Another milestone!

I haven't done much sewing this week because I've been focused on preparing for my Advanced Pre-Black Belt test. After suffering that torn calf muscle 5 weeks ago, I've been worried about not being ready, as I haven't gone to class as often, and when I did go to class, I avoided doing certain moves in order to let the injury heal. The test was last night, and I am happy to report that I DID IT!!!

(Yes, I'm short. Just 5 feet tall. If I stand up REALLY straight.)

This belt means more to me than any other because I had to work harder to get it (never mind that the test itself was so much longer). Last night I felt a nauseating mix of relief/pride/exhaustion/euphoria. Today, only the euphoria remains.

Wanna see me break some boards?

It's a short video, just 41 seconds. These are actually breakable boards (think of all the lumber we'd go through if we used actual boards every time!), but the force required to break them is the same as a regular 2.25 inch (5.715 cm) pine board (over 200 lbs of force if I remember correctly). For our black belt test, we will be using real boards.

So now that the stress of the test is over, back to sewing! I will be doing lots of hand quilting on the Pick and Choose quilt in the coming week, but I also want to make an iPad cover!!! Perhaps this one from One Shabby Chick:


Or perhaps this one from My Patchwork:

I love her humor on this one with the PEAR instead of the APPLE:

And this one from Smashed Peas and Carrots is so cute!

But don't be surprised if the case I make is this lovely envelope one from Dixie Mango:

Hmmm...I may have to make more than one, whaddaya think?

Something for you (Debbie) and something for ME!

The Random Number Generator choose comment #10 from the 17 comments on my Wanna Win the Traveling Stash post - Debbie from North Carolina, send me your address and I'll do my best to cram everything into a box to send your way this week. Thanks for playing along, everyone!

Speaking of playing, yesterday the family traveled to the big city to make a purchase - and iPad2. I see lots of great times in my future with this little gadget. I've already bookmarked some tutorials to try, and how easy it will be to bring that down into my sewing room to follow the tutorial instead of printing out the directions. Plus, when I just have 5 minutes to spare, I can easily be online in moments and check someone's blog, rather than waste those 5 minutes waiting for my desktop to boot up. I LOVE IT!!

Unfortunately, so does my 8-year-old son, so he's been on it much more than me.


That's OK, though, because I'm supposed to be sewing, right? I finished my first block on the Pick and Choose quilt...I think. (click on the quilt photos to see them larger and in more detail)

As I mentioned before, I didn't have a plan before I started hand quilting this, just sat down with a needle to see where it would take me. It was terribly angular, so the quarter circle curves in the neutral triangles are my attempt to balance it out a bit. Opinions, anyone? Is it quilted enough, or does it need more? One thing I considered was making the curve a double line, but is that overkill or unnecessary? I'm trying to keep in mind that there are 24 more blocks, sashing and a border to quilt, so I don't want to do more than I'll want to do 24 more times over.

Here's the back.

See how many of the lines just stop? Is that problematic? Should I connect those interior points?

I think I'm going to sit on this before I decide if I need more quilting in each block, but feel free to chime in!

DIRT!!!

Another night with not a stitch of sewing done...pooh! But the good news is that my end-of-the-year office party went well at my house last night - about 30 people, lots of good food, Air Hockey, Bananagrams, and a new game that I've never played but will definitely buy now, SmartMouth.

Once all my guests left, I "remembered" that I had 3 overnight guests - my good friend (and co-Den Leader for Cub Scouts) had a birthday yesterday, so I started the day by taking her some homemade Apple Crisp and ended the day by picking her 3 kids up from school and bringing them home with me to spend the night with us. They are great kids, so it is a pleasure to have them stay over, but last night, when the last guest left and I called the kids in to get ready for bed, look what I saw:

(they are all saying, "We're filthy!" except for Donald who is mad at me because I said he has to take a shower)

They had been making "adobe" to patch bricks. Oh, my! My sparkly clean pre-company bathrooms were completely transformed as we scrubbed the dirt away. And then, little did I know, there was the post-shower hair de-tangling routine for the girls. Holy macaroni! If I had girls, they'd be bald-headed because that was an ordeal! But, they all went to sleep very dutifully after story time, and I was asleep not long after.

