Winning attitude

I've had to check my attitude a bit this past week.  Things haven't quite gone according to plan.  But I'm proud of myself for seeking and latching onto that ever-present silver lining.

First, lots of great ideas for names for the Charm Quilt.  The Random Number Generator selected commenter #11, Colorslut, as the winner of the 25 Charm Squares from me, which will be going out in the mail soon.

But before the name could be decided, there was a minor incident.  You see, my washer is on the blink again, so I brought the quilt to town with me to wash at the laundrymat along with the rest of my laundry.  I thought I'd be fine since I always pre-wash my fabrics, but I brought a couple of Shout Color Catchers to throw in, just in case.  Of course, I forgot that not all the  Charm Squares came from my stash, so some of them were from fabric that had never been washed.  And wouldn't you know it, some of the fabrics ran.  Not a lot, just enough to annoy me, and here I was, at a laundrymat half an hour from my home and a tight schedule and no extra color catchers, etc.  I had no choice but to take the quilt home with me.

I did a quick search online before leaving town, though, to see if there was something I should buy and soak the quilt in to fix the problem before drying the quilt.  Someone mentioned RIT Color Remover.  OK, I know where to find that, so I picked it up on my way home.  I put the quilt in some water to soak with this Color Remover, sure that soon my quilt would be back to its former glory and all clean and crinkly to boot.

WRONG!

Here's the before picture:

Here's the after picture:

I didn't cry.  I didn't cuss.  I didn't vomit, even though I felt a bit ill when I saw just how many COLORS had been REMOVED from my newly completed quilt and how unevenly they were removed.  Instead, I reassured myself that at least now, I would get to keep a quilt that I had made, since there was no way I was going to give something this UGLY to someone else.  My hubby made a great point - that it could be my home theater cuddle quilt since it is so dark down there that no one would be able to see it.  Now, I'm just kinda wishing I had ruined a larger quilt...but not really.

So now, I'm having no problems coming up with names for this puppy...

All Washed Up

 Faded Dreams

 Butt Ugly

I could go on and on...

Live and learn, right?  Any of you have some TRIED AND TRUE methods to share with me to get just a tiny bit of color running out of a quilt top without going all Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor from Home Improvement on it like I did?

The week wasn't all ugly.  I took Friday off to attend the first day of our annual Guild Quilt Retreat.  My checkboard flimsy

turned into this:

I was surprised at how quickly it went together, but also at how much the top shrank down.  What started out at 40.5" x 36" is now 22" X 25".  There was quite a bit of leftover fabric that COULD have been waste, but not for this Bonnie Hunter protoge!  I cut down what I could to make a pieced border (which I hope to get on there tonight), and the rest went into my 1.5" squares tin.  And being famous for being a scrap collector, many of my fellow retreat-ers gave me their leftovers as well.  I was able to add lots of variety to my 1.5", 2" and 2.5" squares tins.  And I'm happy to say I got it all trimmed up while I was there, so no scraps that still needed cutting came home with me.

Saturday was another "look for the silver lining" day.  I was invited to be a vendor and demonstrator at the Old Middlebrook Village Day in a nearby town.  It is an old-timey event with live music, food, and crafters.  I went last year, too, and it was lots of fun for not just me, but my kids, too.  Wouldn't you know it - it rained ALL DAY LONG!  A few hardy souls came out, but mostly it was just us vendors huddling under our tents, trying to stay warm and dry.  I'm so glad I was a hand-quilting demonstrator - not only did my quilt keep me warm throughout the day, but I also was able to make some progress quilting my Pick and Choose quilt.  Plus, I did sell a couple of things, enough to buy the kids and myself lunch and make a couple purchases from other vendors.  So, I spent a day sewing while my children cavorted about having a ball, and I made enough to break even on the day.  That's not all bad, right?

I will say that yesterday I did nothing except eat, nap and read.  After all the disappointment of the week, I needed some time to recharge my batteries so I could come to work with a winning attitude today.

