Done!

It only took a month, but I finally finished that quilt I was working on.  Here's the front:

And here's the back:

And here they are dramatically draped over the deck railing in the setting sun:

And the back, with baby shadow:

And my favorite part:

I love this binding.  It's cut on the bias, so the zigs are at an angle.  

So the inspiration for this quilt came from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts in the form of the stacked coins quilt.

The book wanted me to cut my pieces in 1" to 4" lengths using only my eyeballs.  Well, not with my laserbeam eyeballs.  I mean, they wanted me to eyeball it without a ruler.  I didn't like that, so I cut mine precisely instead of organically.  I diverged with the size of the borders and I quilted it in a different manner.  

Ready to be Bound

Quilting is finished.

This was quite problematic.  I had issues with everything staying straight.  I don't know what I did wrong and I don't know why everything got skewed, but it did.

That's the back.  So cockeyed.  I just don't know.  And then with all the skewing, I had issues with the back lining up in the end.  I had to add some patches:

And I'll need to add a baby patch here:

If only all the problems had been confined to the back of the quilt, things would not be so upsetting.  But the front experienced it's own share of problems.

Here's the front again.  Notice that things do not line up very well:

And then there was some puckering:

And then those mysterious mascara flecks:

Boo.  Now I just have to remember how to cut bias binding and then sew it on.  At least I am rewatching Mad Men from the beginning, so I'll have something entertaining going on while doing the handsewing.

PSA

My machine has been sort of weird lately.  It was spewing some sort of black speckles onto my quilt.  Well, I'm assuming it came from the machine and not from my mascara or something.  Not that I was rubbing my face on the fabric, but it was weird.  So I opened everything up and found this pile of dust. I gave it the can o' air treatment and cleared that all up.  I also oiled it, though my book says not to.  There's been a squeak and it did not improve after the oiling.  Anyway, what it really needs is a tune up.  But here's the thing...this all happened Thursday night before bed.  

That was the last time I sewed until Sunday night.  On Friday at 8pm we lost power for approximately 19 hours.  Oh joy.  And, of course, we had no supplies of any kind, despite the fact that I have printed out the emergency preparedness kit supply list three or four times.  I have just never been motivated enough to put the thing together.  An hour after the power was restored, we went to the store and got most of the recommended supplies on this list from FEMA.  So that's my PSA:  Build your kit!                                                                           

Volunteering?

I attended a volunteer orientation for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre.  They gave us a tour of their puppet storage facility.  Amazing.

These bird heads were huge.  Four feet tall?  I don't know.  Very big.

So that's what I'm thinking of doing.  These pictures do not do the size of these puppets justice.  So big and beautiful.  Here's their Facebook photostream for more pics, especially pictures of the May Day parade, which they produce.

95% Chance of...

...my umbrella being finished!

It works!  I had to whittle the dowel that connects the stick to the cap, glue it in place, and then use tiny finishing nails to further secure the ribs to the stick and the cap to the dowel.  Whew!  Does any of that even make sense?  I don't know, but look at it!  Gorgeousness!

Well, I guess that's a bit cocked up there at the cap.  I don't know why it is all bunchy.  Oh, well.  My mom thinks I should paint the cap and the handle, but I don't know.  They match the little end pieces and I like that they are roughed up.

So, what's left?  I need to put snaps on the tie.  And...waterproofing.  I didn't want to buy the vinylized cotton, because it was about $17.00 per yard and this was a practice umbrella, so I used yard sale yardage from my stash.  I picked up a bottle of waterproofing spray at JoAnn's, so hopefully that will work.  And then that's it!!  

Two Hours

I got two hours worth of quilting done today during Z's naptime.  That was half the quilt.  She didn't want to go to bed last night and I needed to watch Mad Men, so there was no afterhours quilting for me.  

You know what else I didn't do this weekend:  My freezer paper and solar paint project.  My kiddo is teething and that may have been the root cause of a one day fever on Saturday.  Poor thing.  So that will now need to be saved for a later date.  Boo.  I was hoping to get this stuff in the mail this week.

