Turtle Shirt

That's fun to say, isn't it? Turtle shirt, turtle shirt, turtle shirt...

I told my dad that I'd make him a new summer shirt for his trip to Hawaii, and he picked out some awesome sea turtle fabric. I took photos at Lisa's and let him pick what he liked...yay for technology!

What could hypothetically be a two-evening process of making a simple shirt ended up requiring three separate trips to stores as I (separately) discovered that I didn't have interfacing, ran out of thread, and needed buttons. (Maybe some pre-planning would be in order next time, huh?) Also, I mistakenly sewed a nehru collar and had to do a Take 2 on the whole collar assembly. Duh. Once I managed to secure all of the necessary notions, and paid a modicum of attention to the instructions, it really did go together seamlessly. Wait, no...strike that last...there are lots of seams in a shirt. Insert whatever adverb you prefer at the end of that previous sentence.

Sea turtles, mate.

Still using these fun labels that Barry got me, lo these many years ago.

I also found some perfect glass beads to use as zipper pulls on Mom's bag. Done and done!

Mom bling!

Roller Rink class

On Sunday we held our second monthly class for the miniature versions of the Modern Patchwork quilts. Show and Tell from the first month Metropolis projects was fun -- Ginger and Tina are making full-size quilts, so they're still working, but Liz and Sue had finished projects to show off.

Liz has a wall hanging ready for her office!

Sue made a lovely wall hanging with three Metropolis blocks.

The Roller Rink block itself is extremely simple to construct, so most of this month's focus was on selecting good runs of fabric to make a nice gradient. We talked about value, and how to use Joen Wolfram's 3-in-1 Color Tool for getting a nice even spacing between the steps of a gradient. I love that tool -- it's like having an entire collection of paint chips at your fingertips! Once everyone settled on their fabrics, the minis went together in no time at all.

Liz's block had a great contrast between the greens and a fuschia border...like summer watermelon! I know that she has already quilted and bound it too -- way to go!!

Nancy joined us this month and made a little wall hanging with a wonderful African feel. I think she was inspired in part by the Newington group quilt. I was impressed at what a difference it made switching to black-and-cream prints rather than black-and-whites.

Sarah used shades of grey with a terrific orange contrast border. My photo doesn't really do justice to the orange.

Ginger chose some cherry pinks with chocolate and cream borders -- I can't wait to see this one, because after I made Jess's quilt last year that has become one of my favorite color combos. Somehow Sue managed to sneak out before I photographed her block, which was bright greens bordered with vivid red and the lightest possible tint of green. She did a great job contrasting the colors. Tina is using the same greens that Sue used, but bordered with royal and turquoise blues; it will be interesting to compare her analogous color scheme with Sue's complementary-color project.

One thing (which I mentioned in class) that I really love about this block is that, the last time I checked there aren't a heck of a lot of opportunities to use the full seven-color Roy G Biv spectrum -- seven-point stars and heptagons use weird angles -- but this block uses seven two-inch squares: that spells Roy G Biv in my book! My sample block takes advantage of this. I'm not going to add anything else to this little thing. A bit of quilting, a pillowcase facing, and some jingly bells hanging off the bottom. Maybe seven chakra-colored sequins or beads just for the glitz factor.

I whipped up a single block on Sunday morning before class. When I pulled out the fabrics that I decided to use for every month, I realized that I could fussy cut circles to have a chakras block! If I were yogic-minded, I would hang this in my studio.

Tune in next month for the Glam Garlands block!!

Travel bag!

My mom is turning An Important Number soon, and the surprise behind Door #1 was a TRIP TO HAWAII!!! She sent me some fabric leftover from a skirt that she made, with a request for a matching bag. I have made this pattern three times now, and I still like it. The only minor modification to the pattern is that I added a line of stitching across the front where the bottom folds under, because I lose little things (like coins) into the fold space in that front zipper pocket.

I thought the little touch of Laurel Burch butterflies made a nice contrast with the bright tropical stripes.

I did a little free-motion quilting on the back (and the front panel, although it's mostly hidden by the pockets).

Happy (early) birthday, Mom! I'll get this in the mail as soon as I make a shirt for my dad...that fabric is scheduled for pre-washing tomorrow, and I'll probably sew it up by this weekend.

