A Little Bit of a Little Border

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Aside from playing around with EQ, this is what I’ve been working on. I need 4 long strips like this for one of the pieced borders for Scrappy Star. At this point, it seems like an endless bit of stitching for a border that finishes at only 2.25″ wide but I’m almost three-quarters done and I know I’m going to be pleased with it once it’s finished and attached to the top.

There are loads of opportunities for continuous stitching when attaching the QSTs to the diamonds and I’m taking full advantage of those opportunities. That is helping make the stitching of the border strips fly along but I’ll still be glad when this part of Scrappy Star is finished!

Playing with designs in EQ  has now taken on a life of its own. The laptop is now plugged in over by the couch, rather than at my desk. The last few nights I’ve been designing and listening to TV rather than stitching and listening to TV. I think I’m on a designing binge of sorts.

Baxter was, I think, posing for this photo.

Four Little Quilt Tops

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First up, the little tumbler star table runner that finishes at 12 x 48. I’m Not sure exactly how I’ll quilt this one, but it’s going to be pretty basic.

Second, the 24″ square tumbler star doll quilt. This one is going to be quilted, I think, to emphases the stars.

Third, China Plates. I think I’m going to do straight line quilting through the middle of the hexagons.

The fourth is the pink and red Winding Ways that finishes at 27″. I’m going to quilt to emphasize the circle effect. This one I should have done before now. It would be great  to have this one hanging around Valentine’s Day. Next year it will be!

All of them have the batting cut and ready and I’ll get the backings and bindings ready for them on Friday. I’m going to baste some temporary muslin borders on each of the four so that they’re large enough to put in the hoop and I can get right to the edges, although I may do the table runner without a hoop. I think that will work as long as I baste it well enough.

Why have I got all 4 of them out? Because I really want to get back to hand quilting the Ferris Wheel quilt, but would like to use these tops as my warm-up quilts.

Last night I designed yet another quilt in EQ but that’s it for a while. I need more stitching time! I’m almost three-quarters of the way through making one of the pieced borders for Scrappy Star. Once I get that done and added to the main body of the quilt, I’ll decide whether it needs the final pieced border I was thinking of adding.

Baxter is 10 months old today. He’s growing so fast now that we’re seeing changes in him almost daily and his silver markings are starting to show more and more.

Dreaming in Wedgwood, Part 2

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While precious little stitching has been going on around here the past few nights, after I finished playing in EQ last night I couldn’t resist stitching two more of the Dreaming in Wedgwood blocks.

I’m trying to decide on a layout, as I think I’m going to add something else to the mix even if it is just plain 12″ squares. That would lend itself to some wonderful quilting.

One more night of intense EQ play and then back to my normal stitching time. I’m glad I’ve taken the time to work with EQ as much as I have over the past week, as I think it will help in the future when I’m playing with ideas. That said, it also has the potential to take much too much time away from actual stitching.

Mr. Q.O.has been busy playing with photo effects. Baxter is definitely not opposed to having his photo taken.

Half Hexagon Madness!

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Just over a year ago, when Cameron’s Windmills was finished, I put the box containing all the extra pieces away. Over the past while I have been thinking about them and couldn’t resist making a few. I love tessellating designs and this is definitely a fun stitch.

There are a fair number of the “other half” hexagons in the box, so I have a feeling another small quilt may be in the making.

I continued on my journey of working in EQ last night. While I am getting more used to it and it’s fun to see design ideas on the screen, I prefer playing with real fabric. That said, I have another idea that I’ve wanted to play with for months. For this particular design I have in mind, it’s going to make a lot more sense to work it out in EQ before I start printing on fabric so I may just work on it for a while today.

Even though we’ve had quite the cold snap, Baxter still was hanging out on the windowsill.

Quilt Photo Playtime

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While I spent most of the weekend concentrating on learning EQ, Mr. Q.O. was playing with some photo filters and applying them to various photos that have been taken recently. First up, a watercolour version of the Winding Ways blocks.

