How Rude!

That’s what it is.  To disappear like that without warning or explanation is just plain rude!  The worst part is there really is no explanation.  I suppose I could make up a story . . .

 

. . . like, I was captured by gypsies and spent the last two weeks escaping from a Rumanian castle (wait, gypsies don’t live in castles!) . . .

 

or . . . I came down with an exotic, lethal disease and had to fly to Switzerland for a miracle cure . . .

 

or (how about this one) . . . I received a special request to meet with Queen Elizabeth for a secret assignment (yeah, right!)

 

 

I’m seeing a trend here – apparently I need to get “away.”  There have been a few projects I can’t share yet, and there has been a (strictly routine) medical event, but really nothing more than a feeling there’s been nothing to say.

Oh, I’ve taken pictures – the Sunday flowers and What’s on the Worktable photos, but they’ve languished on the camera for the most part.  Not very exciting anyway.

I guess what I’m leading up to is I’ve decided to suspend Wednesday WOW and Serendipity Sunday.  For the time being, anyway.  I will still be posting so you can see some of my creations, but following a schedule just isn’t working right now.  Hopefully I will have something worked out by the time the New Year rolls around.

And those pictures?  They have finally been rescued from digital camera limbo.  Here are a few for your enjoyment (?).

I’m sorry I was rude.  Forgive me?

Wednesday WOW–November 6

I’ve got a full schedule this week, but I was able to sneak off for a couple hours today and get some sewing done.

You might recall that last week I had started on three simple dolls for a club challenge.

Well, today they are all dressed!  I usually like to make outlandish costumes for my dolls, so doing three very sweet, conventional dresses was a fun change of pace.

Their faces are pretty much done.  There may be a little touch-up to do and then I will set them with fixative.  After that, they just need shoes to be complete.  Oh, yes – they need one other thing . . .

HAIR!  I had just enough yellow yarn for one, but there are lots of browns to choose from for the other two.  Making dolls is so much fun!

The Case of the Disappearing Day

I am always fascinated by people who seem to know exactly what time it is without any clocks in sight.  These people can wake up on time every morning without an alarm clock.  Sarge is one of those.  I am definitely not! 

Now, it seems I cannot even tell what day it is!  It just gets worse when the “routine” is interrupted.  Case in point – I seem to have lost Wednesday this week.  Actually, I’m not too sure about Thursday, either!  And don’t get me started on October!!!!

So, you’ve probably guessed I am trying to explain away this week’s WOW post.  I have two challenge projects that are due in November, so I thought I’d get started – on October 30!  One of them is a Christmas stocking for the local quilt guild.  I can’t show you what I did because I know at least one person from the guild reads this blog, but the challenge involved using that bauble fabric and a fabric to match the crayon.  Stretched my color sense a little bit, it did!

The other challenge is for doll club and involves using a specific pattern.  I cut out three of them.  Nothing to do with the challenge, but I wanted to see how different fabrics behave and this pattern is simple enough to work up quickly and still show any differences.

So far I have stuffed two and-a-half and you can already see some difference.  I haven’t decided how to dress them yet, but deadline time is getting close.

My goodness, if I am so adrift in time now, just imagine how bad I’ll be when we turn the clocks back this weekend!  Eeeks!

Wednesday WOW–October 23

I have so many half-finished projects right now, I have trouble choosing what to work on.  So, what did I decide to do today?  Why start a new one, of course!

Not completely new, come to think of it. I had started cutting out the pieces a couple of weeks ago.  But really, there are so many other projects that could be finished in just a few hours. 

Nevertheless, this is what I felt like doing and the hours I spent on it today were not wasted.

Now this project is half finished, too!  Next steps are to construct the bag’s lining, and then join it to the bag.  It will get zippers and handles and go into the DONE category. 

But for now, my list of half-finished projects – UFOs, PHDs, PIGS, what-have-yous – has just grown by one!

Wednesday WOW–October 16

It seems like it has been quite awhile since on this project.

Foundation paper piecing once again.  It seems to be habit forming!

And it really makes a mess of things!

There must be a way to do this without accumulating piles of scraps that are too small to use for anything.  I haven’t found it yet.

But the end result is soooo worth it!  One more eye and this “princess” will be ready to join the others.  I am really enjoying this project.  I wonder what paper pattern I can find for after this one is finished?

Wednesday WOW–October 9

If all goes according to plan, I am enjoying a couple of days in Omaha, and this post will actually appear on October 9!  If all goes according to plan . . . .
I thought I would show you what I’ve left on my worktable ready to work on when I return.

I seem to always have multiple projects going at once.  Partly due to a very scattered thought process!  But also partly to a dislike for waiting for things to dry!  The only way to keep from fussing with paint or clay before it is ready is to start working on something else!

Little Norbert, for example.  I’ve been working on him for months!  Each layer of clay needs to dry overnight before moving on to the next detail or layer.  And he had to be fitted to his little “cage” at each stage to make sure I could still get him in there!  AT LAST, he is ready to paint!  Green, I think, with perhaps some yellow gold.

And this piece has been waiting patiently to get started on the clay.  It will need to move forward because I’m scheduled to make the head in a class starting next week.  Hurry!

And then there is sewing this bag.  All the pieces are cut and most of the notions are gathered.  I don’t expect the actual sewing will take very long.  The trick will be to START!
Oh dear!  That looks like a lot of work.  I’d better get lots of rest in Omaha!

Wednesday WOW–October 2

After a short interruption, I was able to get back to one of my paper piecing projects today.

Working in assembly line fashion is very different from the way my princess project progresses.

