It Was Fantastic

Absolutely fantastic.  I don’t think many of my readers are Twilight fans, so I won’t go into giggly detail, but it was fantastic.  A million times better than the first one.  Have I said it was fantastic?

Tonight’s the Night

I’m going to have to take a nap this afternoon so I can stay up really late tonight.  Why?  Why else?  New Moon comes out tomorrow and these midnight tickets have been burning a hole in my pocket since I bought them 3 weeks ago.  Yes, I will be fighting all those teenagers for good seats tonight.  I’m hoping I’m not the oldest one in the theatre.

Irons in the Fire

I’m thinking that in January I’d like to start a block of the month quilt, where each block represents a different month.  Kind of like that 3D Sunbonnet Sue quilt I showed a couple posts back from the quilt show.  Does anyone know of any quilt patterns like that?

Yesterday I decided to finally bite the bullet and get a new iron.  I didn’t want to drive all the way out to JoAnn’s, so I went to Walmart and Bed Bath and Beyond.  I was underwhelmed at the selection.  I didn’t like any of them, but I really needed one, so I just got the cheapest one they had to tide me over until I find the one I really want.

I got a Shark Versatile for $15.  It’s the one on the left.  The dark blue one on the right is my old one, and I had no idea how small it was until I got the new one home.  The Shark is also much heavier, and has a couple more feet of length on the power cord, which I like.  I didn’t think I was asking too much when I went looking.  I want one that gets really hot, and doesn’t have auto off.  If I have to have auto off, I want something really long, like an hour.  Of all the irons I saw yesterday, every single one had auto off of 8 or 15 minutes.  All the Rowenta’s cut off at 8 minutes.  8 minutes?!  My iron would never be hot when I needed it.  I leave my iron on for hours at a time because I sew some, then iron some, then sew some, and iron some.  I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be to have my iron cut off and then have to wait for it to reheat every time I needed it.  My old one didn’t have auto off at all.  I just unplugged it when I was done.  I understand that it’s a safety feature, but seriously.  Do they make them with long or no auto off anymore? 

The soleplate on the new one is much bigger, which I think I’ll like.  I’ve heard a non-stick soleplate is good, but I’ve never had a problem with stainless steel.  I never use steam so I don’t care about all the steam bells and whistles.  I don’t need all that fancy digital stuff they have now.  I just want it to get really hot and not cut off on me.  Is that too much to ask?

Moving on, I got my red and aqua swap blocks back in the mail yesterday.  I’m excited to get started on them, but I think I need to finish up a few other projects before I dive into these.

AND, look at this fantastic fabric I got in the mail…

It looks a lot like my own work table.  There’s the buttons spread around, the Olfa rotary cutter.  And don’t forget the seam ripper, it’s in there too.  This would be a good “I Spy” picture.  I got this print on etsy at Lucky Kaeru Fabrics.  If you click on the picture it should get bigger, and you can see all the details better.

Babies and Bricks

I finished binding the baby quilt last night, washed it, and it didn’t fall apart.  So I guess I’ll go ahead and gift it.  I was thinking about keeping it and hanging it over the door frame.  So any time I thought about trying FMQ again, I could just look at it as a reminder.  But I decided against it.

I think it turned out pretty cute, all considering.  And I think it’ll go with the lilac/sage nursery.  I got the idea from this pattern at Piece N Quilt.

I was really pleased with the lilac gingham I used for the back.  I think it adds a touch of ‘for baby’.  I don’t think my machine liked the gingham much.  It seemed to be a little different weight from the rest of what I was using, and I think that may have caused some of my problems. 

In other news, when I was out shopping yesterday, I found this perfect fabric for the upcoming House Swap, and I just had to get some.

The print on the far left didn’t get exposed very good, but it’s sky.  I figured if I didn’t get it when I saw it, I wouldn’t be able to find it again.  Isn’t that how it always happens?

Davies Plantation Quilt Show

So this quilt show I went to last weekend was a lot different then I thought it’d be.  It was really pretty neat.  I don’t really know anything about the history of the Davies Manor, but it’s this really neat old house set off in a wooded area of town.  It’s on a bit of acreage, and there are several old buildings on the property too. 

This is the main house, and all the antique quilts in the show were displayed here.  But they also had a lot of neat old antiques around, and the house was all furnished like it might have been back when it was built.  I’ll show you some of my favorite quilts there, and you can see the neat furnishings too.

For all the tatters, here’s some antique shuttles on a very delicate tatted doily.

All these squares were about an inch.  I can’t imagine how much work that would be all by hand.

My grandma went with us and I think she really enjoyed it.  She liked seeing a lot of the stuff that she remembers from when she was little.  There were very ornate pee cans under the bed in this room.  My grandma said that’s why you don’t pronounce the nut ‘pee-cans’, they’re ‘pecans’.  She said a pee can is what you keep under the bed.  Words of wisdom.

This neat little sewing set up had a gorgeous old machine.  The papers there were set out to tell about old Singers, but I think it ruins the look a little bit.  The machine had gorgeous flowers painted on it.  Makes me want to paint some on my machine. 

This man was demonstrating how to cane a chair. 

