Tag: bargello

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Follow Up!

I realize that I bring things up here sometimes and then never mention them later.  So, here are some things that require a little follow up:
Lynda Barry workshop:  Soooo fun.  I was inspired to write a little ‘zine in Instant Book format but haven’t finished yet (Yes, this follow up requires follow up – I see that now).
I brought my bargello quilt to the Modern Quilt Guild and we did our swap.
My partner was very gracious.  I was hoping there would be a picture on Facebook that I could use here but it never got posted.  She made me a lovely purse with my denim scraps.  I think I’ll keep going to the meetings after all. 
The shoe insert idea?
Total bust, didn’t work at all.  They made the orthotics slip all over the place.  Oh well.  They are cute but I don’t know what to do with them now. 
Hand Map thingy: 
Back burner.  I am going to move the hand to a larger backing piece. I am too busy preparing for two different library craft programs to work on a project with no foreseeable purpose.  I don’t think I’ll even have time to make Christmas gifts this year which is totally freaky. 
I’m sure there are more but I can’t think of them now.  Pictures of the ‘zine and the purse will be here soon…I imagine…
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Attitude Adjustment

I didn’t have time to work on my scrap quilt yesterday so I had to knock it out today. I’m glad I took that time off because when I sat down to work on it, I felt completely different about it.

I realized that this project is been a great opportunity to try something new that I never would have chosen. Yesterday, all of my whining was really just my insecurities rearing their heads.

I’ll hand it over to my swap partner happily; she knew she was risking getting a final product she wouldn’t necessarily adore, just like I did when I gave her my scraps. It’s really the point of the whole exercise and I’m glad I finally figured it out.
It was a chance to try out these little corner pockets for hanging. I put one on every corner so she has lots of hanging options.
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Sigh

I finally got going on this Quilt Guild project.  For those who haven’t been following along, I joined a local Modern Quilt Guild.  The people are very nice and I enjoyed the meeting.  For fun, they had a scrap swap.  We each brought in some scraps and swapped them with someone else with the intention of making something for each other and then giving it back finished.  I brought denim and the minute we switched ziploc bags, my heart sank. I got selvedges that are black and white and highly patterned.  No, not crazy about those.  But I rallied.  I picked a bargello type quilt to work on and got started.  Well – I knew this about myself already – I don’t like to take direction and I don’t play well with others and, I’ve recently learned, making a bargello quilt is super dull.  I like making quilts out of solid fabrics and making them up as I go along.  Anyhoo – I put it off for over a month and now the next meeting is coming up on tomorrow. 
So yesterday:
 
  
I pulled out my already cut scraps to iron.  Please note that there are lots of them.  Should make a decent doll quilt, right?  And then some.
 
Oops – dang it, I sewed one on backwards.  I always do that.  
 
There.  Fixed and all sewn up.  I trimmed the edges and sewed the top to the bottom to make a tube.  It really is a clever (but picky) technique.
 

 
Then I turned it and started chopping the tube up.  See those safety pins?  They’re there to help me keep track
   
Still with me?  Boring to read, boring-er to do.  Actually this part was the funnest bit.  All lined up and …
 
Tada!  Wonky and cool.
Backside
Unpick the seams that make them tubes and they make this cool pattern.
Frontside
 
But somehow, in all that seaming, it ended up as this long skinny piece of nothing (Remember waaaaay back to the beginning of this post?  When there was plenty of fabric?).  What the what am I supposed to make that into?  This is where I got re-stuck.  Tomorrow night it’s supposed to be a finished thing.  My swap partner did have a list of suggested items she hoped it would be: A zipper pouch, an iphone case, a throw pillow or a doll quilt.  Not seeing any of those things here.  
And then there’s this:  She’s an actual quilter.  She probably could have made something better out of her own scraps.  Something she actually wants.  So, like, I could make it into a wall hanging but she’ll never hang it.  If I cut it in half (which I’m tempted to do), to make a doll quilt, the cool zig-zaggy-ness effect will look decidedly uncool.  So…sigh…
“Sigh” is all I got.  I’ll post a picture of whatever is ends up as.  I’ll have to machine quilt it since there’s no time to do it by hand.  Also, I have resolved to never ever join a swap like this again.  So, there is a bright side.  🙂