Tweet Tweet!

Are you on twitter?  I am!!  I joined in the fun as @FluffySheepQuil.  If you would like to, you can follow me using the little button on the right hand side of the blog.  Chance are I will follow you back!


Since I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what I am doing on Twitter, I quickly (like 15 minutes after joining...) ran to my friend Laura Jane for help.  She was kind enough to write a guest post telling me all about it.  Want to learn with me?  Teach us, LJ!  xx

So, Cindy asked me to do a little “Twitter 101” for you, her readers, after I helped her out settling into twitter. I wouldn’t say I was an expert; in fact I’ve not even been using twitter very long. Well, actually, that’s a lie. I got a twitter account years ago, but I followed, and was followed by, 3 people. My then Boyfriend, my Bestie, and my Dad. I thought, “What’s the point?!” I could just text any interesting life updates to my Bestie, or discuss it in person with the other two. So I didn’t tweet very much, if at all.

Fast forward to a month or so ago and I thought I’d give it another whirl, it seemed like something all the cool kids were doing, and I wanted in. In the short space of time I’ve been using it, I have tweeted 956 times, found 149 people to follow and am followed by 103. (This is not bragging. In twitter terms, I’m a bit of noob. I know people with upwards of 36,000 tweets. Yes @imagingermonkey, I’m looking at you… )

I’ll start by explaining the main twitter-isms, hopefully in a way that makes sense to all, and then give you a bit of an overview on how I personally see and use twitter. K?

-Following/Followers

Twitter is, at its core, a social networking site. You follow people you think are interesting, or are friends with, or who post funny tweets. You can also follow celebrities (authors, film stars, TV personalities, FABRIC DESIGNERS etc) or themed tweet accounts. When you follow someone, their tweets will be displayed in a stream on your home screen. You don’t necessarily have to know the person to follow their tweets.

-Character limit

When you tweet, your message is limited to 140 characters. This is based on the length of one standard sms message. Bear in mind if you are replying to someone, or a group of people, their user names will take up some of those characters. NB: Twitter will automatically shorten any web links you put in your tweet.

-Reply vs Mention

If you start a tweet with a user name, eg “@laurajane7789 I think you’re really cool” it is classed as a reply. Only people that follow both you and the person you are replying to will see this tweet in their stream. If you put the user name anywhere else in the message i.e. “I think @laurajane7789 is the coolest gal in town” it is classed as a mention. Anyone following you will see it in their stream.

-Retweet

To retweet a message is to pass it on to your followers, like a techy version of Chinese whispers. Twitter will automatically add the text “RT:” to the beginning of the message, and you can add some text to the beginning or end of the message as desired. Let’s say Cindy, @FluffySheepQuil, tweeted this “Showing a quilt at the Ireland modern quilt guild today!”, I might go ahead and retweet it to my followers because I thought it was interesting, or I wanted to get the word out to people who may not necessarily follow Cindy. I might add a little message when I retweeted it, so my tweet would look like this “Good luck Girl!! RT @fluffysheepquil Showing a quilt at the Ireland modern quilt guild today!”. Usually people retweet messages with web links/urls so you can go and look at something on the web that they liked.

-Direct Messages

You can send users direct messages, which are completely private tweets. They will only be seen by you and the recipient. You can only do this if you follow that person.

-Hash Tags

Hashtags are kind of hard to explain until you start reading the twitter language! In my opinion, they are used to either express a feeling of the message i.e. “Drank too much wine last night… #hungover #fail”, or are used to group a whole load of messages from different people together i.e. “I’m really excited about going to #sewingsummit”.  You can click on the hashtag and see everyone’s tweets that include it, and as such they are used to “trend” stuff (i.e. make it popular among the millions of twitter users). Last week there was a #sixwordfilmplot trend… i.e. “big ship, cant sink, it sinks #sixwordfilmplot” (Titanic). I contributed “Tiger in bathroom, where’s the groom? #sixwordfilmplot” (The Hangover) to that one.

