Finished before Friday!

I finished the quilt I was binding on Monday, washed it and managed to get it in a box and to the post office in time to have it arrive ON the birthday of the recipient! WooHoo! And just in time for the Bloggers Quilt Festival!

So, I had a weird thing happen with this quilt... I ran out of time to get the quilt completely dry on the low heat setting I was willing to use while at the laundromat. When I got home it was such a nice day I thought I would hang it out to dry the rest of the way. When I took it off the line where it had been folded over at about the middle over the line the edges seemed to bow out sharply where it had been in contact with the line. Now I know for a fact that I trimmed those sides straight and the corners square. What's up with that? I suppose it will relax with time and possibly the next washing, but it was unsettling. It is quilted in a large allover meander with a variegated blue thread. I am so glad that this one is done after so long and done before the recipient's birthday. I am absolutely going to celebrate by sharing this Friday Finish with everyone else who finished something over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

In my lap...

There is no real  Design Wall for me today... I have something in my lap. I am finishing the binding on a top I made long ago for my nephew's new apartment. I would like it done so I can send it in time for, or close to his birthday which is coming up next week. This is the top...

I backed it in mottled light grey and it is being bound in double fold bias that matches the outer border (I can't believe I saved that fabric for about a decade to go along with it when I finally finished it... such optimism!) I will save the details of the quilting and post a photo of it REALLY done, hopefully for a Finish Friday this week! See you then!

Beads of Courage

This week's Diva Challenge is about a program for 'medically experienced' children who have had way more than their share of exposure to the wonderful world of Medicine called Beads of Courage. In the Diva's own description...
"Beads of Courage is a wonderful charity that helps a child with a chronic illness or condition to tell their story of courage and strength as they take their medical journey. Every single bead represents something your child has done - a test, a poke or needle, a procedure, a doctor's appointment, therapy, special accomplishments, an xray, use of oxygen, mobility issues, etc.  It's incredible to see what your child has been through in a very tangible way. "

We were challenged to come up with something that represented this program. I went with the obvious...beads!

There has been little else going on this week. I have done some sewing, which I will now have to UNdo because I totally muffed it because I guess I wasn't paying attention. That will have to wait for a while because now I am binding a quilt for my nephew and I really want to get it finished to send off to him before his birthday next week. I am in the hand sewing stage at the moment - wish me fleet fingers! 

We will also be preparing for the big fall family camping trip next weekend, planning a harvest party for 12 4 year olds, making a few costumes, getting ready for the nearly-9 year old's birthday on the 31st and trying to clean the house so My IL's can come and stay the first weekend in November while DH and I get away for a few days. Whew, why am I still sitting here typing? Later, all.

I guess I need guidance...

So, I guess I need guidance sometimes... or at least a string not of my own making! I blew through two Zentangle pieces for the Diva challenge this week much faster than I normally finish challenges. I don't know if it is that the string was supplied (as per the challenge) or that the given string was tile-sized, which is smaller than the usual size for me. See, I don't work on tiles, I work in a sketch book that is either about 4x6 or 8x10 so I can make my strings as big as I want. I think sometimes maybe I make them too big. The smaller size was really nice to work on and allowed me to finish much faster, although I felt a bit cramped for space at times.  Here are the tiles with the suggested string (001) from Linda Farmer's TanglePatterns.com site. The plain string is seen to the right.

I chose Popcloud for the main part of this one. I had never used it before and wasn't sure I really liked it much but something about it appealed to me right then. When I tried it out on a scrap it was just what I needed at that moment - it is a little hypnotic curving back and forth like that and it is just right for my mood. I wasn't sure how to shade when I was done, but I like it and will certainly use it again. I'm not sure the other patterns I chose to go with it really match it in feel, but I do like the Florz in the middle as a virtual 'blank space'. Oh, I just thought of a good way to shade that part... now I'll have to try it out.

The second go around I also tried one I haven't done before, which I now can't recall the name of... girders or something like that... Girdy is the name. Super easy pattern with a nice open look to it. I like the beads continuing out of Kunstler and the Tuftid is just the density needed in the center, although I wish the last space had come out even with the others. Well, no mistakes right? At least I don't call them mistakes when there is nothing I can do to fix them!

This is one I did a week or so ago in a sort of 'color block' string of rectangles. I really like the top right and bottom left rectangles and the rest turned out OK too. That one in the middle on top may be something new. This is not the best version of it I have done but I was playing some to see what else was possible. 

This last one is an October project over at a Yahoo group I belong to. We were to trace out hand and use it as a string. I traced the outline and then added the creases in my palm and fingers to break up the space ("Let me see your lifeline... talk fast!). The only section I a am not happy with is the tip of the index finger which I wanted to fill in with a fine pattern so the scale was more 'finger print-ish' but overall I like it. Hope you have a great week, now I have to get back to what I am supposed to be doing!

My Monday Design Graph Paper

It finally happened, I had an idea for the back of my crumb quilt (what a cliche... I was in the shower at the time)! The front has been done for a long time. I think I know how I want to quilt it and I knew that I wanted to use certain pieces of really old calico fabric in the back in the spirit of 'use it up' but I didn't want it to be really ugly... I will make the back like one of the blocks on the front, only bigger and sort of a combination... a wonky heart inside a wonky star...

what do you think? Sort of 'giant crumbs'. Now I have to see if the pieces I have in mind are big enough and if I have enough gold for the heart, it is called "Hearts of Gold" after all.

