Tag: Project QUILTING

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Knock Wood

I’m about halfway through the hand stitching. I’m happy with it but not thrilled beyond measure. I prefer to be thrilled beyond measure, as you might imagine.

Maybe it was the color choice but the stitches aren’t popping like I want. But they are pretty cool as far as design goes.

I hope to find enough time today to finish up the hand stitching. Generally speaking, the binding goes pretty fast (knocking wood furiously).

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Blanket of Power

Quilt sandwich how I love you.  You don’t need me to turn you inside out and upside down before I sew you. 
You’re so straightforward and for that, I thank you.
Candy Store
And, once you’re all pinned up, I get to do yet another one of my favorite quilty activities:  Choose the quilt thread.
I know, I know, I hear you (you being the blog reader, not the quilt sandwich.  It has no mouth, you realize):  Why would I choose to hand quilt a project when I’m on a tight deadline? 
Orange or purple…
I just like hand quilting so much more.  I like the process and I like the finished product.
Veering towards the purple…
I’m think, too, even though it adds more time and it would be a pain…
Darker, lighter or pinkish…
..that it would be awesome…
Pinkish…oh, hell, no…
…to quilt this using large rectangles that don’t completely relate to the shapes on the denim side.
 Sharp left turn back to orange and I’m ready!
Now that’s a Blanket of Power!
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Power Up

Full of awesome, right?
Well, no, not actually.  I mean yes but, no.  
Yes, because I’m really happy with the way it looks.  
No, because it’s 44 inches wide and the downstairs bathroom, that needs a new rug, is 40 inches wide.  
So.  
Because it’s fabulous looking, I will power on (That’s right:  power on.  More on that later).  Because it’s the wrong size, it will not be a rug.  I just don’t see a way to cut it down either.  I mean, I do but I don’t like what I see, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, who could stand on that one eyed alien robot’s face?  It’s too cute.
Gratuitous close up.
Because it’s not a rug any more, I chose this backing (A remnant from IKEA) that I really love.  It’s in the wash now.  I won’t make the mistake of not pre-washing fabric before sewing with it.  Again.
“Power On” because when I was whining to telling my teenage son about the pointlessness of a 44 X 44 inch blanket, he said it was obviously a Power Up Blanket used by superheros to power up before they save the city.  Also that he was a superhero and had a side kick, who I’d never met, who was a piece of toast:  Wonder Bread.  
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Mathesque Ramblings

After all my mathiness of yesterday, I still ended up one square short, not one square over.  
Duh. 
I made one more square quickly and added it on.
You would think, with my mathematical challenges, that I wouldn’t actually enjoy quilting or knitting but I really do.  I prefer to wing it with both but I still find it interesting that someone as mathishly challenged as I have always been would enjoy something so mathy.  I also enjoy coming up with new words that include the word math in them, apparently.
I’m at least going to finish the top tonight.
Upper right hand corner.  that’s where the last, quickly made square is.  FYI.
I’m loving the look of it.  I just need to sew these four panels together and then I can figure out the backing.  
But life beckons.  I hope to get more work done on it later today. 
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Whole Lotta Math

Sewing machine + iron + furnace + PlayStation = blown fuse.
We have very few outlets in the basement so it’s always a risk, I guess. 
But that’s not all.  I had a whole lotta math going on today.
I finished sewing my little squares onto my bigger squares and then lined them up to sew two together.  I felt super organized (always a mistake for me) when I planned this whole thing out and I even set up the ironing like an assembly line. Really, an excellent idea when involved in a timed challenge, thought I. 
It is, actually, a pretty good idea.  But then, if I’m so freakin’ organized, how did I end up with one extra square?
If I hadn’t been trying to be organized, this wouldn’t bother me at all. 
I also sewed one set together incorrectly (One facing front, one facing back) but that’s to be expected.  Really, doing it just once isn’t bad at all, mathematically speaking.
 
Now they’re all ironed and ready to be sewn into groups of four.  I sat down and started but then realized that they weren’t actually getting sewn together; the bobbin thread had broken.  That’s just too much figgerin’ for one day.  I’m done.  I’ll have to fix that tomorrow. 
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It’s Good To Be Easily Amused.

The plan is that the rug should be 40 X 40.  
To do that, I need the quilt to be eight squares by eight squares.  That’s as close as I intend to get to saying that I’m happy to have evenly sized squares. 
I did cut two much bigger squares for the randomness. I love the randomness.
So, how do I make it a rug instead of just a quilt? It needs to be stiffer and I’d like it to be not slippy on the bottom. Is there more? I think I’ll just use two layers of batting. 
Here’s my “to sew” pile.  
I had so much fun putting the little squares on the big squares.  
It’s good to be easily amused. Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t. 
I got halfway through sewing the little squares to the big squares when life intruded.  The finished pile is on the left, to do on the right. 
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Whose job is it?

To keep me from signing up for these things? 
Please don’t say it’s mine because if it is, I’m screwed.
I know perfectly well that they stress me out.  But I signed up anyway.  Because I was inspired by the pictures she posted.  Also, for the very exciting reason that I need a new rug for my downstairs bathroom.  If I don’t finished in the required time, I will still end up with a project that makes me happy…eventually. 
So this is the basic idea I came up with last night; I plan on playing around with the square sizes more.  
Yes, it is denim.  Well spotted, you.  I do love denim. 
Awhile back a friend of mine gave me a huge pile of pre cut denim squares left over from a relative’s project.  It was very thoughtful and I love and appreciate them. I did despair slightly over their same sizedness.  I like things to be more random.  But, then this challenge showed up in my Madison Modern Quilt Guild feed that seems totally perfect for my orderly squares.  
I decided, as I so often do, What the hell.  
Wish me luck.