Something New – Weaving!

I’ve been wanting to try weaving for awhile, due in part to a friend’s interest; she wants to create tapestries.  However, I’m most interested in making rugs.

This isn’t an entirely new interest.  I grew up with rag scatter rugs my grandmother made.  Later, I received 3 of them as wedding presents from my cousin, and I really like them.  Fourteen years later they’re still in great shape, but I’d like to be able to make more of them.

Last week I received an email that Puffy Mondaes was holding a table loom class this weekend, so I signed up, not knowing what, exactly, a table loom is, but knowing it wasn’t a Cricket loom, which is a small loom, so, while affordable, I can’t make a rug on it.

I thought we’d be making something different than a scarf, but that’s exactly what we started on, using a huck lace pattern.  This is a specific weaving structure, much like a log cabin quilt block is a specific quilt block.  The pattern is very much like a counted cross stitch pattern, but this was black and white, and read from right to left for the warp threading and up and down for the weaving pattern.  Reading those little black dots will make your eyes cross!

I had fun and met some great new gals.  None of us finished our project, though, so we have to find time to go back to work on it in order to get our projects off the frames.  I’m not sure when I'll have the time, though, as I have a customer quilt to work on and some 2” charms to cut up for the Curious Quilter’s postage stamp quilt swap, so now I have another WIP.

I learned a lot and now I’m better able to do some research for getting a loom of my own, should I decide to go down that road.  Oh, yeah, like I need another hobby!

Patriotic Log Cabin…and bikes!

I haven't been online much, with my new work schedule; I’ve been getting there early and staying late.  I’m loving my new job!  I'm just so focused while I'm there, which is a great thing.

The last three customer quilts I’ve finished have been on a deadline, too, so I’ve just had my head down plugging away.  As the days, and projects go by, I keep thinking “I gotta blog about this!”…and then I go to bed.  Sigh, there’s just never enough time in the day.  So, I will catch you up on the latest quilts, starting with this patriotic log cabin.

This is the one I was working on when my leaders came un-taped from the take up bar.  I was frustrated with this design because it is so detailed and I couldn’t seem to get a lot of it right.  Of course, my nose was right up in it so I saw every little mistake.  Overall, it turned out well, and my customer was very happy with it.  She did a fabulous job on the piecing and it laid nice and flat the whole time!

I’ve been working on the Jelly Roll Quilters mystery quilt for the past 3 months.  This month’s installment involved cutting the strips down into tiny little pieces to make log cabins for the design.  I haven't even touched those log cabin blocks.  I'm not a huge fan of making them, but my first obstacle was having to cut them into those tiny strips, so I've just been ignoring this step.  Guess I'd better get on it if I want to keep up!

Over Father’s Day weekend I had a friend I've known for 25 years come to visit me from Tacoma, Washington (near Seattle) where I used to live.  She came to run in a half marathon race, and I was there to cheer her on!

During our excursions after the race I bought a used bicycle from Boise Bike Project!  I’ve started riding it to work, about 10 miles, and I’m completely loving it!!  Because the temperatures have been in the high 90’s, my husband comes to pick me up after work so I don't have to ride it back home in the heat.  Besides, I'm not yet in good enough shape for the round trip, but I hope to be soon!

I’ve completed two additional customer quilts since the log cabin, including the binding on one of them, which I almost never do.  She, however, isn't a seamstress, and this is an heirloom top (it was made in the 1980's by the customer's mother) that I turned into a quilt as her daughter's upcoming wedding gift.  I love how it’s turned out and I’ll post pictures once she sees it.

Thread stash!

I didn’t start out to organize my thread!  Really!

But isn’t it beautiful?

 

I’d been storing some of my pantos in the bottom drawer, but I decided that I simply needed more room for the thread, so they got moved.  I love how easy it is to see what I have now!

Uh oh, was that my monthly shipment of thread arriving?  Guess I’d better get some projects quilted and use up some thread!

Um, OK….REALLY???

I know, I haven’t posted anything in a VERY long time!  I’ve had so much to tell you all, and show you, and no time to write it down.  Hmmm…which reaffirms ANOTHER idea I want to pursue…oh, yeah, in my spare time!

