Friday, September 30, 2011

Quilt Wall


Ever since I saw my first picture of a wall covered with small quilts, I have wanted a quilt wall.  I don't have big walls in my house - since I have small rooms and a lot of windows, but I designated a wall in the dining room as my quilt wall.  I made and exchanged lots of small quilts, that I have plenty for a wall.  I bought some sticky product by 3M to attach the quilts to the wall, as recommended by another blogger.  I must have bought the wrong kind, because my quilts kept falling off the wall, even little ones like ATCs.

I then went out and bought applique pins, because another blogger uses them for her design wall, but that seemed too hard for me too. I don't have the strength to push them in the wall, and using a hammer would require coordination to hold the pin and the quilt.

Then when I went to Michaels to buy the scrapbooking paper for a gift, they had this big bulletin board on sale.  I wanted to have the board up for the gathering, so I quickly added some fabric to it. It needs some help tucking the fabric in the frame, but now I have a quilt wall! At some point I will paint the frame. I made the three big quilts on the right side, the rest are exchanges.

I am really happy with it. I like that I can quickly change the stuff on the wall, and add notes, etc.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Next Project





Now that I have finished the Celebrate quilt, I am free to work on another one.  I am trying very hard not to start a new project, and stay focused on completing some old ones.  I have many projects in the works, and several kits that are ready to start.  There are several quiltalongs and other available projects that are distracting me, but I think I will be able to finish some current projects without starting anything new.

I don't have a leader and ender project ready, and there are a couple of projects that sound interesting to me - the warm/cool quilt, and the leggo quilt.  Both would work great, but it does feel like I would be starting a new project. I have fabric that would work wonderfully for the cool part of the warm/cool quilt, but they are designated for another quilt.  I'll have to think about whether I want to repurpose them, since that would also involve finding some warm fabrics as well. I might just go with the leggo quilt to start, since I can use up the leftover scraps.

I think for now, I will work on quilts that don't require the sewing machine.  I am handquilting the moldy crackers quilt.  (yes this is an old picture, there has been more progress made during the year).  This way I can have projects move forward, and after a while, I will start cutting the strips for the leggo quilt.

The other issue I have is to take my time and not rush through the current quilts so I can get on to new ones.It is so much fun to start a new project!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Downtown


When we went to the weaving class, we spent some time walking around Columbus and taking pictures.  There were many great shots, but I decided to try to narrow down one to share. Because of the river and the green space, many of the shots look like they were taken at a park instead of the middle of a city.   I really like this photo because it shows the beauty of the city, and the construction shows that it is still growing and thriving.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Rivals


We went to the airport yesterday, but unfortunately, we weren't there to see any Rivals. The world traveling daughter has gone overseas to study for her masters degree. In another country. In another continent.  Which means she will not be back to do her laundry and she doesn't plan to come back for her vacations.  She will be at Exeter University in the UK. I am really proud of her, and glad she is able to take advantage of opportunities that were almost unheard of in my day. But the house seems empty and she will be missed.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Weaving


My sister invited me to learn weaving with her at the Cultural Arts Center. We could choose our own projects. I decided to practice on a piece someone else had abandoned before starting my own. I am having fun just putting random designs and random colors on it.

The teacher has to divide her attention amongst all the students (the five in our class, and the others continuing students who show up whenever they want), so we learn by watching her help others. Here the teacher on left, is helping a student front load the threads on the loom.  The room is full of looms - maybe 40+ all packed together.  I'll have to get a photo of all of them sometime.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Picasion try two

The Picasion slideshow I added yesterday seems to be going too fast.  It seems like the normal setting  might be one per second.  I changed it to three seconds; hopefully that isn't too long.  but I   I also didn't like the border that was created when I had a landscape, so I selected photos that were all going the same way.

how do you make gifs

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Picasion

I noticed on Oops-Lah that she was showing her finished quilt as a slideshow.  The link pointed to a website called Picasion.com.  I just had to try it so I would remember to do this in the future.

how do you make gifs

Friday, September 16, 2011

Celebrate 9/11


I quilted flowers around the Celebrate quilt as I showed you in a previous post, both in the body of the quilt and the border. Then the only thing that was left was the top. I attempted to stitch in the ditch around the letters using the free motion foot, which turned out probably as well as it would have with the walking foot. Then I stippled around the background to make the letters stand out. I did one letter at a time - stitch in the ditch, background, onto the next letter.

That left an inner border between the body of the quilt and the words. I wanted to quilt a quote on it, like I did the flag quilt. I found three quotes I liked:
  1. The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
    Oprah Winfrey
  2. While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every word, every action, every deed.
    Mattie Spepanek
  3. We're all here at the same time and we should celebrate that.
    George Weinberg

I actually liked quote #2 the best, since it fits the genealogist in me, but it was way too long. I liked both the other two for different reasons, but decided to go with quote #3, because I thought it was more fitting for a family gathering quilt. Also the first one seemed to be more like advice - something you should do, and the third one seemed more like being happy just as you are. I think it was the word "you" in the first quote, which somehow overrode the "should" in the third quote. Anyway, I went with #3 and quilted that one. I really worked on getting the spacing right. I typed the words and used a large font and taped the words underneath the inner border, so I could follow the spacing, but the paper got in the way and kept me from making the spacing as far apart as I would have liked. It looks like I didn't try.  It's all right though and I am not redoing it.


