Design By Committee

Now that my son's quilt is almost finished (note to self: get right on that!), I can set my sights on my next project: my sister's quilt. We started tossing ideas around. Considering she's an artist, I'm somewhat intimidated about this project; I suggested a Judy Niemeyer pattern and we have decided on Osprey's Nest Log Cabin, which has a colonial bent to it, and is suited to her upstate New York digs. This is a new pattern, so there are basically only 2 color schemes out there for it, which is also kind of intimidating. For some reason, I have trouble getting my creativity going until I see examples. The Glacier Star, for example, was much easier to strategize because there are literally dozens, perhaps hundreds, of example quilts on the internet on which to look. Osprey's Nest, on the other hand, was published a couple of months ago and apparently no one has completed it (which I hope doesn't bode ill for me: the curved parts are not going to be fun).

Peach version

Teal version

So I tinkered around in EQ and you have to sort of squint your eyes and pretend the geese in the sashing are curved across the blocks, but these give you a rough idea of what I'm thinking about for color. The room the quilt will be going into has  soft rose walls, gold curtains, and a teal, peach, indigo colored  persian rug. Which one do you like better?

All points bulletin for the purple in these blocks! I believe it's by Moda, and from the Cabana line of batiks. I need the dark purple one. I grossly underestimated my yardage (I am math challenged: why didn't I have someone check my figures???)

I was lucky to have Jan from A Common Thread fabrics in Portland save me their last yard of this (that's service!!), but I'm still a yard short. Sigh. I haven't actually sewn any of the other blocks for this quilt, but I have cut out 12 blocks and all the plain blocks. So I could still change my mind, but....

I'm sure there's a valuable lesson here about yardage and paper piecing and EQ 7 software, but I'm struggling to see it...

Progress?

I ordered what I hope is the final piece of fabric for my niece's quilt today. Again. Just got word this morning that the original fabric, which had been on back order, is not going to ever come in. So my weeks of vacillation and toying with the idea of replacing it are over. I found a new purple that is about the same base shade, and also has triangles, but it additionally has swirls and splashes of fuchsia. I haven't seen it before, so it must be new. I'm hoping this is serendipitous. We'll see. However if I never get on with making the first cut in Ethan's quilt, which I promised to do first, we'll never know.

OK, so we all know how socially awkward I am, right? Well, today I went to a sewing workshop that provides extra help on the very complicated quilt class I'm taking. Not only did I almost catch up, but one of the other sewers gave me an awesome tip on how to get my seams to all line up in multiple places. To top it off, the teacher is starting her own business and will need help getting set up with a website, a blog, etc. Her business is going to be long arm quilting, so I may also get a good deal on quilting my upcoming big project.

So everyone all at once: I told you so! Yes, networking is useful...

On a Roll

And I almost wish I used jelly rolls because that would be funny, but alas, I don't. Still, lots of movement on the quilting front. I finished my quilt and sent it off to a long-arm quilter, and it's gorgeous, if I do say so myself. After finishing it, I took a class on paper piecing New York Beauty blocks, which have a curved seam in them. That was fun, but it got me blocked up (no pun intended) on what to do next. Too many possibilities, no goals.

Last fall, I broke through the block. For one thing, I got Electric Quilter 6 software, and I had a blast designing stuff all summer. But in the fall I started a 6-part class for a complicated paper piecing pattern by Judy Niemeyer called Glacier Star. Part of it was wanting to know how to put Lone Star quilts together, because the center of this quilt is a lone star, but also because the patterns are so cool. Well, probably never again. For one, it's more fun getting to take credit for more the quilt not less. All I can take credit for is the fabric choice, and the actually machine quilting when I get there.

Somewhat around the same time, I realized that my son needed a twin quilt to replace his baby blanket. He's been in a big bed for years now. At the same time, I launched an ambitious and not completely thought out idea of doing quilts for my family. No duh, but we're not really the type of family to do this kind of stuff. But I am a rebel, and willing to push things on people even if they can't reciprocate (and reciprocity is not the point anyway).

