TGIFF - Strong

Welcome to TGIFF @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge! If you're new to the blog, I hope you'll take a few minutes to tour around and leave a comment or two. I read every one! If you're not so new to the blog, you might have noticed a wee blip last week where I was hosting TGIFF. Nope. I'll chalk it up to computer error! I just wanted to reassure you that you're not reading double!

Shockingly, I pulled off another finish for this week.... and not just a pile of pincushions. Something a little larger this go round!

Regular readers will know how strongly I feel about extra love being sewn in to handmade items. It's why, when the shit hits the fan, I tend to get sewing. I can't change the situation, but I can give someone a warm, soft place to curl up under or lay their head on. This week's finish? Well, it's to remind a friend of their strength. Pure, unadulterated strength. Strength that has gotten them through 100% of their crappiest days to date.

I had so little in the way of a plan for this pillow. I just started sewing low volume scraplings together. I mean, low volume works in everyone's decor, right? Once the scrap blobs got big enough, I cut them into 5 inch squares and slapped 'em on the design wall.

Once I was happy with the distribution, I sewed them up. The recipient had told me her favourite colour was red, so I did my best to get those wee red polka dot scraps well distributed.

Then on to the quilting. I know, I know. What is that hideous lavender doing there? I use cast off FQs as pillow innards. Don't judge me. And I know I've been FMQ spiraling a lot lately.... like on this pillow. But I like it. So there.

I know what you've been wondering since the beginning of this post. HOW DID SHE DO THOSE LETTERS? Heat and Bond Ultra, of course.

And my new little friend, a Cricut Explore Air 2 (which I purchased a mere two weeks before the hype for the Cricut Maker started. Let's not speak of it.)

I haven't made much so far. I'm sort of overwhelmed by the possibilities. But this seemed like a great place to start. I used the design software to write the work and spent three days choosing the right font. Okay, maybe it wasn't three days. But it was a long time!

 I got a little worried when I saw this... the frayed edge and the cutting blade didn't get along so well.

But my trusty dental pick got that letter off smoothly and I was able to trim and re-cut the small area that had gone cattywampus.

The letters came off the sticky mat with ease. Sometimes the Heat and Bond paper was left behind, but that was no big deal. I was taking it off anyway!

 And presto. Ironed in place.

 Those swirls look fab on that low volume scrappiness... if I do say so myself.

I wanted to get just a little more red into the pillow top, so I outlined the red Cotton+Steel XOXO letters with a heavy red stitch. Given enough time, I think I might have liked to hand stitch around it with perle cotton. Try to contain your shock. I also did three horizontal and three vertical lines of stitching... representing the recipients three kiddos.

Oddly, my stash is short on reds. Dena @ No Frickin Blog yet is horrified. Gasping for air even. But it's true. But red was needed here, so I used a chunk of a cute Lewis & Irene fox print that's been curled up in my stash for some time and a piece of Kona Cardinal for the other side of the envelope closure. With such a scrappy front, two fabrics on the back won't hurt anyone!

  And there it is. Strong. Hopefully it gives a little comfort and strength to it's new owner.

Now it's your turn. Link up those fabulous finishes here and don't forget to tour the other blogs and spread the comment love! Please include a link and/or button for Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday! so your visitors know what this TGIFF thing is all about!

An InLinkz Link-up

Hope you'll come back soon! I've got more pincushions to show off and some back to school clothes in the works!

J

Hello? It's me...

Here's the good news... I have been sewing!
The bad news... I've kind of dropped the ball on the blogosphere.
As I feared, when I added Instagram to my social media, there was a shift for me. (Feel free to pop on over and follow me.. @quarter_inch_from_the_edge) But it's summer now, so I'm back to the blog. We'll see how it goes!

I'm back. Teal. FMQ. Pillow. Loved it so much I wanted to keep it!

But I couldn't. This little lovely was made to thank DT's wonderful caregiver, Mrs A. She's so incredibly patient and the kiddos have learned so much from her. She's their first teacher and she's got a well-deserved summer break!

Mrs A loves soft beachy tones. Off I went to my stash... no shortage of fabric to meet that brief! Knowing that I wanted to do some fancy quilting, I kept the piecing simple. Squares go together so darned quickly!

Rather than risking tracing right on the pillow (things can always go a little wild when DT are involved!), I opted to trace their hands on white paper. Then I positioned them where desired on the pillow and stitched through the paper outline.

Though it was tricky to make the curves, I used a short (1½) stitch length to make it easier to tear the paper away.

Once both hands were done, the pillow needed a little something more. I filled in space with FMQ spiral swirls.

 The quilting shows pretty well on the front and back!

I love those wee quilted hands. Well, one of them is wee! I might have to recycle this quilting idea for some more gifts!

 

  

 

Mrs A loved it and DT loved giving it to her!

