And doing a lot of sewing for my shop:
It's summer, I have three kids in tow every day, and we're still in the process of settling in to our new home after a few setbacks (which involved lots of cussing and rum drinking).
But we're alive and well. Just felt like I finally needed to show up here and say that.
I finally finished the happy scrappy quilt top. Yippee!
This was a very fun and easy project. Every block is made from scraps and I was particularly frugal with the white jelly roll strips I used for the sashing. If you are a newer quilter and haven't managed to accumulate many scraps, head on over to Etsy (see links below) and search for fabric scraps. Lots and lots to choose from.
I highly recommend this kind of project for any quilter looking for a fun, colorful and easy project. I just gathered my scraps in piles according to color and randomly pulled from the pile to create the block. As I got farther along in creating blocks, I did keep the size and dimensions of the blocks in mind to fit in a particular row.
I just love the randomness of the blocks and how wonky some of them are.
Below is a photo of the quilt still in progress on my "design wall" (a big piece of batting hastily hung on the wall with some thumbtacks).
As I completed my blocks I put them up on the wall and arranged and rearranged until I was happy with the color layout. Then I added the sashing between the blocks and then sewed the whole row together. Then I added the sashing on the right side of the row and went on to the next row. After adding the sashing on the right side, I went back and made sure all my rows were square - and I'm glad I did!
I don't have a plan yet for the backing of this quilt, but I'll probably stick with my plan to use up those scraps. I'll have to use some larger panels (maybe a Kona ash - have plenty of it) and throw in some fun scrap strips. I won't be able to finish this baby up any time soon since...we're moving in a week!
Our house in San Diego closes on Monday (Happy Valentine's Day to our buyers!) and then we close on our house here next Thursday, the same day my mom comes in for a week-long visit (I'll give her a hug and then put a sponge and a can of Ajax in her hands and head over to the new house). Then we'll move out of the rental next Saturday and get our delivery from storage on Tuesday the 22nd. Yeehaw! We've been in this rental long enough.
Let's just hope we can all stay well over the next few busy weeks. We've already had our share of ear infections and strep and general malaise, so think healthy thoughts!
Piece and love.
On Saturday this past weekend, we decided to give ice skating a try. Wells Fargo sponsors a free ice skating rink in downtown St. Paul and we figured we'd give it a try. Chris and I hadn't been ice skating in at least 30 years, and Makena and Aidan gave it a try once at a birthday party about a year ago. As we headed out the door, Chris questioned the sanity of the plan considering we are currently without health insurance (kicks in soon, though).
A lovely drive and skate rentals later, in 10-degree, sunny weather, we got out on the ice.
Mr. Fearless had no trouble at all, as we had expected. Makena, on the other hand, who is our most natural athlete, never took her hand off the wall, and probably made only four laps around in the hour or so we were there. Just like it took her all last summer before she would dare go in the pool without floaties all up and down her arms.
And Nadia, who is indeed smiling in this photo, starting whining and crying the moment her wee little skated feet hit the ice, preferring to keep her death grip on daddy over holding on to the side.
The two of them lasted about five minutes before my exasperated and frozen husband took Her Whineness off the ice.
And I did much better skating than I thought I would. I didn't fall once and actually really enjoyed myself. And there is no photographic proof of it so you'll just have to take my word for it.
In other news, I've made two more blocks for my scrappy quilt:
And since my mom and I each got a Kindle for Christmas, I made us both a cover using this tutorial as a guide:
The top one was made using a Moda jelly roll from their Hunky Dory line. The bottom one was made with a Moda honey bun from their Wonderland line. I don't know which one I'll be keeping - maybe I'll let mom decide.
I have not been able to locate my walking foot yet in any of the boxes I've gone through. I'm sure it's in storage still and I'd love to entertain just buying another one, except they cost about $135. Yes, that's right. Just the walking foot is about half what I paid for the whole sewing machine. So, in the meantime, I'm not going to be doing much straight-line quilting until that sucker is found. For these two covers, I just used a zigzag stitch over the ditch and I think it turned out okay. You can see on the bottom cover, over the brown polkie strip, that I tried some free-handed lines with my presser foot, but there was too much puckering.
And if any of my 12 readers have any book suggestions, I'm all ears. I recently read "Pride and Prejudice" (loved it), "A Dog's Purpose" (loved it), and I re-read "The Help" (best book ever). I'm currently reading "Emma" and have "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" already downloaded and ready to be devoured. This doesn't sound like something I'd normally pick up, but the reviews sound great and it's written by Laura Hillenbrand, author of "Seabiscuit", another of my favorite books. Suggestions please!
