I started another Quilt Along

I Wish You A Merry Quilt Along started this week and even though my classes start this month along with my clinical I thought hey that is kind of cute I think I will start this quilt along. I really like applique and this one is a nice design to practice applique with. So if you wish to join along here is the link to I Wish You A Merry Quilt . Now the others chose to do a raw edge applique or they did a zig zag satin stitch for their blocks. I have been wanting to really practice the needle turn edge applique method. Here are some videos on needle turn applique:

       Wendi Gratz: Needle turn Applique Video

or 

Sue Daley: Needle turn Applique Video

So the first thing I did was I downloaded the pattern and I drew out my templates, I used a cut away stabilizer to draw my shapes out on as it is something that doesn't need to be removed from the shape once you have turned the edges and it doesn't create a gummy mess on your needle either. You can draw the shape right onto your fabric if you choose, however sometimes when you do that whatever you used to draw the shape may not come out of the fabric.  Once you have your templates cut out then you cut out the fabric to fit the shape leave at least a 1/4 inch around the shape so that you have fabric to turn. As you see in the pictures below. The template is white and the fabric is a dark stormy blue marble. then you begin to crease the 1/4 inch of fabric over the template. This process can take time, so if you can lower your ironing board down pull up a chair, turn on show, music, or a movie and grab something to drink and relax. Now a nice way to get a really nice crisp edge to this is to take a small open container and spray some fabric sizing into it not a whole lot as it drys out pretty fast. Use a nice smooth paintbrush and brush the fabric sizing along the 1/4 inch of fabric. Once you brush the sizing begin turning and pressing the fabric over onto the template. To get a nice smooth turn use an orange stick or a Point Turner Tool like this one : Dritz Point turner

Once you have your edges turned then decide if your going to sew by hand or use a blanket stitch to attach to the background. As I do want to practice my needle turn applique I chose to hand stitch, I have a project in mind that is just stunning however, the amount of detail in the applique is daunting and I want to have a few practice pieces under my belt before I start this project.

fabric and template cut to size

1/4 inch of fabric being creased over template

edges folded over ready to sew.

So there you have it my completed block without quilting for the I wish you a Merry Quilt Along

Best Laid Plans

     I have always tried to be organized and I also make plans and have all the intentions in the world to follow through with said plans. However, I am easily distracted by life and health, I don't have a large family however, the family I do have is important to me. And I have been attending school and I am a great student, I study hard, turn in all my assignments, and tests terrify me, I probably have the worst test anxiety that anyone can have. These things have always been a part of my life and over the years I have learned how to deal or live with these character defects as I call them. I love to work with my hands and my mind just goes away as I work with needle and thread, it really doesn't matter to me if it is a sewing needle or a crochet needle. I have pretty much taught myself whether it is embroidery, crochet, or sewing I find that if there is enough practice anyone can become adequate in whatever they are trying to do. All to often though in the process of practicing people give up because it doesn't turn out the way the picture looked or how the sample looked. I often hear comments like I use to do that a long time ago but I can't do it anymore. What are you suppose to say to someone who says that, I haven't quite figured that out yet.

    I have been working on my nephews wedding quilt it is well past due lol. However, it is my own design and I needed to have all the pieces flow together in my mind before I started it. It has several pieces that I have never attempted to do, I created the film like sashing around the pictures to match the size of the printed photos. I then had too much white space in the blocks between so I looked through the patterns that I had and came up with doing their initials I got the designs for their initials from this wonderful site Bdieges and then the top design was from this site Collection Inédith . For some reason the idea to hand stitch these design parts seemed like the right thing to do lol. And so I have been hand stitching them down and I should finish them today. And this is my progress so far.

Prepping

I have been doing a lot of prepping this week for some hand sewing projects. A part of me thinks I should save them for when I go back to classes, however, I have been doing a lot of appointments as well. One of the projects that I have been working on is called the Splendid Sampler, which are 6 1/2 inch blocks a little over a hundred of them each one different it involves paper piecing, applique, embroidery, and regular piecing. I love applique, embroidery, and piecing is nice too, however paper piecing is something that I have not really done so well at, and I know in order to get better at it I must first practice it. Paper piecing intimidates me to no end though.

So the Splendid Sampler information can be found here at this link Splendid Sampler there is also a Facebook page which can be found here: Facebook Page for Splendid Sampler. These are the blocks I have finished prepping this week. We shall see how many I actually save or finish this weekend.

No Matter What

Sometimes I have some really good intentions and yet, those intentions never turn into action. Ideas for projects go through my head at about 100 mph. Sometimes I get a firm grip on one and I hold on until I can pull the project from my mind into reality. Other times, I see the project fairly clear and I do just the part that is clear and wait for the finished idea to zoom through my head. Then there are those times where the idea is so clear but my skill level is not where it should be, those are the hardest projects to get started. I really dislike caving into fear or trepidation, those were two emotions that held me back for the longest time. I recently had a birthday, it was a nice birthday, I didn't look at what wasn't in my life, I did crave things that will never be. My daughter came over and made little tags for my thread cabinet that my husband built for my studio. I went and picked up my feather weight from being serviced and got to go and eat some Chinese food, it was a bit sweeter then I like but it was nice. I heard from all the ones who love me and wish for me to be in their lives. But most of all I was able to work on some of my projects and watch my best friend and partner work on a project that he has wanted to do for a while. It is really nice when you find that person who compliments your life in every way. With each passing day I am still learning that term "No Matter What".

