Woot. I did it.

What was I waiting for? Why was I so afraid of free motion quilting?

I finally took the plunge.


Yes, this is the front. But those of you who preferred the sashing, don't despair....


....maybe *this* is the front! I didn't want to purchase any fabric for this project and I didn't have enough to back two quilts...so now I have a "reversible" quilt.

The FMQ wasn't bad at all *except*:
1. I kept reading how fatiguing it is...but it's hard to believe how tired my shoulders were!
2. Logically I understand why this would take so much thread. But I was still shocked that 8 bobbins weren't enough.

The key to the whole hand speed vs. machine speed ratio for me seems to be music. If I got too focused on quilting I would mess up, but if I was bopping around to upbeat music (put Michael Jackson into Pandora, you won't be sorry. MJ, Stevie, Marvin Gaye, Prince, and even Queen and the Beatles!!) I wouldn't get overly stressed about what I was doing. I think margaritas would have a similar effect. I will test this and let you know.

Speaking of messing up, I had one major faux pas.


HMMMM....Where'd that crease come from? I didn't baste well, most of my safety pins are tied up in half done quilts, and I didn't feel like hand basting. I paid for it (plus I think I should try starting in the middle instead of the edge, but I liked hiding the beginning of my quilting in the binding). I'm not pulling all the quilting out to fix this -- I'm leaving it as a badge of honor on my first FMQ quilt! More pictures coming when I finish the binding.


Also, I tried Angry Chicken's Iced Tea concentrate this week and I am in love. Super fast, super easy, and super good! This is one family bag of decaf black tea and two bags of blueberry tea. Yummy! I do a ratio of one glassful of ice, two thirds full of water and topped off with concentrate.

And lastly, I've been thinking about organizing a Christmas in August swap/modified round robin. I love Christmas fabrics, I love scrappy quilts...what could be better than putting them together?!? I thought each participant could make six (or 12?) scrappy Christmas blocks (maybe based on Oh, Fransson's scrappy starling tutorial) and send a block or two to each participant (more planning inserted here). Then we would each end up with 12 Christmas blocks in a variety of different fabrics without having to buy a ton of fabric. Then we would have plenty of time to assemble, quilt, and bind before the holidays! Would anyone be interested?

Poodles and Pop

I got a bug in my bonnet for a new skirt and dug the biggest piece of fabric I could find out of my stash. I had bought a pattern a few weeks ago that included a petticoat for a dress I have, and decided to take this costume poodle skirt and make it into work wear!


It took a lot of fabric, I had to piece the yardage I had to make it work.



I've also made a decision about my Old Red Barn Quilt-Along quilt, which you should see the results of later today or tomorrow!

I want to end with a little mourning for Michael Jackson. Michael was a big part of my childhood; "Thriller" was the first album I bought (I can still do the Vincent Price "rap" from start to finish), and I was also the proud owner of "Bad" on vinyl. When my college radio station did an 80s retrospective, they knew to come to me to borrow "HIStory."

He was a talented man, better equipped to deal with the stage than he was the rest of his life. I think of him as two people, the musician of the late 60s-early 90s, and the man who couldn't deal with celebrity, who also seemed to be trying to change himself into someone else.

This is the Michael Jackson I choose to remember, singing my favorite of all of his hits:

Help! I need somebody.....

....to love. Wait, I'm getting my Beatles and Queen mixed up. I *really* need some help deciding how to proceed with my Old Red Barn Quilt-Along blocks. Yes, I am still behind.

I attempted to lay out all the blocks today. Not easy to do with a nervous old golden retriever and an active almost-three-year-old. Forty-two 12.5" blocks make a big quilt! I think regardless of how I decide to assemble the blocks I am going to make two smaller lap quilts rather than one big quilt. But should I butt all the squares up against one another:


Or make 4 block squares and add sashings?


Thoughts?

Also, Courtney and I have been eyeing this retro baseball-themed fabric for our baseball-themed swap -- and The Fabric Shopper is doing a giveaway. Wish me luck, and let me know if you see this in any online shops!

