I’m proud to say that this one is very, very close to being done. I put it away when I just couldn’t decide on how I wanted to quilt it…and I wanted to practice machine quilting on something else first (I’ll show that quilt another day - it’s 100% done). This is another Pat Sloan design … I love hearts, and I especially love these hearts with wings. It reminds me of the Faith Hill song “If My Heart Had Wings” - the chorus:
“If my heart had wings
I would fly to you and lie
Beside you as you dream
If my heart had wings”
I’ve since decided that I want to quilt swirls, like the wind…just need to mark it, quilt it, trim and bind. (Those are quilter’s safety pins you see throughout the top…it holds the 3 layers together while quilting the design in the quilt. You take them out as you work.)
It’s on my to-do list…and I’ve left it up on the wall, just like you see here. Now every time I walk by it, I’m reminded to finish it. Soon. So I can get to the quilt behind it!
I’ve learned a few things this weekend. First and foremost, orange is not hideous and can even be used successfully in a quilt that I would use and love. This zig zag one for starters, and this one for another. It’s all about the quantity for me! This weekend’s quilt’s color scheme definitely says “Happy”, “Bright” and “Cheery”! Second, in order to move quickly this weekend and not end up with a pile of fabric that I end up putting aside and do nothing with it and then in 6 months I can’t remember why I even bought the fabric…I GAVE IT UP - perfectionism, buh-bye! In my BFF Jenny’s words this is a “perfectly imperfect” quilt. But I’ll bet when it’s done, anyone will be hard pressed (except Quiltzilla and the Quilt Police) to find my “mistakes”. So, I tossed perfectionism aside and 1) did not pin anything 2) cut everything out first (sort of…did 3 test blocks, then did the rest…huge breakthrough for me though!) and 3) chain pieced the blocks. It worked kind of like an assembly line, but it didn’t feel tedious and boring at all.
I cut out the 3″ wide sashing strips in the white-on-white paisley to go in between the blocks to make the rows, but I really need to bite the bullet and buy a 12″ square ruler to get these blocks squared up properly. I put one row together, but will wait until tomorrow (hopefully I have a coupon somewhere) after I get the ruler. Hopefully, I won’t have to redo that row, but if I do, I do. Rip & sew, rip & sew.
Here’s a peek at some items and material I’ve washed and have all ready to start cutting into. Also, I picked up some 100% wool the other day. I have some cute, cute plans for that…but I’m saving those for the grand opening of my etsy store. It’s taking awhile to get it all together, but after this weekend I can say, I’m primed and ready to go. I don’t know if I could ever make a living & support my family this way, especially in this economy, but it may make us a bit of extra money and alleviate some stress - and who can’t use a bit of stress relief? Details to come.
Here are the first 3 that I finished this afternoon…(I didn’t want to break my momentum to show you earlier though…you’ll see why!)
I did make one change to the given pattern - I made the sashing (blue) strips a little wider - 1/2″ more than called for and added an inch to the length of the longest strip. This allowed my blocks to be 12-1/2″ which when sewn together with the sashing strips, will give them a finished size of 12″ x 12″. It’s not that big of a deal…but it makes the math easier (for me!) when calculating the finished sizes, borders, more sashing, etc.
Here are all 9:
I tried to leave a bit of white space between them to get an idea of how they’d look with white fabric between them. I don’t care for them sewn right up against each other. I think using more blue between them would make it more of a “blue” quilt, which is not what I’m going for. It’s hard to see the white fabric, but it’s a white-on-white paisley print that I love (I have yards of it!). I had a huge piece of felt that I could put up on the wall for the blocks to stick to - a “design wall”, but I’m not sure where it went to…it’s probably with all my quilting rulers - lost. Oh well. I’ll just have to “imagine” the blocks together for now.
Another thing I didn’t do…and don’t think I will, is to add white triangles in each corner of the block. This makes the orange/pink squares look more rounded. I like the look…but it’s more than I want to do at this point!
Off to post my photos at Pat Sloan’s Yahoo and Facebook groups! And then do the math! It’s been a good sewing day!
PS - I just decided I need to make 3 more blocks to get the size I want. Good thing they make up fast and I have more fat quarters! And here they are…one was definitely a stinker and will keep me forever humble!
Thanks for looking and for all the comments and feedback!
It was a slow start… but I’ve finally found (a couple of ) my rulers, my good scissors (with all the scrapbooking stuff, I HAVE to hide to fabric scissors), and rotary cutter. My fabrics are now pressed - though I found one of my orange fabrics had a lot of red in it that was rubbing off. I’m soaking it in vinegar/salt water and hoping I can still use it, but I’m not afraid to ditch it if it doesn’t want to play nice. It’s been inspiring to see all the blocks that everyone is doing…and it’s helped me to refine how I want to put my blocks together. I’m adding white to it, and will use BLUE as the accent color. Thanks to all who took the time to vote and/or leave comments. Photos to come after church. I’ve got 9 blocks nearly done. They just have to have the blue sashings added!
Some strips cut…
3 blocks from part one done. This is when I decided to stop, and go back and cut all the rest of the pieces, so I could whiz through the sewing - it went so fast this way!
9 blocks halfway (?) through!
