Make Them Go Away

What started out as a discarded pile of unwanted strips and squares given to me by my best friend, I made into a pillow cover and small flag for her.  

September a year ago, she planned to make a surprise birthday gift for her husband.  A pillow for his gigantic, newly built and furnished man cave.  He and their boys love dragons, magic, and all things Harry Potter, so she sorted through her fabric bins and chose wizards, dragons, frogs, cats and stars.  Everything that reminded her of him.

She cut and sewed.  She arranged squares and rectangles.  She planned fabric placement.  She became frustrated.  So frustrated in fact, she scrapped (no pun intended) her plans for the surprise gift.  She bagged up all of the offending scraps and sent them on their way to Florida with the missive "make them go away".

I think I heard her say more than once "I'm done.  I'm done with sewing.  I can't do this."  

Her unwanted scraps arrived, along with a box of many more, where they were very much appreciated. These particular scraps, however, were set aside for just the right project.   

We make what seems like an annual sojourn east and north out of our little corner of Florida up the coast to Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware where much of our family lives.  I knew I wanted to make (and take) my friend something that used her special scraps.  Even though she'd said "make them go away".  

This unfinished ROYGBIV circle of geese block is as far as I got.  Of course, I didn't start piecing and sewing until three days before we were supposed to leave.  Not a whole lot of time to complete a project, let alone pack and organize four people for a 3 week, 3000+ mile trip.  It's that old procrastinator gene that's encoded in my DNA.  

So now I have a half-finished gift.  What else could I do, because, a half-finished gift is still only half-finished, right?  

Oh! I know.  Make a smaller version!!!  A version so tiny it would require borders to reach the dimensions of a 6 x 8 inch mini flag.  And bonus, use even smaller scraps so that you get the wizard's hand and wand, or the dragon's snout, or the kittie's feet, or even a little itty-bitty mouse!!  This I could give her to tide her over until the bigger pillow cover was completed. 

Done.  Trip made.  Time spent with friends and family.  Birthdays celebrated.  Retirement celebrated.  Many good meals shared.  Many tears shed.  Summer science camp for kids completed.  Rental house maintenance projects completed.  Rental house plans formulated.  Many, many miles driven. 

This past week, I decided it was time to complete some of the many WIP sewing projects that have lingered.  

Because the pillow top itself is so busy, I quilted with simple straight lines that intersect on the diagonal.  After four double sets on each diagonal, I quilted the triangles that were formed with 1/4 inch straight lines.  I like the texture it adds, plus, it plays up the shape of the geese.

What I haven't mentioned is I used that thinner-than-a-strand-of-hair nylon thread.  Holy cow!  Not looking forward to using that again any time soon.  

Why nylon thread?  Two reasons really including the aforementioned fact that the top was so busy.  As much as I like seeing how thread adds to the texture and design of the quilt, the person who was receiving this is just the opposite.  She hates seeing the thread lines.  Everything she ever made for my family was stitched with nylon thread.

So...

A trip to my LQS to pick up a spool of Coats & Clark Transparent Nylon thread.  The size says it's .004.  As I said, thinner than a strand of hair!  Yikes!!!

For the back, I used even more scraps (!!) and created a small improv pieced section.  So like me, and so not like the person who owns this pillow.  Do you see that little jack-o-lantern piece?  Not in her original scraps, but it is October after all.  Had to do it.

The back of the quilt sandwich, because I just can't leave it as batting only, is another one of those old pieces from stash that you question why it was ever bought in the first place.  No one ever sees the inside of the pillow, so use the ugly is my way of thinking.  

I do like the the quilting pattern from the bobbin thread.  When sewing with nylon thread, you have to use regular thread in the bobbin.   

For all of the heartache these scraps initially gave her, I think she'll be pleased with the end result.  I don't think she'll be saying "make them go away" now.

Something I've never done before, I'm linking up with Gemma @ Pretty Bobbins and Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday:

WIP Wednesday: Three

What can I say?  I've been busy.  We've been busy.  I haven't uploaded pictures.  

But today I did.  Because I have to start somewhere.  Or re-start as the case may be.  And since today is Wednesday, what better place to start than WIP Wednesday hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced. 

Accountability for all of these projects I start.

In another life, I worked for an accounting firm.  One of the acronyms we used was LIFO - Last In First Out.  Here are SOME of my unfinished, er WIPs, and in true LIFO fashion, they are newest to oldest.

My guild, ECMQG, okay, me really, instigated a small swap of Halloween themed items, or if you preferred, Fall themed items.  Small projects.

This is the just-in-case project because as you know if you've ever participated in an online swap, there always has to be a plan B.   My longtime friend who lives in VA wanted to play, and "just in case" her item didn't make it to Pensacola timely, I wanted a back up for her partner.

Luckily, Dee's item made it, but this was Plan B.  Just in case.  

