Chugga-Chugga-Chugga Shooooo Shoooo!

As, I hope, my title indicates progress is slowly moving forward on Batch of Brownies. I finished two sets of the large blocks in the past week and have one more to go. I hoped to get through the last set today, but just didn't get to it. Here is a photo for proof that work continues:

In the upper right you can catch a glimpse of my green binding, and a wrong-side out view of the backing.

On a separate note I ordered a walking foot and a darning foot for my Bernette (I need to think of a better name for my sewing machine) and they arrived this week! I tested them out Saturday. The walking foot went okay - I'm having some bobbin tension issues (I think) and those continue. I need to take my machine in to be serviced, I haven't done so since I bought it off of ebay. After some trial and error I got the darning foot working correctly, too - though I definitely need HEAPS of practice with it before I use it on a quilt. I think tracing out the pattern before hand would help. Here is a picture of my first ever quilting attempt (I preface that with "first ever" because it is quite bad):

Happy Sewing!!!

Cutting Brownies

I continue plugging away at my blocks. I finished up one tonight. Here it is so you can see the fourth fabric combo:

This let's you see the part of the construction that gives the quilt its name - Batch of Brownies. You make horizontal and vertical cuts through your blocks - like cutting a pan of brownies - to create the offset checkerboard pattern. 

I hope to finish this set of blocks tomorrow night. Once the vertical strips are cut the sewing goes much faster. 

On a different note, I thought I'd share a shot of my work space with you. Several years back when I was sewing I would cut and sew in my dining room. It had better natural light than my "new space," was warmer, and a little more connected to the household, but, BUT, the "new space" is SO much bigger! Plus, there's not natural light available to me right now anyway since it gets dark before 5 pm. Bonus, I can get the "new space" cleaned up in about five minutes if anyone actually wants to play pool. My ironing table is set up just to the right of this shot. It is so very nice to be able to move from cutting table to sewing machine to iron without having to go to a different room.

Completed blocks

I have finished eight blocks! And after working a loooooooooong day at school I decided I couldn't work anymore tonight, so hopefully I'll get a couple more done. For now, here is a pic of my completed blocks:

I plan to do my next set of blocks in the last color combo I chose. The more I work with the fabrics, the less thrilled I am with how they go together. Oh well, live and learn. We'll see how the finished product comes out. And, whether I like it or not I am learning a TON about how these things go together. Onwards and upwards!

Hello again ...

I'm back in the blogging world! I confess, up until last Monday I had not sewed a stitch since my last blog post. Beginning a graduate program and starting a new career as a teacher sucked away all the extra time and brain power I had available. However, I am now in my third year of teaching and am starting to find my groove. I have been finding myself with some leftover brain power and have been trying to figure out what to do with it. Going back to trying to sew garments didn't really appeal to me, but some conversations with my grandma and some friends sparked my interest to check out basic quilts on Pinterest. WOW! They were so beautiful - I loved the interplay of the color palettes, bold lines, and negative space of the modern quilting aesthetic. I thought to myself, "Hey, I want to do one, and I have all the sewing stuff I need already, so why not?"

I picked up a couple of books for inspiration and instruction. My favorite, by far, is Elizabeth Hartman's The Practical Guide to Patchwork: New Basics for the Modern Quiltmaker.

Hartman's designs are lovely and made for beginners. She also includes a variety of fabric ideas for each project to help you picture different ways the quilt could look. She has another book out that is lovely as well, Modern Patchwork: 12 Quilts to Take you Beyond the Basics and her blog, Oh Fransson!, offers some additional ideas, and remakes of the quilts from her books. 

I chose a design called "Batch of Brownies" that relies on an offset checkerboard pattern to highlight the contrast between prints and solids. I thought it looked like a fun way to showcase a variety of fabrics, so I made my way to JoAnn's, braved their Veteran's Day Sale and stocked up on some fun fabric. 

