so as I increased in tiredness I was cutting more difficult blocks. Yes, I am a science nerd and PROUD of it.

On Sunday we got snow which I was not expecting so I spent the day in after church and did some cross stitch. This deer couple has been a thorn in my side! It is suggested that if you don't have a colour to go ahead and use a lighter shade or darker shade than listed. So not me, but decided to give it a try. Stitched all of the word 'January' with 827 (on hand), realized that it wasn't frosty enough so went out and bought 828 (listed) and restitched the whole thing. The white snowflakes aren't showing up well, but I am just going to leave it as is. I have two more to do before this month is done.

Those 'Hey Girl' memes weren't that far off!

Ryan Gosling's 'perfect day' activity? Knitting

Click on the link for the article.

Gifted and well received

I ended up widening my seams so the pillow would look more stuffed. It worked . . .sorta. It is fuller, but the corners are still a bit loose. I did try punching in the insert so it would spread out more towards the corners. I didn't try it because I can barely sew a straight line, but Linda suggested a slightly rounded corner. "Use a small drinking glass to draw the arc around each corner. Place the edge of the glass so they align with your sewing line. Follow your straight sewing line on the sides and continue 'round the bend' following the drawn curve, picking up the straight line again on the side". Next time I will give it a shot. 

I am still pleased with how it turned out. I gave it last night and it was well received. The family I gave it to have been so very, very good to me. 

I started working on my Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery Monthly Sampler. It wasn't as easy as I expected. The mark of a good pattern is having to unpick if you mess up. I unpicked twice! If you look closely you can see the larger holes from where I'd already stitched. This month is a deer couple. I had joked with Emily that we should do a side by side comparison of our deer, but at the rate I'm going, I not so sure. Hopefully I get done before February's arrives. I can't get behind on this. I still have 11 blocks of the 2011 Fat Quarter Shop Block of the Month to do.