Hiatus OVER. Finally.

Welcome back, superfriends!

So it's been a long hiatus.  Trying to get back into the swing of things here at the Anvil.  It's been a LONG time since we raised our heads and looked around.  However, we've not been COMPLETELY dormant.  (Even if it does feel like it sometimes!)  I feel a bit remiss, but I really needed the down time.  Nothing major, just... everything.  Work and personal life and family and holidays and work and work and even work.  Things are - as you might guess - a little wild at work.  We've lost two people from our department in the last month and a half (to other jobs, not anything horrible) and while the supervisors were looking, the rest of us got to pick up the slack.  So... it's been a little rough on all of us.  And now we have a third leaving.  However, we've got the three slots filled, and the new folks start on Monday.  Hopefully things will calm down pretty quick - once we get them trained!

To get us back in the swing of things...

The Star Fruit Cushion.  (tutorial here:  http://www.matchingpegs.com/2010/02/15/star-fruit-cushion-tutorial/).

It's a fabulous design!  I may have to make a couple more of these... maybe even a little bigger.  (This one is made using 8" squares... I am thinking about moving up to 12" squares.  That's a LOT of stuffing, but it would be amazing to lounge against and sew in bed, I am thinking).  And because it's me, I keep thinking about making a wee little one, too.  Just to see if I can.

Other than that, it's been (for Texas) ridiculously cold, so I've made two t-shirt scarves.  They are simple simple simple to make.  Recently that's been a good thing.  I may make another one, with a few variations.  After all, it's still winter time in Texas, and this year, winter seems to be taking itself seriously.

And... of course it's almost that time again... Faire time.  Which means more garb-making.  So far I've got the basics - chemise and bloomers.  :)  Gotta have my underpinnings!  (We'll see this weekend if they pass muster.  I hope so!).  I know what the skirt and bodice will look like - again, pending final approval.  Here's what the original version looked like.  The revamped version will be a little different.  Particularly in color.  The dark blue is gone, in favor of a peacock green.  But it's vastly different from anything I've done before.  Think I will like it!

(This, by the way, is taken outside the forge.  I am hoping in the future we can put an arbor over at least part of the concrete expanse...).  In the meantime, we're making do, and doing what we can.  We'll be adding more plant life as soon as the temperatures moderate some.  But for now, it stays all concrete-y and gray. 

Here is my Day of the Dead quilt.  It's a fairly basic Nine Patch, because I wanted something quick and easy.  There are about 14 different fabrics in it, including one Day of the Dead print.  Yup, just one.  I didn't want it to be TOO over the top.  But again, because it's me... I decided to piece the binding.  In stripes.  Because I could.  So I did.

I pieced it together out of some hand-dyed fabrics I bought at a quilt show last year.  There are ten different colors in the binding, and they're delightfully bright.  It really makes the Day of the Dead material pop in real life.  In  this picture... not so much.  I still need a new camera.

The absolute best part about this quilt is the binding - not so much the colors, although it love them.  The best part of all... my binding matched up.  I started with a red and ended with a blue (which is right next to the red).  I didn't plan that, and I certainly didn't expect it!  But I am pleased as punch about it, and will take it!
  

Here's the corner where the pieces of binding match up.  Riiiight up there where the bright blue and the red meet.  That's where they begin and end.  SO HAPPY!  (perhaps a little too happy, but I'll take what I can get). 

There's more to catch up on, but for now, that's it for me, superfriends...

Catch you on the flip side!

Shay
  

 

 

Finished another one!

Good morning, superfriends!

Sunday I decided to go out to the quilt forge and try something new - the quilt-as-you-go runner.  I have seen them around the interwebs, and have given thought for a while to try making one.  But... like all things, it takes a bit of time to get around to every project I want to do!  And making a table runner was to be step one - the testing.  I wanted to see how easy it was, how well it went together, and so on... 

Now I know.

Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  I like the colors, and the runner itself went together with remarkable ease, considering that I didn't even go look and see how it's done, just went by memory.  It was easy, and relatively quick.  Since it was a test, I didn't even bother to measure length, just went until I was done and then bound it off.