Cleveland Rocks!

We spent the weekend in Cleveland celebrating my dad's retirement (36 years teaching middle school). My dad is a huge Indians fan so we hit up a baseball game and spent the next day at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Jaxon wasn't thrilled by the game, too loud, and didn't "get" the hall of fame...but he sure enjoyed the waterfront!



I also delivered this custom order to my sister to give to a woman at work who just had a baby.


Now it's back to grading. I'll come up for air on Wednesday!

Strips for Quilt

Strips for Quilt
Originally uploaded by modernjax

I've joined Old Red Barn Co.'s Quilt-Along. I'm a week behind, but I chose all the fabric from my stash (nothing purchased) based on these Hawaiian prints a friend bought on a trip to the islands.

Also, I am guest blogging over at T Minus, T Plus, a fashion blog. I'll be featured every Friday in June!

Are we there yet?

It seems like this school year should have been over *weeks* ago, but we are still chugging along. This is the last week of classes, next week is finals week, and then it's grading time. *sigh*

I've been absolutely swamped, but I have stolen a few moments at the sewing machine. It seems the concept of making a large quilt in a week was a silly one (as I am now going on week 3), but I did make progress.

The backing:


Basted:


Soon to be quilting! Be back soon!

In the blink of an eye

The week is over in a blink! It's hard to believe Mother's Day was a week ago.

We went handmade this year (kind of including my gift -- a GC to FatQuarterShop.com). I made my mom and my MIL pillow shams. Jaxon's school had a fundraiser over the holiday where parents could by their children's artwork on mugs, matted prints, tshirts, postcards, and squares of fabric. I used Jaxon's tree as the center square with this cute tree-themed fabric from JoAnn.

I got one shot before Jaxon hijacked the pillows.

After that, I got one more shot off before I was told no more pictures!

I also made rice therapy packs for my sis and SIL. They were inspired by one I received from Courtney (that I never got a photo of because it's been in use all the time). I kind of miscalculated the amount of rice necessary and I now have a giant mixing bowl full of lemon and eucalyptus scented rice. Or as Charlie says, "lemon pledge and mentholyptus."



Now that these gifts are done, I've decided to challenge myself. Can I make a quilt in a week? Not a doll quilt or a table runner -- but an honest to goodness quilt-sized quilt! I had all the fabric cut for my beach/picnic blanket so I started sewing blocks on Wednesday. Here they are as of this morning, they are now sewn together in a quilt top.


This was probably a really bad challenge to do during the school year, but I have so many WIPs I wanted to see if I could actually complete something start to finish in a shorter time frame than the year it usually takes me. Of course, I've completed the part I like -- now I need to piece the backing and baste. UGH. This won't be done by Wednesday -- too many papers to grade!! -- but maybe by the weekend.

And look what the mail carrier brought to my house this week: a swap package from Courtney. I was so excited to get this lovely quilt on the table that I forgot to also photograph the accompanying fabric coasters! Thanks Courtney!

This is called "April Showers bring May Flowers." Check out the *adorable* rain print!

Spring Swap

Thanks for all the kind comments about my tenure. My director has received a copy of my promotion letter, but I have yet to see my copy, so I have been joking that this is all an elaborate hoax. But it better not be!!

Courtney and I are swapping again (we can't be stopped). We decided on a spring-themed mini quilt with embroidery and one other item. I was inspired by her post about Jay's Meadow, and, as usual Project Improv. You may need sunglasses for these pics -- the quilt *is* bright, and it was an extra sunny day -- and my batteries died before I could shoot more than a couple of pictures.

I drew some flowers on linen, and then embroidered using two different shades of pink. I filled in all the blank areas with french knots, going for the look of a wild meadow.

After some machine quilting, I had the perfect spot on the back for a label...

Whoops, this is before I stitched down the label.

And I also made a necklace out of fabric covered beads (Midwest Modern Ohio Sky). I love how this turned out (I *must* make one for me) but I am a little concerned about its staying power. Courtney, keep me posted on how it wears!

