New Block Blog Hop

Presenting 3D Pinwheel Parade!

This is my block for the New Block Blog Hop.

Thanks so much to Fabri-Quilt for providing the set of fat eighths to each of us and for sponsoring the fabulous prizes: 8, that's EIGHT bundles of 1/2 yard cuts of each of the 6 fabrics for the hop.  That's a 3-yard total prize!  Pretty amazing I'd say.  Thank you so very much to our 4 hive mamas from the New Bloggers Blog Hop.  When that hop ended, the fun was extended. :-)  They dreamed this up, Fabric-Quilt jumped on board, as did over 60 bloggers.  There has been a ton of work done behind the scenes by Yvonne, Stephanie, Cheryl and Terri, from dreaming up the idea, to approaching the fabric company, to contacting the new bloggers, to cutting up and distributing the fat eighths, to answering a myriad of questions and concerns from the bloggers, and then--!  There is the organizing of the hop itself, the linkups, the gathering in of completed blocks and assembling them into quilts and then distributing the finished quilts.  Phew!  Every single one of the blocks will be made up into charity quilts, sewn up by our very own hive mamas.   Quilters (and their sponsors) just rock this world, don't they?  Did you know Fabri-Quilt has a great blog?  Check it out here!

Parisville Weave - Finish!

I originally had hoped for a last week Friday finish.  The quilt was quilted, but man, the binding took me six days!  This is one of my goals on my Q3 FAL list at On the Windy Side.  That is 2 of 5 done, "Better get the lead out," as my dad used to say.  Still, 3 of the 5 goals are full-size quilts.

I've given you some sneak-peeks at this quilt over a couple of posts; well here she is.  I called her Parisville Weave because the fabric is mainly from Tula Pink's Parisville line, and the red rectangles give a woven effect.  The original quilt is "Over and Under" from Quilt Sampler Fall 2011, the first quilt I bought (I've since bought one more) from a magazine I have collected since, oh, 1998.  I've drooled over many, thought, should I? and usually talked myself out of the purchase.

Not this time.  Something about the pale sea foam paired with the vibrant red, placed amongst the other wild prints just called to me.  It might have been the primary photo, where the quilt was thrown over a red sofa.  We have a red sofa in our Florida home...

I didn't care for the way it was quilted in the magazine.  I wanted an Angela Walters-worthy design in those setting triangles.  No red thread there for me.  When I saw this design on a quilt of Kathleen's, I just knew that was it.  It  uses a signature Angela design, framed ribbon candy and elongated figure eights (note the figure eights in Tula's fabric too!) with Angela's dot to dot ideas, but put together in Kathleen style.  I love it.

Note the separate border quilting designs

The borders stumped me for a while.  Treat them as one unit, or two?  I ended up going for two, since they are sewn separately, and border 1 sections do not match up with border 2.  So in the first border I did Links, a design from Angela's book Shape By Shape, (let me just say it was a challenge quilting it sideways!)  I would use it again, as it is very effective, a continuously stitched design, with (bonus!) no marking.
In border 2, I did an Angela dot to dot border design from the same book.  Six passes, lots of ruler work, but what an effect, no?

I hand-stitched the binding down to the back, stitching for a while here and there over the first few days.  I only really sat for an extended length of time Wednesday evening and yesterday morning to get this done!  About 4.5 hours of hand-stitching all told.

I bought the backing from Fat Quarter Shop, on sale for $4.38/yard.  Like crazy-good deal.  Since I needed oh, 6-7 yards, they actually emailed me after I'd ordered to say they had the quantity but it was in two pieces; was I okay with that?  Great service.  No affiliation; I just adore them. :-)

Tried, with limited success, to get the texture to show up.  Maybe a wool batt would've shown more definition, maybe a solid backing...next quilt right?!

I wasn't sold on using this fabric when it arrived for the backing.  It is more blue than I anticipated.  However, I loved the ocean theme, since I thought it might end up living in Florida. :-)  In the end, I do think it works; that cherry pink is evident in Tula's ships fabric, the greens in many of the fabrics on the front.  And the blue?  It is in the turquoise family, so it works for me.

It is a pretty big quilt, so I had a hard time get a straight-on shot of the entire thing.  I laid it on the gravel at my neighbour's walkout basement level, then went up to his ground level, which is up in the air right, since he is built into a hill, (you got that?!) to take the above picture.  I am on his "ground" level in the picture below.

