~ Zany Quilter ~

I love rainbows!!

2012-05-23T06:53:00.002-07:00

I've been thinking about getting together a box for the block swap at the LVMQG...one thought was to do something with rainbow fabric. I'm a sucker for a ROYGBV quilt...

Here are my favorites on Flickr... I really like the dresden plate in the middle, bottom right area...with the black center...

I sorted my scraps into warm/cool colors....well, actually, Rebecca helped. Her OCD really comes in handy sometimes...

I taught myself to do a little English paper piecing with some hexies. Yes, I know there should be a center, but why be normal??? Maybe a bunch of these???

Sadly I have to got to work today and teach kids how to add like radicals using the perimeter of geometric figures as a starting point....and teach other kids to add polynomials....and teach another set to find the volume of irregular figures. Then I get to come home and lay sprinkler pipe in the backyard so we can put in sod on Saturday. That isn't very crafty, is it???

I hope your day is full of fun!! 11 more days of school....

The stash....

2012-05-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems like I don't buy enough fabric at the quilt shops...this is why...my hoard of fabric!!! See inside the closet of shame....and under the tables in the other bins of shame....way too much online shopping for Vic!! This is the walk-in closet in my sewing room...Why don't the shelves fall down??? I cleaned it up yesterday so that I could walk in it--prior to that it had been about 2 months where I couldn't get through the door....

Look at the Kaffe stash up there...and some Valentines, and blue and yellow plaids....what are those purples? Oh my...the two big crates in the back corner are cut up plaid shirts...so is the bottom crate to the left....

Well, what have we here?? Looks like some black and whites, you can't see the Kona solids, pinks, blues....oh, some double pinks and browns in the corner that I had to buy to make a civil war type quilt, if I recall....Then some hanging wall quilts a pile of neutrals on the top--linens, Kona solids, muslin...hmmmm??? Look at those cute quilt hangers in the back?? Why don't I use those??

What the heck is all that??? More fabric at the top....organized by color? Style? Purpose?? Who really knows...

Now this isn't how you should treat a finished quilt top...it was my pomegranate (sp?) top I made one or two years ago....and some larger cutgs of fabric. More neutrals...What is in the sliding drawers??? I don't really know....

OMFG....look at the polka dots in the upper left corner! I had great plans for those....There is an almost finished quilt top in that bag--with the black and white fabric showing....wonder where the directions are??

Ok....I don't even know what to say...the shame of it all.....

Now the bottom bin is about 50 pounds of 1930's repro prints. I had a fancy for those one year...still do, but just don't do anything with them. Above that is the remnants of my favorite fabric line, Zany for Zinnias, cut into strips for a charity string quilt. Hmmm...when did I cut those strips, last year???

I just organized this today....my bright colored vintage sheets. This bin is 36" across and about 18" tall--packed full. Pretty, isn't it??? There are more on top...

This crate is only about 2 feet across and it is packed with light colored vintage sheets and sheet fat quarters. There are my sadly neglected granny squares blocks--I miss you!!

So anyhow, I should be kicked out of every quilt shop around town until I use up some of this stash. And every summer I donate about 2 large garbage bags of fabric to the high school...but here it is...still a mess!! Ack.... Happy sewing to you!

I LOVE Triangle quilts...

2012-05-19T15:58:00.003-07:00

I've been a big fan of triangle quilts for about 10 years now....Sara Nephew is the one who inspires me! Her books are amazing--she has found every way to use a triangle, hexagon, diamond, and trapezoid to make a hexagonal block. Truly, every...single...way!

This is the first one I made for Alli...her bedroom colors when she was a baby were purple and yellow....

This is one I made for a local quilt show a few years ago...too wild for the ladies of the quilt show, I think....

I had to layer six yards of fabric exactly aligning the fabric flowers so I could fussy cut the flowers. This way you got the repeating designs in the centers....lots of fun...

