Sunday, July 31, 2011

a "u" seam?

it's sorta hard to see, but I love how well it came out....
see the owls in the top left? it's 2 pieces! I set the corner piece into the block, because the green and owl parts were too small...

you can SORTA see it here on the back, but not really.

I'm super proud of how smoothly it went in....
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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

math.

486 4" blocks (18x27), each made from 9.5" squares of Kona Espresso (that's roughly 35 yards of Espresso)

11 spools of Guterman Silk thread, 1 skein of white sashiko cotton thread, 1 spool of white silk button hole twist, 12 seams per block= 5832 seams (all the white thread is hand stitching).

2 charm packs of Kona Solids (the Dusty colors), plus, um, at least 4 yards of Kona White, cut into 2.5" squares.

no mojitos, but LOTS of television. and books on tape. LOTS. (TV: Covert Affairs, White Collar, SYTYCD, ANTM, Burn Notice, Bachelor/ette, The Tudors, BOT: The Other Queen, The Alchemist's Daughter, The King's Mistress, Thimble Summer. And LOTS of podcasts of This American Life)

72x108 makes this perfect for my Cal-King bed, as it's too heavy to fold over the top/hang off the bottom without falling off the bed entirely. it's almost like a "bed scarf," albeit a very large and heavy one.

it's MAYBE my favorite quilt ever. I especially love the personal meaning...
Now I've just got to finish embroidering my name/date on that one lone white square in the top left corner, and then it's actually really and forever done.
soooooo many hours.
so worth it.
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WF Wednesday!

its Works FINISHED Wednesday!

Aneela Hooey did this awesome QAL earlier this year, and I loved it. (she calls it pickledish, but here in the USA, it's a double wedding ring, and a pickledish is a quilt with triangle-y pieced rings, so I never know what to call it)... Anyway, I made like 2 rings, and then quit, because I couldn't keep up....

but then C went to Alaska for several weeks, and I was going nuts, so I pulled all the pieces back out, and whipped the entire top out in 2 weeks!

It has been steadily used, while being hand quilted at parks, and keeping me warm at night, and going to picnics, etc...
because I added the sashing, it's a whopping 110" square (sorta square, as I randomly curved 1 corner of the quilt. not sure why/how I did that)
It's ALL from stash. Konas and reproduction feedsack prints, and other random stuff, cotton and linen and blends...
I forgot to take a pic of the back, but I will do so soon, and post that too, it's got a few little pieces in it to make it slightly more interesting...


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Cal-king Cathedral Windows, DONE

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Eeeeek!

So, I've had this silver thimble for a while, it's fine, CHEAP, and easily replaceable.... BUt I've been doing a lot of hand quilting lately, and so decided to buy a backup... I bought this Fons and Porter gold-colored (brass) one. Today, I used it all day, in lieu of the nice silver one... 
LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FINGER!!!!!
It's GREEEEEEEEEN
Dish soap and water does not remove this horrible green tinge from my finger. (Does any one know what I can do to get it off? I assume it's a chemical reaction of some sort?)
So, uh, be warned. Buy the cheap one. It won't stain your finger. 

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Saturday, July 16, 2011

more birthday presents....

I used some of the birthday present fabric I got this morning to make presents for the kidlets....
I love the pockets I made. they're angled, not curved, sorta like part of an octagon... (there're street signs on the pants)

I used a recycled t-shirt for a yoga-pants waist band... not sure if the shirt I used had enough lycra though... might need to add a drawstring.

My little dude has NO hips/butt, so I'm not sure ANYTHING will stay up on him.

I didn't hem the pants, but used the selveges. 
Easiest pants ever. self-drafted, 30 minutes, from cutting to wearing. LOVE. 
(The trick to awesome pants like this is awesome fabric, which unfortunately costs a bundle. But it was on sale at momen + for 1/2 off, so it was only $10/yd, I only needed 3/4 of a yard, it was in D's favorite color, and it was my birthday. So now he has cute Mama's-birthday-pants.)

Of course, I can't ignore the Bean. So, inspired by the pretty fabric, here's her Mama's-birthday-dress:


I'm loving the idea of it, even if the execution was slightly confused....

it's got a REALLY high twirl-factor.

It's long enough to cover her skivvies.

She think's it's comfortable, and likes the colorful horses....

but is ultimately unimpressed, as it is green and orange. The Bean is NOT a fan of green OR orange. so.... um... I guess I'll save it? it's got lots of room for growing.... I'd give it away, but the construction is a little messy, so I don't want anyone to see the insides....
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Happy Birthday to ME!






I made myself a birthday dress last night/this morning, but it's TOO COLD to wear it. so I'm back in jeans and a long sleeved shirt....
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

FWQAL

Butterfly at the Crossroads

Spider Legs, Snowball
I'm LOVING this QAL. using up scraps from various projects.....

Monday, July 11, 2011

Hand quilting at the park...

I need to finish the hand quilting (hopefully by the end of the week) and then I'll do a big reveal. it's maybe my favorite quilt EVER. esp. since last week we were having a massive heat wave, so I'd pack up the kids and the quilt, and we'd spend the whole afternoon at the park, and I'd quilt and read aloud, and they'd run and play and collapse back on the quilt as I worked. GOOD times.

New bonnet!

pattern coming soooooo soon!