Text It! Blog Hop - life is short...

Hello BlogHoppers!  I'm Alla (rhymes with Paula).  I love fabric and whimsy and learning new things, so I jumped on the chance to play with wool and applique in ways that are new to me.  Welcome to the "Stay Awake" day of the Text It! Blog Hop.


When I was looking thru Sherri Noel's book Text It! Quilts and Pillows with Something to Say, there were so many projects that appealed to me.  I knew I couldn't make just one.  In fact, I'm working on 3! (I may have a problem with focus.)

But the main one I wanted to share on the Blog Hop was the  Stay Awake wallhanging.  The reason?  This sign on my kitchen door:

It was a phrase my mother often used.  I purchased this decal from the Etsy shop It's Written in Vinyl just after mom was killed in 2015.  Needless to say, I knew which project was first on my list.

Sherri's book encourages you to make the projects your own: there are seven full alphabets included, not just the letters for the words in the book.  Advice: if you do change the wording, some other things might have to change:

• the amount of wool/fabric needed for applique
• the size of your background fabric
• the orientation of the piece

This last change, orientation, came as a surprise to me.  I was placing my words this-way and that on the background, and just couldn't get them to look right to me.  The word "dessert" was just too long; no other words wanted to fit on the same line with it.  So I switched from landscape to portrait.

Behind the Seams: cup applique from the back

For the cup and saucer applique, I used a freezer-paper technique from Jenifer Dick's book The Modern Applique Workbook.  This was a new-to-me technique, but it worked out well.  Just as shown in the Text It! book, the individual pieces are layered--cup over the saucer, cup interior over the cup--rather than being fully separate from each other.  For the freezer-paper technique, I stitched everything down with a narrow zigzag monofilament. Which is another new-to-me technique.  (Don't you love learning new things?!)

I also chose to piece my background, because I really wanted to use this chocolate-bar novelty print for the word "dessert".  But I also totally wanted to use a cream-colored wool felt (this project in the book uses wool for all the letters).  Solution?  Two different fabrics for the background, with the cup and saucer applique artfully spanning the dividing line.

Had so many questions as I worked with wool for the first time.  I discovered: wool felt is not the same as felted wool.  It all worked out in the end.

Since my amazing chocolate-bar-print really didn't show up as well as I hoped, I chose to add a novelty chocolate border.  More is more, I always say.  #maximalist


My final note on construction involves outlining the applique letters.  I used machine blanket stitch on the quilting cotton letters.  Since I have worked on multiple projects from this book, I have ended up using three different sewing machines.  Each of their blanket stitches are just a touch different, requiring adjustments of stitch length and width, and especially tension.  I also learned that there is such a thing as a non-stick sewing machine needle (who knew?), which could have helped with the buildup of gunk on my needle while blanket-stitching around the applique letters.  Advice: choose the sewing machine with the knee-lift when doing blanket stitch around applique!

My whip stitch (before I ripped it out)

For the wool letters, I tried the recommended whip stitch by hand, but didn't end up liking the way it looked.  I think my use of wool felt, rather than felted wool, contributed to this.  I un-stitched, and used a simple running stitch instead.  For thread, I tried cotton sashiko floss.  I had heard some of my wool enthusiast friends talking about how nicely it pairs with wool, and has a matte finish.  It was definitely easy to work with in this application.  I bought mine through Kimonomomo.  (I will be giving away a skein to a commenter on this post; see below.)

Buy the book

Sherri's book is so awesome!  As I said at the top of this post, I'm working on other projects from the book, because they are just so very appealing.  Plus, I've used her alphabets to write messages on other projects I had in the works, too.  If you'd like to purchase a signed copy of the book, you can get it directly from the author at her Rebecca Mae Designs online shop.

Giveaways (win the book?)

• Book publisher Martingale has generously offered a copy of the book for me to give away to a lucky visitor to this blog (U.S. only).  
• Aurifil is giving away two spools of thread.
• I am offering a small bundle of fat quarters of the swirl and chocolate fabrics used in my project plus a skein of sashiko thread.
• Grand prize: Sherri Noel has a final giveaway bundle available through commenting on any/all of her Blog Hop posts (like today's post)

To Enter:  
Leave a comment below telling me what phrase you'd like to applique onto a quilty project. Winners of the 3 different prizes will be selected by random drawing on March 19th.  (If your comments are set to "no reply" I have no way to contact you and you cannot win.)
If you live in Canada, Joanne is holding the giveaway for the book from her blog, Quilts by Joanne.

Keep Hopping

Sharing posts with me today are:
Becca Fenstermaker  at Pretty Piney
Katie Bock at Sewing with Katie

Thank you JW Marriott dessert bar!

Go show them some love!


Plus, see the full schedule of bloggers at Rebecca Mae Designs. 



The Blog Hop for Text It! started on March 4th and goes through the 16th.  Thanks so much for visiting!

I'm too OLD for all this NEW efficiency

Starting to feel old: the number of apps and software efficiency tools I want to learn is growing... at the same time my patience with learning new technology gadgets is growing thin.

