Handmade Christmas

So the handmade Christmas happened.  Of the five people I needed gifts for who were involved in the "handmade only" gift exchange, I ended up making three gifts, buying one that was handmade by someone else (this was allowed within the rules of the exchange), and giving on "gift certificate" for a future handmade gift.  So you would think that making only three gifts would be an easy task and I wouldn't let it go down to the wire...but of course I did.  The good news, though, is that they all got done and I'm pretty pleased with them.

The gifts are as follows:

1) A set of throw pillows:

These I made for my little brother with scraps from the t-shirt quilt I made him several years ago.  He recently moved into a new house so I thought he could use some help with the decorating...

2) A covered journal made from the tutorial over on Exuberant Color:

3) A mini-quilt a.k.a a sketch:

My mom sent me Rayna Gillman's book as a surprise earlier this year, without realizing that I was already a fan of her blog.  This mini-quilt is the result of my early experiments with her techniques.  It was a lot of fun to make.  The purple section of the mini-quilt is a re-worked block from this quilt that I have a ton of leftover blocks from.  Perhaps more of those are to come.

Anyway, overall I enjoyed the handmade Christmas and will have to think about doing more handmade gifts in the future.

As the year draws to a close I'm starting to think about what I want to accomplish creatively in the new year.  I'm glad to be able to say that I actually made a few quilts in 2012, which is certainly a respectable thing for a quilter to be able to say!  Ha ha.  Hopefully I can keep this trend going next year.  I just want to think critically (as usual) about what specifically I want to work on.

Enjoy the new year everyone!!

Baby Ready

So baby quilt #1 of fall 2012 = accomplished.  And it's a very good feeling.









There is one more baby quilt I am definitely going to do this fall, and others that are more optional depending on how much time I end up having, so we'll see what I come up with!

My family and I also agreed to give all handmade presents for Christmas this year - they can be handmade by someone else and purchased by me, but all handmade.  However my goal is to make everything myself rather than buy things handmade by others, so I need to get started on that very soon as well.  Hopefully I am not biting off more than I can chew.  You never know with me though.

Olas Del Oceano

As much as I love free sewing, making it up as I go along, and trying new things, there are nevertheless a few traditional quilt patterns on my list that I will not be happy until I have made.  One of them is Ocean Waves.  Back, way back, when I went through a frenzy of cutting up my scraps for different projects in the hopes of reducing the irreducible volume thereof, I cut a big pile of squares destined to become half-square-triangles for an Ocean Waves quilt.  

This is a true scrap quilt in that every scrap in the box is fair game and no attempt has been made to choose a color scheme or coordinate colors.  It's incredibly fun to be reminded of the sources of all the different scraps - it takes me back to a lot of old projects.

Truthfully, with the number of time-limited projects I've mentally committed myself to lately, and my track record of late, this is probably not the best thing for me to be spending my time on.  However, I've had a lot going on at work lately, and my ability to compartmentalize, usually one of my strengths, has been really challenged.  This repetitive, methodical project has been really relaxing to work on as I can just focus on one simple task and it helps me clear my head.  I have been listening to the works of Jane Austen on iTunes while sewing away.

The Quilts of Summer 2012

An in-progress baby quilt.  Within my circle of friends there are several little ones expected this fall and winter, so I am turning my attention to shower gifts.  At this point I am just working on a few different ideas to see what develops rather than planning any one project for one specific person.

This started just by sewing scraps together, and is mostly from the scrap bin.  When I started on it I thought it was going to look very different, but this is what it quickly became.  

Also, check out my new sewing table:  

A friend moving to California was getting rid of it, and it is much nicer than the old computer desk I had been using!

Random Stripes

Extended post title: Random Stripes -or- Something I Actually Finished (Or At Least Finished The Top Of)

I have been calling this project "Random Stripes" because it is an improv variation of the traditional Roman Stripes pattern.  It is inspired by an antique quilt I saw in a book (stay tuned for me to figure out which book it was and give it credit here) and wanted to create my own "version" of.

I first declared this top to be "done" many years ago when it was just the center part with the blue border.  Then, before I got around to finishing it, I decided it needed something more and at someone's suggestion decided to add more pieced borders to it.

Then I put it in a pile where it sat for several more years.

I took it out again recently a decided it was finally time to do something with it.  After experimenting with a few possibilities I decided to try adding a row of blocks on top and bottom.  Once that was done, although there are a million other things I suppose I could do with it, I think it actually feels "done" to me.



Maybe I should say "done for now" given the history, but I have a feeling I'll stick with this.

It's pretty "random" as the name suggests, but I think it will make a fun toddler quilt for a little one to play on and with.  Or even possibly a nice lap quilt for a suitably "random" adult.  I'm not sure where it's going to end up yet, so we shall see!  It is 44ish x 62ish inches.



In other news, I have a three day weekend!  And I have to tell you I'm feeling quite extremely favorable towards three day weekends just at the moment!   I have to be grateful for work since I would never be able to enjoy time off so much if it weren't for work.  Right?  Right?