Then a cartoon version of my Rose Dream Pinwheel block.

Of course then a cartoon version had to be done of the Winding Ways blocks.

As well as a cartoon version of the bow tie quilt.

Finally, a grey version of the Winding Ways blocks. This filter is definitely one I can see as being extremely useful for quilters. I know that when I get all the blocks made and am sorting out placement, this will be a really helpful tool.

There was a light-bulb moment on the weekend when I finally got comfortable with EQ and was then off to the races. A big bonus to designing in EQ is that I can play with the newest fabrics downloaded from the various manufacturers’ websites and see how my design ideas work before committing to cutting and printing fabric. That said, I really do wish there was a Mac-compatible version of it.

One “normal” photo in this post and that is of Baxter. We had an extremely cold weekend and he was taking full advantage of his kitty bed, as well as staying very close to his toys.

Thread Tales

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Yesterday I was talking to a friend about thread. It got me thinking about the different threads I use. There are five threads that I will use for any hand piecing or appliqué project. The only criteria for me is whether the colour matches the fabrics I’m working with. MasterPiece, Mettler 60/2, YLI Heirloom, Madeira Heirloom and DMC are the five. I love the heirloom threads as they are so fine they melt into the seams. That said, if I need a black thread the only one I’ll use is the MasterPiece one. It is the only black thread I’ve tried that doesn’t break after five or six stitches. Yet it’s fine enough that it doesn’t add any bulk to the seam.

The DMC thread is amazing. It is stronger than it may appear. I’ve used it both for appliqué and piecing. It melts into the seams almost as well as the heirloom threads and, of course, comes in many more colours. I spent some time here, drooling over all the DMC thread colours. I told Mr. Q.O. if we win a lottery, I’m ordering the one of every colour package!

This is a portion of one of the pieced borders I’ve been working on for the Scrappy Star top. Because there are so many fabrics that I’m using in this, the grey DMC thread has been my choice.

Baxter likes to sprawl on the floor right by Mr. Q.O.’s feet. When he does this, he’s wanting tummy rubs — and he’s not shy about asking for them.

I’m Seeing Circles

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Some wonderfully soft pastel circles.

Some circles in richer, darker colours.

I had a box full of charm packs in various lines. A few years ago I appliquéd circle after circle after circle. And then they sat. And sat. I’ve had them out before, trying to decide just what to do with them and, having no ideas, have put them away again. Now I think I’ll just put them into two quilt tops of whatever size they end up. Perhaps they’ll turn into covers for a few stitching books.

I have spent the past few days working on — struggling with — tearing my hair out over some designs that I’m trying to turn into designs using EQ. The designs are completely thought out in my mind, I can draw sketches on paper in seconds, and I know the designs work. But translating them from my mind or sketches into EQ designs? Not something I’m finding at all intuitive. That said, I will get this figured out before the week is over but I’d much rather be playing with fabric as I sort out a design than sitting in front of a computer screen. My EQ manual is full of Post-it notes and highlighted passages.

Baxter seems to find it all a big bore and decided to have a snooze. Notice how he makes sure he has a pillow in just the right spot!

Quilt in Waiting

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While I am still working on the pieced fourth border for Scrappy Star, starting to work with these pieces in earnest is what’s beckoning although it is still quite a ways off. I finally finished cutting all the Winding Ways pieces last week.

They are now nestled in their own box, just waiting until I can devote some serious stitching time to them.

But before that happens I have to not only finish the pieced fourth border for Scrappy Star but also the final pieced fifth and possibly sixth borders for it.

The pieces in this box will be incorporated into those pieced final border(s) for Scrappy Star.

Then there’s the red and white Sunflower/Feathered Star quilt top that is next up on the list to finish as soon as Scrappy Star is done. After Scrappy Star and the Sunflower/Feathered Star tops are done, the Winding Ways blocks are going to be such a wonderful fun stitch.

Some interesting comments yesterday on the topic of pre-washing fabric. It seems like almost all those who left a comment have the same feeling; that it’s the dirt and chemicals that are the bigger concern than the possibility of bleeding.

