Showing posts with label DSQ Log Cabin Quilt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DSQ Log Cabin Quilt. Show all posts

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Chunky Log Cabin - Finished!

Hmmm, what shall I post about finishing first? There's starting to be a pile-up! I'm still hand stitching the binding on some table runners, so Chunky gets top billing.


Oh, Chunky. What can I say? I got swept up in the fervor when Denyse Schmidt's first line for Joann's was released, and bought a whole stack of reds and blues for no good reason. I don't even remember if I thought they were pretty - Blogland said BUY!

{Oh, in case you're wondering where I fall in the "quilt shop quality" debate that this line sparked for a while - just google Denyse Schmidt Joann debate - I buy quite a lot of fabric from Joann's and Hobby Lobby. All my Konas. Almost all my backings. I've got stuff my mother grabbed when the Rag Shops closed in the mid-00s. I use VIP fabrics from the 80s and 90s...that I bought in a thrift shop or stole from my mom's stash. Obviously, I fall into the "who gives a flip?" category.}

{But don't worry - I know it's important to others, so if I do a swap, I buy from a street market in Korea quilt store.}



Um, anyway, Chunky. I believe I picked the log cabin because DS is famous for her wonky ones. I am not wonky, so they are nice, normal, boring ones.

I just pieced away with no plan until they were about 14" big. Then I played around with the layout for a while. A loooooooong while. {Circles? Furrows? Streak of Lightning? On-point or medallion-ish? I know at some point I must have considered and rejected - without photographing - a barn raising.}


Finally pieced them into the furrows, because that is the most symmetrical of the layouts. {Clearly, the ability to do wonky log cabins is in my near future.} Then I swore I wouldn't let the project sit - I was going to put the borders on right away! Hahaha, yeah, so a year+ later...


I'm not too sad it got set aside. After a lot of practice on the long arm, I got brave enough to try feathering the individual "furrows." I did a little bit of block stuff on Swoon, but this was the first time I really focused on a block design instead of an allover design.

And this brings up the inherent difficulties with renting the long arm. 99% of the time I love it - thread is "free" {seriously, do you know how much it would cost to have that big of an available rainbow?}, and I have all the fun of a long arm with zero maintenance, no worries about fitting it in my house, or dealing with CC climbing on it.

But when you've already spent 2.5 hours doing somewhat-detailed quilting, and the next person showed for their scheduled rental time, and you haven't even gotten to the borders yet...! Makes you want to get a long arm...or go back to the super-fast-all-over-loops.

Man, this is a wordy post, isn't it? More quilt pictures!


Flowered borders, flowered quilting...I had about 8x5" of this border print leftover after carefully cutting it apart and piecing it back together. #winning


The backing is Daisy Mae, a subsequent DSQuilts line. Obviously I had to get it, what with the name and all.

I let my husband pick the binding - I had enough leftover of the pink dots or the blue with little red flowers. I was leaning toward the blue, since I tend to prefer bindings that blend into the border. No idea why...lazy? Afraid of trying something else?


Anyway, he picked the pink, and since it's my least favorite of the fabrics, I agreed mostly to use it up. And huh...it looks kind of...not bad. Kind of like a nice frame. Maybe there is something to varying your bindings. ;)


So that ends another quilt that spent a veeeeeeeeeeery long time in progress. Most of the leftover red and darker blues are heading into my Trip Around the World quilt...you know, the one I started cutting last year and...that's as far as I've gotten. Ah, it never ends, does it?



{Oh, so I took all of Lori's advice, and went to a nearby park. {Get it? Picnic? Fairground? Park?} Paid attention to my lighting and shadows, got some posed shots with the help of the Dude, even climbed up the slide ladder to get a shot. And then some people started playing at the park and it became creepy again. I'll never make it as a photographer!}

Quilt Details
Fabric: Picnic and Fairground, DSQuilts
Backing: Daisy Mae, DSQuilts
Binding: P&F, DSQuilts
Size: 62x74"
Pattern: Log Cabin with 2.5" unfinished strips, Furrows layout


Gratuitous kitten shot! But Momma, I'm not touching it!

Oh, and if you made it this far, and it's still Friday, the giveaway on Skorca is active until midnight PST. And yes, I did add the strings left from the binding to the bag!

Linked:

Monday, March 10, 2014

Weekly Progress - Still Moving Along

Still doing a pretty good job knocking things off the UFO/to-do list. It helps that I have so much stuff allllllllllllmost done, plus nervous energy to spare. 

And I know this is the home stretch - in less than a month, the Little Man should be home with us, and my sewing time will be severely limited. Since I've been waiting, oh, almost two years for this, I plan on enjoying the break.