I enjoyed the process of making it so much that I made another for a retiring colleague!

This time the colours are a little darker and there are no hands. But I'd still love to have kept it. Why are the pillows I give away so much fancier than the ones on my couches? ☺

I'm linking up with Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts! It feels good to be back!

J

Throwback Thursday - Crayonz!

It's Thursday and DT are sleeping soundly! Time for another #TBT post!

Thankfully, this one was finished in the era of digital photography, so no new photoshoot was required. My backyard does NOT look this good at the moment! But never mind the yard, check out the jillions of crayons required to make that border!

I began this quilt in 2005 and finished it in 2011 at our first (and, to date, only) Q-Squared Retreat. It's a design by Australian textile artist, Jan Mullen (many thanks to Carla @ Granny Maud's Girl for identifying it for me!)

This was the first quilt that I FMQed on my current machine, a Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0. I had been afraid to quilt it on my old machine because I loved the top so much and didn't want to mess it up! It was a tough go... those little crayons have a lot of seams. It was well before pressing seams open became the rage! I swirled my way around all those little crayons... it really makes them pop out from the black background.

Title: Crayonz
Pattern: Crayonz by Jan Mullen

Completed: July 2011

Size: 51 by 65 inches

Fabrics Used: All tone on tones... even the black background fabrics

Konas Used: just one.... there's a solid that looks rather like Kona Chartreuse
Quilting: FMQ swirls using Gutterman 10 (black)
Binding: Handstitched black (chosen to blend in, so as not to take away from the quilt top)

Backing: Black solid (likely Kona), constantly covered in batting threads!

Favourite Part(s): One of my first forays into improv cutting, if not improv piecing. It was so much fun to have all those wonky little crayons.

Come on, bloggy pals! Why not dig into that cupboard and pull out some pre-blog quilts that you're proud of! See you next Throwback Thursday!

WIP Wednesday - More hexies and a heck of a lot of quliting!

Wednesday's rolled around again and my major WIP, Double Trouble, is well... still a work in progress. To distract myself from the discomfort, I've been sewing a fair bit. Isn't it amazing what some quilt therapy can achieve?

This past week-end saw me heading off to the October Sew In for MMQG. I've given up on taking my machine... though MANY of my guildmates offered to carry it to and from the car for me. Such nice ladies! I took advantage of the comfy couch and spent the afternoon handstitching the binding on Honey. Just a sneaky peeky for you today... finish post coming soon!

Our little (but growing!) guild has been asked to participate in a zipper pouch swap with the Victoria Modern Quilt Guild. I couldn't pass it up... I do love a swap! But I figured I'd better get moving and make something before DT makes their appearance! Of course, I decided to do something simple...

Yeah, right. Apparently all the work I've been doing on Honey has turquoise-y hexies stuck in my brain. And I couldn't make large hexies. Where would the fun be in that? These are ¾ inch.

Honestly, the biggest problem with hexies is knowing when to stop. I'm done now. Honest. I just need to quilt this critter and turn it into a zipper pouch!

I finally decided how I wanted to quilt my Global Scrap Bee quilt - which apparently I haven't blogged about since August when the blocks were just starting to roll in! I've been working on emphasizing negative space lately, so I quilted only the white sections. The blocks are so linear - I wanted the FMQ to work with that feeling instead of against it. That goodness for my Pile O Fabric Skill Builder blocks... I used this pattern on the Library Shelf block and it just seems to fit the Converging Corners block.

Sometimes I get into a project and realize that it would have been better to work on the dining room table. This quilt didn't seem so big until I sat down at my studio desk and got to it! A few needles were broken before I realized that the weight of the quilt was really pulling on my machine!

And then... thread-tastrophy! With only this small (one block, really) section left, I completely and utterly ran out of white thread. Progress stalled... oh well, it's not like there's a world wide white thread shortage or something.

An emergency trip to the LQS yesterday (and comments of "You're still sewing?" from the ever helpful staff) saw me finishing all that lovely FMQ today. Now I'm off to handstitch the binding... if the weather holds, I might even cram in a quilty photo shoot one day this week! There's a great location I've been eyeing up for a couple weeks!

Hope you found some time to sew this week - whether you needed it as quilt therapy or not! ☺

J

I'm linking up today with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts. Gotta love a link up to get me motivated to post!

October TLP & WIP - all rolled into one!

Once again, I'm running a smidge late the monthly update to The Library Project. I only seem to really get my butt in gear when there's a deadline! ☺ The last couple days have seen me working along on my Honey wall hanging...

I was pretty stumped on how to quilt this one. Where it's small, I wanted to push myself and do something  different with the quilting, but I didn't want to take away from the piecing by doing an overall design. #quilterproblems To get things going, I went for zigzags in the grey sashing sections.