Almost forgot this one...I had to take a picture of a picture of the quilt...a Hanukah quilt for my sister...truly awesome, if I may say so myself... I sent a pic to Sara herself just to show her how much I loved triangles. Geeky, huh?

Who hasn't made one of these... I used some random 2.5" strips and a 60 degree triange ruler to make some little hexagons....

Anyhow, my orange quilt is similar to these but maybe more modern?? Anyhow, I best get to working on it. I've spent a while cleaning my sewing room so I'll reveal my stash of fabric tomorrow...it is truly insane!! Happy quilting...

LVMQG Orange Challenge

2012-05-17T09:21:00.003-07:00

I know I said I wouldn't post about this until the reveal in June, but it turns out I'll be on vacation that week and my quilt will have to be revealed by someone else....darn it!! So I'll post about it--why not??

I LOVE triange-based quilts (more on that in my next post) so I modified a pattern to accomodate 2.5" strips and this is what I've got so far...

I've actually made 17 of these hexagonal blocks and I have 3 more in partial stages of completion. I need 28 plus a few halves for the top and bottom of the quilt. It will be lap-sized when it is done. Though it looks complicated, it is all pieced in strips--no y-seams. It will be assembled in rows and should come together easily. I've done several of these types of quilts so maybe I'll dig them out of the closet and post some pics. Sara Nephew is my 60 degree triangle hero!!

Anyhow, I took a personal day today so I'm off to Jo-Ann's and Costco.... ;-) You know, I know my blog sucked this year and unfortunately, so did my work life. When I have to work too much, I can't sew as much and I end up with a big hole in the blog posts. Sorry....summer is coming, though!!

Happy sewing!

Piles of orange....

2012-04-28T15:07:00.001-07:00

We did our strip swap at LVMQG the other night and I brought home a ton of wonderful orange strips... I've been cutting and sorting and this is where I'm at right now...

I won't be able to show details of my project until the reveal at the end of June...but it will be awesome!!

Happy quilting!

Orange swap....

2012-04-15T11:10:00.001-07:00

I got together six yards of orange fabric for our strip swap at the LVMQG....

Cut and bagged!

I had this idea that I was going to do a quilt with diamonds and a bunch of y-seams. But when the little blocks had to join together in the center I ended up with a hot mess!! So I gave up that idea...but I'm not done thinking....

Epic Fail April 2012

On to something new....

Vintage Sheet Swoon Quilt....

2012-04-06T13:56:00.002-07:00

I made one of the Swoon blocks at our retreat in February--and then made 3 more to make a 48"x48" square wall hanging for my classroom/sewing room. They are 100% made from recycled vintage sheets. Here are the finished pics... I did add a half triangle thing in the corners of each block--it makes a little diamond when they join together.

An up close of one block--this is the actual color of the quilt.

Vintage sheet backing....

Ryan enjoying Spring Break with Buddy in the Mancave....and his new braces!

Buddy, our best dog friend ever!!

I think I'll go sew on something!! Have a great day!

Client with low standards...

2012-04-05T15:47:00.003-07:00

Jill (over at DarlingJillQuilts) commented that I should get more of my PPP done so I could provide some motivation to all of us tired quilters!! ;-) LOL....

I told her I was going to finish my PPP piece (90" x 90") then throw on something of my own. But PPP is about as boring as practicing the tuba so I said to myself, screw it!! I have a client with super low standards so why not PPP on her quilt (it is my own, just in case you think I'd do someone else dirty like that). So I cleaned Alli up with some more Everclear, wound 4 bobbins and loaded a top that needed some easy quilting.

I was all serious and professional about loading the backing... It is so perfect and tight...you could bounce a quarter off that backing!! Now the real story...I was too lazy to square up the backing (it is a vintage sheet) so I just ripped it and hoped for parallel sides!! Super lazy, but it worked!