Tonight, though, I'M SEWING!!! After school and a doctor's appointment, we are going to the pool to cool down (and soak off any dirt we may have missed last night!), and then I'm going home and sitting down and that's IT! After all the house cleaning this week in preparation for this gathering, my house is both cleaner and tidier than it has been in a long while, so I will feel no guilt about sitting on my behind for a few hours. Tomorrow, hand quilting photos of the Pick and Choose quilt, I promise! There will also be a new recipient for THE TRAVELING STASH. If you haven't put your name in the hat yet, there is still time!

Hot Stuff!

June's materials for the Bee that I belong to arrived on Monday - chili pepper fabrics!

We could make any block we wanted but had to include some white fabric signed with our name and location. I wanted to highlight some of the larger individual peppers, so I came up with this log cabin configuration.

I'm hosting the end-of-the-year gathering for my office at my house tomorrow, so I'm spending much more time tidying up than sewing, but I did get started hand quilting the Pick and Choose quilt. I had no real idea how I wanted to quilt it, and was poring over books and still coming up with nothing, so finally I just hooped it, put it on my lap, and started stitching. I think I like what I'm doing, but I'll reserve judgement until I put a few more stitches in tonight before bed. I promise photos tomorrow, but in the meantime, be sure to comment on my last post if you want to be included in THE TRAVELING STASH drawing on Friday evening.

Wanna win THE TRAVELING STASH???

On Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day, I won THE TRAVELING STASH and it arrived yesterday. It is a USPS Large Flat Rate box that is making its way from home to home, delivering smiles and picking up new passengers along the way.

Here's how it works: when you receive the box, you take out what you want, put in some of your own stash that you are willing to part with, and send it on its way to another home. Take a peek at all the photos below, and if you want a chance to win THE TRAVELING STASH, simply leave a comment below with your STATE. On Friday, June 10, I'll pick a winner around dinnertime, and get the box out over the weekend or on Monday, depending on when I receive the winner's address. (Sorry, only open to those living in the USA - the box costs $14.95 to ship in the US, but $35.50 to Canada/Mexico and $58.50 everywhere else, and I'm not made of money.)

Here's what I took out yesterday for myself:
Cute little panels of quilt-y sayings


An assortment of pins, two rolls of giant white RicRac, some red bias binding, some COFFEE iron on transfers, a BOM pattern

Two yellow prints on a stiff canvas-like materials (I see a BAG in my future!)


Assorted fabric and Joann's FQs


I added the following to the box:
3 Machine applique patterns and 2 simple, little wall hanging patterns

2 quilting stencils and a Triangle square up ruler (I love this ruler, but I found that I had two of them)

2 books, 1 felted wool flower sampler pattern, harvest cross stitch pattern, folksy christmas items patterns

Stack of FLANNEL Strawberry Shortcake squares and scraps leftover from a quilt I made (I'm guessing the squares are somewhere between 8 and 10" - I'm blogging from work so can't measure them)

5 of my many blue Robert Kaufman Kona Solids FQs (I still haven't used ANY of them, so I guess I should start sharing the wealth)

Some scraps of my many novelty prints

1 yard of this Joel Dewberry (if I remember correctly) pink plaid-ish fabric plus a scrap of this black zigzag fabric, neither of which I can ever figure out how to use in a quilt

And here's what is left in the box from before:
A stack of PSALMS panels


Assorted size (and quality) fabric


A hand quilted block, ready to be made into a pillow or something


Debbie Mumm "Creative Woman" panel and scrap of coordinating fabric


Christmas items to sew - a Santa apron, a snowman Advent Calendar and Poinsetta placemats


Super cute coordinated bright florals - I almost grabbed this, but I know I won't use it anytime soon...