So here is some eye candy of the projects I have been working on and my new thread cabinet.

 This is my thread cabinet, it has 13 drawers, with a nice natural finish on it, it was designed by my husband and built over time as he does have a full-time job that he does as well as build fun new toys for me.

This is a quilt I finished up this year it is Pat Sloan's Secret Garden  which can be found here: My Secret Garden

And finally a picnic quilt my daughter started several years ago that I finished up this summer as well.

Unfinished Projects also known as UFO's 2017

Every January everyone makes New Year's Resolutions, well people who do crafts do a UFO Challenge and this consists of listing all the projects that they have going at the first of the year and once a month they attempt to concentrate on finishing one of those projects. Like most crafters, I too did a list for this year and this is what my list looked like on January of 2017. Now these are only 13 projects, some of which I had started some of which I had the material but had not managed to do yet.

Project                       Status Before    1/1/2017         Status Now 6/22/2017           Date When Finished

1. Lion                                3/4's sewn                        Still 3/4's sewn
2. Dragon                           1/3 embroidered               closer to 2/3's embroidered
3. Pat Sloans Secret Garden      7 blocks left to piece and border                                        6/21/2017

4. Crocheted Baby Blanket      5 inches left to crochet                                                 1/4/2017
5. Hidden Star Blanket                                                                                                  1/7/2017

6. Splendid Sampler                                   about 95 blocks left
7. 2 halloween wall hangings                       binding left to do                                  1/6/2017
8. Jack Skeleton                                         binding                                                     1/6/2017

9. Mrs. Skeleton                                              binding                                               1/9/2017

10. Peacock                                               not started

11. Pinocchio                                            not started

12. Wedding Quilt                                    not started                                                  6/21/2017 have                                                                                                                                pictures, started quilt top

13. Harry Potter                                 not started

So for the most part I have made great progress on my unfinished projects, and I am still working on the other projects but am having problems deciding how I want to do the other projects, like the peacock, pinocchio, and the wedding quilt. I still need to figure those out, the embroidery project will take me awhile and I don't really see that one being completed this year but we shall see.  Harry Potter is a paper piecing project and that will also take some time and practice. The others I will continue to see how it goes. 

Designing a Special Request

So I have a Disney Lover or two in my life today both girls, and I have been wanting to design something that is one of a kind representing Disney for one of them as a request, they told me that no matter what size I made it they would make room for it. So this week I began to use adobe photoshop to create the pieces that I wish to use, and I wrote to Disney to request permission to use the images. I am not sure if they will allow me to do so but since I am not asking to sell the images and to create an art piece so we shall see if they will allow me to do so. I always prefer to get permission it could take up to 8 weeks for permission.

So I went to Universal Studios this past week for the first time and had a blast with my daughter going through the Hogsmeade and visiting the shops there. It was really fun seeing my daughter finally find her Hufflepuff outfit.

So my idea for the art piece includes Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocohontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rpunzal, Merida, Anna and Elsa and of Course Tinkerbell. And the castle.

Another Semester Down and Another Year starting

I had hoped to be able to post more in 2016 and in some ways I succeeded and other ways I did not. My first semester at Cal State San Marcos was even busier then I thought it would be. Besides having the 5 classes it was filled with taking extra tests, tutoring, CPR, and lots of other things. My two cats got sick and here it is the last day of 2016 and one of my cats is still sick, however, she does seem to be on the mend. I went to the East Coast and had a wonderful time there seeing my nephew and niece-in-law graduate and get married, met a friend for the first time in person, that was very special. My husband had surgery, so to say the least it has been a very busy year.

Even though there have been good and bad events scattered throughout the year, I have had some really wonderful things as well. For my start towards my bachelor's degree my husband redid my sewing room. We converted a bedroom to be used as my sewing room as originally I used the living room as we don't entertain all to often. However, I really wanted my room to be self contained so with some chopping down of my work table we moved it to the bedroom but it was just to cramped in there. So in August my husband stripped the room down and patched and painted the walls to a nice bright white, and he put in some built in shelves for me, mounted my t.v. and then made specific tables for each of my machines, including the computer and printer.

       This was my set up before

 Very crowded and messy

 this was my cutting table 

 my closet

 my design wall

 My new set up gives me a lot more space and storage

It took a little while to complete due to the fact that my husband also works full time and we had so 

much going on but it was finished in time for me to enjoy over my break between semesters. I will truly enjoy creating in here. He is also creating an organizer for my closet, that I will show you once it is all done and then we plan on getting one of those roll up design walls. Enjoy the remainder of this year, and I hope that next year brings peace and quiet for all.