Quilting | Quilting Helps you Quit Smoking!

I have finished the Wild Child quilt top.The others wait their turn in various locations around the quilt room where I hide out from sheer terror. I sandwich, I thread the machine, and go.

I am holding my breath, trying to breath through this underlying sense of panic because I quit smoking last Thursday.  The uncertainty of a new to me quilt pattern is edging up that panic.

I pieced a backing for this wild child quilt top that I designed during mmmquilts 30 quilt design challenge. I wanted an all over design and thought an all over wood grain pattern would match the feel of this quilt.

I used Angela Walters video below to get started then I was off, focusing on trying to keep the lines the same distance apart, not bunching up the backing, and making the motif smooth.





I put my head down and focused! the next time I looked up was an hour later! yes! I beat it that time, now I wait for the next wave of withdrawal to come.

My husband and I quit smoking two years ago and took the habit back up when we were selling, renovating, buying, moving, getting married and honeymooning this summer. We were super stressed and it was the only way we knew how to cope with that much stress.

I spent the entire weekend in my sewing room avoiding my dear husband as we were both on edge and felt like picking on each other. I survived by having the quilting challenges to work with.

The all over wood grain is starting to come together and I think it just might turn out great.


Until next time, stay resolute!

Sarah

Linking to  oh Scrap , Move it Forward Monday  , Monday Making  and Main Crush Monday 

Quilting | Grannies Around the World

I made this quilt for my mom for Christmas. I have started many things for family members and not always gotten them finished. This one I crammed until Christmas Eve!

This is the first time I have tried anything fancy for a quilting motif. It is not an all over design and the batting is fairly puffy so I didn't want to quilt too dense. This quilt is wondrously heavy and snuggly at the same time. :) 

I was laughing with a new friend I made at my first quilt guild meeting, about being so bone tired and bleary-eyed trying to meet a deadline and how we keep going. Perseverance my friends, that is the stuff that quilters are made of.

My mom  helped me choose the sashing fabric and the widths for this quilt. I spent a lot of my childhood in my mom's sewing room playing with scraps of fabric and rummaging and admiring her stash.

I am pretty grateful to of had that experience and I will always cherish the 70's inspired fabrics and caftans that I subsequently stole and ruined as a teenager.


I owe my mom some crochet shawls too that I wore everywhere as an "outspoken fashion plate teen" I used to wear the craziest of stuff!


Where are all the freaks? Where are all my fearless brothers and sisters?






No matter; I am tamer but still not trusted to dress myself to "fit in" I do get the "you are wearing that?" or the "you cant come with me if you are wearing that!".

I think that shall be my new aim. more of that.

Here is a song that really perked me up today on CBC Radio Two this morning. I am going to try and keep this jive mojo through the day to inspire me.

Until next time friends, stay fearless.



Sarah




Linking to the following linky parties that are super fun!

Finish it up Friday    and:

Quilting | Over the Rainbow "There's no place like home"

I am quilting on the Over the Rainbow Quilt!. I needed something that would be good for solid squares, something that could be done in a row, and something fun and cute that would challenge me. I hit my Pinterest FMQ board to see what types of ideas I had stored there my Alice in Wonderland-like rabbit hole search landed me at Lori Kennedy's Inbox Jaunt blog  I scrolled down all the impossibly cute designs and said yes to the first one that squeaked "do it!"

This is what happened after!

Pretty cute hey! This quilt is for a lovely lady in Kansas! how appropriate!

In other news, I have a position on the board of my local rug hooking guild as outreach coordinator. Because I had no idea what I was supposed to do I attended a local Focus on the Fiber Arts Anual General Meeting. After learning about budgets, grants, and events, there was a needlework class!  I did a pretty crappy job I am NOT good at needlework. I am not even going to show you a picture! lol. 

I was so stressed out with needlework which is strange because I love EPP and hand sewing. The above picture is an English Paper Piecing project I picked up on a road trip across the prairies in October to keep me busy. I won't give up on needlepoint totally.... but I am confident that I can cross it off the list for now. 

Until next time, Stay cute my friends! hehe

Sarah

Linking with Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrap Bag

and Monday Making 

Quilting | Monster Mash is Done!

I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight

For my monster from his slab began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

I did the mash! I did the monster mash!




The lil monster mash (I call it)







This cute scrappy quilt was sent off this week to a little girl in South Carolina :) on a Simbi trade. I can't bear to sell my quilts yet. They take so much time and thought I would never recover my effort. It feels better to give them away and count them as part of my creative process.












There are so many pieces of different textiles in this quilt. Some are designer fat quarters, some African prints, leftover pieces of clothing, pillowcases, I even see one of my old favorite shirts in there. (the blue pink and grey plaid)

In on of Kaja's latest blog posts (Partial Seams for Total Satisfaction) she talked about being so impatient for the quilt to come together there were pieces missing from the top. In the top right-hand picture, I was so impatient to do some quilting on the top that I left out a few pieces until the very end as well. I wonder how many of us do this? lol!

 I bound this with a 5" folded machine stitched binding. I quilted it with an x through each 3.5" square (3" finished)




I used a batting that was fluffy! this thing is cuddly! I really loved having this on my lap while I was quilting it.




The backing is an upcycled duvet cover and it had a rip in it! I put the cutest 6X6 castle patch on it from STOF  fabric sweet princess line. I didn't take a picture of it, which makes it a bit of a little treasure.






