Reversible Scrappy String Rug

Chilly extremities run in the family. I, like my father before me, am forever finding ways to get just a little warmer. Multiple layers of socks will often do the trick. A hot pot of tea can work. The donning of 17 sweaters? A perennial favourite. My children are no exception to the rule. Often, on a frosty winter night, we have found ourselves bundled together under a stack of blankets watching a favourite television show, keeping each other cozy. Now that's the life, eh?

A recent addition to the quest for warm toes is the scrappy little rug. I've made a few in the last few months like the quilted heart rug and, my personal favourite, the crazed little rug of scraps, for example.

And here is yet another made especially for Elle who lives far away but whose toes should certainly not be neglected. A nice way to simultaneously use up scraps and keep those tootsies toasty, don't ya think?

♥M

Bowtie Quilt Flimsy

Hello blog.

Hello you. I hope you've been well.

I've been away for some time t'would appear. Months and months and months. But here I am again interestingly. I think I thought I wouldn't be back. I think I thought I was done with blogging. But I've surprised even myself today because here I am.

Anyway... Here is my latest project. A scrappy, queen-size, bowtie flimsy (that's an unquilted quilt top in case you were wondering) I've only just completed. She's now ready for the next big step...

Sandwiching and basting, and then quilting after that. I'm choosing to machine-quilt this one. Hopefully ol' Betty, the ancient White sewing machine, is up to the task. I sometimes wonder if I am...

We will have to wait and see I guess. Maybe I'll surprise myself again. Surprises can be a good thing, right?

♥M

A Crazed Little Rug of Scraps

See this crazed little rug of scraps I made for my daughter Dia for Christmas?

I'm in love with it.

Why? I don't know exactly...

Maybe it's because of the improvised, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants way in which it came to be. Maybe it's because I felt totally immersed in it as I cobbled it together from my sweet scraps. Maybe it's because it's just as colourful and playful as she is.

Or... maybe it's all of these, eh?

♥M

A note about comments... To streamline the commenting process, I will be responding to comments directly on the blog from now on (or from the previous post on). So if you leave questions with me, you'll find responses there. Thanks so much, and have a great day!

Quilt Finish: On A Picnic

This here is the simple picnic quilt I made for my sweet friends, DnA, who got married just a little while ago. Yahoot for their beautiful matrimonial union! Let us drink to their long and blissful wedded life!!! Hugs to you both, DnA!

Previously pictured in progress here and here, this is the quilt I quilted on Betty, my old White sewing machine. It's my first attempt at free-motion quilting (FMQ) a large-ish project. And I'm pleased with it!

And, as usual, every quilt has its lesson.

What did I learn this time 'round? Well... a few things actually.

Lesson 1: I learned the value of a good marking tool. After fussing with a regular HB pencil, a so-called quilting pencil, and a new but-soon-dry-as-the-desert quilting marker, I finally settled on the wonderful chalk pencil to mark the quilt with my quilting designs. It doesn't even compare with the rest. The heavens opened up, as I recall.

Lesson 2: For my next project, I will be taking a new approach to FMQ designs.

Part A: I ended doing gobs and gobs of unpicking because my quilting lines were designed long and smooth yet SO often ended up wobbly and crooked. Given Betty's minimal throat space, it was quite tricky to maneuver the quilt along these lines. Shorter lines would be far less challenging for Betty and me.

Part B: A little more space between the quilting lines themselves would also help. Then I wouldn't have to fret so over the fabric buckling. I was constantly checking for buckling and bunching on the backside of the quilt and it had a negative impact on my flow. It seems to me that more space between quilting lines is the answer here. That's my theory anyway. Still have to test that out in my next project though.

Lesson 3: I love the modular quilting design idea. By that I mean working in a small area on a discrete motif, as opposed to an all-over quilting pattern. Being limited by my machine's tiny throat space is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means having to think differently about how to accomplish the quilting. Modular quilting designs are one solution to the space problem.

Lesson 4: This project shows me the potential of my simple old machine. So what if it's old? I am not limited by it. IT is limited by ME! I'm supposed to be the one with the brain after all.

Lesson 5: Except for batting and thread, I could probably make 20 more quilts from my scraps/stash alone. Like really, I had everything for this lap quilt in my house! This is an old, old lesson. An oldie but goodie.

Lesson 6: If you want motivation to finish a quilt, plan to give it as a gift for a big day like a wedding or a birth. There's nothing like a deadline to set one's butt astir.

Yeah... So I think that about covers it! I hope to get started on THIS colourful one soon. Poor thing's been waiting most patiently in the wings...  I think I may need to set a deadline of some sort, eh?

♥M

KITTEN UPDATE:   Thanks so much for your kind input on the kittens. Of which there are now three (I named the third "Twigs")! We've put out food and water for them. They aren't touching it from what I can tell. So the mom must still be around?...  They've begun to meow at me when I look in on them. Am I scaring them? The Humane Society said to give them a call if we decide to hand them over. Also, after last posting, Lo reminded me that Elle (my eldest) is highly allergic to cats. That fact had totally fallen out of my head, if you can imagine!!! I'm so worried about the poor little things. I just want them to be safe and alive...

On My Quilty Way...