The quilt as you go method is ridiculously simple.  For those who have not yet seen it, here's a free PDF of the design.  I know I've seen it around, but this is a good starting point!

http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/scrappy-quilt-as-you-go-table-runner/16745

The nicest thing about this... when I took it inside and laid it down on the table, it fit.  Exactly.  *blink*  How the heck did THAT happen??  No clue, but I'll take it!  It fits, it looks good, and so on.

And now that I know it works, I am tempted to make another one out of the OTHER roll of fabrics that I bought at the same time as this one.  (Oh, yeah.. that's the other thing about this... I wasn't sure how it would turn out, so I used a roll that I bought at....  Big Lots.  Yeah.  $8 worth of fabric, and I still have enough to make either placemats or something else).

Now that I know it works, I can also move on to planning the ACTUAL project.. seeing if I can make a quilt this way.  In blocks, of course, because it would take WAY too much maneuvering to get a queen sized quilt made on my little machine with this technique.  So... on to planning blocks and stuff.

And other projects.

And faire.

And...

Hooray!  I will never die of boredom!

Shay

Another one bites the dust!

Or at least gets finished!

Good morning, superfriends!

Look!  Finished ADD quilt!  (Yes, it's actually done).  This is more a personal exploration of how my quilting feels sometimes.  A wonderful detailed plan, ideas.... and then it all stalls out when I come to the actual creation.  I know that people with ADD can concentrate very well when it's something that is interesting.  And I do - but sometimes... things just don't work the way they do for other people.  So here is the ADD quilt: the quilting gets less as it goes, and the binding... well... it just peters out.  Rather like my enthusiasm for a long project.  :)  This one is small, so I COULD accomplish it in a timely manner.

And of course I've started a new quilt.  I've got most of the fabric sitting in front of me right now, just need to cut and such.... we'll see how far I get. The best part is that I can use only fabrics from my stash - no buying of new fabric!!  I can start whittling down the stash again!  (That makes me VERY happy, as our stash is about to overrun the two long shelves we've set aside for it!) 

Work is gearing up with yet another project, and I will apparently be involved.  Which MAY mean working 6 days a week - I should find out today.  10 hour days, 6 days a week.  The overtime will be nice - but it will certainly cut into other things (Faire) if it happens.  I should find out today.  I am a little nervous, torn between Faire (which I love madly) and Work (which allows me to do faire).  Who knows....  I will after our 6 hour training session.  SIX HOURS!!! 

I bought myself a Kindle Fire for my birthday - inspired and urged by my parents' gift of an Amazon gift card - the perfect prezzie, really.  It's a wonderful thing, and I am enjoying the heck out of it.  The only downside - it's WAYYYY  too easy to buy books that way!  (Not a HUGE problem, but one I am going to have to watch!)  I bought three last night!

Anyway... more about quilts later.  I am going to be busy! 

Oh, yeah!  And I am working on Boston Molasses again!  Hooray!!

Oh!  (sheesh - the post that never ends!)  AAQI - The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative - is going to be ending this year.  Apparently they are really close to meeting their financial goal of One Million Dollars.  (Wow).  So they will only be accepting quilts for a few more months, and selling/auctioning them off for a few more past that.  So if you want to get an AAQI quilt and help support research, better look into it pretty quick!  Right now I've still only got the one out there, but there are two going out by next week.    Here's the link for those who are interested: http://www.alzquilts.org/  Go forth, look, buy, and offer support.

Okay, I think I am actually done with this post now. 

Shay

Monday finishes



Good morning, superfriends!  It was a good and useful weekend - much accomplished, and much fun had!  (Sunday was my birthday game afternoon, and it was fabulous!)

And, I finished BST!





