New Block of the Month

Our local quilt shop (LQS) is having a block of the month program again this year.  I collected blocks another year as well, but then either they stopped doing it, or I did, or both.  But they are doing it again this year.  The label says it is Series #7 of the Thangles Block of the Month.  They give you fabric to make two 6" blocks each month for $1.  You have to take the finished blocks the following month to get the next set of blocks for $1. Otherwise you pay $2.  I like this plan, because it will keep me current. The blocks are then put together in a straight setting.  But if you want to enclose the blocks in star points, then you can buy the kit for the optional setting.

They had four different colorways to choose from, and I chose the Civil War ones.  I have decided to make the blocks, and use my own fabric for the star points.

Have you heard of Thangles?  I had a roll of triangle paper that I had purchased for a previous LQS project.  I think it was part of a class.  That paper comes in a roll, and has lines that you sew down and lines where you cut.  It makes it very easy to make a whole bunch of half square triangles at a time.  Thangles is a little bit different because (I think) it is designed to work with jelly rolls.  You know how you would need 2 7/8 fabric to make a 2 inch hst?  With Thangles, you can make 2 inch hsts out of 2 1/2 inch jelly roll, because the paper aligns the pieces so that the some of the little points are already cut off.

I don't normally make practice blocks, but since I had limited quantity of the Civil War fabric, so I did this time.  I am thinking one of the practice blocks will be for Ally's Christmas challenge.  The deadline is tonight for this month, which I won't be able to make, but maybe I will be early for next month.

Quilting Finished!

I am finished with quilting the Simply Squares quilt.  I need to trim and bind it. 

You can thank Zeus for my speedy progress on this quilt.  He leaves me alone to quilt, but when I am sitting on the couch watching tv, or even on the computer, he decides he wants attention.  He is very pushy, putting himself under your hand so you will pet him, or even whining.  He won't just sit next to you; he expects attention the whole time.  Now I have to get him to leave me alone when I am on the computer.  So far, I have been reading blogs, and doing other casual things, so it wasn't a big deal for me to pet him while I was on the computer.  But when I work from home, I am on the computer a lot, and I would prefer to not be interrupted when I am working.

I have been also teaching him the "Go to Bed" command.  I have this big pillow I got for him (the label said "dog bed" and fits perfectly in the crate which we returned). I figured that I could move the pillow to whatever room I wanted him to stay in.  It would be a good command when we needed him out of the way.  We had a couple of training sessions, and he didn't quite understand. He would lie down anywhere on the floor, but we were making progress.

When he was whining yesterday while I was on the computer, I said "go to bed", not really expecting him to do it, because I didn't think he understood the command.  He went straight to the couch, because that is where he sleeps when I am sleeping upstairs. He apparently understands the command, just didn't understand why I was calling the pillow "bed."   When I am downstairs, he generally sleeps in whatever room I am, although he will leave the room if that room isn't comfortable for him. 

I know he has been trained already, but I don't know what vocabulary has been used, so I think I am confusing him by using different words for different things.  Today, I asked him where his toy was, and he got it for me!  He doesn't do it every time, but that might be because he didn't want to play tug of war on a hardwood floor. 

I don't really want to play tug of war with him until he understands the "drop it" command.  I am having a hard time teaching it to him, because when I have the treats out, he drops the toy before I can say drop it.  He still doesn't understand "stand" either, because to him it probably means "come get your treat", and he doesn't understand that it has to do with a body position, even though I am reinforcing "sit" and "down" at the same time as I am teaching him "stand".

Quilting Progress

Michele asked to see the family friendly quilting, and I am happy to oblige.  As you can see, I quilted an S shape on the left side.  Then, I turned the quilt around and finished out the figure 8 as shown on the right side.  Thank you Paula for the advice.  I am now finished with quilting all of the rows. I am now working on the columns.  There are fewer of them, but they are longer. It is turning out quite nicely.  Even though I could picture what I was doing in my mind, it is always a pleasant surprise when it comes out in real life.