Hope you're all doing well out there in blogland :)

Strips

Here are two simple baby quilt tops I did last week. When doing my scrap organizing project a while back I set aside any strips that were selvage to selvage. I had fun putting them together in different combinations, and these are the results. I thought about adding borders or other additional elements, but I think I've decided that I like them as is, simple though they may be.



In other news, school is just about out for the summer meaning no more work for a substitute. I've decided to head back to the shelter in Texas for part of the summer to visit and help out. I leave next Wednesday. I'm not sure how long I will be gone for, but things my be a little quiet around here in the meantime. Of course you never know! I do hope to have one or maybe two more things to post soon. I have one project that is quilted and even bound, but unfortunately I found not one, not two, but three blown out seams when I was doing the quilting! Some patching is going to have to happen before it is considered "finished". I'm trying to force myself to get that done so I can share it, because it's a project I'm really excited about. Maybe I will be able to get to that today. Stay tuned!

Hope you're all gearing up for a great summer!

When Scraps Take Over

You may have been worried when you read about me cutting all my scraps up that I wouldn't have anything left for free pieced projects (like this one). No need to worry, I had a whole set of other scraps set aside for this project. I started this a while ago and have been thinking of it as a long term project - there wasn't exactly a goal or end in sight, just piecing scraps together at random until they become something. When I started it I thought it would be a good project to have on hand to just work on now and then, when I had time, when I needed a mental break, etc. It takes no planning since it's all random, so it should be easy to pick up at anytime. It's also a good creative boost because it is so free and spur of the moment.



The reality has been that I haven't worked on it very much. The only part I've consistently worked on is adding blue, green, and purple scraps to the pile. Now I've gotten it all out and put it by the machine (actually it's basically eaten the machine and the surrounding area) and I'm feeling like I may just want to work on it till it's done. I'm beginning to think there may be more than one quilt here. I had originally imagined creating a lot of units of different sizes and shapes and setting them together with thin black sashing so they look somewhat like a mosaic. I may or may not do that, but I'm starting to have other ideas, too.




These pictures cover only a few of the units and blocks that I currently have. I don't know how many scraps I started with, but I definitely still have plenty.

A Flash From the Quilting Past

I wrote this picture dense post for Rejoice Always in January of '07, and even though I completely finished it at the time I just saved it as a draft and never published it. I'm not sure why. I think it's time it saw the light of day...

January 14, 2007

I spent Monday putting together a small challenge quilt to be auctioned off for Relay for Life. The challenge was to make a quilt featuring the color pink no more than 100'' all the way around. I discovered why people like to make small quilts...I had no idea I could put a top together in a day. I thought it would be fun to do step-by-step documentation of the process. Looking back over the pics it seems like I took a picture every two seconds at first and then towards the middle and end kept forgetting to take them, so there are some gaps in the documentation.

I started by sorting through my scrap box for any and all usable scraps. Comments on this step in the process: 1) Yes, I need a better system for my scraps, but that's a project for another day off. 2) My scraps look so red and blue...which I guess is why I didn't find too too many usable scraps for this particular project.



OK, here are my usable scraps pressed and ready to go. Now I look at them and start sewing them together pretty randomly based on which ones look similar in size and look nice next to each other. I trim liberally.







By the time I completed this unit below, I had pretty much exhausted my scraps and it seemed like a good place to stop. I broke for a cup of tea.



I had pulled every pink, spring green, and grey fabric in my stash and after my tea break I went through them and made my final choices for what fabrics I would use for the rest of the quilt top, pictured here:



Then, in the longest most tedious step of the process I pressed each piece of fabric and cut one strip from it, at a random widths. Most were straight although I cut a few intentionally off grain.



Then I added strips to my scrappy unit:



Then, using the scraps from the strips I just added to the scrappy unit (are you with me here?) I did this part to add in:



The finished top:



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Edited to add this picture of the final quilt, hand quilted with baptist fans:

Art Video

I realize that it would be smart to tackle the scraps a little bit at a time. That was, in fact, my plan. But now that I am so immersed in it, I find I have a single minded determination, and an unwillingness to do anything else. At all. (Except blog, apparently.) I have a cramp in my left hand, a blister on my right hand, and a pain in my back, but I feel I cannot rest until every last scrap is cut to size and sorted into its appropriate pile. And since I didn't get called to sub Thursday, Friday, or today, I have been a scrap cutting machine (possibly at the expense of some other things I probably *should* be doing, but why get into that???) I think I may have a problem.

Anyway, I'm taking a short break to share with you this video that I saw on this blog.



I've been thinking a lot lately about art and what it means to be an artist. And I really like this video. So yeah.

Scraps

The great scrap organizing project of '09 continues.

A pile of 1.5" squares:


I have no ambitions to make a king size "postage stamp" quilt in which no two squares are alike. Nothing like that. But there seem to be a lot of people on craftster tackling these, so I thought I would package up some squares and small scraps to give away, and figured I might as well cut one set for me to play with...

Drunkard's Path pieces:


This is to be my experiment in curved piecing. I decided to start small; a girl baby quilt from scraps.

This morning or today I should finish up the scrap overflow box. Ahem. Yes, that means I haven't actually touched the so-full-it-barely-closes scrap box yet.