A Surprise for Mom!

 Over a year ago, I absconded with scraps left over from a quilt top Mom had pieced.  I didn't exactly sneak them out of the house - she gave them to me, but I didn't tell her what they were for.  I had found a stunning pattern for a throw pillow that I though would be perfect for her, to accent the quilt.  It was a paper-piecing pattern - the Star Flower Pillow from Moda's Bake Shop - and I started in on it right away.

I hadn't done any paper piecing for a long time, but convinced myself that, since everyone was doing it, it couldn't be too difficult...  After fighting with it and struggling over it for about four days (it literally had blood, sweat and tears in it!) and completing less than half of the 20" pillow top, I dubbed it the "pillow from hell" and relegated it to a UFO bin.  I almost threw it out, it was so frustrating.

I have felt guilty, off and on, about that pillow.  It's called to me, mocked me, and insulted me over the past year.  I would see it, every now and then, while getting fabric for other things, or digging for scraps.  I kept telling myself that I'm an intelligent, adult woman who should not be defeated by a pile of fabric and paper!  And yet, I just couldn't bring myself to try it again.

Then, while working on my Craftsy 2012 block of the month sampler quilt (yes, I'm way behind!), I watched Amy Butler's video for her paper pieced blocks.  A light bulb came on.  After using her techniques to make the sampler quilt blocks, I couldn't believe how simple and error-proof the paper piecing was.  I finally felt like I would be able to master the pillow for Mom.  I pulled the pillow out of my UFO bin, and in one afternoon had completed the entire thing.  No kidding.  One calm, relaxed, no-stress afternoon.  No blood, no sweat, no tears.

I actually enjoyed it.  I did have to take apart a little bit of what I had already done, but not much.  The next day I quilted it and finished the pillow, using this tutorial from Sew4Home to make an envelope-style back, so the cover is removable and washable.  This ended up being such a fun, successful project.  I have finally conquered paper-piecing, and completed a project that I thought would never be right.  The finished product is gorgeous.  I almost didn't want to give it away...  But I already have plans to make another one!

A Sophisticate on Easy Street - Part 2

I'd mentioned to Betsy that I was looking forward to working with some color this week, so I could see how my fabrics would look cut apart and sewn with the others. It turns out this week's color is... Purple! My color choices are quite different from Bonnie's, but her purple is my plum, so that makes this step extra clear. I only have one fabric for this color, which I think officially makes it a "Controlled Scrap" quilt. I would have been happy to use more fabrics, but between our two fabric stores and my stash I couldn't come up with another piece that matched enough for me, so it's all plum, all the way. That's OK, I really like this one, which is a companion piece from the same line as my inspiration fabric. (I didn't necessarily plan on having an inspiration fabric. I just saw it, fell in love, and said, "I want a quilt that looks like that." Voile, an inspiration fabric is born!)

Inspiration Fabric on Left, Fabric Used in Quilt on Right

If my calculations are correct I need 11-13 plum WOF strips 2" wide, depending on the actual WOF. (Ended up needing 10.) And I need just a tad over 26 24" strips of background, since most of these pieces are fat quarters. Will check with Betsy to see if her math agrees with mine. Since I don't have a cutting surface tall enough to cut fabric really comfortably I'll be splitting that step up. Otherwise, back trouble will plague me all day.

Got the strips cut with no problem. I appreciated Bonnie's heads-up for next week so we could at least cut the background strips while we had the fabrics out. It saved time, and I find there's often a bit of waste every time I have to pull a fabric out and prepare to cut from it again. I'm a bit nervous because I'm almost out of my white-on-whites now. If we need them again I may have to go shopping for a few more. (That would be a tragedy, wouldn't it? LOL) I haven't used these rulers before, but her video tutorial was clear and straightforward so I don't anticipate problems. I may have them, but at least I don't anticipate them.

After cutting out the plum triangles I realized my first mistake -- I'd made one and a half as many of those strips as I needed, and twice as many background strips, because I forgot to allow for the overlap you get when you use the triangle rulers to cut your shapes. It's a basic visualization mistake that I'm no too happy about. I'm afraid all those background strips will be wasted, and I'll definitely need more white-on-white fabric. Can't help wishing the directions came with an estimate of how much length you need to cut of the strips -- but it's my fault for not thinking clearly. At any rate, an hour with Jessica Fletcher and "Murder She Wrote" got almost all the triangles cut out.

A call from Betsy warned me to keep track of the smaller triangles so that a pair that is cut together is stitched into the same unit. Seems that makes the sewing more precise. I'll do my best to keep the sets organized and in order as I chain stitch them. I've never had great success getting flying geese sections into a quilt with all their points exactly right. I'm being as careful as I can, but I'm also trying to embrace the idea that quilts don't have to be perfect to be worth making. And I do like the way the plum fabric looks with the white-on-white background.

This post is part of Bonnie Hunter's Week Two linky: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html.