I also finished the last 7 pillowcases for my friend's pillow case drive for the Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA. I posted more about it here.

The top princess one (the upside down one with the pink ribbon trim) is going to my daughter since I promised her her choice of the princess ones. At least she picked the one that I sewed together with the princesses standing on their heads! I love the Aunt Lindy's Paper Doll ones, I used up the scattered clothing fabric I had for the cuffs and bought the yardage for the bodies in the clearance section of the LQS. It is an older line and I was lucky to find it - I thought I might have to make do with a plainer pink or blue. The ones below are the set I finished on Friday. So I have 12 cases to send to Sara for the collection she is making in celebration of her daughter's (too short) life. Hopefully her collection for the hospital will help to cheer other children who have to spend too much time there.

Gee, I haven't done this much sewing in many weeks... can you tell I am procrastinating! Back to work! If you have some time check out the other great quilt designs swimming around over at Patchwork Times' Design Wall Monday.

Cases for a Cause

I have something to celebrate getting done this Friday , although I did not really plan it that way...I got 6 pillowcases done and 6 more pinned up ready for sewing. I will celebrate by playing along with Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Why am I doing this, you ask...

I was browsing around some blog links from my list of blogs that either don't get updated often or I don't get to read often and I came across the blog of a friend who lost her 8 year old daughter back in the spring. That child had the biggest smile and most sparkly eyes and she had been through so much in her short, medically complicated life. I used to read updates about how she was doing with, well, a sharp stab of guilt actually. See, I have a son that was born just two weeks after Emily was and he visits the doctor literally once a year, typically for a well-visit (visits to the ER for broken bones and self inflicted eye injuries not withstanding - this kid has 'thrill issues'). Knowing what Emily would be doing and learning and accomplishing if not for her medical challenges just made the already heart wrenching news about setbacks and medical procedures all the more painful. Conversely, when there was good news about her walking with assistance or sitting up and playing on her own I was SO proud of her and the efforts her mom made to make those things happen for her. Her mom has, understandably, been in a lot of pain since her death. Emily's ninth birthday is coming up in October and her family is planning a celebration of her life. Part of that celebration is a drive to collect fun and festive pillowcases to donate to the Mattel Children's Hospital where Emily spent so many days. Her mom says that something as simple as a 'happy' pillowcase can make such a big difference over the 'sterile hospital white' they are surrounded with. The information about the drive is on her blog here.

These six are done!

I got to thinking... I have lots of ~1 yard cuts of bright, fun prints that I have accumulated over the years thinking I would use them for something for my own kids. Then life happened and the kids grew out of them or the right idea never came along. So I started making cases. It only takes a 26.5" length of 41" wide fabric and a 10" x 41" band of complimentary fabric and surprisingly few seams. I made 6 without breaking a sweat (or buying any fabric!) and today I went out and bought a few lengths so I could use up still more of my stash that I didn't have the right go-with piece for. I will have to sacrifice one to my 4 year old... she spotted the princess fabric in the stack and begged me to let her have one of the two cases that yardage will make... I did buy it for her originally and could never think of anything to make with it. Voila! A Princess pillowcase to go with her pink sheets that didn't come with a pillow case of their own. If you have any fun fabric laying around, waiting for the right idea please consider making a case or two in honor of Emily.

This is fabric for another 5 earlier today - they are cut out and pinned up ready for sewing and I
forgot to take a picture of the fabric for last two - from Aunt Lindy's Paper Doll fabric... SO cute!

These are shown above... Too buggy? Would that be weird to sleep on bugs,
or will some future entamologists think they are the coolest thing ever?

IX challenge

Hello all! The Diva challenge this week is to use the relatively new pattern IX in a piece. When this tangle came out I played a little with it and found it 'ok'. I have the most trouble with the ends which I have not found a truly satisfying solution for... I don't even really know what it is about them that doesn't work for me so it is hard to fix it. I do like it curved rather than straight and I like lots of overlapping lines because I like the woven look the junction gets. I have already seen some great interpretations posted as responses to the challenge (I peeked before I posted mine which I usually try not to do!). Anyway, here are mine for the week...

I will likely be pretty scarce here on the blog for a while. I am preparing for an exam that dredges up a bunch of information that I knew pretty well... 20+ years ago, I have a degree in it after all. The results of this exam will determine if I am able to step through the looking glass and change careers in the most lucrative way possible in the near future. As such, I am trying to motivate myself to study a few hours a day. The study itself is not so bad except for the fact that not remembering any of this stuff I used to know so well is a little depressing and ends up making me feel a bit brainless. I am also trying to finish quilting the endless quilt (I am never quilting one this way ever again!) a few minutes at a time when I can and teach my two after school classes and do everything else that a mom of three is required to do. I hope to keep tangling, if only to 'chill out' once in a while, but no promises about posting them! Once things calm down some I hope to have a little  celebration of my first whole year of blogging and having 50 whole followers! WooHoo! I will keep you posted. For now I have to go stop the boys wrestling match before someone breaks something (don't laugh, it has happened before, twice), get the middle boy to return the box turtle he found today to the woods and put the 4 year old to bed.