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... that I hope I can finish. Last week I succumbed to the pull of the Scrappy Trip Around The World quiltalong using the Quiltville tutorial. Goodness, I tried to resist; I have quite enough work due to others and business to attend to, but can I tell you how satisfying this quilt block is? Cut strips, sew strips, iron this way and that, make a tube, and then slice. Rip, rip, rip the little seams in a row, and all of a sudden the pattern appears just perfect. The way the seams that are ironed this way and that snap together under the sewing machine foot is dreamy and makes me feel like a professional quilter.
The only downside is fighting my need to depart from the random scrappiness. I tend to get wrapped up in the planning, and this isn't the purpose. The purpose is to destash. When I read Nanette's post about organizing the lights and darks, I started to hyperventilate worrying about the black and dark brown prints in the mix. So, now the plan is to hand around my strips basket to anyone who comes by the house or lives here and tell them to "put six strips together without looking" and then make them watch me sew them together for keeps.
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I'm into this about 20 finished blocks right now and going for a queen coverlet size, about 90" x 90" ... maybe 80" x 80". I'll have to send it out to be quilted should I finish the thing. My favorite quilting design is the one FITF used.
We'll see ... a little distraction is a good thing, and the ever-needed DESTASH is a better thing, and the resulting "heirloom" will be the best thing ... if I finish.
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About 18 months ago, a ripple/chevron crochet afghan was started. About two-thirds through when I was really loving it myself and imagining it in the family room, my daughter claimed it to be hers when complete.
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Just as the story goes about the cobbler's children having no shoes and the other story that the daughter doesn't like the mother's style, the two tales combined equals my girl has a completed item of my design that she loves and will keep her warm and cozy, especially since my little bird flew the coop this month and moved to student housing!
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Lots of new time on my hands and a very quiet house. Otherwise, a great finish! Well, nearly a great finish and nearly a finish for my home ... I just need to tie off all the yarn tails and decide which border to complete. The very simple ripple crochet pattern is linked on my ravelry page.
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The pattern for this throw is the Easy Ripple Afghan. I used a size K hook, 80 rows.
The Color Block King Sham. A new design directed by a client resulted in this bold statement for a bed. The color block option just opens up all sorts of design ideas. There are lumbar sizes available as well.
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The Scraps. For months, I've had these 1-gallon, approximately 1-pound baggies of fabric remnants waiting to be listed. I wanted to make a pretty presentation, but impossible. There are seven scrap bags in the shop, each priced at $6.00, plus shipping. Good stuff stuffed in the baggies! Quilt quality cottons, twills, home dec, and flannels. All fabrics have been washed. Perfect for quilting and collage and small projects.
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The first moments of this New Year found me downloading a free month of Photoshop/Illustrator in preparation for an online Illustrator class with Nicole's Classes. After following her blog for months wishing to take Illustrator 101, I jumped at the chance with a Cyber Monday discount.
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It's mind blowing and frustrating and gratifying and fun all together. This is week two of class, and already our instructor has nicely taken us through a number of tools and Illustrator concepts. Week one homework was to create a typography poster using our text sizing and coloring skills. I wanted to be a lot hipper, but not so much after I saw the other participants' cool work. Not bad though.
Today, however, I hit gold! I have been CRAZY to have the dashed line to frame my label. A simple thing, I know, but as a modern sewist, I want my label to have that stitched frame. Now I know. (Hint: Rectangle tool with stroke adjustments.) The frame design isn't perfect today, but it will be. The lessons also covered pen and pencil tools, shapes, and line draw. I found myself doodling and made another poster design.
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My mission is twofold. One, my embroidery software seems to be based on Illustrator type tools and I need to create vector graphics to digitize embroidery designs properly. Second, I want to create my own graphics for everyday marketing, packaging, and labeling of my work and blog. There is also a design in mind to send to Spoonflower for calicodaisy fabric printed to line my goods.
Stop by Nicole's Classes and see all the interesting subjects offered -- just saw the new floral design and blog classes.
