Wrapping up my holiday Stitchapalooza

The spring semester starts tomorrow, so my non-stop four-week stitchapalooza has come to a close. Not a bad run, really -- I made three quilt tops since Christmas, and I can't even remember how many little projects. Today I used the playoff games to finish all of the quilting on the Tangerine Tango sampler blocks that I made for the Craftsy 2012 block of the month. I quilted them one at a time, so I still have some assembly to do, but the strips for that process are already cut and waiting patiently in a tiny bin.

I didn't take time to try for really nice photos, but a few of the snapshots came out pretty well. I am really pleased with those curved feathers in the grey backgrounds.

Tangerine Tango sampler

Tangerine Tango sampler

This photo came out pretty well - bubble quilting in the flower center on the Tangerine Tango quilt

The bubble quilting looked pretty cool on the back of the block too.

I finished the last block with literally inches of orange thread remaining on the spool. The bobbin alarm sounded just as I turned the last corner on the last border of the last block. Let us all remember that sometimes serendipity favors us.

Oh no!!

Tomorrow I return to my regular multi-tasking schedule of homeschooling, housekeeping, teaching geography, and learning Spanish. This means limited time for stitchery, but the time I do have will be used for designing and making my friend Aimee's t-shirt quilt (which has been on my shelf since Thanksgiving), and for quilting the Chopsticks and Cheddar, No Crackers quilts that I basted this morning. The machine is all cleaned out and ready to go!

Chopsticks quilt, pin basted and ready for quilting

Cheddar, No Crackers quilt, pin basted and ready for quilting. The Tula Pink charms look so pretty in the vibrant pink field.

Sexy Pixels: The Mark Harmon Quilt (Series Finale!!)

So. I know there are many of you -- one in particular! -- who have been waiting eagerly...and after three afternoons of quilting with four shades of Aurifil (and one quick trip to the FLQS to replenish the white spool)...

GIBBS IS FINISHED!

Without further ado:

Close view of Sexy Pixels: The Gibbs Quilt. (64 x 64")

Moving out...

...a little further...

...still further...

From a distance I feel like he's IN MY YARD!!

As we were taking these photos, my menfolks' reaction was "Wow, that's really freaky!" I'll take that as a compliment -- but good firm Gibbs-style head slaps all around for good measure.

I even found the NCIS font to make the custom label...no detail too small!

And there you have it!

With gratitude to Caro Sheridan for her (!) free (!) Pictures to Pixels Quilts class on Craftsy.

Pixelated Lips: The Mark Harmon Quilt (Season 1, Episode 2)

In which the luscious lips are pixelated and stitched:

The complete bottom row of the Mark Harmon/Jethro Gibbs (NCIS) quilt.

Heartthrob Pixelation: The Mark Harmon Quilt (Season 1, Episode 1)

Craftsy has a new "Pictures to Pixels Quilts" class that teaches you to take a detail of a photo -- any photo -- and convert it to a simple pixel grid, which you can then turn into a quilt. I signed up (it's free--my magic word!) and was really impressed at Caro Sheridan's clever use of Excel. Last week at open sew, my friend Debbie was joking around (I think) and suggested that I make a Mark Harmon quilt because of her NCIS addiction.

Challenge extended.

I did a little Google image searching and found some black and white headshots of MH. (Actually, it's kind of creepy how many photos there are of him.) Here's the one I decided to start with; I liked the stark white background for contrast, and the profile (oh that jawline, eh ladies?).

Mark Harmon: 

I pulled the JPEG into Photoshop and messed around with cropping, the image size settings, and limited the color palette to only eight shades of grey. Here's what it spit out for me:

Jethro Gibbs: Photoshopped image

I dumped this into Excel and followed Caro's instructions -- which were exceptionally clear -- and ended up with the following grid:

Jethro Gibbs: Excel-generated pattern

That was the hard part. Debbie and I picked out a nice run of eight shades of grey (only forty-two to go!) on Saturday, at which point I couldn't wait to get started.

The first two segments went right together; the process now feels like a giant counted cross-stitch project. I did discover, however, that this is not a project for sleepy evenings, because some of the shadings are created by using the backs of fabrics, and a tired mind doesn't always remember to flip the fabric upside-down. (ribbit, ribbit)

Jethro Gibbs, Episode One

Tangerine Quilting: Blocks 1 & 2

I got a nice start on quilting the Tangerine Tango blocks this weekend. These 18" segments are just the right size for really detailed custom quilting...I'm thrilled with how they're coming out! I'm especially pleased with how the feathers look curving around the grey corners; I'm going to do the same motif in every block. After I sew the blocks together, I'll put some feathers in the smaller grey segments too.

