Seam Work

First I would like to start by welcoming you if you are dropping in from The Needle & Thread Network. I am being featured today on their site and I am so pleased to "meet" you! I hope you have some time to check out the blog :)

So It's December! How the heck did that happen? Anyone else have a Santa's sweatshop set up in their house for holiday making? Mine is in full swing AND I have been busy with some other stuff.... some exciting stuff...like opening an Esty Shop! I introduce Seam Work

For most of the year I have been thinking on this whole Etsy thing. I wanted to open a shop. BUT, I was a afraid.  Afraid to start something new, to put myself out there,  what if people don't like my things? Crazy fears.

But then in the Fall I started to get excited about it, started looking into how it all works. And then I had a sew day planned with my friend Jeanette from Stamp Stitch Create. As we are sewing away she says "hey wanna start an Etsy shop together?" (or something to that effect lol). She was nervous too about starting something new.

So we held hands, looked over the edge of the abyss, and opened Seam Work in November. We both just needed a little nudge to get going. Quilty friends are good for that :) Now we have a great shop that will be full of both of our quilty goods. Good for us, good for our customers!

You can visit the shop  HERE

Jeanette and I pose for our Shop photo. I think we are pretty cute!

Since the shop opened I have been busy making custom flag pillows. I am now a Jedi Master in the ways of the invisible zipper.

And look at our adorable labels!

So I guess I am officially a small business owner and I am loving it! I cannot thank Jeanette enough for doing this with me. I think together we are going to have a hell of a good time!

Do you sell your quilty things? I would love to hear all about it!

Talk to you soon, I have some finishes to share so I should probably write a post more than once a month...
Adrienne

Chillingsworth. Back to his roots.

Right now I am under a duvet, under a quilt, with a cat, a dog, a tablet and a laptop. The days of the long nights have settled in with Fall. The lands in the Maritimes are awash with color during the day. (if you have never been to Nova Scotia in October...come!) But, it is now dark two hours after coming home from work, dark the next morning when I leave again. Sigh. But there is always you, my dear readers, here at my slightly-less-neglected quilty diary.

And there is the sewing:) It's getting a bit frantic with plans for some major Christmas prezzie sewing (more on that later...think zippers), filling Flag Pillow orders for others Christmas Prezzies and some other equally important "makey" things. And I am loving every friggin minute of it!

So, why did I stop everything and do something completely frivolous last week? Because I could. This is all supposed to be for fun people.

I finished Mr. Chillingsworth. I was on a mission to finish him for the MMQG meeting. Challenge accepted! I free motioned his whole skeletal panel (don't lose faith in me, but that was the biggest piece I have ever FMQd! slow learner.). I did a special X stitch from a setting on my Janome in the black border, and then I caved, threw on my walking foot and random wavy lined around the HSTs.

 

I really treated this project like a bit of practice. It's a fun, theme quilt that I was ok with making mistakes on. It's just hanging around in my hallway after all, looking spooky. One thing I learned is that a lot of dense FMQ (even if is a hot mess in places) crinkles up so MUCH in the washer/dryer that you cannot even see the hot mess! What sweet quilty goodness is that!

I learned that even though you want to finally use up that spool of thread that just never-seems-to-end, you should color match your thread to your backing fabric when you are learning to FMW. Wow, way to highlight the hot mess!

It also happened that once I showed off Mr. Finished at MMQG, my friend @Purple Boots & Pigtails and I headed to the Annapolis Valley for some much needed Fall fresh air...and fabric shopping therapy! On the way we found a small old graveyard where Mr. felt quite at home. So we stopped for a photo shoot.

We might have even stopped (after cheese buns at the Bakery) again on the way back, safety pins in hand from our LQS to take more pics!

I think the setting and the gorgeous leaves were the perfect backdrop. And I hope the gentleman in cute house across from the churchyard doesn't think we were being disrespectful. We were conscious or your caring eye ;) Oh the life of a picture-a-hol-ic-quilter can get you into trouble sometimes.

Funny story. I literally sat for hours, as a passenger, in a vehicle in the most glorious setting with a camera in my lap and did not take any other pictures. Weird. I guess I was focused on the scenery and company. I consider that a successful day!

So that was so worth stopping everything! Now, back to my regular frantic program. Here I Come!

