Looking Back and Looking Forward #4

I want to say first thing that I'm very, very sorry, chagrined, guilt-ridden, and apologetic. Especially those in the northern parts of the USA, Russia, South Pole and lots of places around the world. However it exempts places like Australia, South America, and New Zealand.  Now that I think of it, I'm actually a friend, buddy and mate of those living south of the equator. Last week was a welcome break from winter here, especially after spending 9 days in Baltimore. Here in Santa Rosa, California, Northern California, and above-the-equator we had beautiful, wonderful, and astonishing weather. We basked in high 70s temperature. I found myself going outside and turning my back to the sun and glorying in the warmth I felt.

Okay, before I lose some readers because they're shoveling sidewalks or clearing the snow off the car, I'll cease, desist, and refrain from any more weather reports. Except to say that we're going to experiencing more winter-like weather this week. Winter this week is going to be around mid-60's--but there will be wind! We'll have two low days at 56' and 57'. Oh, oh is that a crowd of people holding pitch forks I see coming down the street?

Oops! There I go wandering off topic, and hurting the snowbound people's feelings. Time to focus on what I'm supposed to be doing!

Hurray, it's time to fess up to what I've been doing this past week:

Looking Back

1.  Make Alphabet Letters for Poppet's 3rd Birthday by Thursday

Poppet and her Birthday Cake. Happy 3rd Birthday, Sweetie!

This was my goal for 2 weeks ago and I did make it in time for Poppet's birthday. I just couldn't get my iPhone to spit out the pictures! Well, iPhone still hasn't spit a bit and my gmail app to send them to the cloud wasn't working. My husband, Super Man, finagled a way to get them downloaded for me. (Read more about my husband, Superman, here. So this week, here are the pictures and tutorial on making the alphabet letters. I had so much the week before when making the alphabet letters. And I am thunderstruck by my ability to finish something on time! Usually I start a quilt, thinking I have plenty of time to make the deadline, and am always surprised that I don't make the deadline, then my family member(s) are unhappy with just a "it will be done soon" as a birthday/holiday gift.

The Fabric Alphabet

I made two vowel letters. I made multiples for letters m, y, d so Ava could spell daddy and mommy! Each letter was made from a different fabric. I had an enjoyable time going through my stash and finding bright fabrics, with some exceptions, to make the letters.

 I found an easy method for making these adorable letters on the blog. I got it from Sugar Bee Crafts. http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/2015/11/fabric-alphabet-letters.html

Here are hints and changes I made:

1.  Pick out fabrics for letters. You can use a charm pack or cut your own fabric. Decide if you want any letters to be repeated, i.e. the vowels. You will also need to cut out squares of the fabric for the backing and for the batting to make the quilt sandwich.
I chose to use batting so that the letters would have a bit of substance. I used 100% cotton batting.

2.  Find an alphabet font and size that you like online. I searched for on pinterest for applique letters. Along with boots, Dock Your Tot, cute tops, there were also alphabet letters! Here's the page I found and used: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/195273333814824125/?lp=true
I printed the letters on card stock so that it would have a thick enough edge to draw around when tracing.

This Blog Is Brought To You Today by the Letter N

3.  Copy each letter onto its own patch. I didn't pick which fabric went which letter, just in case you think I did that. I'm a scrappy quilter, so I'm very random!

4.  I chose a black backing for all the letters so there would be a uniform color that would "scream" "You've got the letters backwards!" Or something like that! After all, she's only three!

A letter traced on fabric

5. Trace the letters onto each printed square. I had to use different products to get a line that was visible. I alternated between Frixion pens, water-soluble pens and chalk pencils or rollers. I try to use Frixion as little as possible because the markings can come back later or they leave a brown line when they should have disappeared. Here is a blog post regarding that: Freshly Pieced and there are other posts about Frixion pens not being suitable for quilting. Just google "quilt marking pens review blog." (There's also a mistake in the tracing on the left! I was tracing over the lines that were already there and decided to get creative.)

Alphabet Letter Sandwich

6.  Put together sandwich and be sure the right sides are out. I used a glue stick to prevent slippage, which worked just fine. However, just recently I found a tip that was helpful from Eleanor Burns. After you assemble the sandwich you can just iron the sandwich together. The ironing will hold the layers well enough to sew without pins or glue.

7.  I sewed around the edges of each letter with a double needle. It was the first time I ever used one. It was easy to find one at Joann's and it was made by Schmidt, which is even better.
I chose to double stitch to give extra strength to the edges of the letter; I'm always afraid of edges fraying.