Learning to use Twitter is hard to begin with… well, not hard, just slightly overwhelming. But then one day you will have a light bulb moment. Everything will just click into place and you will be tweeting like mad. For me, it’s less about posting interesting one liners about what I’m doing (akin to facebook status updates, if the analogy helps anyone) because let’s face it, who wants to know that I’ve woken up, then gone to work, then come home from work, then ate some dinner… etc etc. It’s more about chatting with people who have similar interests.

I see it as less formal/long winded as an email, and not quite as personal as a text. Anyone can see what you are saying, which initially is a bit weird and voyeuristic, but actually works in its favour. By following one person, you can see and find out all kinds of things about other people (in a non stalkery way, of course), events, news etc. You might feel like you are butting in on people’s conversations, but don’t let that worry you. If you’ve got something to say on the subject, just bite the bullet and butt in!

Twitter moves fast. It’s a fact you just have to get used to. I have the twitter app on my iphone, which means I get notifications sent straight to me when someone mentions, or replies, or DM’s me. I occasionally have the webpage open on my desktop too, but truth be told, I find the app much easier to use. You WILL get sucked in. That’s another fact. There's always someone to talk to! From UK time zone perspective, early morning you get the Aussies before they go to bed, then the Brits all day. The Americans start waking up about lunchtime and will take you through to late night. By which time the Aussies are up and you can start all over again!

I hope this has cleared up at least some of the mystery surrounding twitter, for at least some of you. If you have any questions, do feel free to email me (LTAYLOR AT ETHITEC DOT COM), or you know, you could tweet me... I’m @laurajane7789

Beginner's Patchwork Sampler Quilt

As you know, I'm teaching a beginner's patchwork class at Pippablue on Wednesday nights.  Like any normal teacher, I'm barely just ahead of the class making my blocks barely in time to use them in the class as examples.  Well, I have finally finished all 9 of my sampler blocks.  Want to see what they look like on the design board?

We tried to do 3 for each lesson.  Three squares (square in a square, disappearing nine patch and a pogo stick block) to get the main concept of cutting, piecing, squaring.  Then there were three triangle blocks (pinwheels, sawtooth star, starflower) followed by three wonky or improv blocks (LOVE block, wonky star and wonky log cabin).   The point was to give the students the basic skills they need and introduce them to both traditional and modern piecing.  So far so good! 

Next we'll tackle the sashing, layering and backing.  I'm totally excited!  I have to test out a few different sashing color options before Wednesday :)      

What's next to this on the design board, you ask?  Well, blocks have started arriving from Sew Bee Blissful for my Electronica quilt.  They're looking great!  

Tonight I need to add a bit of dark brown and green to the one block on the bottom left, and a bit of pink to another Sew Bee Blissful block.  It's taking shape now, which is very exciting!  I love the individual personality in each block, but the unified colors seem to pull them all together.  Here's hoping at least!

You Have to Start Somewhere....

And so I did.  Boy, I have no idea what I am doing here, but it was time to stick my toe in the pool and test the water.  I tried FMQ for the first time.  I used a dark fabric and light thread so I can see where I am going and what I am doing.  I am not sure that helped, but it was a nice idea.  Anyway, here is what I could do....

Please don't laugh at me.

I know this meandering is the normal route for many.  This is not my goal.  I really want to do little circles. 

I can't tell if this is a photo of the front or the back.  Speaks volumes for the quality, huh?

I am not there yet, but at least this is a start.  I am having flashbacks to my piano lesson days where my mom would force me to practice for 20 minutes a day with the kitchen timer.  I am suddenly 8 years old again.  Yes, Mom, I will practice again tomorrow.

Washing Batiks: In Way Over My Head

First off, I am sorry to have ignored blogging over the past few days. I was traveling for work and just could not get the time to write (or stitch) anything while I was gone.  So, I am happily home and back to the norm.

As you may know, I have been SLOWLY starting an Irish Chain using a pattern from the Moda Bake Shop. I have a very white Kona fabric as the background, which was recently cut into strips.  I thought I would start cutting the batiks and sewing this weekend, but then I listened to Hip To Be A Square on Friday when Flying.  Pam has recently finished a quilt that used batiks and had a small problem with the color running.