Gimme a D!

D!

Gimme an O!

O!

Gimme an N!

N!

Gimme an E!

E!

What's that spell???

DONE!

Completed charm quilt - lap/baby size - 42.5"x47.5"

It needs a name besides Charm Quilt.  Got any ideas?  Leave a name suggestion in a comment and I'll draw a random winner on Sunday, May 6 to receive twenty-five different 5" charm squares from me, either all in one color family or assorted, your choice.  I used 60 different ones in this quilt, and I have MANY MORE where they came from.

Aaahhhh!  It feels so good to FINISH something!

(And yes, I was a cheerleader in the 80s.  And a spelling bee champ.)

April Bee Block and balance

It is easy making a pretty block when you start with pretty fabrics.  This block will go out in tomorrow's mail to Melinda in our Let's Bee Together quilt bee.

April Bee Block for Let's Bee Together

What isn't easy is finding balance between actual quilting and blogging.  I get so much inspiration and sense of community from blogging, but once I get online, I find it hard to get off again to actually sew!  How do YOU find the right balance?  Do you time yourself?  Only get online at certain times of day? I'm open to suggestions.

Auction and Etsy

There was a local auction today.  I missed most of it because I had to work all morning, but I did manage to get there for the last hour or so.  I had my kids and one of their friends with me, and I left them on the playground outside while I went in to see what was left.  I saw a box of linens (man, am I ever predictable!), so I got a number and took a seat.  It didn't take long for that lot to come up, and I won the bid.  All the vintage sheets quilts out there have me wanting to make one for myself, and there were 3 good sheets in there to add to my growing stash of sheets

along with some more pillowcases crying out to be made into shopping totes or aprons or something.

The rest of the linens didn't excite me, so they were dropped off at Goodwill on the way home.  Along with my other purchase...

When my kids came in to the auction room from outside, I waved at them so they would come over to me, forgetting at that instant where I was.  "SOLD!  To number...ma'am?  What's your number?"

CRAP!  In waving to my kids, I accidentally bought something!  Luckily, "my bid" was only $5.  It turns out, I bought a box of records.  Lovely.  I don't even have a record player.  Straight to Goodwill they went.

I also bought two old chairs with seats that are falling apart.  You know those chairs where the seat is made with neckties?

Why is this sideways??? Image borrowed from http://luciav.tripod.com/robyn/chairsforsale2.htm

I want to try that.  So I bought these two sad looking chairs.  Let this serve as the BEFORE picture.  Hopefully there will be an AFTER picture one of these days, although I know better than to give myself a goal completion date which I will fail to meet and then feel like a slacker loser.

So that's the auction - on to Etsy.  Some of my upcycled aprons have been selling, so I made some more to post.  First, why should the kids have all the fun with the denim aprons?  I made an adult sized one, but instead of making all that binding for the edges, I sewed one long 138" tie, fed it through channels sewn up each side of the torso, and then pinked the rest of the edges for a ragged edge look.  Two roomy, denim lined pockets made from the same pillowcase from which I made the ties, and I was done.  I love it!  Definitely gonna make more like this!

And that orange pillowcase still had more to give, so I paired it with a big floral pillowcase and made yet another half apron.  I was sure to make the pocket big enough to be functional this time, instead of just decorative.  I love orange - it makes me happy!

Enough with the little projects - I want to finish a quilt!  Time to pick up the needle and find a good movie on TV.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, y'all!

So stinkin' cute!

Remember the child-sized denim apron I made a while back?

My sister wanted it for her son, one of the cutest creatures on God's Green Earth.

But the apron is sized for kiddos about 8 - 12 years old, and he's just about to turn two.  You know what I had to do, right?  Make a toddler-sized one!

I thought I loved the first apron, but this one is my new favorite - it's just so stinkin' cute!  Stripes are FUN!

