Sew Grateful

Debi from My Happy Sewing Place has organized a Sew Grateful challenge in which bloggers make projects from items that they've received in giveaways, swaps, or other shall-we-say pro-social avenues available in blogland (tutorials, presents, sew-alongs, etc.) Her premise was to really celebrate just how supportive the blogging sewing community is for everyone.

When she posted her invitation, I knew just what projects I wanted to do. At the end of summer, M is for Make hosted a giveaway for a fat 16th of Storyboek fabric from Birch Fabrics. I can't do much with fat 16ths other than quilt, and had commented in the giveaway that my niece's birth was the highlight of my summer. It only seemed appropriate to make a quilt for her from the material. Forgive the lack of a "full frontal" picture of the quilt. I couldn't quite get a good lighting or set-up to get a picture that did it justice.

Because the Storyboek collection has so many "boy friendly" fabrics, I thought I would make a second quilt for my nephew (my niece's elder bro) so that they could have matching quilts.

again, bad pic, but at least you get a sense of the layout

I knew I'd use the softest-pillow-cases-I've-ever-found as the supplementary fabric, but ended up realizing that I just didn't have enough between the Storyboek and pillow cases to make both quilts. I ended up using other fabric I had won in a previous raffle from Monkey Magic when there was the Japan Quake fund raising. I even got to use my leftover fabrics from my Swing Dress Sew-Along dress that Casey hosted.  And I used the information from the Quilt Making 101 series and a great tutorial from Olive and Ollie for the binding. These quilts are just the epitome of the online sewing community.

The back of my niece's quilt

I think they worked out well enough for a n00b quilter. I can't seem to manage to get my lines straight or my fabric from getting wonky, but I'm hoping these quilts last at least a few years before they fall apart. Either way, it was gratifying to figure out the general process. I am still a bigger fan of clothes sewing, but don't feel put off by the idea of quilting as much. My great-grandmother was an amazing quilter and I know I cherished my own quilt that she made. I only hope they will like theirs a quarter as much as I loved mine.

Detail, fabric from Monkey Magic

Detail, Storyboek fabric from M is for Make

 And just a reminder as we celebrate giveaways, my giveaway for four yards of stretchy fabric and my first very own purchased by me sewing pattern is still underway. I've changed the layout of my blog for now to make it easier to follow me, should you like. Just make sure you leave comments if you want a chance at winning! I will ship anywhere, and don't be fooled by the envelope. The pattern is pretty spotless.

For those non-sewers out there, if you still want to comment, I can simply make you something in lieu of the pattern and fabric. I don't want to leave you out!  I will try to think of a good item to make and will post it ASAP. If I don't, then maybe you'll get  a nice surprise!

All in all, I am so glad Debi has hosted her challenge. I not only got to finish projects I've been meaning to do for months, it all was in the name of just how grateful I am. Grateful for my family, grateful for what I have been given, grateful for the chance to share with others, grateful for all the online resources that are helping me maintain my hobby, and grateful for you dear readers. Thank you.

Quake Quilt progress, front bottom

Sometimes I think procrastinating on projects is simply my mind's way of saying it needs more time to problem solve. More time to sleep on the matter, so that I can do this project without melting down in despair mid-stitch.

I know I've admitted my anxieties previously, and I hope you know that you have done well with the encouragements. But, I have to say that some of the reasons for the anxieties was that the way I had planned on doing this quilt was that I couldn't figure out how to effectively do the wave pattern I wanted without falling on my face. The primary issues being the layering, the curved edges, the sheer numbers (80+),  the small size, and my short patience coupled with a heavy sewing foot. These things were going to take a while, I'm not known to do things carefully. I'm a cavalier of craft.

Just waiting for a satin stitch.

Ultimately, I chose the following approach: sew strings of half circles together, sew them down on a muslin backdrop in rows that overlap, and then raw edge applique row by row, one on top of the other only without stabilizing paper and using a satin stitch instead of a blind hem. I thought about tucking in the edges and doing a proper applique or an English paper piecing method, but the volume of work involved seemed nonsensical. And paper hungry, I think. 

I'm currently in the applique process, and without the paper or other stabilizer and trying to use the satin stitch slowly, I can certainly see the fruits of my cavalier labor: some bunching around the edges of each half circle and inconsistent stitching, mainly. But I would like to think that by the end of the 80+ curved edges, I may find myself a little more competent. (By the way, I've found this link quite helpful.)

Another matter that arose was that the dark wave portion of the quilt was not the same size as the lighter sky portion. I needed more on the bottom but didn't want have the fabric or time to do more circles. So I did a "wonky triangle" block with scraps. It was great, in that it used all of the "too small to be used for anything else" scraps from the other parts of the quilt.  It may not be the most precisely measured piece, but I do like my some improv. Besides, there's enough errors with the quilt overall that I no longer worry about its imperfections. Here's the result, which I found I was happy with, both in size and appearance.

The only thing was that it seemed to mess with the curvy, watery feel I was aiming for in the wave section. So, I made a wave:

the water insert

Sewn along a wavy line, then cut away.

second half sewn on 1.5" below the first seam

Et, voila! (Not the best picture, but I had the camera well over my head. Sorry!)

While I'm finishing the applique portion with the semi-circles, I'm trying to formulate my plan for the catfish. I think I will try it with some applique meets reverse applique. It's the only way I can figure I can do the whiskers properly. Any suggestions?

Quilt Class 101: Week 3...ish

I'm about halfway done constructing the top. I didn't exactly follow any exact plan, which I think has compromised some of the design. There's more vertical elements here than I had intended. The plan was for more horizontal movement, but hey. It's done. Next time, I'll make an annotated list of what size pieces I'll need, how many, and of what fabric.  There's also more blue in the top than originally planned, but then again, I didn't really plan this out too much. And I didn't have very many options in my determined stash.  All in all, I'm not displeased. 

The red circle in the middle (made to hearken to the red sun of Japan's flag) isn't sewn on yet, but will be soon. It's pinned in place and was tucked and ironed around a cardboard circle before being pinned (sans cardboard) to the rest of the quilt. There have been some helpful posts at Chasing Cottons on different options for applique. I based the "sun" on this particular tutorial.

Next step is the second half of the front: the waves. I anticipate this to take a little longer, as it has more to do with top-stitching scallops multiple times for a few rows and then a few more rows. The layout looks good so far, and I have some tweaked techniques I plan on referencing for this portion as well.

 More updates to come! Thanks for reading!

Japan Quake Quilt Project: Quilt Class 101

Alright. Since I've committed myself to this quilt project, it's time for me to pool my resources. As luck would have it, UCreate shared a link to Chasing Cotton's Quilt Class 101: a "sew-along" meets tutorial series.

Now, it's not that I will likely follow along quite on her schedule, and I know pretty much how I want to do this, but I thought it'd be good to have a group of similar interests to share my progress with. So, I'm following along, and hoping I actually follow through.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and use scrapbooking tools to cut fabric. Yeah, I'm wild. Or lazy.