Dusting off a UFO

I absolutely love my medallion quilt top. I love the colors.  I love how each of my favorite fabrics make an appearance.  I love how the random unplanned borders work together.  Sadly, though, it has become a UFO.  You see, I hit a bump with my last attempt at a border and then could not find my rhythm again.  This past weekend, though, I dusted it off, spread it out on the landing and had a good planning session to find a way forward....

I'm sorry for the very poor indoor lighting....its winter, you know.

My next border is going to be a series of flying geese, using a template made especially for this project by the wonderful Kelly of Jeli Quilts.  I gave them a test run 6+ months ago (the template makes them so easy peasy!) and then promptly lost interest.  I do not know why.  For some reason, though I have the itch to finish this top off.  I keep day dreaming about the corner blocks for this next border.  About how it will be quilted. About the binding fabric.  I had better get stitching while I have medallion mojo!

So, my quilty math tells me that I need 80 low volume charms for this next border.  That is a bit of a problem for me as my LV stash isn't huge.  I have 68 cut and am sure I can find the last 12 if I dig deep enough.

And then I need 80 focus prints for the actual geese.  Now here I had no problem pulling fabrics.  Are you sitting down?  This is the first time EVER that I have voluntarily pulled a few brown fabrics to be included in a project.  I have even shocked myself.

I cut like a maniac this weekend and now have 80 focus prints ready to be paper pieced into a pretty, color-saturated flock.

As my Sunday was drawing to a close and I would not have time to truly, diligently sew flying geese blocks (even though I'm now mostly prepared...), I thought I would have a dig through the old scrap bin to pull out my mini scraps for the next (after goose) border.  I know I am really getting ahead of myself, but it's a pretty mindless, rewarding project that I can dive in/out of during the week after work.  There's something to be said for having a go-to goal for nights when I'm tired.

I think I have found a bit of a medallion vibe.  I am energized, excited and inspired so I am just going to run with it.  I can already imagine where it will hang in my stairwell, so I had better get my bum into gear and start stitching!  Happy happy to be back in the saddle again.   

Color Theory Charm Star - Finished Top

Another top!  Not messing, now, are we?  This is my third finished baby quilt top from the Christmas holiday.  I started this months ago, but it sat on my design board waiting for rows to be sewn together.  I just lost my drive, but now that it's together I love it!

The photos do not give the colors in this top justice.  There's more contrast and depth when you see it in person.  Anyway, I used a Color Theory charm pack in combination with Kona Snow from the bolt (but there are charm packs in the shop which would make this top even easier!) to create HTS, arranged them so the prints look "random" and stitched them together in a pretty design.  For any normal, focused person it would only take a day to finish the top - for me it took months of dithering.  I got there in the end.

That's it!  My three finished tops from the Christmas holiday.  Come back tomorrow (7 Jan) for the opening of the Q1 2016 FAL linky.  There will be some amazing prizes available, so be sure you join in!

Urban Zoology Charm Quilt Top

Happy Monday!  Did you return to your normal routines today?  I did.  I have to say it was worse thinking about it on Sunday night than it actually was this morning.  It was nice to be out of the house and trying to remember what I was doing before Christmas mania kicked in.

Over the Christmas holiday I finished three small child quilt tops that I'll show you today and tomorrow.  They were all partially started in October and November with the idea that I would try to include them in the shop stall at Christmas markets, but I just did not finish them in time.  So, they sat in my sewing room as a pile of blocks that needed to be sewn into rows and then together.  Low hanging fruit for my Christmas break.

First up, I used an Urban Zoology charm pack from the shop (which has now sold out) mixed with Kona solids to make a charm quilt.  I split the charms in half (to 2.5x5 inch rectangles), framed them in Kona white, lime, red or peacock and then squared the blocks to 6 inches on all sides.  

The entire quilt is surrounded in Kona navy.  I have to say I am not convinced that border should stay on.  I was pretty happy with the unisex brightness of the quilt before I added the border, but after it looks quite dark and male-ish.  We'll see.

As usual, my glamorous photographic assistant was with Sunday while I snapped a few photos.  It is rough taking pictures this time of year - it is always sideways raining, windy and dark.  Sunday it was just overcast and slightly breezy, so you'll see most tops are not straight on the line, but it is the best I could do given the time of year.

 

Poor Molly hasn't been dry in weeks with our crazy weather.  She has been swimming in the floods a good bit, which makes her happy.  The bad thing is the garden is totally saturated, so even when she just goes out for a trot around the yard she's soaked.  Can you see the puddle that formed under me while I took photos of this top?  Crazy!  I was actually sinking the longer I stood still!

