February Review and March Intentions

Before I prepared to do this post I felt that I hadn't accomplished much of anything during this month. Then after I made a few notes and put some collage pictures together, I realized that I might not have the 'finishes' that I've come to expect of myself, but I really had been very productive just the same. 

First up is the OBW quilt that I started in January. I thought I was ready to quilt it until I layed it onto the frame and saw that it wasn't flat. Much to my dismay, after measuring, I realized that my cutting and stitching of the hexies in one specific area, was "OFF", I'm not taking it apart! But I know I also do not want a pucker. So, I sliced it, yep! Cut it in from the edge to an apex point. It now lays flat, but I have another bit of stitchin that will happen before it gets quilted. 

My Batik Stars BOM quilt top is still waiting to be quilted. I worked hard and long to get it to where it is and like most of us, I'm afraid to mess it up! So, I've spent time working out some designs on paper. My quilting had better be prettier than my workbook!

My friend Betty brought three quilt tops by for me to quilt up.  She's so kind, always says I can do anything I want, and then says it's perfectly what she wanted when I return them to her. She makes lots of quilts for her grandkids, and I'm blessed to be her Everyday Quilter. 

I hosted the February meeting for The Sandwich Makers', a Cobblestone Quilters Guild splinter group. We had 8 in attendance and shared so much useful information. I'm glad I got my room cleaned up before they arrived. I even had some of my leftovers sorted. 

The marbling on fabric mini workshop that I gave for The Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild, was successful. We all had a great time and most everyone went home with 3 fabric samples and a post card. 

I also did a mini workshop of a fabric manipulation technique, for a sewing group that I meet with once a month. I precut everything with my Accuquilt Go and saved a ton of time! 

The Go cutter has been a real help in my starting this tumbler quilt. And getting the leftovers cut into ready to use units for future sewing projects. 

It was a real treat to cut this stack of clam shells, for a future project. The leftovers were cut into units for some upcoming workshops. 

I also attended a one day class with Elaine Quehl from Ottawa, Ontario.  Had a great time with The Cobblestone Quilters Guild stitchers. Hosta 101 was the name of our class. I decided to use her pattern, Hosta Trio. Picture below, on the left is with the background fabric. It needs stitching and quilting , but today, I'm happy to look at it on the design wall. 

Kept the hubby busy with some painting requests. And putting this gorgeous ceramic flower into our garden. It was a gift from my neighbor, Debbie. She also gave me the rolling cart that had been black. 

Then, I gave a coat of a dark brown, even though it shows up as blue in the third photo down, to a collage piece that I've been unhappy with from the start of adding color. I figured I'd try one more direction before I burn or bury it!!  I wish it was that brilliant blue but it isn't. My next step is to invest some time applying a light metallic paint to the edges! 

I actually like the third picture the best, but you don't get to go back with this process. And the picture is probably nicer looking than the piece was in reality. 

And to be honest and up front, no progress was made on my Mystery BOM quilt, Batik triangle quilt, Tequamenon Falls wallhanging, or my Dragonfly pages. There's another month starting in a few hours, 

I'll see what projects get the attention. 

March Intentions: 

Move forward on any of my projects 

Cleanmy house

And visit my family in the Midwest. 

How have your intentions and accomplishments been lining up? Like ducks in a row, I hope. 

May God bless you with loved ones to share your life with. - Luann

Why I Use Spoonflower to Print Fabric

In the picture above, is the Spoonflower Workbook and a fatquarter of printed fabric. These are sitting on top of the original tablecloth, and the actual thread nests I used, are sitting to the right hand side of the fabric and are on top of the actual workbook. This was my first print-on-demand fabric order. It's primitive and unsophisticated. I wanted to see the quality of their fabric and their printing. I can say I have purchased more and am very pleased. 

Spoonflower is located in North Carolina. They print 'your' design onto giftwrap, wallpaper, or any of their fabrics. They have quilting weight cottons, silks, decorator canvas, jersey knits, and about 20 more options! 

You don't need the workbook to get started, but I have learned a lot since that first print job by having it.  Go to Spoonflower.com and set up a free account. They have everything within or connected to their site for uploading and manipulating your images into a design and color family you're happy with. I first did this with my iPad and found that not all things were functional. So, if you use your laptop when starting, you will have more options right away. You don't pay anything until you decide that you want to purchase something. You can even save all your designs until you want to print them up. I think this is so nice because you can take a photo, manipulate it, and print it to fabric for a one of a kind piece of artwork. You can also use drawings, original artwork, etc. The workbook  explains  how to achieve a continuous pattern. Definitely not how I thought it was done! Another learning experience for me. 

They also have design challenges. They send out emails about these and then a follow up as to who won each challenge. And you have the option to make as many of your designs available to others as you wish. Then, when someone purchases something with your design on it, you get compensated. 

