Falling Waves From Hell

Today I'll tell you about the...(let me count) third quilt I made.

Let's just say: This one wasn't pretty! I basically hated every single step of the process!

Here's a first glimps of the culprit:

Falling Waves Quilt

 Looks innocent enough, doesn't it? If only it were so...

The Fabric

I found different fabrics in the sales bin at my local quilt shop. They were being sold for $5/m - which is a great deal in an area where fabric is sold for $24/m! I bought three fabrics in shades of pink because I thought they would work together nicely. Definitely not my favourite colour scheme, but it was - comparably - cheap!

The Piecing

This quilt was actually all about practice! I planned (and still plan) to make a quilt with HRTs (Half Rectangle Triangles), but they are not that easy to make without loosing all the points. So I decided to pratcise with HSTs (Half Square Triangles).

I used - what could possibly be described as - the traditional way of making HSTs: put two squares on top of each other, sew down the diagonal twice 1/4" from the middle.

I didn't calculate that every two squares sewn together that way would also yield two HSTs and I ended up with far too many! I was planning on a baby quilt, but now it's closer to the size of a lap quilt!

You can imagine that it took me a long, long time to sew them together, press them (half to the dark, the other half to the white) and square them up! I think I went through a whole audiobook. That's over 30 hours!

I was already fed up just looking at them!

Falling Waves in all its Hellish Glory

Then came the sewing them all together part. I hadn't met the 1/4" seam (or just a consistent near 1/4" seam) yet. Need I say more? Nope, it's blatantly clear I did a lot of ripping, re-sewing, re-ripping and re-sewing of these stupid pink fabrics I didn't like to begin with, sprinkled with imaginative swearing, groaning and foot stomping.

That's also when I learned: There's a moment when you just have to let that idea of all perfect points go and move on! And move on I did - quiet happily I might add!

 

The Backing

Having many leftover HSTs I decided to incorporate same of them in the backing. I decided to go with a strip with an easy heart design. The design and making of the back was probably the most fun part for me. No major hiccoughs either!

Back of the Falling Waves Quilt

The Quilting

Oi vey!

I started off with simple stitch in the ditch - or in my case to the left or the right, over and through the ditch! But it looked a little unfinished so I decided to add a few more lines. Naturally, I didn't really manage to space them evenly. Oh, well, who said it was planned that way anyway?! :P

The Quilting on the Falling Waves Quilt

Of course the whole quilting process didn't go smoothly. Somehow the spare backing and batting got caught in the quilting not once, not twice, but seven times!

More swearing, groaning and foot stomping ensued.

And out came my much used and dearly hated seam ripper!

I don't know why, it never happened before this quilt and never ever after this one (touch wood!).

Let's just say I'm very happy I got this quilt finished (big woohoo!) and bound and stored away!


I still have quiet a few pink HSTs left over in a baggy somewhere. I might pull myself together some time and make a few pillows are mini quilts out of them. Maybe when I'm finally gifting that quilt to someone...



All the best,
Cat.

Seeing Everything in Black And White - Or My New Cushions

As I have blogged recently, I was working on beautifying my living room / bar / dining room / sewing room (talk about multi-purpose!^ ^). Today, I'm showing you the result.


My couch went from this....

Sad little pre-transformation couch

...to this:

 

Hm, I think we need a bigger couch to fit all the cushions!

This whole room is actually all furnished in black and white.  It wasn't really planned, but once we moved in together with all our random furniture pieces, it just turned out that way. We decided to just go with the flow and have added a few black and white pieces since.

The advantage of a black and white living room is that you can easily pimp it up: Add a few candles and cushions in one colour scheme and it's a different room. Hang up colourful pictures, posters or paintings, and the room is transformed. That's what I've been doing so far. Whenever the mood struck (I call it "spring fever"), I bought a few new candles, a cushion or two and voilà: a new room!

This time I decided to simply keep it black and white. I experimented with a few other colours (mainly red), but simply didn't like the look. I'll probably pimp it up with one or two colourful cushions once spring fever gets to me again and wham! I'll have a new look!

I plan to post the tutorials for the cushions bit by bit on here, so you can recreate them if you want to.