Goodnight!
Say it three times fast. It's fun!
So now that I've started digging into my fabric boxes, I decided to try to do just one project, start to finish, at a time. I've probably got about 10 quilt tops in various stages of completion, but for now I'm going to try to whole finish-what-you-started quilting method and see how it goes.
When I was packing up my fabric and quilting crap in San Diego, I just dumped into a box all of my previously organized fabric scraps. I love reaching in and grabbing a handful and seeing what I can find in there.
And since these scraps were in the first box I started going through, I thought it would be fun to step up the methodology a bit more. I'm going to be making a wonky scrappy quilt using nothing but scraps. This box contains a huge variety of fabrics and colors, mostly new fabrics and some vintage, and in almost every hue you can think of.
And here's the plan: I'm going to make a block a day until I feel like I've got enough to make a generous lap quilt or maybe even a twin-sized quilt. Here's what I've made so far:
The blocks are all different sizes and that is all part of my very scrappy plan. If you'd like to play along, here's what you do:
Grab some scrap strips that are about the same length. Sew together along the longer edge until you've reach the length you desire. Then press and trim until you have a uniform strip, and start on the next strip. When you have the number of strips you'd like for your block, sew the strips together and trim and square all sides. Voila! The funkier the better, I say.
If you're a newer quilter and haven't amassed a whole mess of scraps, here are some fun scrappy bundles available on Etsy:
If there are enough people out there still reading my blog who would like to do this as a quilt-along, I'm happy to start up a Flickr group for sharing. What say you?
Peace, love and scraps,
Tina
Moving out was not nearly as hard as it could have been. I think doing it all so suddenly and so quickly - again, back to the ripping-off-the-band-aid analogy - made things so much easier. It helped immensely that the company's relocation package included the packing and loading of all of our stuff.
It was also a tremendous relief when we were able to move away knowing that our house was already sold. I said many prayers of thanks for answering that one.
It only took those amazing worker bees a day and a half to pack up our houseful of furniture and general household crap - a task that had I had to do it myself would have taken months. As it was, it took me several days just to put together the stuff we'd be taking with us in our suitcases. They were ruthless in their packing, even packing the kids final homework packets that had been on the counter in the kitchen. I was afraid that had we stood still for any length of time, we would have been wrapped in paper and put in a box.
It was a bit unsettling to see my house empty out. For me, it seemed so much smaller without our lives inside. The echoes in the house were almost deafening.
This is my garage/studio/spider haven that has housed me and all my craft crap for the last eight years or so. This is the first time that garage door has been opened since it was installed eight years ago. That was weird.
The kids in front of our house on our last visit. We said our goodbyes, choked back some tears and gave some walls and doors big hugs.
Aidan in his empty room. He seemed a bit unsure about everything. He's been letting out his sadness a little bit more everyday since we got here. It comes out in different ways, but it's there. He's so strong and brave and tries so hard to keep it together, man.
And the girls in their pink room. Neither of them seemed too troubled about the whole empty house thing. The loved the loudness of their footsteps and the echo of their voices in all the rooms. I think without all of our things in the house it probably stopped feeling like home before it was even completely empty.
We've left our mark on that house in obvious and not-so-obvious ways. From the remodeling we've done to the little treasures buried in the grass in the backyard - nubs of sidewalk chalk, toy soldiers, pieces of plastic toys that had disintegrated over time, and about a ton of sand that never seemed to want to stay in the sandbox.
The other night my mom said that the time leading up to us leaving was the hardest - the sadness, anxiety, a burning desire to ground me forever for moving away - but that when it was time to say our final goodbyes it ended up not being as hard as the anticipation of leaving had been. We're both comforted by the fact that we have multiple phone conversations every day, which is pretty much just like it was when we lived only a half-hour apart. So it's kind of the same as always, just a much larger backyard.
I think Chris and I had already started the detachment process with the first resume he sent out. We were ready. Ready for change, ready to embrace whatever God had planned for us. On our road to parenthood, God had a different way of answering prayers than we had ever imagined. And even though Minnesota is pretty much the opposite of Houston, we're confident the dude upstairs knows what best for all of us. He hasn't steered us wrong yet. And we're happy to be in the midst of our next great adventure.
