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

WiP - Quilted Starburst, two Qs, and a Deer Start

It wasn't an official Q Squared Quilt Therapy session on Saturday, but there sure was a lot of quality time with two of the Q's. Three of us spent the morning with 138 Sparks (that's our youngest Branch of Canadian Girl Guides). There was singing, crafts, games, and lots of laughter! And these...

Edible campfires to teach the girlies how to build a proper campfire without burning any little fingers. But no quilting...that came later in the day! Q-A got a lesson in EPP - I have turned another to the hexie dark side! And Q-D was up to her usual fabric frenzy. I will state, once again, that I have never seen Q-D's stash in it's entirety. But I want to...

She also has paper piecing issues. This week, I introduced her to Wombat Quilts. She'll never run out of PP inspiration now!

As for me, after all the initial hubbub over Chezzetcook Modern Quilts' Library Project, I hadn't made too much progress on Deer in the Headlights for Young B. Time to get cutting!

This pattern doesn't use any trusty strip piecing. Just oodles of different sized strips. Okay, really it's 6 sizes of blue, brown, and black. But there are 194 of them! Organization is essential in the cutting process, especially when you're a little OCD! ☺

The original pattern called for solid black, but I (gasp!) opted for a variety of tone on tones. The green painter's tape is a trick I picked up from Pile o' Fabric's SkillBuilder BOM. It sticks better than Post-its and, apparently, it doesn't leave any residue.

Here are the blues and browns so far. Guess I should have read the yardage guidelines before I started cutting... oops. Now I've got some brown strips to use up. Some wise crackin' sewing pal said I should make two - one for Young B, one for Himself. I think not.

Turns out, the pattern calls for tonnes of blues! Again with the "should have read before starting." Even after I cut up all the blue prints I had bought, I was nowhere near done. Time to break out the Konas!

Until I get that envelope of US fabric from the Rents, this is as far as I can get in cutting. To keep things organized in the meantime, I find this plastic tray really useful for moving fabric from the cutting phase to sewing. It also allows me to put these aside until I can really get down to work.

Don't worry, there is an actual quilt in this post... I pulled the trigger on the Giant Starburst! After deliberating (and pestering all of you for opinions!), I decided on a thread colour.

MUST QUILT WITH ALL THE COLOURS!!! The Coal Kona got the coloured thread treatment and the Punch, Capri, Wasabi and Persimmon got the grey.  And yes, that is a kilometre of thread. It makes me smile to type that!

There were a few little bumps along the road. Thank goodness for Q-D's mathematical prowess. She is just so darned handy! As is that ergonomic seam ripper that Himself bought me a few Christmases ago!

 Stay tuned for a Finish post soon.... just gotta bind this little lovely!

 I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday... but I bet you guessed that!

J

Pre-Christmas Productivity!

This week-end, I cranked up the productivity dial to 11! With Christmas only a week and a half away, I'm getting into the spirit a little more. My thoughts are turning to what last minute gifties I can whip up!

Saturday was a Quilt Therapy session with Q-Squared. We had great time, though we were down a Square. Q-B had a vehicular altercation with a deer this week (don't panic, she's okay!), so she was stuck in T-dot for the day. We didn't get a tonne of sewing done - but we did have a tasty lunch at the Wooden Monkey and a trip to our LQS. I made something out of this....

Not very quilt-y... I know. But it did make two nice Christmas gifts! Can't reveal though - more items in the QPPP! Q-A brought a number of projects for quilting consults - including her version of the Canoe Ridge Creations Starburst QAL. Her main project is also in the QPPP. It's a tough time of year to blog about projects!

Q-D brought along this lovely - she's working along on no less than three quilts for some newly adopted siblings. This one's for the youngest - a five year old boy who loves red, blue, and nautical. I'd say this one'll be a hit!

And then there's the quilt she started on Saturday for her brother - for Christmas!!! It's going to look something like this. But right now, it looks like Q-D's going for the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous strip of pieced quilting!

Once I finished up my Christmas QPP project, I started on a little something I'm calling Alice in Woodsy-Land. It's (yet another!) baby quilt. I feel in love with this print at my LQS and bought what was left on the bolt. For the rest, I hit the Kona stash and pulled these colours - Chartreuse, Kumquat, Capri, and Bison (left to right).

 I didn't have a firm plan when I began this project. I knew I wanted to fussy cut those cute animals for the centres of the blocks and play with those Konas!

They turned out to be 3 inch squares and I decided to border them with 2½ inch strips.

Sunday was snow day! Our region got walloped by nor'easter - many centimeters of snow that ultimately turned to ice pellets and nasty rain. A perfect day to stay home and sew! And continue working on Alice in Woodsy-land!