I have never used batiks before and I am not a pre-washer (gasp!!), so I thought I had better rinse mine before they bled all over my nice white background.  And so I did...

I also tossed in three Color Catchers because I was a bit nervous.  They turned brilliantly purple!  Thank goodness I did.

So, here is the question for the batik-users out there:  Am I OK with one wash or do I need to wash them again?  How do I ensure they will not run when the final quilt is washed?  Are there tricks to working with these fabrics?  Any hints you may have are absolutely welcome.

As on any other Monday, I am linking up with Canoe Ridge and Sew Happy Geek linky parties.

Whew.

Are you visiting Fluffy Sheep Quilting looking for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway?  Just page down a small bit or click here to enter.  Thanks for stopping by!

I'm exhausted.  Are you?  How many blogs did you look at yesterday?  I wish I was actually counting.  This was my first Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day and I am overwhelmed!  It was great searching through so many new blogs.  Some were fabulous, some gave me great ideas and some were lovely sources of inspiration. 

While I was searching blogs yesterday, I came across Sewn by Leila.  Starting on 17 June, Liela will be kicking off her "We Can Do It!" program aimed at taking the "scary" factor out of new skills.  This way, many online friends can learn a new skill together and get over the mental hump stopping you from trying that extra special block.  Each 12 inch block will teach the maker a new skill ranging from beginner skills of cutting and triangles, then advancing to wonky blocks, foundation and paper piecing and eventually moving onto the daunting hexie and curve! 

Are any of you thinking of joining in?

A Chat with Sandy from Quilting...For the Rest of Us

I was lucky enough to have a nice virtual chat with Sandy, from Quilting.... for the Rest of Us podcast and blog.  I really enjoy Sandy's podcasts.  Each week there is a general Sandy update, but she then goes to a great effort to cover an educational topic.  These could range from product reviews, to interviews with guild members or artists, to quilt labels and appraisals.  Each episode is happy and well thought through, making it a joy to listen to.  

There is a short version of our interview posted here and the longer, full version will be posted under the Interview section of Fluffy Sheep Quilting. You can navigate to that page with the tab above.  Now, off to the interview! 

Are you a regular follower of blogs?  What are your favorite two and why?

I follow a ton of blogs; most quilt-related, but some are related to my job and other interests. How do I choose which are my favorite? Even though I often get far behind in my blog reading and have hundreds of unread posts waiting in Google Reader for me, I always make sure I read my listeners’ blogs  and other quilty-podcasters’ blogs. In the vast list of general quilty-related blogs I will always read Taniwa’s posts. She’s from Japan and she talks a lot about life in Japan—great cultural education as well as quilty-goodness. I also always read “Nancy, near Philadelphia”. She and I have some life circumstances in common so I can relate, and I just appreciate her writing style. If I’m allowed to sneak a third in there, it would be “block-a-day”. She’s Australian and her photography is just wonderful. But sheesh—I feel like I’m probably leaving about 20 other faves out of this list!

What first attracted you to quilting and what do you get from it today?

When I was in high school and college, my stress-reduction technique was to color in geometric design coloring books. Nothing I loved better than a brand new box of 64 Crayolas! My mother had taken up quilt making when I was probably 10 or so, and I loved going through her quilt magazines and picking out quilts she could make for me. By the time I was out of college, Mom would respond by raising an eyebrow and saying, “You know, you could learn how to do this yourself!” Long story short, eventually I did. I still love the interplay of geometric design and color—I love seeing secondary designs emerge, I love seeing how colors play together. I love the feel of fabric. I spend most of my day working in words—it’s really a nice change of scene to get to work in color and shape and texture instead.

What quilting experience would you never repeat?