Thank goodness for awesome, waterproof boots, huh?

Charm swapping!!! Let the fun begin.

Do you love charm squares?  Scrappy pretty piles of charm squares?  I use them all the time for bee blocks or the quick baby quilt finish, so I like having a colorful selection at the ready.  Several of you have used up your charms from our last swap (me too!) and have asked for another to be organized, so here is your chance to jump in and join in the fun.  It is going to be a small bit different this time, so please read this post fully before signing up.

I am looking for 28 people to join in the fun, but would entertain 56 participants if we are so lucky.  There will be one week of signups starting today and closing on 12 October at midnight.  To sign up, leave a comment below.  If you are (or may possibly be) a no-reply commenter, include your email address in your comment.  Myself, or my fellow Charm Fairy Irina, will be in touch with you after signups close to assign you a color.  That email should arrive by 17 Oct.

When you get your color assignment email, you are to run off and look for TWO prints (1 yard each) that are predominately your assigned color, but in two very different shades of that color.  One dark and the other light.  We are looking for modern prints and not solids.  Be sure that the print you are choosing is of a reasonable scale to be cut into charms.  Fabrics must be 100% cotton of high quality - no cheap-o prints that will bleed everywhere, please.

When you choose your fabric, please upload a photo to the flickr group.  To ensure no duplicates, be sure to check what others have uploaded before you buy your fabric.

Being a Fluffy Sheep Quilting sponsored swap, a 10% discount is offered on any fabrics purchased from the shop.  I will send out a discount code in the email with your color assignment.  If you buy from FSQ, I will also cut the charms for you AND you will not have to pay shipping.  Oh, the happiness!

Cut and ship your fabrics so that they arrive in Galway by 22 November.  If you have not cut charms before, use this tutorial as a guide. A new rotary blade and pressing ahead of time helps a whole bunch.  Include in your parcel a pre-addressed return envelope.  No return envelope, no returned charms.    

You will receive in your returned parcel 112 charms, 56 prints in duplicate.  When shipping comes around, I will ask you to send (via paypal) to me the cost of your shipping so that I do not loose out on paypal fees.  I will not be invoicing you, but requesting you send the payment directly to me by email.

Let's get swapping, friends!

Nearly there!

I live in Galway.  It's a lovely town tucked inland a wee bit from the Atlantic Ocean.  It is (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  Why, then, is it not a booming metropolis where EVERYONE wants to live?  Well, I'll tell you.  It rains.  A lot.

Today was no exception.

I have had enough of the wet weather (apparently the wettest winter since records began in 1866) especially now that the sun is out later into the night.  So, rain or no rain I brought the quilt I am binding out to the line for photos.  I'll show you, rain.  Humpf.

Right. When I realized this was the best photo I was going to get, I went back inside.  Stinker.  

This quilt is a small (42x42 inches) made for a little person in Mexico City.  I am trying to keep it gender neutral, but it is looking more and more girly to me.

On Monday night I quilted a spiral concentric square/rectangle starting in the charm squares. It's quite organic in that each line is not spaced as the last, but generally speaking I tried to keep to straight lines.  I think you can see the quilting a bit better on the back.

I have to say, this was possibly the most quilting fun I've had quilting in AGES.  It's a good thing, too.  This is a motif I'd like to try with Electronica some day.

With the two stripes of yellow and blue and the bold red on the back, I choose a binding with all three colors.  Now, this is the first time I've used a light color binding.  I usually like a dark binding to frame the quilt, so this is a small adventure for me.  So far I like how it ties the quilt together, but I reserve judgement until it's finished and washed.

Tomorrow night I'm meeting up with the Galway Ladies to stitch our late afternoon away.  We have to bring hand work only, so with any luck I'll have this cutie finished tomorrow night.  Boy that feels good.

Nerdy Cross Stitch Strikes Again

As you may know from my IG feed (@fluffysheepquilting), I have just moved day job offices.  My walls are now totally bare and a really depressing grey.  This is a great opportunity to take a blank canvas and create a happy world of colorful hand crafted goodness to surround myself all day.  I already have my I Love Science cross stitch, so there's a good start. 

I went over to my favorite cross stitch shop, Nerdy Little Stitcher, and had a good look around. Although there are many great patterns available, I wanted something that was bone-focused to suit our laboratory.  Lucky for me, you can contact Crystal (the Nerdy Stitcher master mind) and together you can create your own personal pattern!  