My usual machine is in the shop, so I'm rockin' the Kenmore for the next little bit. I won't go in to all the things I miss about my Pfaff, but I will say that piecing is just not as accurate without my dedicated quilting foot and my built in walking foot. It meant having to trim my blocks down to a more regular size when finished. The fabric designers have to stop with these adorable selvages... I just can't resist them!

I opted to alternate the pieced blocks with 6½ blocks of the print. It still left me with lots to use as the backing! With this lay-out, the quilt is 30 inches square when finished. I thought about bumping it up to 36 inches, but ultimately decided this was a good size for strollers and cribs. I always struggle with what size to make baby quilts!

With the alternating light print and relatively dark Konas, it seemed best to press the seams open when sewing my rows. Still not sold on this technique!

Here she is - already to quilt. That'll have to wait until my Pfaff comes home. Fingers crossed that it's soon!

The binding's even pieced and ready to go!

I also finished the top of a Christmas giftie for my Nanny. I think I'll save it for another day - you've been reading long enough methinks! I do have one last pic for you though....

A Christmas hexie project just for me! It likely won't be finished until next year, but I like the idea of having a little something to stitch on during the holidays.

How about you? Working away like one of Santa's elves on last minute gifties? Whatever you're doing, I hope you make a little time for what you love this time of year!

J

Sometimes the fabric just has to be enough...

Quarter Inch from the Edge isn't just a blog name. It also describes my mental state quite aptly at times. This week would be one of those times. There's no quilt finishes (or even starts) to show off and even the stitch n' bitch session today was less than productive on the sewing front.

In a week with crap-tastic day after crap-tastic day, there were (thankfully) a few highlights. You know the day's looking up when you get to the mailbox and see this....

That's right - the Tragically Hip have a stamp! This is NOT at all important to most people, but for a Canadian of my vintage who graduated from high school and university in the 90s, a lot of good times were had whilst rockin' out to Gord and the boys. And it gets better...

... way better! My first ModQImprov block has arrived, courtesy of the très productive Ms. Adrienne over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts. I think this block has been kicking my Bee-mates butts. I even heard it broke a sewing machine!
And the next day... Kona, sweet Kona.

My Kona fat quarter of the month package arrived... Emerald, Medium Gray, Ash, and Jade Green. This month's selections are particularly funny given my most recent Kona purchase at my local fabric shop.

Charcoal, Emerald, and Shadow. Too funny. What am I going to make with these, you ask? No idea, my bloggy reader-friend. No idea. But some days, the fabric is enough to make you smile. Not the inspiration for the intended project, not the binding of a finally quilted piece, not the photo shoot of the finished creation, but the fabric. The fabric is enough.

Today, a couple of the Squares popped in for a less-scheduled than usual sew day. I can't say we did a lot of sewing, but there was therapeutic chatting and more fabric shopping. We do have fun when we're together, don't we, Q-B and Q-D? Here's the stack for today!

A motley crew to be sure! But some of them even have a purpose! The dots at the top were just for fun... looking at my Christmas fabric stash, no one could ever be convinced that I "need" more Christmas prints! But I thought they'd go nicely with these owls.

The fabric designers are wise to my addiction and have started on fun selvages. Not fair. Not even close to fair. I actually considered buying 1.5 m of this so I'd get three repeats of the trees. I'm shaking my head as I write that. I am not well. Not even close.
And then there's the Halloween selvages!

This one is destined to become my outfit for Halloween. Nothing too wild, just a skirt to be paired with a black top this week. We'll call it my hommage to a costume. I can't manage make-up, masks, or heavy costume pieces all day long in the classroom!

And to round out my purchases for the day...

A fancy new rotary cutter! Both my Fiskars cutters are in hard, hard shape and the Fiskars site has been down for weeks... of course, I wrote that sentence and did a Google search. Site's back up. Honestly, sometimes I feel like forces are aligning against me. In any case, I have this snazzy new Olfa Splash. I've only had the pizza cutter style of rotary cutter before, so this one's a departure for me. We'll see how it goes!

On the fabric theme for this post, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of Q-B and Q-D's fabric selections for today. There was a whole lot of QADHD going on today, but such is life. One can always just pet the fabric if need be.
I don't care for pink. That phase of my life ended around 1983. But I do love Q-D's selections here! And so will the little girlie this quilt is destined for.

Likewise this selection for a little guy that loves red, blue, and nautical. I can't decide which one I like best.

I busted into my scrap stash after we talked Q-B into that lovely citron and grey stripe fabric. Turns out she didn't have much in her bins that would allow her to make the placemats she was planning. ☺ I may have to go back to the shop tomorrow and buy the rest of that stripe. It's right at home in my stash!