Double stitching on the back

Putting in the double needle is just the same as inserting any single needle. Presto! When using a double needle, you use two spools of thread, but thread them through the same spots on the machine. The front looks like normal stitching but the back looks like a serged stitch. All in all it was so easy! Use a cone thread holder for the second spool, if you have one. Joann's sells a basic one for $16.99.
If you don't have two spindles for the spools, you can make one yourself by putting beans in a pint jar, then insert a pencil and put spool on that. If you are creative or handy you can make a tall hook to run thread through to reach the first disk you have to use on the machine.

The distance between double stitch and pinking

8.  Cut out the letters, leaving about 1/4" or more between stitching and cutting line.

9.  Use pinking shears to cut around the letter. Cut fairly close to stitching. This creates another defense against fraying. But, after all, it makes a darn cute stitching!

And now, a less lengthy review of the other two goals from last week!




2.  Making my BOM block.
To see more about the BOM Challenge that I am working along with, go here.

With the start of February was the time to make Block #9 of As Time Goes By. I'm on a roll because I finished that this week also!

3.  Figure Out Layout for Military Mom's Memory Quilt
I am still baffled by how to put different thicknesses of fabric and texture together to make this quilt. (See backstory here) I emailed Sarah Craig of Confessions of A Fabric Addict. Sarah makes memory quilts on commission and she was suggested by my friend, Terri, as a source. I have received an answer from Sarah; she said she hasn't done a memory quilt like this. Sarah has done many t-shirt quilts and that is what I had anticipated. She suggested I talk to the Mom again and find out what is most important for her to have on the quilt. Sarah also suggested I look on Pinterest, which is where I will head later today.

4.  Start Cutting Out Firstest's Quilt
Well, I only had a consult with my quilty friend about what we had decided six months ago about which fabric was going to be used where.

Looking Forward


I only have one thing to do this week: Start Cutting Out Firstest's Quilt. I need to put the pedal to the metal if I'm going to get this one done. I will need to quilt a lot more than I have in the past couple of months if I want to make this quilt on time.

See ya next week!

Looking Ahead, Looking Back #2

Today is a holiday in the US. It's Martin Luther King Holiday and schools (and my husband!) get the day off. I forgot there even was a holiday...Hmm, so here's how it goes. I was a teacher a year-and-a-half ago. Any holiday was highly anticipated and I looked forward to every holiday from weeks before it came. Breathless excitement. A day of quilting. Yee-haw! Now I'm retired. Holidays are seen in a different manner. I don't even know when a holiday is coming up; except for the big ones, of course. So MLK day caught me by surprise but I love surprises. I guess that's what holidays mean when you're retired:  surprise! And I like surprises, as illustrated by this unknown lady in the picture.

I don't have white hair; I have grey hair. I don't have that many wrinkles, but I do have wrinkles. I don't have a blue sweater; but I do have a navy blue sweater.  I do wear glasses. And I do have a smile on my face!

LOOKING BACK

Here are what my goals were for last week:
    Work on finishing the block of the month.
     Finish RSC Green Block.
    Trace letters onto fabric for Poppet's birthday present.
You can find the post giving you the low down on these goals here.

Here it is, block #7. Five left to go!

And here are the other five blocks that I have finished. The block above is also in the collage.

The editing didn't quite turn out as the color is a little different with each. I think the first one on top left corner is the best representation.

The second goal was to finish the RSC Green block. I didn't get this done.

The third goal, Trace letters onto fabric for Poppet's birthday is almost done. (edit: I have to start over on tracing! I just noticed when I went to post the pictures that it wasn't going to work putting the sandwich together. At the time I was tracing 20 of the letters it made some kind of sense to me to trace the letters on the wrong side of the fabric. Silly girl. The next step after tracing is to sandwich and sew all three layers together. I can't sew around the outline if the letters on the wrong side. I'm doing a stitching/pinking finish so everything has to be right side out.) I'm going over to Noel Heart, Poppet's mom and my daughter, on Friday. Poppet's birthday is on the 20th, so the alphabet letters will be ready then! Or else!

LOOKING FORWARD

    Finish the letters by Thursday night, hopefully without staying up till two in the morning!
    Sew together the rows on RSC green block. (If I get the letters done early, I'll put some work on this)

SOMETHING EXCITING
Cotton Robin blog is doing their Round Robin Quilt project again this year! I've participated in this twice and it is a barrel of fun! Here's the quick rundown: You make a center block and send it to the next person. The name of that person is given to you by the Julie, the organizer, as are all the rest. Someone sends you their block. You add another row and send it on its way. You receive another block+new row. You sandwich, quilt and bind. You send the completed block back to owner and you receive yours back. There is a size limit so you get a nice 20x20 (or less) wall hanging. Here are the two I did in the past.

This is my beginning block

This is the finished wall hanging. The color is brighter as shown in the first photo.

This is the finished wall hanging. I did the red block in the center without the bird.