Back in December they offered a 12 Days of Design. They sent out an email each of those days with a step in the process of creating your own designs for printing. Things like; where to get ideas for designs, choosing colors that speak to you, how to upload your images, information regarding some of the different tools on the site for manipulating your images, and choosing the best cloth for your application. They are very helpful and friendly. 

I want to encourage you to check them out. I think you may find it to be a new avenue of adventure. I certainly did. 

Let's Create Today,

Luann

PS: I am writing this without any compensation from Spoonflower. It's my honest opinion. 

February Intentions

This month is flying by.  Here it is the 8th day and I'm finally getting around to posting my intentions.   

This should be my first reviewing day, for this month. 

I've decided to combine them. 

1. To finish my OBW that I started in January. I put in several hours sewing everything into this configuration and adding the minimalist borders. I have the backing pieces yet to sew together, before it can get onto the longarm machine. After quilting, I will add the appliqué shapes I envision for it. 

2. My Batik Stars BOM quilt top is waiting to be quilted. The backing has been prepared, now to decide on the designs and thread colors for each area. 

3. To accommodate any client quilting needs. At present 2 have been dropped off and they will be done soon. No pictures until I ask for the ok. 

4. Continue with the Mystery Quilt clues. I have downloaded the info and will need to look at my schedule for when I'll get at this. Center panel was through the December clue. In January, I made the log cabin blocks. This month's clue has me making more 6 1/2" economy blocks to go between the log cabin blocks for the next border. 

5. To be prepared for a group of visitors to my 'work areas', on Feb 13. This means getting the sewing room, longarm lab area, and art studio put in order. Not a cleaning out of stuff, just a tidying up. Not interesting enough for a before picture. Maybe later a snapshot of the design walls? And I really should put the dust bunnies into cages!

6. Prepare for classes that I'm giving this month.  Marbling with shaving cream and fabric paints on cloth will be on Saturday, Feb 20. Then on Wednesday, February 24, I'm leading a mini workshop on fabric manipulations.  

7. Friday, February 12, will find me spending the entire day at a class called Hostas 101. 

And I want to make headway on the following:

8. Tequamenon Falls wall hanging

9. Batik triangle/improv quilt

10. Dragonfly pages- if this isn't going to become a book, I need to make a decision as to what I AM  going to do with them

And, true to my nature, I have a few other projects rambling around in my mind.  I find that starting a new project gives me the push to finish one that has gotten stuck in 'cogitation' mode. 

How about you? Do you find that starting a new project leads to getting an older project finished? Or does it just push them ALL further back? No right or wrong here, just what works for each of us, right? Right! 

May God give you plenty of energy to complete your project at hand. -  Luann

January Review

I've been working on a NEW project. More info at the end of this post. 

Yep, you read that correctly! Wouldn't you think I'd have the sense to just get more things finished and not keep starting stuff? Nope, not my style. I'm making headway on all those left over projects from the past, as well as starting new ones. Some of the new ones get finished long before the next step is taken on an existing project. For example:

Top two pics show the back and front of a quilt made from my 'leftovers' basket. This is completed, just waiting for where God will have it go. This was a NEW item started and completed. 

Next is a set of 4 pillowcases made for someone's Birthday. Also a NEW project. 

The bottom picture on the left is a mini wall hanging that is 1 of 4 that were on one piece of cloth. They could become pillows but most everyone that has seen these want to look at them, not lean on them. This has been gifted and I got a picture/message of it 'on the wall'. 

The snowman quilt was a quilt top from last year that needed quilting and binding. It is now finished. 

Here are the other three wallhangings. They have been gifted, or are in the process of being gifted. 

The group of log cabin blocks were the January units for the Mystery BOM QAL with Terrie. Soon, I'll have the February info and can get those done as well. This is an ONGOING project. 

I've made no headway on the Improv Triangle Batik quilt. At present, all pieces are taking a break in the cupboard. I'm not sure where I want to go with it. 

My Batik stars quilt got a backing made for it, and it's draped over the front bars on my longarm. It's just not calling me name, yet. No picture needed of that. 

I spent some time putting this table topper together on the longarm. I used a stitch-n-flip method. It's ok, but I'd rather piece on my domestic machine, and use the longarm for quilting. I did apply the majority of the binding while it was on the frame. Another, ok, but I'd rather do it on my conventional sewing machine. This is completed and awaiting its destination call. 

A few other finishes included fabric twine coaster, infinity scarves, microwave potato pouch, a tad bit of stitching on my jacket, and I sorted about 1 1/2 gallons of buttons by color. 

And for the BIG NEW PROJECT. I've started a One Block Wonder. I wish I would have bought a book or pattern, it would have been a quicker process, but I'm all about challenging myself. Pics of original fabric, cut into identical triangles, then connected into half- hexies.