She was super fast in replying to my request, was fantastic at taking my ideas into consideration and worked beautifully with me when I wanted to "funk up" the lettering.  How did she know what was in my head!?!? Needless to say I'm thrilled and can't wait to start stitching.  It's a perfect project for my holiday travels.

In other news, we all know how I'm digging hand printed fabric lately.  Really, I am just stashing it like a little squirrel hiding nuts for winter.  Anyway, the amazing Blueberry Park is kicking off a bimonthly fabric club in their shop.  You can sign up for a monthly or annual subscription in three different sized packs (panels, half panels or charms).  My heart couldn't stand the temptation...I've already signed up for the first charm allotment.  Woo hoo!

Texty Charm Swap Goodies

I love it when you know a fabric parcel is on the way, but then you forget and the parcel is a wonderful surprise.  That's exactly what happened with these super texty charm squares!

The lovely May kicked off a texty charm swap several weeks ago and I was lucky enough to jump into a spot.  Thank goodness.  It took a while for text prints to become interesting to me (you guys clued in WAY before I did), but I'm finally coming around.  Since I am a slow grower, though, I have no text prints in my personal stash.  This charm swap was the perfect jumping off point.

I dig so many prints in this stack, but in particular these two catch my eye:

This one too!  Love it.

Oh, I could go on and on with a pile of happiness like this.  Suffice it to say this little surprise bundle made my day.  Thanks so very much, May!

Rainbow Charm Swap: Finished!

It has been AGES since I posted, so I have lots of stuff to tell you guys.  Let's start with a Rainbow Charm Swap update.  In the past few days the poor Irish postal system has been chock-a-block with little charm packs flying to all corners of the world.

Ages and ages ago, I had 56 chatty, excited women sign up for a charm swap.  They each contributed 2 yards of fabric in their assigned color, cut into 112 little 5x5 inch squares.  In return, they were to get 112 charms in a glorious rainbow.  Pretty simple and straight forward, right?  It seemed so until the charms started to arrive at the house!  That means over 6,270 charms!  Yikes!  Each day I'd return from work to find a mini-mountain of fabric happiness.

The pressure was on!  I had to cut charms for the 20-25 people who bought fabric from the shop!   So I cut.  And I cut.  And then I cut some more. I went through several rotary blades, but I did get there in the end!

Of course, as quickly as I could cut, you guys were sending them in the post!

Until I had a mini rainbow growing on one of the shop shelf!

When the final charm pack arrived, it was time to get sorting.  I started with the purples and thought I'd work my way up to pink.  56 charm packs take up a whole lot of space, so I had to extend the kitchen table and spread out.  We ate dinner in the living room several nights!  There was no way I was cleaning this up for a silly meal!  

Until finally I was done!  Done!  I took out my little bin of fabric ribbons and started to tie up packs.  This was my first time using those little fabric cut-offs in any way and I really did like how they added to the feel of the fabric parcel.  I'll absolutely do that again in the future!

It took three MASSIVE shopping bags to get all of the parcels into the car and four trips to the local post office (so as not to flood the place with fabric!).  Anyway, they're now on their way to their new homes.

I hope you guys are pleased when they arrive.  I have loved doing this as there were so many new-to-me swappers.  It was great getting to know you all a bit better and fantastic fun picking out fabric with you all.  Thank you for playing along!

This is another finish for Leanne's 2013 FAL, making it 5 of 8 finishes!  Woo hoo!  

Charm Heaven

These charm squares have really taken over the week.  I thought I would show you how pretty they are looking this evening.  Much to my dismay, after I took this photo I found Catherine's charms on the kitchen table!  I forgot to bring them with me up to the shop!  Sorry, Catherine. They're here - honest.

I cut thousands and thousands of charms from shop fabric, which I really honestly did enjoy doing.  I'm not sure I would want to do thousands more right away, but I could see us doing this annually if you guys are up for it! 

And of course the other gazillion charms came cut by our swap buddies.  Ladies, I so love the fabrics you choose to contribute.  They're gorgeous!  I'm not sure the post lady is thrilled with all of the extra work this week, but I couldn't wait to get home each evening and see what arrived!

I have one more piece to cut for the texty charm swap.  It's become a ritual this evening charm-cutting :)  

Fluffy Sheep Quilting Rainbow Charm Swap

I have several scrappy quilt ideas brewing in my mind, so I was wondering if any of you are up for a rainbow charm swap?

Here's the idea:

Sign ups will be held for 1 week starting today (25 March to 1 April 2013).  I would like to get 28 interested folks, but if I hear from 56 of you I am open to a larger swap.

