WiP Wednesday: the one where quilting is my therapy

So I was having a bad day.  I wanted to get into bed, pull the covers over my head and just shut off.

Instead I went and sat in my sewing room. I started pushing things around. Tidying up, organizing. Organizing usually will do the trick, instant gratification...yes! But not this time. This time I needed some serious therapy. I needed needles, I needed thread, I needed fabric.



I needed something that would not take forever, something that would lift my spirits. Kona was the place to start.

Then cutting. Cutting is one of my very favorite things to do. Oh and the labelling, speaks to my organized heart.

Piecing, I am starting to breathe easier. Things are not so bad, if I can make eyes like this, how can things be that bad?

I just kept going. Kept making. It really does save me. By the end of the afternoon, I had this spicy guy looking back at me. I have named him Carlos. He made me feel powerful. I MADE him. That is something truly wonderful. It makes me feel better, every time I need to feel better.

Last night I started (and finished) quilting Carlos. So he is just waiting for a wee binding and then he is going to come to my office, where he can stare off bad days and cheer me up, because I know I can make him a brother if I need to and everything will be fine. Just fine.

Quilting really is my therapy.
Adrienne

ps. Thanks to Elizabeth Hartman for designing such great animal characters. They make me happy.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced and with the Needle and Thread Network.

Some Mini Disco

So last week I told you about my side of the MMQG Mini Swap with my Duck Duck Goose, but today I wanted to show you what I received. This amazing wee flimsy...

My swap partner got me completely. The colors, the fabric and even the pattern was a sweet surprise as I have been thinking of Jaybird Quilts Disco pattern for quite some time. Now I have one of my own!

And can we all just stop and look at this amazing Binding! I am not sure how I would tackle this myself, but my partner made it look easy! So impressive.

My partner and I have a shared love for Carolyn Friedlander and she threw in some of her fabrics. Yay! And the colors and quilting, just right.

I had such fun with this swap, I hope we do it again.

Are you into swapping, or making minis? Would love to hear about it.
Adrienne

Chain Links: A finish

What can I say about this quilt...I loved it, I hated it (a lot), and then I loved it again.

It all started with a much coveted jelly roll of Carolyn Friedlander's Botanics. I love that fabric, but I harbour no such love for Jelly Rolls. What do you do with the darned things? So I had a million and one "perfect" ideas but nothing was quite right. But I saw the last edition of Quilty Magazine I thought I had found "The One".

Lets take a moment to bow our heads for Quilty Magazine by the way. I have been a devoted follower while it was in publication and miss it already.

Back to the quilt. I chose to go with Kona Silver as the background. Mistake! Don't get we wrong, I love the Silver but the colors in Botanics were more muted than I thought. The whole thing looked "soft". I didn't like it.


After a quilty consult with the MMQG, I got some mustard color Aurifl in a 30 weight to try to give some definition to the quilting. And because I love them and they often save things, I applied my wavy walking foot lines.

I loved it again. I love it's soft wavy texture out of the dryer, it's wordy scrappy back, and it's zig zag finish on the binding.

Since I loved it I dragged it to the beach for it's photo session. How lucky am I to be basically a 15 minute drive to some of the best beaches I think in the world! This particular one is Martinique on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. 

I have another quilt upstairs waiting to be quilted. I hate it. Maybe I need to give it the same treatment. Do you have a "go to" save for a not so loved quilt?

My beach helper wishes you a quilty weekend!
I'm linking up this week with TGIFF! and Finish It Up Friday.

Adrienne

Duck Duck Goose: A finish

This is a very special finish, and one that I have been dying to share! Last night at the MMQG September meeting some of our members swapped mini quilts. This was the quilt I made for a very special Quilty friend Dena.

This was not a blind swap, we each filled out a questionnaire so that our partner would know what we liked. Dena liked red and white and paper piecing, so I started there. But then I had another influence. This

This is the 3-D Duck panel that I rescued at our July De-Stash Yardsale and declared that I could make something modern out if it. Hey, I was high on fabric sales. Anywho, I though ducks, geese, flying geese and there you have it. I knew I would use the panel like yardage and just cut it up for piecing. It had great text on it with the instructions and the color and texture of the wings was pretty cool.

