Recent ideas from old notes

I am always on the lookout for I spy possibilities.  Any time I go to a quilt shop or a quilt show, while I'm enjoying the day I'm also looking for I spy ideas.  As I flip through a catalog I look for quilts that might work with novelty fabric.  As I'm browsing the internet, my eye is always peeled.  How do I keep track of what I find?  Well technology is a help.  If it's an electronic form, I take a snip then stick it in One Note, a nifty little app from microsoft that my daughter told me about.  The new Cloud version is very handy in that I can see it on my phone as well as my computer.  I also take pictures with my phone, which backs up to google photos (easy to pull them into a blog that way).  And if it's a catalog, I just tear the page out and throw it in a folder.
Then periodically when I'm trying to think what I'd like to work on next, I'll flip through one of these sources.  Sometimes the ideas may sit there for months or even years before I decide to make a quilt.  These 2 ideas have been in the box a couple of years and now they get to be quilts.

This particular idea was from a presentation made at least 3 years ago at a quilt retreat I go to each February.  Thank you lumberyard ladies.  I like it but boy did it take a long time to pull all those different fabrics.  I was worried at first that I might not have 96 different blank novelties - ha, I needn't have worried.  It needs a border but I think I'll wait until I know where it's going.

So from extremely BUSY, we now have very simple and dramatic.  This idea was from an old Connecting Threads book, though they used grey background and smaller blocks (these are 6" finished).  I like how graphic this turned out.

The idea for this "Zipper quilt" was from a friend on the delphi quilt forum I frequent.  She makes a lot of donation quilts and we have shared many ideas over the years.  This used up a lot of the left over 2x4 rectangles from fussy cutting.  I've done something similar without the sashing but I like this layout, and no matching corners, even better.

What to work on next, I need to go back to the idea pile and see what else interesting is in there.

A series of small unfortunate events....

My quilting friend Shelley suggested I share this on my blog. 

I referred to this quilt in my last post, the pattern is called Slide Show by Adkinson designs.  I pieced this quilt a couple of years ago then put it in my closet to wait for an occasion to gift it.  I have a couple of "occasions" coming up now so I was quilting 2 baby quilts and decided to quilt two others toddler size quilts just because everything was set up on my frame.  On a roll so to speak.  I decided to quilt this Slide Show quilt and put it on display instead of leaving it in the closet.  First of all, I couldn't back it with my usual fleece because the pattern/colors showed through the muslin sashing, so I used batting and some wide backing I had, not really kid themed but oh well.  Then I decided the muslin really needed white thread for the quilting.  Hmmm, I had a spool but it was getting low.  It would probably be enough if I used grey in the bobbin- of course it wasn't.  I was on THE LAST PASS when I ran out.  So rather than order another spool and wait, NOOOO I made due with some regular C&C from my stock.  It broke a couple of times (I thought) but it was only about 2 feet of quilting, I pushed through.  (mistake).  Binding, the binding from my stash I wanted to use of course wasn't long enough and the fabric was now gone.  I decided to make the faux flange.  It looks pretty spiffy but it is more work, but that's ok, I've already put significantly more work into this I spy quilt than I normally do.  Getting the little squares to line up took a lot of figuring and I had to add TOT to the side and bottom of each to get the math to work out.
As I was hand stitching the miters and the label, I noticed something odd.  That darn C&C is actually CUT in several places.  Somehow it cut but kept on stitching (?) so there are about 5 places where there are blank spaces in the quilting, actual breaks in the thread for 2 or 3 stitches.  Really????  Sigh.  OH well, I'll fix it before I gift it.  Darn it.  So Yesterday I decided to hang it in my sewing room, stepped back and noticed.  Hmm why is there 2 black blocks and 2 purple blocks right next to each other?  I would never do that on purpose?   And the TOT that I added to each block to get it to the right size is on the bottom and right of the top 3 rows but the top and left of the bottom 2 rows.  Sigh again.  I put the bottom 2 rows on upside down, flipped that section 180 degrees.  If only I had looked at the quilt before I quilted it, I could have fixed it pretty easily, but not now.  I know you will laugh, but it bothers me every time I look at it.  I have to find a kid to give this to.  But for now I guess I'll call this my OCD failure quilt or my humility quilt, there are so many little silly things wrong with it.  And I spent SOOOOO much extra time on it.  But the colors are pretty from a trotting horse....

I know you can't see the details from this picture, but standing in front of it....  just look away.

Some that I've missed

Shortly after starting this blog, I realized I needed a way to keep track of the quilts I had already posted.  Given that I'm an accountant in my professional life, of course I set up an Excel file.  It's turned out pretty helpful in many ways.  I keep track of when the quilt was completed, the designer, the pattern, the recipient as well as the blog post and date.  I've not been good about keeping everything updated this last year, either my list, my binders or the blog.  So that was my project today, to get everything caught up.

I filtered my list on quilts I hadn't ever posted about and discovered a period of time I had missed completely.  So this post is to go back and post on some quilts I've missed showing in previous topics.