Beautiful view of Lake Erie, no?  My neighbour lives a few doors down from us.  He told me to tell everyone, if you like the quilt....his house is for sale...best view on the street.

I said in a previous post, that I bought this quilt kit before I'd even heard of Tula Pink or Modern Quilting.  I just loved the wild variety of colours here, the simplicity of the piecing, the overal impact of the design.  Who knew.

The sun was not full out; it was a typical southern Ontario summer day of that high haze for most of the day.

This is Kathleen's feather design. I saw it here.

I thought her feathers were super-cool, and since I do feathers on pretty much every single quilt,  Every.  Single.  Quilt.  well, they were perfect on the red polka dot rectangles.

In the floral red rectangles, which were oriented in the opposite direction, to create the woven effect, I did a flying geese design, similar to what Kathleen did in Pat Bravo's quilt here.

I think it enhanced the woven effect.  It separated the two reds, in that those headed "northwest" are the fun feathers, while those headed "northeast" (I'm really channeling my dad in this post) are the FMQ ghost geese.

In all the colourful squares of Tula Pink's gorgeous fabric, I did a Christina Cameli design from her book, Step By Step Free Motion Quilting, called Bauble.  It worked out super and, once again, echoes the shapes in some of Tula's fabrics.

Doesn't the Coats and Clark variegated thread look cool, at about the halfway mark of the 600 yard spool?

I used four different colours of threads, so it was a pain to constantly switch four times with each winding of the quilt, but I think it was so worth it in the end.  I lost track of my bobbins but I believe it was 4, maybe 5 pre-wound 215 yards each.

My label, as usual, applied to the backing prior to quilting:

I love this quilt so much.  I'm so glad I went for it!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Over and Under from Quilts Sampler Fall 2011
Size: pre-washing: 74 3/4 X 86 3/4"; post-washing: 72 3/8 X 84 3/8"
Fabric: top: Tula Pink "Parisville", some Art Gallery, the floral red is Anna Maria Horner "Innocent Crush"; backing is "Tropical Dreams" by SPX Fabrics
Batting: Warm 'n Natural
Quilted: on my Avanté, Avril
Threads:  pieced with Gütermann, quilted with Isacord 40 wt threads in #5450 (green), 3951(blue), 1704 (red), and Coats and Clark 40 wt variegated 100% polyester in pastels (Avril loved both of these quilting threads)
Number of Stitches: 289 817!  Thanks to Jasmine, I am now tracking the number of stitches on each quilt.  My Avanté has 3 703 952 stitches in her lifetime.  Some are from the previous owner, who had her for not quite 2 months, but the vast majority are mine.

I'm linking up today with TGIFF, today at My Quilt Infatuation, (thanks, Kelly, for hosting), and with Crazy Mom Quilts, and with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

This is also going to get linked on Saturday to Pink Doxies' Pet Project Show!  I am so proud of this baby.

I'll also be linking this up to the Q3 FAL at the end of September.  Two more big quilts on my list...I can do it, I can do it, yes I can!

Naala Makes An Appearance

Pets On Quilts!  I'm nearing the deadline, and tried very hard to encourage Naala to be in a post about HER on one of my quilts.  Rocco? no prob...Bella? Well, as you have seen, time and time again, it's all about Bella, and her "Cats rule. Dogs drool," philosophy, a quote from her guru, Sassy, from "Home Alone".  But this is about Naala!  She is entering into Dogs On Quilts.

Ya I'm one cool cat.  Wait.....one cool canine!

She makes infrequent appearances in my blog, but I want her to be in the Pets On Quilts show this year.  She'll do anything...  Any. Thing.  For food.

Seriously, Sandra?  I'm so over this trick...

She left a little collateral damage after that set up...

Oopsie

She adores, dotes on, is over the moon about, my husband.  When he is gone, she is sad.

The sun rises and sets on him, and like a sun-deprived person, she goes into withdrawal and depression when he leaves her behind.  (Don't worry Julie, your cushion was only on the floor for a couple of minutes for the staged photo shoot!)

I love pillows.  LOVE.  If I keep this sad demeanor up, think she'll let me on the bed where I can lie on my master's pillow?