Finished
Skorca! - and after promising it to the Dude for two years, it was a good finish to knock off the list!

{Oh, and there's a giveaway on that post. You might want to check it out.}

Quilted
Chunky Log Cabin and Central Park Sudoku - Chunky just needed the borders, and CPS was pinned to my zippers, so it got ahead of Reverse Hearts. I do have binding for Chunky, but not CPS, so it'll still be a while before CPS becomes a finish.

Piecing
Okay, it's not quite piecing, but I cut out the letters for the growth chart that went with the H is for Henry quilt panel. That meant the teal leftovers were finally free to...

...become a Weekly Churn Dash. Henry was my first ever long arm finish, so of course one of his teals would make it into the churn dashes.

I started a table runner based on my Hearts and Cabin, for a friend. One more heart and it's into the quilting box!

More Spin Cycle blocks, slowly moving along here. Really wish I could get a good shot, but we've got some rainy, dreary weather out here.


And I strip-pieced the main body of the Monkey quilt. It's supposed to be a "bed," with the white as a sheet and the blue dots as a pillow. I can't decide if the monkey applique is too small - it's only about 10" on a 44" quilt body. But the monkey will also have paws and a tail appliqued onto the "sheet," so... I don't know. It seems like a lot of white space for a kid's quilt!

And gratuitous kitten pic. What, were you USING this?

Linked:

Monday, March 3, 2014

Weekly Progress - Striped Table Runners

Y'all. I have a new addiction.

And it's not a TV show.

Or Benedict Cumberbatch.

{CC....still a PITA!}

I took a class on these striped table runners, because my mom bought the witch fabric a while ago and asked for one. I bought the pattern in Oklahoma, but finally committed to the class here, because I wanted someone to hold my hand for the first few cuts.

They are so easy, once someone holds your hand through the first few cuts! A yard and a half yields two long runners and one hexagon one, with only a little bit of excess fabric.

I may have a problem. But at least it's a quick project!

Finished

Reverse Hearts top - ready to quilt!

Quilting
I feathered all the blocks of Chunky Log Cabin, but ran out of time before I got to the borders. Back on Wednesday this week.

Unquilting
I have been picking out the quilting in Skorca for a while now. I originally quilted it at home with my walking foot, and it was terrible. Not in an "oh, I think it's terrible but it's really kind of okay" - really, terrible. 

It was well pinned, but see that bubble behind Skipper? The quilt kept shifting and stretching over and over with each line, and it kept getting worse. My stitches were awful - I'd hit a massive seam and stop, then have large jumps when the walking foot finally made it through. There's puckers all over the back.

I made it about halfway across the top and quit last year out of frustration. I honestly think Bonnie Hunter's patterns can't be quilted at home with a walking foot - there's just too many seams and bias edges.

Enter the long arm late last year, and suddenly Skorca is a viable project again. I'm down to one episode of Downton Abbey of stitch picking to go, and the plan is to get it quilted and bound for the Dude's birthday. Only two years late!

Piecing
Weekly Churn Dash - the border from Flirt, because I love Flirt so very much and I would make every churn dash this month from it if it hadn't been a jelly roll.

Spin Cycle is moving along well. Once all the square-in-square blocks are done, each block goes together quickly.


I'm debating using the dark blue from Happy Go Lucky. I like it...but I think it's way out of the color scheme, and would be distracting. I don't need it - I have plenty of fabric to finish without it - but...I really love those puff balls! Thoughts?


Linked:

Monday, February 17, 2014

Weekly Progress - BOMs and UFOs

This week was a mixture of finishing and some block work. I'm still trying to settle on a good day to do my monthly BOMs...first Monday seems obvious, but...it just hasn't happened the first couple of months.

BOM
This is the 13th 12" block for the Fat Quarter Stars. I made the hourglasses before and decided not to use them because there wasn't any of the background fabric. I'm still not sure...but it's a block. And I found my list, so I can go ahead with the 9" blocks while I ponder this one.

Quilt Doodle Row-Along - I shrank the house block down to 10" to fit my plan. I think it will need a button wreath of some sort on the door!

And my weekly churn dash - it's really much brighter than the photograph! This was used as part of a dress for my niece, and it's just a very cheerful pink.

Finishes

The wind was disagreeable for getting a good picture, but the Vera Bradley quilt is pieced. I'm backing-hunting and quilting this week!

And since I was on a roll, I put the borders on the Chunky Log Cabin. When I finished the top, I swore I was going to keep going until it was done...in November...2012... But I already have the backing, so this time, I swear, it's high on the quilting list.

Piecing
I prepped the binding for Four Patch Frenzy, so that will get done this week.