And there was a woman demonstrating how to make bobbin lace.  All those sticks are called bobbins, and they’re weighted so that they stay where you put them.  It might be hard to see, but up on the roll are a bunch of straight pins stuck on a paper pattern.  She was weaving the different bobbins between the needles, and coming out with the lace edging you see on the left side.

My Mom said she didn’t realize ‘wonky’ was an old thing.  She thought it was a new idea.

Then there was this other building that had all the ‘contemporary’ quilts hanging in it, and a few vendors.  I apologize to this lady for putting her back end on the internet.  This is the building my 2 quilts were in.

This picture is a little blurry, but I really liked this quilt because of all the 3D stuff in the scenes.  It was a really cute version of sunbonnet sue.  And I’m just now noticing, as I look at the picture, that each scene is for a different month.  Now I like it even more!  How cute!

This quilt was impressive because all the veins on all the wings were stitched.  The wings are made out of solid fabrics, and the person went back and did all that. 

And I love selvedges, so these were 2 of my favorites.

And here are the 2 quilts that I entered:  the first is the Washington’s Cherry Wreath, and the second is the Chubby Chicks.  If you read my blog regularly they probably look very familiar

These are just a few of the one hundred eighty something quilts that were there.  It was a really neat show, and I’m already looking forward to next year.

Free motion quilting, you are a cruel mistress.  I spent 3 hours ripping all the messed up lines.  Not all the lines,  mind you, just the messed up ones.  I got down to just the fairly decent quilting left, which was about 1/3 of the quilt.  Because I’m stubborn, and I was tired of ripping, I decided to try just.one.more.time.  I redid everything I had already redone, and then…it worked.  I didn’t breathe.  I didn’t speak.  I didn’t want to break the spell.  It’s not perfect, mind you, but it’s acceptable.  Which is 3000x better than what it was.  Thank you to those that responded to my cry for help.  Those “I can feel your pain” comments really did make me feel better.  So now I just have to attach the binding, wash it, and see if I think it’s acceptable enough for a gift.

And please, if I ever talk about doing free motion again, somebody please just say, “Sadie, don’t be a hero”.  Or knock me over the head with something, either will work.

HELP!

I know I said I would post pictures of the quilt show today, but that’ll have to wait…

Freemotion quilting is the bane of my existence right now.  I’m at my wits end.  I’m about ready to hang up the rotary cutter and call it quits.  I started free-motioning the baby quilt.  It went really well for the first 1/4 of it.  I was using gutermann poly thread and it was great…until I ran out of thread.  So I put in guterman cotton and it all went to crap.  I started having skipped threads and it was looking awful.  So I quit for the night.  Today I went and picked up the same gutermann poly and it’s just getting worse.  Skipped stitches, frayed thread, I can’t figure out what’s going on.  I’ve done everything I can think of.  I changed the needle, took everything apart and cleaned it, changed threads. messed with the tension.  It’s a mess.  So now I don’t know what to do.  I can’t just quilt part of it free-motion but it’ll take me hours to rip everything that’s in it.  Does anyone know what to try to fix it?  Should I just rip it all and start over?  I’m almost to tears I’m so frustrated.  Please help.

Busy Bee

It looks like we’re going to have enough interest to do at least 1 or 2 groups of 9 people for the House Swap.  I’m going to get the details all together and then put up a details/official sign-up post in the next couple of weeks.  If you’ve already told me you’re interested, I’ll send you an email when the post is up.  Be thinking of what kind of block you want to make…some ideas are: house/cottage, quilt shop, barn, school, church, post office, playground, park, grocery store…anything you might find in a neighborhood.  Just remember, we’re going for lots of detail here.  There will only be 1 of each category for each group, and so we’re looking at probably only 2 people being able to make any of these categories.  It’ll be first come, first serve, so be thinking about what you’d like to make, but think of a second choice too.  And watch this space for more details…

I had a super productive second half of the week last week.

I started quilting the Halloween swap quilt.  A little late, I guess, but I prefer to think that it’s super early for next Halloween.  I don’t understand how I have as much arm jiggle as I do with as sore as I get wrangling these huge quilts through my machine.  When I was basting this one I finally decided that bigger is not better, and vowed to make my next few quilts small.

But it’s all done with the exception of whipstiching the binding.

On a post about thread recently, several people mentioned how much they love YLI thread, and I happened to see some in a store for the first time.  And wouldn’t you know, my machine hates it.  It’s really thick, though.  I wonder should I not have gotten ‘glazed’ cotton?  Is that the problem? 

I got my first Christmas gift bought and wrapped, along with a January birthday present.  And this is especially exciting because this particular person is one of the hardest I have to buy for, so I’m so glad to cross it off the list first.

I got this book on sale, but I haven’t had the time to open it yet, although I have flipped through it at a bookstore before.  Anyone read it? 

And in honor of making smaller quilts, I started on my very first baby quilt.  I have a shower this next weekend, and hadn’t even thought about making a gift until last week. 