She also loves her babies.  Outside of one or two good chomps to make them squeak when she first gets one of them in the morning (she woofs and dances and jumps a little in front of the fridge, no, not for food, for a baby that is on top of the fridge), she takes such good care of them.

I love my cow.  You're not taking him away already, are you?

Maybe once in a while they get a little munching around an ear, or the butt, especially if there is a tag there.  She's had a tag fetish since we first got her at 11 weeks old.  Sometimes some stuffing gets pulled out...

Yeah, yeah, Bird is a little anorexic these days, I know.  It's partly Rocco's fault.  Look at my Rudy!  He's like brand new!  Well, maybe a tad stiff, dried, slobbery, but still--

Rocco kills every stuffy he's ever had.  He killed Santa this past Christmas.  But this post is about the calm dog.

The ONE time I allowed a (barf) feline, our previous cat, Cleo, to share a quilt--I was young, only 1 1/2 years old.  I'm not so calm when it comes to "that cat" (I totally agree with Sandra's mum, blechh) Bella. Blechhh.

She looks amazing today, at 8 1/2 years old.

Clearly I have Pug in my family line, a ways back.

I really do...

See? I can twist and turn my head both ways!

Naala weighs 95-100 pounds, so this shows you just how humongous the banana plants have gotten!

That scrunched up quilt is the current quilt, at the time of writing this, it is finishing drying spread out on the floor.  At the time of the photo this morning, it still didn't have its binding finished hand-stitching down.  Aiming for a Friday finish post tomorrow!  Did I mention I work well under pressure?!

If you haven't done so yet, after reading Bella's entry (she's #34) for Pets On Quilts, scamper, canter, trot on over to Lily Pad Quilting for the show.  That link takes you to all 58 entries.  Naala is #57. Voting starts tomorrow!  The post for where you vote is here.  Thanks so much Jacque for hosting this so-much-fun linky!

Guild Orphan Block Raffle

A week ago, at our guild meeting, we had a raffle for the orphan blocks the executive has been collecting for a few months.  There were 37 or 38 sets!!  I was shocked.  I was even more shocked at the quality of the orphaned blocks, and of the quality of the fabrics used.

My winnings - I have that navy Buggy Barn fabric in the flying geese unit...

I think (okay, I know) I have too much of my dad in me, because I could not give that kind of workmanship up.  Maybe the fabric...I have donated fabric, I have sewn up beautiful fabric into quilts, and given them away to others, and even to charities.  Okay, I might be able to work up to something like this, I guess... All right, wait, hold the phone, I DID once already.  I gave away fabric to make a complete set of blocks for a Magic Tiles quilt in Cynthia's Orphan Adoption event.

My daughter, Dayna, has claimed this quilt...so I managed to grab a photo last time I slept over. Look at that gorgeous Sulky Holoshimmer thread!  circa 2001 from the faded label

She's having another!  Next month!  (which is only a mere 6 days away)

So each member and guest got a string of 10 raffle tickets.  Each set of orphan blocks was beautifully packaged up on foam core board, tied with a strip of batik fabric, on which was threaded a spool of Mettler cotton thread.  Each set had a numbered paper bag into which you could drop as many of your 10 tickets as you liked.  If you wanted, you could buy more tickets, think they were 10 for $1 or something.  I just kept my 10; seriously, did I want (yes) or need (no) more orphan blocks?  There were some beauties.  Well, I won one of the 37 sets!  We had about 55 people present.  My package is the first photo.

Inside were 3 various sets of orphans.  The executive packaged up what they thought kind of went together, related by style or choice of fabric.

The flying geese are huge, measuring 5.5X10.5".  There are 2 or more of each print with various neutrals.  43 in all.  Odd that it's an odd number.

These make me think of crocheted granny squares.  Each pair is the reverse of the other.  I was given some leftover strips sets for the pink/brown ones.  No clue what this pattern is, kind of Trip Around the World, but on point.

This appliqué block is exquisitely done.  The stitches are so tiny!  I love the fabric choices, and the embroidery details are so beautifully done as well.

Now what?

Well, the challenge is to have a finished quilt for the September meeting using your orphan blocks.  I'm not clear on whether they all have to be in one quilt or not.  (I guess I can ask at my first executive meeting this Thursday evening!)  A fat quarter stack was dangled in front of us...to be given to someone who finishes a quilt.  If there is more than one, then they'll draw. 