Huh. This is a tricky one. My single worst quilting experience wasn’t really about the technique at all but about the fact that I was a rank beginner and was a bit over my head. The first class I ever took was a Stack-n-Whack class that was billed as a beginner class but was really intermediate. Bethany Reynolds has several stack-n-whack patterns that would be more appropriate for beginners than the one our class tackled (it’s even labeled an “intermediate” pattern in her book). I’d only done a couple of simple wall hangings before that and nothing that would’ve prepared me for what we did in the class. And now that I’ve taken a lot more classes with a lot more teachers, I’ve also come to understand that the teacher for that class wasn’t a particularly good teacher, either. Very nice, would sort of show us what to do, but didn’t give a whole lot of guidance other than that. And I was too new to know what questions to ask, or even that I was going wrong before it was too late. So I had nothing but problems from the get-go, and it took me 7 years to finally finish the dang bed quilt. If I could have a do-over, it would be that one—taking a different first class that would have been far less frustrating, and with a smaller project! I’d love to do a stack-n-whack again now that I actually know what I’m doing. It’s a really fun technique.

How would you describe your crafting space? 

I love my sewing room now—especially compared to the little corner I had in our old house that always got stacked with everyone else’s stuff. In this house, we finished the “bonus room” over the garage and it’s half sewing room, half home office—literally divided in half. The right side is completely designated for my quilt making and, for the most part, everyone else respects it. I only occasionally have to clear someone else’s something-or-other off my cutting table, but usually it’s my own mess. The computers and my home office space are all on the left side. Now that the kids are heading off to college, we’ve removed their old computer and computer desk to get a little more elbow room. Yes, my quilt making is likely to start invading the left side of the room too. Lighting is a bit of an issue—another long term project.

Do you have a plan to conquer your UFOs?  Are you working on one now?

I didn’t have a ton of UFOs until my mother passed away and I put my own projects on the back burner to finish many of her UFOs so they could be shared with family as she would have intended. She had a lot of UFOs! I think I did an episode on that topic, too—talking about how I chose which to finish, which to give to other quilters, and which to just donate. That being said, I co-facilitated UFO challenges two years running in my guild, so I’ve really whittled down the number of UFOs I have left to finish. I still have maybe two or three of my own, and one of my Mom’s. I have one of my own on my design wall as I ponder quilting patterns for it—that may make it on my sewing machine next while I also start cutting out my next new project. I’m at a very comfortable point with my UFOs—they no longer feel overwhelming! Mostly, now that I’m back into my normal groove, I tend to finish what I started so I’m not really creating new UFOs for myself.

You seem to always have a challenge on to motivate your listeners.  What was your most successful challenge and what do you see in your future?

I figure that I’m not the kind of podcaster who will be posting tutorials or pattern designs or who will have an Etsy shop. But I can challenge people! I love doing creativity challenges because they’re so open-ended. In fact, in all of my challenges I really prefer to be “inclusive” rather than “exclusive.” In other words, I go rules-lite. Not only do I want as many people as possible to feel like they can participate, but the fewer rules I set up, the more I get to be surprised by the results! I love seeing the wide variety of ways that people interpret a challenge. If you judge success by the number of people participating, my most successful challenge to date was probably the first quarter of the stash mystery challenge in which people had to do something related to flowers and use two fabrics from their stash. I think I had something like 15 people participate in that one and I loved seeing their photos. I’m continuing the stash mystery challenges through 2011—the current quarter’s theme is “inspired by children’s artwork.” I’d like to do another creativity challenge using the inspirational photograph again—I enjoy those even though fewer people tend to participate--and I’m pondering one that has a tie-in with charity quilts.

And The Winner Is...

There were 10 entries into our celebratory fat quarter give away last week.  Many thanks to all of those who entered.  Using http://www.random.org/ we found our winner...lucky number 7! 

Everyone, please meet Allison (AKA Yorkie Mom).  She is from Michigan and is currently creating a birthday quilt.  I was in touch with Allison on Friday and she is very excited to win our packet of FQs.  Allison, enjoy them and please do send in a photo of your final project.  We look forward to seeing what you create! 

As you know, I am working on my sampler quilt.  I am so, so, so close to finished!  I have nearly finished the binding except for a 3 inch piece where I found a mistake!  When I layered the quilt, I was short on the backing on this side, but I did not realize it until it was too late (i.e. quilted and the binding on).  So, when I was hand stitching the binding, this piece pulled out from under the machine sewn side.  Oh no! 

