Sew One and You’re Done

November 5th, 2007

Sew One and You’re Done by Evelyn Sloppy shows how to make quilts from only one block. She designed these quilts to make charity quilts ranging in size from 45″ square to 56″ square. She also shows how you can make larger quilts by using multiple blocks and additional borders.

The blocks themselves have more pieces than we usually think of as one quilt block. The pieces are larger than usual so they would make a good showcase for an interesting, larger print focus fabric. Photos of quilters holding the quilts in the Introduction section give a good idea of the quilt size, and they show why you may want to use a larger print focus fabric. You could make some very cute baby quilts with these patterns.

Sew One and You’re Done is published by That Patchwork Place ($24.95). The directions are in the clear and easy-to-follow format in other books by That Patchwork Place. The directions include a list of the materials needed, a chart for cutting pieces, step-by-step assembly directions, and many sketches showing piecing and pressing.

Sew One and You’re Done is available from the Person Who Has Quilting Book Issues. Let me know if you want to borrow it.

Posted in NaBloPoMo, Quilting Projects, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Multiple Uses for a Futon

November 4th, 2007

Not only is a futon a nice place off of the floor for grandparents to sleep when they visit, but it doubles as a location for basting a quilt. How versatile! Here’s the backing with the batting spread out on top of it:
basting

And here’s the quilt top on it, with the proud owner as well.
basting 2

Unfortunately, as I had it all spread out, I noticed that I had forgotten to fix the upside-down side border. Aaargh! You may be able to see it if you look closely in the picture. The good part is that I did notice before I basted it. So, it could have been worse! I ripped that out, re-sewed it the right way, and got the basting done last night. Now, on to machine quilting…

Posted in NaBloPoMo, Quilting Projects | 3 Comments »

Sweater Progress

November 3rd, 2007

All right, my turn for a long-overdue update. I’m still plugging along on my Fair Isle sweater, despite some breaks for other knitting projects (to be blogged-about later this month – I’d hate to use up all my content in one day!). I finished the first sleeve a few weeks ago. Then, once I decided that I want to make myself a hat which would require the same circular needle as I’m using for the sleeve knitting, I exhibited an astounding degree of project fidelity and started the second sleeve last week. I’m hoping that I’ll finish that sleeve in the next 2 weeks, and have the whole sweater done by the end of the month.

Fair Isle - one sleeve done

Second Sleeve Progress

Posted in Knitting, NaBloPoMo | 2 Comments »

Just Doing My Part

November 2nd, 2007

applique pillow smaller

Just Doing My Part for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month)…

Here’s the applique pillowcase I made for our couch pillows which are wearing out. I’m still working on the second one, but it’s more than half done by now. It’s getting a lot of use by two small people, so maybe hand applique wasn’t the best choice – maybe I should have picked something less delicate – but so far it’s holding up fine.

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Crackpotty Backing

November 1st, 2007

A\\\'s quilt back

It would have been much simpler just to piece a regular backing, but where’s the crackpottiness in that? Actually, I did it out of necessity because I didn’t have much left of the solid fabrics to put around the big train print in the center of the backing. What I did have was in small pieces, so this was the only way to go. It took longer, which is hard on the impatient Andrew, but I think the result is good!

Here’s a close-up:
A\\\'s quilt back close-up

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Here it is! Judy’s Quilt!

October 16th, 2007

judy\' quilt front

Finally, after 7 years in the making, Judy’s quilt is totally and completely finished. It was begun in Feb., 2000, just after I retired. The initial fabric purchases were made in the company of my wonderful friend Lorene. The fabric shopping expedition was Lorene’s first outing after her second kidney transplant, and I have never seen anyone enjoy fabric shopping so much!

Here is a photo of the quilt back, showing the signature Crackpot decorative (and fabric-saving) strip down the middle. A little extra piecing sure beats purchasing several more yards of backing fabric and then using only a 9″ strip of it.

judy\'s quilt back

Because I always find it pretty scary to stuff a finally-completed quilt into the washing machine, it is a great relief to be able to hang the clean and still-intact quilt on the line, so this is part of the process that I feel compelled to document.

quilt on line

Finally, it is always important to photodocument the absolute last stitch. Here it is:

last stitch

The quilt will be delivered to Judy and her new husband Peter in Budapest sometime in the next 6 months or so, when time and health permit. There is no way that I will mail it to them, both because I would never entrust it to the postal service and more importantly, because I can’t bear to miss seeing Judy’s face when she sees it for the first time. (She has no idea I have been making her a quilt.)

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Quilt Plus Baby

October 5th, 2007

As promised, a photo of quilt plus baby. No time for much else; young Master J may be stirring in the next room.

Baby on quilt

He was recovering from a strenuous tummy time experience.

Posted in Crackpot Projects, Non-Crafty, Quilting Projects | No Comments »

Crackpot Quilt III

September 6th, 2007

Crackpot Quilt III

Here it is!! The third in the series of Truly Awesome Crackpot Baby Quilts, the quilts that brought us Crackpots together as quilters. The recipient of this quilt has not yet put in an appearance, but will be doing so any day now. Watch this space for a photo of Quilt Plus Baby.

Posted in Quilting Projects | 1 Comment »

Fun with Beads

August 27th, 2007

Here are the results of some of the fun I’ve had with beads recently. It’s addictive!

This bag matches a vest I made. Now I need to go somewhere appropriate for glitz…

This started out to be a frame for a nametag that would be worn at a conference. It got more and more elaborate, and the occasion passed. I still need to do the engineering part so that it can be used as a frame for something.

I found some tri-fold cards with a window at Michael’s, and I can put little beaded squares (4.7 cm) in the windows. This is the perfect project for beads as the beaded projects have the potential to be actually useful!

Marty

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Nesting Project: Four Blocks Completed

August 27th, 2007

Hello! So in my copious spare time, now that I’m not working (and when I’m not busy gestating), I’ve been making some progress on the “nesting” project. I now have four completed blocks, which I think is all I’m going to aim for. Here they are, all together:

all four blocks

Clockwise from upper left, they are: Memory Wreath, Joseph’s Coat, One Union Square, and Christmas Star. I put them on some blue fabric because I think I’m going to finish them all together with blue sashing of some sort, though almost certainly NOT this fabric.

Here is a closeup of Joseph’s Coat, by far the most difficult of all of the blocks as far as piecing, especially since the pattern I had was for a 15-inch block and I had to re-draft it for a 12-inch block:

Joseph

And here is a closeup of Christmas Star, which is the one that I’m the least satisfied with. I had to resort to paper piecing for parts of this block, and the piecing is very inaccurate in places. Also, I’m really not happy with the pink in this block; it just doesn’t have enough contrast with the surrounding fabrics. The green and blue have the same problem, but I think I could live with them if the pink had more punch. I may actually re-do this block, though I dread the prospect:

Christmas Star

And here are all four blocks in the nursery itself, where you can see that they don’t entirely clash with the peach-colored walls:

Blocks on the wall in the nursery

The next step will be deciding how to work the sashing, border(s), etc. I’d love to do something scrappy with the (many, many) leftover scraps, but I need to come up with some ideas first.

Posted in Quilting Projects | 1 Comment »

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