Then, since I was in lazy mode, I decided to float the top. This means that I didn't roll it on the top roller, as instructed in the APQS "How to Load A Quilt" video. LOL....you can probably guess from the blue tape wrapped around the top roller that I have no intention of ever rolling on a quilt top. I float all my tops, with the batting. If I was a super lazy woman, I'd float the backing as well---but maybe that crosses a line for me....maybe....

My ability to quilt parallel, serpentine lines is a function of how much "cleaning" with the Everclear I did that day. Hmmm.... so I had the forethought to premark the top this afternoon with the blue washout marker....every 1". See the blue marker?? Makes it look kind of trashy right now...

Then it was serpentine, serpentine, serpentine! That was all I could think of as a quilted waves across the lines....our friend Annette lives in an older part of Las Vegas and when we leave her house we are always told to "Serpentine!!" to our car to dodge any wayward bullets or other crazy violence...LOL! I think we should call it "Ric Rac" quilting....sounds better, with less of an ominous tone, to me anyhow!! A sea of texture...this is what I always wanted!! And all of this was done in 1 hour and 15 mins. It took me 8 hours of quilting to do parallel lines on Ryan's mancave quilt. That is 6.5 hours I can never get back.... ;-(

I'll bind it up, wash it and post about the actual quilt. Right now I just feel like a quilting rock star!!! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!

Happy quilting!

Fabric Bucket...

2012-04-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

I saw some nesting bowls that Jeni made on In Color Order and I though I should make them....but then I was too cheap to buy the pattern because of the new longarm AND Ryan needed Round 2 of braces suddenly (if I had known that was coming this week I might have reconsidered the longarm....maybe). So I'm on a budget now--only necessary quilting items!! ;-) wink, wink....

So I did what every budget-conscious quilter does and I Googled "fabric bowl tutorial" and found several lovely and FREE options. I went with this one from The Stichin' Chicken... The Fabric Bucket Tutorial. I did use fusible fleece inside as the batting and I think I need to buy a bolt and make a bunch of these little buckets...

I made the pattern that they had in their tutorial and used a vintage sheet for the outside and a little aqua fabric that I had in my stash. As a bonus, I made a little coaster/mug rug?? as a companion for the basket. I plan on putting cleaning rags for the longarm in the basket and using this pair in the new quilting room!!

Happy Quilting!

Mom's quilt...

2012-04-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

I finished piecing the quilt about a month ago and it just returned from the quilter last weekend. Slapped on some binding (by hand, I love it!!) and it is finally finished. This is a WIP from a year ago....

The pattern is Antique Etoilles from Moda Bake Shop. I am not recommending this pattern as the directions are a hot mess....It is about 64" square...

The quilter did an overall feather meander...lovely!

This was supposed to be done for Christmas but I fell behind with the move and didn't finish it.
Merry Christmas, Mom!!! LOL...better late than never!

Off to two dental appts with Ryan...then more sewing. Turns out I have a ton of the Maison de Garance fabric leftover (due to miscutting and a slew of other problems) so I decided to do a disappearing 9-patch for a charity auction from the scraps. It is scary when you have enough fabric leftover from a project that you can make a whole new quilt from it....Hmmm...

Happy Quilting!

More PPP...I don't suck, suck, suck.... :-)

2012-04-02T14:35:00.001-07:00

I loaded on some muslin yesterday for some PPP. I'm on Spring Break right now and it is full of sewing, nasty yard work, more sewing, cleaning, etc. Still, a nice Staycation...I'm not complaining.

I spent a full hour lint rolling cat hair off the take-up roller prior to loading the backing (wait, maybe that was complaining). What a hot mess....Anyhow, here is what happened yesterday.

Starting off with some random junk....Trying to throw around a big machine takes some adjusting. Maybe I should lay off the chocolate poke cake and pick up some arm weights....??? When your circles look like squares (squircles) then you know you need more PPP...

Trying out the vertical lines and bumps....thought it looked like a tuxedo shirt. I was planning on using that later this week but not sure now....

I like the texture with these bumps....bump, bump, bump, turn, bump, bump, bump, turn....etc.