I'm sending it off tomorrow - hopefully I'll have a photo of him wearing it to share in the next week or so.

My leaders and enders work for this project was two of these blocks.

That brings my total of these blocks up to 17.  Sounds good, until you realize they are made with 1.5" squares and measure a mere 6" finished.  Gonna take many more than 17 blocks to make a serviceable quilt.

That's it for today.  I'm not going to mention the 294.75 hours I put in at work over the last three days...

I'd say "Thank God it is almost the weekend," but I have to work on Saturday, too. 

Boo hiss.

All prepped and ready to go!

This is a high stress week at work.  We have our Accepted Students' event on Wednesday, and since there are many students we've admitted who can't afford to get here to see the school on their own, I've been playing travel agent to bring about 40 families from around the country to campus at our expense.  Which would be fine if the blasted kids wouldn't keep changing their minds and their plans!  Every time I think I have everything done, I get an email or a phone call that throws my best-laid-plans right out the window.

This kind of stress calls for therapy.  Sewing therapy.  Our quilt guild's annual retreat is coming up May 4 and 5, and we will be making quilts with the Lil Twister tool.  You know, this kind of quilt:

Photo borrowed from http://www.quilters-connection.com/classes.asp

My cousin will be having his first baby in July - this seems like a perfect way to knock out a quilt for the newest member of the family.

Is it true for you, too, that one of the hardest part of making a quilt is fabric selection?  I thought I'd make it easy by using some of the Good Fortune charms that I won from Linda a while back.  After all, Good Fortune is a great name for a baby quilt!  But I only really wanted the oranges and the greens and a touch of light blue.  Once I took out the purples and dark blues and pinks and grays from the Charm pack, I didn't have enough.  Into the stash I went, and found a darker orange and a darker green to sprinkle in there for POP.  And there was one orange piece from a City Weekend Charm Pack that seemed to go well, too, so I threw it in there.  And then, of course, I stalled out at border time.  It's pretty scrappy looking, which means I'll probably love the end result, but will my cousin?

Back to the drawing board.  I decided on a safer alternative for the baby - perhaps I'll make that other version for myself!  I alternated all of those purples and blues from the Good Fortune charm pack with a white.

There are some really fun fabrics in here.  Two of my favorites are:



Anyway, I am super impressed with myself that I am ready for the retreat nearly two weeks early!  Now, I just need to get ready to face the rest of this week at work.  If you don't hear from me, send survival thoughts my way.

Scraps - using up the uglies & acquiring more!

When I haven't posted for a while, I feel so overwhelmed when I DO sit down to post - where do I start?

Sat, April 14 - I went to a quilt guild meeting.  Beyond loving the fellowship with other quilters and the programs that we have, I love the FREEBIE table!  This month I picked up some Ghastlies fabric,

as well as two magazines to read on the plane to Atlanta that afternoon.  In one magazine, I came across directions to make a rag rug using a Toothbrush Needle.  Intrigued, I read that pattern prior to leaving for the airport.  Not only did I have that trip to Atlanta, but in the next six weeks, I am also presenting at conferences at Princeton, Stanford and Nortwestern, so I have travel coming up for which I'd love some handwork.  We know that hand quilting on the plane is hit or miss - sometimes they steal my needles and pins!  The toothbrush needle, however, is plastic and blunt - I quickly scrounged up some ugly material to take with me and vowed to get started on learning this right away.

Sun, April 15 - I spent Saturday night with my quilting buddy, Nancy.  When she asked what I had brought with me to work on for that trip (she knows me so well!), I showed her the article for the rag rug.  It turns out, she had a Toothbrush Needle to loan me while I order one for myself - obviously, this project is meant to be!

Mon, April 16 - I spent Sunday and Monday night with another Atanta area buddy.  After attending two work events on Sunday afternoon and evening, I hadn't planned anything for myself on Monday.  We dropped her kids off at school, hiked up Kennesaw Mountain, had a delicious brunch at a French bakery/bistro, and then visited TWO quilt shops!  She's not even a quilter!  What a good friend! 