Fun, right?  I immediately thought that those big flying geese would make a great wheelchair quilt.  What do you think? Separate them?  Put 'em all in one quilt?  I can see possibilities for both.  I'll admit, I really want to keep that appliquéd square...work it into a table centre or maybe a bag?

Linking up with WIP Wednesday and Let's Bee Social.

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #2

The first place we start to age is our feet.  The second place we start to age is our spine.  I state these two facts pretty much every class I teach.

One of the best things you can do for your spine at any time, really, but especially after sitting at your machine, or standing at your longarm for long periods of time, is to twist.  Twists release tension in the spine.  You can twist while standing, or sitting in your chair, but ideally it is good to move.  Change your position.  Sit on the floor.

A simple seated spinal twist, stage 2

We in the Western world rarely sit on the floor which is a prime cause of our hip and knee issues.  In the Eastern world, the type and number of hip and knee replacements are not even close to the amount here.  So keep a quilt (I'm sure you have an extra one or two, right?!) handy to spread out on your sewing room floor, and sit down on it for perhaps 5 minutes when you feel the need to release your back or your hips.  Your back and your hips will thank you.

The photo above is stage 2 of a seated twist.  Stage 1 would be leaving my right foot beside my left thigh, not crossing it over as I have done here.  Oops, I forgot to do stage 1!

Image from Yoga Partout

The girl on the lower left is in stage 1 of the twist.  You can bring the twist into the vertebrae of your neck by bringing your chin in the direction of your shoulder.  Think of looking far to the corner of the outside eye.  Doing that is a good eye exercise too!  Hold the twist for a full 1-2 minutes, breathing slowly and steadily in and out through your nose.

When we twist, we gently compress the discs, à la style of wringing out a dishcloth.  Just as we compress a garden hose to control the flow of the water, and then release it, which causes the water to rush out of the hose, the blood will rush through the compressed areas once you untwist.  This does a number of good things for our body.  If you are breathing slowly and steadily, maybe inhaling and exhaling each to a count of 3 or 4, then you are enriching your blood with oxygen.  Once you untwist, the blood, rich in nutrients, nourishes the now decompressed area.  Furthermore, the blood rushing through the area flushes out toxins that might have built up there.  In this way, you are giving yourself a deep tissue massage.  You also have created, at the microscopic level, more space in your spine, which allows for better blood flow.  A more limber, blood-flowing-freely human being is generally a happier one.  Cool, right?

Seated spinal twist, stage 3

If your knees are okay, bend in the bottom leg, keeping that foot gently flexed to protect the knee.  You don't need to pull hard, although you can do it with muscle effort, in a more yang, active style.  In the yin style, you twist as far as you are able, and then soften your belly and relax into the twist, letting the muscles go.  You may not twist as far, but you will work into the connective tissues, the ligaments and fascia (there is a vast amount of fascia in your mid-back, the area where we bend, forwards, backwards, sideways, also where we twist) which is so good when we spend a lot of time bending over our machines or our handwork.

You can do a spinal twist reclined too:

Image from Classic Yoga

That link shows you several other poses which are great for back pain.  You can do this supine twist in bed at night if you like as well.  Thinking of bringing your ear to the floor (or to your mattress) will bring the twist into your neck, much like we did in the sitting version where you bring your chin towards your shoulder.  Twists are great for the abdomen area as well, acting as aids in the digestive process, gently squeezing our abdominal organs, and, once we un-twist, nourishing those organs in the same way as I mentioned before.

Bernie Clark has a great page on twists on his Yin Yoga site here.

The quilt in the photos of me is my Perky Purses, a great size to take to yoga classes!  It's from Pam and Nicky Lintott's book, Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts.

Since it's Sunday Stash in QBL, here is a photo of 3 fat quarters added this week to my stash.

My stash is lacking in grey, so these were great additions; should've ironed them first!