The pros of this quilting design is

• that it is easy.  It is a nice step up from straight stitching.  You can probably use a walking foot, depending on how big your block is, and not even need to free motion quilt it. 
• Also, as mentioned before, there are no threads to hide, except for where I ran out of bobbin thread.
• it yields a family friendly design.
• Looks more impressive than straight stitching, but it really isn't any more work, and isn't harder.
• Don't have to draw quilting lines
• can practice getting an even stitch length
• don't need to sew a straight line - stitch in the ditch is harder
• The seams definitely have been quilted into flat submission

The cons is that

• you are sewing only in one direction, which means you have to stop and adjust the sandwich and your hands regularly. Which is a pain if you don't have needle down on your machine
• The stitches are closer where I was sewing slower to end in the needle down position.  Not sure if that means the intersections are sturdier (smaller stitches) or weaker (lots of holes in a small space).
• not drawing quilting lines isn't as neat as drawing them on - if you wanted it neater, you could at least mark where you wanted the stitches to intersect
• free motion quilting can yield uneven stitch length, depending on your expertise

Edited to add: Another con for this method is that since your sewing is directional, you will have times when the entire bulk of the quilt will have to be on the right side of where you are quilting. Of course, you don't have to leave all of it in the throat, you can move as much as you can behind the machine. Since I have a lap quilt, it isn't too bad, but I think a bed quilt would be much harder.

Oprah's High Road

I turned on the television to watch the news, and managed to catch the very last part of Oprah's show. I only knew there was a secret, but not what the secret was. Later, I found out that Oprah's mother had given a baby for adoption, and had kept it a secret for all these years.

I didn't watch the show, so I don't know all the details or how she handled it, but what little bits I do know, makes me think she did an excellent job of taking the high road. I haven't had any issues lately where I have had to watch  my footing on the high road, but it seems like a good time to learn some lessons from Oprah for when I do.

Last night, I dreamed I wrote a post about what taking the high road means. I wrote a list of the ways we can learn from Oprah. Uggh, now I have to figure out what was on the list!

Openness.
I like that she aired the news on her show.  Trying to hide the truth doesn't really work, and by announcing the facts herself, she can avoid a lot of speculation and rumor.


Honesty
Not having watched the show, and not having researched her story, I don't know if there was complete honesty in the disclosure, but it seems like it was.  And by being open, she can keep her reputation as an honest person by not lying or hiding the truth.  And I think honesty is the best policy.

Sympathy
Although it does seem like she had some anger that her mother had kept this a secret, I think she does sympathize with her mother's situation at the time, and understands the adoption decision.

Gratitude
I am glad that she was willing to look at the silver lining, and was able to find it.

Focus
I'm not sure what the right word is for this, but I heard that her friends did not want her to air this secret.  I am glad she kept the focus on the people that mattered.  The mother and her new sister were obviously okay with the airing, since they were a part of it, and they are the ones who are a part of the story.  The other, peripheral, people, are important and can certainly give advice, but their feedback should not be weighed as highly as the people who are a part of the story.  The others have had their turn in their own stories, and probably will in the future.

Listening
She asked questions and listened to the answer.  She didn't assume to know the answers to the questions and for her family members. In the questions I did hear her ask, she asked open ended questions, and did not seem to be leading them.   I know some of this was for the show, and to facilitate the forum of the show, but hopefully, she did the same in real life.
 
Poise

Managing the situation with calm and dignity instead of throwing accusations and joining the argument is a big part of taking the high road, and I think Oprah has done that as well, at least in public.

What does taking the high road mean to you?

Chit-chat

My daughter has a tendency to forget her credit card at school when she comes home, but somehow she never forgets the lists of the things that she wants to buy while she is here.  She needed school supplies for an art class she is taking.  I believe it is her only elective, since all the other classes went for her double major. It turns out that the art teacher has been to Japan, and he wants to teach them some calligraphy using Kanji words. She'll have fun with it, I'm sure.  So even her art class will help advance her East Asian studies.

In one of her classes, she has to speak Japanese.  Basically, she and her friend talk while the professor sits and makes sure they are speaking in Japanese.  When I met him, he told me that he has learned a lot about me through these conversations.  Scary!  This weekend, she wanted to know how to translate "neurotic" in Japanese.  I am hoping she doesn't find out, in case she wanted to use it in reference to me. Thank goodness she isn't taking that class anymore.