Does anyone have an idea of how to fix this?  I can undo the machine binding and have not finished the hand sewing on the other side, so I can still "deconstruct" a bit in this area to (somehow?) fix it.   You can see in the photos below my problem :(

To make things worse, I was trimming the loose threads from the quilt top and my scissors slipped!  ARG!  So now I have a mini hole in the sashing as you can maybe see in the photo below. Its between the quilting and the pin.  Again, does anyone have an idea of how to patch this? Its a little too difficult to deconstruct the quilt at this point to replace the sashing.    

That's the news, guys.  I'd be thrilled if anyone could give me a way to fix either of these problems. Until then, I'm a little stuck.  Here's hoping your projects are a little smoother than this one :)  Happy quilting.

The Big Question

Here is the big question I have been thinking about for days:  Do I buy a second seam ripper? 

You see, I used mine over the weekend, but it has gone missing. I searched my sewing space, under furniture, etc. I thought maybe the cat thought it was a toy and batted it under baskets, etc.  Nope, not there. 

I am not a person surrounded by clutter.  This is important on two fronts: 1) I do not want a second anything until I am sure the first is broken or gone and 2) I am tidy enough that I should be able to find lost things quickly.

So, here is the question: Do you generally have doubles of important things like seam rippers or rotary cutters?  Where do you draw the line between keeping well supplied and running out of space in your sewing room?

Note: I would put a little picture of a seam ripper here to brighten up the blog, but I can't find it :)

Lattice Illusions Class

Recently I had the opportunity to take a class with Christine Porter to make a quilt (or wall hanging) based on Italian cathedral floors.  She has translated these 3D illusions into quilt patterns in her book Viva Venezia.  There were several pros and cons to the class, but I am not interested in discussing them here.  What I am interested in discussing is color/fabric choices made by my class mates. 

The success or failure of this pattern is based on the juxtaposition of light and dark fabrics. Some people chose patterned fabrics (vs my solids) and others chose colors (vs my gray, navy, brown).  I tried to take as many photos as possible as a way for me to reflect on fabric choices. Why did some of these work so nicely when others (in my opinion) were a bit flat.  I thought maybe you would like to see the many variations of the same pattern too.

What works to you?  What can be improved? Do you like the patterned fabric or solids?  Batiks vs not.  I'm curious to hear your analysis.

Lecture By Melinda Bula

I had the great pleasure of attending a talk by Melinda Bula in Dublin.  She was giving a workshop at our guild retreat, but I am not skilled enough to keep up with her.  Still, she gave a lecture Saturday evening and it was such a pleasure to have a peek at her quilts! 

The lecutre was very light hearted, fun and chatty.  Since she had to travel internationally, she could "only" bring the quilts in the exhibition and one for the talk, so mostly we saw photos.  Not to worry, you really get the idea of how spectacular they are even in images.  The main take-away points from the lecutre?  First, you are an artist and do not let anyone tell you differently.  Second, do not listen to the quilt police.  It does not matter if your points are perfect if your overall quilt is beautiful.  Finally, just go off and create something beautiful and be happy.

Above all, the thing that will strike you is Melinda's incredible use of fabric, color and very dense quilting.   I tried to photograph as much as I could in the exhibition, but it was hard to hold the quilt back up, keep it steady and take a photo with only two hands :)  Sometimes it worked, other times you'll have to squint to see through the burred image.  Enjoy!

Fresh as a Daisy (2007)
I start with a photo of the entire quilt to give you an idea of the colors and applique used, but then have a image of the violets (or sweet peas?) in the lower right hand corner to show the detail.  Finally, have a close look at the last photo to see the incredible quilting that went into each piece.  Yes, that is the back!

Monterey at Dusk (2007) I was primarily drawn to Melinda's floral quilts, but this a favorite of many at the exhibition.  I tried like crazy to get a photo of the back. She used a blue wavy fabric as backing, compounded with the zillion stitches and my shaky hand, I could only get a blurry image.  Sorry!