It’s for a little girl who is going to have a lilac and sage nursery.  It’s in line to be quilted at the moment, but I’ll show the finished product as soon as it’s done.  The best thing about this project was that I made the entire top and binding from scraps I already had.  I only had to buy the backing and batt.  I did do a little ’shopping’ through my mom’s stash, but that doesn’t count.  I couldn’t believe what a difference it makes to baste something so much smaller than my last ones.  I could definitely get used to that.

And finally, I went to a fantastic quilt show, pictures tomorrow…

New Yawk

It’s getting closer.  Our big trip to New York will be here before I know it.  We picked up these maps at the store the other day.  (Yes, I’m a list girl and a map girl) No, we won’t be pulling them out in public view while on a NY city street.  If we get lost, I promise to go into a bathroom somewhere and pull out the map in the privacy of a toilet stall.  I don’t want to incur that famous NY rudeness by being ‘that’ tourist.  Besides, I think if you stop moving on the sidewalk, you get run over.  I don’t want to get run over.

The folded up map is of a bigger area, more of a general map.  But the map on the bottom lists where all the shops are!  I thought I’d show you a few highlights of where we’ll be, and where I hope to go visit.

Here’s our hotel, The Algonquin.  It’s on 44th, between 5th and 6th (I’m trying to practice the lingo…)

And the Majestic Theatre where all my dreams come true and I can die a happy and complete woman because I will have seen Phantom of the Opera.  Look, there’s Broadway!  The actual Broadway!

And just look at this little stretch of 5th Avenue.  My hubby wants to check out the Apple Store, and I want to see FAO Schwarz.  Which, by the way, I always thought was Schwartz.  But then keep walking, and look!  Louis Vuitton, and TIFFANYS!  And Burberry, Dior, Chanel.  I don’t think I could even step into those stores.  You know that scene in Pretty Woman, where the sales clerks won’t give Julia Roberts the time of day?  That’ll be me, except without the whole hooker thing. 

Now this little area might not look like much at first, but if you were standing there in the middle of the map, on 25th between 6th and 7th, you’d be standing here…

And I very much intend on standing there.  I was going to be good, and have this a quilt-free trip, but my Beloved Husband actually found this shop online and suggested we visit it.  (Everyone together now, Awwww!).  So you don’t have to tell me twice, I’m going to visit it alright.  And I’ll probably blow all my souvenir money here.  They have their own New York fabric that I think will be perfect for some kind of New York quilt to commemorate our trip.  I can’t believe they didn’t specifically put this place on the map.  I mean really.  They can put Tiffany’s on there but not the City Quilter?  Who’s writing this map?!

Then if I don’t spend all my money at the City Quilter, we’re going to go eat at Tavern on the Green.  I heard they have horse-drawn carriages that pick up outside the restaurant and go around Central Park.  That sounds like fun.  Do you think there are actual sheep in The Sheep Meadow?

Now, in my husband’s perfect world, we could do this…

But seeing as it’s not the baseball season, it’s not likely that’s going to happen.  We’d still like to visit the stadium though, but look…

It’s kind of ‘over the river and through the woods’ from where we’re going to be.  We’re going to be down in the bottom left part, and it’s waaaaay up in the top right.  I’m sure a cab is way out of our price range, seeing as how they seem to charge $10 a block, or something equally crazy.  The subway runs out there, but I don’t know how intensive of a trip that would be.

This is a bit overwhelming, and it’s just the midtown part.  Do you think the actual subway trains are color-coded to match their route?  That would be really helpful for me.  Maybe New York transit can work on that before I get there…

New Year House Swap

I have gotten the biggest kick out of seeing some of the house blocks that the ladies in my ‘Around the World’ quilting bee are making.  They’re fantastic!  So creative and so much detail.  Here’s some examples…

This one is by Tanya. 

This one was done by Flossyblossy.

This is Katy’s.

This one and the next one are by Anita.

So I was thinking a house swap would be really fun.  I don’t have a lot of specifics yet, but I think a whole neighborhood would be neat.  And these should be detailed houses, with neat extras.  I mean, don’t you just love the letters in that little mailbox?  (I like the vague, wonky, picasso-like houses also, but that’s not this swap). Perhaps each person could take a theme, like a house, barn, shop, church, post office, or something you’d find in a neighborhood.  Then make ‘houses’ that matched that theme.  There are lots of neat ideas on Flickr too(I saw a really cool lighthouse).  Maybe someone could do trees, or some other element you find in a neighborhood.  Maybe a park with slides and swings.

I want to keep this swap small.  I feel like everyone will have the energy to put more details into the houses if they don’t have a whole ton to make.  So it’ll probably be more of a wall hanging size than actual quilt size.  Maybe 9 people?  If a lot more people want to do this swap, I could just put people in groups of 9 and have several groups, like Jane’s swaps.  That way lots of people could participate, but then no one would have to make more than 9 blocks.  Everyone would just get their blocks done in a certain timeframe, (3-4 months?) mail them all to me, and then I would  mix them up and mail them back out.

I picture sashing in between that looks like streets.  Gray with a yellow dashed line in the center?  Something that looks like a gravel country road perhaps? 

So my question is, would you be interested in a house swap for sometime after the first of the year, and if so, what suggestions do you have?