The newest member of our household is having trouble navigating our hardwood and tile floors.  Those things are much more slippery than I imagined!  I have scattered some rugs on the floors for warmth as well as traction, but I am especially worried about the steps, because they can lead to dangerous falls. I went to a home improvement store where everyone was very helpful, but the young man who was helping me with the slippery steps condition didn't quite get that I don't want indoor/outdoor sandpaper stickies on my hardwood floors inside my house. It wasn't his fault though, because the store probably didn't have a better solution.  They didn't sell carpet treads.

I did find some online here, and these Carpet Stair Treads - Black and Beige Scroll Border should do the trick. Add that to the list of what it costs to own a dog. And a fence. And a new pair of tennis shoes.  He thoroughly licked my shoes clean inside and out while I was out with my daughter.  I think I should be able to hire him out for that service. Maybe that will help offset my credit card bills.

Shame

Paula gave me the idea to quilt figure eights instead of just loops, which I thought was an excellent idea.  I was thinking about not using it though, because I had already quilted several rows of the Simply Squares quilt, and I think consistency will look better than changing plans midway.

Then I was reading a blog where the blogger was tired of making more blocks, and trying to decide whether to stop and make the quilt as it was, or make more blocks to make it larger as she had intended.  My advice to her was to make the blocks, unless that would stop her from finishing the quilt at all.  Generally when someone looks at my quilts, they don't know the circumstances that they were made in, so they will look at the quilt as a measure of my skill level.  And combining easy squares with bad quilting, is well, just lazy. Especially since I know a better way.

Yesterday, I quilted a row of S's, then turned it around, and quilted a row of S's over them to make a figure 8.  It looks really good, neat enough for the modern quilters, even.  This means that all of the loose threads will be at the ends, and there will be no threads to bury. I decided to continue with those instead of my original stitching.  I could add them both on the seams and in the centers to create the look that I was originally going for, but I have decided for now that I will just make them on the seams.  The blocks are small, and don't need that much quilting, and I want to make sure I don't run out of the brown thread.  I'll decide for sure when I am done with the seams. 

Yesterday, I ripped out the rows and rows of bad quilting.  Since my stitch length is not even, there were some parts that were easy to rip, and some parts that are very very hard. I am hoping that the busy fabric will hide anything I missed, although I do plan to go over it one more time to see what else I can rip.  Unbasting would probably help, but that is just going too far.

Back to quilting!

Progress on Simply Squares

I know that most people would have made this quilt in a day, and shown you the finished product in one post - "Look what I made today."  But that's not how I operate - working on a few minutes a day.  In order to save you some impatience, you will be happy to know that not only has the quilt been sandwiched already, but I have even started quilting it.

The change in my horoscope sign must be good for me, because the free motion quilting is working just fine. I even forgot to cover the feed dogs and change the stitch length.  Just changed the foot and started sewing. No thread throwup.  Nice!

I love all the different quilting trends out there, and I love combining them.  I am using basic squares from the modern quilt movement.  Just let the fabric do the work.  Matching corners on squares is easy.  Then I am using quilting methods from the liberated quilters.  No need to mark the design, just have a plan and wing it! 

The safety pins I am using for basting only get in the way on blocks that will really show the quilting, which is normal for me, and I am not expecting perfection, so it is all good. If  you have any complaints about my quilting, please see my setup above.  The machine does not have a needle down position, has a small throat, and is held up by masking tape, which I think is a step down from electrical tape.   I am making ovals, to create a four petal flower pattern. With the busy fabric, and dim lighting, and safety pins, it is hard to make sure I line the petals well , and I didn't, so now I'm not lining them up for the rest of the quilt.

Hopefully when I am finished putting in all the petals, it won't look like tails, or pictures that belong in the bathroom or online in places that aren't family friendly.  I have this worry every time I free motion quilt anything, especially ovals.  I don't mention it, because I don't want you to think about things, if you aren't already thinking about them.  I'm sure Freud would have some things to say about it.  Do you worry about things like that?  I've never seen it mentioned in other blogs, so maybe I am the only one. I'm sure Freud would have something to say about that too.  What do you do to prevent your ovals from turning into things that have ratings with X's in them?

Once you answer my questions, please zap yourself with that thought erasing light, because I don't want you to think those kinds of things when you see any of my quilts.