Have you stopped everything this year and finished that Halloween project that has been sitting in your closet or your Pinterest board? Tell me all about it, and if you have recently finished, why not link up with TGIFF! I am :)

Mr. Chillingsworth says Hello!

Back on Sunday it rained. Evil grin. No painting for me! Not only did I sew, I threw everything I was supposed to be working on aside and pulled out this wicked panel that has been lounging in the stash for far too long. At the last MMQG Sew In, my friend Purple Boots & Pigtails reminded me about this guy.  Just look at him, a spring in his step!

So as you can see it put him up on the design wall thinking about what to do with him? As I am backing away I look down into my WiP pile and I see the stack of Denyse Schmidt scraps left from Charlie's Quilt.

Perfect! I left out the teals and the floral print, leaving blacks, grays, mustards, creams. I added a couple more prints like this great stripe, a solid pumpkin punch and another orange print to round it out. I also added those cute spooky Alexander Henry Ravens to the mix.

Based on the size of my scraps I could not do anything too large scale and I wanted this to be a "finish in a day" project. I felt the need for some instant gratification.

So after some math, that I am sure I made far more complicated than it need be, I had a plan for my fall back favorite, the HST.

I put a solid black border on the Mr. before I added a frame of HSTs. Purple Boots would be proud that I did not plan out the HST placement, threw them in a pile and chain pieced with wild abandon!

So, this is where I ended up Sunday Evening. I also pieced a backing and now have a need for some Franken-batting. I am going to practice Free Motion on this project since I have no special plans for it and I think I can get away with some imperfections (ha!) on a Halloween quilt. I want to practice a basic skill and get good at it, move on to the next etc. What would you suggest as an easy first free motion design...swirls, loop de loops, stars....??

In other news I have been steadily working on this quilt each week. Its the Kriss Kross Quilt by Suzy Quilts. I am stealing the color combo from the pattern quilt! But I had that perfect stripe! remember? And then I went and added my my current addiction - Kona Punch for the perfect wow! Can't wait to start seeing more blocks together!

This quilt is not instant gratification. BUT it will be friggin margarita gratification when it gets done and is awesome!

Happy Tuesday People!

TGIFF! Winner & A Wee Sewing Machine

It's Friday again! They do come quick, thank the quilting gods. This week I wanted to share this mini sewing machine I finished up.

I joined my first Instagram swap last month, a swap focusing on the paper pieced patterns by Kristy at Quiet play. I have made quite a few Quiet play patterns and they are so great. I have even made this sewing machine before, only a bit bigger :)

My partner wanted a rainbow sewing machine with a dark grey background and a bit of shine.
I hit the stash and made a rainbow. Seems like this should be easy, but it takes me forever to figure it out.

Anywho, what about that shine? I found a great Robert Kaufman that was the perfect shade of grey and had a silver sparkle. And then when I started to quilt, that Aurifil has such a nice sheen it was perfect!

On the backside I carried through with a blue from the machine on front and added some triangle corners for hanging. I turned one corner inside out to have a place to write a wee message to my swap partner.

My partner is not expecting this gem until the end of October. Cannot wait to send it off.

AND now for what you've really been waiting for, the winner of this awesome improv book from last week's post.

THE WINNER IS...

Jennifer from Little Black Cat Quilting

Thanks to everyone who dropped in last week, it was so much fun reading your comments and improv vs. patterns and seeing all of your finishes. 

Now, what should I work on for next week? So many projects...
I'm linking up with TGIFF! this week, you should too!

You know I have to...Charlie just loves quilty photo shoots

Improv Like a Boss - TGIFF! & A GIVEAWAY

Welcome! So glad you could drop by for a little TGIFF! action... I have a special finish to share today (and...just maybe a prize...)


This year my Guild hosted their very first Executive Challenge. We picked three paint chips out of a brown paper bag and then we tried to make a quilt out of those colors. I'm here to tell you, I got lucky on my choices. Green, yellow, blue. No challenge there since they are my go to colors. I decided I needed to make this a wee bit more challenging and set some personal goals.

First, use only fabric and supplies from my stash. Success! I started with a Kona to match each color and then pulled some prints and low volumes.

Then I challenged myself to Improv. That's right people. I did not use a ruler for this entire project until it came time to bind. I know right. Take a deep breath. Its all over now and I did great!

If you are new to my bog here is a secret - I don't do improv. I worship the pattern. Oh sweet patterns. BUT I was determined. Armed with a sparkly new copy of  The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Wood I read every detail and then started cutting squares. With no Ruler!  I have to tell you I am in love with this book. If you are a pattern girl but want to branch out? Start here!

