I Spy...A Quilter Who Has Upped Her Game

So, I don't think I've made any boasts to be some great seamstress.  I'm pretty much just a crafty gal who likes to make things and who usually says, "patterns/instructions, be damned!"  If I mess up, then it either gets incorporated or undone and redone and I keep plugging along.  Now, I've been dabbling at this quilting thing for a while now.  And I say dabbling, because I mostly just make the tops or start squares and then abandon them. 

The ACTUAL quilting has been highly intimidating to me.  I have been scared that I would have my tension all wrong and get my machine bound up (which can happen on an ordinary Tuesday, let alone when I'm trying to wrangle a quilt).  Or how in the great wide world do you man-handle all that fabric in and out of your machine while you quilt row after row???  My mom showed me the basics of sewing--THIS was not her hobby.  So I have no "over the shoulder" experience to garner ideas from.  But thank Al Gore for the internets!

As I'm sitting in my sewing room, watching a tutorial on how to attach my walking foot (because my first 3 tries were unsuccessful and/or resulted in binding up my machine), I thought to myself, what did all the crafty ladies do before the internet?  How did Caroline Ingalls fix her home ec. problems living in BFE Kansas with no wifi?  I wouldn't have survived.  Or I just wouldn't have crafted.  Maybe I would have read more...

So, I want to quilt.  I really really really want to quilt.  I have all these projects and fabrics and I just need to take the plunge and get over my anxiety of the actual quilting process.  I'm a smart girl.  I can figure this out with the help of the internet and all the crafty ladies (and men) who have come before me.  So, I choose a straightforward project to start.  For Christmas, I'm making my 2 year old nephew, Oliver, an I Spy quilt. You know, I Spy with my little eye...and I am here to tell you that this quilt will provide days of spying! There is everything on here: crayons, gnomes, elephants, anthropomorphic pb&j sandwhiches, stars, cherries, tractors, boats, stars, and on and on and on!

I purchased 5" charms from a couple ladies via Instagram and am in love with the selections they sent me.  These fabrics could not be more adorable! 

Rather than make things more complicated, I just started making squares of squares.  Chain piecing was where it was at for this process--the whole way through. 

So, I'd chain until I ran out of squares and then stop to do the dreaded ironing.  I think I've mentioned before (if not here then on other social media) that seam pressing is my least favorite part of this hobby.  But I did not shirk in my duty.  I pressed all my seams at each step of the process. 

This is my "I HATE ironing" face.

I'm not one to be heavy handed with pins either, but I am particular about lining up seams.  So, I was impressed with how well my final blocks matched up.  They're not 100% perfect at every corner, but pretty good for a block with 16 squares. 

After all the charms were matched and pieced, I ended up with 12 blocks of 16.  Then the dilemma was, do I put them all together and quilt this bad boy or should I try something else???  I read about a quilt as you go method via Aubrey at Southern Fabric about a year ago.  So back to the interwebs I went to track it down.  It led me to this lovely blog that I must spend more time on, A Cuppa and a Catch Up.  I read it but it wasn't quite what I was working with so I mentally took a few notes and kept browsing around until I found something else.  Over at Sew Take a Hike, I found the other parts that make quilting this I Spy project as I went along totally doable. 

After fussing with my walking foot for quite a few minutes this evening, and wrestling my giant roll of batting, I was finally able to start quilting my very first quilt square!!!

Brandy new in the box!!!

  My 16 blocks are about 18" square, so I cut batting squares at 20" to leave a little wiggle room.  I centered my blocks on the batting and did use pins (for safety) in the four corners and one in dead center.  This quilt is for my nephew, but it is so fun and colorful that I chose an amazing violet thread to quilt with.  It really stands out and I'm pleased so far with my choice.

  As I get more comfortable with the process, I may chose to get froggy with my technique, but for now I'm doing diagonal straight (for the most part) lines across the square.  I went low and slow until I was sure I was doing it right and then upped my speed with my confidence level.  By the end, I shouted "SUCCESS" and did a little dance that is usually reserved for my favorite foods.  One down, eleven more to go.  But now that I know it's not a scary process, I have a feeling it won't take me long to finish them.  Then it will just be a matter of joining them and backing with a simple 'stitch in the ditch.' 

