Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

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Harmony
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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby Harmony » Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:18 am

I don't know what I'm doing up. I'm too tired to get up from this chair.

Sunny, the magnifier looks neat. I have one of those that hang around my neck and stick out. Same principal. I use mine with crosstitch. Yep, I have one of those in a box, a ufo.

Harriet, I think the template deal is my weakest link. I was so careful making my templates (3) and so careful cutting. Then I check each piece before I sew it on. Still, when 2 triangles make a square and that square gets sewed to a square, and both are the same size, why are they not the same size? This 2 triangle + square is 1/4 of the block. But if I don't cut the square down, when I put it into the whole square it is too big. I'm not convinced it's all my problem.

Anyway, I took the book to the store and hunted squares and triangle pieces that were the same size, nice thick plastic, and couldn't find any. The author doesn't give sizes of the pieces, either. I know you're right about piecing without templates. When I did my last quilts, I just measured with my ruler. I am terrible with numbers and rulers though, this whole thing is a big stretch for me.

I'm encouraged now that I'll get through this. You can bet I'll be way more careful what pattern I pick for the next one!

Hi Suzlew! I love Batiks, so colorful. How big is the quilt?

SuzLew

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby SuzLew » Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:39 am

Harmony I am workig on a queen
size and have enough fabric to mske shams and bed skirt.

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Harmony
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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby Harmony » Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:03 pm

OOOh, Suzlew, that is a big quilt.

Thinking about numbers, etc., I figured out that square in the book is 2" (about) too small. Book does say some might need to be enlarged. Huh. Okay. I was sure I read somewhere that these were full size patterns. Yep. Big goof. My pea brain took a while to register that the block could be divided into quarters and measured, etc., against the size of the pieces. My fault for not doing a test square.

I'll not make mistakes like this again!

Course, with smaller pieces, I'll have a more interesting, scrappy quilt when I'm done; more work of course, but I forge on! One block made so far this morning.

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Harriet
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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby Harriet » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:52 pm

I'll have a more interesting, scrappy quilt when I'm done


See, that's what delights me. :idea: Magic words.

(Well, the word "done" is a delightful word, too - that's the one I need to strive for. :oops: )

SuzLew, I am very fond of batiks, too. I am using some in the Forest quilt that I dream I'll someday get back to. :roll: Because everything in the quilt is about forests, batiks go with it all even though they are not clearly picturing leaves or trunks or rock - you see some forest images in there. I hope you have a bunch of fun.

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Nancy
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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby Nancy » Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:17 pm

Gave a puppet to the library.
Finished up another one it's cute and looks like it has a skirt on! Another one of those happy accidents!

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Harriet
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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby Harriet » Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:05 am

How to shorten jeans but keep the original hem

That's wonderful that you can donate these days, Nancy. I dream of being able to get back to donating. Doesn't it make you feel happy.

SuzLew

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby SuzLew » Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:44 am

Up early this morning and watched two quilt classes on computer! The second one was cutting a nine patch apart to form a square with corner stones and sashing at http://www.craftsy.com Want to try it because I do have the fabric but need to get more done on two dd's quilts!

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby BookSaver » Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:03 pm

4 pages in our AC&N thread this month! :D

I went to the annual sale at an independent fabric store, everything in the shop on sale at least 20%. I had not planned to purchase much, and am happy with what I found. I only bought little bits of fabric for specific small projects, plus a replacement magnetic pin holder for the ancient one that has fallen on concrete floor so many times it finally cracked.

The new style magnetic pin holder is an oval shape, so it takes less room. It has a lid, which will be handy for as often as I take my sewing work bag to group events.

Quilting cottons:

1) fat quarter, flowers in primary colors
2) fat quarter, juvenile print yellow/green/orange/pink on purple background
These 2 will be used for apron parts, probably cut into bias bindings.

3) 1/2 yd stylized peacock feathers in royal blue, royal purple, and hunter green plus blending shades of each color
4) 1/2 yd bright primary colors in small check pattern
These I'm sure will coordinate with pieces I already have. I need 4 different fabrics to cut into strips for folded star ornaments that I mentioned in PWYC.