Several years ago I made a t-shirt quilt for a friend's granddaughter from her 1st year onsies.  It was a lot of fun figuring out how to get all the letters of the alphabet in the quilt. And I got to use up some of the random striped fabric I had been saving.

The mom loved it so much she wanted one for her 2nd daughter.  So this is both a t-shirt and an I spy quilt.  I used a FQ pack I had in my stash for the sashing and cornerstones which worked well because most of the onsie's were white.

This quilt was made for a co-worker who teased me for years that I had made everyone at work a quilt except her.  She collects Owls and her favorite color is purple, so I made her a purple Owl quilt.  And wouldn't you know, within a couple of months, she resigned.  The pattern is a modified version of  Chopsticks from B2B.

This pattern is based on Slideshow by Adkinson designs.  I do like many of their patterns, though this one took more time than I usually spend on an I spy.  I did have fun matching the colors on my precut squares and adding coordinating TOT to the blocks to the needed size.  There was a lot of math on this one to get the squares and muslin in the sashing to line up just right.  I think I may keep this one, especially after I used the faux piping binding.

 This was an original pattern requiring a little bit of partial piecing, but it went together very fast.  I used strip piecing on the blue/white sections.  I had fun using up scraps of spotted fabric.

I really like this pattern, called Chain Letter.  I've made it using batik noodles and decided to try an I spy version.  I think it turned out well.

 And look at the happy face!

Small Rearrangement - sewing room update

I've recently joined a group on FaceBook that shares sewing room organization ideas.  After seeing all these ideas and thinking about what I'd like to change in my own room, I decided to rearrange to see if I could improve.

One of the items on my "wish list" was that I frequently find myself wishing I could walk around my cutting table, instead of doing contortions or (worse yet) cutting in the wrong directions and in an unsafe manner.  I got to looking at how I was utilizing my quilt frame table.  I've used it for a pressing table for years, but could I put my cutting surface there also?  It would require doing something about the roller bars because they would prevent me from working on the other side.

And that's another thing on the wish list.  I had been trying to figure out a good way store the bars.  I tend to quilt in batches, primarily because I have to un-thread the machine when not in use because my cat eats the thread.  So I do use the frame table for lots of things other than just as a quilt frame, and moving the bars to the side helps, but then I worry about visitors damaging or bending them.

I asked my husband for ideas on how to suspect the bars under the table.  He suggested that I just re-arrange my Elfa baskets so that I could lay the bars across them.  No holes to drill, and it I change my mind, easy to un-do.  Brilliant (don't tell him I said that).

Another item on the list is my old Horn sewing cabinet.  It's just been taking up space under the quilt frame table.  If I need to use that machine, it was a major pain to pull it out, open the lid while negotiating the bars, and then try to squeeze my chair in to sew.

All of these came together by shuffling the cutting & sewing stations around. I moved the 3 basket sets that had been the cutting station, lining them up under the table with the one that was already there.  I left room in the middle for storing large rulers and extra cutting mats.  Man oh man, it feels so roomy now on this side!  And I can use either side for cutting and pressing.  Now to get in the habit, I keep forgetting I can use both sides.  My cutting station is  a piece of particle board with 2 cutting mats taped together, so moving it around is easy.  I already have two 1 x4  boards affixed to the table to protect the guide rails and they work great to keep the cutting surface suspended and away from the rails so they don't get damaged.

Here you can see the roller bars on top of the basket frames.  I'm very pleased with this solution.  It's pretty quick and easy to put the bars back on the frame, and they are well protected under the table.  There was even room to use the upright storage for paper rolls that had been packed away for a few years.

I moved my straight stitch machine to the side and put the portable table behind it to support quilts on the back.  Very handy when quilting or doing bindings but I may not leave it there.  You can see it to the left in this photo.  The shelf isn't as accessible but now it's really only for decoration, though the light is still handy.  The Horn sewing cabinet is now in front of the design wall and can be opened to use the zigzag machine when needed.  It also provides an extra surface to stack things.  When I am quilting, I can put the cutting surface there.  It still have to reach over it to use the design wall, but it is on rollers so I can move it fairly easily.

Here is the view from the other.  The baskets aren't really accessible from this side as I had to push them over far enough the other way to hold the roller bars.  I moved one of the antique crates from the side as it was in the way of the wheels and cogs on the ends of the bars.  It fits just right in the space still leaving room for my light table, an extra pressing station and a couple of large rulers.

There are still a few problems.  I keep stubbing my toes on the baskets when using the other side of the cutting table.  And I wish my design wall was more accessible.  I'm not convinced that I want to keep the Horn cabinet but I'm afraid I'll regret it if I sell it.  I could move the design wall to the wall where the pink quilt is now, but then I can't take pictures of finished quilts without the quilt frame table in the way.  But for now I like the arrangement.  And it only cost a couple of hours effort.  No new holes in the wall and no major moving of furniture.  Now to remember which baskets are where....