Remember these blocks back here? Well, they've been altered slightly and are presently being used to make the gift pictured here... These photos have been altered slightly as well. I'm showing them in black and white 'cause I'm trying to be discrete. Until I give the gift to the recipient family, I won't be showing it in all its colourful glory. So patient you must be.

I'm free-motion quilting (FMQ) the quilt. I created one design. Started quilting it. Hated it. Unpicked it. Let me state firmly. I do not like unpicking. However, I'm trying to deal with irksome predicaments such as unpicking with a little more calm and restraint than I normally would. I'm trying to remember that I don't have control over a lot of situations, only how I respond to them. So, yes, it took me two hours to unpick the two squares I'd FMQ-ed. And yes, I had to re-design the quilting pattern. But the good news is version 2 of the quilting pattern is much better! So, you know what? It's all good, right?

Also, I sometimes worry that Betty, my old White sewing machine, won't be able to handle the job of quilting, but there too I needn't get my knickers in a twist. She is up to the task. Take a gander at what she's done so far...

Not too shab for the old girl, eh?

♥M

Quilty Things

A small retrospective of quilty things I've made over the last few years. Been meaning to gather them all on their own page for a time... Finally got around to doing it. I had fun going back into the archives and finding each one. Hunting through old posts. Searching for buried treasure. I found stuff my tiny brain had pretty much purged. This is the beauty of blogs, isn't it?

Did you notice all the different backgrounds? I never realized it before, but I guess I don't like to repeat myself. Nope, I surely don't like to repeat myself. I am a fan of variety. Variety rocks my socks.

Hey... Can you spot any quilty trends?

Here are the various links if you're curious to know more about any of these projects:

1) Lo's Quilt 2) So Early In The Morning 3) Kept in Stitches Kaleidoscope 4) City Streets  5) Raspberry Rows 6) Sand and Beach Balls 7) Baby Shoo-Fly 8) Dresden Placemats 9) Hexistential

♥M

No Rush.

Sometimes it's nice to set the speedometer to slow...

and enjoy the easy pace of a little hand-quilting...

♥M

Previous posts about this quilt: HERE

A Collaborative Quilt

I had the pleasure of sharing the making of this vibrant quilt with my youngest sister Ariane. It's gotta be one of my all-time favourite projects. While visiting my parents this past weekend I re-discovered it and just had to share it with you. Every time I encounter it, I love it more.

The unnamed queen-size quilt was made a few years ago as a gift for my parents' wedding anniversary. It lives in our beautiful childhood home (in my old bedroom in fact) where my parents reside to this day. It was created after a pattern by Lynn Roddy Brown in her book Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts. In fact, our inspiration quilt is right there on the cover.

I remember Ariane and I getting together to make our version of the nine-patch, the discussions over colour, the pooling of resources, the shopping trips, the strip-cutting, the chain-piecing. I also remember my sister lugging her old reliable sewing machine to and from my house. I remember us sitting there at my dining room table each at our old machines, chatting and sewing, sewing and chatting. We machine-pieced the quilt but when it came to quilting, we decided to hand-quilt it. We quilted it on our laps, echoing the simple piecing.

Working on this quilt with my sister is a memory I will always cherish. One I hope to repeat again. And possibly again after that. Maybe one day Ariane?

♥M

HERE is Ariane's post about this quilt from back in 2009.

Woman at Work - Hexagon Quilt in Progress

Wouldn't this make a great scarf?... I'll get right on that...

See that?

I took a bloggy break. Actually, I took a complete, out-and-out, computer-free, internet-free, blog-free, totally unplanned, completely out-of-the-blue, yet immensely satisfying VACAY-SHUN.

Huh... I think I needed it. I feel refreshed. It's nice to be back here.

My hands have remained busy however. I continue with the hexagon quilt. Everyday, I add to it. I've been working on it for 49 days straight for a total of 750 hexies. 49 consecutive days!!! That's a tiny miracle.

The above photo shows only a third of what I've pieced together so far... WHAT?! You didn't think I'd reveal the whole thing did ya?? Nuh-uh. No way Jose. I ain't showing you the whole thing until I have the whole thing to show you... I'm sorry. But bits and pieces is all you're getting until then... I know. I'm a very mean and cruel person.

And you? How've you been? Did I miss anything good?

♥M

Previous posts on this quilt:  here and here.

Other hexagon projects: here.
While I was away, I was featured in IspirAzioni Magazine! 

I'm a Hexagonner

Wee hexies! Oh how I love thee...

For a week now, I've been making wee 3/4" fabric hexagons. This here is what got me going in the first place. I've made 120 so far. My goal is to make 15 per day for 133 consecutive days for a grand total of 2000 hexagons. And then, I'll sew them all together into a fantastical quilt. It's a lofty goal, yes. Don't know if I'm being realistic... But now is not the time for realism I figure. No, right now I have a dream and I figure it can't hurt to dream big, right? Anyway, I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy about it at the moment. Hopefully that feeling lasts a while.

In the meantime, I play. Above is an appliqué block possibility. See? Good times are being had.

♥M

FYI: 
Found a great resource page for new quilters at Martingale. Check it out: How To Quilt. And a great hexagon english paper piecing tutorial resides right HERE at Craft Zine.