My batteries died right after this shot, and I was too lazy to dig out the fully charged set, so this will have to do.

Also, I've been meaning to "comment" on this post by Joanna about turning off commenting on her blog. Can you other bloggers identify with this? I can, but not completely. I *do* feel guilt about being a delinquent responder to comments, and I agonize over you "no-reply" commenters (commenters who only leave a name, but no way of responding via email). I always think, "Does she know I can't respond, or does she think I'm ignoring her thoughtful comment?" When the no-reply commenter has a blog, I always try to leave a comment....but wonder if it is enough. Oh, the angst!

I also identify with Joanna feeling sorry for herself for not getting "enough" comments. I recognize that this is ridiculous, having a blog is not a popularity contest (and admitting my insecurities has me insecure), but there it is.

I think, though, for me blogging is not just about throwing my thoughts/work/family out there into the internet ether, but making connections with people who, although aren't geographically near me, share a commonality. Whether that commonality is crafting, or caring for a toddler, or balancing a career with both those former things, it's nice to have friends who understand me....even if they don't "know" me in a traditional sense.

So I am making the choice to leave my commenting "on." I look forward to hearing from you, old friends.

Necessary Fabric Hoarding

I finished a couple of gifts today but, along with a package I sent out last week, I can't share with you yet. I need to start making for myself instead of making gifts so I have something to post!

I did do *something* for myself. I've been drooling over Elizabeth House's new line, Red Letter Day. It's finally available and I snatched up a fat quarter pack -- (*justification ahead*) I needed to see the whole line to match to my dining room for curtains, etc.


Here's what I am thinking:

Trees = roman shade; Rings = french door curtains (this looks yellow on the linked page but is actually green); stripe = chair pads for the chairs currently without

I like how the tree print has black (like the furniture), green (like the walls), and orange (like two of my vintage chairs and the pads on the others). Thoughts or other ideas?

And, you know, you save on shipping if you place a bigger order (don't burst my bubble), so I picked up this as well:

I have a feeling this will be one of those prints that I can't bring myself to cut. *sigh*

edited to add: I almost forgot! I found out today that my tenure case has been approved. I am now an Associate Professor.

May Already??

I haven't posted in awhile thinking I didn't have any pictures to share (and I hate a photo-less post). I had two projects I couldn't show you, so I avoided posting. When I downloaded my photos from the camera this evening I realized I had plenty to show you: I have the cutest boy in the world!

I *can* show you one of the projects -- my mom's birthday quilt. Mom's birthday is today (Happy Birthday), and we gave her the quilt yesterday so I am now safe. You might remember this quilt top from way back here. I put it on the back burner when I thought mom might suspect she was getting it for Christmas. I am happy to say I finished this in time to include in my Spring to Finish. I need a hand quilting break for a bit.

Speaking of Spring to Finish, Jacquie is doing a second in May (because some of us have a lot of WIPs to finish)!! I'm hoping to get two or three half-done projects off my plate, and will be including the painting of my sewing room on the list.

In non-crafting news, we took Jaxon to Final Friday in April, and let him look at the trains. He was a bit disappointed he couldn't climb all over them, but still had fun.


Also, in my April roundup:

We ate watermelon...

...and put paper towels on our heads.

Fun!

Stash Busting

Look, over there on the right (unless you are reading this in an aggregator, in which case carry on). I finished two WIPs! Here they are:

These were requested by my mom and I've had the fabric since January. The shoulder bag has a magnetic closure and the handbag a zipper closure, both with the usual interior (zip pocket on one side and patch pockets on the other).

I also made progress on a couple of other items. I finished the (modified) top of this quilt -- started in 2007 (!!) -- and pieced the back. I bought batting today so I have to work up my machine quilting confidence. I made some practice squares but have yet to actually practice.

I also made progress on another quilt that I bought the fabric for a year ago, and pieced most of in a class. I finished the borders last night. So to celebrate I am starting a new quilt! I know, it doesn't make much sense, but last year I wanted to make a picnic/beach quilt and I never got around to it. Because we are planning a beach trip this year I thought I better get started now.