Even though my focus was imporv, I still wanted the star to be the colors, since that was the challenge. So I kept it simple with the color grading from blue to yellow. I joined squares to make small units, joined those units together, then again into bigger units (you get the point) until I ran out of fabric.

I did really random straight lines for the quilting. I admit I am not thrilled with the quilting on this. I was in a time crunch and quilted it on an older machine that just does not have the quilting chops of the Janome. So there is a lot of distortion going on. But, overall I am super happy with how this challenge turned out. I even hung it in my living room!

I revealed this quilt last week at the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild meeting along with 19 other members who made some amazing pieces.

I know some of you like a good backside, so here it is...

The guild is running an on-line viewers Choice Contest over on their blog. You can hop on over and see the other fabulous quilts! So much talent in our group. Have fun trying to pick just one to vote for!

So this was fun! Thanks for stopping by TGIFF! If you are new to Chezzetcook, please stay and take a look around. If you are a regular visitor...hey! Thanks for coming back :)

Now it's your turn!  Link up your finishes and link back to the TGIFF! party so your readers can find us and link up too! I can't wait to see what you've finished this week!

AND

If you have made it to the end of this post you deserve a chance to win your very own copy of  The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.  Simply leave a comment and tell me if you are partial to improv or patterns. I'll announce the winner next Friday!

Finish on!
Adrienne

An InLinkz Link-up

Fun With Fishing

This weekend we loaded up the Webers and headed to our friend's 40th Birthday party. My hubby was in charge of cooking, you have never had BBQ chicken like his, and I was in charge of a gift.

A gift for a guy who loves the fishes.

At first my hubby, who has a hand for drawing, started to design a fly that I could then paper piece. But I have to tell you, I was not quite sure how to translate the design into something that when you looked at it it would look like... something. So I did the smart thing. A Google search. I found this pattern from Paper Panache .

The pattern was really great. But I have to confess that I did print it at 120% so that the small pieces were not quite that small... Did you notice that rolly thing? A wallpaper roller that is great for "pressing" as you paper piece. This is a new tool for me but I am loving it, as it means no iron heating things up.

A bunch of Konas, some amazing Leah Duncan print and bang! I got a fish!  I loved seeing this guy come together. Printing larger, I ended up with a 12" block and then added a linen border to fit it to a 20" pillow.

Of course I wavy line quilted this boy. It's a fish. He gets watery lines.

Tomorrow I am back to my day job after two weeks of vacation. I'm glad I got the time to make this fishy bit before I get back to my desk, that has a computer instead of a sewing machine. I think I need to find a way to sew every day. It just makes everything a little bit better.

Did you get time to sew this weekend? How often do you sew? Would love to hear your strategies.
Adrienne

In the making

Hey! Yeah, so I have been off summering. There has been some of this

A little of this

 

and this

and a fair bit of this....washing and painting our house

But of course I have been sewing in the middle of it all. Just. Cannot. Stop. So in the spirit of Wednesday, here's whats in progress in the Klenck-udio.

First I finished off a square-in-square baby for a wee friend of mine. I am teaching this pattern at Patch Halifax right now and it was fun to sew along. Such a versatile block. 

I joined my first Instagram Swap this past week. #quietplayswap has us making a paper pieced pattern from Quiet Play for our partners. So this past Saturday at the MMQG Sew In I pieced a Geometric Sewing machine...in twelve delightful inches.

I have also been pulling fabric and cutting for a new project. A sixteen patch as summery as I can make it. Its all cut now and ready for some chain piecing...

And finally.  Yes, I will make it stop. I have been working on the latest #travellingquiltscanada to land on my doorstep. Here is a sneak peek since this is secret sewing at its most dangerous! So much fun piecing this block over at Jeanette's house today! I love stitching with a quilty pal.

Well, I am glad to have checked in with you. I mean I miss you people.

Feeling a bit social this week so linking up around here - WiP Wednesday at The Needle & Thread Network and Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts,

and for now, I am off again to suck up the last bits if summer and enjoy some vacation days. But don't be a stranger... On September 16th I will be hosting TGIFF! and just maybe there will be a giveaway... better come back and see.

Final thought ..."finally that dogs blanket fell off the railing. Now it is mine"  the Orange Cat