Here's hoping this week's a little better than the last. If all else fails, there's fresh fabric in the stash and a functioning rotary cutter to slice through it. Sometimes, the fabric is enough. It just has to be.

J

Thanksgiving Three-peat

How to spend a long week-end when Himself is at sea and the fam-jam is away? Quilting, of course! And I managed to have sew days with quilt-y pals three days in a row. Talk about a three-peat!

Saturday had been a scheduled Q-Squared day for a while, but other commitments reared their ugly heads for Q-A and Q-B. The upside was that Q-D and I had more room to spread out!

I struggled to decide what to work on this week-end. I opted to quilt a piece that had been around for a bit. I needed a consult with at least one of the Squares to get things going. Though it was free-motion, I wanted to keep my lines of stitching running more or less vertical. Out came the masking tape! I've been using this trick for ages! 

The goal was to make it look like raindrops. Thankfully, raindrops don't have to be consistent or any particular shape. Here's another shot of the quilting... I'm saving the money shot for another post. You'll have to be patient!

Q-D had similar issues with indecision this week. She brought a pile of stuff to choose from. When she got her with all her bags, it looked like she was moving in!

Q-D found a pin of this lovely tree quilt a while back, and, rather than just doing the tutorial given on the blog, decided to make her own paper piecing pattern for it. She brought it along this week-end and we got to joking that I should pebble quilt it. Q-D's a little obsessed with my pebble quilting since I made this...

We kept joking and then.... I grabbed that sucker and got to work. It took the rest of Saturday evening and Sunday morning to quilt it, but Q-D seemed to think it was worth it!

 And here she is all done but for the binding...

The pebbling really makes the trees puff out. I quilted a little surprise in there for Q-D. I wonder if she's found it yet. I think Q-D should make me one in exchange. Just the top - I'd quilt it myself!

While I quilted one of her quilts, Q-D plugged away on another. This quilt was the first project she ever brought to a Q-Squared day.... it's been around for a while! Yes, those are paper pieced mittens. And yes, they are tiny! 

Once Q-D hit the road to join her family for Thanksgiving dinner, I knocked out a block for Global Stash Bee, an on-line bee hosted on Flickr. So far, I'm not loving this one as much as ModQImprov Canada. I think it's because it's on Flickr... I'm just not that into it. This month's Queen Bee requested any block at all in Christmas colours (though not necessarily Christmas prints). I chose Megan's Star from Modern Blocks.

I'd kind of forgot about this book, but when I needed some solo block inspiration it was perfect. I even found a block for a future ModQImprov Canada request!

And then today! Ade from Chezzetcook Modern Quilts finally made it here for a sew day. She's been under the weather... just read her blog post from last week-end for the gory details!

I kept on plugging away on my Toes in the Sand blocks. This is a little problematic when there's someone else quilting with me. They're challenging (the blocks, that is) and sometimes I have to talk to them to make sense of it all. Embarrassing, non?

It took me forever to finish the cutting for Block 7. It has 43 pieces! Yes, I said 43!!! in each block. And I made two. I was afraid of the partial seams on Block 4. Clearly, my fear was misplaced.

 There was a lot of referring to the book on this one!

I did it! Block 7 - Pebble Beach - is done! I think it was a good decision to do these in order. Otherwise, I'd have skipped this one and had it to do at the end!

Things got a little chaotic on Ade's table! She too had project indecision for this visit. Must have been something in the water this week. You can see the blocks she received in ModQImprov Canada, as well as those lovely Amy Butler and Heather Bailey prints she used for her postage stamp quilt. Not visible (behind the blue bag) is the block Ade's working on for me for ModQImprov Canada. I blogged about it  here. N.B. She tidied up mere seconds after this pic was snapped. Honest!

My table stayed a little more streamlined today. Those Toes in the Sand blocks are tricky enough. I didn't need any visual clutter!

One more down! Block 8 - Santa Monica.

I have just four more sets of blocks to make and I'll done. Well, done the blocks anyway! 

And before she left, Ade gave me this! Isn't it cool? It's an orb. I can't believe she just gave it to me... saying it was just going to become a pillow anyway. I'm tempted to turn in into a mini-quilt/wall hanging for my bare studio walls. In exchange, I gave Ade back a book that's been on my shelf for easily...hmmm... let's say, 8 years. I couldn't get rid of it - it wasn't mine!

So what am I grateful for on this Thanksgiving week-end? There are many things - Himself (of course) and the rest of my family, to be born in such an amazing country as Canada with so many advantages, to have health, wealth (at least some) and happiness (most days!). But as I write, I'm thankful for the quilt-y friends that filled up what might have been a long (and not in a good way) week-end all on my own.

What if we woke up tomorrow with only what we were grateful for today? That's my deep thought for today!

Hope you found some sewing time around the pumpkin pie and turkey!