Hearts that don't join in the center...jacked that up. Sun fan things...guess what, you can't go up with that design...need to go horizontal or you get to a point that you can't move on...duh...

A feather fill....but kind of half-assed. LOL....the south side is a traditional feather, but I thought I'd try out the hook-feather on the north side of the spine. Don't give up your day job, Vic!! WTF? Was I drinking the Everclear???

Anyhow, the guy who sold it to me was supposed to come back into town this weekend and come to my house to tweak some things. Funny thing, though, I haven't heard a peep from him??? What do you think this means?? You don't get much customer service for $11K these days....LOL... I'll fix it all myself--whatever!!

I'm binding my Mom's Quilt From Hell that came back from another quilter this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some pics tomorrow!! ;-)

New longarm...and a bit of Everclear!

2012-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

The longarm was set up this week....It is 12 feet long...a 2007 used Freedom SR. It came from MI in pieces and parts and was re-assembled Tuesday. Here is a pic...I might call her Alli after my daughter. Longarms are particularly tempermental, sometimes frustrating but so much fun when all is well. Also, I'm using all of Alli's old room stuff to decorate up there so I can't help but think about her when I'm in there. She would LOVE the machine....

Because she traveled so far, and she was a model used to train other longarmers, she needed a bit of a clean up. It is recommended that I use rubbing alcohol on a rag to clean the rails. Because I didn't have any, I opted to use some Everclear that I had hanging out in the liquor cabinet. Ever since I decided to keep my liver intact, Everclear has been on the "no-no" list....LOL. But Alli appreciated the cleanup....and damn that junk is amazing. There were a few rough spots on the rails but my Dad sanded them with some fine sandpaper and they are smooth as a baby's bottom now.

We messed around with the machine the night it got set up...here are some junky scribbles. It has been a long while since I quilted anything so I'll load on a practice piece tomorrow and try to get a bit better. I have plans to quilt a wall quilt later this week and I'd like it to not look like total garbage...Oh yeah, Ryan quilted on this a bit as well!! ;-)

I'll post more pics this week since we are on Spring Break for the next nine days!! How fantastic is that!! Happy quilting.... Oh yeah, I might post up how I did the binary code zeros and ones if anyone is interested...as well as a link to the binary code converter I found online. Seems like there are lots of other quilters with nerds in their family who would appreciate the geekiness of binary code!! LOL

;-) Have an awesome weekend!

Binary Code Mancave Quilt...

2012-03-30T16:52:00.002-07:00

I killed two birds with one stone on this quilt....

First, the colors were selected by Ryan for his mancave and they came from the package of Quadratini cookies....black, gray, red, brown. This meant I could use the quilt for the Product Challenge at LVMQG. Next, I had been promising Ryan a quilt for the new mancave so he was happy I jumped on this before he was gone to college...

The coolest thing about the quilt is its hidden meaning.... Ryan learned about binary code this year in computers ( the zeros and ones that make up letters in computer code). Anyhow, each row of the quilt is the binary code for a letter in his name. Each letter is 8 zeros and ones....and he has 10 letters between his first and last name. Ryan H----on. If you look at the quilt, you will see all the binary code that spells out his full name. Also, so that you know which side is up, there is red binding in the top left corner that signifies the top of the quilt. How totally nerdy awesome is that???

I quilted it with vertical lines 1" apart....with my Juki.

Anyhow, this is a super awesome man quilt. Also, the whole thing is made from recycled men's plaid shirts for my plaid shirt hoard.... fantastic!!

Orange Challenge....

2012-03-23T19:43:00.001-07:00

The LVMQG will be unveiling (sp??) a new challenge this month....we are celebrating Pantone's color of the year Tangerine Tango. ;-) In anticipation of a fabric swap, I ordered a few yards of orange from Fabric.com. Have you ever used the design wall....cool....

I'm not quite sure about the middle one on the right...but it said orange so I thought it might add variety. Or it might just suck... Who knows???