This was my first visit to Tiny Stitches in Marietta.  I picked up half a yard of this coffee print

Beware - washed out colors from phone camera

to hopefully add to this stitchery I did this winter.

Then, it was off to Little Quilts, a shop I remembered from last year because of their "fill a baggie with scraps for $5" bin.  Tiny Stitches has that, too, but their scraps were limited in variety and really small.  Little Quilts' bin, however, is big and diverse and I just wanted to pour it over my head and roll around in all the scrappy goodness!  So, of course, I filled a baggie.  When I got back to my friend's house, not only did I photograph it all, but I laid it out on top of my half yard from the other shop to see how much scrap yardage I got for my $5.  Any guesses?

Multiple pieces of each of these

twelve bird panels total

Blues!

I can't wait to do something really fun with these fabrics!

Greens!

Random scraps

Over 2 yards worth!!!  You know how Bonnie Hunter, when discussing her scrap user's system, says that scraps are worth just as much per yard as your yardage?  What a bargain I got!

Tue, April 17 - After attending water aerobics with my girlfriend (which is a killer workout, by the way!  I used muscles that I'd never noticed before!), I presented a workshop to some faculty at an Atlanta high school, ate some delicious Thai food, and headed to the airport, determined to figure out how to make this rag rug.  During my down time, I had already prepared all the strips of fabric and watched some videos online, so I was ready to go.

Or so I thought.  I couldn't figure it out for the life of me!  I must have started and then started over TEN times in Atlanta, and then in Charlotte during my layover.  Just before we boarded in Charlotte, it clicked.  It actually isn't hard at all!  I'm glad I stuck with it, because I was mightily frustrated for a while there, but this truly is a perfect travel project!

Wed, April 18 - Going back to work after nearly a week away stinks.  Need I say more?  When I got home from work, I went to bed.

Thu, April 19 - work, took a karate class, taught a karate class, attended a Cub Scout committee meeting, went to bed exhausted

Fri, April 20 - work, put some finishing touches on the chicken tractor (yes - I am STILL working on that; all that remains is attaching the hardware cloth and getting the chickens), volunteered at the Drive-In Movies, went to bed exhausted

Sat, April 21 - cussed at the alarm clock when it rang, got up and made the kids a hot breakfast before the District Pinewood Derby (where my kids came in 17th and 18th out of 18 cars.  They are also the only two kids who built the cars themselves, rather  than assisting their dad with car construction.  I'm proud of them, but they were pretty bummed.).  Shopped for groceries, stopped at the Post Office to send out some squishy love to my mom, my sisters, and one special, hilarious quilting woman in southern Australia who will remain unnamed but most of you probably know who she is, and stopped at the Goodwill to check for bedsheets that I could use in rag rug construction (yeah, I know the whole point was to use up the uglies in my stash, but I couldn't resist).  Instead of bedsheets, I scored some FABRIC - 3.5 yards of the pink and 4.33 yards of the floral. 

I've already picked out an ugly from my stash to pair with the pink for a rag rug, and the floral will likely end up the backing of some scrappy quilt.  Oh, and each piece of fabric was $1.00!

I spent the afternoon alternately eating and working on my rag rag.  While sitting at my little iron bistro set on my front porch, I realized that these round rugs would actually be great seat "cushions" for those bistro chairs; the current seat "cushions" have no cushion left in them and I have been unable to locate the right size cushions anywhere.  Voila!

I'm going to try to attach an elasticized sleeve to the back to keep them in place.  Now to make another one!

Sun, April 22 - I've got cub scouts this afternoon, our last Den Meeting of the year, but other than that, there is nothing that I HAVE to do.  So instead, I'm doing what I WANT to do - read, blog, nap.  A lovely Sunday.  I hope your Sunday is lovely, too!