BST rough shot



Here it is on the floor at work - I'll get a better shot this afternoon at home, I promise!  But here it is!  And BST is Binary Sleep Tight.  The black and green are in binary - 01110011 is the upper left hand piece.  That's an 'S.'  Reading down the first column is SLEEP, the second column is TIGHT.  Yeah... I'm a little bit geeky.  It's pretty enough without knowing that it's "written" in binary, which makes me even more happy.   The quilting - of which I should be able to get an up-close shot this afternoon -  is ones and zeroes.  The print fabric is a Timeless Treasures - Microchip, and fits quite nicely. I hunted FOREVER to find something appropriate for the background, and NOW I found about 4 different fabrics I could use.  But... I am pleased with this one. 

It's a nice, successful completion, and it makes me happy to have it done!  I also managed to cut and piece the top of my ADD quilt-let.  (Yeah, I know, it's not on my list of things to do, but it's LITTLE.  Really!)  All I have left to do is the quilting and binding, and that MIGHT be done by this evening!  We'll see.   Here it is, the ADD quilt.  The quilting will be... simple.  We'll see what happens.  I hope to be able to show it tomorrow, all complete and in its glory.





Currently my IPad is playing the Eagles' "Do Something" in my ear, and it's fitting... I want to be doing something - some quilting, some sewing, a lot of different things.  I want to get up and Do Something.  So I will finish my work, and then go home and do just that.  I am proud of myself though - I have finished the first part of my goals for the year - BST is quilted and bound.  Yay!

Shay





Woo-hoo! Finished stuffus!

Morning, superfriends!

I feel... accomplished.  If a little klutzy.  More about that second one in a minute.  First - the accomplished feeling. 

I've fiinally finally finally finished Little Moo.  Here's a pic of it on the floor at work, bound and everything.  The quilting that really shows up here is the sky - it makes the clouds look a very puffy!  (And the tree quilting shows a little... that's cool!)  I'll get a close-up of the fence rail in a few seconds here... hang on....    The funny thing is, now that I am completely done with Little Moo here, I don't really like it.  It's not bad, it's not hideous... I even like parts of it.  The sky quilting I like.  The fences I like.  I even do think he's relatively cute, for a cow.  But.... overall.... I just don't like it.  Which all in all is a bit of a shame.  I suspect the problem lies in that Little Moo was my first real applique, and it was a bit of a learning curve.  I could probably remake it a lot faster than the first go-round, should I ever be so inclined.  And because the top frustrated me, it took me FOREVER to quilt it.  But, it's done now, and I can step away from it for a while.  See how I feel about it later on.

So anyway, there's Little Moo, aka Texas Daycare, all done.  Hooray!  I do feel a sense of accomplishment in finishing him up.  And a close-up of the fence that surrounds him.  Copper embroidery floss and brown thread to make a barbed wire fence!

The other thing I finished was another Hexen.  I like the proportions of this one better, so I will run with it on my bed-sized project, I think.  This will definitely be an ongoing project (of course, I thought that with Crazy Diamonds, too, and that top is already done)!  The quilting on it is a simple swirl kinda thing radiating out from the center.   Now... on to the real thing!!  Time to start ploughing through my fabrics and seeing what I can make!  I should really decide if I want a common background or not.  It might look more unified if I did, but it would be much more in keeping with ME if it didn't.

As for the klutzy....  about 9 months ago, maybe a little less, I did something to my ankle.  No biggie.  It hurt, it swelled, it got over it.  In the last month or two it's been getting a little worse and aching a lot.  No clue what I did originally, since I was deep in fair, and it stopped hurting.  But I turned it recently, and I think it did something.  Because one of the things I did last night was try to set up BST for quilting.  I tweaked my ankle AGAIN whilst trying to do that.  So... fun fun.  It REALLY hurt last night.  REALLY.  So I am wearing a brace on it today and seriously considering going to a doctor about it.  I did not get BST ready, either, which annoyed me.

But tonight there is a wedding, and I will not wear the brace for that.  Nope.  Uh-uh.  Refuse.  I'm already going to look silly (from my perspective.  I don't dress up much, so when I do, I feel weird). 

And this weekend.... well, I got myself a new peg loom.  It's three feet long.  I'm either going to make a rug or a shawl.  I haven't quite decided which one, but I will make something.  And sew some more.  Hooray!!!