  

Improv piecing + a mini modern maples block that wasn't turning out like I wanted + a really cool leaf selvage from a great fox print I found at JoAnn's.  Little bits of this and that.  It's going to be a pillow cover. 

The Barbie, is what I've been calling this baby girl quilt I began in late August (probably the day after the new school year began, ha!) because of this inspiring image.

Lots of little thin strips combined and sewn together and cut and arranged and rearranged again in color and value order.  Tons of little scraps being used. Yay!  It's spray basted and ready for quilting.

My third WIP has been sitting for far too long in the basket of quilt tops.  A good 17 months or so. What can I say?  I didn't have an ideal quilting design in mind, and the person to who was waiting for this said she'd wait "forever".  

While I had it laid out on the pool deck for spray basting, quilting inspiration came in the form of the shadows from the screen supports. 

  

Now it's quilted.  The binding is cut.  This one will be finished soon.

Three this week.  If only that Gulf of Mexico and perfect sailing weather weren't calling.

Modernista Homemade Swap

Earlier this year, several of my quilty friends from ECMQG signed-up for Round 3 of the Modernista Homemade Swap on Flickr.

 

Modernista Homemade Round 4 Spicing Up the Bedroom inspiration mosaic by craftnursequilt via Flickr

How could I not fall for a swap when the description is this?  "Do you love modern fabrics, quilting, and fabulous pieces to show off in your space? This modern swap will focus on a room in the home each swap. Modernistas can join at any time for the next round if you don't get in for the current round."  

Well, yes, I like all of the above.  I'd love to join.  Make a mosaic?  Hmmm... So, I missed Round 3, but I saw all of the beautiful creative items Kira, Wendi, and Kim made and received.  Wow!  I was hooked.  

Round 4, Spicing Up the Bedroom sign-ups closed the first part of June. Partner assignments were issued mid-June.  We had to complete our projects - one larger project and one small-ish project - by the 3rd week of July.  Our mail date was July 29th.  We could share progress photos, but we couldn't let our partners know who had whom.

You couldn't ask your partner what they wanted.  You had their preferences from their application - pillow, mini-quilt, bed runner, pouches, storage boxes, etc.  You had their inspiration mosaic - colors, quilting style, etc.  If they'd created any, you had links to their Pinterest boards, Flickr favorites, and personal blog.

I lucked out.  My partner had done this before.  Her application was very detailed.  She had terrific pins, favorites and photostream, and, she even had a blog.  I stalked her.  This was going to be easy.  

Scrappy - check.  Low volume - check.  Color wheel - check.  Shades of gray - check.  Mini quilt - perfect, because I can do a mini quilt easier than I can a large quilt.  A pouch or two - not checked.  Unfortunately, I don't do zippers. Yet.    

Circle of Geese template from piecebynumber.com.  Find it here.

I had so many ideas to work with; there were so many things I wanted to make; I was on overload.  

Paper Pieced Pineapple Pincushion.  Tutorial from Katie's Quilting Corner.

After a few fits and starts, a mess up, and one thing that totally didn't turn out like I'd wanted, I mailed Kelie's package a tad bit late.  Yes, I admit it, I belong to the procrastinators-r-us club.

I believe she was happy with the final result and the extra goodies because... 

she said so.  "Awesome mail day!" she wrote when she posted this picture.

And in the note she quickly sent thanking me, I quote: "I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for my wonderful package!  I ABSOLUTELY L-O-V-E EVERYTHING!  SERIOUSLY!!!!  You nailed it!" 

For me, that's what this swap was all about.  It meant getting to know someone through her pictures and descriptions.  It meant creating original handmade items that were "totally" my partner's style.  It meant having fun.

I did all of that.  I am definitely signing-up for the next Modernista Homemade swap, whenever that may be.

QAYG Inspiration

I fell in love with this pillow the first time I saw it.

Newtown Auction Pillow by letseatgrandpa

Pinned it.  Knew I wanted to make one like it.  Just didn't know when.

Our school's Silent Auction and Gala is in two weeks.  The theme this year is Sand, Sea, and Sky.  Perfect.  I'll make something.  What?  Hmmm...  Something small, because, as I said, Gala is in two weeks.  Let's be honest here, no way would I have a completed quilt within a week, even if I wanted to.  So, how about a really cool pillow?

A perusing of Pinterest, my pins and boards, as well as everyone else's, ALWAYS provides inspiration overload.  At any rate, I kept coming back to this pillow.  My style - scrappy, modern, wonky, improv, and best of all, QAYG!  

I haven't tried QAYG, but have wanted to since last October when several of the Scrappy Stash Quilt Along girls did so.

I was just going to wing it - my normal modus operandi - when I happened to check Cori's blog, Let's Eat Grandpa!, the creative one who designed and that pillow.  Lo and behold, she has a tutorial posted.  Ka-ching!  Thank you Cori!

Sea Pillow WiP

Sea Pillow WiP ready to make into a pillow