Boo Bee Round 3 - Sheetal's quilt

I just could not for the life of me get a grip on Sheetal's Boo Bee (tehehehehe).

But seriously, where to start?  After Mallory's round, the top was here:
 

I threw around a few ideas, but nothing really inspired me.  I almost started on a round of zig-zags, like the red ones in this beautiful quilt.  Before I got around it starting, Sheetal told me that she was planning to add more rounds to make the quilt as big as possible after she got it back.  Her tall hubby requires a lot of lap quilt.  BIG?  I can go big. Ohhh yeah I can go big.  :)

Knowing that she wanted to greatly increase the size of the quilt gave me the idea to put what was already made on point and build it back out to a square, as if my rounds were "behind" the center portion.  I whipped up this awesome sauce plan and got the go-ahead from Sheetal:

I was just borrowing cornerstone placeholders from the lone-star center for my mock-up, but I ended up really liking the repeated motif so I decided to use them.

Due to Reasons*, I made the outer cornerstones, then the outermost row, then the inner cornerstones, then the middle row, then the inner row, then outer rows assembly, then inner triangle assembly, then full assembly.  Lots of taping things up on the wall (my design wall is baby quilt size, so this was too big for it).  Uh, do not recommend. 

And a little closer in:

Happy to report that Sheetal is pleased. 

*It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Anything goes

I joined another round robin.  No, technically my previous round robin is not quite finished - I still get do to one more round (we had a quilt that got a little delayed when it ran low on fabric).  For the new RR, my guild buddy Jen handed me a package with the rules "anything goes."  Way to be awesome, Jen.  

Her 12" starting piece was an improv-ish log cabin-ish frame around a piece of gorgeous upholstery weight fabric.  Along with it, she sent a hand-dyed blue stripe fabric.  

Around that I added a wonky churn dash round and some triangles, then finished it off with a border of the blue stripe.  I hope she meant it when she said anything goes... because I mixed in some of my own upholstery weight fabric and made the call to add another color to her quilt (yeep - I would probably not be ok with that, but I would also not have "anything goes" as the instructions for my quilt, so on the balance of things...)  I really hope she likes it.

Have you tried doing a round robin yet?  I think I am sold on this type of collaborative quilt making.  It is much more my scene than quilt bees.  There is more opportunity to own your part of the creative process.  It can be challenging, but it's the good kind of challenging - gets the creative juices flowing.

Handprinting

Doodled

Sampled paints and shapes

Drew and cut paper stencil

Hacked up an old picture frame (instructions)

Printed a sample (instructions)

Loved it.

Digitized design and ordered silkscreen (it was only $7).

Handprinted:

This was my first time screen printing, although I already had the paints from my previous foray into stenciling.  I improved a ton between my first sample and my last ones, but I still find it tricky and time consuming to print these.  My silkscreen is only 4" by 6", so there are 24 repeats in a fat quarter.  Next time I will definitely use a bigger screen! 

Curves class and the Drunken Star block

I mentioned before that I have been taking Rachel's Curves Class .  I just finished my last "homework" for the class.  At 18", this block is the start of a round robin that I'm doing in my local quilt guild:

I love this quilt on Flickr and I have been dying to make that block, so this seemed like the perfect time.  Also, since the curves class pace was super fast for me, the final posts were coming out while I was still on the week 2 homework.  Eeep!  I jumped ahead a bit and combined the homework for weeks 3 and 4 by using the week 4 lesson to draft a drunkard's path template in just the size I needed.  The template that I drafted is available here - feel free to use it.  It makes a 4.5" finished drunkard's path block where the concave section is smaller than normal.

I wanted to share some general thoughts about the Curves Class.  If you are thinking about taking it, read on.  If not, feel free to skip past the wall o' words and tell me if you've ever done a round robin.  This is going to be my second one and I'm pretty excited about it!  It is a much better fit for me than bees. 

So - Curves Class.  The class starts with really basic curves and moves through improv curved piecing, precise curves, and drafting curved templates.  Before the class, I had previously done improv curved piecing and set-in sleeves.  There is a lot of fear in the quilting community around piecing curves, and I guess I caught some of that without even thinking about it.  Setting in a sleeve is at least 5 times harder than a drunkard's path block.  Basically, I found out that I had already learned more than half of the material presented in this class.  I just picked it up here and there without realizing how much I knew about sewing curves.

One of the best things about the class is the variety of small projects.  I love creating things.  More than the act of pushing fabric through a sewing machine, or cutting, or ironing, I like the aspect of coming up with an idea and turning it into an object.  So, I don't want to sew a throw-away block just to learn a technique - I want to make something useful.  The projects for the Curves class include a table runner, rug, journal cover, bib, bunting, and notecard in addition to pillows and quilts.  You can try out the techniques and make an actual product without spending a huge amount of time.  There were 14 projects for the class, all with patterns and tutorials - three per week!  I only managed to complete three projects total.  I got the Premium class, though, so I have all the templates and instructions so that I can do the remaining projects anytime that I'm ready. 

I am finding out that I might not be much of a "class person."  I like to learn things on my own, when I want to know them.  However, all told I definitely don't regret taking this class.  I finished up a quilt that had been a UFO for several months, and I gained confidence at drafting and sewing curved blocks.  I could have roamed the internet for curved piecing tutorials and eventually learned the same stuff for free, but thanks to the class I did it now.  So, if you think you might also be the sort of person who doesn't love sewing classes - don't take it.  If you like classes and you have never sewn any sort of curve, it would be a great idea to sign up.  Another good reason to take the class is the projects - they are pretty cool and very plentiful, so you might find it to be a good value just for that part. 