I then put them all on design wall and rearrange until I was pleased. 

Next I made tumbling blocks and chose where they would go.

 I've added extra blender hexies along both sides, and triangle pieces to the top and bottom of each column. 

These were all sewn together in columns. I've just begun to sew the columns together. This is not a quick project, but it is very satisfying to see how it comes together. Like I said, having some form of instruction that would give you dimensions of your hexie units and triangles is highly recommended. 

It's early Sunday morning and I have this afternoon and evening to sew if I want, I'll close out this month now. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to make progress on my projects. 

What's on your horizon?

May God give you a week filled with moments of awe-Luann

Mid-Month Update

You may remember that I had 7 finished items in the first 7 days of January. Well, today is the 16th and I most definitely do not have 9 more finished. But I have 9 that got worked on or finished. 

First up are the remaining 3 small wallhangings. 

I also got my January blocks done for the Mystery Quilt Along

Then I had this bright idea that I could do a quilt-as-you-sew table runner, on my longarm machine!

Basically it's the stitch and flip method that I've done on my domestic machine. I really just wanted to prove to myself that I 'could' do it. The three main blocks were from a workshop I did with the Community Sewers back in Green Bay, WI. I did apply the binding to the top while it was still loaded on the rails, all except for 12 inches. That's the amount that I needed for making a bias joining. I did that and the final decorative stitching on my Viking 500. 

I got a potato pouch finished for my neighbors. 

Then I decided to make a One Block Wonder quilt. This consists of hexagons made of 6 equilateral triangles. You stack 6 identical cuts of fabric, align them precisely, cut strips, cut the strips into triangle-sets. You then take each set and make a hexagon. These are then arranged in some pleasing to the eye design and sewn together. Borders can be added. There are a few variations of the blocks that I might do. Here's a group picture of the beginning fabric, triangle sets, and the first 15 hexies up on my design wall. 

I have made more hexies, but my design wall can't display them all opened out, so this next photo shows 33 half-hexies. 

I'm trying to keep similar colors close together. I have 114 full hexies to make, along with some variations with other fabric. This will not be a quickly finished project. But, it is something I've wanted to get started on for quite some time. So it's a start, towards a finish, and I'm happy with that. 

I started this little coaster a while back, and it is now a finished piece. 

I've done some hand stitching on my jacket. It's an ongoing project to keep my hands busy at mtgs.

So that makes my project count at: 6 finished, 2 more having substantial progress made on them, and 1 with a little something added.  I'm satisfied. Actually, I'm pleased. 

So now it's your turn. What have you been up to? Leave a comment, and if you have an active blog leave its address so we can all come visit you. 

May God bless the work of your hands, and the words of your mouth. - Luann

Seven Finishes in Seven Days

I have seven items finished and I've made some progress on a few others. 

The top two photos are the front and back of a reversible quilt. This will go to a special person. 

Four coordinating pillowcases completed and on their way to Miss Grayce. Purple band and gray-gradient cuff are the same on all of them. A different black/gray swirly print was used for the body of each case. 

Ms Wendy can look for her Faith, Hope, Love wallhanging to arrive in a few days. 

The Snowman quilt's binding was finished by machine. 

My quilts are meant to be used, and need to stand up to repeated washings. That's why I have chosen to attach most bindings by machine to the back, roll it to the front, and stitch it down with a decorative design on the front. I still have mitered corners and if it's a large wallhanging I will add twill tape to keep the edges straight and flat. 

And I spent some time working on cutting binding strips for the other Inspirational pieces, and cutting and sewing on the January clue for the Mystery Quilt BOM. 

I'll be back in a week or so to update you on my progress on the rest of the projects I intend to get finished this month. 

January Intentions

Yesterday I wrote about my intentions for the entire year. Today, I'll get specific with my January list.

To get this flimsy quilted. I'm calling it Leftovers #1 because I'm using fabrics left from previous quilts. 

Make the decision to call this a flimsy or use it for the back of Leftovers #1 quilt pictured above. 

This is a flimsy that needs to be quilted. Snowman

Get my improv batik triangle pieces to flimsy stage. 

January pieces need to be made for this Mystery BOM QAL with Terrie. 

Batik Stars BOM flimsy needs quilting. 

Tequamenon Falls needs borders, quilting, maybe some thread work too. 

Dragonfly book needs to be made from all of the pages I received back in 2014!

Other things on the list include:   

House projects-painting, deep cleaning, decluttering, etc, etc. 

Healthier life style advocating-eating breakfast daily is the first step I want to become routine for me. 

Time with the Hubs at the beach. 

Putting in some designated time on my art courses. 

Etc,

Etc,

Etc. 

May God bless the work of your hands.