Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 crafting summary

It has been a good crafting year for me. I restarted the Lord's Supper cross stitch and made pretty good progress. The plan was to do at least a disciple a month and I did do that when I was cross stitching continuously. I took a break during the summer and then again towards the end of the year. I really like the way it has turned out so far.

The quilting has definitely taken off. I finished two quilts completely. Both are being used and I like that I am not just bundling them away. I pieced two new quilts that I have ready to send off to be quilted by Jenny. I branched out to table toppers. The one I finished I will definitely be using next summer. I joined my first quilt along and have learned how to relinquish control a bit. I do have two UFOs, but that isn't that bad. I am working on one right now, so it isn't that bad.

I've met new quilters and discovered the online quilting community. There are some very creative people out there!

The goals for next year are to scale back on fabric accumulation and actually use the patterns and fabric I already have. I hope that next year I start actually quilting and not just piecing. Oh, and finish the Last Supper cross stitch.

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sharing a tidbit- right and wrong side to batting

This was a blog post well worth sharing. Thanks KarrieLyne!

Is there a top and bottom side to Warm & Natural?
Yes. The side with "flecks" (plant and leaf particles) is the top side. The whiter side is the bottom side. If you iron a quilt or wearable made with Warm & Natural, press with the top side toward the iron and make sure your iron is on a low setting. If you make a white quilt consider quilting with Warm & Natural bottom side up."

http://www.freckledwhimsy.com/2010/12/tidbit-tuesday-31.html

Friday, December 17, 2010

Admitting mistakes

I took the Process Pledge, so I am admitting that this block had to ripped apart several times. I laid the block out, but when I carried my pieces to the sewing machine I got them flipped around and it ended up looking like this.

ALL wrong! So I ripped off the sides and flipped the triangles around. I had to undo one side again because the points were off. I don't know about anybody else, but I make sure I sew through the seam intersection of triangles to make sure I get the point.

The final version has a couple seams a bit off, but I am too tired right now to rip it out yet again.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Cross stitch burnout!

I have burned out again on my cross stitch project. I am hoping it is revived after the New Year. This is where I am ending for the year.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Redo

Well, I looked at block 3 and while piling it with blocks 1 and 2, I saw that block 2 was much larger. I knew I had not trimmed the half square triangles down to 3.5 inch blocks, but I had figured it would be ok. Well, every little 1/16th of an inch added up and the block was a good half inch larger than the other two. It became really obvious when I added in block 3. So I ripped it apart (just the square blocks), trimmed them down and put them back together. I feel much better!

Friday, December 10, 2010

First impressions

I wasn't so sure about Block 3 of the Layer Cake Quilt Along, but after picking my fabrics and putting the block together I really, really like it. That was a long sentence!

There was a fair amount of piecing in the block and looking at the Flickr group many made modifications. I followed the instructions and I am glad I did. I wanted this experience to stretch me and following the instructions made me go with something I wasn't sure I wanted to. I really do like the block.