'Final'ly Friday Linky & Lots of Littles

IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY!!  (Insert Happy Dance Here!) and Lots of Littles (meaning little updates)

(Linky (and instructions) at bottom of this post to link-up progress made this week.)

Updates:

Inspiration Stacks update

For me, I have mostly had to work this week.  I did work a bit more trying to fight with my inspiration and stacks project.  I mostly have scrapped the idea of making it into a mini quilt (the pieces were too big for a mini, mini quilt, and I didn't have enough of all the fabric to make a decent size mini quilt).  Instead, I think I might turn it into the center of what will be a new ironing board cover.

So you might be able to tell a bit from the picture, my current ironing board cover is dull and disgusting!  I had a VERY cute one when I first purchased the item - but my iron has a tendency to spit brown water, and the old one quickly got gross.  I went to a few stores, and to buy a cute new cover costs almost the same as buying a new ironing board!!  So I thought I would just make one.  That was about 2 years ago.

In the mean time, I got a boring, ugly one from Wal-Mart (I rationalized that I shouldn't pay too much money for it, but I could use it as a pattern/template when the time came.  I still have the same one  - only now covered with ugly brown water spots of its own.  This will perhaps be the very inspiration I need to actually get to making a cover that I am not so ashamed of that I hide it in pictures!

I also have an update on the

that I am hosting.  

So one of the drawbacks to hosting is that I have to be the heavy.  I have a participant that I knew was going to be up to a week late with her fabrics.  At the time that I let her sign up anyway, I had 12 of 28 people, and figured that even if she sent it a week late, I would still be sorting and it wouldn't hold me up at all.  Now, two weeks late, I am having to send a sad e-mail that says, now or never.  That makes me feel awful because life happens and I know she really wants to participate!  I also know that I have others waiting patiently for their fantastic charms.  They are ready so send....almost.  I have all the colors sorted (that's my OCD kicking in that they have to be in color order) and all I will need is about an hour or so to do the final collating line.  

and as soon as I get the last set of fabrics (either from the participant or an alternate) - they are off! Whoo Hooo!

I also figured that I would give you a heads-up to a great little friendly competition going on over at Sew Happy Geek.  Jenna created a "Play Mini Quilt Competition."  You choose a card (from a deck of playing cards) and create a mini quilt using that card as your inspiration.  She has found LOTS of fantastic sponsors to give fabulous prizes for winners of various categories.  I'm excited to get designing and see what everyone else comes up with.   Check it out and think about joining!

LINK US UP TO YOUR 'Final'ly Friday updates:Here are the Linky Party rules (fairly standard from my experience)

1. Link up a Recent work you have blogged about (in the last week or two)
2. Link up to (2) recent projects
3. Your projects should be crafty in nature (a DIY of some sort)
4. Somewhere in your original post you should link to SewSaneJane 

1. you could either grab the button below (on in right column) and insert directly into your post, or insert a text hyperlink (such as: I am linking up here to 'Final'ly Friday w/SewSaneJane or I am linking up here with [insert code from below grab button here in your HTML view])
5. Visit at least (2) other link-ups at some point in the week - try to formulate a relevant comment on at least (1) of those link-ups (paying it forward of sorts - if you view and comment, others will do the same of your work)

**I will have the link party open all day on Friday and go into next week for you to link-up.  Even after the linky party closes, you can still see link-ups and visit their projects.  Hope you enjoy linky parties as much as I do!  With that in mind, the grab button is off in the right column if you are interested (feel free to add to your blog and include in your posts as you see fit).  Link away (find link widget just below my signature pic)!!

Inspiration "Stacks" and a growl

So about 6months ago I bought these perception cards from Usborn Books. I got them to use in class when I get to the Sensation and Perception chapter (educator by day). I like most of the 50 cards that were in the set, but I actually had this one hanging on my board in my office.





Depending on your reference point, the blocks could be stacked so the darkest color is the top of the block, the bottom of the block, or even the side of the block. This entertains me greatly, and I stare at it frequently!!