A Sophisticate on Easy Street -- Fabric Selections

This is my first time making one of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts, so the entire process is a bit of a mystery to me. My daughter has been urging me to join her for several years, but I never felt organized enough, or de-stressed enough, to tackle it. Earlier this year she practically FORCED me to start sewing again, and it felt good. So I agreed to join the challenge, and here I am.
After brainstorming possible color combinations, we finally went fabric shopping. My only clear plan was to use fabrics from my stash. First we chose our fabric-in-common, a lovely gray that we both agreed we wouldn't normally pick. Then my stash busting plan took a left turn when I fell in love with a deep plum, teal and cream print. Dramatic and sophisticated, it required colors I couldn't be sure I had at home. So I bought fabric -- the all over inspiration print and a coordinating plum to start. The hunt began for suitable teals, which proved elusive. (Turns out I did have a few at home to mix in.)
Those of you making the quilt will realize that I needed a fourth color. Olive green seemed a good choice, and it was hard to find, too. I bought a large amount of one batik print, and added a couple of others from my stash. For the background we decided white-on-white prints were necessary to provide the proper pop of color.
In the end I had one gray for the constant, one plum, four teal and three olive fabrics. Not exactly the scrappy explosion I'd expected, but I'm quite happy with my colors and it will be fun to see how they interact as the quilt unfolds. Just to make things more confusing, I'm using my blues for Bonnie's greens and my greens for her blues -- got that? (I labelled them all and am counting on Betsy to keep me straight.)

Springtime on Easy Street - Fabric Selections

If you haven't already checked out Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt Easy Street, you really should!  I was undecided about my color choices for quite awhile.  While I love the purples and grey that Bonnie's using, I wasn't as convinced about the lime greens and aqua/turquoises, nor the black on white prints.  For awhile, I planned on using a slight variation on her colors - apple greens and sky blues, with my neutrals to be determined later.  But I really felt that it needed some rose, too.  I debated switching out the purples for a deep rose, but purple is one of my favorite colors, and I've never used it in a quilt!  It wasn't until the morning that Mom and I were going to the fabric stores (an hour away!) that I finally settled on colors, and a theme.

Between the greens, blues, and purples the fabrics felt like spring - something that will be rather elusive here for awhile.  Everything is so brown and grey until mid-March or early April.  The bright colors made me happy, but it still didn't feel quite right.  I realized that my real hangup was the blue, and I still really wanted rose.  It's not that I don't like blue, it just wasn't inspiring me for this project.

What I finally settled on was spring greens, rosy pinks, and dark purples - along with the grey fabric that Mom and I are both utilizing.  I also chose cream-on-cream prints rather than black on white, as the creams felt calmer to me.  My fabrics feel like a spring garden now, and they make me smile just to look at them! 

I'm going to call my quilt "Springtime on Easy Street".  It's a little obvious, I know, but it just fits.  I don't have much of a fabric stash, so I did buy the majority of the fabric.  I got quarter-yard cuts and made sure that I had a nice range of tones and shades within each color - Mom was a big help there!  I did have a purple, a couple of pinks, and a few neutrals in my stash that I pulled in, too.  I am so pleased with my fabric choices.  I think that working with them this winter will be so much fun!

This Blog is Bonnie Hunter's Fault...

I have been an avid follower of Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville for several years now.  Two years ago, I participated in her annual mystery quilt - that year it was Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll, and I loved it!  The quilt is not finished yet (I was in nursing school at the time, and got bogged down with all of the monotonous string piecing!), but I love it, and it is definitely not going to stay a UFO for much longer.  Last year, I did not make Orca Bay, as the stress of a new job was just too much for me.  This year, however, I'm all in!

I was so excited when Bonnie announced this year's quilt - Easy Street!  I enjoyed the challenge of Cotton Boll, but really don't have the time for something quite that intricate, so the fact that she says it's going to be simpler is perfect for me!!

Mom has started quilting again this year, after a long hiatus, so we have decided to tackle the mystery together - sort of!  We each want our own quilt, and have different ideas for what we'd like, so we're making our own quilts, but we've added a twist.  In Bonnie's fabric requirements, she suggest one "constant" fabric (everything else is scrappy).  For our quilts, Mom and I have decided to use the same constant fabric, but pick our own colors/themes from there.  After spending quite a bit of time in several fabric shops - and Olive Garden, but I digress - on one very fun day, we also decided to go with a gray.  If my kitchen table wasn't covered up with groceries for Thanksgiving, I'd try to get a better photo, but this will have to do for now... lol!

This fabric will be the unifier between our quilts.  I'm really excited about the mystery quilt, and having a common fabric between the two of our quilts is going to be so much fun!  We ended up starting this blog so that we could post weekly updates of our progress on the mystery quilt, and also participate in Bonnie's weekly linky parties.  So thanks, Bonnie, for giving Mom and me several new things to do together! 

Oh, and the first clue is up this Friday!  Can you tell I'm excited?!