Star of David finished!

I still have to stitch on the little label, but the Star of David quilt is finished! I really love how the flower of life quilting came out.

For Sherri's dad, 64 x 84"

For those of you that are interested in the process, I did all of this quilting with my walking foot. I made a plastic template of just the edge of one-sixth of a 6-inch-radius circle, which I used with a regular chalk marker to mark the gentle S-shapes on every seam line, two times per seam line (S, then backwards S). I did this in all three directions, from the center out. It wasn't the speediest technique -- lots of back and forth from the machine to the marking table -- but I ended up with pretty circular-looking circles so it was worth the effort! A great way to get an allover effect on a pretty big quilt using just a domestic machine and a walking foot!

 

The back coordinates nicely without being too floral or feminine...

Star of David backing fabric!

...and to finish it off, I found the perfect stripe with just a hint of sparkle to use as the binding.

Olive and teal striped binding!

I don't have a photo of the label, but it's a lovely poem, written in both Hebrew and English:

May it be Your will O LORD my God, and the God of my fathers,
To let me lie down in peace, and to let me rise up again in peace.

A coordinating pillowcase too...thank you, Sherri!

Jewel experiment

Having been exclusively quilting for a week or so, I was itching to do a little piecing for a change. Working through the worst headache I've ever had in my life (seriously, what the hell?!?) I pulled out the nifty new Hex N More ruler that I picked up at Sew Inspired earlier this month. I'm really quite impressed that I managed to wait two whole weeks before trying it. I have been thinking that I want to make the Lotus quilt with the citrusy fabrics that my cousin and I picked out together in California. I didn't want to commit to cutting those without trying the technique on something smaller, so I cut a few jewels and triangles out of some leftover Klimt print that I used to make my sister a purse, and a pretty lacy icy blue batik that coordinates beautifully with the print.

"Amanda's Bag" pattern by Marlous Designs, made for my sister in 2011

The pieces sewed together very quickly and easily; I made eight triangles altogether. My first thought was just to sew these into a single linear table runner.

However, although the fabrics were pretty, the single-line arrangement doesn't really show off the piecing geometry. I arranged them into a simple hexagon, which I always love...

...but adding the other two triangles made a diamond shape that would look good on a table and really lets the geometry shine. This is my favorite small arrangement:

I still have lots of both fabrics, so I could just keep going and make a full-size two-fabric quilt. Or, I might make some placemats and/or coasters to go with this smaller table topper. I haven't decided yet, but my California fabrics are all washed and pressed and ready to go, and those colors are WAY more exciting to work with, so this sample will undoubtedly languish unfinished for some time.

Still quiltin'

I had originally planned to do just straight-line quilting on the Star of David quilt, but it really called out for something more special, so I've been working on a Flower of Life quilting motif. It's a little effort to mark and sew only one line at a time, but it's turning out really pretty. The afternoon sunlight coming in my sewing window is perfect for showing off quilting lines -- I'm so lucky to have this wonderful little corner of real estate for my very own purposes!

Halfway done!

This close-up (with some loose threads and pins still in place) shows the motif so beautifully.

Newington Group Quilt(s)

After a few winter-weather postponements, the ladies of the Newington Schoolhouse Quilters finally managed to schedule a successful worknight for assembling our group quilt. This year we are using Elizabeth Hartman's Roller Rink pattern, using a vibrant combination of blacks, whites, with small random pops of bright color. I made ten blocks a few months ago; the ladies of our group provided over 200 blocks for this project!

We started with about 100 blocks of each border color.

Eleven of us got right to work, starting by sewing blocks into pairs, then pairs into quads, then quads into strips of eight. About halfway through the process, I stopped sewing and started directing, because I didn't want us to end up with too many long units that would eventually need to be taken apart. Before we realized it, we had ten strips of 19 blocks!

The tables filled up fast!

Our energetic co-president Tammy, taking a turn at the pressing table.

Within three hours, the eleven of us had assembled TWO beautiful finished quilt tops! Each measures 76 x 80", a very generous and usable size. The second top actually still needs the final seam sewn, which I volunteered to do in the interests of everyone getting home before it was too late, and because I felt bad for shirking my sewing responsibilities while everyone else worked so hard.

First finished group quilt top! (76 x 80")