Over the last week, I've seen a ton of amazing quilts via Instagram at Quilt Market.  The talent that these men and women have is extraordinary and I admire their creativity and skill.  Maybe one day I can be fancy and create complicated quilts with intricate patterns and amazing stitch work, but for now, I'll be happy to make this warm and fuzzy quilt for my nephew and practice these quilting fundamentals.

Piles of chained squares

Round two: second pile of chained rectangles

Round 3: pile of chained squares (again)

Gots to stay hydrated!!

I'll be back when I have it all done to post an update. But for now, I'll be I Spy-ing away in my hobby room all weekend! 

 

TTFN!

Mels

#WIP (Works in Progress OR Why I Procrastinate)...

I've been struggling in the crafty department lately!  Not even gonna lie.  I have all these ideas percolating in my crafty little brain, and I see all these lovely things online that people make...but when it comes to my down time, I'm EXHAUSTED!!!!

 Some of you who read this may relate and then some may say I don't even know what exhausted is.  I'm an unmarried woman without children who has a fairly cushy desk job--it's more mentally taxing than physically taxing.  My live in boyfriend cooks and does more than his share of the house chores and the only ankle biter I have is my fluffy Shichon, Simon.  But I think the spreadsheets and data auditing at the office have just eaten a little hole in my brain straight through my will to craft.  

That does not mean that I haven't done anything over the last month or so, just that I start something and leave it abandoned in my sewing room as a sad, #wip or work in progress.  I have many of them floating around and I think its about time I get the nerve up to finish a couple.  Two are quilts tops that must be basted and then officially begin their lives as real quilts.  One at my home and the other to go off and live with a dear friend as a surprise gift.  I'm nervous to start quilting them though, because I love them so much like they are right now.  That seems silly.  But they're pretty hanging against the walls.  I don't want to muddy them up.

 I'm a novice quilter.  I'm a figure it out as I go, sewer...so new territory always trips me up a bit.  Finding a place in my little house to baste is also a bit problematic.  I'm not sure where to do it. 

I have a love affair with foxes.

 Maybe on my bed, for the big top, but empty floor space in my home is hard to come by with dogs and furniture and little cottage rooms.  

Then there are the organization projects I've been trying to do.  Like any good hobbiest, I have so much more material goods than I actually ever would need.  So I need places to store those goods.  And organizing my fabric and clearing some out our using it up in a productive way has been on my mind and my to-do list of late.  I purchased two hideous mid-century metal cabinets from a local antique store, Three French Hens in Nolensville, TN.  I love the store!  Great ladies and amazing merch...but these cabinets are rusty and busty and one was spray painted John Deere green!  

Ewwww.

 So they truly needed some love before they could be considered usable.  So I'm working to recover them in maps and old sewing circulars so that I can use them for fabric storage.  I'm using a Pinterest recipe for decoupage

Simon helps, when he can--but he doesn't have any thumbs!  

(watered down Elmers glue) to paste my chosen medium onto the cabinets.

Delicious!

Found these fun maps abandoned at my school.  Someone even used them and drew/highlighted on them. <3

I watch Netflix while I work to stave off boredom.  OITNB was my jam for 2 glorious weeks!

 Once I'm finished, I'll use a varnish from the hardware store.  I could use more decoupage, but I'm not in love with the matte finish it has right now.  The cabinets the perfect size for my room and will help me keep things off the floor and away from Simon!  My favorite thing about this project is the funny little ads that I'm finding in the sewing circular from the 60's.  Women are still so similar in what we buy and how marketing appeals to us.

A monkey?!?! For $20 bucks? WTF???