S

Quick update

Life.  Sometimes it gets in the way.  Mostly it's work right now, in all honesty.  It's hectic.  Testing, end of year, beginning of year, short months because of holidays....  And long days at work.

But.  I am still managing to eke out a little sewing time, and a little time for the other things in my life.  This weekend we're running another class, teaching one of my patterns.  If it goes well, there will be another one!  (and another, and another.....).  Oh, and here's the pattern we'll be doing.  Everyone has their own fabrics, so every quilt will look different!  Hooray!  I have three examples to show them, as well as a step by step breakout of how the blocks go together.  Since it is so simple, I have high hopes!

What I have managed to get done - in addition to prep for the class....

1. finish AAQI quilt #1
2. join Quilt Block Swap
   2a. pull fabrics and make test block for swap, decide I really like it.  pull more fabrics and cut.  (to be sewn tonight).
3. plan AAQI quilt #2
4. finish design for Bat Flight and purchase fabric (to start cutting tonight)
5. work on Crazy Diamonds
6. Clean the studio! (yes, this is technically prep for the class, but sometimes it just needs doing!)

 Here is my first AAQI quilt.  As soon as I have the number for it, I will send it out.  I'm both pleased with it and disappointed in it... it's not EXACTLY what I wanted, but it's not HORRIBLE.  Everyone else seems to really like it.  So it's going.  I wasn't sure, but I'm going to bite the bullet and send it off.  It's called The Fading Forest... there are more trees quilted into it  that didn't show too well in this pic.  Hopefully it will raise at least a little money for Alzheimer's research.

I have more planned, hopefully better.  We shall see... I always seem to have more and better things planned. 

When I am not in the forge working, I work in an office.  I'm not a very good office drone, really, but I am efficient and intelligent (usually) and manage to get my job done.  It's now progressed to the point where other people (who have been here YEARS longer than I have) ask me for assistance and for information.  It's both amusing and annoying.  I'm the new girl on the block - only been here three years....  I have my little cube, usually with small scraps of fabric, thread, and at times needles.  My Thanksgiving decor this year for the office consists of a giant stuffed fabric turkey.  He's cute!  Very low-key, for a giant fabric stuffed turkey. 

Soon will come the flurry of Christmas, and decorating for the season... I am half-tempted to make a quilted runner for my cube - just to post around my wall on the inside.... might have to do some measuring....  Looks like 14" wide, and long enough to run all the way around the inside.  Hmm... and a simple block... Maybe a Christmas-themed wonky star?  Might be workable.... More on that later!

Shay
Wish me luck for the class!!!

More forge work

Here's D's mug rug.  It's smaller than mine, since she has a smaller desk.  But I might be making myself one this size as well.  :)  I like this one! 

Last night was work on housework and Little Moo (Texas Daycare).  I am working steadily on the grass for him.  (oh, and the lawn guy came yesterday while we were at work and mowed!  Hooray!!)  So, after dusting and dishes and all that fun stuff, I got some quilting in after all.  It made me happy. 

I didn't manage to get anything cut on the nerd quilt (BST) - but I did pull the last of the material for it.  It's going to be... interesting.  I hope. 

Here are the colors - for the blocks.  The sashing material I am reserving for now.   I already have the quilting plan laid out, just have to cut and piece and such first!!  And when it's all pieced, the quilting should go quickly!  I hope.  I may quilt it with glow in the dark thread.  We'll see....  I want a little sparkle on this one. 

I wish I had more to show!!  Maybe tonight I will post another pic of Texas Daycare.... just to show progress!  And soon... soon the weather will change to cold (brrr!) and I can haul Boston Molasses Flood back out and start working on it again!  (For some reason, it seems to be a winter project... I duuno.)

There you have it!  Two posts in two days! 
Shay

Hooray Monday and finishes!!!

It was a productive weekend!  Friday left me with an inclination to crawl into a hole and pull it in after me.  So this weekend I went to the quilt forge and spent a good deal of time there, with the end result that things got done.  Yayayayayayay! (Muppet flailing arms)



I really need to get better pictures!