Here is the pattern:
http://blog.betzwhite.com/2011/12/fabri ... orial.html
I have made these several times in paper, and think they will be very pretty in fabrics. I'm planning to teach this for the December sewing group meeting. The class samples may end up being this year's Christmas gift for coworkers.

5) 1 yd border stripes in apple green, dark fuschia, teal, periwinkle, a few pastels & white.
I'm planning to cut this into strips for the same folded star ornament. Easy coordinating colors that I don't have to think about matching because the fabric designer already did that part for me. I bought extra of this fabric so I can make sure that a different color stripe ends up on the outsides of each folded strip.

So that was my main multitasking activity today -- support local store owner, advertise for sewing group, arrange 2 activities for sewing group, buy supplies for several activities one of which will transform into gift items, and replace a broken tool.

Suz ~ Your link just took me to the craftsy home page, but I think I can visualize how your nine patch would look cut down. That would be an easy way to put together that pattern and have all of the corners match.

Seems like the trimmed off pieces could then be put together in a scrappy quilt, maybe for a doll?

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Harmony
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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby Harmony » Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:43 pm

Those stars look interesting. So much stuff one could make. So little time!

Harriet, I love the jeans hem fix. I read that a couple times trying to get it in my mind. Have you ever done this? Doesn't the fixed hem turn out double thickness? It didn't appear in the photos that this showed much if at all. I could have used a trick like this when I hemmed all of DH's jeans. I had a hard time with stiff denim at the side seams.

I'm done piecing that miserable block. The odd-fitting pattern (my fault of course) leaves a problem that carries through all the way to the end. I've tried to correct. It will never be perfect. DH tried to talk me into putting more rows of the block and making the rows longer to fix the size...but I just felt I couldn't do any more of them. So, after a trip to fabric store, I put 1 plain border around and am working on a simple pieced one, then there will be a narrower one and that's it.

My perfectionism is rearing its head and I'm beating myself up over this, but it will be a quilt, and it will be cozy, and it is colorful, and it's 90% perfect, and that will have to do. To start with a couple hundred tiny little pieces and end up with a great big sheet of fabric is an awesome thing, in any event!

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Harriet
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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, January, 2012

Postby Harriet » Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:07 am

Do you mean you are done piecing all the blocks, Harmony - you said block and I was thinking surely one more block wasn't that tough? If you are talking about borders I am thrilled for you to be that far along. I really like, as you know, the idea of border/pieced-border/border to frame a quilt and give interest out to the edges without depending upon heavy quilting. I just have a heart for patchwork rather than heavy quilting. Well, honestly, I think you get more visual credit for it, unless the viewer knows a lot about quilts.

No, I haven't done that hem fix yet - but I have struggled with jean hems in the past and always made a new hem that was not as neat as the one the jeans already had. So when I came across this, I wanted to hang on to it and show it to ya'll. I think I understand what she is doing after reading through a couple times. I still imagine it will not be all that easy to sew at the side seams, but I believe I will like this method. It seems like to me that final topstitching will be important. The thing you would be aiming for is NOT to call attention to it. Jeans are the reason I keep gold colored thread on hand - it seams a lot of jeans are done in gold thread. Once I hemmed a pair and used dark blue hoping it would blend in, but it just called attention to the hem as the only place on the garment without that gold thread!!!! So I'm never without it now.

So clever, BookSaver, to choose the border print for the stars. You can move ahead so quickly with that decision-making out of the way. Do you use anything special when you make your bias bindings? I have considered the different gadgets out there but never purchased.

Sounds like a fun early morning, SuzLew! HRH called me to come see a quilting program the other day but it turned out to be a shopping-network thing trying to sell a sewing machine - I think he was disappointed because he figures there are few quilting programs to watch. Having sites like the one you linked means we can usually find something to watch if we can only find the time!

I'm feeling bad for ddil after the hard truth I had to give her today on trying to get that gift of a crib quilt top finished and report back to her relative. I was really thinking that wasn't much of a gift if it's going to make HER feel guilty until she finds a way (money) to have it finished, but I didn't say that. I don't know what the reason was - perhaps the lady's health failed, so I shouldn't criticize. It ends up that ddil is faced with more worry than enjoyment now, though. If she chooses to try it, I would actually look forward to helping her get a package ready for a quilting service, but I don't think I should volunteer to do more than that.


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