The wonky letters aren't as wonky as a casual quilt would indicate, and the setting is very formal, but I did try to keep this a casual quilt with the raw edge applique and the casual free hand quilting, and the quote.

I have also decided to ask my family members to sign this quilt. I have been reading a book about heritage quilts - I will be posting a review soon on my reader blog, and have been wanting to make a heritage quilt for a while. When I was at the quilt show, I saw a quilt that had been signed, but it didn't use the signature quilt format - with signature blocks. This quilt does have blocks that could be signed, but they are dark, so the signatures will be on the sashing of the blocks instead of the squares.


I tried to finish the quilt on 9/10/11, because I thought that would be a fun date, but with my carpel tunnel I cannot bind the quilt all at once.  I took breaks, but some of them must have been too long, and when it was past my bedtime and I wasn't even halfway finished, I decided to call it a day.  So the quilt was finished on 9/11/11.  While it is somewhat strange to have a quilt called Celebrate to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it is fitting because that day reminded many of us to celebrate being with our loved ones.

This quilt was made as part of a challenge.  The dot background fabric was part of the challenge, and we were to represent a poem, as well as use applique. I can't remember if the wonky letters were a requirement or not.  I missed the deadline (by more than a year!), but I did finish on a holiday, sort of, so it kinda counts.It is a wall quilt. The pattern was published in a book, but I changed it by including a center, and the applique were not part of the original pattern, nor was the wonky word border. This quilt stayed a UFO as I tried to decide on the applique - I was trying to make it fit all celebrations, and I couldn't make it go that way when thinking Christmas, graduation, birthdays throughout the year, etc.  But with my quote, I think I managed to do so without even trying.    We're all here at the same time and we should celebrate that.

I hope to have a photo taken after the signatures are on it, hopefully in better lighting for the end of the year recap!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

9/10/11

Remember when I said I wanted to finish a quilt on a special date? Today is 9/10/11 and that sounds like a special date to put on a quilt finish! The celebrate quilt just needs the binding sewn down and a label. I think I can do it! Just need to stay off the computer until then!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

My Memories

When I go to a blog post, and see a giveaway, I generally enter.  It shows support to the blogger, and gives me a potential to win something.  I haven't won anything in a while, but that doesn't dissuade me from trying.  Recently, I went to Michelle's blog, and saw that she was giving away some scrapbooking software.  So I entered.


And then I received an email and a blog post to say that I have won it! Not only does the prize include My Memories software with its standard templates, there is also another $10 to get additional templates.


I downloaded the base software and am already loving it! I thought I should wait until I tried it before downloading the additional templates. For my trial, I grabbed some animal shots from the wilds. They could probably using some brightening up of the colors and maybe some enlarging or cropping, but I wasn't taking my time to do much of that. The software does let you crop and change sizes, and tilt the pictures.


I chose this template that has all these little boxes - it comes in four seasons, and I chose fall. This is a great template because you can leave the boxes, or put in photos in its place. You can also add embellishments - buttons, dots, etc., but I didn't do that on these pages. I did play with it a bit though. I had a hard time getting the layers right. I added a swirl, and some dots on top, then I wanted to change a picture, and I had to move the swirl and dots, and then the dots weren't in the right place on the swirl. I haven't worked with layers much, and I guess you should make sure your base is how you want it before you add the next layer, but sometimes how the layer looks makes you want to change the base. I did manage to work it out though.


The standard software comes with a pretty good amount of stuff - page templates, colors, shapes, fonts, embellishments. Of course you will want new templates and new do dads as soon as you get the software, and it comes with several free sets, and you can of course buy more!

When you are done, you can add music and create a slideshow, or print them out into a book, or create a DVD, etc.

Thanks Michelle, for the chance to win, and the win!

Shopping


I've been avoiding stores. Partly because I need to catch up with my finances from my vacations. Partly because I have been reading hoarding books and frankly, I don't need anything. I even managed to not buy any back to school supplies, even the free ones. That took a lot of will power.

But now it is birthday time, and I would like to get some gifts. I thought about buying online - even knew intuitively that it would be better to buy online while I only had birthday gifts in the cart. But I really miss the entertainment value of going to a store. So yesterday I ventured out to Michaels. Yes, I know, a dangerous place to go, but the gift recipient wanted scrapbook paper, and I had found the one I wanted online, KandCompany Que Sera Sera Designer 12-Inch by 12-Inch Paper Pad and it was available there. Isn't it so pretty, and it is two sided, which I thought would be really good so she could choose the side she likes, and since I'm not sure what she wants it for, she can make 3-D stuff with it.

Yes, I was tempted.  Since I used a coupon, I figured I could use the savings for stuff for me. I got some party supplies, which were on clearance and fit perfectly with my celebrate theme, and some beads for embellishment.  I also overspent by buying a large framed cork board, also on clearance.

The total was less than what I would usually spend, and it really felt good to get something for myself.  Now I can close the purse strings back up and tie them up tight.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Quilting Celebrate


How should I quilt the wonky letters?


Quilting to secure the fusible applique.



I added a few birds and butterflies for interest.


Quilting on the open spaces. I had some difficulty getting the free motion quilting set up, until I realized that one of my free motion / darning foot works and the other one didn't. I wonder if this has been the problem all along. I'm so glad I figured it out though!


P.S. I am adding this to the 15 minute challenge,because I do work in 15 minute increments. A lot of times 15 minutes is all I do, but sometimes I surprise myself and add another session or two.