Christine and Other Things

Sometimes when the stars align and your juju is working, things just come together. The last few weeks have been like that for me and I have finished quite a few projects. It is empowering when there is more sewing than ripping and you actually love what you have created. Go me!

I did complete my mother’s placemat and napkin set and as promised here are a few shots of them:

Napkin fronts and backs. I used layer cakes left over from another project to back the napkins. I thought they looked quite nice. 

Lots of “wine-y” colors in there!

The placemats were from a printed panel of 8. I quilted around the bottles and the glasses to add some dimension. Also stitched around the borders to make things a bit more secure as I know these will be used and washed. 

Here is what the finished set looks like. I now know that life is entirely too short to bind placemats! However, my mom adored them and she was so excited when she called to thank me for them. She hosted dinner for all of her brothers and sisters right around Easter and she was jazzed to have them in time for that. Ultimately, they made for a very inviting table.

Ah! Another satisfied customer.

From time to time, I also enjoy some papercrafting. I belong to a local rubber stamp arts group and our project this month included a box made with an Eileen Hull Sizzix die. This thing is great fun and has so many possibilities. They are also known as Altered Trading Blocks.

View from side

View from top

View from front. Love how these got my creative juices going!

Now remember that thing I said about juju? Uh, yeah. Well, as my mom would say “The worm has turned”.

This brings me to Christine. I don’t generally name my quilts or projects but this time….I just had to. By the end of this story, I feel certain that you will be inclined to agree.

A dear friend of mine has been wanting to have a baby for the longest. Despite multiple issues and obstacles, the fickle finger of fate finally pointed her direction and she is blessed with child. I knew that I wanted to make her impending addition a quilt, but I wasn’t inspired by the usual fabric choices. She and her husband opted to decorate with Classic Pooh and I was instantly excited…a lovely color palette with timeless possibilities.

Back in February I traveled to Florida to help my sister who had surgery. We had such a great time together. I was so happy I could be there to lend a helping hand and drive her all about. We stopped into her LQS and I spent way too much time looking around. At the end of one of the rows I was awestruck by some lovely fabric…No, not Pooh but an inspiration fabric for the center of my quilt. A Federalist style cross-hatch and floral pattern with white background and soft blues and greens. Classic and clean without being too masculine or feminine. Next with my sister’s help, I located a pattern from Modern Quilt Relish named Brioche and Baguette. So far, so good. Following the pattern requirements for a crib sized quilt I chose 4 fat quarters for the “brioche” and the Federalist style print for the “baguette”.

I didn’t buy the background fabric while with my sis because I hadn’t decided what I wanted. Ultimately, I knew I wanted a soft yellow solid so that the other fabrics would pop. I ordered some yardage from Missouri Star because I couldn’t find what I wanted locally. The name of the color should have clued me in….when the Buttercup Kona arrived it was bright yellow. Like a daffodil or buttercup! That wouldn’t do at all. I was able to locate a different Kona yellow and this one was just right! I had also ordered a yard of Robert Kaufmann’s Widescreen in Pacific blue for the backing and I was quite thrilled with it. No doubt about it, shopping online can be hit or miss especially in regard to color.

In the meantime, I so loved this Marie Webster by Georgia Bonesteel fabric that I tried to locate some additional yardage online. That was a no go, sold out everywhere and sign for me to phone my sister. I asked her to stop by the quilt store and buy some more of this print so that I could use it for the binding. Thankfully they still had some and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Once I had moved some of my other projects to the completed column, I was able to start on this gift. Bright and early on Easter Sunday I laid out all of my fabrics and supplies and got ready to sew. I cut all of the “brioche” pieces out of the four accent fabrics I had chosen and then the “baguettes”. Next I cut and subcut my background fabric and laid out two blocks. It quickly dawned on me that while the fabrics I chose were lovely, there wasn’t enough variety with just four accent fabrics. Looking at the pattern photo I realized that they had actually used eight. *SIGH* I spent the next 2 hours searching through my stash for some additional fabrics that weren’t too yellow or bright or brown or busy.