I think I prefer doing each step only once, but I must admit there is a certain satisfaction in seeing all the blocks lined up ready to go.  It’s nice to see some signs of order in the universe!

And when the last seam is sewn, there are 36 perfect pieces all alike!  This is what one block will look like when they are stitched together.  The next step is basting them all to the hexie templates.  I did the last set while riding in the car.

Time for another road trip!

Wednesday WOW–September 18

I started out today all ready to re-stitch the seams that had gone wrong last week.  Thank goodness, I decided to check after just a few blocks.  They had the same problem!  Some were even worse!!!

Not a great way to start out, but at least I have the whole day to figure out what’s going on.  Following the trusty TNT Rule (thread, needle, tension), I put in a new needle, inspected and rethreaded both top and bottom and tried adjusting tension.  No improvement.  While checking the bobbin (again!) I noticed a little lint in the bottom.  Hmmm. I wonder how long it’s been since I cleaned this machine.

Now, one clue would be that I had to get out the manual to find how to remove the plate and access the bobbin race.  Uh oh.

Oops!  I guess it’s been awhile.  That may not look like a very large ball of lint, but it has been gathered up and compressed, so – yeah – that’s a lot of lint!

I guess I need to change TNT to CTNT – clean, thread, needle tension!

After that exercise, everything is back to normal and I finally got past that first seam!!

I’m now at the halfway point on these blocks.  Not as far as I would like to be, but considering the bumps in the road – so to speak – not bad at all!

I think I’ll go clean my other sewing machine now!

Wednesday WOW–September 11

Started on something new – erm, current and new.  Uh.  Let me explain.

I’ve been working on this quilt since May, but one step at a time.  That’s because it is a Block-of-the-Month program.  I’ve wanted to keep up-to-date on this project, but today did not go well.

This morning I got all the fabrics cut – that took all morning.  Then I had to prep the foundation papers, match up the first two patches, and – finally – started stitching after lunch.

Some how, somewhere in 36 seams, my bobbin thread apparently “jumped the track.”  From the top, everything looked OK, but as you can see on that piece in the center above, all was not running flatly – er, smoothly.

Notice the ripples?  The stitches (which are shortened to begin with), started pulling up.  It’s actually a nice gentle gather – if I was trying to do a gather.  More than half need to be ripped out and re-sewn.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, the stitch length got smaller as it goes along, so ripping out the seams is no quick and easy task.  Sigh.

If anyone asks for me, I’ll be spending some quality time with my seam ripper.

Wednesday WOW–September 4

Back at the local quilt shop and more paper piecing.

I have one thing to say about foundation paper piecing . . . .

 

It is really, really messy!  Not to mention time consuming.  I started this particular block several weeks ago, and it still took me all of today to finish it.

Did I mention it makes a mess?  Yes, it does!

But, you know, it is really worth it!  This is Ariel, the Little Mermaid.  She’s the fourth Disney Princess I have  done.  I’m still undecided as to how many of these I will make.  I suppose I will keep going until I’m sick of princesses!

But that hasn’t happened yet.  Now to decide who to piece next . . . Snow White?  Tinkerbell?  Jasmine (Alladin)?  So many choices!

Wednesday WOW–August 28

A change of pace today. . . no quilting!

Unfortunately, not a lot of any other arts, either.  Today, I cleaned!  It started with emptying the dishwasher and the next thing I knew I had scrubbed, dusted, vacuumed, filed, and straightened almost the day long!  This is a rare occurrence around here, and I don’t stop to question when the spirit moves me!

All is not lost, however.  To reward myself, I used the little bit of time left to work on this doll.

Here is what she looked like at the beginning of the day.

And by the end of the day, she is half dressed.  There is a jumper/vest to be made yet, but I have not decided on a fabric.  There are a couple of possibles but I haven’t dug through the whole stash yet.  Delving into the fabric stash is not a task to be taken lightly!

I am also digging through my list of names.  So far, she has not responded to any of them, but there are many more for us to choose from.  These things can’t be rushed!

Wednesday WOW–August 21

I am a little late posting today.  Now that I think of it, I have felt like I was late all day!  Or maybe just sideways.

When we last saw our heroine (last Wednesday), she had just finished stitching these:

Photo from August 14

And at the end of today, we have these:

Yes, it’s the same blocks!  If you remember, I mentioned that I was going to check the measurements before continuing.  Well I did – and they were more than an inch off.  A whole inch!!!  So, I dug out the instructions and read them again.  Yup, it said to trim the blocks to 9 inches . . . twice! . . . and in bold type!  Oh dear.  Time to bring out the seam ripper.

 

Two hours later.  Yes, that was a LOT of trimming.  I don’t know why I have this problem with trimming half-square triangles.  I seem to always forget! 

So, while I did have to go back to square one, I also managed to get the rest of the quarter blocks sewn together.

And now I am finally ready to move on to the next step for this quilt.  I had hoped to get to some more paper piecing today, but that didn’t happen.

Definitely a sideways day!

Wednesday WOW–August 14

Today’s work was pretty simple . . . not very exciting.  That’s OK though.  Sometimes you don’t want exciting!

I’m working on a block-of-the-month quilt, and these blocks are destined to be background blocks.

The blocks with the green “stripe” will go together with the blocks that are dark blue.

Like this!  I got four of these done today.  Doesn’t seem like a lot, but first I had to sew the quarter blocks, so I guess this really represents sixteen blocks.  Whatever.  Four done and eight to go.

The completed block is supposed to be 17.5 inches square.  Now that I think about it, I have not checked the measurements.  Hmmm.  I’d better do that before going any further.  I wouldn’t be happy to find after they are all done that I need to trim the smaller squares before putting them together.

No, that would not be good at all!