I'm just now unpacking some of my sewing stuff that I had shipped early to our wee drafty rental. I am hoping to get a good start on some inventory for my Etsy shop - that huge glaring blank spot to your right is driving me nuts.
1. Where the hell have you been?
Busy. Entertaining family from Trinidad, taxiing kids between schools, doctors, orthodontists and McDonald's. Crazy sewing orders for my shop (thankyouverymuch), and shuffling laundry all around the house. I've also managed to get in a shower now and then and get at least a few hours of sleep most nights.
2. Before yesterday, how long had it been since you'd had your teeth cleaned?
Nine years. Yes, blew me away, too. Those damn kids have sure made time fly. The totally surprising thing was that my teeth are in great shape. Must be all the Trident gum I chew. You know, it's recommended by 9 of 10 dentists.
3. Where the hell is Trinidad?
17 miles from the coast of Venezuela, and about 8000 miles from my front door. Don't feel bad. I had to look it up the first time, too. (map courtesy of National Geographic)
5. What's the strangest/grossest thing you've ever eaten and are embarrassed to admit you like?
Speaking of Trinidad, the strangest thing I think I've eaten and liked was something I ate there. Black pudding. It sounds totally gross but once you drink enough rum and pretend it's actually pudding, it's quite good.
6. How tall are you?
5' 6 99/100ths". I used to be 5'7".
7. How much do you weigh?
Seriously? I'm not going to tell you that. It's something only my doctor and I discuss and generally it's not a very pleasant conversation. But it's not really my weight that is the issue. It's my height. I'm about four inches too short.
8. Do you still scrapbook?
I'm so sorry to say that I haven't made a layout in about six months. Currently most of my scrapbooking supplies have been boxed up to make room for the fabric store that exploded in my studio.
9. Do you still take pictures?
All the time. But my photography business has been closed for over a year. However, as a favor, I did recently take photos for my sweet friend who just had a baby. It felt good to don my photographer's hat again for a bit:
These were taken in the hospital about two hours after he was born. My ovaries were aching. Threw me into baby fever something fierce.
10. Have you ever baked a pie?
I have! I recently baked my first apple pie with apples we picked in Julian. It was quite good and super easy. I used a store-bought crust and found a recipe for the filling on the internet and voila! Easy as pie.
11. How many yards of fabric do you own?
I estimate that somewhere around 250 yards of fabric is currently staring at the back of my head. This includes fat quarters, pre-cuts and vintage linens.
12. What kind of car do you drive?
I have a Honda Odyssey. It's about five years old and has about 80000 miles and is still a great car. I'm working on a way to convert petrified french fries, ground-in goldfish crackers and abandoned happy meal toys into clean fuel for my car. I'll let you know when I'm done with that.
13. What else do you know how to do?
I can touch my nose with my tongue, type 70 WPM, cook BBQ chicken in the crock pot, give great hugs, and play the air drums to every song Journey ever recorded. Among other things.
14. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Parents who don't make their kids wear seat belts or who don't know how to properly use car seats and infant carriers. Grrrrrrr. I see this all the time, all around town and it really chaps my hide.
15. Any book recommendations?
If you haven't read "The Help" yet, please do. It was my favorite book last year.
16. What's on your Christmas wish list?
Answered prayers. And a Kindle.
17. Guilty pleasure?
"Friends" reruns and gingerbread lattes.
18. How old were you when you discovered the truth about Santa?
About six or seven. I peeked through the heating vent into the living room and busted my mom stuffing our stockings.
19. Favorite color?
Blue. I never met a shade of blue I didn't like.
20. Paper or plastic?
I'm torn on this one. I re-use plastic bags a lot and we recycle them. Paper seems to be more environmentally friendly but I don't end up re-using them as often. Yes, I should use all the re-usable fabric and oil-cloth grocery bags I've made over the last few years, and I have the best intentions to do so. They're in a box in the back of my car and I forget them there every time I go to the grocery store. There's usually a muffled "shit" coming from somewhere on aisle three when I realize I've forgotten them. Again.
And I'd like to take a moment to say a huge "THANK YOU!" to all of our veterans and men and women in uniform on this Veteran's Day. I have a brother and a sister who are both officers in the Army. And 11 years ago today my father passed peacefully in his sleep. A Vietnam veteran, there was no better day for him to go.
And that's it for today. More regular blog posting on the horizon.
Peace out.