I started making my red and "duck" flying geese based on a this design by Fancy Tiger Crafts. It was fun to shrink the pattern to the mini size requirements (circumference no more than 100") and work with the duck fabric and all of my red stash.

I made the background with multiple white-cream solids to give the top some texture, quilting in a spiral circle, and bound with more red. I LOVE IT!!!

Don't you love the directions to make the ducks! On the back I stuck with the red theme, but I needed to also get a duck into the quilt somehow. So he got pieced in...love how you can really see the quilting from the back.

Well that's it. I feel like a can breathe now, my creation has been revealed! Feels good. Clearly I am an instant gratification kinda girl.

 

I am pumping my fist in the air and linking up with TGIFF!

Happy Friday!
Adrienne

WiP Wednesday: The one with everything

So yeah, it has been relatively quiet around here as of late. To be honest I have just not been feeling the bloggy vibe lately. I have been sewing though. I haven't been super productive but I have always had a a project (or five) on the go. Now I say on the go because I seem to have quite a pile of almost dones, and they have all reached the same point...quilting!

Today I was determined to put everything in front of me and make a plan. No more WiPs. Get this shit done! First to wrap up this baby! A mini quilt which will soon be released from the quilty protection program as it will be swapped at the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild Meeting on Thursday. I cannot wait for my swap partner to see this. I hope she likes it!

Then I have two more quilts basted and ready for quilting and binding

Oh and I started something new because I just wanted to. I have so many things I want to make, and the satisfaction of cutting stuff is getting the better of me.

And I have started quilting this special quilt which is also in the Protection Program but will be released any day now.  *** Update! Finished this one today!!! 

And then I have this top. Just a top, waiting for backing etc etc. I was so in love with the idea of this quilt using my sacred Jelly Role of Carolyn Friedlander Botanics. Long story short, it has turned out dull. I made a bad choice with Kona Silver as my background so the prints don't pop. Lesson leaned. But I have decided on a texture adventure plan to spruce this one up. So let's add that to the list.

 

*** Update! I dug into this one today. Pieced a back, basted and quilted! Stay tuned for the reveal. 

So yeah, that makes five major WiPs on the books (with more minor ditties hanging out in the wings, likely more on those later...)

I guess now that I have put them out there I need to work on them. Thank you for being the person sitting beside the couch while I get this all off my chest.

How many WiPs are lurking in your house? Don't be shy. No ones looking.
Adrienne

TBT: The one with traingles

Happy Throw Back Thursday my quilty peeps! This month I am looking back at triangles. Ah triangles, how I love the.

According to my Quilt Book - yes that's right people, I had a hand written, glued pictures and fabric swatches handmade blog, in a three ring binder. Old School. Anyway - the books says this quilt was made in 2000. So it has been my bestie for 15 years.

On a daily basis my Thousand Pyramids lives here, in the living room, at the ready for couch snuggles. I did make a second triangle quilt a couple of years ago (Bliangles) which is not in this pic only because it is on the couch now ;)

I love the weight of blankets in bed and when I first started quilting I used the highest loft batting I could get my hands on. It cost the earth, was the ultimate B&^$! to quilt because it was so heavy, but it remains one of my top three quilts because it is cuddly perfection! This quilt has been my sleeping bag on every camping trip I have had in the last fifteen years.

I took my lovely out to the yard today for a few pics. Seems only right to give it the star treatment.

An old cast-iron sink may not seem like the star treatment, but I love this sink. Why is it in the sandbox in the yard? I don't ask questions about these things anymore...

Not a modern fabric in her, not one but TWO borders and the worst binding ever. But I still love it. 

Thanks for talking a walk down memory lane with me. I am linking up with Jenn over at A Quarter Inch From The Edge for her monthly series Throwback Thursday!

I'm on a sew-cation for the next few weeks,and I see a LOT of quilting in my future, so be prepared to be bored with posts!

See you soon
Adrienne