One Quilt Project Finished (Finally) and Another Ready to Start

I had a creative breakthrough the other day and was finally able to finish a small wall quilt I've been making for my sister.  The center has been finished for at least a year but I got stuck on what I wanted to do for a border.  I got an idea for the border the other day and was able to get it all finished in time to give it to my sister tonight when she was in town for her Gaelic lesson.  One project checked off the list.  :)

 

Now I can get started on making the quilt I promised Alex so he has at least one real blanket for his bed.  :)

Here's the design I came up with.  It's based loosely on a quilt I found on this site.  http://www.thequiltingedge.com/2011/02/qayg-strips-on-circles-2011.html

I really, really like the quilts she makes and she even uses the quilt as you go method that I've been dying to try so I think this is going to be quite a fun project!  So far I've dyed the batting black so it won't show when I quilt and I've washed half the fabric.  I have high hopes that I might get started on the first block this weekend!

Studio Dreaming

 It's getting closer!  All the drywall is up in the new studio and once the drywall inspection is done next Wed., we can start the final slog through taping and mudding and painting and all the other myriad of stuff that needs to be done to finish this project. 

 I've had a basic floor plan for all the furnishings and storage stuff for a long time but this weekend I pulled it out again and spent way too much some time rethinking everything.  I moved a few things around in the sewing area so I can make room for a bigger ironing area and more shelves for fabric and drew some elevation drawings so I could see where I could find room for small storage on the walls.   There are still a few areas that need some rethinking but I'm getting close.  Now I can think about the making it pretty part.  :)

 Ive been having a lot of fun this weekend checking out blogs showing all kinds of sewing and craft studios.  Tons of great inspiration out there!  I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Anna Lena's studio

Love the colors and all the neat organization here!  She must have read my mind because these are the colors I'm wanting to use for my new studio.  Are you cringing at the orange, Y?                             

I really love this cutting table!  Look at all the storage!  Drool, drool, drool...  For more pics, click here.

Crafty Intentions studio               

Absolutely love the colors in this studio.  In fact, it inspired me to make the curtains and chair cover that I did for the studio before we tore it down.  And I love the wall with all the glass bottles for storing cool stuff.  Also, you can't see it well in this picture, but click here to see a closer picture of the cool tin can corsets and to see lots more pics of this great studio.

Allsorts studio

   

Another really wonderful studio.  for more, click here.

Modkidboutique studio                  

Isn't it fab?  So colorful and neat!  And I love the cutting table.  It's made from two Ikea shelves tipped on their sides.  Very tempting to make one for my studio!  For more, click here.

I can't decide if these studios inspire me or discourage me.  I think it's a bit of both.  :)  I know that my studio will never be as pretty as the ones above because...well, I'm too messy and some of the stuff I have to store would be impossible to make pretty.  But, I still plan to try and make my space as pretty as I can...Ikea here I come.    

Happy Birthday Giggle!

Today is my sister Gayle's birthday.  In honor of that I decided I'd post some pics of the mini quilt I'm working on for her last year's birthday.  So like me to be a year behind, huh?  :)  

I think I'm about finished adding flowers so now I have to add the beading for the centers.  I did a few centers on the small flowers last night but I don't like them so I'm going to have to cut the beads off and start over.  I think I might have to buy some different beads to get the look I want.  When the beading is all done, I have to decide if I'm going to add a border to the quilt.  I think I want to machine quilt the words of the song that was the inspiration for this quilt on a border but it's something that I'm going to have to think about for a while. 

Friday Night Fun

What does it say about me that my idea of Friday night fun is sitting in front of the computer, messing around with my photos?  Sad, Melis, just sad.  :)

I've been looking for a few months now for a book to help me create digital artwork.  I'm interested in digital collage and in making art quilts from my photos.  Well, today I scored!  I went to Joann Fabrics to get some fabric dye and of course, since I had a 50% off coupon, I looked through the books.  I found a book called Artistic Photo Quilts:  Create Stunning Quilts With Your Camera, Computer & Cloth.  It has a lot of the information I've been looking for and so I've been playing around all night with some of my photos that I thought would make good graphic images.  I put together a rough collaged quilt in Photoshop but I can't upload the file to my blog, Which is really sad because I really like what I've come up with so far.  Oh, well,  I'll just have to be content to share some of the individual photos that I played with.  Hope you like them!

