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At it again!

 I went out to the country to visit friends for a fun day of sewing.  Women and kids just hanging out and playing with cloth and thread.  It was a great group of people and a beautiful Wisconsin fall day. 
“We used to be pants!”
It was a long drive as I got myself lost about three times on the way there.

I tend to get distracted by the fall colors this time of year.  We’ve had so many cloudy, grey days that one bright day dazzled me!  The leaf colors are so vibrant against those blue skies!
Anyhoo…

I pieced together some denim with no end purpose in sight but decided – in this place of safety and positive energy – that this was the time to experiment with something new that I has been kicking around in my head.  So I pulled out my box of embroidery thread and made some simple running stitches through a square of denim unconsciously using some of the colors that I saw on my drive out. 

I didn’t try to keep the stitches totally straight, I just followed them where they seemed to want to go.  Just like following those oddly letter named county highways.
 The squares and the lines of stitches are a little wonky like most things I like and like my drive there.  Always the scenic route for me – usually involuntarily.
It’s a project that’s been there in the back of my head, waiting until I was ready, I guess.  Maybe waiting for that fricking couch to get done.  I’m so glad I started in on a crisp, bright, fall day.
Like a candy store!  I did remove all of the pinks, purples and blues for this project.
 I’m seeing the next OCD quilt coming together here.  I already made four more squares last night.  All in all, a great day.  Great friends + great day + room to try something new = some awesome inspiration!
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That ultrasound had better be right!

Finally, I get to make a mess! Well, really, it’s a quilt. 
It’s a baby quilt for my new grand niece.  She’s due any day now.
It’s sewn together on the sewing machine.
Then I quilted it together by hand with embroidery thread. 
This is the back side.  I love the digital effect.
In process
The front is linen.
I used a floral skirt and beige pants.  The beige pants were actually really nice but had a pleated front – such a shame.  The stripes are from a pair of XL capri pants.  Another monstrosity taken off the street.  You’re welcome.
The backing is a really soft flannel.
I sewed around the inside of each square with different colored thread.

I wish I had only used dark colors but I’m not unhappy with it over all.
It’s the quickest quilt I’ve ever made.  I made the whole thing in less than a week.  I’d love to see it after it’s been washed a few times.  I think (and hope) it will age really nicely.

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Up!

It’s been a while since I posted but my house is staying pretty clean … you know… from the not making a mess making stuff.

BUT… I do have a little news. Two of my quilts are up at the Monona Public Library as part of a Staff Art Show.  Here are some pictures but if you’re in the area, you should really go check them out.

Log Cabin Quilt made out of Corduroy

Denim Quilt
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On the one hand…

I finished it!!!
Here it is, early into the hand sewing part.  Notice how close together the stitches are.
Much further apart at the end…

This is the very last bit of hand stitching that I did on it.

Back side

I thought that adding the pocket and belt loop would look really cool as part of the binding but was a huge pain to hand sew.  Live and learn.

Done and done.  One the other hand, it’s time to move on to…
Cleaning the craft space.  I didn’t take a before shot.  This is in the middle of the process.
Seven full bins…that are visible…
Here’s what I’m throwing away.
On the other other hand…Let’s not talk about this tucked away corner from my mosaic days.
…or this one….
….or..this..one…

PS – I know it looks like I found the camera but actually I didn’t.  We had purchased a warranty on the first camera.  You know, those things you pay for, never use and kick yourself for the whole time.  We had a month of the three years left on it when Matt remembered it and so got the camera repaired just in time.

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Earlier Quilt

I was being ironic when I picked as many obnoxious floral prints as I could get my hands on to make this quilt.  Actually, they all sort of fell into my lap.  I answered an ad on Craigslist from a woman who was getting rid of a bunch of vintage fabrics. 
This one was a sleeveless shirt
Curtain panel
Another shirt
This one is my favorite.  I love the birds.  It was a shirt, too
This is from a different batch of fabric that a friend was giving away. 
The white was from a sheet that doubled as my Princess Leia costume from Halloween 2009 and the red edging I found at Dig N Save, pre-cut and apparently rejected.   I wanted to make a classic busy quilt just for fun. It has a very active life on the couch keeping us all toasty.
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Knitting