Weren't we promised a world where technology would make our lives simpler?  It seems, lately, that all the digital things that will make my life easier involve me learning a new widget. I mean app. Or software. Or some such.

What follows is a list of the software/apps I am currently struggling to learn.  (Keeping in mind that I generally love learning new things...)

BOM block drafted in EQ8

EQ8 - The pinnacle of quilt design software. Finally upgraded from EQ6 (thanks for the birthday $$ Dad!)  I know more than I think I do, but there's a learning curve nevertheless.  My heart's desire is to be able to easily upload images of my fabric stash, so that my quilt designing is taken to the next level.

AirTable - I gave up on Trello for project management. I have high hopes for AirTable. I really do want to be an organized human when I grow up.

SquareSpace - I want to migrate from Blogger to my own website one day.  Students from previous sewing and quilting classes have asked where I am teaching next.  Prospective quilt shops and guilds would like to know what I teach and when I might have openings in my schedule.  And maybe I have a couple patterns to sell...someday.  Meanwhile, I am fiddling with my employer's SquareSpace website, and feeling entirely inadequate to the task.  (They should never have let me into the deep end of the pool with their website: people can see it.)

Canva edit of someone else's design

Canva - Free web-based graphic design! What could be more lovely?  Umm... So far, I've Real Estate Listing into a Come See Our Booth flyer.  But there's So. Much. More. I want to do here.  (And, being American, I want to do it right now. All of it.)
managed to tweak someone else's

QuickBooks - as a proud member of the gig economy, I need professional handholding to keep my micro-biz finances in order.  Paid my subscription $$, can't it just do all the work for me?

BoxStorm - implementing an inventory system at work.  Inventory is no joke, y'all.  Oh, and this software supposedly will connect to QuickBooks (if only I knew how to find the magic portal).



[Unnamed photo-editing program]  I have used Picasa for my photo-edits for over a decade.  And I like it.  I understand it, it works for me.  So, of course, Google has dropped it from their suite of offerings.  I am still holding on; I don't need to share my pix online in albums, or order prints from within my photo editor.  I just want to mitigate my pretty-poor photography skills with easy edits. I did download GIMP to give it a try, but I'm not there yet.


Stuck in the past, I am.

What to do when your #MAKENINE is all Finishing UFOs

As detailed in my previous post about organizing my stash, I have a lot of UFOs.

So, as I make out my 2019 sewing goals, I wonder whether I should focus on finishing UFOs, or using up stash?

Ha-Ha!  Of course I should finish things!  How silly of me--thinking that I can "bust some stash" by starting new projects.  Clearly, I have a big problem with finishing.  No more starting, unless there is some commensurate finishing, too. 

#MAKENINE2019

The instagram hashtag #MAKENINE is pretty prevalent this time of year: creatives and crafty folks plan out nine things they are committing to in the coming year.  If I look at my UFOs, I have at least NINE quilts (most of them larger than baby quilt size) that I can work on.  They have been started (farther along than the "dreaming/planning" phase).  But they are not yet done done.  And they need a little oomph.

Finish NINE ufo quilts in 2019

Here they are, in order from my Insta post committing to them in 2019:

1.  AAQGO charity quilt
Top clomplete; quilt basted; started to be tied.  (Will I continue tying, or try and quilt this myself?)

2.  Relaxing Round Robin
Top complete; quilt basted.  Intend to machine quilt and big-stitch embellish.

3.  Red/Black baby quilt
 Sooo close to done: finish big-stitch quilting/tying; binding is already complete.

4.  "Instant" baby quilt
Same as #3 (so close): finish big-stitch quilting.

5.  Drama t-shirt quilt
Top is not complete; at least 6 more blocks to make before design step.

6.  Circles BOM
Quilted and bound!  Needs big-stitch embellishment only.

7.  Woven BOM
Quilted: needs binding, which is already prepped.

8.  Minkee-backed squares quilt
Top complete; needs basting and straight-line quilting.

9.  Quick Curve sampler quilt
Blocks made and sashed; needs pieced borders; will be longarm quilted (not by me).


Analysis: if there's a pattern here, it's that the quilting step trips me up.  I don't sit still well for tying or big-stitch quilting, I don't have a longarm, and my sewing room tends to stay cluttered enough that clearing out space for quilting on my domestic machine takes a level of effort that makes me avoid it.  Plus, FMQ still scares me. 

And then there's the allure of the new and shiny: given any excuse, I will choose to work on a new project with surprising zeal and stick-to-it fervor... until it gets to the large & unwieldy stage.  My challenge is to keep this grid of nine quilts in front of me for 2019.  And maybe try to finish one of these in January, to give myself the momentum needed to push on.


Did you plan a MAKENINE in years past?  How did that work out?  Any hints for sticking with it?

Dog-gone Good T-shirt Quilt Idea

Saw Shelley's memory quilt project using Elizabeth Hartman's Dogs in Sweaters pattern on The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts blog (go search around her blog - she has made memory quilts from at least a dozen different patterns!)

