Preparing for a storm of my own - quilt blocks for Sandy

We live 7/10th of a mile off the main road, so when it is cold or dark in the mornings, I drive my kids to the school bus stop.  I was unprepared to see frost on my windows today, so, of course, I had to scrape the windows of the car, and we were late and missed the bus.  My bad.  But it is nice to spend the extra time with my kids in the morning every once in a while during the drive to school.  This morning, during a commercial when the news anchor was talking about how cold it got up north overnight and how blankets were handed out Hurricane Sandy victims, I started thinking about this quilt making project again, planning my days so I have time to quilt, quilt, quilt.  But my 7-year-old son's voice pierced through my thoughts and grabbed hold of my heart.

"Mom," he said, "I want to donate my allowance to the people who lost their homes in Hurricane Sandy.  I mean, they lost their HOME, they lost EVERYTHING!"

I couldn't speak for a moment because my throat closed up with tears.  First, because my children are some of the most beautiful, sensitive, imaginative, compassionate people I know.  Every day that we spend together makes me a better person, as I push myself to do my best to deserve the love of such wonderful little people.

But I was also unable to speak because I was offering up a desperate little prayer that he go on thinking that losing your home and your belongings is the absolute worst thing that can happen.  Please God, let him go on unaware of how much worse it would be to lose a loved one.  Please let him not know how much worse it would be to lose hope.

I spent quite a bit of time this weekend responding to offers to help with this project - I am so heartened by the outpouring of support from all over the world!  No matter how much bad there may be in the world, you will never convince me that there isn't much more GOOD out there!

I worked on my disappearing 4-patch blocks, but came up short on my goal of making 24 - I only made it to 17.

First of all, I had to work until 9 PM on Friday night and then again on Saturday until 1 PM.  Plus, I spent most of the weekend with an upset stomach. (NEVER AGAIN will I try the quick soak method of preparing a 15-bean soup; if I don't soak the beans overnight, I'm just not making them.  Enough said.)  I also had a birthday party to go to on Sunday, and wouldn't you know it, I got the time wrong, so we showed up 2 hours early!  Ugh!  Back home we went (half an hour each way!), and then went again at the correct time.

Then, in anticipation of all the blocks I expect to start pouring in, I tidied up a bit in my sewing room, getting some other projects out of the way.  I made my November Let's Bee Together block for Linda:

and I finished quilting my Orange Creamsicle quilt made from upcycled sheets and pillowcases.

The front - the orange was a sheet, the white floral was a pillowcase, both purchased at a thrift store 

The back - was a sheet purchased at a thrift store 

Close up of hand quilting - this is the first time I've marked a motif in a border 

I couldn't make the border fit exactly on the short sides, so I added a butterfly to the middle of each end side 

Nice "crinkle-age" after being washed and dried 

I always see cool photos of binding on edges of folded quilts - why isn't my photo cool like that? 

So, I'm ready for the storm of quilt blocks for Hurricane Sandy relief.  Bring 'em on!  I can't wait to get started making these blocks into quilts.  HUGE thanks to all of you for taking my little idea and running with it!

Can you tell I'm done traveling?

Three posts in three consecutive days?  It is a lot easier to do when I sleep in my own bed at night and actually have time to sit and stitch.  I'm not caught up READING blogs yet, but I'll get there.  If you haven't heard from me in a while, just wait - I just haven't gotten to you yet.

I was asked to come in to teach a karate class yesterday afternoon, and while I was glad to help out, Tuesday is usually my "go straight home after work and don't leave until Wednesday" day.  I was determined to sit outside and stitch on my mini for an hour or so, enjoying the autumn sun and warmth, before heading back to town.  But when I got ready to sew, I discovered that I hadn't brought my mini home with me!  I had taken it to work, thinking I'd stitch a bit at lunch time, but of course, I didn't have the time.  I came back in this morning to find it sitting in my window waiting for me.

Yeah, lots of my kids' handiwork in my office

Not to be thwarted, I pulled out my new border stencil that I just bought in West Virginia last week, and marked the borders of my Orange Creamsicle Quilt.  I'll be honest, I've never marked a border with a stencil before, and I was dreading it.  I usually just do something simple that doesn't require marking, like stitching in the ditch or echo quilting, but this quilt has enough straight lines, I wanted some curves.  I was nervous about making it all fit neatly, but I decided to leave a space in the middle of the top and bottom borders for a butterfly stencil that I got from a friend, and on the long sides, I was able to shrink one of the curves to make the stencil fit, and now that I've marked it, I have to really look to see which one is different.  Not so bad, after all.