 

Because it was Easter I couldn’t just jump in the car and go to the fabric store. I am sure you are also thinking “Why didn’t she just wait until Monday?”. Um, because I didn’t want to and I was ready to tackle this quilt. I finally found just what I thought the quilt needed to provide more movement, texture and value.

I sewed up the first block. It wasn’t square. I picked it out and sewed it up again. It still wasn’t square. Ugh! Seriously? I picked it out again and finally I made that block behave, I wasn’t going to allow it to defeat me! Fortunately, all of the other blocks and background sashing went together quickly and easily. Once I hung it up on my closet door, I was even more in love with the pattern and colors.

Simple, pretty and modern.

I had to wait a few days before the mister was able to help me baste the quilt. Which turned out to be a great thing because in the meantime I discovered the work of Jacquie Gering. I was even more excited when I found a Craftsy class by her AND it was on sale! I knew that I didn’t want to stitch in the ditch to quilt this, but I also didn’t want to do meandering free-motion quilting either. Jacquie’s class is amazing and this quilt wouldn’t have lived up to its potential without her techniques.

Once basted, I began quilting with my walking foot and I think the detail is just fantastic.

This took time….lots of it….but so worth it!

Now to bind. I sew my strips together at a 45 degree angle and generally I get it right. The first time I sewed the angle the wrong direction, the second I sewed them so that every other strip faced right side up. Third time was a charm! This was also about the time I named this quilt Christine. I really think she wanted to kill me but I wasn’t going to let her give me a beat down. It isn’t like this is the first or the hundred and first time I have made binding….I guess I just wanted to explore all of the ways I could do it wrong! (Smile and nod here please)

This is the first time I opted to leave about 1/4″ edge of batting around the perimeter to “fill” the binding. I will never do that again. I attached the binding to the back and wrapped it to the front. I began sewing down the front and got about 1/4 of the way around when I realized I was out of bobbin thread. Big surprise, right? I started again. With everything hitting on all cylinders I again get about 1/4 the way around and I realize that I have not properly caught the edge of the binding….in several places…..so I pick it out and start again. Oh Christine!

Once I FINALLY get the binding on, it is time to wash this blanket and it get it to the crinkly, soft, squishness that I am aiming for. I pull it out of the dryer and it is simply magnificent. That is, all except where the binding has pulled away from the top. CHRISTINE!! I unpicked and restitched and tugged and pulled and rewashed and this time the binding stayed put. She was some bitch-kitty, but oh so totally worth it!

Just makes you want to snuggle doesn’t it?

Sweet Charlie wanted to ham it up for the camera and show his “Paw of Approval”. I am jazzed at how the pieced backing turned out! The stitching makes its own design and the back is as detailed as the front.

Charlie advised that we take a few more shots of Christine before she was boxed up and shipped to her new owner.

I make no apologies for this pointless photo of my uber-cute Wire Fox Terrier.

Christine was boxed up and ready to ship…then I found out my friend was out of town for the week so I had to retrieve my package from the mailman. It was due to rain all week and I didn’t want the box to be soaked on her front porch. When I did put my request back into the post office for a package pick-up, our substitute mailman didn’t bother to get out of the truck and fetch them off my porch! I had to call the local post office to send someone out to get my boxes and get them on their merry way.

This all has a happy ending. The box was delivered without incident and my friend was moved to tears when she called to thank me. Christine you were a challenge but that phone call made it all worth it!

And what of the Buttercup yellow solid fabric? Not one to allow anything to go to waste, I quickly found a use for it between all of  the other things I have been involved with. My Hawai’ian granddaughter celebrated a birthday and it was the perfect choice for a sunny quilt block that would double as a bedspread for her American Girl doll.

 

This is a Square and Half Square 20″ block. The pattern can be found on Quilter’s Cache. I free motioned the flower in the center and made some wavy, leafy kind of meanders. My granddaughter was thrilled.

Sorry for blog post fatigue but bless you if you read this all the way to the bottom! Consider yourself all caught up for now.