A little pseudo-McTavishing in this wonky log cabin. The smaller strip of grey will be in the corner,  so I quilted it before attaching this block to the others.

Teensy stippling and infinity spirals in the tic-tac-toe block. I haven't decided yet whether to add quilting in the black strips.

Tangerine Tango Sampler setting

Ready to quilt! I used, for the SIXTH time, Maple Island's BQ setting for last year's Craftsy sampler blocks. I love the way this pattern lets the blocks remain center-stage, but with just a little extra something going on between them.

I'm using a really dark steel gray as the background, with a print from RK's new Architextures line (love these fabrics!) as the rings.

This awesome print is even named "Tangerine"!!

Yesterday I cut all of the strips and started assembling the segments; after my class today I jumped right in on the final seams and...voila! I'll start quilting (one block at a time -- another reason I like the BQ pattern is that it works well with the QAYG technique) tomorrow.

2012 Craftsy blocks, ready to quilt! The colors aren't perfect in the photo (taken at night with a flash), but the hue of the lines in the ring print is a perfect match for the vibrant Tangerine Tango blocks.

Scrappy Travels

In a desperate attempt to tame some of the scrap bins (again), I have started cutting strips to make Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World quilt. In working my way through the green bin, I cut 55 strips already. Not a bad start. Now that I have the fabrics for finishing last year's Craftsy blocks, it's time to get started putting those together!

Stay warm, my fellow snowbound New Englanders!

Final Craftsy blocks

A little paper-piecing and POW! I have finished all twenty Tangerine Tango blocks from the Craftsy block-of-the-month class! Here are the last two:

19. Scraps from the owl quilt that I finished earlier this year made a nice circle of flying geese. (How is it that I never posted photos of that one?!? I will have to correct that.)

20. At the eleventh hour I realized that I didn't have a lot of red or pink, and I like how those colors look with this vivid Tangerine Tango.

And here they all are, in all their Tangerine Tango glory! These will sit and brew for a while, as I ponder settings and possibly making a few other blocks. I am considering making a whole side border that says "Pantone 17-1463"...subtle, huh?

This has been a great class, thanks to Amy Gibson and the Craftsy crew. I really like their model for online learning, and I hope they host another block-of-the-month program next year.

Craftsy for September

I was not a fan of all this fussy curved piecing, but I do really quite like the second of the September blocks for the Craftsy program. I had just enough teeny bits of these perfect fabrics hanging about for this block.

Only two more left on this project, and October's blocks involve paper piecing, which I love to do. Homestretch, here we come!

Caught up in Craftsy!

Here's my 16th block in Tangerine Tango for the Craftsy block-of-the-month (which is technically TWO blocks every month), making me officially all caught up! This one was from April, and the assignment was to design your own block using English-paper-pieced hexagons in any size. I happened to have this nifty bee on a great scrap I picked up from somebody's trashcan (she confesses guiltily), so I decided some honeycomb would be just the thing. These little guys are about 3/4" on a side - yikes! Great way to use up teeny tiny pieces if you're psychologically incapable of throwing away fabric scraps, but I don't think I'll be making a whole quilt with these any time soon (but never say never!).

More Craftsy catch-up

Now that I have some bona fide professional work, my early-in-the-day stitchery time has been curtailed significantly (probably a good thing, since I'd have to change my blog name), but I did manage to make one of the May blocks for the Craftsy block of the month. Fun - I can't believe I haven't done this before. I have a whole box of strips saved from other things, so I might spend a day or two stitching up a whole mess of these wonky log cabins for another nifty scrap project.

A Return to Craftsy

After neglecting the Craftsy Block of the Month program for several months, I spent some time yesterday making July's blocks, which are probably my favorites so far. I like these particular block patterns, AND I think I have gotten better at picking out fabrics for this "modern" look. I'm not convinced that all of my blocks will go together come October, but oh well -- they will at least be joined in their Tangerine Tango awesomeness.

July blocks for Amy Gibson's Block of the Month class on Craftsy.com

February's Craftsy blocks

Jumping right into February already. Here are this month's blocks for the Craftsy block of the month (I don't know why Google turned it, but it doesn't matter enough to find out):

I am liking the way all four look together, but I'm going to have to add in some different colors to prevent this from becoming a halloween quilt. Huzzah for Tangerine Tango!