Starting with my first niece (so much nicer than saying the oldest), I'm aiming for finishing this by her next birthday in the late summer. We designed it together, and it is really quite the most non-straightforward design I've done so far. It has a really cool block featured in it, Storm at Sea, that creates an illusion of curves. Really neat. Still waiting for some of the fabric (of course the main fabric is back-ordered), and have to figure out how to cut it out without messing up (since the yardage may be tight anyway). That's a math issue I may need help on.

The yardage on my son's quilt may also be at risk. I blame this on...someone else. It is acknowledged that EQ can get yardage wrong, however I may have bought fabric before the design was final... This quilt features my first pieced border. My son wanted something to do with flames. Here's the image from EQ7 (yes, I upgraded in the middle of the design, too). The design is on point, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately, and has alternating blocks of pineapples and Stars & Pinwheels. The black fabric has a really cool tattoo like dragon flame on it. I added it to the center of the pineapple in desperation really, when I realized I didn't have enough red material, but I like it there. I also bought a different red for the border because they were out of the one I bought already (thus making both projects have fabric that is sold out or discontinued...procrastination really took its toll.)

Now the question is how long will the technical details of printing the foundations and templates hold me up this time? Last year I completed 0 quilts. This year I plan on finishing 3. Am I nuts or what?!

Why yes, it has been a while

Just finished tweaking my website. I have a page of personal links on it and this quilting blog was at the top of it. Funny how priorities change. I spent a lot of time in the past (insert length between posts here) a bit low, but now I'm back and engaged again. In fact, and that is part of why I'm updating here, too, I'm about to take the next step on my latest quilt.

I finally got around to making a quilt for me. I designed it a while ago, and the cutting and piecing has been haphazard at best. Over the past weekend, however, I finished the last block. Now I'm ready to lay it out and get crackin' on sewing it together. It's my first quilt on point, and it's my largest quilt this decade: a queen. I'm also set to donate a custom quilt to my son's school auction, which is alternately exciting and terrifying. I already have some ideas about my next project. So why the foot dragging?

In part I think I am freaked out about the piecing. I mean, I thought I took care during cutting to get things right, yet when I did the blocks there were inevitable times when the blocks didn't quite work. Several are definitely not quite square, with longer pieces or shorter seams. Very frustrating. And the black background fabric turned out a bit disappointing. I don't like its hand: it's a bit thin, but not as bad as the yellow I used for the last 2 quilts I did. At least it's not transparent. Still, I think I need to take more care in the future.

Another thing that bothers me is necessity: this quilt will just be too large for me to machine quilt, which is sort of my favorite part. Every time I tuck my daughter in (yes, this will sound egotistic) I can't help but admire the quilting, especially the bubbles. To trust my quilt to a professional long-arm quilter is very scary. Even though I'm sure the person has scads more experience than I do, it's a control issue and an issue of ownership. How can I say I did it when I didn't do it all? Yet I know it will be cheaper and turn out nicer. And I know that whenever I show it off I will feel compelled to point out that I didn't finish it. I'm not usually so "finish-obsessed". God only knows I can be a quitter. Sigh. This is different, but...

Moving on! Going downstairs now! Next post will show progress... Honest.

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2009

Last weekend I went to my first big quilt show at Sisters Oregon. I dragged the hubby and kids along, and despite our best intentions we did not make it out the door for the 3-hour drive until well past 10 AM. We arrived in town around 1. It was a clear and hot day and we did a lot of walking (this is what the kids will remember). It was also surprisingly windy, making picture taking a bit challenging. That along with my "skills" as a photographer, give my pictures just a hint of what I actually saw. Still, everything was really cool. Most of the entries seemed to use a longarm quilter; the few obvious non-professional machine quilting was comparable to mine. So with that in mind I can plan an entry for next year (my whole point, aside from getting inspiration).

So next time I may actually do the whole nine yards: come to the town for the "pre-game" festivities and stay the whole weekend. There was so much I missed out on. There were activities for the kids and a book signing by the quilters from Gee Bend (and they sing when they do signings, apparently). Most of all I will do better at hydrating myself and wear more comfortable shoes!