Then, as I watched the debate (with my boys, who asked if they could stay up late to watch...not sure where that came from, but OK), I quilted.  I try to always quilt when I am watching politics.  I need something to help relax me because the spin and the half-truths and the accusations and the pandering really stress me out.  Bah!

No political talk on here today.  Instead, I'll leave you with a photo I took yesterday afternoon.  I was looking for Jason to remind him to get started on his homework, but he had already started.  In a tree.  I LOVE MY KIDS!

Wild and wonderful! (giveaway)

I am on the road...

AGAIN!

But it is my last trip of the fall, and one of my favorites - Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.  The foliage in the mountains this time of year is breathtaking, the people are friendly, the air is crisp and clean - it is a nice trip.  Plus, there are lots of QUILT SHOPS on my driving routes!

I stopped at one today, and there was a sale table with $4/yard fabric.  I snapped up two that caught my eye, as well as a baggie of orange and yellow solid scraps that I thought went well with one of the prints plus a quilting stencil for quilt borders.

I think this fabric will end up being an apron and matching potholders as a Christmas gift.

Not sure what I'm going to do with this fabric yet.

Gotta support the LQS, even if it isn't MY Local Quilt Shop!

And a blog reader bought one of my fabric composition books from my ETSY shop today.  THANK YOU!

To celebrate the ETSY sale and my sale purchases, I'm going to give away half a yard of each of these fabrics, plus some of whatever I pick up from tomorrow's quilt shop stop (yeah, I plan a quilt shop stop every day of my driving trips).

To get your name in the drawing, how about you leave a comment with a suggestion for what I can be for Halloween this year.  In recent years, I have been a nun,

Halloween 2011

a cowgirl bandit,

Halloween 2009

a witch,

Halloween 2008

a basketball player and Pocahontas.  I'm looking for ideas of something easy to throw together on a budget (my disposable income goes towards FABRIC, not costumes!).  I'll draw a winner on Monday morning, October 15.

In the meantime, I have finished putting the binding on my Orange Creamsicle quilt, and now just need to finish quilting the border.

Lousy cell phone photo, so you can't see the quilting, but you can see that there is a pale yellow binding on it.

One good thing about road trips - I get lots of hand sewing done in my hotel rooms in the evening.

What's a gal to do?

I've covered a lot of ground since my last post.  I flew to Guayaquil, Ecuador by way of Panama, spent two nights there, and now I'm in Quito.  I spent Sunday in Guayaquil, and of course, schools are closed on Sunday, so I had a ME day. 

• I slept in. (aaaahhhhh!)
• I worked out in the gym.  (ugh!)
• I ate 4 pieces of bacon at breakfast. (yum!!!)
• I visited a museum. (and just my luck, free on Sundays!)
• I took a river cruise on a pirate ship. (I'm not even joking)
• I visited the Mercado Artesenal. (gotta get trinkets for the people back home, you know)
• I climbed 444 stairs to the top of a neat neighborhood built on a hill, Las Penas. (pretend there's a tilde over the n)
• I had dinner with a friend who was stranded in Guayaquil after a cancelled flight (and is STILL stranded, poor thing!)
• And I quilted. (of course, I could have just spent the entire day quilting, and it would have been a GOOD day)

What a day!  Here are some photos:





There was a rail fence quilt in the museum!!!



 

Close up so you can read it - if you read spanish, that is.

Isn't this tree awesome?  I wanted to climb it, but thought that might really mark me as a tourist...

That's A LOT of steps!  Going up wasn't so bad, but coming down, I thought my legs were going to give out!

The view from the top of Las Penas, looking out over the river (and prepared to shoot canonballs at pirates, is my guess)

Wait!  Is that a pirate right there?

I can't help but buy earrings.  This is just the start - I'm sure I'll have 10 new pair before my trip is done.

And the women in my office always seem to like my bag that I bought in Ecuador two years ago, so I bought some more, in case anyone wants one.