Well I Tried, Honest!

For the last month or so I've been looking online and in stores, trying to find a bedspread or comforter as an inspiration for turning our spare bedroom into a nice restful guest bedroom for company.  As usual, I had no luck in finding anything I loved, or if I did find something I loved, they didn't have it in the right size.  So, when the YaYas got together a few weeks ago for a field trip to a new quilt store, I decided that I would just look for fabric to make a quilt (yikes, why do I do this?  I really don't enjoy quilting!) and my friends encouraged the insanity instead of talking me out of it.  :)

Of course it didn't help that this particular quilt store has the most Melissa fabric I've ever seen in one place.  I was frozen for about the first half hour because there were too many options.  Definitely opposite of my usual quilt store experience.  :)  I finally enlisted the help of Tink, who is a master at randomness and mixing prints, and together we pulled a bunch of stuff and layed it all out on the floor and picked 11 fabrics to work with.  Originally, I was going for something restful and subdued but umm...that's just not me.  What do you think of what I ended up with?

It's definitely not restful but it is beautiful and vibrant and I think the room is going to be quite lovely when it's done.  Now I just have to clean up the studio enough to start sewing.  I wish there was an easy button for making that happen!

Souvenirs From the Beach

The beach was lovely, the company awesome, the food incredible, the movies fun, the time...way too short.  I blinked and our lovely YaYa time away was over.  Guess I'll have to remember it by the souvenirs I have of projects finished and skills gained.  :)

Souvenir 1

Al's quilt, all washed and comfy, laying on the couch, waiting for a nap.

Souvenir 2

 

Lovely spun yarn just waiting to be plied and knit into something warm and cozy.

Souvenir 3

 

A watercolor study that I don't instantly want to rip up and throw in the garbage.  

For some reason (like maybe my brain was working for a change) the book on watercolor flowers I am studying right now has just the right combination of information and stuff that it's clicking in my brain.  Maybe I can learn watercolor and not suck at it so much!     

Souvenir 4 and 5

  

lovely henna tattoos and drawings

Souvenir 6--priceless memories of time spent with my best friends.

Grumpy Quilter

Well, I finally got Al's quilt machine quilted!  I started by making the back on Monday.  I used almost all the extra scraps I had left from piecing the top so that made me really happy--no scraps to have to put back into my fabric drawers.  :)  Add to that a couple of other fun fabrics I found and I had a really cute quilt back.

I decided to spray baste it instead of pinning it because I didn't want to work that hard, which was fine except I ran out of spray adhesive when I was almost done so I had to get out of my pajamas and go into town to get some more spray.  So much for trying to be lazy, huh?

So close and yet so far.  :)

Once I got everything sandwiched and rolled up I set it aside until today when I knew I'd have a little bit of time to get some quilting done. I wanted to figure out a cooler quilting pattern than stipple stitch so I spent some time this morning drawing out some ideas on scratch paper. I thought I had a really cool pattern but when I finished my first row of quilting, it looked really bad so I spent about 45 minutes ripping  it out.  A quick trip back to the drawing pad and I had another idea for a quilt pattern and I got back to the sewing machine to get the thing quilted.

All I have to say about that is I need a different set-up if I'm gonna quilt bigger quilts.  I even moved my machine to the dining room table and it was a miserable experience.  My shoulders are still burning and the quilting isn't very pretty.  I think the worst part is that I really enjoy the whole process of machine quilting when I quilt small quilts and getting so frustrated today with something I normally love has made me twice as grumpy.  It probably didn't help that the thread gremlins were on overtime today and I kept either breaking the top thread or having the bobbin thread run out at just the wrong time.  But...it's finished and that's what counts the most.  

It's a little hard to see the quilting pattern but it's a combination of straight lines and leaves.

Tomorrow when I get home from band I'll work on getting the binding machine stitched on and then I'll pack it up to take to the beach next week to do the hand sewing part.  And then I can give it to my sweetie so he can use it before it gets warm.  The very thought of it finished is enough to make me un-grumpy!  Well, that and hot chocolate and a book tonight. :)

Can I Stop Now?