Mr. Q.O. and Baxter have a game they play. Mr. Q.O. tosses Cappy, Baxter’s favourite toy, on to the windowsill. Baxter races over to grab it and then jumps back on the bed with it in his mouth. But yesterday? Yesterday, on one of the tosses, Cappy landed on the edge of the open window. Baxter apparently sat there for quite some time trying to decide if he’d grab it or not. Finally, he walked away. We rescued Cappy and all was well.

Next Border on Scrappy Star

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There are three borders on Scrappy Star now. I’m working on the fourth border, which is a pieced border. For it, I need close to 200 QSTs. That’s the majority of them in the picture. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, I had all of them printed, cut out and ready to stitch.

So what does this have to do with it? On the weekend, I was washing some fabric for various projects. I tend to wash a lot of fabric by hand for numerous reasons, including the fact the washing machines in our laundry room are front loading and lock once the wash cycle begins. So I can’t check the water to see if anything is bleeding.

But that’s not the main reason I wash my fabrics. I want to get rid of the sizing and other chemicals that are in the fabrics. Many of the fabrics we use now are printed offshore and come to North America in large shipping containers, sit in warehouses and then get shipped. And something I’ve noticed a lot lately is that when I wash fabrics, even though they don’t bleed, the water is … well, dirty. It’s the only word for it. There’s a real grey dirty look to the water. After a good wash and rinse, the water is rinsing clear.

I know it’s a never-ending debate in quilting, whether to pre-wash or not, and everyone has their own preference. My choice is to work with fabric that’s clean and as free of chemicals as possible. As a hand piecer, I prefer the softness of fabrics with the sizing washed out. The very few times I’ve worked with unwashed fabrics, I’ve found myself coughing every time I pressed whatever I was making with them. I think that’s the formaldehyde and other chemicals reacting with the heat of the iron that bothers me.

I know I’m opening up a big can of worms here, but what’s your preference and why?

Baxter has no opinion on the subject at all. He’s much too busy guarding the toy basket.

Dreaming in Wedgwood

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When I was growing up, my mother decorated our house in mostly Wedgwood blue and white/cream. Wedgwood blue is, to me, one of the most soothing colours imaginable. When I finally decided to take the leap and start a two-colour Rose Dream quilt, this time using the 6″ collection, I chose this Wedgwood blue that I’ve had in my stash for next to forever. I knew the right quilt idea would eventually come along and it has. The working name for this quilt is “Dreaming in Wedgwood.”

While I’m having fun with the scrappy Rose Dream blocks shown last week, I knew the minute the collections came out that I wanted to make a classic two-colour quilt. The big question for me was what colour. I had a wonderfully long and silly internal debate going on all last week about pink and white, yellow and white, blue and white, purple and pink and even went so far as to get some fabrics ready for each of those.

I have a pink and cream top waiting to be quilted, so pink and white? I’m sure another pink quilt is in my future, but not quite yet. Yellow and white? Still a possibility, I suppose, perhaps using the larger size Rose Dream block. Purple and pink? Definitely in my future. The Wedgwood blue and white? I couldn’t resist it. Yes, I’ve made a blue and white quilt before, as seen in my blog header, but that is a much deeper, richer blue.

One of the things I enjoy about hand piecing is choosing the thread(s) for each project. With a two-colour quilt, it’s so easy. Find one thread that works, and that’s all that’s needed. I had the perfect thread to match the blue fabric.

The entire quilt is planned in my mind. I know how many blocks are needed, the border is figured out and a possible quilting design for this one is already roughly sketched out.

The blocks press beautifully. As I don’t want to have to do all the grading of seams at the end, I’m doing these as I go.

At the end of last week, I fell quite behind in responding to blog comments. I will catch up this week.

Baxter adores his Cosmic Catnip Alpine Scratcher. Along with using it as a scratching post, he often will fall asleep on it. Mr. Q.O. captioned this shot “Photo Life – I’m Posing For It”.