Finally!

Looky what finally came in the mail:

This has been a stinker to find in the stores.  I don't know why.  Maybe I'm not going to a big enough grocery store, but it just hasn't been where I frequent, so I went ahead and ordered it online.  And it even says it's for arts and crafts!!

So I now have all of the moving parts for my next project, which includes four white t-shirts (I even splurged and picked up high quality ones from American Apparel.  There stuff is good, though I pretty much hate their advertising campaign.  I always feel like the models are supposed to be emulating kidnap victims who are forced to pose in revealing ways and then sold to the highest bidder.  It's sick.)  Where was I?  Oh, right:  white t-shirts, freezer paper for stenciling, and fabric ink, but not just any old fabric paint:

Light sensitive fabric paint from Lumi that stinks like your hair after you get a perm.  It seriously reeks. Hopefully that stench will dissipate.  Anyway, if the baby and the weather cooperate, I'm going to be doing part three of a gift to my recently married friend this weekend.

Still Needlepointing

I got this old needlepoint kit last July and this is what it looked like last August:

And this is what it looks like today:

Gad!  That orange-pink connection looks like absolute poop.  Obviously, I am not very good at this.  And it takes for-freakin-ever!  (That purple section on the left was done last night during a two hour movie.)

Maybe I just should have been all modern and etsy-esque and stitched her name in big block letters across the blank slate and called it a day.  Now that idea is ruined, because I am not taking out 700 hours of stitching.

Top and Back

Okay, so here's that quilt that I've been working on.  The top is done, the back is almost complete, I have batting and fabric for binding, so everything is still in pieces.

The top measures 34"x54", I think.  

 Those pictures seem a bit washed out, but the colors are more vibrant in person.  The picture of the back seems too dark.  My camera settings were wonky, I think.

For the back I took the pieces that were no longer needed for the top and sewed them together.  They they got log cabin-ed into the backing along with that hideous (though very very soft) floral.  I need to add another ten inch strip of fabric to the bottom to get this to 54".  

I have yet to decide on the quilting style.  I only do straight lines.  Do I do them straight across?  My mom suggested diagonal one way.  The pattern that inspired this quilt did them diagonal both ways.  I don't know!  I need to move beyond straight lines, but I don't know how!

Stash Additions

More fabric thrifting adventures.  The school bus one is going to be used in my daughter's future I Spy Quilt.  The gray on the end is some sort of suiting fabric, maybe?  I don't know, but I have enough to make a couple of dresses for work.  Blue felt.  Cocktail condiments for a dollar at the Art Scraps store.  Vintage floral remnant.  And some maroon flannel.  Did I get it all?  I think so.

Boy Bibs

So I'm making a quilt for my friend's two year old daughter, because I missed her birth, Christmas, and second birthday and during those two years I also missed the birth of his son and his wedding....  So I'm working on the quilt, I made these bibs for the new baby, and I've got something else cooking for a wedding gift.  We'll see how that goes.

QiP

That's Quilt in Progress to you.

 So, I have a friend who had a baby...two years ago.  And then there was  Baby's First Christmas and then a second birthday and I missed them all due to a combination of moving across the country, getting pregnant, and having my own baby.  So I'm working on rectifying that situation with a quilt.  Does she need a quilt?  I don't know, but that's what I'm making.   Maybe someday she will need a quilt.

A lot of the fabrics have been used in previous projects like the recent baby dress:

Or the Recreate Art project:

Otherwise, I'm using fabric from my mom's yard sale adventures and my thrift shopping.

And then there are two fabrics from Christmas 2007 when I made an apron for my sister-in-law.  No photo of that.  I mean I have one, but she's wearing it and I don't want to feature her without permission.  Anyway, it was a two-sided apron of that crazy green blue dot fabric and the kitty-heart fabric.

The strips are almost ready.  I just need to pick out a sashing color and a binding color.  I'm considering piecing the back with leftover strips and this hideous floral:

It matches so well.  But then is it all too matchy-matchy?