Zen, Irish Chain, and Amish Steps

Saturday evening, I finished up the machine quilting on the Irish Chain quilt Kara and I are working on together for a dear friend.  On Saturday, Kara rescued me from an interminable wait at Best Buy getting a Sirius satellite radio installed & passed along the binding strips.  Saturday night, I got the binding strips mitered together & sewed on.  Sunday, I passed the quilt off to Kara (who did the piecing on the quilt top) for hand-quilting in the center squares; she got that done on Sunday, and today she's already gotten one round of blind-stitching done on the binding.  Yay!

On Saturday, I also got the border added to my Zen quilt.  The pattern doesn't call for a border, but I found the perfect fabric to tie all the others together, and the general consensus around here is that the border really gives it a sense of being finished off.  I think if I'd selected one of the marbled batiks to bind with, and then made certain not to use that fabric on any of the blocks on the edge, then I would have been happy without the border.  Now I can hardly wait to get it layered, basted, and quilted.

Yesterday, I got strips cut from 24 batiks for the two Amish Steps quilts that I'm tackling next.  I still need to cut the main step colors for each (one will use a single main step color, and the other will use two main step colors), as well as the borders and binding strips.  Oh, and I have to piece the backing for one of them.

Oh, and let's not forget that I'm back in the classroom tomorrow (actually, I'm quite ready to go back, except for the dent in my quilting time).  Note to Kara:  get ready to take over principal blogging responsibilities.

Surgery, Zen, and Grant's Quilt Update

Grant's surgery went swimmingly; he has been discharged from the hospital, and he seems to be on the road to a full (and swift) recovery.  Well, his patience levels seem to have suffered a bit, and he's a bit crankier than usual, but I think he's allowed.   Between Grant being cranky and his mother's (typical) passive-aggressive routine, I'm ready to scream.

Oh, and this is fraught with peril:  Grant just put Keith Olbermann on, which ought to ruffle his parents' conservative feathers in about ten seconds.  I'm going to go hide now.  Perhaps I'll disappear into the craft-a-torium (formerly the crap-a-torium) and work on Zen.  This morning, I got all the blocks pieced, and this afternoon I got the blocks arranged on the dining room table.  I'm thrilled with how awesome it looks all laid out.

Speaking of Zen, I discovered just how right Marti "Bippendale" (I'm sorry, I just can't remember her last name, and Kara and I have been calling her Marti Bippendale for weeks now) when she recommended using an "assembly line" approach to working with lots of little pieces.  Rather than cutting the top & bobbin threads after each short seam, I assembled four units sequentially, leaving a quarter inch between each unit and then cutting them apart after the fact:

From Quilt Techniques

From Quilt Techniques

I was quite amazed at how effectively this approach speeded up the block piecing.  I did have a couple of misfires, though, where I put the next piece on the wrong end of the unit.  I also got down to the last four strips to assemble and decided that one combination was just too icky, but fortunately a simple swap fixed it beautifully.

Let me also clean house a little bit with a picture of Grant's quilt all finished:

From Grant's Cancer Convalescence Quilt

He was inordinately thrilled with his quilt and has cuddled with it frequently ever since he got out of the hospital.  Let's hope he can de-crank-ify himself before I strangle him with this quilt.  I may run away and join the circus before he goes back to work.  Although I'll be back in the classroom next week myself.

Okay, time to start sewing Zen blocks together!

Road trip addendum and Zen

Just a quick addendum to our road tripping agenda:  Trader Joe's and Oberweis Dairy!  Perhaps our motto should be, "Gluttony:  Don't leave home without it!"  Or it would be if we could find a way to work Royal Donut into our agenda, but Danville is the wrong direction.