I have finished the back of the quilt, and assembled my 1st four blocks. While there have been some stumbles along the way (three of the fabrics I bought weren't wide enough to cut the correct sized pieces, so I had to patch them AND I made a small error in assembling one of my blocks), I am excited to keep going on this process. I will try to get some pictures  my blocks posted later today. For most of today Jack and I will be up in Seattle cheering on the Seahawks - so pictures must wait until after that. GO HAWKS!

Weekend = YAY!

Well, I took my WEST-E test this morning. I don't know how it went, I guess I'll just not think about it until the scores come out and deal with it then. My Psych class is going well though.

I realize I never posted the picture of my Potato Baker Bag, but here it is now:

I am going to try and crank out a couple of more tomorrow as I don't have any other big plans.

Happily, I got my stamps in from Purple Onion Designs today. I am very happy with them and can't wait to do stuff with them. I don't entirely know what I am going to do yet, but we'll see. I got their perpetual calendar as I thought it would be very useful multi-purposeful and their treat logos which I thought would be good for giving treats as gifts. I was just messing around with the stamps - here is what one of the treat logos looks like:

 

I'll have to get some more ink colors and paper shapes to fancy things up.

The plan is to post more tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some more colorful Potato Baker Bags.

A Demain!

BON-JOUR-NO!

I finished my first Potato Baker Bag. It came out okay. I had some issues with the fabric stretching and the lines then not matching up. I am going to try and get a picture posted today. I am thinking of a cute way to attach the instructions and warning label onto the bag and might browse around JoAnn's website today at work to see what I can come up with.

On a very happpy note I got my cutting table put together - YAY!!! It is wonderful! I thought it would be horribly wobbly and cheap and crappy given the reviews I read of it, but it's not! Well, it's a little wobbly, but not bad. And it is sooooooo nice to be able to cut stuff out without getting cricks and unhappiness in my lower back. I tell you though, it was a pain in the acre to assemble. I had to screw in 60 ( I KID YOU NOT) screws into non-predilled holes! It took forever, but it is done now and I never have to do it again.

I am going to be pretty much incommunicado this week as I am not allowing myself to sew or anything like that. I have to cram review for my WEST-E test this Saturday and my GRCC classes start today. And, I need to contact my old profs to beg them to write recommendations for me even though I haven't talked to them since 2006.

Cheers for now!

2010!

Happy New Year!!!

It's a new year, work will be getting back to normal after the holiday craziness, and I ready to be back and sewing!

My family was very generous to me this Christmas and I received a lot of JoAnn's gift cards to round out my sewing supplied. First and foremost, I purchased a cutting table. I am six feet tall and it's has been a serious pain in my back and neck cutting on our dining room table. Here is my new table - the reviews suggest it is a bit unstable, but the sale price ($69.99) was right and I am only a hobbyist so I figure it will be okay.

I also picked up a couple of pillow forms and some new fabric. The fabric is to make microwave potato baker bags which my MIL had mentioned to me. I found a pattern online and it looks like just the kind of easy project to get me back on track.

The fabric I picked out is really cute! Here are some not so good photos of it:

 

I also decided to enter the world of contrast thread a picked up some fun colors in addition to the cotton thread I need for the potato bags.

As some follow-up, when I last left you I was about to start my sewing machine cozy, had ordered some awesome Hot Patterns patterns, and was contemplating purchasing some fabrics from Gorgeous Fabrics. I received my Hot Patterns, but have not started any projects with them yet. I also purchased and received the two fabrics I had been considering. I am nervous to work with them as I don't want to ruin them, but excited too. And, I finished my sewing machine cozy. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I managed to match of the stripes use the oilcloth in a way I thought was attractive. I had some problems using the bias tape on the smaller areas, like the handle hole and the cord opening, but I made it work - just don't look too close! I think maybe an awl would help me hold it in place while I working with it where my fingers can't reach. I'll try to remember to pick one up a JoAnn's next time I go. Here is a photo of the finished project.

 

I hope to be posting more now that I should have more time away from work. Next stop ... potato baker bags!

Cheers!