So one day while I was not grading, I decided i should try to replicate with fabric.

This is where the growling. Comes into play. I fist decided to try with some pinkish/purplish fabric as a trial run. I didn't have much of these fabrics, I just wanted to test out some different size ideas.





So I finally figured out the general size I wanted, but apparently put the triangle in on the wrong angle. Additionally, I forgot to shift when I was pinning to allow for the 1/4" seam, this it looked pretty awful when I got done.

I decided to try with another color family, a blue/teal combo. I was feeling confident since I knew what went wrong, and cut all the fabric of the relevant colors.....





This was fine except I forgot to cut on the opposite diagonal so when I rotated 90*, I realized it wouldn't line up right. More growling!!! So, I had to go back and cut all the pieces down a bit so they were 4.5" on all sides (previously cut to 4.5"x5.5").





Which also meant that I had to re-cut the 60* triangles to 4.5" too.





I liked it all laid out (although I think the triangles might be too wide. I need to think about that a bit longer.)





More on the rest the the growls of this project later! I didn't have a fun time piecing this together and think it will become a runner down the center of a new ironing board cover.

 I still like this idea but need to make some changes to the sizes I think . (and reading a few other blogs for tips about sewing equilateral triangles won't hurt either :)

Linking up with:

'Final'ly Friday Linky #2 - and a decision

So I have been obsessing over the pieces plus design for a bit if you remember.  I showed layout options as I couldn't decide how to handle the charm size pieces pluses I had made.  I finally made a decision.....

I finally decided based on reviewing the pics of the three options a few times after a bit of a break to get a fresh viewpoint.  (comments also helped - thanks).  

I used a few charms I had laying around - and some leftover "snow" Kona fabric from a previous project. Thankfully (once again) I am a perpetual over-purchaser as I had enough of this left.  

I described a bit in the last post about how I cut the charms to create the 3 pieces of each print fabric I would need.  I did the same with the Kona Snow fabric - only using yardage so I cut WOF to 2.5" and then cut (8) 2.5" squares and (4) 5" strips.

Once I was done cutting, I laid out the pieces on my work table so I could see what it looked like.  I started in the center and worked my way out in each direction until I had a size just over 21"x31" finished (with the quarter inch seams - the actual layout was more like 26"x40"ish).  

Pin and sew each row (chain piecing is your friend!!).  Sew each segment in the rows, the press seams - I pressed to one side or the other, but it shouldn't matter much on this project.  I like to sew rows together in even widths to reduce pulling and stretching - so sew two rows together, then sew a set of two to a sew of two, a set of four to a set of 4, etc....  (I pressed row seams open to reduce the bulkiness at each row)

Once all rows are sewed together, I cut down to size (using the shortest rows as a guide)

I actually have a use for this size of "top," (it is a bit smaller than the last + quilt top I made) so I pinned a piece of terry cloth to the front of the "quilt" and sewed around the edge with a 1/4" seem.  Leave an opening for turning of about 6-8".  Once done, trim corners and turn right-side out.  Press edges and turn in the opening 1/4".  Top stitch around edge to ensure it stays together.  

I added a few free-hand waves to quilt the layers together and - you now have yourself an UNBELIEVABLY useful item.  

I use mine as one of these options nearly on a daily basis: dish dryer (especially when I empty the dishwasher and am left with all that water on the top of plastics), a massive trivet for a pan, an ovenmit for large pans and such to stretch from side to side, or a table runner as my needs fit.

So that is my 'Final'ly Friday project - what's yours?

