Fabric, fabric and MORE fabric!

I rarely do things by halves. Sometimes this leads to great success and other times, not so much.  And often this leads me to procrastinate because I'm worried about how much time a particular task will take.  In June, this led to me not diving in to the actual project - and instead spend extra time reading, re-reading and surfing the web.

Floral for Winter Wonderland

I live with ADD (both mine and Gus's ADHD - makes for an interesting household), and tedious tasks can drive me to distraction. Or to walk away from a project.  To get myself motivated - I started to mentally design the various projects - for instance - as soon as I saw the Nature's Notebook line of fabrics, I knew that they would be perfect for the Rail Fence.  And the flying dragons lend themselves nicely to Cowboy Corral for Gus.  There is a line of Laural Burch fabric coming this fall - currently November - with a celestial theme/panel that would have been PERFECT for Winter Wonderland. But I didn't want to wait that long to get started. And I didn't want to skip any of the projects.

Of course, in my drive to do things "my" way - I spent a large part of the weekend with an iron in my hand - and I most of the pressing and ironing done for the next three projects.

This also involved two trips to Thimble Pleasures. On Friday afternoon, I pulled the dragon fabric out and headed in to select colors for the rails. The red/yellow/purple will be the rails/frames for the dragons and the blue will likely be the first border.  My next step is to fussy cut 32 dragons from the two yards of fabric.  Tentatively it will be 8 red, 8 blue, 8 purple, 4 green, 4 orange (I DETEST the color orange but the dragons are cute and the quilt is for Gus... but you will not see any orange in the accent fabrics...).  The lighting is not great on the bolt of fabric (may need to pull out my big camera) and it is looking washed out - the dragon at the base of the photo is a medium purple with blue spots - not grey...  We originally picked out a purple dotted tonal fabric, but Gus wasn't wild about it and I remembered that I had the Laurel Burch purple in my stash. Gus is much happier.

The second trip was on Sunday morning.  I decided that I wanted to use the bold paisley (Hoffman Gypsy Princess line) with the Natures notebook fabrics as the Nature's Notebook florals are more muted, for the repeated rail and the border.  So off we went, only to find that they last piece they had in stock was a 1/2 yard precut.  And per the instructions, we need 1/2 yard for the rails plus 5/8 for the border - which means no way did I have enough. And I don't want to start searching the net for it. So I decided to pull in a different fabric for emphasis.  After much searching and help at Thimble Pleasures, I settled on the blue/white delft.  For some reason, when I was cutting last night, I also cut one of the Nature's Notebook florals - so I have 6 strips to choose from. More on that in another post.

Tonight, I start sewing!

A word on Copyrights

Copyright Law is a very complex field, and I am not a lawyer.  Coming from a background first as a University brat and now the wife of a professor (and I also work at a major University), I am very conscious of properly attributing credit where credit is due.  We live by the Honor Code in our household and in our lives.

For the most part, pictures shown on this blog are my intellectual property. And even if I don't take the time to watermark a photo, that doesn't make it less protected.

The exception to this will be pictures from the Quilter's Academy series of the completed quilts.  Because I feel that it will make my blog more colorful and informative, I wrote to Harriet and Carrie on Sunday, August 1st in order to request permission to use pictures from the book. Within hours, I received a gracious note from Harriet allowing me to put the pictures on my blog.    Any time I use one of the Academy Quilt pictures, I will cite my source.

In the September/October issue of McCall's Quilting magazine, they address copyright in relation to quilters.  There is also a wealth of information on the web, so no need for me to repeat it here - but I am going to provide a few links.

• Copyright FAQ: http://www.quilt.com/FAQS/CopyrightFAQ.html (Quiz is based on Australian law)
• e-Quilters FAQ: http://www.straw.com/equilters/library/quilt_issues/quilt_copyright.html (the second page has several excellent links)
• Lost Quilt Come Home: Copyright your quilt:  http://www.lostquilt.com/CopyrightYourQuilt.html
• Lost Quilt Come Home: Copyright Infringement: http://lostquilt.com/index.php/protecting-quilts/copyright-infringement/

The bottom line for me is this:  if it is not your original idea/original work - then give credit to the original designer and everyone wins.

The completed Rag Quilt #2

I just realized that I haven't posted the finished pictures of the Duke Quilt.  You won't see Gus in this one beyond his fingers and feet as he is "anti-Duke." Shopping for the fabric for this gift quilt was amusing to say the least.. 

I was finally able to give it to the new baby (and even meet the new baby) last week. I received a lovely thank you note including how touched they were that I incorporated the Duke fabric. And the Carolina Blue accents didn't' go unnoticed.

As with my UNC Rag Quilt, I learned from this one (I think I covered most of this in the earlier post). And I'm pleased to take those lessons on to the next quilts.

Finally Sewing - Class 130 - Lesson 5 - Carrie's Sampler

Never underestimate the value of reading, re-reading, measuring, measuring again... pins, and the trusty seam ripper.

For this project, I chose two reds from my stash. Originally the third fabric was going to be a white with red stars, but it is a bit too creamy in tone to work, so I'll pick up a white sometime later.