 

It took me a little while to figure out exactly what to do where the three corners meet, but I think I found a good solution! Then it was on to the hexies... I didn't have any suitable thread, so off I went to my LQS.... only to realize I had left the quilt at home. Swiss cheese brain... ugh. So I bought every colour of turquoise-y blue they had. How's that for problem solving?!

When I sought the help of my MMQG guildmates, it was suggested a couple times that I do some sort of echo quilting of the hexie shape... so I did. I can't stand marking complicated patterns... even on something this small... so, I measured and figured out roughly how far apart the lines needed to be to make equal sized echos.

For the large sections of grey negative space, I opted to quilt ghost hexies. I marked where the sashing would have been and zigzagged it and then did echo-style quilting where the hexies would be.

I'm pleased to say that I should have this one finished completely by the end of the week-end! My master plan is to hand stitch the binding at this Saturday's MMQG Sew In. I couldn't be happier to be almost finished my Library Projects. But I do still have another month or two... perhaps I'll try for a bonus round!

J

P.S Since it's Wednesday, I'm also linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts. Apparently, I'm a link-up-aholic today!

Quilt Therapy... sometimes you just need some sewin' time!

Saturday found me spending some quality Quilt Therapy time with a couple of the Squares. We generally work on our own projects for the day and this time was no exception. Q-A was working away on some Library Project blocks - broken herringbone. Perhaps you'll see them soon on her blog - Anja Quilts. Q-D was working on some paper-piecing. Not unusual! I got so into my quilting that I didn't take pics of anyone's work in process!

First up, the embroidery hoop block that I hand embroidered myself! It reminds me of the cross-stitch I used to do so much of, though less tedious. I could easily get hooked. Just what I need - another craft to do! In the quilting stage, the instructor recommended a second layer of batting under the hoop... it really made the quilting pop out. And more spirals... it's amazing that these were so hard in the beginning, but now they just flow. I hardly have to think about them at all.

Then there's the rotary cutter block that caused so many double takes in this post. This block and the one that follows were made using the layered appliqué technique and to quilt it, I started by outlining each piece in stitching. There were a LOT of thread changes! For the background, I tried out a new pattern suggested by the instructor. She called it cactus arms... but it kind of makes me think of puzzle pieces. I don't know exactly what to call it, but I do know that I couldn't think about it too hard while quilting. I just had to go with it!

The second block for this month is these scissors. Himself likes them even more than the rotary cutter! For the background of this one, I got to play with more FMQ patterns. I never really though of doing bands of patterns before this course. 

I love checking off the finished blocks on my list! I'm all caught up on my Skill Builder blocks... just waiting for August 14th when the next blocks go live on the course platform.

Hope you got some sewing time in this week-end! I'm linking up with Anything Goes Monday being guest hosted by The Sassy Quilter!

J

Finish Up Friday - Rainbows & Coal

It took a little late night quilting sewing and some quick hand sewing of the binding, but this baby is done and dusted just in time for a Friday reveal! It's Rainbows and Coal - a baby quilt I blogged about here. It features HSTs in a rainbow of Kona colours (Punch, Persimmon, Canary, Lime, Peacock & Magenta) paired with Kona Coal.

I went a little outside of my usual when quilting this one. I've been doing so many FMQ spirals for my Skill Builder BOM that I figured I might as well use them on an actual quilt!

I opted to quilt just the Coal sections. The rainbow sections seemed lively enough! I quilted it using my trusty Gutterman. There were couple little snags along the way, but once I re-threaded, they seemed to straighten themselves out.

As backing, I used a Michael Miller print that features just about every colour from the quilt top. The only one not super prevalent is a yellow, but the selvage would tell you there's one in there somewhere!

I bound the quilt with the closest gray I could find to Kona Coal... I don't think any but the most practiced eye could tell you it's not Coal!

 One more shot of that quilting... it sure makes me happy!

And now for something completely different! My parents are avid gardeners and in recent years have developed a healthy addiction to day lilies. These are just a few of the lovelies blooming away in my yard this week... I just can't stop taking pics of of them!

The Deets

Title: Rainbows & Coal

Size: 37" by 44"

Konas Used: Canary, Coal, Lime, Magenta, Peacock, Persimmon, Punch
Quilting: Free motion spirals using Gutterman (Colour - 115)

Binding: Kona Charcoal, Hand stitched with Gutterman

Backing: Michael Miller Mosaic

Favourite Part(s): Using FMQ spirals on a larger project and all that rainbow-y goodness!

 I'm linking up today with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish Up Friday and with TGIFF @ Quokka Quilts.

Happy first day of August - that's the official mid-point of summer vacation around here. Time to get out there and do all those summer things you were dreaming about in the dead of winter!

J

P.S. - In shameless bit of pluggery, head on over to Maritime Modern Quilt Guild to vote for viewer's choice in our MQG Michael Miller Challenge!