Quilters Gonna Hate

It seems that in every quilting project, I reach a nadir and simply hate how it looks.

This is different from the moment of doubt, or when you're trying out various options and go, ooh, no, or when you're finished and wonder what it would've looked like with another border.   This is when you decide you're going to tell the blog that your quilt in progress/design wall was destroyed in a freak attack by your cat - wait, no, your neighbor's cat, yes, the neighbor's crazy cat who hates orange and who knew he was such a good climber? and you are so devastated, because it was going so well, you see, you are so devastated that you're just going to start over on something else. 

My moment with this quilt - hopefully the only moment with this quilt - came when I'd finished laying out the third row here.  Haaaate.  Knowing the desire to clean off the design wall with fire might pass (yes, more orange is just what this needs!), I pressed on.  It's once more acceptable to keep working on, although this picture's not doing it any favors. 

Another, different kind of moment came when I realized I'd calculated the number of tumblers for the desired width of the quilt as if the tumblers were square, but alas, they are not.  Tumblers, how do they work?  So now I get to decide if there should be 14 more to cut, leaving the quilt asymmetrical, or if there are 28 more to cut, leaving me seriously grumpy. 

Happy crafting! 

Orange tumbler, WIP

I'm making my daughter an orange quilt for when she moves out of her crib and into a twin bed.  It will probably fulfill the role of something to look at on the design wall for ages, because progress on quilting goals is going to stall with my return to work this week. 

In the bottom left, you can see the tumbler template cut from a Cheerios box!

This is an order from Hawthorne Threads, plus some quarter yards from some LQS shopping done on our trip.  

Since she could pick out markers and point to colors, orange has been her favorite.  I'm not sure how stable these preferences are, because last week she said her favorite color was pink black purple green blue yellow.  When we went to get her some shoes, there wasn't a pair that she didn't like, from infant boys' sneakers to adult women's slippers. 

This was the initial fabric pull - it quickly became obvious that bed-sized quilts take a lot more fabric than I'm used to needing. It also would appear that the market right now is tending toward brownish oranges, rather than pinkish or yellowish. 

In one fabric store, I showed her two orange fabrics and asked her which she liked better.  She pointed to a lime green on the shelf.  "No, of just these two."  Points at lime green. 

So I picked one of the orange ones.  There will be no lime green in this quilt.  It feels weird, because I'm making this for her, but am choosing the fabrics and pattern I like, or at least think contribute to a good design overall.  I'm incredibly specific - or picky, depending on how frustrated with me you are at the moment - and don't like what I don't like. 

One thing I don't like is a mushy muddled mishmash of colors and pattern.   I like contrast.  At first I considered doing white around each tumbler to separate them enough, but now I'm thinking there may be enough variation in the values that white won't be necessary. 

One more fabric is on its way (crabs!) and then it'll be time to start working on the layout.  Big as my lovely design wall is, it's not twin-sized, so I'll probably put together two horizontal rows at a time, then decide what order to put those in.  The back will be Spot Check (seen above on the handlebar of the stroller), perhaps with some mini tumblers. 

Happy crafting! 

Blogger's Quilt Festival: I Like THAT One!

Even though I haven't delved into more complicated piecing or quilting again (yet), I'm entering the Blogger's Quilt Festival in the Mini Quilt category because I think it's awesome that Amy organizes this twice a year and I love seeing what everyone else is working on.    

This little quilt is important to me because it's a great example of how lots of little bits - of both time and fabric - can add up to something really nice. 

It was the first quilt I hung up upstairs in our new house, and it inspired me to dig out a couple of finished ones to hang, and keep making new ones as well. 

It's named after my two-year-old daughter's reaction to seeing it all finished - though, to be fair, I haven't seen her meet a scrap of fabric she didn't like. 

So, check out the Festival, vote and enjoy the eye candy, and happy crafting!

Birdie Bag & Socks

Before our Long Car Trip (of Doom) (not really), I made a little drawstring bag for the Toddler (of Doom) (really), hoping that it would keep her entertained for 3 minutes. 

I got the birdie fabric recently, as well as the white-with-purple-flowers liner fabric.  The birdies weren't destined for a project, and the purple liner fabric is for a wallhanging I'm planning but haven't gotten around to, other than the designing.  

Daughter picked out the purple squares fabric (by which I mean she picked it up at JoAnn Fabrics and didn't want to put it down), and the drawstring fabric was from my Mom's old stash - it didn't want to hold a crease, so I'm wondering if it's not 100% cotton. 

Daughter loves pulling the drawstrings closed but isn't strong enough to open the bag back up, so there was a lot of, "Will you open this, please?"  That counts as keeping us busy. 

Tutorial here: In Color Order.  I shaved half an inch off of the finished measurements because my fat quarter of the purple stuff was pretty skinny, in fact, and I didn't realize that I didn't need to sew a bottom seam and could have just used one big piece, because my Main Exterior fabric wasn't directional.  (Doh.) 

During the Long Car Trip, I also managed to finish two pairs of socks that had been over halfway done for a while.  Above: Escalator Socks in Fleece Artist Trail Socks, colorway November Sky (I think.  Their colorways are a bit... hit or miss?  Not sure which phrase I'm looking for.  There's more play than you might expect.). 

Below are basic ribbed socks in Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Bamboo Color, a yarn I'm pretty sure is discontinued.  It's a good yarn for summer socks.  I started these before last summer so that they'd be ready for last summer, but instead they're ready for this summer.  Good enough!

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Happy crafting! 

Finished: Mail-Order Gorilla

Here's another post for Finish it Up Friday over at crazy mom quilts with the actual details of the Mail-Order Gorilla quilt. (More about the process here.)

Size: 88" x 94" before washing
Design: basic patchwork, planned but random-looking color placement
Batting: Hobbs 100% cotton
Binding Kona Teal
Thread: C&C white poly for piecing, 100% cotton for quilting
Quilting: diagonal grid through all squares

It's all washed and on my bed, with the dog's blanket over the bottom half because she likes to scratch up her bedding. 

Next up is an orange tumbler quilt for my daughter's bed - cutting started this morning, although I haven't decided details of the final design yet. 

Thanks for visiting, and happy crafting!