I'm using my long Creative Grids ruler for measuring and cutting as it has the grippers on the back - and I'm more accurate with the grippy rulers - less slipping.

I washed, pressed and starched the fabric before getting started.  Mike is still shaking his head in disbelief when he sees me using the iron / ironing board.  My seams came out correctly and I was able to measure the correct 1.5 inches for the center piece - and for the most part the outer strips came out at 1.75. I only had to trim one block to correct it.

Once all of the blocks were sewn and cut to size, I laid them out in order to stack them for chain stitching them. 
Then went to press them.  It was not until I finished pressing and flipped over the set that I found a rather critical error in Row 1 - and I still can't figure out just HOW I did it, but got to practice my seam ripping.

Dash and Monkey came in to supervise my progress...

Dash quickly got bored... and settled in for a nap.

So I soldiered on and worked on my pressing skills.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the way this came out.  My pressing skills can use a little more work - as there were a few spots with the open seam that can be seen in the left-hand picture.  I like the way the corners matched as seen in the right-hand picture.  Not all of the corners matched up so nicely, but I do have more confidence in my ability to start on the next projects.

The sampler will be finished over the course of several lessons, and into the Sophomore year.  Here is  the finished sampler from the Freshman year.

This picture is used with the gracious permission of Harriet Hargrave for the purpose of illustrating the project that I am attempting to complete. (I will try to do a better job photographing the quilts in the book - too much glare in poor lighting last night for me).

And below is my center panel - in red.

Back on Track!... Setting up my sewing space.

And no, the seventh time was not the charm...but the new seam guide did. This one fits more tightly and as a result doesn't wobble and I seem to have more control over the fabric.

In the interim, we took an incredible trip to Norway with my parents. I did see two neat log cabin quilts in a small town, but the bulk of the textiles we saw were knitting and knit related.  In Bergen, I purchased a few meters of trim that would be used on the local costumes. I hope to eventually incorporate that into a quilt.  I should have purchased the one I saw in Stavanger as it was perfect for my husband. At the time, I thought we would have substantially more time in Bergen. But when one is reliant on the cruise ship schedule, one can't complain too much.

In June, I found a sewing table on our local Craigslist for a steal.  The one thing it doesn't have, which would be nice, is a lift mechanism to store the machine inside. It does have a small lift which recesses the machine for a larger flat work surface.  So, to keep the dust off, I'm using one of the scarves I brought back from a trip to China several years ago.  One thing I did learn upon returning from our trip was that I should also drape the scarf over the thread holder and spool as there was dust accumulating on top of the thread.

So I now have a dedicated sewing area, though it is currently in our bedroom.  Later this summer we hope to switch some rooms around so that I have a sewing/craft room/office (for Mike) in the larger bedroom and Gus will move into the current office. We are also plannning to redo some of the floors which should be quite an adventure.

One thing about having a limited space is that one must also be careful with one's stash - which is currently underneath the desk.  Not the prettiest solution, but workable. Though after this weekend, I think I've officially outgrown the space...

After I set it up, I was finally able to get an accurate seam!  I lost count of how many times I ripped out seams and eventually cut a few new strips before getting a few sets that came out right.

Something else I noticed this week was the importance of my body position in relation to my machine.  The straighter I am in relation to the needle, the straighter my seam.  So many of my past meandering issues have clearly been operator error.  (Very helpful hint from Page 22/Class 130)

The sewing area replaced a rather large dog crate that we set up in our bedroom back in 2006 when Dash broke his foot.  It stayed up and was used for Monkey's 2007 dislocated elbow, and then again for Dash's 2008 dislocated toe.  ... Fortunately we did not have repeats in 2009 and made it through the spring of 2010 without a Corgi in traction - we are a bit accident prone around here...  So I also hung several paintings that have been waiting for a place to hang. I've had these since childhood. They are by Jo Stripling, who we lived next door to many years ago.  The picture here doesn't do them justice.

I've also brought the ironing board into the space for the weekend as I've been busily washing pressing, and preparing my fabrics for the next several quilts.  I've reread Class 120, several times this weekend, gotten Gus to help get the fabric edges lined up and also dropped a ruler into the seam to weight it for a straight seam when Gus wasn't available.
Speaking of Gus, he is waving brownie mix in front of me, so we need to take a break to make up a batch of "No Pudge! Fudge Brownies."

Will the 7th time be the charm???

As mentioned in my search for a machine post, my next step is to set the seam allowance for my machine.  I used a stack of masking tape for RQ2 at 1/2 inch - and given the nature of the rag quilt process, wasn't too concerned - except that the seams were straight (an improvement over RQ1 which demonstrate an affinity to free motion quilting... I think I'll be comfortable with squiggles when the time comes).

So I have my book set to the right of me to easily refer to the seam allowance pages, and my seam ripper and I have become quite friendly.  I have yet to get the allowance right - keep going from too big to too small... even went back and measured the center strip this morning in the hopes that I had cut it wonky and that that might be why I couldn't seem to find a perfect seam.  No such luck, it is a perfect 2 inches wide... so the millimeter differences away from 1.5 inches in the center remains my fault.