 Here are the Linky Party rules (fairly standard from my experience)

1. Link up a Recent work you have blogged about (in the last week or two)
2. Link up to (2) recent projects
3. Your projects should be crafty in nature (a DIY of some sort)
4. Somewhere in your original post you should link to SewSaneJane 

1. you could either grab the button below (on in right column) and insert directly into your post, or insert a text hyperlink (such as: I am linking up here to 'Final'ly Friday w/SewSaneJane or I am linking up here with [insert code from below grab button here in your HTML view])
5. Visit at least (2) other link-ups at some point in the week - try to formulate a relevant comment on at least (1) of those link-ups (paying it forward of sorts - if you view and comment, others will do the same of your work)

**I will have the link party open all day on Friday's for you to link-up.  Even after the linky party closes, you can still see link-ups and visit their projects.  Hope you enjoy linky parties as much as I do!  With that in mind, the grab button is off in the right column if you are interested (feel free to add to your blog and include in your posts as you see fit) and linky will be opening starting Friday 12:01am-11:59pm.  Link away (find link widget just below my signature pic)!!

addition obsessed- and help needed

So clearly I get a bit obsessive over various things.  They are generally short lived, but amidst  the obsession, I cannot help but over-produce.  For instance, I am currently slightly obsessed with the pieced plus signs I have been seeing all over blogland.  I have thus far started (2) "practice" pieces in anticipation for a large quilt concept once I like the final product.

I have been toying with the idea for a month or so, but finally decided to give it a shot.  Now, something you need to know about me - I LOVE getting inspiration from you all, but I also like the challenge of re-creating something I see without actually following a given tutorial.  (I do use patterns and tutorials from time to time - especially if someone picked out something in particular - ie// my Mom's quilt - or if I am trying a brand new technique that I lack confidence in).  It gives me greater pleasure in completing when I can say that I am also improving my spatial skills at the same time.
Remember, I am mostly on a fabric purchase break - so I decided to use up some of a leftover layer cake from last year.  I didn't have a full layer cake that I wanted to use for practice, so this ended up being a VERY strange size!!

With the above in mind, I decided to "wing-it" when it came to this plus pattern idea.  It is a generally simple row by row concept - the biggest challenge is sizing.  squares are pretty easy - I just cut each piece of the layer cake into 3.25" squares so I could get 9 squares out of each piece.  Once cut, I laid out 5 pieces of one pattern and began building from there.  Clearly I could use some work on coordinating colors/patterns for the biggest impact.  (I tend to put different patterns next to each other - but need to be more aware of the size and general saturation level of each.  After I finished and sewed it all up, I definitely think I needed more of the "solid" pieces to help make the other prints stand out more.)  I sewed each row and Voila - a pieced "addition" AKA plus pieced top.  Now, if only I knew what to do with a "quilt" top that was this really awkward size!!!  Hmmmmm - note to self - stop making mini quilts that are too big for anything and too small to be useful!!

Because I didn't love the colors (or size) of this when I got done, I decided to repeat with some charm size swatches I received as a thank you for hosting a deal a few months ago.  Charms meant that I needed to adjust sizing.  I didn't want too small of squares, so I decided to adjust the plus design a bit.  I cut the charms in half first (= 2.5"x5").




Then I took ONE of those halves from each charm and cut it in half again (so I had [2] 2.5"x2.5" squares and [1] 2.5"x5" pieces).
Okay - here is where I'm stuck.  I tried several different methods of laying out the pieces to try to maximize the prints and the overall plus design.

Option A (mostly ruled out - but now re-considering a bit):

option 1:

option 2:

option  3:

Going to be linking up with:

Moda Tutorial Day

Finally My fun, exciting news that I was trying to keep to myself for the last month.  Not sure if I could have told you previously, but I decided not to reveal until the day of the tutorial.

Yaahooo!  I was given another opportunity to create a tutorial for Moda's Bake Shop.  Last summer I created a quickie tutorial for a wine koozie which was loads of fun - but how exciting to create a big 'ole quilt tutorial!!

I had SO much fun creating this tutorial (although I fought with the pictures on the quilt back and never could quite get it right - that is what I get for quilting in a basement cave!!)  and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the fabric that I got to work with.  It is Modern Vintage (coming out in May) and is a FABULOUS set of fabrics!

Hop on over to Moda for a look at the full tutorial.