I'm thinking of big easy blocks in bright colors that will go together fast. I've been online browsing for fabric ideas...when I remembered a few things in my stash that would be perfect:

I bought the retro states fabric at the end of last year thinking of a quilt for around the house. The rest was bought at the Super Bowl sale at my (kind of) LQS. I picked up a couple more prints at JoAnn today, but they are in the washer so you'll have to wait until the reveal of the blocks to see!

Dreary

Things around here are just dreary...rainy and chilly. I'm beginning to feel like the cold has crept into my bones. Where is spring?

I did get a couple of crafts done before Easter for a little decorating in the dining room.


I turned my bunny embroidery into some eggs to adorn branches. I've seen branches used around blogland to great effect (like here and here), but it didn't work so well for me. I didn't actually want to cut anything off the trees, so I took twigs from a pile that Jaxon and I had collected earlier in the week. Once in the house they *tormented* Jaxon. I kept finding him offering them to the dog to chew.


And these little stuffies were great fun to make. Two bunnies and a kitty from the Chibi Rabbit tutorial...


I made some Rugelach to celebrate my Jewish friends, and brother-in-law, and that cheered me up for a bit (although I had to eat them with hot tea because, once again, I am cold).

But this guy could cheer up a pig on Easter eve:



PS You might have notice a couple of additions to the right column. I updated my books list and added the Spring to Finish button. I am joining Jacquie in hopes of finishing some WIPs. The WIPs list (which I believe is still incomplete) is also now in the right column.

PPS The results of the Dr. Seuss contest are in and I didn't place...which I am slightly bummed about but there were some seriously cute quilts in the competition. I'm blaming my loss on poor photographic representation. So it's my fault either way.

Bunny Love

I had a rough week, way too much bad news. I needed a quick pick me up, so I planned a little embroidery to add to some Easter decorations.

I snatched up a yard of this fabric about a minute after I saw it on Pickled Pear Lane (from Anna Griffin's Riley line). I thought maybe I'd make some fabric eggs or a bunting for Easter. I taped the fabric to our french doors to let the light shine through...

...and held some leftover linen over it. I traced a few bunnies onto the linen with a water soluble pen.

Can you make out the bunny I drew? Maybe if you click?

And here are my three completed bunnies ready to adorn some eggs. Are the tails too big, do you think?

By the way, thanks for all the comments on my Dr. Seuss quilt over at Flickr. Because there were less entries than expected, Diane has moved voting here. Please feel free to cast a vote for my pieced letters!

Thrift Finds

Often I will talk about going to the "big city" about an hour away (Columbus, pop. 750,000), and compared to the nearest village about 5 miles away (Logan, pop. 7,000), it is a shopping mecca. Every now and again I need a few things I can't get nearby but I don't want to drive an hour, so I head to "town," (Lancaster, pop. 35,000). In about 15 or 20 minutes I can be at JoAnn and Lowe's, so it's not too bad.

On my last foray "to town" I decided to check out the local thrift stores. I've never been to one in Lancaster, but I keep seeing awesome thrift store scores in blogland and I wanted in on the action.


The first stop yielded a couple of wool sweaters destined to be felted, and the pink and yellow vintage necklaces in the shot above. The second stop got me the vintage navy handbag (It was $2.99 and 50% off. Charlie read the tag as $299...I had some explaining to do), as well as a dress and skirt not pictured. At the third stop (not *really* a thrift store, but a vintage shop) I found the red handbag and the chain-style necklace. Everything on the table cost less than $10 total. SCORE!

I don't think I am going to get a lot of use out of the red handbag, though, Jaxon has not put it down since it came home (as you might be able to tell from the picture). He opens it every few minutes and declares "I'm checking somping."