First up - I found some scraps of material that (gasp) went together very well, so I made a mugrug or two.  It was something I could quilt on my machine while D was setting up a quilt on Frank for her to do.  I forgot to get a picture of the one for D, so I'll have to put that up here later.  But the one for me:

I like the peacock colors, even though they aren't my normal choice, and not something I'd wear.  But for a mug rug... you bet!  I might even make another one, a little smaller, if I get my work desk adjusted.  Then I can take this one back home and use it for a placemat!

It's a little big, but I like it.  It will handle a couple of mugs or bottles (since I usually have a DP and a glass of water with me).  It's also less lop-sided than it appears in the picture, which is nice.  All in all, a success!  And pic of D's will follow this evening.

The other thing I did get finished (finally!!) is my Black and White quilt.  I'm still pondering a name for it - it's the Sea Glass pattern, but in blacks and whites (duh).   It's 72" x 72" - so a nice size. 

Some of the contrast in fabrics doesn't show up quite as well in the pictures as it does in real life.  There are 8 different fabrics in this one, and I am quite pleased with it!

So that was my weekend - setting up Frank with black and white, sewing, quilting, helping D set up Frank with her blue and green quilt (Twisted, I think....), and working on Crazy Diamonds. 

I have 14 blocks left to do on Crazy Diamonds, so this week I will pull 56 fabrics from our stash that I haven't already used and get those blocks finished up.  Then I can figure out how to quilt it, since it's going to be too big for Frank!  (Not to mention I have no clue what I am going to do as far as quilting design.  *shrug*  Burn that bridge when we get there!)

Also, I got fabric in for the nerd/geek quilt on Saturday, so I pulled the other fabrics from our stash and started measuring and cutting.  I'm halfway done with cutting the blocks.  Tonight I am going to shoot for finishing the cutting, and start the blocks.  If I can do that, I will be most pleased! (The abbreviation for the nerd quilt is going to be BST for now).

Aaaaand.... I worked more on Texas Daycare.  I am quilting the grass now.  Once I finish that, I'll do the tree trunk and the calf himself, and then lay down the barbed wire border... and then bind him and call him done!  Hooray!  (hand quilting takes me forever!)

Gosh, it HAS been a busy weekend!

Shay

Baby quilt finished!

Cat nap, anyone?

Right now, sounds like a lovely idea!!  I stayed up late last night getting the baby quilt ready for the happy grandmother, and got it all done!  Quilted, bound, washed, dried, fluffed... the whole bit.  Presented it to her this morning and she was ecstatic (which made me very happy!)

The quilt itself is a 4x6 (so the baby can hang onto it for a while!  I was going to do bigger, but was halted by fabric constraints... but as long as the grandmother is happy, I am happy!  And I got to use up pink thread that normally would not get use except in those projects where it doesn't matter the thread color.  Even better.  (No, pink is not my favorite color....)

The picture is a little dim, since I took it this morning in the breakfast area... I will try to get a better picture posted (with happy grandmom, too!) 

One of these days I need to get a real camera!  And a place to hang my quilts up to take good pics of them!  (Hmm.... project for the next sunny weekend, maybe!)

Tonight there will be very little in the way of sewing, I fear... there are too many chores piling up!  D. is still on the sick list - hasn't been to work for more than a few hours this week... so there's lots of stuff to be done around the house as well!  Tonight is trash night (which is also going to include cleaning out the fridge - something in there is no longer good!), dusting, straightening, and sweeping... and maybe more.  We'll see.  It'll be a chore-laden night, that's for certain!

But that will mean that tomorrow I can come home and sew - finish my black and white quilt... maybe work on Little Moo some more... and work more on Crazy Diamonds.  Or... or... or....  Lordy... I have too many projects going!!  I could easily spend the entire weekend in the studio working away! 

But.  I also have things to spray paint (a few shepherd's crooks, and the second half of a chandelier), so there are other things to be done.  And play with the kitten.  And... as far as the kitten... Joji is now top cat.  She apparently is the dominant cat in our house now.  I find that both funny and a little worrisome.  Harper is definitely submissive, so we'll see how it all works out!

So... no time to cat nap!  Time for work, and then chores!

Shay