I can't believe that this started as a couple of scraps and a request. I love the productive magic that comes from quilting from scraps. I pride myself on making something from nothing; my husband recently declared to me "you know what is cool hun, we are makers! we make things that weren't there before, and that is amazing. I am proud to be that"

So am I my love, so am I.

Until next time, stay magical my friends


Sarah




Linking up to finished or not Friday

Quilting | Geese and Snow

Hello friends, over the weekend my fiance and I went up to our cabin. We try and make the two-hour jaunt most weekends. The cabin has power but no running water or gas, except for the gas stove which is hooked up to a large propane bottle outside. 

I mostly stayed inside and used my mother in laws old sewing machine to do some quilting on the Monster Mash, and the Geese Quilts.  I also used my ball winder to untangle the ungodly mess of yarn barf I have up at the cabin in my stash. 

 

I thought that it would be nice to take some pictures of the quilts up there but the light wasn't quite bright enough, the snow, however, was a delightful show. 

The Geese quilt is under the needle in my city sewing room now that we are back in the city for the week. I wonder if it will be done for the Friday finishes!?! that would be fun. 

Until the next time we can get up there, I will dream and remember the cozy time I spend at our getaway.

Until next time my friends, stay cozy or cool, whichever.

Sarah

Linkning to Monday Making, Oh Scrap and Moving it Forward Monday  ; Em's Scrap Bag

Quilting | The Best Thrift Fabric Sale

The best fabric sale ever is coming up again and I debate in my mind, do I need more fabric? hahahahahahahahaaaa (maniacal laugh)



 I was so thrilled with the fabric I found at the church sale in 2017. Each piece of fabric is measured, folded and tagged with bands for sale. If you didn't grab it and put it in your garbage bag while you were looking at it it would be gone as soon as you moved along. There were hundreds of people that attended! It was really fun!

I was feeling guilty about going to the sale this year until I started looking at these pictures and started realizing how much of my fabric I actually used up!

  

The pieces above were two dollars all together! These went into the flying geese quilt and the Cabin quilt.

I haven't used any of the above wool and heavier fabrics. I am working on a big dog bed for the big brown dog. Having these fabrics in my stash enabled me to "go for it" even if I ended up using a couple of other upholstery pieces I had.




The country tomato picknick summer blanket is a dream coming.



And a rug hooking kit! can you believe it! so lovely! I took this out of the hoop rolled it up and added it to my rug hooking stash



These are some knits that are in my stash now.



This upholstery fabric is probably destined for the cabin.



All of this thread cost a dollar fifty or something nuts like that, I have used up all of the yellow and red cones along with various little spools. I am now working my way through the pink, blue, and brown cones.



I think I will go again. I really dig upcycling deeply. I wonder how I would track how much yardage I used in 2017?  I guess I could just measure it... I try not to measure my art though. That settles it! I will go and get materials for my art without worry.

Linking up to Main Crush Monday

Until next time friends, stay Arty.

Sarah

Quilting | Q4, Monsters and Lions and Diamonds Oh My!

I have had a lot on the go. I bet you guys didn't know that. I am going to show you all what I have been working on (winky face). I will show you what occupies my time and the back room as we call it.

1. This awesome Over the Rainbow blanket

Which is almost done.

2. 

The Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds Quilt 

Needs more HST's but is coming along nicely

3. 

Flying out of my Sewing Room Geese

I have several more rows waiting to be attached to this. 

4. 

I Did the Monster Mash 

3 1/2'' squares need I say more... except I think it needs more punch, more color, more je ne ses quoi. 

Things look so different in pictures. I work in a really small space so I don't get to see it layed out much. 

Maybe I should join One Monthly Goal and have things like: Make lighting station, Make design wall, Cut up stash.... lol I don't know, it sounds ambitious. I am looking at going back to night classes and well, there won't be room or time for the fabric in my head. (yes I probably have fabric in my head, it's everywhere else) 

Until then, stay clever my friends. 

Linking up with FALQ4 and Finished or not Friday 

Quilting | Sagittarius Strings

Do you remember this guy?  It has been growing up! I have been adding to it! I had a whole stack and I did not know what I was going to do with them... :(         I had Quilters Block... haha, 

Until Simbi! have you guys heard of Simbi? 

It is a community where you can trade services and goods with other people. You can trade for Simbi credits that you can use to get other services. Neat right?! 

Check out Simbi! 

I love sharing my work with other people but I have always been uncomfortable selling it for cash. Trading for a service or product is more valuable to me than money.  

The Tale of the Sagittarius Strings: 

A girl on Simbi was looking for a blanket for her twin bed and I thought of the stack of strings waiting to be quilted up. I can do that! I love making blankets! so I started sewing all of those stripy blocks together.  

I looked up her profile on Simbi to see what types of things she likes and I found out that her favorite color is RAINBOW!!!!  

I was just thinking of making a rainbow blanket the other day! I didn't have a use for one so I put it out of my mind. I now have my chance to make something that someone needs and appreciates. 

Eliora is also a Sagittarius and I am hoping to use it in the design somewhere. (I love zodiac themed design) I hope you like it so far Eliora :) 

Until next time - Stay bartering my friends

I am linking with Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt and Oh Scrap!