Here are the links to the tutorials:

DD4P cushion tutorial

 

 



 

Rectangle Cushion Tutorial

 

 



Tutorial Part One
Tutorial Part Two

 

 

 

 

Tutorial soon to come

 



Tutorial soon to come!

The only problem I have now: I have so many ideas for more black and white pillows (no, cushions, right? I think I was told that pillows are for the head and cushions for the... uhm, lumbar region?) that I'm running out of space on my couch. I think I need to get a bigger couch...but then I'd need a bigger living room, so basically I'd need a bigger flat, for that I'd need more money, to get more money I'd need another job and...yeah, you see my problem here?!

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts/questions, so leave a comment (it's open to everybody!).

All the best,
Cat.

My Second Quilt

 

Somewhere over the .... or Rainbow Strip 'n Flip

Today I'm showing you the second (well, the second one I finished, but the first one I started) quilt I've ever made. It is made with the same jelly rolls I used for my first quilt. I saw Cluck Cluck Sew's easy tutorial on the Strip and Flip top and decided that this was perfect for a first quilt!

And this is how it turned out:

Rainbow Strip 'n Flip Quilt

The Piecing

The piecing should have been quite easy. I mean, it's just strips, right? Yeah, "just" strips...

I ended up with bowed strips. I can't really say in hindsight why that is, just pick one of the following no-nos (which - of course - I all committed):

1. It might well be that the strips I worked with were already cut with an elbow in them.

2. I ironed - a lot, with steam and vigariously!

3. I did sew them in pairs, groups of 4, etc. but always from the same side.

4. My quarter inch seam was non-existent. (To my defense: I didn't have a quarter inch presser foot at the time. I'm also used to the metric system, so it was difficult to just eyeball it. I've gotten better with practice since, so go me!)


For the back I used up the absolutely last scraps I had left over from both this quilt and my First Rainbow quilt. Needless to say, some of those scraps were a bit uneven or too small, but I worked them into a half-decent strip to add some colour to the back.

Rainbow Strip 'n Flip Back



The Quilting

I again quilted with black thread, only realising half-way through that it would be quite noticable on the colourful batiks! Oopsy?
However, I think that was actually a lucky strike: These straight lines actually balanced out the bowing of the strips so that it is hardly noticable in the finished quilt!

Straight line quilting

To change it up a little, I quilted the "flipped" part diagonally and quilted straight lines on all for sides the border so that I ended up with four little checkerboards in the corners.

I tried to machine bind the whole binding, but after sewing down about one third of one side, I decided to rip it all out and do it by hand, because - well, let's just say it wasn't pretty!

Rainbow Strip 'n Flip in all its glory

Overall, I can say that I'm pretty happy how my first lap sized quilt turned out!

All the best,
Cat


Endless Stars finished!

 

It finally came together: The weather was nice today and I had time to get out and take some photos of my new(-lish)ly finished quilt! I've been waiting for a long time, but the weather just wasn't co-operating. It was strange the last couple of weeks, mostly rainy and cold, but sometimes with spurts of sun and quite humid.

Now, to the quilt:

Endless Stars - ready to shine!

I've already shown the top in my last update (which - admittedly - is already far too long ago!).

The Piecing

I came up with this design a while ago when I was experimenting with string piecing in an attempt to create easy diamonds. As you can see, that diamond design pretty much failed, but I discovered this star design (as the first one? Maybe...or have you seen this one before?).

Endless Stars: the piecing

The two solids are from the Moda Bella Solids line. Can't remember their exact name at the moment, but if you are interested I could look it up (the light blue is bluer and a bit darker in reality, though).

Once I'd decided on the overall design, the top came together rather quickly.

 

The Back

I love creative quilt backs! Nope, that's not strong enough! I really, really, really absolutely, totally and unequivocally adore creative quilt backs!

I always say: We spend so much time and effort on the front, why not spend a few hours more and create a similarly stunning back?

That being said, I kept the back of this quilt rather simple, I didn't want it to clash too much with the front. And that's the result:


Endless Stars Pieced Back

The print fabric is called "Star Burst"; it's black, green and purple. Unfortunately, the green is not the same as on the front (it's more forest green than teal), but, alas, that's the downside of online fabric shopping! I had to wait about 2 weeks for it to arrive; I think our postman thinks I'm a bit, uhm...how to say it nicely...wacky? I hate to admit that he's probably got me pegged quite accurately...

