When is Enough Enough, or Not Enough?

I just finished binding a quilt that I am super excited to have finished!​

​The top is actually hanging over the fence - must be longer than 6'.

​full length exposed

This is a quilt top that I began more than 2 years ago, but because it had no specific destination or due date I put off the finishing. But I was excited to try another quilt with the serrated edges, like my teal monochromatic one. However, this time I took a short cut that may or may not prove problematic... I did NOT cut my binding on the bias. 

Now, for those of you less familiar with sewing and quilting, one of the main advantages (or disadvantages, in many cases) of cutting on the bias, meaning at a 45° angle to the weave of the fabric, is that the fabric gives much more, enabling one to work it into curves. Or perhaps concave corners.​ However, because of the print I chose for my binding added to the fact that I really really really do not like cutting and piecing bias binding, I skipped that very wise step and worked with a straight-grain binding on those pesky edges and corners. 

​And I succeeded. At least, it's finished and bound.

But is it fully quilted??​

I went into this with a plan. And I followed that plan, but as I came to the end of my quilting, I was left unsure whether it is quilted enough to keep it together in the long run. I think I managed to get my quilting lines often enough to satisfy the requirements on the batting package, but I don't always take those for their word.​

What do you all think??​

​Would you try and add some echo quilting in there at various places, or perhaps something a little more free-motion and organic going through those open channels? I don't think I've ever considered changing the quilting on something AFTER it's been bound, but this keeps talking to me as though it's just not quite finished. But I'm ready for it to be finished. What voice would you listen to?

Chugging along

Though I have been keeping busy these last few weeks, ​and there are many fun projects that I am eager to update you on, for now I will stick with the quick fix.

​MORE POT HOLDERS!

and there's more...​

This ever-evolving improv quilt. Still on my design wall, and still making progress:​

working on the top left corner the last week in February

​where I left this beauty on Sunday evening

​And after steady attention all of Thursday and Friday, this is where we left each other:

And just to give everyone a sense of scale, note that the layout takes up nearly my entire design wall, which is 8' x 8'. This is going to be one big quilt! Probably too big for my bed, but I'll make it work! It has just taken on a life of its own, and there is no question that the blocks and fabrics are telling me where they need to be and how I should be pulling them together. This has led to moving several things around, and in one case even slicing a block in two and piecing it together in a different arrangement in order to find the right balance.​

Who knew that making an improv quilt would require so much planning and consideration?? Not I, said the fly! It really comes down to the fact that the process is good for me, though it's been dominating my design wall just a wee bit too long.​ Oh, and that I am just no good with large areas of solid fabrics. Just can't get the scrappy-fiend to sit tight and be quiet! Must piece!

A touch of geek in the creative process

Inspiration can be found in all things, right? Just a couple of weeks ago my wheels were set in motion after seeing this blog post by Brooke of the blog Apriltwoeighty about taking up the needle and thread again for a "Fringe"-inspired quilt she's been working on.

I, too, am a fan of the show (though a season behind, I must admit) and I think her quilt idea is inspired!​ It's also unique, and I wouldn't want to do anything to change that. The designer in me wishes to respect other people's great ideas and simply use it as motivation for my own projects. But what a wealth of subject matter it affords!

That said, I happened to read that blog entry while I was coming to the end of re-watching a favorite, though not-so-critically-acclaimed, Joss Whedon show, Dollhouse.​ And all I could think about for days was finding ways of bringing the characters and themes of the show to some quilty fruition.

​A still from one of the episodes, showing most of the core cast.

It's another fun sci-fi show based in our reality, just turned up a notch toward a somewhat darker view of the near future. And for a show about people who are reprogrammed to be whomever the client orders at any given time, the characters are really well fleshed out and fully 3-D.​

Which is part of what makes this eminent project enticing.​

Also, there's an image that may lend itself well to being translated into a quilt block...​

...but not an easy one.​ I even had to go in search of a protractor! When was the last time you sought out a protractor?? 72°, baby! And the sketches commenced.

and of course the fabric selection challenge... just a few for now.

​Alpha, Ballard, Langton, Victor/Anthony, Topher, Adele.