Since we aren’t gifting the OCD quilt, I’ve put it on the procrastination pile (which is huge) to wait out the holidays.  In this case, that pile means the couch.  
Notice the safety pins all over
The blanket is being used to keep us warm already even though it has no edging and isn’t full quilted yet.  That’s probably a bad idea, I know, but I get such a kick out of seeing somebody wrapped up in it.
So instead of working on the quilt, I’ve been knitting and knitting.  
Up until this year, knitting the same thing twice was unthinkable to me.  
It’s so boring and repetitive.  That’s why my socks have all been fraternal twins.
This is an old pair.  You can tell I got bored on the feet because they are totally different.
I think this year, because I’ve been making time to create more kinds of stuff – quilts, jewelry and stuffed animals – repetitive knitting is just fine.  
I’ve been making the same scarf with different yarns and have really been enjoying myself.  It helps that the stitch pattern is a no brainer and I can think about other things while knocking them out.  
 
It’s also helped my with my embarrassingly large yarn stash.  I now know what to do with it and even have a project for those small leftover balls of yarn that I just can’t get rid of.  
This morning
Last night
I’d love to make crazy randomly colored scarves – using the same pattern – but that will wait till after Christmas too.  Not everybody appreciates random messiness.
We helped Santa out and bought a new camera on Sunday.  
Look for the Etsy shop to start growing!
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Always learning…

 Two big lessons learned today.
Lesson 1.  What looks like this before being washed…

…looks like this after.  Not at all quite what I had in mind but after about 10 seconds of mourning it’s perfect tidiness, I decided that I love it.  It helped that Matt really likes it, too.  The only big difference to our lives is that instead of gifting it, we’re keeping it.  It’s too messy for the person we had in mind. 
Lesson 2.  Repeatedly poking a needle through three layers of fabric (Denim – sometimes 2 layers of that –  batting and then upholstery canvas) hurts like hell.  I finally started using a thimble even though it makes me feel like a Grandma.  I’m actually taking a couple of days off to let my thumbs and index fingers heal. 
I got about 1/4 of it done before wimping out.  
I picked an orange quilting thread.  

It don’t think it’s a perfect choice but matches the little orange dots on the backing fabric.  Maybe I’ll be learning a lesson from this, too.

I’m bummed that my tidy OCD rectangles will get so messy but, on the other hand, I’m sure I’ll learn to love it. That’s just the way I’m made.
In the meantime, I’m knitting scarves like Christmas is coming.
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You’re welcome

Here’s a test swatch for the OCD quilt.  I tried hand quilting it.  I think if I do the whole blanket this way, I’ll make the stitches further apart so that I can finish in this decade.  The backing is a  heavy cotton from IKEA.  I was going to use it for chair covers since but I haven’t even begun to consider working on that project, this one wins.  I do have the chairs, though.  But I am NOT a hoarder (spoken like a true hoarder)!
My big worry is that the rectangles will fall off or fray in the wash so I’m going to throw this one through a cycle and see what happens.  If they fall off I may go through and zig zag them on with a blue thread.  That promises to be a colossal pain because I’ve already sewn all the squares together.

 I used jean top stitching thread because I like the weight of it for this but I don’t like the color so I’ll be using a different thread if I hand stitch it.
Getting there…

Oh.  I found this pair of acid washed, pleated front Bill Blass jeans at Dig N Save and cut them up for a border.  They will never grace anyone’s ass again.                                                                                                        You’re Welcome.

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Puzzle Pieces

My daughter dropped the camera on the floor last night and now it works – kinda.  It’s still held together by a rubber band from a bunch of asparagus and it thinks it needs a new battery all the time BUT I was able to get a picture of the OCD quilt.  It’s all denim from jeans.  I put it together like a puzzle and now I have to sew it so that we regain the use of our dining room table.  This means I’m still procrastinating on my couch but at least I’m using some denim, right?

 I realize that this isn’t really like a Japanese Boro Quilt – mine aren’t really random enough – but those quilts are so amazing that I am going to add some links to some pictures.  They just blow me away.  I’ve heard that what collectors tend to show are the back sides of the quilt.  I can see why.

Fibercopia 
Harvey Antiques – Check out those prices.
Reference Library – Shows the front and back.


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Camera

My camera is a family camera.  It’s also several years old.  
I mention this because it is in the process of dieing an inconvenient death.  
Just look at the difference in the quality of the pictures. 
Before
After
With that in mind, I am not really going to have any good, new photos until after Christmas.  Santa is bringing us a new camera.  I’ll see what I can do with old pictures in the meantime:
Older picture, obviously.