While it's a great idea, these sweater-sporting dogs are tricky

This is my ONE doggo from that pattern.  Made with my quilt guild's challenge fabric from 2017, but still not completed quilted.  Fifty-plus pieces in there, for those keeping count.

Perhaps a simpler dog could be used?

This dog was the Block of the Moment for my guild, also back in 2017.  Pattern for a very similar block is available here from Quilter's Cache.  Super cute, and great to use up scraps

So, somewhere down the internet rabbit hole, I saw a block made by Emily Herrick (posted on her Crazy Old Ladies blog) that made me really think this schnauzer was a possible shape for a t-shirt quilt.

I felt like, if I could adjust the proportions a touch, this could be done! I needed a bigger canvas for the sweater/t-shirt.  But still want it to be recognizable as a pup.  Whaddya think?

Courtesy of EQ software + my brain

Yep, I think I can do this!  I'll have to try a prototype soon...

(This digression exploration prompted by the recent Xmas fabric/UFO organizing, and the realization that 3 of the offending bins are primarily made up of t-shirts waiting to become quilts.  3 bins!  For reals.)

Santa brings (fabric) organization!

On the first day of Christmas, Sweetie (who I swear was dressed up as Santa at the time) gave to me:

A Way to Organize/Store my Fabric! 
PVC pipe shelving system that is free-standing and holds various sizes of (large) plastic storage bins. This will save me from the "I don't want to move the stacked bins to get to the fabric/lining I need in the bin on the bottom, so I'll just go to the store and buy some more" thinking.  (You don't think that way, do you?  Someone must be more clear-headed than I am on this.)

Almost as sexy as when Nancy Reagan gave Ronald Reagan a manure spreader as a gift.  Y'all just don't know how sexy a practical gift can be...

 
"We" couldn't wait to put together the shelving and see if all my bins fit!

Uh-oh...they didn't actually fit.  Room for 12 bins, and I have at least... seven too many.  (Hanging my head in shame)

Foreground: fabric bin overflow...

However, later in the day, I came to a realization: my fabric fits in 9 bins; it's the UFO's that take up the remaining bins (and that includes t-shirts waiting to become t-shirt quilts).

Close-up of my "labeling" system: Sweetie found an adorable cartoon version of the Chinese/Japanese zodiac.  Since there's twelve years in this zodiac cycle, this seemed like a way to label my twelve bins with whimsical animals (and who doesn't love a bit of whimsy in their practical everyday?)  

So back to my dilemma:

19 bins total - 9 bins of fabric = 10 bins of UFO's???

Hmph!  What to do?  (Oh, I hear you in the back of the room.  "Just finish some UFO's, woman."  This is me giving you the stink eye.)


Oy.  It's that time of year--I'm sputtering and planning my 2019--good to know where I stand with my robust and muscular stash (and equally massive collection of UFOs)

Xmas finish: stockings for my siblings

ONE of my 4 goals for December got checked off:

finished making three Christmas stockings, for me and both of my siblings.  

Made from my own pattern and technique, detailed with a tutorial here.  It had been so long since I sewed up the first of the 3 stockings that I actually referred back to my own tutorial.  Hooray for taking good notes!  (And posting them online where I can find them again.)

Interior: reproduction fabrics (left) vs. back of actual vintage quilt (right)

Raw materials?  One vintage 1930s quilt, well-loved and used by the whole family during our growing-up years; I was so surprised that Mom still had this among her possessions.  
 

Reverse sides

There was no salvaging this quilt.  There wasn't even enough "good" area to make a throw pillow.  So these Christmas stockings are the perfect choice:

• They will be taken out and admired once a year
• They will receive minimal handling
• They might never get washed (have you ever washed a Christmas stocking?)
• Many of my holiday decorations invite nostalgia and strong memories--these will fit right in 

 

Although I had set four December goals, these stockings were my must finish item.  So I'm linking up with One Monthly Goal.  Check out some other finishes there!

Elm Street Quilts - One Monthly Goal December finish link-up

I like that writing down my goals helps me to remain focused--even when I take a detour mid-month.  I should do this more often...

I'd apologize for the mess, but...

"Welcome to my home.  I'd apologize for the mess, but it really always looks this way."

I don't like it when people apologize for the state of their home.  (I came over to visit you, not to run some sort of inspection.)  And for heaven's sake, if it's always a housekeeping disaster, why pretend otherwise by apologizing?  I personally have a running fight at home with the gremlins of disorganization--which may actually live inside of me, so that's a bit tricky.

My messy nature is kept in check by Sweetie, aka the Tidy Fairy.  Thank goodness for this.  No telling what the house would look like without her calming, cleaning, clutter-busting presence.

Exhibit A: this is what a well-organized morning looks like.  The bed is made.  The work backpack, important papers, phone and wallet are all arranged and ready to go.  And the book is sitting there because I've asked to borrow it next.

I'm just posting this here as an aspiration for myself.  Like many others, I have goals of improving my overall organization in 2019.  How about you?