Okay, on to the Zen.  I've been struggling all night to find the right combinations of fabrics for the patterned blocks in the Zen quilt.  It started as a kit from Sew Sassy in Urbana, but I started culling the fabrics I just didn't like, and then I had to cull a few more that just didn't seem to make friends well with others.  With all my years of yarn collecting and the sizeable yarn stash (over 3 million yards and counting), I can see that have a well developed fat quarter stash is a good thing (and a good thing that will be implemented very, very, very soon (as per the above paragraph).  I warmed up the palette a little bit and resected the fabrics with strong patterns, and I'm just thrilled with the result:

From Zen Quilt (Quilt #0003)

I am now contemplating putting Ott-Lite light-bulbs in the dining room fixture to get better color representations when I take digital pictures (ooh, how long are the bulbs on sale at Jo-Ann's?)  Except it would take six bulbs, and our meals might not look as appetizing without the warm hues added by incandescent lights.

In being thrilled with "my" Zen color/fabric combinations, I really just give Grantward, my DH, credit for making many suggestions, most of which were excellent ideas.  We really had a grand time handing each other little squares & saying, "oooh, how about this one over there?!"  Given the late hour, I find I'm exhausted (being consumed by one's own fabulousness is hard work!) and just be off to bed, but first I will take Kara's (extraordinary advice) and place each combination in a page protector & put the whole thing in a ring-binder -- just in case.

Zen pictures

Road Trip

Tomorrow we are headed north for a full day of shopping. I am going to Ikea for the first time and we have plans to stop at two quilt shops along the way. I'm sure our plastic will be smoking from all the use before the day is over.

More Photos

Love it!

The quilt top is finished! It's Triple Irish Chain. The fabrics are all from Sew Sassy in Urbana.

Bali Pop Math

Kara pointed out last night that I've made two quilts for the cancer patients in my life and planned three for christmas presents, in addition to the two bags made as gifts; but nowhere is to be found any plans for a quilt for myself. With our trip tomorrow up north to Ikea, we are of course going to stop along the way, thanks to recommendations from our DQF (dear quilting friend) Lisa, at Robert's Sewing Center in Crest Hill, Illinois (essentially Joliet) and The Fabric Center in Morris, Illinois.  Okay, so perfect opportunity to a little shopping for myself.  As a further aside, I wonder if I'll do the same thing with quilting that has happened with my knitting; with my knitting, I collect yarn for myself (but rarely have time to knit for myself) but knit for others.  I can easily see myself developing an extensive fat quarter stash for myself but spending the majority of my quilting time on projects for others.  Perhaps it's time to realign my time management.  A little.

Okay, so back to math and Bali pops.  I don't need no stinkin' Bali pop packs of 40 strips.  First, I have no problems creating fab color/fabric combinations together and don't need someone else's color sense intruding on my own sensibilities.  I like breaking color theory "rules" as much as following them, and often times the "wrong" combinations work for subtle reasons.  Also, I don't need someone to cut 2.5" strips for me.  I have that skill down pat.  Finally, The Bali Pops aren't pre-washed, and I really don't need a shrinkage or color bleeding disaster to spoil my efforts.

Okay, no really back to the math now:  1/4 yard yields three 2.5" strips and one narrow strip up to 1.5" (depending on whether the merchant scissor cuts, rotary cuts, or tears the fabric and on the degree of skew after washing).  There are at least three quilts I want to make based on strips:

1. Fuzzy Logic in Brenda Henning's Strip Therapy: Bali Pop ~ Dynamic Duos, (2008), page 8.
2. Insomnia in Brenda Henning's Strip Therapy: Bali Pop ~ Dynamic Duos (2008), page 17.
3. Half Log Cabin in Brenda Henning's Strip Therapy 5:  Bali Pop Mania (2010), page 9.

Oh, and one final note:  the Zen quilt pieces have all been cut (a fairly tedious cutting job, but the pieces come together quickly, at least they did with my test block).  I'm excited to see this one all pieced, but then Kara needs to walk me through an applique frog!