And only tangentially related, as I write this post, while Austin is hosting the first annual QuiltCon, Portland is host to just a plain old regular Comic-Con which MAY have some of the actors, writers and creators of these favorite shows of mine in attendance.  To stalk or not to stalk, that is the question...​

Unsewing

Such a cute term for something that is a complete pain in the neck!

Last fall (or was it last summer?) a good friend of mine asked me to make a tea cozy. Now, for those of you who are at all familiar with my crafting, the most 3-dimensional I tend to get is a tote bag or the occasional A-line skirt and PJ pants, but it's been ages since I've had to draft my own pattern for something that needs to fit a 3-D object. And that showed when I finished their "tea cozy"!

Even finishing the inside seams with bias tape...

When I got it anywhere near an actual tea pot, however, there was nothing "cozy" about this item!! I learned that rounding up the measurements I had taken went a little far and had made something more akin to a toaster cozy, something no one in their right mind would actually use (or I would hope at least would unplug the appliance first). So of course this would not work for the intended recipients.

But I thought I would try anyway and covertly brought it to their house to throw over their tea pot. Sure enough it took up half the counter top instead. Whoops. 

Now all of those lovely finished seams and bias tape have been methodically removed and un-seamed. The unsewing.

I'm still a little gun shy about actually cutting this puppy down. Silly, I know. Especially since this started out as a birthday present request which was graciously adapted to be a Christmas present, and now... well he'll have another birthday this year, so perhaps we're back to the birthday present! Does anyone have any tips on slicing and dicing something that's already quilted in order to make it the right size?? If I figure out a good method that works for this I'll be sure to share. But in the mean time I think I'm going back to working with 2 dimensional pieces - sticking with what I know best!

The Addiction of Something New Again

I just had to revisit my initial post for the Quarter 1 Finish-A-Long, hosted by Leanne at She Can Quilt. I couldn't remember all the things that I said I'd work on finishing. And as mid-February is sneaking up on us, I can quite definitely say that I'm headed for failure.

On those items.

There is something about the appeal of a new project. Or at least one unearthed after many moons.

I hit a rather arduous deadline on Thursday which had been causing me more stress than I like, and to celebrate I spent all day Friday working on 1.) bee blocks, 2.) the PMQG block-of-the-month from the January meeting as well as pressing fabrics that I prewashed up to 2 months ago (if not more). 

For the Simply Solids Bee on Flickr

PMQG Jan BOM - Has anyone NOT yet done the scrappy trip along blocks??

When that was all complete I stood looking around for something to inspire me. Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to bring back the extension cord and power strip for the sewing machine I'm using to quilt my icy-cool diamond quilt AND my secret wall-hanging, so those are on hold until I get myself together enough to bring those back to the studio. Time is ticking, too.

And sitting there, in the little fabric drawer just underneath the one from which I took the wadded up fabrics to press nicely, was the bits and pieces from my improv bee quilt, for my month of the Design Camp 2 [Think Outside the Block] bee last summer. At some point last fall I played around with the blocks I had thus far on my design wall, but not having them all back it was just a test.

one possible arrangement...

It's now been a couple of months since I received the last of the blocks from my bee-mates, and it all went straight into the drawer for future consideration. Apparently that future is now. The blocks and fabrics beckoned to me, the iron was hot (literally and figuratively)... it's time to break these bad boys out!

A little more refined in my eye

The next step is to start filling in the blanks. I want to keep a fair amount of background "negative space" going on, but also have so many prints that I still want to incorporate. This will be one heck of an organic process and I wish there were a good way of keeping the block arrangement and size more or less as is without dominating my design wall for weeks. Is that going to be the motivation to busta move on this quilt top?? I left yesterday evening with one little corner coming together, and am looking forward to playing some more with the rest of it in the next few days!

Am I the only one getting completely sidetracked from the lists I made a mere month ago?? One thing to remember is that we do this for the love of it, and if we're lucky to have something to create using that energy, all the better.

WIP Wed - 2/6/2013 (in 20 words or less)

New

Commissions

Bee Block

PMQG BOM

Revisited

Time + Wine = overcoming hurdles

Completed

Commissions

duplicate set

'nuff said ;-)

Getting off track

About two weeks ago an exciting opportunity presented itself, and was quickly set in motion. There are times I've thought too quickly, but a person has to learn to roll with the tide.