18 Cheep Talk 2.5" strips, assorted Jo-Ann's fat quarters and other fabric


Many patterns including Fig Tree Quilts and Green Fairy Quilts


Cute embroidered bunny cube, some orange-ish bias tape and some blue lace stuff, thick cream lace, pom poms


Two gray machine embroidered dogs

The box is WAY too full to close right now, gonna have to try some creative packing techniques! (C'mere, son! Sit here for a minute, won't ya?)

The problem with puttering

I putter. I start this, get distracted, start that, take a quick break, see something else that needs doing, and so on and so on. This happens around the house all the time. Yesterday, I got a lot done - weeding, mulching, purging clothes we don't wear/fit anymore, purging kitchen items to get rid of, sweeping - but I didn't FINISH anything.

The same is true in the sewing room, but for the month of June, I am committed to finishing some things. I've joined up with Rubyslipperz (see the button on my sidebar?) to get some things done in June. Each finish gives me another chance to win her giveaway, but even if I don't win, at least I'll have accomplished something. I hope to:

finish the ELLA quilt for my high school friend

get caught up on the Birdie BOM - I still haven't done May or June

put a sleeve on my Great Great Grandmother's quilt - this is my entry for the quilt show at the county fair this July and it needs a sleeve

and make a couple covered dish/casserole carriers for some friends from a pattern I found in a magazine.

Last night, I actually did finish the quilting items on my to-do list for the weekend. The first was to finish the April Birdie BOM - this one is one of my favorite blocks so far, so simple. I left off the Easter eggs that were sprinkled around on the block to simplify things:

The second item on the weekend to-do list was to sandwich the Pick and Choose quilt that I sold at the Old Middlebrook Village Day last month which needs to be hand quilted this summer. I've been looking forward to the quilting, but I can't stand basting! And ironing all of the backing was misery, even with my BIG ironing board. But, it is done and in a hoop and ready for me to put some stitches in every day (that's the plan, anyway):

Of course, first, I need to come up with a plan for my quilting...

Pindrop Block - my first tutorial!

While my Bee Block for Kate this month was born out of my inability to calculate yardage needed for a block and my aversion to wasting any scrap of fabric, I fell in love with the block I created.

Perhaps this block isn't my creation. Perhaps it has a name and a pattern and all that already, but until I learn differently, I'm claiming it as my own and naming it the Pindrop block because of the pinwheel combined with what look to me like gumdrops. (I know in reality, they look more like diamonds than gumdrops, but I have a MAJOR sweet tooth and we haven't had a single sweet thing in my house for eons and I DREAM about candy...)

Anyway, since some of you liked my block and one person even asked for a tutorial, and because I wanted to make it again ON PURPOSE this time, I rushed down to the sewing room with my camera as soon as my kids were tucked in to recreate the block and document the process.

Um, wow! It sure does take a lot longer to make a block when you are stopping to take photos and write directions every step of the way. And getting all those photos online in the correct order is a form of TORTURE, but it's worth it. I love my new Pindrop block even more than my first! You know me, scrappiness makes my heart SING!


Keep reading if you want to see how I did it. If you'd rather watch paint dry or clip your lawn with fingernail clippers, I understand, and I won't take it personally.

Pindrop Block - 12.5" unfinished

Fabric requirements:
Pinwheel and gumdrop fabric - 1/8 yd (or Fat Eighth) of one fabric OR four 3.5"x6.5" scraps
Background fabric - 1/4 yd (or Fat Quarter)

Cutting instructions:
Pinwheel and gumdrop fabric - 3.5" x 6.5" rectangle (x4)
Background fabric - 3.5" square (x8), 2.5" square (x8), 2" x 6.5" rectangle (x4)

(Here we have the 2X6 rectangles, the 3.5" squares and the 3.5X6.5" rectangles. Hmmm, something's missing...Oh, yeah, those 2.5" squares. Off to a pretty inauspicious start, forgetting things already! Here they are below.)


It is hard to tell in the photos, but I have drawn a diagonal across the back of each of my 2.5" and 3.5" background squares. This isn't necessary, but just like my mind wanders, so does my line of stitches, so I nearly always draw lines to keep me on track. OK, let's get going!