Then, after a day of school visits, I hopped a plane here to Quito.  Lovely upgrade in the room, including access to the Executive Lounge (my second hotel in a row with FREE FOOD!  I'm so spoiled!  Loyalty has its privileges!).  I was tired and feeling grimy.  There was a plush robe, a tub over two feet deep, Sandalwood Bath Salts, and a solicitous young woman delivered a rose to my door while she asked if everything was to my likely.  What's a gal to do, but settle in for a SOAK!

JW Marriott in Quito - I highly recommend it if you are ever here.  They know how to treat a gal like a queen!

Three more days of school visits, and then I get to go home.  Since I've been to Quito about 7 years running now, I'm not feeling too much pressure to go out and explore, although I'm sure I'll find something new to do.  I'm hoping to get most, if not all of the white quilted in the Scrappy String Star quilt.  And with all the time I'll have in the plane and in airports flying home on Thursday night/Friday morning, I'm pretty sure I'm going to finish quilting the Orange Creamsicle quilt on this trip, too.  Woo hoo!

The "vintage" pillowcases and sheets in this quilt are SO SOFT!

Actually, how can you tell if a sheet or pillowcase is vintage, do you know?  Is there an "age limit" for vintage?  Or are we just saying "used"?

Quilting on the road

I may get discouraged by how long it takes me to quilt something by hand, but I am always so thankful that I am a handquilter when I travel and have something to work on.  On this two week trip (Atlanta to San Jose, Costa Rica to Guayaquil, Ecuador to Quito, Ecuador), I actually brought two quilts to work on: my Orange Creamsicle quilt to quilt in airports and on the plane (since the needles are use are so tiny), and my Scrappy Strings Star quilt to sleep under as I work on it.  I am using lots of different colored embroidery floss to quilt it, so I am using embroidery needles, and they, of course, are too big and dangerous to bring on airplanes, so that quilt lives in my checked luggage.


Here's a peek at my hotel room with my quilts out, helping it seem more like home.

view one from my balcony

view two from my balcony

Right now I am in the airport in San Jose, Costa Rica after spending 4 days here visiting high schools and making new friends.  It turns out that my sister's sister-in-law used to live here and still has friends here, so she connected me with them.  I actually had a slumber party in my hotel room last night with one of them - what fun!  We stayed up super late talking, but today is just a travel day for me, so it is OK if I am tired.

And I've got a question for you - on my scrappy string star quilt, I'm not sure what I want to do in my big white squares, continue making concentric squares, or quilt some other type of design in the center of the 4 concentric squares that are already there?  You can see what I've got so far.  In the triangles, since they are smaller, that will just be 3 concentric triangles in there.  Ideas, anyone?

Anyone who leaves an opinion will be entered into a drawing for some goodies from my travels.  I can't guarantee that they'll include anything quilting related, but I can guarantee that it will include at least some chocolate covered coffee beans - YUMMY!!!

I'll holler at you again from Ecuador.  Sew some for me, y'all!

Did someone say BERMUDA??

I should be up front with everyone here in my office today - I am not going to be able to focus!  This is my last day in the office before a week's vacation in BERMUDA with the family!  I've never been - does anyone who has been to Bermuda have advice or "can't miss" recommendations for us?

In addition to exploring (by bicycle?  Is it one of those places where we can all rent bikes and get along just fine for the week?  I hope so!), I will be relaxing with some new quilt fiction that I ordered just in time for this trip,

and with some hand quilting.  I was hoping to have my String Star Bee quilt completely assembled and ready to quilt for this trip, but so far, I only have 2 rows together.  Last night I sandwiched my Orange Creamsicle quilt

Remember this one, made from vintage linens?

with a vintage sheet backing.  It is relatively small, lap sized, so will be a good one to work on while traveling.

Last night, I also finished the quilting on my little pink and green doll/baby quilt.  I'll definitely do the big stitch with embroidery floss quilting again - it was fun and quick.  The binding is sewn onto the front, and now I just need to hand stitch it down on the back and it'll be completely done.  I'll post a full picture when that is done, but here is what I did with the big white spaces on all four sides of the quilt

No flash so that there wouldn't be a glare and you could actually see the quilting.

and for the little white triangles in the borders, lots and lots of french knots.

OK, taking decent photos of quilts is HARD!

Even though I haven't washed it yet, it already has that crinkly look that I love!

I wish this were bigger to I could use it myself!