Two years ago, an incredibly lovely and talented quilter established an online quilt festival. There are two festivals, one in Spring, the other in the Fall. It's a fantastic way to "meet" other quilters and gain inspiration from their stories, their process, and their incredible work.
And this time, crawling out from under my rock, I've decided it's time to join the fun.
This quilt was made for my cousin, Elizabeth, to take with her to college back in North Carolina. It was by far my most pieced quilt I'd made, and the first one I made with a border. I used two Moda jelly rolls, one in white and one in their Arcadia line. I sewed three jelly roll strips together in alternating rows - white*print*white and print*white*print - and cut them into 2.5 inch sections which I then pieced back together to achieve my pattern. I also used six-inch lengths from the print jelly roll for my border, and more strips for my binding. For the backing I used an IKEA sheet (in a perfectly coordinating color, as luck had it) and some more strips for interest. I stuck with a simple straight-line pattern for my quilting. With such a busy pattern on front I didn't want to add to the craziness with stippling.
When all was said and done, I still had several strips left over from each jelly roll to make something else. Overall, this was quite a simple quilt to make, just perhaps a bit more time-consuming than is my usual style.
But I love it, and so does my cousin. I hope this quilt has come in handy for those late-night study sessions, Miss E, and reminds you of the ones who miss you way out here in California.
I hope to be back soon (it's only been two months or so since my last post, but who's counting?) with some more updates.
OMG! Two posts in a week? Blazing saddles, she's on a roll.
My last post had some links in it to The Fat Quarter Shop, my favorite online resource for fabric. For this project, you will need either two charm packs, one white or cream and one in color, like these two:
or two jelly rolls, one in white and one in color, like these two:
You could also cut white and patterned yardage into 2.5" strips. But for the sake of this tutorial, I'm going to be working with jelly roll strips. (I've bought jelly rolls at Walmart before. The fabric isn't as high a quality as the Moda products, but I've used them before without any trouble. See it here - scroll down a bit to the baby quilt and pillow. I personally preferred to cut my quilting teeth on less expensive fabric and saved buying the pricier stuff for when I got more confidence.)
I have a white jelly roll, like the one above, and a jelly roll of feedsack reproduction fabrics, like this one. To begin, you'll want to sew one white strip and one patterned strip together, with the right side of the patterned fabric facing the white fabric. Sew along the entire length using a 1/4" seam. And because I'm a press open gal, press open your seams.
You'll end up with something resembling this. The finished strips should measure 4.5 inches x the length of your fabric.
Now it's time to cut. I highly recommend a rotary cutter, quilting ruler, and self-healing mat for cutting fabric. It's the most accurate way to cut fabric. However, and I speak from experience, rotary cutter blades are super sharp and will lop off unprotected parts of your anatomy. If you would prefer to keep all your digits intact, be sure only to cut when you are completely sober and fully awake. Do not use a rotary cutter if you are easily distracted by movies with a shirtless Matthew McConaughey or Javier Bardem. And if you sing while cutting, resist the urge to pick up your rotary cutter and use it as a microphone. Okay. PSA done.
Since our strips are 4.5 inches wide, we want to cut our sewn strips down to 4.5 x 4.5 squares. Like so:
Each strip set should yield 9 4.5" pieces. You'll use eight for the blocks for your quilt and have one left over. (Since this is my second pinwheel quilt, I'll be using all the extras from the two to make a third.)
Now that you have your pieces all ready, let's get sewing again. To make the pinwheel, you need to arrange your pieces like this:
Now take the left top piece and place it on top of the bottom left piece, right sides to together, and sew across the top of your pieces using a 1/4" seam. (Please excuse my man-hands and sausage fingers. I carry half my excess weight from my wrists out and from my ankles down.)
Repeat this process for the right side of your block. Your block should be coming together something like this:
Press your new seams and the backs of your blocks should look like this so far:
And like this from the front:
Now lets sew the whole thing together. Flop the right piece face down onto the left piece and line up the center seams:
Once your seams are deemed aligned, pin pieces together lining things up nicely along the top like so:
Now I always check to make sure my seams are indeed all lined up before I sew because seam-ripping ranks right up there with the basting process of my least favorite quilting tasks. This is how I do it:
Open up your pinned pieces and look to make sure the seam lines are lined up. If not, remove pins and adjust. If everything looks good, pin each end of your pieces together and get ready to sew:
Press your new seam open and admire your handywork:
Your finished block should be just about 8.25" square. Yahoo!