An upside-down omnigrid (and the dire consequences thereof)

Okay, I guess it's a bit of hyperbole to refer to dire consequences cutting fabric I could easily replace tomorrow for $2.75, but I was rather pissed-off at myself when I cut a 7"x10.5" piece to 7"x10" instead, not realizing I had neglected to orient the omnigrid to have the +1/2" side UP!  D'oh!  Fortunately, the fabric in question is a dark, nearly midnight blue (more like an 11:45pm blue), and I had debated about replacing the fabric entirely, so at least I didn't wipe out one of my favorite colors.  Also, the block configuration is 7x9, thus calling for 63 blocks; cutting all 16 fat quarters (correctly) would yield 64 blocks; as one is unused, I'm okay as long as I don't have further assembly issues.  So it wasn't a complete cluster-fluff.

I also need to clean up a little unfinished business with Kara's happy colors bag.  Specifically, here's a picture of it after washing (and filled with a few goodies):

From Bags

114 degrees in the shade

with the heat index! My crafty spot is on our back porch. Even with two fans blowing directly on me, it is too hot to sew. I am currently piecing a quilt that Matthew and I are doing for a friend. It is a Triple Irish Chain. I gave myself the day off. I did manage to oil and clean the Bernina sewing machine that I inherited from my mother. I watched a youtube video on oiling and cleaning a different Bernina model. After the video, I was able to follow the manual instructions. I have a feeling that mom never cleaned the machine. There was felted stuff stuck everywhere. I even gave my "Bernie" a new needle. It should be a happy fellow and I'm hoping the quilting gods smile on me. I'll post pictures soon of the many, many quilts that I am working on.

Kara's bag is in the bag

I finished up Kara's happy colors 22 pocket knitting bag earlier this evening; it just came out of "Mr. Washie" and is now tumbling away.  It was a trip pulling the bag right-side out after sewing in the lining layer:

From Bags

From Bags

From Bags

Once it was right-side out, I was tickled with how well it turned out, especially the meandering quilting on the lining layer.  All things said and done, I'm not sure that I don't like the lining layer better.  I had intended to work my initials into the bottom of the lining, but I forgot and only had room for it at the top.

From Bags

From Bags

The bag looked good all ready for the washer, and I can hardly wait to see it when it comes out; the meander quilting should really pop once the batting has shrunk.  I'll upload that picture as soon as I have it!

From Bags

Giddy with pockets

While on the phone with Kara, I started counting up the pockets on the happy colors knitting bag I'm making for her, because Kara was bemoaning the dearth of pockets in the bag she's making.  I think we both got a little giddy when I started adding three on the outside front, three on the outside back, one on each outside side, plus five front and five back on the inside, and then two on the inside of each side:  That makes 22 pockets total, with two interior pockets that are roughly 12" x 8", which is large enough to accommodate a pattern or slim pattern book in landscape mode.

Giddy giddy giddy giddy pockets!

Okay, time to get the giddy under control.  And get back to sewing.  Although now I need to run to town to pick up my 18" by 24" extension table from Sew Sassy, where they are ever so lovely about special orders. 

Surprise Spoiled

At times, I can be really impatient with surprises.  Kara and I got together to shop for a joint quilt project for a dear friend who needs a little "pick-me-up" present, especially a snuggly one.  And, we decided that Kara would cut & piece the top; we'd layer & baste together; and I'd machine quilt the straight-line quilting, although perhaps I'll get some more practice in with free-hand work on the machine.  But that's not the spoiled surprise.

During the course of our shopping and me deciding what to work on last night, I finally just spilled the beans, because I wanted to start cutting strips for a "happy colors" knitting bag for Kara.  I'd been surreptitious pumping her for details about which bag she liked, what configuration of pockets, etc..., but I just really wanted to start that project, and by spilling the beans, Kara got to provide some important input, things I wouldn't have thought of, like not putting the bright yellows on the outside pockets where the dirt will show.

Although I was initially planning on random color sequencing, symmetry won out (as it often does with me), as you can tell in this photo.

From Bags

I neglected to show the happy green floral print for the lower border or the cosmic orange marble for the upper border.  In addition, the lining will be a turquoise batik with yellow stripe and green stripe inside pockets.  I think I'll use the batik for the handles (or perhaps the green lower border color).