I've got to get some sewing done tonight while we watch a fantastic Australian series...

McLeod's Daughters. It is about two sisters who inherit a working farm in rural Australia and try to work it with only a crew of women and few local hot brothers, etc.

It was recommended by a colleague at work and we are about 20 episodes into the series that has about 200 something episodes....lots to watch now....Well, I just looked it up and it appears the more recent episodes (not from 10 years ago) look a little porn-y... hmmm....we might not make it through the whole thing!!! LOL....

More tomorrow...

PPP...

2012-03-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of longarming again, I've been doing a little PPP (practice, practice, practice) on a little whiteboard Rebecca picked up for me this week....

Kind of sketchy since it has been years since I quilted anything.... Beware, some ugly looking shiz awaits you...

Anyhow, I got the longarm frame delivered yesterday so it is sitting in the room until Dave can come to LV and set it up next week. ;-)

I'm working on a project for the LVMQG right now and have lots to do this weekend!!

;-)

Longarm Room...

2012-03-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

Thank God we are in a big house now!! I got another room upstairs for my longarm. It was adjacent to Ryan's room and all he did was store Legos in the closet and practice the baritone in there. We painted it a nice color called "Dinner Mint" yesterday and hung some curtains and a quilt that I had in Allison's old room. The machine is on a 12 foot frame so it should fit in the room nicely--I have 14 ft. to work with horizontally.

Picture the APQS Freedom right here.... ;-) It has a light system so I might have to get rid of the ceiling fan. It is a funkly midnight blue color that would have to be switched out anyhow...

Here is a pic of the machine from the ad....It is being shipped from MI and will start arriving in pieces this week!! Dave Jones, the owner, is flying out for the drag races at the end of the month and he will set it all up for me! He is an APQS service guy and his wife in a longarm instructor. This machine was one they used for teaching classes and demos, I think....

Check out the fancy lights! Awesome.... I'm very excited because my first longarm was a Millennium and I loved it--had to sell it due to divorce. So now I'm back where I started, I guess. ;-) In addition to piecing pics, I'll be able to post quilting pics as well. It has been several years since I quilted on a longarm but hopefully it won't take me long to get some skills back!!

Happy Quilting!

LOVE blocks...

2012-03-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

These are the blocks that came back from our MQG Block Swap....I LOVE them all!!

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with them, but at least they hit the design wall. So many ideas, so little time.

On a side note, I'm buying a longarm quilting machine (again). It will be delivered/set up at the end of the month. We are painting another room in the house to become a longarming room. I'll post some pics once it is done...My newest passion is looking for "modern" quilting online.

Also, I have made about 25 granny square blocks. I'll take a picture in the daylight this weekend!!

;-)

I got the Granny Square bug....

2012-03-03T11:15:00.001-08:00

I saw the Granny Squares popping up on a few blogs so I joined the I {heart} Granny! squares Flickr group for some inspiration... Awesome!! I've been making a few from my Happy Mochi Yum Yum stash of fabric...

The directions are available here....these are made from 2.5" squares and the block trimmed

up to the 9 1/8" indicated in the directions. I like it....

Turns out I only need about 132 of these blocks to make a king-sized quilt for my bed.

I guess that I had better get sewing!!

Blogger...word verification sucks!

2012-02-29T20:30:00.001-08:00

Does this say it all...after multiple tries to post a comment...

I don't know if that proves I'm not a robot or just a jerk..... Sorry for the colorful language...it is sooooo NOT like me....LOL!

My own retreat...

2012-02-25T22:36:00.000-08:00

Rebecca let me set up shop downstairs so I sewed like a sweatshop worker all day!!

I finished two tops...my one for the Product Challenge at the LVMQG (I can't show it yet...) and that bastard of a quilt for my Mom (see it sitting on the table.....) Antique Etoilles. It. Super. Sucked. And. I. Hated. Every. Minute. Of. It. Worst instructions EVER.