I've ripped the seams out several times, and have decided to cut a few new strips to play with on the next round.  On the positive side, this is giving me many opportunities to practice pressing the seams in the right directions and to get good crisp seams.

I've tried a couple different tricks to get the measurement correct - the little yellow scant 1/4 inch guide worked to set it up nicely - until I took into account that I'm using the Prescencia 60/3 - and yep - the scant 1/4 inch is now a little too scant.  Moved it out - apparently too far... need to go back to my handy dandy piece of graph paper as eyeballing where to put the tape isn't working. 

One thing that I've found frustrating in this, and it may get better as I get more comfortable is that the seam guide which fits into the back of my #13 foot wiggles - and somehow is not staying perfectly parallel to the feed dogs.  I know there needs to be a little play in the guide to allow the presser foot to function smoothly, but I clearly haven't found the right combination yet - and I'm pretty sure that when the fabric slips under the guide that I'm not getting my perfect seam any more.  This is still "user" error in my book and not machine error so I'll keep trying.  I'm wondering if we have a case of old guide plus new foot. I asked my LQS to order a new guide for me before I realized that my walking foot doesn't have any place in which to stick said guide, so while I don't really need 2, I wonder if the newer one will sit more stably on the machine.

Once I get that sorted out, I can get started on the sampler in class 130.  I picked three coordinating fabrics from my stash (my sampler will be in reds as that is what I have quite a lot of...) and washed them. They are ready to be ironed and cut.  I'm also making fabric choices for the Winter Wonderland and Cowboy Corral quilts - I think one of them will end up with Dragons...  and also figuring out who the quilts will eventually go to (at least one will go to Gus) - which will help with the fabric choices.  For now, I'm going to try to work from my recently accumulated and quickly taking over stash of fabrics and resist the temptation to rush out for more.

We have tickets to Beauty & The Beast tonight and are camping with the Cub Scouts this weekend, so I don't know how much farther I'll progress.  I've been reading an re-reading Classes 110, 120, 130 and into 140 on the bus over the past week and am itching to get started.

Rag Quilts - Take 2

Using the techniques I learned from the Quilter's Academy, I started RQ2 as a practice project for cutting accuracy.  Those who know me may be a bit shocked by my choice of fabrics, but rest assured, I've not gone over to the dark side (err Duke side). This is a gift for a new baby and much as I thought about trying to undo the inevitable brain washing... I'll leave that to someone else...

I started off the project by ripping, ironing and starching the various components. The light blue squares were cut for the previous quilt before I learned that the baby would be a girl, so this project was also a way to use up what has already been cut.  I did not pre-wash as I wanted to maximize the frayability at the end.

I did cut these blocks at 8.25 versus 8.5 with the end plan to have space to trim down to 8 inch block. Part of the reason was that I suspected I would run out of the Duke Bluedevils fabric as I bought as little as I possibly could.  In the process of ripping and aligning, I decided that I probably will not rip flannel in the future.  Unlike the cottons, it did not rip in a nice straight line.  Fortunately I bought an ample supply of that so wasn't concerned - the blue and white flannel (not pictured here) were used as batting inside the sandwiches - blue inside the two dark squares and white inside the other three.  The squares pictured above have been sandwiched and pinned with one flat pin in one corner.  In the RQ1 adventure, I used between 6 & 8 pins on each block - which really didn't do what I needed them to do - ended up a bit lumpy and still didn't hold things well (using the walking foot in this project made a huge difference).  You can see in the background the slivers that I cut off as I squared the pinned blocks.

To the left are leftovers from RQ1 which show ragged edges and general lumpiness - ironing and starching made a huge difference.

Sewing together went more smoothly as well - once I laid everything out and started chaining, I only had to undo two seams because I sewed one of the Duke panels in sideways - unlike RQ1 where I had the seams alternating on the sides of the quilt. Overall a much smoother process.

Here it is prior to snipping and washing - didn't have ice hockey games to work at this time, so ended up spreading the snippings around the house and our home rink...  This one came together more neatly. I think several factors affected that -

1. I prepared the fabric appropriately for the project. 
2. I carefully trimmed and squared the blocks
3. I used a walking foot while sewing so didn't end up with bits and pieces of fabric sticking out where the sandwich slipped.  I think using only one pin made a difference too as I left that pin in the corner for the first two seams and then took it out on the third seam of the sandwich.

 Gus came out to admire the quilt first thing in the morning and is busy picking out the fabric for when I get around to a project for him. I was a bit surprised that he wanted his picture taken with it since he is such a rabid Tar Heel!  Since this picture was taken, I've snipped the edges - did you know that at 8 snips/inch you are facing over 4,000 snips per quilt.  My poor Fiskars Snips have gotten a workout - and they are sticking a bit - the bulge that holds the lock slides over is interfering so I need to sand it down just a little.

We went to the local laundromat after dinner on Tuesday and threw the quilt into the industrial sized machine with a few towels - to see if the towels will help the ragging fuzz out.  It did look better than RQ1, but I still threw it in the laundry again at home, with a blanket. It has ragged out quite nicely now and is waiting to be photographed so that I can send it on to the new baby.