It's something that will take me in a completely other direction than where my concentration has been of late, but a collaboration that has the potential for a long-term presence - and visibility in a real-life storefront!

New fabrics to work with - future napkins, coasters and pot holders (hopefully).

It's less about the quilting or my own designs, and more working as an independent contractor sewing housewares. And I can't say whether it will pay better, but if it gets off to a good start, then I have no doubt that will be the case, since most of what I make I make on spec, in which case it don't pay so well. So, why not get started?

Have you all heard the line "It's all about who you know."? I'm sadly learning that's true. Not sad because of the connections that I've made, but rather because I've never prided myself on networking. I'm shy. And may come off kind of awkward in some situations. But it's the more organic networking that really works for me, apparently.

Let's start with a quick little anecdote. About 2 or 3 months before my 5 yr. college reunion I decided to move away from my home of the previous 5 years (NYC) and couch surf indefinitely all across state lines (granted, most of the duration I was staying with either my mom or at my dad's place).

A photo of me and Tom, back when my dorm room walls looked like THAT! Can anyone say early to mid-'90s??

At reunion I was discussing potential landing spots with various people, including my buddy Tom and his (then) girlfriend Kathy. When, several months later, I was emailing with Tom from my new home in Portland, OR he mentioned that his (then) girlfriend's sister lives in Portland and asked her if he could share her phone number. Jumping ahead about 11 years, Tom and Kathy are married with two kids, living in Portland, ME, while Kathy's sister Jenny is one of my very best friends here in Portland, OR

Jenny with Becca

Which leads me to this little venture. Because of my friendship with Jenny I got to know Becca, and because we enjoy each other's company so much and she knows I love reading she invited me to join the book club that she's a part of. And in this book club is Rochelle, who sent me a message just the other week saying that her husband is about to open a furniture resale shop in an absolutely excellent location in St. Johns, and is looking for someone to sew some handmade housewares.

Phew. Did you get all that?

So, thank you Tom for setting this in motion. Didn't see this coming back when The Crying Game was on the big screen, did ya??

WIP Wed - 1/30/13

And the day keeps rolling around. We're only 4 weeks into this year and already I feel as though I'm getting way off track from my initial goals... but I think that's called being malleable.

The last week has been a roller coaster of developments and setbacks, but mostly developments. At least I hope that's how it works out.

My new projects this week are tied in with a potential venture. I've been in communication with the friend of a friend who is soon to open a shop here in Portland and wants to carry household items made by local artisans, as well as have someone sew items specifically for the shop. We're still ironing out which role I will be filling, but in the meantime  I did get started on a couple of projects for him.

Just hemming fabric for a table cloth

Some fancy-schmancy coasters that I'd be nervous to use EXCEPT with red wine!

And given the unexpected timing on that, plus the immediacy of it, I sadly have not gotten much else done this week. Oh, except working on my sample blocks for the Friends + Fabric 2 Bee, as February is my month as Queen Bee.

I wrote up a tutorial for the machine applique technique I've been using, found on this post: http://surroundedbyscraps.com/blog/2013/1/26/appliqu-circle-ish-tutorial-take-2, which had to be rewritten when I accidentally deleted the draft. So THAT took up some of my time, too. Not to mention taking over 100 process photos! Excessive, much??

The one other project I managed to get any work done on this week is the quilting of my icy-cool 60/30 diamond quilt. I'm about 75% finished with the quilting. Yay!

a peek from the back

And finally I completed the Warm/Cool QAL wall-hanging!!! I haven't taken a full photo of it, yet, but managed to snap a quick shot in my living room before leaving for work this morning.

So, I guess as I take stock, it wasn't quite as unproductive a week as I first thought. And if all goes well with this new venture, I may be sharing fewer quilty projects in the coming weeks and instead broadening my grab bag.

So, it looks like I got a couple of new projects under way, made a little progress on one or two things, and managed to finish one quilt. And didn't touch my green scrappy top, the navy and beige HST quilt, my super-secret wall hanging nor did I make any progress on sandwiching or quilting any more quilt tops.

Linking up with Lee's blog, Freshly Pieced for WIP Wed!