And while some of my weekend days are spent on the couch binge watching old episodes of The Killing, I also day dream about other new projects I'd like to start all the while my old ones sit neglected right above me in my upstairs craft corner.  Here's the short list:

1. Circa 1934 fabric (Cosmo Cricket) blanket of some sort--I have enough of this stock piled to make a fun front and back quilt...maybe various swoon blocks. 
2. 2 different Cotton+Steel projects:  August and Mustang fabric on hand that I'm drawing up ideas for.
3. I thrifted a ton of purple/blue/stripe mens dress shirts to make a fun patchwork project to be backed with a vintage sheet that I bought on Instagram.

Basically I have a problem with finishing what I start.  Boo!  Anybody else do this too? Am I alone?  

My Love of All Things Aged

I remember being a little girl watching shows on television about the sinking of the Lusitania or Egyptian pharaohs, stories of the Great Depression and the Holocaust. I've always loved history and things with a little dust on them. No wonder I grew up and went to college to study history and archaeology. Too bad my bum back kept me from digging holes in the dirt my whole life (or is it?). My studies and digs allowed me to read and research many different time periods and areas, so I often feel like I know a little bit about a whole lot of nothing. =^) Back to my point...

While I'm no longer professionally affiliated with history, personally, I'm in love with it! So in love, that in 2009 I bought a little stone cottage built in 1937

despite the fact that (as it happens) it is in the turdiest neighborhood east of I-65 in Nashville. Alas, I love my old lady. She is glorious with her hardwood floors and quaint fixtures. I'll be sad to leave her when the time comes. And come it must, 'cause momma's gotta get up out of the 'hood eventually. But she was a good first home and I had fun decorating her according to my love of dusty, aged things and pieces that might not have been too far gone from when she was built so long ago.

But my first "real" blog entry can't just be all about my silly old house and my granny knick-knacks! OH NO! It is also about my love for Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 fabric line from Moda. I first discovered it actually as a scrapbook bundle and just thought of it as lovely paper that I could use to accentuate the house and maybe use in a photo album for her one day.  But then, trolling through the pages of Etsy one day, HARK! I find a coordinating fabric to match these lovely papers I've found. This called to my inner craft hoarder like only few of you will understand. Fabric and paper with the same print?!?!?! Be still my heart! So I bought some scrap bags from the lovely ladies over at Southern Fabric. 

Today, 2 whole years later, I decided to do something with those scraps: quick and easy pillow covers for my living room. I've already used some of the scrapbook paper to make an art piece for the wall, so it was about time that I tie the room together and "Make it work!" as the fearless Tim Gun always says. I'm not one to fuss over the details, which has caused me a great deal of time and frustration when it comes to more complicated sewing tasks, but pillows are simple.

I use the pillows themselves as measurements (because rulers are boring, right? jk) and pair up the fabric scraps that I wanted to use for each case. Since I wanted them to be removable

because of a tiny terror that lives in my home (see photo of end project) I folded and sewed the backs envelope style so that they'd slip in easily without fuss and I wouldn't need to go buy zippers.

Three pillow cases didn't take me long and the boyfriend was super impressed with how quickly I worked. And now we have matching pillows and no more green velvet left over from when my mom made the pillows for me originally in a past life.

I must mention and show off my art on the wall that I used the Cosmo Cricket paper on. I had so much fun making this because it was a collage of sorts. I bought the Norman Rockwell prints at a local antique shop in Nolensville, TN that is sadly closed. I fell in love with the style and aged patina and thought they would look perfect in my house. The same shopping weekend, I stopped in at one of my absolute favorite antique stores in Nashville, Music Valley Antiques. I love this place and Lisa and Dean are so sweet. Their vendors always keep such interesting booths and my living room is filled with little touches from their shop. When I stopped in to see them, I found a set of windows with beautiful hardware still intact and for a price I couldn't pass up. So I came home and assembled a window/Norman Rockwell/Cosmo Cricket art piece.

I love it to pieces and managed to not break any of the window panes, yay me!  If you live in Nashville, or close enough, go see the good folks over at  MVA.  I bought an antique quilt there last week that I live to curl up in--seriously good stuff! 

I have more projects that I'm working on (always and forever).  And I promise they're more complicated than pillow cases.  Thanks for reading.  Pass along if I made you laugh or smile. 

xoxo
Mels