Piecing Instructions:
Step One: Line a 3.5" square up with one end of each 3.5"x6.5" rectangle and sew ON THE LINE (or just eyeball the diagonal if you didn't draw lines). I always start in the middle of the block (see below) rather than on the corner so my fabric doesn't get stuck in my feed dogs.


Step Two: Once all four are sewn together, cut off the outside corner 1/4" from the sewn line. Keep the bonus triangles together as they are and take them over to the sewing machine.


Step Three: Sew the bonus triangles together as shown.


Step Four: Press the bonus Half Square Triangle blocks (HST) that your bonus triangles made toward the darker fabric, and trim to 2.5" squares.

When trimming HSTs, I use a ruler with a diagonal line, and stack two HST blocks facing each other with their diagonals couched/nestled to cut two at a time and speed things along.


Step Five: Layer your HSTs with the 2.5" background squares with the diagonal line that is drawn on the background square PERPENDICULAR to the diagonal of the HST.

Sew 1/4" TO ONE SIDE of the drawn line, then sew 1/4" ON THE OTHER SIDE of the drawn line.



Step Six: Set those aside and go back to the 3.5"x6.5" rectangles. First, press towards the background fabric,

and then, line up another 3.5" square on the opposite corner, making sure that the diagonal meets the other background square at the top or peak. Sew ON THE LINE.


Step Seven: Head over to your cutting table with the last 8 blocks you've sewn. For the HST blocks, cut them apart ON THE DRAWN LINE. For the pinwheel blocks, cut the bonus triangles off 1/4" from the sewn line again, and take those bonus triangles back over to the machine to complete Steps 3, 4 and 5 with them. Then bring them back to the cutting table to cut them apart ON THE DRAWN LINE.


Step Eight: Time to press. Press open your pinwheel blades (also known as Flying Geese, don't you just LOVE Flying Geese blocks? I'll be making a strippy, scrappy Flying Geese quilt one of these days, for sure!).

Also press open your HST blocks that were sewn to the 2.5" squares. There should be 16 of the little suckers.

Trim all the squares down to 2" squares. When doing this, I use the ruler with a diagonal line again, and place the diagonal of the ruler on the diagonal of the block, and make sure that the point of the triangle is at the intersection of the 1" marks on the ruler. (Nice going, Erin, use your ruler upside down so your 1" mark is actually a 5" mark. Can you tell I've never done a tutorial before?)


Step Nine: Now you are going to make the gumdrops. Take two of the 2" squares and line up the colored triangles. When doing this, choose two squares where the edges of the triangles will couch/nestle with each other to ensure better points on your gumdrops. I usually pin at this point.

Note that if you don't line the two halves of the gumdrop lined up as illustrated above, it isn't the end of the world. Look at the photo below - the gumdrops on the left would couch/nestle when sewn together, those on the right would have a much bulkier seam at the top end than at the bottom, and the points would be less likely to match. Either way is fine, but pick a way and stick with it for ALL of the gumdrops. Once they are sewn together, I recommend pressing these seams OPEN.






Step Ten: If you are making a scrappy block like mine, now it is time to experiment. Do you want all the gumdrops to be in the same quadrant as the pinwheel blade of the same fabric?

Or do you want them to be scattered about in a scrappier mannner?

(You KNOW which I chose!)

Once you decide (or if you are making the block with just two fabrics), sew two gumdrops together end to end, and press the center seam to one side.

Step Eleven: Line up each 2-gumdrops unit with the point of the corresponding pinwheel blade/flying geese, and sew. Again, this is a point where I would pin. Once sewn, press away from the gumdrops.

Step Twleve: Sew those lonely, nearly forgotten 2x6" rectangles of background fabric to the outside edge of the gumdrops. Press away from the gumdrops.


Step Thirteen: Sew the four quadrants together and press. Here's a close-up of the back of one quadrant to show you all the pressing directions.


And here's my finished block, all squared up and ready to play!

If you make any blocks, I'd love to see them! Thanks for taking an interest in what I love to do!