It wasn't actually the best print to work with, as it was not printed on the straight of grain (yeah, bummer), but I think I more or less managed to not make it noticeable.

Next to the length of "Star Burst", I added some leftover pieces from the front and finished off with some more black fabric.

Detailed view of the back

During the two weeks that I had to wait, the top was hanging on my living room wall and after looking at it again and again, I decided to cut it back. I felt that the dimensions were a bit off. It ended up being about 70"x52", a nice sized lap quilt (and I can absolutely attest to that, as I'm currently lying on my couch with my laptop, cuddled under - you already guessed - my Endless Stars quilt!).

The Quilting

I have to admit that the quilting was a pain in the tushy! I don't know (yet! :P) how to free motion quilt, so straight lines it was. I actually think I would have chosen that anyway, as I like the look of it, especially in modern quilts.

I wanted to draw all of the lines on the quilt, as I've realised that it is actually easier for me to achieve straight lines that way. Otherwise, my "straight line quilting" turns out to be, uhm..., really organic?

You can imagine that I spent quite a few hours crawling on the floor. Little tip: if you draw straight lines, make sure they are actually straight and get up and check from different angles from time to time. How do you think I know that?! After I drew on the lines on about half of the quilt, I got up and realised that they were getting more and more lopsided, I had to wipe it all off. Needless to say, I didn't quilt any more that evening!

All straight lines...

My main problem with it all, however, was not the drawing itself, but the white chalk pencil I used for it. I thought it would show beautifully on the black fabric (which it did), but basically every second line, the tip broke. And it broke again and again while I sharpened it. In a matter of minutes I ended up with a tiny stub I could hardly hold in my big man hand! I thought it might have been dropped and handled too many times during the shipping process, so I went out and got another one locally.

Same result. More than double the frustration.

I ended up sharpening normal chalks (you know, the ones you normally write on black boards with) and using them.

Upside a) they're really cheap,
and upside b) they show up on the fabric,
but downside a) they disappear rather quickly,
but upside c) they disappear easily!
And downside b) their points dull very quickly
plus downside c) they can make quite a mess when you sharpen them.
Apart from that, well, they're cheap! ;) And if you sharpen a bunch of them at a time, it really isn't too bad!

Does anybody have a great, affordable marking pen(cil) for dark fabrics that washes out easily? I'd be happy to get a few pointers...

 

The Binding

I decided to add a two-coloured binding. I think it was the right decision, it adds a little more colour and frames the quilt nicely.

I used Susie's Magic Binding Tutorial, and I have to say, it worked great! It's my first fully machine sewn binding, and of course, it could be more neat!

Fully machine sewn binding

The sewing line is a bit...drunk, the binding is not even everywhere and honestly? The corners are a bit of a mess. But I still consider it a success, as I've tried to sew on bindings by machine before and after about one side (if I was lucky I realised it sooner rather than later!) I always decided to rip the stitches out and do it by hand. I definitely need some more practise, I guess...

And here is the finished quilt one more time:

Endless Stars Quilt

I'd love to hear from you and I'm always open to questions! Don't be shy, leave a comment! :)

All the best,
Cat

Latest Projects and Pillow Tutorial

Hi there!

After being on an involuntary sabbatical (I had to bring my machine to the doctor; she's as good as new, thanks for asking!), I am back at my machine, sewing up a storm!

This weekend I finished this top:

It's my own design. I call it "Endless Stars". There might be a tutorial in the future if you ask nicely! :P

However, the fabric I want to use for the backing has not yet arrived (I simply looooove creative quilt backs!), so I had to keep myself busy with another project.

I decided to finally tackle the embarrassment that is in my living room:

 

See the pillows?