The sun was dappling a bit on these through the doorway, so they are not mottled as they appear here.  They are from Ella Quilts, a LQS that was at our guild meeting on Tuesday.  Her fat quarters were on special for $3 each.  You do get 20" instead of 18", as they are half a metre cut in half.  This is a very decent price per metre for Canada, $12.  However, in Ohio last week I picked up half a YARD for $3 in the sale section at Miller's Dry Goods.  Even with the terrible for Canadians exchange, that is a better deal, working out to about $4 per half yard.  Ah well, need to support our LQS, to some degree, right?  And as my friend Helen says, "it would be rude not to buy anything."
Happy Sunday!

Friends of the Heart

You all know of last week's meeting of two like-minded friends of the heart, Julie of Pink Doxies and me.  Today's post is more of the warm, fuzzy, feels good, heart-centred QBL stuff.

A Namaste Hug made by me

QBL?

Helen of Midget Gem Quilts and I have coined that acronym in this social media world that loves acronyms.  Feel free to use it!

Quilting Blogland.

Bella on Graffiti

This is my entry in the Cats on Quilts category for the Pets On Quilts Show at Lily Pad Quilting.  It's so much fun.  Lara and I cemented our friendship over Olive, her daughter's pibble; as did Judy and I over the Nugs last year.  It's a great way to meet other quilters, and be amazed at how alike our fur kids are when it comes to all things quilty.  And there are prizes!  Bella won a triangle fabric mousie last year, still has it, still loves it, kicks it to death and bites it on a regular basis.

You've seen my Graffiti quilt once before, but it wasn't bound, and I wasn't sure exactly what I would do with it.  Well, I decided to take it for Show 'n Tell to this past Tuesday's guild meeting, so I had to bind it.  Of course, when I laid it down on the floor to take a picture, this happened:

Not as big as I normally require, Sandra...

Hmm...

If I can just grab this side, maybe I can roll myself up in it...

and then, "Well, since she's got that black thing in front of her face, I may as well strike a pose..."

Note the one foot angled out with pointed toes - this is a new one

Like most quilters with cats, they have to get involved in every step of the process, from pulling out fabric, to lolling about on the finished product.  Ahem, or in the finished product:

Or making sure your 1/4" seams are precise, (note the one squinty eye just to eagle kitty-eye that seam):

Great vantage point, and besides I look SO utterly adorable, she'll finally pay me some attention

But back to the Graffiti quilt.  I've had two spots where my Avanté hiccups or bobbles since we set it up for the 10' table (the person I bought it from had it at 6').  I was also suddenly having some tension issues as well.  In order to solve the problems, I threw in some muslin to try out Karlee Porter's Graffiti quilting, with various threads, and to find exactly where the bobbles occurred so my husband, "MacGyver", could do the adjusting.  I even got him to quilt a bit so he would feel how it grabbed, or sort of jumped into a kind of rut and then back out.  And thus the Graffiti quilt was born.  We finally were able to get everything nearly tickety-boo, just a teensy little spot where there was a wiggle.

Lots of people commented that I should bind it and hang it in my sewing room, and so I have done.  I used some leftover fabric from my Yoga Mat Bag.  You will never see the back, as some parts ain't so purty as I worked through some tension issues, ripped some, left some.  But I love it, and it serves to show me that I can do this, and I can persevere until I get the right tension and the smoothness I want...and the precision will come with continued practice.  I'll never be as precise as Angela Walters or Gina Perkes (wow) but I also know I'll never be as good a yogi as Kino McGregor or David Robson.  But if I am happy with my results, that's all that matters.

Sewed the binding to the back and machine top-stitched it down on the front with Sulky Holoshimmer in bright green - love the bling!

I've since hung it on my wall, er, plastic vapour barrier in my sewing corner of the basement.

I love it there.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Graffiti quilting practice
Size: 42.25" X 15.5"
Fabric: unbleached muslin front and back, binding is Winter Wonderland by In the Beginning Fabrics
Batting: Warm 'n Natural
Quilted: on my Avanté, Avril
Threads: Floriani Fufu's Rayons, Isacord and Sulky Holoshimmer

Hope you will hop, bound, or sashay (if you're like my diva, Bella), or canter on over to Lily Pad Quilting and check out all the entries.  You can read about my dog on quilt entry featuring Naala here.  You can vote here.  Bella is #34.  Naala is #57.

I will also link up this finish to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday, TGIFF and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Oooh, in celebration of a million(!!) page views, Sarah is having a pretty sweet giveaway. Better hop over there and check 'er out.