I don't know how I missed blogging about *this* lovely scarf I got a few weeks ago from Lauren. I blame my busy end of the quarter schedule. I sent Lauren a purse to test for me, and she sent me this scarf. Check out the hand twisted fringe! I've worn it twice already and plan to wear it this week. It looks great with a dress or my denim jacket. Thanks, Lauren!

Happy Belated Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

In recognition of National Crafting Month (March), and in celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Seuss (March 2nd -- yah Pisces!!), Diane of Bee Square Blog suggested a Dr. Seuss-themed quilting contest.


My entry is finally complete, but it has taken me all month to get to that point! I think being busy at work, and time consuming free-pieced letters and embroidery are not a good mix! But I made it in under the wire.


My favorite parts of any Dr. Seuss book are the words. Yes, his illustrations are lovely and whimsical, but there is something about the rhymes that get me every time. My favorite of all of his books is "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish," and mostly for the line "From Near to Far, from Here to There, Funny things are EVERYWHERE!" So true, you just have to look for them.


Free pieced letters and embroidery comprise the phrase, and I quilted the whole thing using silly shapes. I spent way too much money on a Dr. Seuss pillowcase, and ripped it apart to back the wallhanging. I had to piece a bit to get it to work, so I used one improvised block as the label. If you look closely you'll see the tag from the pillowcase on the label!


I'm not quite sure how voting will work. Entries are to be uploaded to Flickr, and the contest rules state that the five quilts with the most comments will go on to the final round of voting. My quilt is number 5, so we'll see how things go.


If you like what I've made please go here and leave a comment on the image! Thanks!

Spring? Not quite.

It's still a bit chilly out to feel spring-like, but Jaxon would like to present a little spring in quilt form.


This is the quilt I made for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap Monochromatic Challenge. The recipient only specified color, not season. I had remembered this tutorial on one seam flying geese. The bright green rows of geese reminded me of the return of flocks we see in the Midwest around this time of year. I added the "swirl" of quilting to symbolize the brisk winds that sometimes precede them, and called it "Spring Migration."

Here is the back. I pieced the scraps that were left when I cut the geese, and added one white block to serve as the label.


I did cheat *a bit.* The challenge was to use only shades of one color with black or white. I went for navy, both in the binding and the quilting. There's something very "clean" to me in the combination of spring green and navy blue...I think it was worth breaking the rules.

I had a good mail call week. I won a giveaway from Diane of Bee Square Fabrics. This *adorable* charm pack found its way to my house -- all Japanese kawaii. Thanks, Diane, I already have a plan for it!


And, remember earlier in the year, I decided this would be the year I decide if I am going to like knitting? Well I haven't picked up a needle, but I had been vocally coveting these mitts. Well, it's good to have friends who love to knit. A surprise package came from Courtney that contained these...


Oh, they are so beautiful and soft -- the photo doesn't do the color justice. Thank you so much, Courtney! They look *fabulous* with my read coat, and I look forward to warmer weather when I can pair them with my denim jacket!

Palindromes

Otto.

Racecar.

Madam, I'm Adam.

33.

For 363 more days my age is a palindrome. I had a very nice birthday weekend, with lots of nice weather, good food and some sewing time. Unfortunately this is the last week of classes before final exams, so things are really busy.


I do have my blocks ready to go for Project Improv. I finished 3 orange and pink blocks, which is no where near the 40 blocks Bekhy made.

I also completed the International Women's Day Fat Quarter Swap -- all purple and green in honor of the suffragettes. My partner was Vicki (check out her blog to see what I sent). I received Vicki's package on my birthday (how apropos), and she sent some of the most delicious, deep–colored fabrics ever! It's hard to choose my favorite fabric -- I love the gradient -- but the stripe is pretty amazing as it gets darker and lighter but the contrast stays...well...high contrast. Thanks, Vicki!

Sorry the image is blurry, I had a choice of a sharp focus with untrue colors, or soft focus with true-to-life colors. I went for the colors.

I should be back later this week (fingers crossed) with my completed Four Seasons Quilt Swap quilt, and some progress on my Dr. Seuss challenge quilt. Ot I might just share all my incomplete grading with you!