'Final'ly Friday Linky Party Kick-off

So I have been trying to participate in a couple of Linky parties a week.  These seems to help me get my work out there and get a bit of additional feedback.  It ALSO allows me to get to see work and blogs that I otherwise might not find my way to.  I cannot tell you the number of items I have pinned (on the addicting Pinterest) and/or the number of new blogs that I have added to my reader.  For a very logical reason, the ones that I have found myself participating in have been Monday Linky parties.  I thought - what about mid to end of work production (when I have any).  I decided I would try to start a Friday Linky Party.

The 'Final'ly Friday Linky Party name came to me as I sometimes post only partially completed works from the weekend and wrap up my projects during the week.  So.... 'Final' seemed like an apt play on letters (not really play on words as it is only part of the word - yes, I AM that nerdy!!)
By all means - still participate in your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday link parties, this just gives us another opportunity to post our work throughout the week.  Here will be the Linky Party rules (fairly standard from my experience)

1. Link up a Recent work you have blogged about (in the last week or two)
2. Link up to (2) recent projects
3. Your projects should be crafty in nature (a DIY of some sort)
4. Somewhere in your original post you should link to SewSaneJane 

1. you could either grab the button below (on in right column) and insert directly into your post, or insert a text hyperlink (such as: I am linking up here to 'Final'ly Friday w/SewSaneJane or I am linking up here with [insert code from below grab button here in your HTML view])
5. Visit at least (2) other link-ups at some point in the week - try to formulate a relevant comment on at least (1) of those link-ups (paying it forward of sorts - if you view and comment, others will do the same of your work)

**I will have the link party open all day on Friday's for you to link-up.  Even after the linky party closes, you can still see link-ups and visit their projects.  Hope you enjoy linky parties as much as I do!  With that in mind, Here is the grab button (feel free to add to your blog and include in your posts as you see fit) and linky will be opening starting Friday 12:01am-11:59pm.  Link away (find link widget just below my signature pic)!! <center><a href="http://www.sewsanejane.blogspot.com/"><img border="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRr1LdXfwF16ekWEVTZyuQZDUM03Sn6hegW-ASrWpKIX1XujM_dvBqFihroRwaGRpUKAh_qV3IoBcrcPuiyuuUY_N0MOH4N0bb8yz3e2cqLZwMvpuPRodzbhXi9GTB2j3kP1UIYJIO26e/s1600/IMG_0249.JPG" /></a></center>

"Make Life" Appliquéd

So after I bought enough fabric for half a lifetime, my hubby finally got mad. I haven't bought new fabric for nearly 6 months. My logic is that if I use up most of what I have here - he can't use most of his arguments for why it is silly to buy MORE. (don't tell - I am hosting a (2) yard fabric swap and just signed up for a (3) yard fabric swap - but really I haven't bought any other fabric recently.) Part of the time I was working on Christmas goodies - for any fabric goodies I used fabric I had laying around. While I was still on Winter break from work, I was hard at work quilting.




I finally got around to using some of the fabric sets I had been hoarding for over a year or so. This quilt is one of the fabrics that I bought at LEAST a year ago. I loved the fabric so much I could not get myself to use it - silly huh?!? I decided to finally make it into a quilt - figuring I could swoon over the fabric more if it was always sitting out in quilt form.



The fabric line is an older Sweetwater for Moda line called, "Make Life." I had seen this quilt tutorial on Moda and fell in love with the line. I bought the requirements for the quilt - all except for the iron-on patches which no one sells anymore.




When I finally got around to using the fabric, I had found this post by Holly DeGroot over at BijouLovely While I didn't follow the tutorial completely, I was Completely inspired by her fantastic appliqué idea that I used the same concept when creating this one.




I'm into piece-y backs at the moment, so I used a big square of fabric that I had left and pieced an asymmetrical boarder to complete the back.




I clearly have some work to do yet - like layering, basting, quilting, and binding, but thought I would share with you my work up to this point. I threw the top and bottom together in 1 day/night if you can believe it. I was just going to cut and appliqué a few to see what I thought, but it became addicting and did it all day instead!

Linking up with

and

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