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Some progress

I have started writing this post about 5 times in the past few weeks. Each time I've been pulled away from the laptop for some reason or another (work, making dinner,giving the laptop to my darling daughter to do her Science homework)  and the post gets closed without saving.

So here we go again:

I've made many trips to the fabric store and LQS. I've got some incredible finds at some great prices (this weekend was 50% off member sale at the fabric store). FMQ quilting foot has been ordered along with 100 bobbins. Mini Iron can be scratched off my wish list, my sweetie bought it for me when we were at the LQS a few weeks ago. I also picked up some quilt batting so I can start playing as soon as my FMQ foot comes in

Dresden Plate

Along with the mini iron Chris also bought me a Dresden plate ruler. It seems there are days that I have no fear, so with my new ruler I jumped in feet first right down the rabbit hole. Didn't think about how I was going to attach it to the back ground and I just cut and sewed until I had the made a plate. I see many ways how I could have made this better. I'll be honest this is my least favorite block I've made of them all.

I could probably go on for an hour about all the things I did wrong with this but my biggest issues are it doesn't lay flat & the yoyo in the middle which looked interesting until I appliqued it on.... I've decided this block will be the first I attempt to FMQ on. When I ruin it further  make my mistakes I won't mind as much.. Funny enough the youngest was looking at my blocks last night and said it was her favorite.

Flying geese

 With my confidence bruised I went back to the original skill builder tutorials and made flying geese. I didn't follow the instructions completely and resulted in cut off geese. I didn't want to cut into my larger fabric and I'm sorry I didn't just take the plunge. I really like the look the of this block.

 Learning my lesson I made a few other blocks I've found on the web cutting the fabric to the measurements specified. I think they turned out pretty nicely. I've noticed I'm drawn to stars lately and have my eye on the Carpenters Wheel as my next block

 This weekend I worked on Twister blocks Tutorial here - they are really fun and if you cut it right the first time not a lot of waste which I love. I think I'm going to continue making these little blocks with all my fabric as I make other blocks until I have enough to make an actual quilt (maybe a lap quilt).

 Yesterday I bought a simple rod and sheet to make a design wall. Moved the furniture around so I had a decent sized free wall. Washed the sheet and sewed up the top. After Chris got home from work he mounted the brackets for me. I didn't think it all through on how I was going to hang the sheet. I made a pocket (d'oh) and once put the rod through I realized the error in my thinking. One of these days I'm going to have to take it back down make some loops so it hangs properly. I did find these incredible little hangers at JYSK for under $3/ pkg of 25 which work even better than I originally thought they would. I'm going to just chalk my brain fart error on the how to hang the sheet as over excitement of having an actual design wall.

Just a quick side note, at the fabric store this weekend I saw a woman holding a really bold yellow print with splashes of color. This is a fabric I skipped over without a second thought. She was pulling bolts and looking at coordinating colors. I struck up a conversation (which I don't normally do, I'm pretty quiet shopper while my husband is the one who loves to chat to everyone) She wasn't sure what she was going to make but was leaning towards a log cabin with this block being a larger feature center of each block. She decided on warm orange, blue, pink and green polka dot fabrics which would blend but not over power or compete with the yellow. I wanted to give this lady my email address and ask her to send me pictures because I just know this is going to be one incredibly fun and cheery quilt! I hope one day I have the ability to see potential of fabric like that. I'm still kicking myself for not giving her my email.

More time sewing

 This week having my sewing space setup and waiting for me was so nice!

I played more with Applique. It started off rough but as I was putting the last pieces on I noticed my stitches getting more accurate. I didn't use a coordinating thread. I wanted to see my mistakes and see my successes. I'm really happy - it's not perfect but with each piece I'm learning and improving. At first I found it a bit fussy and my burnt finger tip which really brings home the fact why a mini iron is worth buying but once I got going & the hang of it I started to enjoy the process. I can't believe how fast time flies when you are having fun!

One thing I discovered - I don't like my work area messy! Closetmaid has shipped the hardware I need to build my 9 cube organizer (excellent customer service - fast and friendly) I can't wait to organize my fabric. Next weekend I'll need to plan for a quick stop at the dollar store for cheap plastic containers to store cut fabric.

Friday night, instead of sewing I started reading through the weeks blogs & I saw a lot of octagon quilts. Looks interesting so I googled and googled looking at different techniques and saw one tutorial where you make half's for easier sewing an no need for English paper piecing. So armed with my rotary cutter I started cutting right down the rabbit hole. The tutorial I was looking at was to cut half hexies not the octagons I originally wanted.

What to do, what to do? I started playing around moving the pieces and ended up doing my first inset 'y' seam. Turned out not bad so I made another with my already pre-cut fabric and joined them. From there I decided to try to make one using a square instead of triangles. Then made a few more to make sure I got it and to work on the technique. These are all concepts I'll need to use to join octagon's so while this wasn't what I what I intended, I was still moving forward. They turned out not bad, so I decided to make a block out of them. Fabric choices are a bit funky, I used the colors that weren't my favorite because it was never intended as a block but as test.

I signed up and got a free octagon pattern from craftsy.com and played around with that. After joining a short to a long angle I decided to set it aside & go back to basics. I think this pattern like the Grandmothers garden, would be best hand stitched (or the way I was piecing it anyway). Something to think about. I decided to give myself a quick sense of accomplishment and begun cutting for a basic 9 patch. I found there wasn't enough contrast in the colors I originally picked so I set some of the squares aside and filled in the gaps..I really like the look of this block. I worked really hard to get the seams to line up properly on the first try and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.
 

I still haven't tried the embroidery on my machine. I know to get the full effect of any design I need to get more bobbins and more different colored thread.

Last night I started a larger project of an Irish chain. It's going well. I'm thinking this may end up as a pillowcase.

Tip found in blogging today: When you aren't sure what quilt design to use, print out pictures of your quilt top and doodle on the picture to get an idea how it will look.