Cutting them up into 4′ths was hard! (The blue strips make a plus sign in between the quarters)
All cut, and all ready for sashings. IF I decide to put them together according to the instructions. I’m kind of debating that this morning. Natalie over at School of Crafts took her quarters and used them as is for a neat top - that has possibilities. But since I want something a bit larger than what I imagine that is, I’ll proceed as per the directions…keeping in mind the other for another day/project.
What’s that OP Challenge over there to the right, you ask? It’s a virtual, retreat hosted by Pat Sloan - kind of a mystery quilt thing at the same time. “OP” stands for Orange Pile…meaning orange fabric you have over in a pile with the rest of your (if you’re a quilter) fabric stash. I have very little because I am not a big fan of orange. Sure, it works in to fall quilts and I have some for that. But, I wanted to take this weekend, warm up the sewing machine and get back into sewing/quilting more regularly. I think it would help with the stress I deal with almost daily now. So, I’m jumping in and committing to sewing as much as I can this weekend.
Part of “playing along” is to to take a photo of your Orange Pile, and post it on your blog…see below. I’m also going to post my progress over the weekend, and add a few surprises for anyone that wants to join me and play along. (I may have to alternate between web maintenance (a website I monitor, but don’t yet manage is down and is expected to be migrated over to my control ASAP), but I am going to play dammit!) I’ll share some pics of what color I pair with the orange, as well as audition the accent color options…and let YOU vote on your favorite.
Okay, those were the individual color sets. Here they are combined:
Wow! That’s hot, isn’t it?! Now, here are some of the accent color options that you can vote on below:
(The flash kind of washed out these greens a bit - they are more of a lime green)
I have no idea what we’re making, how the colors will be used, etc. I am going on blind faith! What do you think? Vote here through Midnight Friday, February 20th.
What are your plans for this weekend? Inquiring minds, and all that!
Found in my stash…started in the Spring of 2005, it is my next UFO to complete. Here is the pattern sketch for the project by designer Pat Sloan.
This is when I had the clever idea I would make a wall hanging for each holiday, to put up in my house. It still might happen…it’s just going to take a while!
Here’s what it looks like right now:
(Excuse the odd angle, this wall is in a hallway and I don’t have a true wide angle lens to take a photo straight on…too lazy to fix it in Photoshop!) More to do on this one…maybe by Easter?! Mostly handwork, then adding the borders, quilting and binding. Fun. I’ll post more UFO’s in the next few days - kind of filler while I unwind and de-stress from the M-F grind. Hugs…
I love Basic Grey scrapbook papers…and have been using them for years. And now, I’ve finally peeked at their corresponding fabric line. Oh my goodness! Two ways to spend money now!
Fabric Collection and
a Jelly Roll - 40 - 2-1/2″ strips pre-cut.
And the paper version. There’s just something about the right pink paired with rich, chocolate brown that does it for me. I have other, “more favorite” lines from Basic Grey’s paper line, but the fabric version just showed up in an email and I couldn’t resist blogging about it. Sometimes I need these little diversions (i.e. breaks) from work…especially when I’d really rather be playing in the fabric or paper instead!
This one was a bit easier to do mostly because of the weather. It was much warmer (low 60’s vs. low 30’s) and overall it was a gorgeous day to be up and out (though Mrs. Launch IS the morning person on this team)! Here’s a photo of Mrs. Launch & I after the race, back at her house. And that runner’s “high” you hear about? Well, as a beginning runner, I have to tell you…that “high” comes for me AFTER the event is OVER! But I’m not giving up - I took almost 10 minutes off my time (which tells you Mrs. Launch & I didn’t walk and gab the whole time!) and I believe that yes, some people are natural-born runners, but a lot are also made. Mrs. Launch and I are rededicating ourselves to actually training for the 5K’s - not just throwing them up on the calendar and then saying “Oh Sh*t…that’s tomorrow? Damn, I didn’t train at all this past month!” So, here’s to shaving off some time next month when we have the next 5K on March 14, 2009.
And don’t forget, if you’d like to be a sponsor for the next or any upcoming event, click the 5K Donations tab up their on the menu bar. Thank you!
What a day! Yesterday’s situation lingered but was tolerable (sorry, not worth going into it here). What really has irritated me all day was this feeling that I was being misunderstood or misinterpreted. Not a great deal - and not worth the hassle of explaining myself/things - it just seemed like it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. So hopefully tomorrow will be a fresh start and I won’t feel so out-of-sorts with everyone!
5K in the morning, so I’m going to try to get to bed early especially after being up so late last night. Almost zero training from the last 5K…it should be interesting. Thank goodness I have Mrs. Launch at my side!
Have a great evening - I expect to blog more this weekend!
They’ve got it right. I loved my years as a Girl Scout. Just good common sense to live by…
Girl Scout Promise
On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
Girl Scout Law
I will do my best to be Honest and fair,
Friendly and helpful,
Considerate and caring,
Courageous and strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do,
And to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.
Motto
“Be Prepared.”
I’ve got to find some photos of me in Scouts…you guys will love it! Still have all my Junior merit badges, pins, sash AND Beanie. More nostalgia later…
Fabric Collection and 
