Getting back to the fabric

Ok, so the knitty love is still going strong here -- but, my sewing machine has been patiently waiting for me to find my way back to it. Or, well, I did hear some murmurings in that direction about a yarn overthrow. So -- I SHOULD spend some time devoted to sewing here on the blog as well as preventing a coup and yarn basket overthrow. I have finally reclaimed the kitchen for sewing space (there go all those lovely visions of family dinners around the table) so there should be more fabric love showing up soon.

In the meantime -- I thought I would share some goodies that came in the mail over the holidays. This lovely, bright quilt was a gift for my daughter. Despite my hopes that she wouldn't like it ('cause Mommy loves it and wants to cuddle under it) -- no luck. She LOVES her gift from her "Aunt B" and has been sleeping under it every night since the postman delivered it. It's lined with lime green minky -- soooo soft. She's even named it her "super soft blankie". I've got to admit, the kid's got good taste.

The postman also brought me a lovely little package from Sam over at Diary of a Mad Fabriholic over the holidays. I won a drawing on her blog and as a prize I got this fun little pincushion kit and some great cards. Since I really do have to send out some notes soon -- the cards are going to come in handy!

And last, just because I am feeling the need to show something I've made that is quilting related -- here's a photo of the quilt I made for Miss Tinkerbell LAST Christmas ('06). This is one where I had pretty much figured out how to make it from a photograph, but I did end up buying the pattern just to make sure I was "doing it right". Honestly? I shouldn't have bothered -- (though there were a few other cute patterns in the book). The method the pattern used was MUCH more fiddly than what I did (let's hear it for Thangles).

The other thing about this quilt is that it shows why, though I love the idea, when Finn cried "All Aboard" for the Orphan Train quilts -- I was left standing at the station without the ability to get a ticket. When I need quilt backs -- um, well, I'm too cheap, frugal, um -- thrifty, yeah that's a good word, to buy large pieces of fabric (there is also that whole -- I love so many fabric designs I usually don't want to limit myself to one or two purchases of yardage -- I would rather have a little bit each of lots of fabrics). So -- I end up having to either a) go out and buy a specific backing fabric (or two or more depending) or b) make do with what I have. In this case -- it was option b. I had lots of smallish cuts (1/2 yards or less) and an orphan block -- hey, it's a quilt backing! So, not many orphans here at casa de cornfields -- but a whole lot of quilt backs that are a mish mash!

Now, to see about getting that sewing machine to stop plotting against the knitting basket...or maybe I should clean? NAH -- there's still enough room to put down a coke -- I think quelling the overthrow should come first...

Hearts-A-Plenty

I've been busily sewing away at my current project all this week. Today during dd's nap I decided to say finis, I am done. Here it is, and I've named it "Hearts-A-Plenty." I wish I could have photographed it flat, but the floor in the living room was a disaster of toys and other accumulated junk and before cleaning I wanted to finish sewing. (hmm, clean or quilt, clean or quilt -- QUILT!)

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this one. Each of the "inside" fabrics is a heart print. I started collecting these awhile ago with no real plan and I finally got to use them. I've been fascinated with circles lately and this pattern from Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting (Sept/Oct '06) let me play with some. I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to get stuck on a technique or a shape and play with it for awhile. I think circles are going to be showing up again soon, but not necessarily this block.

You can see from this detail picture some of the machine blanket stitch (not bad for my first time though it got a bit tedious) and some of the heart fabrics. The edges are supposed to be folded in and stitched down as well to make all of the blocks "square" but I am liking the rounded edges and that you can then see how the blocks are constructed. I'm still kind of debating about whether or not I should do more blanket stitching around the outside edges to "finish" it -- but I don't know. Any opinions?

This one was fun to do -- though if I were to use the technique again I would probably choose to not use any batting at all and make a summer spread. The pattern called for using flannel and that would probably be less bulky than the thin cotton batting I used -- but I think it would be easier to manage if it were just two layers rather than three. Why didn't I use flannel? Mostly because I didn't have any that was light enough. All of the flannel in my stash would have shown through the white prints, and I wanted to make this one entirely from my stash. Oh well, lessons learned (always a good thing), quilt finished (maybe - I may decide to add that additional stitching), 36 fat quarters and a quilt entirely from my stash, and dd has yet another nap time quilt (I am going to have to stop making this child quilts at some point -- I will make her the Dick and Jane quilt and Summer Sorbet but after that I think she's done for a few years at least).

Now I just need to tackle some of that cleaning that needs to be done -- and after that some homework -- a stack of papers to grade -- and somewhere in there sleep. Hmnn -- I think my next project is going to be something quick, at least until the semester is over (thankfully soon). Since I tend to get obsessive about my projects and want to work on them when I should be doing other things, quick and simple is going to be my mantra until the beginning of May. I see more bags in my future!

Color me pink

While surfing blogdom the other day I saw another quilter's post about her favorite color -- pink. It made me think about my own relationship with pink. If you had asked me three years ago if I liked the color -- I would have looked at you and said "do I LOOK like a pink person"? Which is odd, since as a child, it was my absolute favorite color and I even convinced my parents to paint my room hot pink. Then my dear friend became pregnant and had a little girl. Ok, girls get pink right? I have some pink fabric hanging around in the stash -- and being a contentious godmother -- I need to make my godchild a quilt. Let's forget for a minute that said godchild's mother is also a quilter. So -- some pink fabric is not enough for a quilt so I'll just buy pink fabric -- mini-challenge to myself to make a quilt entirely of one color -- and I will buy the fabric at random, not trying to "match" it, just keep buying until I feel it's ready. The only rule for the purchases is that the fabric has to say "pink" to me -- in other words, be the primary color. I figured that I would either end up with a cute and quirky pink quilt -- or the world's ugliest quilt.

Yards and yards of pink fabric later -- I decided to take the plunge. By this time, I was pregnant and my goddaughter was almost six months old. Turns out, I had purchased enough fabric for two quilt tops (did I mention I tend to overbuy fabric?). I still didn't know if I was going to have a boy or a girl, but hey -- the second one could always be a charity quilt. By the time the top was together, I knew I was having a girl as well. Because of my dislike of the color, and because of my own "rules" for making the quilt -- "Puke me up Pink I" and "II" were born. One for my goddaughter, and one for my own daughter. What you see here is "Pink I" -- my goddaughter has hers across the country and I don't actually have a photo of it finished.

A funny thing happened when I was working on it though -- I rediscovered how much I actually LIKED pink. Working with all of the bubblegum colors and hot vibrant fuchsias made me remember how happy they made me -- and what they reminded me of. Pink peeps with the gooey marshmallow. My first pair of Nike's which were baby pink with a white swoosh. My room as a child with hot pink and lime green wallpaper with white cartoon bunnies everywhere. The pink and white shag carpeting in my room. Plucking fresh raspberries off of the bushes in the backyard and eating them while they were still warm from the sun. Something else happened too -- since the two pinks, almost every quilt I have made since then has had pink in it. What started out as a project to use up every scrap of pink in my stash, has now created a whole pink section of my stash that has threatened to take over every other color.

I'm glad I rediscovered a former favorite, but I wonder if I'm the only one this has happened to? Are there colors that you don't like/can't stand and then working with them helps you appreciate them? Or is this just a strange quirk of my own?