So, I'm not sure what my internet connectivity will be while I'm abroad - you may not hear from me a while.  But rest assured, I'll be doing JUST FINE!

Got my mojo back!

I was determined to sew SOMETHING today, so I started with something small.  I had seen a tutorial for making headbands from old t-shirts, and I have some old t-shirts lying around as well as unruly hair, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Quick, easy and I LOVE my new headband!!!  It is the most comfortable headband I own.

Then I decided to finish the Orange Creamsicle top once and for all.  A couple borders and it was done.  What took me so long?

Then it was time to drop the kids off at karate and head over to the quilt guild meeting and trunk show. Our presenter, Kevin Womack, has been quilting since the 80s, and nowadays does a lot of fabric dyeing. Here are some quilts he made with his own dyed fabric (warning - awful lighting!).

 
 

Tomorrow, he's doing a workshop with the guild making these:

Unfortunately, I can't go because I have basketball games to go to, but I might try something like that on my own one of these days.
All in all, it was a good day!

Orange Creamsicle Dreams

Do you ever have a string of failures so long that you think you should be banished from the sewing room forever?  That was me this weekend.  And it's my own fault.  This Saturday was our guild Christmas party, and I wasn't prepared with my gift to swap.  It was supposed to be small, something valued at $10 or less.  On Friday night, I wrapped 4 Urban Circus scraps (each less than a fat quarter but more than a fat eighth) together with a ribbon to start things off, but I wanted to add more to my gift.  I should make something, right?  I trotted down to the sewing room with my iPad and all the inspiration that can be found on the World Wide Web.

First, I tried some fabric origami to make an ornament - FAIL!

photo from http://zencrafting.blogspot.com/2008/12/fabric-origami-star-ornament.html

Then I tried to make a hexagon needle holder - FAIL!

(photo from http://mythreesonsknit.blogspot.com/2010/05/hexagon-needle-book-tutorial_1452.html)

OK, how about my (new) old standby, travel tissue cover - FAIL!

(How did I fail with this when I've already made so many and they are SO EASY, you ask?  I got carried away boxing the corners and made them into tall, narrow fabric containers.  They are still cute, but there is no way tissues will fit in there!)

I'm getting frustrated now - how about one of those cute little fabric tote bags that I made a couple Valentine's Days ago?

Where did I find that tutorial online? - - - fast forward a couple of HOURS, and I STILL couldn't find the tutorial.  Then, in a belated stroke of sanity, I remembered that they were called "baskets" not "totes" and I found the tutorial first try!  By now, however, it is so late that I can't see straight and would not be safe with sharp instruments.  Off to bed and I'll try again in the morning.

Saturday morning rolls around and I head down to whip up one of those little baskets.  An hour should be enough time, right?  Well, it SHOULD have been, but it turns out that 1) I am not looking at the same tutorial as before - this basket is different and bigger, but OK, I'll go with it, but then 2) I sewed the darned thing inside out and had to haul out the seam ripper for a workout.  By this time, the meeting is starting without me, so I gave up.  :(

On Sunday, thinking that maybe I've got the gremlins out of my system, I ventured down to the sewing room again.  I fixed the basket.  OK, this is good.  I made two travel tissue covers.  All right, maybe my sewing mojo is back.  But did I contine to ease my way into things?  Heck no!  I chose CURVES!!!

Truth is, it worked out.  While waiting for our take-out pizza to be ready, the kids and I wandered around Goodwill, where I found a twin flat sheet the color of an Orange Creamsicle that I was inexplicably drawn to.  What on earth could I make with that?  But somehow, it landed in my basket, along with a king sized flowered pillowcase.

A few hours later, after the pizza was gone and the kids were happily ensconced with a Christmas movie they've never seen before, I started sewing some Drunkard's Path blocks, no pin style.  And they worked!  Check out what I have so far:

(OK, the colors are off because it was midnight, but you get the idea)

I have no idea what I will do with it, or who would want an upcycled creamsicle-colored quilt, but the sense of accomplishment I got from sewing something without mistakes and for a whopping total of $2.50 for the materials, it was definitely worth making.  I stopped when I realized that I should have added the alternating strip of 2" squares to the other two sides before adding the outer border - I'll figure that out tonight.  But I tell you, last night I dreamed of Orange Creamsicles, which I haven't even seen since I was a kid. 




Yummmmm!