Splendor in the Grass (2007) really reminded me of my Mom's lillies by the mail box.  Again, I start with a photo of the entire quilt and then focus on the center of one lilly.    It really looks like a watercolor painting, doesn't it?  Finally, the bottom right photo is of the quilting on the back. 

 

I have many more photos to share from our exhibition; more of Melinda's quilts as well as other spectacular pieces by local quilters. Check back next Tuesday!

Happy quilting.

I Think I Have the Hang of This Now

I went to my first quilt retreat this past weekend and had a really great time!  Oh, if you have not done this yet, you really need to give it a try.  I will get into more detail in a bit.

On my long, solo drives to and from the retreat, I did a lot of thinking about quilts and this blog.  I decided I want to do this a little differently.  Although part of my rational for writing a blog at all was to give me a bit of motivation to quilt and craft regularly just to have something to post.  In many ways this has been successful, such as with my sampler quilt.  However, I think I could use a little less motivation :) 

Instead I want to do each day as a different theme, like a mini-magazine where each day is a column.  This gives me a chance to post an update on each project or interest about once a week.  Enough to keep me going, but not enough to be pressure.  Sounds good to me if it sounds good to you.

I was thinking of this:
Monday - embroidery update.  I tend to do a lot on the weekend and it will give me a chance to get good day time photos to post.
Tuesday - tid-bits.  There's a lot to say - what's in my local magazine?  play lists I listen to while quilting? mistakes and mis-haps?  and on and on and on.
Wednesday - quilty works in progress.  I saw this on several blogs. I do not know who to credit with the idea, but it is a good one. 
Thursday - I am looking for an idea here.  Anyone have a suggestion?  I'd like to have regular interviews, but I do not know that many quilters.
Friday - product and book reviews.
Saturday and Sunday - off to create something to write about for the next week.  No new posts here.

How does that sound?  I am completely open to suggestions if I am missing something.

Now, more about my recent quilt retreat. I went to Dublin for Friday through Sunday evening with the Quilter's Guild of Ireland.  I'll give you an update on my new projects on Wednesday, but I wanted to give you a little preview of the eye candy displayed this weekend.  There was a quilt exhibition of mostly Irish quilters and their work was beautiful.  Let's do a few quilts a week...starting with these three fantastic examples:

Mary Palmer entered a quilt called Woven Paths.  Check out the quilting in the photo on the right!

Maureen Kennedy presented a quilt called Star of Hope which was spectacular.

And finally (for today at least) there was an unnamed quilt by Moya Geraghty of Patchwork Plus that was designed by Moya herself and Mary Palmer.  

If that do not have you running to your sewing space right now, I do not know what will! 

Please leave a comment with suggestions for the Thursday column if you have an idea to share.  I could use a little help.

Personal Challenge: Day 1

I am making a sampler quilt as a gift for a friend....in slow motion.  Although I love the idea of a sampler quilt, my fabric choice makes me happy and I really enjoy choosing the blocks, I am finding it very slow going. I think this is primarily because each square has to be individually cut instead of having a pile of half square triangles sitting next to me that need to be assembled.  I have not found my groove.

I have to have this quilt finished (quilted and bound) by the end of May, so I started to panic a little yesterday.  I sat down to take stock and much to my surprise I only have 5 blocks remaining to make (in a 25 block quilt). 

This is reasonable!  I can do this!  I have challenged myself to create 5 blocks in 5 days. Today is day 1 and I decided to make a Delectable Mountains square.  I sketched out my little block (the top photo), did the math and set out cutting my fabric.  The only problem is, I should have made mirrored half square triangles instead of matching half square triangles!  I ended up with a little disaster that resembled a road sign warning of a cliff edge or the mountain climbing setting on your treadmill!  Not what I wanted at all!

Now, I also did not want to start over and waste such a huge amount of fabric (these are 15x15" squares at this stage, mind you) so we had a try at re-arranging them into another pattern.  I now announce the release of the new, modern Lightening Bold quilt square :)   To be honest, I kind of like it.

What to do? What to do?

I registered for a "mystery class".  This may have been a mistake.