So, with all this activity going on trying to get customer quilts done, of course I have to fix some mistakes, all on one quilt.  Turns out that one of the reasons I had a mistake was THIS…my leaders started coming off! 

They were hanging crooked and I hadn’t really noticed until my husband said something about it one afternoon a couple of weeks ago, but it never occurred to me that it was because they were coming un-taped.  I thought maybe they were stretching.  I mean, I used DUCK tape!! And no, that’s not a typo, it really was DUCK brand tape, not duct tape.

I don’t know how I did it without fussing and measuring everything, as I did when I first attached them to the pole, but I was able to tape them back into place and they’re hanging pretty evenly.  Once I fix the boo-boos on this quilt, I’ll unroll the leaders again and add more tape.

In the meantime, my other big news is that I got a new job!!  I’ve been hired to be a Business Intelligence Report Developer, which is a fancy way of saying I get to play with databases…something I’ve wanted to do for a VERY long time!!  And I’m attending an online training this week that starts at 6:30 AM, working from home on my work laptop!!  Yes, it STARTS at 6:30, because that’s 8:30 am Eastern time.

So, I’ve been tired and not doing anything in the quilting room this week.  Since I’ve got lots saved up, though, it’ll be fun catching up, once I’m working on my own computer again.

Bonnie Hunter’s Giveaway

Hey, in case you haven’t seen it, Bonnie Hunter has a giveaway on her blog for the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Volume 5 issue.  She’s got a block in there called Talking Turkey, and it’s pretty fabulous!

Go to her blog to enter the giveaway, she’s drawing today, Suncay May 6th!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/05/100-blocks-vol-5-blog-tour.html

Bali Pops Quilt…Love It!

I’ll be working on a customer quilt today while in the Quilt Cave, but thought I’d share one of the quilts I finished before BroncoFest came along and threw orange and blue all over my work space!

I’m sure Judy Z. purchased it, but I don’t know the name of this pattern. She made it using a Bali Pop batik jelly roll, which is made by Hoffman.  If you’re interested, I’ll contact her to get the actual name, but in the meantime you can find free Hoffman patterns here.  I quilted it using the free Starburst pantograph pattern by Patricia Ritter at Digi-Tech.

I’ve purchased several digital patterns and have printed some out and taped them together to use, but it is very time consuming and hard to make sure the paper fits together in a straight line!

My goal is to eventually be able to use these designs with the PantoVision software from ABM International.  This software will load on a tablet that I can mount to the front of the machine, so I can sew from the front and watch what I’m doing at eye level…and I’m so excited about that prospect!  Right now it only runs on a Windows tablet, which I don’t have.  So, I’ll have to trade out my Android tablet to make this work, but I’m going to wait for Windows 8 to come out on an affordable device.

This still doesn’t make my machine a computerized system in the sense that I still have to guide the machine myself, but it will be easier on my neck, as well as allow me to interact with the fabric as I quilt.

In the meantime, I’m adding designs to my wish list!

Bali Pops Quilt…Love It!

I’ll be working on a customer quilt today while in the Quilt Cave, but thought I’d share one of the quilts I finished before BroncoFest came along and threw orange and blue all over my work space!

I’m sure Judy Z. purchased it, but I don’t know the name of this pattern. She made it using a Bali Pop batik jelly roll, which is made by Hoffman.  If you’re interested, I’ll contact her to get the actual name, but in the meantime you can find free Hoffman patterns here.  I quilted it using the free Starburst pantograph pattern by Patricia Ritter at Digi-Tech.

I’ve purchased several digital patterns and have printed some out and taped them together to use, but it is very time consuming and hard to make sure the paper fits together in a straight line!

My goal is to eventually be able to use these designs with the PantoVision software from ABM International.  This software will load on a tablet that I can mount to the front of the machine, so I can sew from the front and watch what I’m doing at eye level…and I’m so excited about that prospect!  Right now it only runs on a Windows tablet, which I don’t have.  So, I’ll have to trade out my Android tablet to make this work, but I’m going to wait for Windows 8 to come out on an affordable device.

This still doesn’t make my machine a computerized system in the sense that I still have to guide the machine myself, but it will be easier on my neck, as well as allow me to interact with the fabric as I quilt.

In the meantime, I’m adding designs to my wish list!