Smaller sewing projects

I have done a lot of little quilting projects lately, and it's so much fun!  Generally by the time I have pieced an entire quilt, I'm tired of a particular block or color combo.  The little guys are perfect for a fun piecing session and for quilting or other techniques that would be killer to do on a whole quilt. 

The typewriter pouch...a staple.  I think it is practically mandatory now to make one of these.

A cushioned iPad case:

Can I just say... I love Anna Maria's feather pattern.  LOVE it.  Preferably small and super scrappy.  I have an informal formula when it comes to saving scraps - the more I love the fabric, the smaller the pieces that I save.  So when I find a use for teeeny tiny pieces, that means I get to use my most favorite fabrics.  Which is awesome.

The pattern/tutorial is by one shabby chick, and it's perfect. Velcro or loop & button closure, double batting for protection, and the tutorial has a million pictures so it's really easy to follow.  Recommended!

And a composition notebook cover:

 

I was shooting for the midwinter morning color scheme that Adrianne posted back in February, but it was quite difficult - I was lacking in olive-y yellows.  Don't worry folks.  I went fabric shopping later and fixed the problem right up. 

Anybody have suggestions for more little projects?  (Besides pillows.  Husband does not think that we need any more of those.)

Patterns and tutorials:
gathered pouch by Noodlehead (minus the gathering)
iPad cover by one shabby chick
Free feather pattern by Anna Maria Horner
notebook cover by Rachel at Stitched in Color

Quilt for Baby Boy

I'm so excited for my bff from college, who just this week had her first baby - a boy!  Of course, that means she needs a boy baby quilt.  I've been wanting to use the Kaleidoscope block for a while, so the pattern was an easy pick.

For colors, I wanted a combination that would be easy for my friend to love while still being great for a baby boy, so I used light blue, green, burnt orange, and a grey with red-ish blue undertones.  (Red-ish blue is the boy-friendly term for purple.  Similarly, pink is called "light red").  I double-checked the colors with my husband, and he said, after a short pause "It's masculine... for a baby."  That means yes... right?

AGH, I have one big regret with this quilt.  I really meant for the grey bits to pop as an orange peel-ish design element, but I messed up by using two grey fabrics that were too light in value and didn't match the third.  Value is so tricky!  It is easy to just focus on color and forget how value will effect which parts of the design stand out.

I knew about it when I put the cut fabrics up on my design wall, but I was in a rush to mail the quilt before baby arrived so I plunged ahead hoping that the greys would magically "blend" when sewn.  Bad call, but I still love the quilt the way it turned out.

The back is fabric from an Ikea duvet cover (yay for cheap!), and I did organic straight line quilting.  Actually, I made quite a few errors on this quilt.  I overcut on my print triangles... by a lot.  Really a lot.  When I have my blocks sewn in quarters, I checked one with a ruler and decided that I was good to go and the blocks didn't need trimming before I continued.  Wrong-o!  Half of them needed trimming, and I just happened to pull one of the half that did not.  I ended up with a bunch of wavy blocks, and I had to take them apart and trim them.  Good thing it was just a baby size quilt! 

My cutting error turned out well in the end.  Since I had so many extra triangles cut, I was able to cut a strip from each one of them and make a super scrappy binding that I just looooove.  Wait, here it is in full glory:

Scrappy bindiiiiiiiiing.  :D

I'm practicing my "pretty quilt pictures."  I always like to see a full-on straight view of a quilt, but especially if the quilt is big, sometimes that doesn't give you a very realistic picture of what the quilt is like.  If anybody has suggestions, I'd love to hear 'em! 

A Bend in the Road - Finished

I signed up for Stitched In Color's Curves Class this month, and last week we covered improv curves.  Actually, I've done some improv curves before, so for my practice this week, I worked on an improv curves WIP... the quilt that I started at Sherri Lynn Woods' Get Your Curve On Workshop. 

To be honest, this poor fellow never got a lot of love from me.   We had the option in the class to make "c" shapes or "s" shapes, and I thought "oh s's are pretty..." so I made those.  Then I laid them out and was reminded of worms.  Then I sewed them together and was reminded of brains.  Then I made more, sewed them on, and was reminded of intestines.  Aside from the slimy disgustingness of the squiggle shape, I really did not like how I distributed color in the piece.  There were smaller moments in the quilt that I really loved, but they disappeared in the overall top.

I read in Rachel's class intro that she had been inspired by Sherri Lynn Woods' work, but when she really thought about it, she didn't want to do quite the same thing.  When I brought this top out of hiding this week, I looked at it and decided that I felt the same way.  So I chopped it to pieces!  Don't worry... I sewed it back together after.

Cutting the piece into blocks allowed me to re-distribute color and get rid of the wormy-ness of the original work.  I got my curves practice in for the week by piecing some new improv curves to get enough blocks for a 40" square top.  Having finished this - now I really want to make a wonky rail fence quilt.  Wouldn't that be so pretty?

I straight-line quilted an echoed X and backed it with a piece of fabric that I hand dyed using the shibori technique.  I used a medium grey Kona for the binding to keep things calm and let the top be the star.  I did put in a little stripe of dark plum anywhere that I joined strips, just for a bit of interest that's not too in-your-face.  

I hadn't planned to finish any UFOs this month because I have a lot on my plate at the moment.  I surprised myself and did one almost by accident.  Maybe this is getting to be a habit??  That would be awesome if it were true.  Who else has been hittin' the UFOs this year?