The quilt I'm making will be 6 rows x 6 columns of these lovely, simple blocks in various colors. That's 36 blocks. That sounds like a lot, but it's really not (look ma, I'm a poet!). When you get a rhythm going the blocks come together quite easily and before you know it you've got a stack of blocks just waiting for the next step - sewing your blocks together and finishing your quilt top. I'll be tackling that next week.
In the meantime, have fun sewing.
Interested in more quilting information? Here are some basic quilting tutorials made by others that were infinitely helpful to me while I was teaching myself to quilt:
Sew, Mama, Sew! and Sew and Sew and Sew
As always, if you have any questions, leave a comment and hopefully I can help.
Ciao!
My family has a beach house in my favorite little California coastal town. It's actually more like a beach postage stamp than a beach house, but it's perfect. Nothing like close quarters when vacationing with three kids seven and under.
I've blogged about Carpinteria before so it should be no surprise that I'm doing it again. I love this town. From the quaint antique stores, to the sushi restaurant we all love (and which tolerates our raucous table with relative ease), to the amazing beach with gentle waves and lots of shells. The people are friendly and nice and we always have a great time.
This past week was no exception. We spent lots of time at the beach where, though it was sunny, the temperature never got above 68 degrees (what the heck is with this crazy summer weather we're having out here?), and the water was surely not above 60. Freakin' frigid. The kids didn't really seem to mind the cool weather, though, preferring instead to spend hour after hour at or in the water, teeth chattering, gooseflesh rising, body nearly convulsing with the cold. Aidan continues to be fearless in the water, and Makena is overcoming her fears with gusto.
You don't have any idea how much my Caribbean husband is sacrificing to put himself up to his ankles in this water. This might just be his fourth time in the Pacific in the 25 years he's been here. He's quite the water snob. But that's how much he loves that little girl.
We did some blueberry picking at a little farm off Hwy 101 somewhere between Goleta and Buellton. I love blueberries, though I would never have guessed that such deliciousness comes from quite the unremarkable shrub.
Those squat little bushes in the middle right of the photo? Those are blueberry bushes. We've seen the sign for blueberry picking several times and this was the one time we drove by and it was actually open. The berries were small and the bushes were well picked over, but the berries are sweet and juicy and that's all I really expect from a blueberry. And spending an hour in the sun picking blueberries (it was much hotter inland than at the coast) gave me an even greater appreciation for those who must do this for a living.
We also went to our favorite Santa Ynez winery, Gainey. Though we don't go for the tasting with the kids in tow, we love taking the kids there and giving them a little science lesson about agriculture and how grapes are made into wine. We show them how each type of grape is grown just a little differently, and how those wine grapes are different from the seedless table variety the regularly eat. Gainey has this great little learning vineyard just outside their tasting room for just this purpose. Love that.
(Still loving my Hipstamatic app for my iPhone. Remember my NYC photos?)
I also got to stroll (without the kids!!!) through the goodness of the Carptineria farmers market on Thursday. It's small but wonderful and just one more reason to love this wee town.
And we never go to Carp without a few adventures in Santa Barbara. There is one park we always visit, just across the street from the beach on Cabrillo. There is a great pirate ship-type play structure and some concrete whale and fish forms which actually spray water, drenching a certain unsuspecting mom and her camera. Twice. Hrmph.
Everyone loves to skurf down this fun big slide. Even the big kid.
Aidan and this little dude built this complex moat with tunnels and berms to catch the water trickling from the fishy fountain up above. Aidan worked on this project for several hours - my future civil engineer.
And then, on a bit of a whim, Aidan got a haircut. We stopped into the local barber - a second-generation barber and Carpinteria native - who very swiftly and skillfully sculpted Aidan's head into this:
A brohawk (the styling of an afro into a mohawk - brohawk. Courtesy of the Tina Cockburn Book of Colloquialisms). I taught him a few choice Mr. T lines ("I pity the fool!") which he's been practicing ever since. It'll be gone by the start of school in a few weeks, but until then we're enjoying the novelty. Well, at least Aidan and I are enjoying it. Chris is tolerating it.
All in all it was a very good week. I could have done without the 6.5 hour mind-numbingly long, traffic-jammed, kids-screeching, I-had-to-stop-to-pee-five-times, french-fry-and-feet-scented drive home, but it was a good week.
I'll be back in a few days with a tutorial on putting together a pinwheel quilt like this one. Get your jelly rolls or charm packs ready!
Until then my friends!