And finally, the Reverse Heart project. It's been a leader/ender, so progress is slow, but slicing willy-nilly through my pink scraps has been fun.

I also stole back a storage table from the office and emptied two boxes of UFOs. Sure, technically it's just moving them from one holding place to another, but it's open wire bins. I can see them a lot better {and feel guilty} and they're separated out into their levels of done-ness. And I don't have to go digging through boxes trying to decide what to do next. So hopefully that will help move some projects to the done pile in the near future.

Linked:

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Weekly Progress - Thankful

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend! 

We drove 16 hours to see some friends for Thanksgiving - totally worth it for the fried turkey and raiding her fabric scraps.

Since I was out of town, I didn't get as much done this week, but I did manage to check off a couple things.

Cut out another doll dress just so I could use the scraps in...

{Design Wall} - a Christmas tree wall hanging for my mother.

 {Finished} - the blocks of the Chunky Log Cabin. Next up, the border. And I'm not going to stop and let this thing sit again, especially since I have everything I need to finish it.

{UFO Busting} - Sunday, I actually sat down and worked on a real UFO! Basted the Blue Bowtie and quilted it up. I'm trying to decide if I want to go for a third line of echoing.

{Fifteen Minute Challenge} - not only did I do NO organizing this week - I made it worse by moving a sewing machine and piling everything on the floor there to make room for all this...

So I'm going to have to really dedicate myself to the Fifteen Minute Challenge this week to get everything put away properly so I can share my work space with Santa.

Linked:
Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Monday, November 19, 2012

Weekly Progress - With Bling!

Oh, my shiny. I love you so.
I was aiming for a 2:30:00 finish, and I actually did a good job making it up all the hills in the first five miles without stopping. Then around mile 8, my IT band was all, "Remember those hills? I hate you."

Close - and there are so many more squats and lunges in my future.

Ahem. Sewing. Yes, that's what I do. 

So Friday, I couldn't run, couldn't do strength, and had a lot of pent up energy. I scrubbed the house. I wrapped Christmas presents. I shredded an entire box of paper in the office.

Finally took that energy to the sewing room. I'm awaiting my next set of t-shirts, so I was free to do anything. I should have basted and quilted something. Or at least put borders on the few quilts that need them. Or made some doll dresses or prepped binding or...

Yeah. You know what I did.

New project!

It's a Schnibble, which is typically done with a layer cake, but I used up some Olivia yardage and fat quarters.

Oh, list of to-be-quilted tops... You're never going down.

Design Wall/UFO Busting - Chunky Log Cabin
I think the layout is going to come down to this one {Streak of Lightning} or the Furrows from two weeks ago. And I swear, I'm making a decision and putting them together before next week!

Also, my cat is a jerk.

Finished!
Running T-Shirt Quilt #2

Other sewing
First of several doll dresses. I really need a model.

Saturday Sampler 2011 is back from the longarm. Time to prep some binding!

Made the Dude a pillowcase for his sleepover while I was in Tulsa.

Fifteen Minute Challenge - Organization
3 out of 7 - I wrapped ribbon, picked up the sewing room floor, and refolded and organized my flannel scraps after making the pillowcase.
 
Linked: 
Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Monday, November 12, 2012

Weekly Progress - Not So Much

This week was kind of a wash - I lost a day going to OKC to celebrate being the wife of a veteran by getting 20% off at Joann's. With that plus the 60% off coupon, I scored some Kona for about $2.50 a yard. Woo! That's way more awesome than having my veteran home with me!

I also dealt with a stomach bug and a really cruddy long run last week. Luckily I'm feeling better and the forecast is pretty darn near perfect for Sunday - no wind!

So my sewing progress was less than stellar last week, but I'm already catching up.

UFO Busting/Design Wall
Same blocks, different layout. The Dude likes this one a lot. I'm not completely in love. {Does it count as UFO busting if I'm just moving the same blocks around a wall?}

Fifteen Minute Challenge - Organization
Pinterest project! I haven't managed to do it for 15 minutes every day, but it's a start. It'll take a lot of 15 minutes to get through my ribbon drawer. {Why do I have so much ribbon?? And ric rac?? And lace??}

Finished quilting the second running t-shirt quilt. Should have the binding on and deliver it by Wednesday!

Saturday Sampler 2012 - slight miscut required a fabric substitution in the last one - Twister / Martha Washington Star / Air Castle

Donation blocks for My Patchwork Life - they're really not as bright as they look

Started cutting out American Girl dresses. Both nieces have/are getting a doll, so I will be providing wardrobes for the next few Christmases.

Linked: 
Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces
 

UFO Sunday @ the Free Motion Quilting Project 
Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times 
BOMs Away Mondays @ What A Hoot 
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story 
WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced