Parker Pig and Free Motion Quilting

I finally finished my Parker Pig last night. I woke up super excited about introducing him, but unfortunately today is the rainiest of rainy days, so some gloomy bedroom shots will have to do for now while he awaits a proper photo-shoot. I really love this little guy. He is very sweet and completely chilled out. And he has a cheeky smile, like he might not be quite as sleepy as he looks.

I deviated from the pattern just a bit. I don't like using felt, so I appliquéd on his facial details using quilting cotton faced with more cotton, so no raw edges. I also fused lightweight woven interfacing to his outer ear pieces to make them stand up nicely. I'm not entirely sure the interfacing is necessary though, so I'll try without next time. Sewing in the legs and closing the bottom seam is tricksy, but I finally managed by hand-basting it first and pinning my stuffing up towards the belly to give me more room to sew.

 I washed my first (half decent looking) free-motion quilting sample yesterday, and here it is. At this point I was just doodling designs I liked the idea of. I'm most happy with the stacked leaves. I have signed up for a craftsy class with Leah Day and am just waiting for my supreme slider and quilting gloves to arrive before I tackle much more. I have my scrap vomit quilt prepared ad ready to use as a learning curve project. I'm hoping after that I'll be competent enough to quilt my do. Good Stitches quilt.

I'll be using more of this flannel to back the big scrap vomit.I love the way the stitches sink in and it makes my quilting look a lot smoother than it actually is.

Fabriccy Musings

I have been unusually reserved in my fabric purchasings this year. I'm trying to use more than I buy, but of course that's not quite happening yet. But I am trying to be a smarter shopper. Being fairly certain that I am in love with a given fabric before I buy. The problem might actually be that I love too many of them though. I can't afford to buy everything I love, and I find it really difficult to pick and choose prints when I love the whole fabric line. I'm not sure if it works this way for others, but I fall in love with the whole story of a fabric line and really struggle to condense it without feeling like I'll be missing out on an important element. 

My current project plans are actually helping with my selection thought processes though, as I now mostly want to make various bags and pouches, as well as plush critters. So it makes more sense to buy a 1/2 yard each of my favourites rather than a FQ bundle of an entire collection which isn't really a big enough cut and will rapidly turn into scrappy chaos as soon as I cut anything from it.

 So yes, the new plan is being more selective. And also taking advantage of sales. Any fabric related reserve can go out the window with Anna Maria Honer voiles at $6 a yard. I have always loved the Forest Hills print best (it was actually the first 'designer fabric' I fell in love with) so I was ridiculously happy to be able to stock up, though probably for the last time as this fabric is no longer being produced :( I also bought several yards of the Loulouthi clippings print, possibly for the making of a summer maxi dress for myself. All of these are from Pink Castle Fabrics.

On the same morning as my AMH goodies, my Fat Quarter Shop order arrived. I took advantage of the discounted international shipping and managed to fit a ridiculous amount of fabric in one priority envelope. Result! The shipping sale is good until the end of today. I bought this beautiful forest print from Gypsy Girl by Lily Ashbury, Chicopee Heat Wave and Happy Drawing Barnyard Buddies. I'm totally making a pig plushie out of that one. Tula Pink Turtle Bay is from Pink Castle Fabrics.

Also from Fat Quarter Shop, some brand new non-discount fabrics I had been lusting after  (This is the whole being selective process in action right here!) Basic Grey's PB&J, Raspberry Jam print in all three colourways, and Sunny Day in my two favourites. Also a bit of Sarah Watson's Indian Summer. I am most likely going to need a bit more of that.

Tiny foxes and low-volume forest critters. Eeep! Love! I also managed to squeeze 2 yards of 108" wide neutral cotton into that envelope, which will be the back of my Scrappy Seaside quilt.

Center City ~ Possibly a first quilty finish of the year!

I'm attempting to play catch-up this afternoon. It's been a bit of a stressful time for me lately. No real external reasons, I've just managed to get myself into a bit of a flump and am struggling to find the right balance between the things that need to be done and the things I want to do. I am very slowly getting there though. Lots of fun activities to keep me going this week. Knitting lots of fun commissions, and attempting some plush toys for the first time in a few years. I'm also practising my free-motion quilting! And it's going ok!!! I have ordered some tools which I believe will make it even better and I cannot wait for them to arrive. More about that shortly though, it's time for a quilt announcement :)

CENTER CITY!

I figured it was about time to write about this quilt. I cut the squares and pieced the quilt top just before Christmas last year. I had originally planned on making a wonky plus quilt (and you can see two pluses have made it into this quilt), but I found lining up the plusses a bit too stressful, so (mostly) squares it is. Squares are all from Jay McCarroll's Center City line plus a few co-ordinating solids. Each finished square measures 6" and the whole quilt is approx 54" by 60".

 

I quilted it myself with a combination of straight line machine quilting and hand quilting. It has both dense and more sparsely quilted areas so the textures are quite visually appealing. Quilting shows up especially well on the solid aubergine back. Binding is a black solid.

I have already sent this quilt to Siblings Together where it has been safely received and will hopefully be finding itself a forever home later in the year. I'l be finishing up another quilt for Siblings Together in the next month or so. My do. Good Stitches Care Circle Quilt. The backing fabric has arrived today so I'm just waiting on a few more blocks and then I can get quilting. Possibly using my new free-motion skills?

I hope to start blogging a bit more regularly once I get the new schedule worked out. Bear with me :)

With New Improved Efficiency

Hello bloggy-blog. I haven't been on-line very much since my return from the UK. The main reason for this is that I have devised a new Janey time-table, designed to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination and internet time-sucks. The timetable itself is incredibly anal and ridiculously detailed. I am a little embarrassed of it in fact. But it is helping my daily efficiency no end. I am getting the things done!

My schedule has been divided into hourly blocks of activity, from my 7am wake-up call up until 6pm dinner prep time. Evenings are a lot less structured but still involve a plan. During the day, hourly blocks are each dedicated to either work, creative time, or exercise/eating time. I really struggled to make time to do anything on the old system (the trying to do everything at once method), but now I'm managing to keep up with everything I need/want to do, with zero procrastination! Result :)

This morning I finished a few commissions, including these Long Johns. Note adorable Japanese bears and bunnies on the background fabric. A new arrival to my stash which I plan on adding to my new hexy quilt project later. Love those little bears so much!

I want to say thank you to all my lovely customers who keep me making and feeling good about teacupfaery enterprises. I don't know what I would do without you! Thank you also to the lovely lady who bought a quilt from me this week (with my mum acting as quilt agent). I hope you will love it! My mum is a pretty good quilt agent as it happens :)

Hello April

I have started both March and April in the UK. I'm back home in Ireland now, but spent the first few days of the month in Cheltenham, with a brief stop-over in Birmingham on the way home. All in all, I am happy to be home. Spring seems to finally be springing, and at very least I hope to start reducing my heating bills! Washing is now drying in a day, as I can actually leave the windows open without the cold freezing my fingers.

I am still feeling a bit disconnected from all my recent adventures, but slowly settling back into my routine. I'm doing a bit of knitting this week, and, once I have caught up on my commissions, I'll get back to my patchwork projects. In general, I have decided to slow down my knitting productions in favour of sewing for the moment. I really want to free up more time to teach myself new quilting skills. I also really want to sew myself some more dresses. I just purchased a few beautiful Anna Maria Horner fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics fabulous sale for just that purpose.

The sun is shining right now, so I'm off for a walk. I'll try to catch up with my flickr photos soon.

Organising Chaos

I'm travelling to the UK again tomorrow. It ha been an on-again/off-again trip for the last couple of weeks. But it looks like it is now most definitely on. Eeek! Totally not ready, but flailing about and trying my best. My first priority is what to do with my hands, both at Dan's parents house and during the long boat and train journey from Dublin to Cheltenham. Not having hand stitching to do simply isn't an option. I don't want to bring my knitting gear as too many items are involved, and at the moment I am at my happiest when hand stitching. 

I decided against bringing the Swoon, as hand quilting an 80" square is way too hard to handle in a small space, so this morning I settled on a back-up plan. I am officially starting another hexagon project! I just need to select a bunch of fabrics to play with. That is actually really hard for me. I really struggle with spontaneous fabric play, as I worry a lot about using too much of something I later find an awesome plan for. But I'm trying to be a bit less anxious about it. It is fabric, and I know I can buy more.

I will be using some 1" hexy papers I have to hand, and I want to use fabrics that feel like summer and sunshine and joy. Definitely pinks and yellows, maybe plum and chocolates. Low-volume mixers. Like vanilla ice-cream with hot fudge and sprinkles. If it were a recipe it would taste like this. Hopefully suitable fabrics will be selected and packed by teatime. I am not even thinking about clothes packing at this point. Still need to pick up some toiletries and snacks from town.

In the interests of providing a sense of structure and organisation for myself, I'll just leave this here....

Janey's Quilty Plans 2013!

~Projects involving fabrics I'm already hoarding which I really want to sew this year.

~ WIPs I really need to finish this year.

1. FINISH THE SWOON!!!!

~ Over halfway through hand-quilting. I see this one being done by Summer.

2. Hexy MF.

~ Coming together nicely. I'm ok with this one being slow. I love sewing hexagons. Not enough piecing left to justify bringing it on my trip, hence new start.

3. Scrap Republic Volume Quilt.

~ My tiny scrap project. Slowly building blocks for this. 

4. Marcelle Medallion.

~ Piecing progressing. Going to send out for quilting the second it is done. Concerned about wonk but hoping it will quilt out.

5. Pacific Northwest Seascape Fantasy Quilt.

~ Currently a stack of fabrics, inspired by this artist, I'm planning to make this quilt. The back will be Sketch flannel in Coffee, and I will send it out for quilting.

6. Wonky House Quilt.

~ Inspired by 'The 'Burbs' from Material Obsession. Most likely using Denyse Schmidt prints for my houses (and pine trees) and a scrappy low volume background.

7. Giant Star Quilt.

~ This top will become the back for another quilt, probably a scrappy string quilt.

8. Folksy Flannel Patchwork Pillow-covers.

~ For my big square Ikea pillows. Will make simple patchwork squares and machine quilt them.

9. Scrap Vomit Quilt.

~ I pieced this top last week. Planning on backing it in a medley of scrap and making a picnic blanket.

I think that might be everything?

I'll be back home in a week, possibly a few days more than a week. I want Dan to be able to spend time with his family, and a break will be nice. My store is on vacation currently but I'll answer convos whenever I can get online.

A Little Progress

My Marcelle Medallion quilt this morning. I am currently working on border 5, brickwork. Not too bad, but at this point the quilt is too big to measure easily and getting my borders to the right length is proving tricky. I'm also very aware of wonkiness in the narrow aqua border (border 3). This is causing a bit of a bubbling issue which I really hope will work out once the quilt is quilted. All in all, I love the pattern and I love picking the fabrics for each section, but I'm feeling a bit overly challenged by this project and am looking forward to finishing it and sending it out for quilting.

Apart from slowly building my medallion, I'm doing a lot of reading this week. I was very sad to hear that James Herbert passed away last Wednesday. He was a favourite author of mine and will be sadly missed. I'm listening to 'The Fog' while I stitch my stitches. It might be my favourite Herbert novel, if only because it was the first that I ever read. I always enjoy all his books though. He had a knack for inserting contemporary life into horror which felt perfectly natural to me. Most of the horror I read was written a couple of generations before my time, so I fear the contemporary references are somewhat lost on me. But I think that the little references in Herbert's work leave the reader with a similar sense of normality and comfort to those experienced by contemporary (to the writer) M.R. James readers, for example.

Also in the literary vein, I'm going to see Dan Brown in May :) He will be holding a talk in the National Concert Hall, Dublin on May 20th. Billed a 'An Evening with Dan Brown', I have of course subtitled it (in my head) 'An Audience with Robert Langdon', and needless to say I am stupidly excited! Re-reading all the Robert Langdon novels in anticipation. 

I'm housebound today as I injured my foot walking too hard. Hoping it heals by Thursday as I'm off to Cheltenham to see Dan's family. Totally panicking about this. They run a very tidy house and I'm trying to think of a stitchy project I can bring to work on which won't result in a huge mess. Tempted to bring the Swoon but worried it won't go down well.