Anyhow...it will go to the quilter's for some magic and I'll show it off when it returns.

I'd really like to show the other quilt top but the reveal is March 29th...and I should really quilt it first. However, I also made a new cover for my dorm-room sized mini ironing board. Cola had one on hers at the retreat and I got motivated to make one of my own. Look at that...pretty, pretty...

I would really like to get more sewing done buy work keeps getting in the way. Damn....only 67 more days left of school this year!! I have another project in mind so I might have a few pics tomorrow...

Happy Quilting!

Ryan's Quilt...

2012-02-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

I can't talk too much about it because it is also my Challenge Quilt for the MQG product challenge. But here is a little pic of what I worked on today...

It is made from vintage men's plaid shirts. He picked the colors after looking at a package of cookies. I'll show the whole thing when it is finished in March. It is WAY cool....Shhh......

Sharon, I finished it!!! Zippered pouch....

2012-02-19T21:09:00.000-08:00

At our retreat last week Sharon gave us all a bit of multi-colored scraps sewn together (the center part of my log cabin)...we were challenged to make this little 2" square of fun turn into something cool! You can see the other members' items on Flickr...

I made a zippered pouch from Swim, Bike Quilt....

I've never sewn with small scraps before (no more than 1" width) and I really liked the finished product!! Thanks, Sharon!! Nice challenge....

One thing I will change on the next pouch is the little fabric scraps she advised putting on the ends of the zipper. They made A LOT of bulk when sewing all the parts together--and they didn't add much to the finished product. In fact, due to my lack of experience in zippers (this was my first one with a zipper foot), my pouch turned out a bit wonky at the zipper ends. Veto those on the next one!!

Now I just need to work on my Product Challenge quilt for the March meeting! I may have recruited another member...Watch out for Steph in March... crafty and a sewer!!

Happy Sewing!

Retreat block...Swoon--sort of....

2012-02-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

Several quilters at the retreat last week were working on the Swoon blocks... I had some vintage sheets with me so I made a scrappy version of the Swoon block...with altered corner blocks.

It turns out that if I make 19 more I might be able to make a King sized quilt for my bedroom...LOL! It took me all day just to make this one!! Anyhow, I'll have more to post from my sewing weekend soon... ;-)

Vintage Sheet Winner and Quilt Retreat!!

2012-02-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

I used the random number generator and #3 is the winner...

The winner is Brittany!! I'll be contacting you for mailing info!! Congrats...

The Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild is doing it's first retreat this weekend in Southeren Utah. Not to brag or anything, but check out the digs.... TheSuiteRetreat....A-frickin-mazing! Thanks to Andrea for finding such a lovely place to stay.... Be sure you click on it....really!

I need to get my stuff together, find some clothes and projects and booze... Yeah!! ;-)

More sheets...

2012-02-05T08:33:00.000-08:00

I worked on ripping some of my full size sheets into fat quarter-like rectangles. Ripping is very interesting, once you get past the first rip. Because the first rip straightens out the grain-line (is that the right word) of the fabric, you will get a wonky rip most of the time. So I save the bigger wonky parts for something later...

I followed Jeni's advice on sheet ripping...and on sheet shopping. It is no secret that if I could grow young again I'd want to be her.... ;-) She is having a sale this weekend, on a side note...

I thought I'd do a litte giveaway for 16 assorted, wonderfully colorful vintage sheet fat quarters....

These are all from my full-size sheet stash...mostly purchased on Ebay or local thrift shops. The sheets were soaked/washed in a slurry of Oxyclean, Tide and Downy... Honestly, they are ready to use!! If you are interested, please leave a comment... I'll pick on Tuesday evening and mail it out on Wednesday. You could be quilting using vintage sheets by the weekend! Good luck...

Some great ideas for vintage sheets are available on the Vintage Sheet Blog...or search the groups on flicker for Vintage Sheet quilts/swaps, etc.....lovely eye candy there!!