I've been so freakin' productive lately I've been scaring myself!  I've been finishing projects right and left.  I guess I shouldn't complain though because it feels good to be getting some stuff done while the productive mood lasts.  I've finally finished sewing the binding on some table runners I made for Christmas.  I've been wanting to do them for the last 3 or 4 years and never got around to them.  Now they're all beautiful and ready to put away until next Christmas.  Here are a few pics of them.

 Now I can start working on sandwiching and quilting Al's lap quilt.  And get back to organizing web links and folders on my computer and get some clothes made, and decide on a photoblog format, and,...  Jeez, I'm making myself tired just thinking about it!  Maybe I'll read a book instead.  :)

Christmas Sorrows, Joys, and Unfinished Gifts

For the first time ever, I am taking down the Christmas decorations before New Year's Day.  I always like to have them up as long as possible because Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, but this year I just don't want to see them any more.  My mother-in-law died early in the morning on Christmas Eve  this year.  It was very unexpected and very sudden.  From the time we heard she was in the hospital with pneumonia to the time she was gone was about 12 hours.  No time to talk to her, no time to get down to Arizona to see her one last time, no time to process anything at all.  There's no other way to describe it but that it 1 million star sucked. 

But God is gracious and gave us a really nice Christmas Day.  I could literally feel his comfort and grace surrounding our family all day.  In the afternoon, all the kids and I went out on a little photography trip with all of our photography swag and we had a really fun time taking some photos of beautiful stuff.  I'll post some of them when I get the film developed but here's one I took of us reflected in the mirrored glass of a building with our various cameras.

Four of the Meader photography geeks all in a row

On to unfinished gifts.  Well, like I thought, Al ended up getting a box with lots of quilt blocks in it for one of his presents.  I just ran out of time.  Yesterday I laid it out on the floor of our bedroom (my only option for a design wall right now) and arranged everything the way I wanted to sew it together.  I only got about a third of it sewn though so we had to carefully walk on it and around it until I got it all put together today. 

    

Here it is in all it's quilty goodness

Here's a closer shot

I'm looking forward to getting it sandwiched and machine quilting it so it can be finished and Al can use it before it starts to get warm.  I was pretty surprised that I matched the seams as well as I did since it's been so long since I've done any patchwork.  Thankfully it's a pretty simple block.  I still don't really like the process of sewing patchwork though.  I'd rather do a freeform art quilt any day.  :)

The cat seems to like the quilt too.  She's been sleeping on it all night.  :)

Merry Christmas Yayas

"The things we do for love."
-10cc song

This first post is for my yas, one of whom (I won't name names, Cindy) has been gently hinting and nagging nudging me to start a blog.  I have to be honest and say it's been kind of fun so far.  I'm still not sure how well I'll do keeping up with it but I guess since it's my blog I get to pick how often I post.  :)

I've been working on a few projects for Christmas and December birthdays and I just realized that I wrapped most of them  without taking pictures of them.  Silly Girl!  Good thing I made them easy to open--all under the guise of "artistic" wrapping too! 

Table runner  and placemats 

Paris Journal with souvenir envelope pasted on the inside of the back cover

Fun candles made from wine glasses and a teacup

Stitch markers

I've also been working on a lap quilt for my sweetie for Christmas.  Kinda stupid to start it 10 days before Christmas gets here, huh? Especially since he is on vacation now and is around the house all the time.  I've had to work on it when he goes to sleep because the studio has glass doors into the dining room and is also where you walk through to get to the garage so there's no way to hide what I'm doing.  Definitely not conducive to making much progress.  :) Oh well, I'll just get as much done as possible before Christmas and wrap what I have.  I'm using a disappearing nine patch block from a tutorial I found here.  http://quiltsatcs.blogspot.com/2007/04/disappearing-9-patch-tutorial.html

I have a lot of small pieces of fabric and thought this block might be a good way to use some of them (although not nearly enough of them) and I like how complex the final quilt looks.  I finished sewing and squaring up the nine patch blocks today.  Now to cut them in fourths and rearrange!  I think that will be the fun part--well, minus the having to hide

One of the finished nine patch blocks.

   And here is a block all cut up

I really love how this looks!

Well, that's it for my first post!  I'm tired tonight and am going to take a break and read for awhile instead of cutting more blocks.

Hugs yas!