You see, I have tried to choose a series of classes for 2011 where I could learn new skills.  As I am a new quilter, I thought signing up for a "mystery class" may expose me to something new - something I may not choose for myself, something a tad beyond my comfort level to stretch me a bit more.

Well, that is all fine and well until you try to buy the fabric for it!  I have received a requirement list that reads something like this:

Fabric 1 - medium/dark print: 50 cm
Fabric 2 - light print: 50 cm
...and on and on for 11 fabrics!

You notice I have not inserted a photo in this posting.  This is because its a mystery and I do not have one - or even a description of the theme of the quilt.  Are you having a hard time visualizing the final product from a list such as this?  Me too! 
I spent a good amount of time working through this requirement list over the weekend trying to find a fabric collection to suit all of the requirement descriptions, which of course is impossible.  It is very difficult to choose patterns and colors without knowing how they will sit next to one another in a quilt.  I tried as best I can, but I foresee a good amount of un-sewing after I return home and insertion of a better choice of fabrics.

Have any of you taken a mystery class?  Any suggestions of how to be best prepared for a course such as this?

Warning: Think For Yourself!

Be sure you are thinking for yourself.  It is a good rule to live by in general.  Here, I am more interested in applying it to quilting math.

I will be taking a class with Christine Porter in the next few weeks.  I am really looking forward to the trip as Christine's work is beautiful and I will meet many new people.  Yesterday I went to my local quilt shop to buy the fabric I need for the course.  As it is really a study in light fabric playing on dark, I chose fabrics from the Makower UK Spraytime line with a tone-on-tone spray instead of the bright patterns I usually choose.

Once I had the bolts piled up for cutting, we realized that it was quite a lot of fabric for a 45x60 inch quilt.  We  re-calculated the yardage from the cutting instructions and found that regularly the math was incorrect and I could purchase less than what was listed in the pattern.  In the end I saved about 20 euro on my purchase...enough to buy the new ruler and the travel iron listed in the course requirements list! 

This is the second time this has happened to me.  Has it happened to everyone and we just do not tallk about it?  Lesson learned: I will always back calculate from the cutting instructions to the listed yardage to save myself a bit of cash and reduce the old scrap pile.  I would rather spend that extra money on a new brightly colored fat quarter, after all.

I hope to have a beautiful quilt to show you in April!

Misguided Brown Goose

I am SLOWLY making a sampler quilt as a wedding gift for my friends. Now, here is the problem.  I can not for the life of me get the two green triangles to match on point in the center.  No matter how many times I rip it apart and re-align the locking seams, it will NOT align correctly. 

So, here are the many questions floating through my head:
1) How important is this really?  In a 25-square sampler quilt, will they ever notice?  Or care?  Most likely no, but I will?

2) Do you have a suggestion to fix my green triangles?  You can see all of the neighboring seams match, the blue/white regions are just fine, but green has gone astray! 

Looking at this now in a stand along photo, I realize the block looks very busy with the patterned blue/red/green and the patterned white/blue fabric.  Really, it will look fine in the overall quilt.  Just trust me a little while longer and hopefully you will see the finished product ;)
Any suggestions you may have are welcome.

Really, I am a Quilter!

You may have noticed that this blog is called Fluffy Sheep Quilting, but I have posted very little about quilting.  Really, I am a quilter first and have started playing with soft toys and embroidery in my evenings for immediate satisfaction.

Still, quilting is my happiness.  This was my second quilt (started spring 2010).  I found the pattern in Material Obsessions by Kathy Doughty and thought this would be a good pattern to start with. I had not quilted before (or even seen someone quilt before) so I just jumped in! 

I wish I knew then what I know now.  The majority of the points don't match as I really did not know what I was doing.  That being said, I love the colors and patterns in the fabric and you have to start somewhere, don't you?  Lesson learned, though.  Find what you love and jump in, but do not expect perfection.  Take every class you can and learn from many teachers.  This is going to be a journey, but a happy one.

I am going back to basics now and doing a traditional sampler quilt. I hope to post a few blocks this week for you to have a peek!