Once all of the spots are filled, each person will be assigned one color.  You are to run off and look for a print that is predominately that color.  If there are 28 of you, you are buying 1 yard of fabric.  If there are 56 in the swap, then 2 yards of fabric.  We are looking for modern prints, not solids.  Be sure that the print you are choosing is of a reasonable scale to be cut into charms.  Fabrics must be 100% cotton of high quality - no cheap-o prints that will bleed everywhere, please.

When you choose your fabric, please upload a photo to the flickr group.  To ensure no duplicates, be sure to check what others have uploaded before you buy your fabric.

Being a Fluffy Sheep Quilting sponsored swap, a 10% discount is offered on any fabrics purchased from the shop.  I'll send out a discount code in the email with your color assignment.  If you buy from FSQ, I'll also cut the charms for you AND you won't have to pay shipping.  Oh, the happiness!

Get your fabrics over to the Fluffy Sheep household by 6 May 2013 pre-cut into pretty little charm squares.  Include in your parcel a pre-addressed return envelope.  No return envelope, no returned charms.  Be sure you press your fabric before cutting.  Here's a great tute if you've never cut charm squares before.

I will return charm packs to you the week after (13 May 2013), assuming all of your charms arrive on time.  This swap will be open to international folks.  When shipping comes around, I will ask you to send (via paypal) to me the cost of your shipping.  I will not be invoicing you, but requesting you send the payment directly to me by email.

Let's get swapping, ladies!

PS - Please do spread the word on your blogs.  A button will follow, but until then feel free to just swipe the photo above to use in your posts...

Sizzix Test Run

I recently pulled out my new Sizzix and the 4.5 inch HST die for a test run.  Happy days, happy days.  I was so excited to give this a try.  I came prepared with a little charm square as eventually I'd love to make a scrappy HST quilt with all of the bits and bobs laying around my quilting space.  So, I loaded the little machine and gave it a crank.  This is what came out the other side:

Can you see the little lines where the die cut the fabric?  There's very little waste. The largest piece of waste is where the HST points are removed for you and I am MORE than happy to have the machine toss them out instead of me cutting them, then tossing them. 

But there's a problem.  When I went to remove the two HSTs from the die, they were not fully cut from the waste edge.  There are little threads continuing to hold the HSTs together.  Can you see it here?  One in the deep orange at the upper tip of my finger and the other at the yellow-orange near the edge of the fabric square?

And here between the two pieces of HST....

Still, I cracked open a charm pack of Oh Deer and got to cutting.  I'm thrilled with how quickly this went, how precise the pieces are AND that there will be no trimming of the HSTs when they're done.  I had to cut apart each and every one of these with a little pair of scissors. 

I was thrilled that there was so little waste after cutting an entire charm pack.  You'd easily have this much left after squaring HSTs made the traditional way.

So, is that right Sizzix owners?  Do you guys usually have the little threads left over? Is my die dull?  It very much reminded me of cutting with a dull rotary blade.  That can't be right...

EDITED: Just to add, I did try with up to six layers of fabric and had the same issue with at least the top three layers.  The bottom layers were better, but usually had a few hangy-on bits.

I Spy...A Donation Quilt

I wanted to share with you a little I Spy quilt I finished this week.  This quilt will be one of many donated by my local Irish Patchwork Society branch to the pediatric ward in the local hospital.  This is a simple charm quilt made from charms I received in Jennifer's I Spy charm swap, alternated with Kona White charms.  

As I don't know if this will go home with a little girl or boy, I tried to stay gender neutral in my colors and choice of prints.  You'll find a mix of woodland creatures, pigs, bugs, fish, dogs, sheep, campers, birds, turtles, cars and robots...a little something for everyone.

The border is a happy green filled with woodland critters like hedgies, foxes and a squirrel or two.

The back is a dotty white on a blue background mixed with Wellington boots, both from the shop (here and here).  It's quilted in a grid pattern 1/2 inch on either side of each seam, creating a grid pattern.  Thankfully there were no massive wrinkles on this back!

Our quilts will be handed over to the hospital in May.  I hope it keeps a little gal/fella warm during their hospital stay and lifts their spirits if they're feeling down.

Quilt DetailsName - I Spy
Made For - Donation to Galway University Hospital
Fabric - All 100% cotton charm squares with Kona White background, Kona Papaya binding, Dot to Dot backing with Jack & Jenny Wellies
Thread - Pieced and quilted with Aurifil 50 wt in 2600.
Batting - 100% cotton Simply Cotton
Size - Approximately 35x35 inches
Quilting - 1/2 inch on either side of the seams, creating a grid pattern
Pattern - made it up as I went along