Lots to do this week which translates into lots of fun this week!
Nyd din dag

A Scrap of a Post RSC#18-1

Hi Ho, Here I Go!
Again!
I'm joining in for my 4th year of Rainbow Scrap Challenge. RSC, as its moniker, is the brain child of  Angela Waters. Each month a color is chosen by Angela and quilters near and far make blocks of that color. The beauty of this monthly creativity is that you can choose just one block to do in all colors over the course of a year. You can choose to make many different blocks and keep making them over a number of years, eventually coming up with a quilt. There's always a block sampler quilt and Angela always comes up with a block or two you can make if your well of inspiration has gone dry. This year she and Mari at The Academic Quilter are sponsoring a QAL with rainbow colors in tow. You should go and visit the RSC site because you'll see a lot of variety. The badge is on the left side column. Click it once and off you go!

This is the second week of show-and-tell. There is sharing every week on Saturday by those caring to drop in. This will be my first RSC blog for this year. I made a quilt in 2014, then started one in 2015 which got lost along the way. Last year I picked it up for RSC 2017 and was making blocks on the colors that I had missed in 2016.

I've got the 2014 quilt into the flimsy stage. I even have blocks left over for a child's quilt.

I chose a snowball block because I was still teaching school. I had very little spare time and snowball blocks are easy.

I saw this quilt below done previously by a RSC quilter. I was so enamored with it that it became my block for 2015. This quilt is found in Making Quilts by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession. The version she shows in her book is not my cup of tea, but I did love what I saw below. I also found a few other patterns from Kathy's book that I wanted to do, so it made buying it easier!

Here are blocks I made so far:

I do have a green one ready to sew together. I even have 2 or 3 others that are finished, except I can't seem to find them in the mess I call my quilting room!

My goal for January is to finish the green block.

See you on Monday.

Nyd din dag

Enjoy your day, in Danish. Just don't ask me to pronounce it. I'm about 1/3  Danish and Danish is the 8th hardest language to learn in the world and that's saying a mouthful when you think of all the languages spoken across the globe! 
 

Looking into a Crystal Ball

Does anyone have a crystal ball or even an eight ball? I could use one to figure out 2018, quilty wise! Or maybe it's better to ask dear old Dad. We all know "Father Knows Best."

 

1954 Cast of Popular TV Series: "Father Knows Best"

Oh yay! Dad says he's absolutely certain I'm going to have a great quilty year! Hurray for 2018! Hurray for Dad!

And now, The Word for the Year. A couple of years ago, people starting adopting a word to help them or help them focus for the coming year. I've thought of one of them this year!

FIX

Yup, FIX encompasses a few ideas for my 2018 quilting.

• I have a few quilts that need some fixing, do you have that problem? Mostly they are seams that are coming apart. My grandson´s first quilt, Chris the Fireman, has that problem. He is now 17 years old and I gave it to him when he was 2. It seems about right for a quilt this age to have frays. The interesting part is that it has NEVER been washed!

  

  TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE! P.U.!

• My quilt: The Seventies Are Calling; They Want Their Fabric Back, was Quilt-As-You Go. The hand-stitching to finish the sashing has come apart and I think I'll fix that by sewing the sashing by quilting it on the machine.
• One more quilt that I'm aware of: one that my husband picked out from Bed, Bath & Beyond. We bought it when we first moved to our new city in 1999. We really liked the pattern and still do. It is now bursting out of its seams. Well, so am I, ahem, but both the quilt and I have the same reason: we're getting older.
• I don't have pictures of lots of my quilts and Aunt Marie's quilts. The pictures of most of my quilts are pictures of blocks or something happening along the way.
• The last definition of FIX! is putting labels on my quilts and my Aunt Marie's quilts. Quilt labels are a rock-solid necessity. My Aunt didn't label her quilts; therefore, I have not information on when she quilted them. Her quilts are incredible! Just as important as dates is information on why the quilt was made and whom it was intended for. You can make one simple like on the left or one more informative.

 UFO's

I have a v-e-r-y, v-e-r-y long list of UFOs. In fact when I was trying to figure out which quilts needed fixing, I notice that the majority of quilts I have are not done! I am only taking on 4 quilts I want to finish this year. I've been slow at finishing my quilts, even with being retired!

1.  Firstest's Graduation Quilt It is due in June and not even started, although I have the fabric and     pattern
2.  Put together the top of Growing Up Odd

3.  Quilt Give and Take
     This one's to have joint custody between my hubby and myself and will be hand-quilted.

 4.  Make 8 more Soul Searching RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) 2015 blocks and sew them  together to make top.

These are a picture of blocks made by someone else for RSC.

Sa lang tid for nu.

I'm of Danish descent. This phrase is "So long for now" in Danish. Just so you know, the "a" in "Sa" actually has a circle above it.