Yeah, not pretty (but pretty embarrassing), I know! And that's after fluffing them up...
Welcome to student living! *lol*

I recently bought some pillows at the Big Great Swede that I intend to cover with my own pillow cases. It's also a good possibility to try out some of my design ideas, as it is smaller so there is not that much waste if something goes horribly wrong. Another added bonus is of course that it is also much quicker to make! *lol*

Pillow (or Cushion?) Case Tutorial

For the small pillow (35cm x 35cm, or ca. 13.5" x 13.5") I used the four sample blocks from my DD4P tutorial. I just added a poly batting I had left over from another project and quilted it lightly. It's really more to attach than add a lot of structure:

For the back of the pillow, I cut a 13.5" strip of black fabric and cut two 17.5" pieces. Then I pressed them in half with my iron and topstitched down the folded line. When you overlap them and put them on the top right sides together, you only need to sew around and trough all the layers to get an easy envelope pillow. For a more detailed tutorial on how to make the back, see Crazy Mom Quilts' tutorial.

And this is how the cushion looks like:

Diagonal Disappearing Four Patch Cushion


I'll be making some more cushion covers in the near future. But I'm not sure yet if I'll make them all in black and white, or if I'll add a colour or two... What do you think?

All the best,
Cat


P.S: I'm really sorry for the bad pictures, but badly lit apartment + crappy camera = very bad pictures! :(

My First Quilt

I decided to show you the quilts I've made so far. I only started quilting this January, so there are not that many to share yet (but I have a little booklet where I collect quilting ideas, I'm at a whopping 20 new design ideas!).

 

The Fabric

I picked up two batik jelly rolls in Walmart when I was in New Orleans last Christmas. I actually wanted to go to Michael's or JoAnn's. However, they were a bit too far out and not really reachable with public transport so I had to make due with Walmart's. It certainly wasn't the best quality quilting cotton, but I figured it was good enough to start with. Who wants to spend a fortune when you don't even know it'll turn out ok? Besides I'd already spent a lot on a cutting mat, a rotary cutter and a couple rulers.

 

And this is what I came up with for my first ever finished quilt:

 

"First Rainbow"

I called it "First Rainbow". It's about 36"x36".

The Piecing

It wasn't actually the first quilt top I pieced, I made a Strip 'n Flip top first, but then realised that it was rather big, so I decided to make a smaller baby quilt with the leftover fabrics. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to wrangle such a big quilt through my machine for all the quilting and wanted to have a smaller practise piece. Turns out it worked just fine!

I used one strip of each colour and added a thinner black strip, then cut them into three pieces, so that it would end up in a square. If you look closely, you realise the blocks are not exactly square. I didn't use a 1/4" foot at the time, but my normal presser foot and anyway, I was very knew to the whole inch concept. I am happy to report that I've gotten better - both with the 1/4" seam and the calculations with inches!


In the making - late at night


When joining the blocks I ran into another problem: on some sides I had additional black strips, on others there was none...It took some re-arranging and thinking, but in the end I only had to rip two seams. The Quilting Police would probably have stuck me into Quilting Camp for 5 years, no probation. Luckily, I escaped that fate!

The Quilting

I used plain black fabric as backing and a fleece throw from Ikea for batting. Batting is quiet expensive around here (even when ordering in the US online, the shipping costs always floor me). That's why it turned out rather thick and should probably be called a play mat.

I bought specially waxed quilting thread (66% poly, 33% cotton) for the quilting and it worked fine. It is mostly quilted in the ditch - or I should say in, next to, over and in the vicinity of the ditch. :D

The border is quilted rather heavily and I used my foot as guidance. As you can see (don't look that closely, leave me some dignity here, please!) they are not that regular and there were a few puckers, too. Oh well, who cares? Non-quilters won't look that closely anyway! Right? Right?!


 

Detail of the quilted border

Adding the binding was the only frustrating part for me. First, I mucked up the joining of the two strips (they were twisted) and of course, I had already cut off the ends. So after trying and re-trying, the only thing that I could to was cut off the ends and join them in a straight seam. I also blame this unfortunate event - I secretly call it The Big Binding Bind of 2014 - for now being very obsessive when joining binding strips. I at least check 10 times before cutting anything off.

I tried to sew on the binding by machine, but after doing one side I realised that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that it would look good. So I ripped it all and hand sewed it. It sure took more time, but the result isn't bad at all!


As of now, this little quilt is still waiting for a new owner. I hope some family member or friend will get pregnant soon! :D


All the best,
Cat