WIP Wednesday, 10/31/12

Ordinarily I would complain that it is Halloween and supposed to be 79 degrees tonight. However, that is just a temperature, of no consequence whatsoever. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone even remotely touched by Superstorm Sandy.

It seems like I am still consumed by DIY projects, some of which will be revealed tomorrow, because they are kind of random (and also include an epic fail).

Other than that, I have been knitting, and all my Azekura knitted log cabin blocks are done. Now to figure out how to sash them and turn them into an afghan.

And I'm nearly done with the wedding present for two dear friends, full reveal on Friday.

I'm linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Blogger's Quilt Festival: One in Every (Kona) Color

It's always fun when Blogger's Quilt Festival rolls around. Amy puts a lot of time into it, so thanks, Amy!

I know a lot of you have already seen this, but honestly, One in Every (Kona) Color is my favorite finish of 2012 so far.

I was trying to duplicate the Kona color card, since I just adore working with solids, and used the iconic Pantone color blocks as my inspiration.

It started with trimming lots of charm pack squares,

printing out lots of labels that included the color number and name,

and then meticulously matching them up to reproduce the Kona color card.

 All of their 243 colors is represented. I had some spaces to fill so I added some other information from the color card, including washing instructions. This turned out to be a good idea, because not only did it fill the space that needed to be filled, it gave the eye a place to rest in all that sea of color.

I thought and thought about how to quilt it. While not a fan of stitch-in-the-ditch, except for a line of quilting through the white labels, everything else is stitched in the ditch. There were so many colors to take into consideration and I also didn't want anything to detract from all the color.

I used the wonky alphabet by Kelby Sews for the back,

black and white striped binding a la Red Pepper Quilts,

and ended with a tribute to Pantone, the initial inspiration for the quilt, a label using the color of the year, Tangerine Tango.

This was such a fun quilt to make. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of the Quilt Festival--there is so much to see!

Quilt Stats:

Size: 63x72 inches

Quilted by: Me

Best Category: Throw, ROYGBIV

The Name Game: Creating At Home, a pattern review and a giveaway!

Several months ago (much longer than I would like to admit), Cindy from Creating At Home asked me to do a pattern test of her Chevron Accent Throw quilt pattern. I was really excited, because for a long time I had been wanting to do a chevron quilt based on a favorite sweater.

She sent me the pattern and I took it along when I spent a weekend in June quilting at a friend's cabin. I finished the top, and although I planned on reviewing the pattern in summer, somehow it ended up folded and living in a stack of other quilt tops.

A couple of weeks ago,I realized I had been completely remiss in reviewing the pattern. So the first part of today's triple play will be a pattern review of the Chevron Accent Throw.

First of all, Cindy states that the skill level for making this quilt is beginner. I would agree. It is very well written, including great instructions and photographs  to walk you through sewing and trimming half-square triangles.

As written in the pattern, there are three block configurations, which are then sewn together in four rows of four blocks each. The cool thing is that you make a total of eight Block 1 (and four each of the other two block configurations), and then in four spots, you just turn Block 1 around end for end to continue the chevron pattern--easy peasy.

It is written as a two-color quilt. Of course, I added to the degree of difficulty by making it with seven different colors, which meant I had to follow the diagram, but instead of sewing it together block by block, I sewed it together row by row. That took a little bit longer, and is a complete deviation away from the pattern as it is written, but it adds to the pattern's versatility. The other thing I really like is that is an uneven chevron.

I'm so happy with this quilt. I love how it was just the right size and number of rows to mimic my sweater.

After using no. 8 perle cotton on my Amish quilt, I wanted to do something similar with this one. I still have some bugs to work out with quilting with the thick thread, and then I noticed some Sulky brand100 percent cotton, size no. 12, in my LQS. It might be the answer--a little thinner than the no. 8, but still thick enough to make a big impact.

So, now more about Cindy and her blog.

How did you choose the name for your blog?

When I started my blog in 2006 (http://www.creatingathome.com/2006/09/new-ribbon.html) I was a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and wanted to have a blog to share my cards and scrapbooking pages with other stampers. I also needed a name for my growing downline group. At that time I chose "imagine. dream. create." as my blog name and I loved it/lived with it for several years. Once I gave up stamping and turned my pursuits more towards quilting, sewing and diy I decided my blog needed a fresh new look and a new name, too. I wanted the name to encompass all of my hobbies and not be too specific. At first I thought of "Creating a Home", but it was already taken and then I thought "Creating at Home" was the perfect name for my blog! Now I go back and forth on it and think I could've come up with something better, but I'll stick with this. It was a bit of a pain to switch everything over to the new name and domain and I am sure I lost some blog readers during the switch!

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?

Sure, it may be embarrassing, but that's ok! lol Some others I considered were Ruffles and Rosettes, Keefers Cabin no. 73 (which is the name I decided to give my new Etsy shop and pattern designs), Sew Much, Creative Pursuits, and I even considered naming it Cindy Keery, after myself. 'Glad I didn't go with that last one cuz that would just be weird.

Now that you are recognized by your blog name, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I'm happy with the name overall. Just recently I was introduced in person as "Cindy from Creating at Home" to a group of enthusiastic women. It was a little surreal that I'd be known by my blog name, but it made me so happy.

You might have noticed that not only are there pictures of quilts, but also some yummy food. I hope you will head over to Creating at Home, because there are hints on painting furniture, slip covering, recipes, really such a broad spectrum of wonderful things to help you create a warm and inviting home.

Cindy has also generously offered to give away one Chevron Accent Throw pattern. So, let's see. Have you ever made a chevron quilt?

I'll choose a winner on Wednesday, October 17, at 6 p.m. PDT.

Thanks for playing The Name Game this week, Cindy. I'll be working my way through your archives to pick up some ideas for doing some creating here in my home!

Happy

In 2011 when Amanda Jean invited me to a quilting retreat in Minnesota with 11 other women, I had some conflicting emotions: thrilled to be invited, coupled with anxiety at spending all that money to fly to Minnesota to spend a weekend with women I had never met before--so out of the box for an introvert like me.

It was the best investment in time and money I could have made. These are amazing and talented women.

 2011: back row--Doris, Michelle, Rene', Terri, Amanda Jean, Mary, me, Stephanie

front row--Toni, Shelly (who couldn't attend this year--hope they are back in 2013)

2012

Michelle and Rene'  grew up with their mother giving little gifts called "happies," just a little something given for no real reason other than to make someone else happy.

Terri suggested that we do a little secret "happy" swap. We exchanged names and started planning.

All the happiness has been completed--projects sent and projects received--and this week we are sharing the joy.

I was so excited to get Michelle's name. After all, she is one of the "happy" originators! I chose a project from Amanda Jean's book, and made her a little selvage bucket. I hadn't worked with selvages for awhile, and this just served to rekindle my happiness in working with these little scraps.

In fact, I was having so much fun, that I also made her a pincushion.

Doris had my name and I received the most amazing sewing kit. Little pockets for all my supplies.

And a most awesome pincushion, just the perfect size.

She included a handmade card, which will be happy living in my sewing room, a daily reminder of our friendship.

Doris even went out on a limb and used some selvages. Thanks, Doris--it was the perfect touch.

If it were not for quilting blogs, I would not have met these women. They touch my life and make me simply happy.

Dear Quilters,

Have you ever submitted any of your quilting or handwork, knowing there is a good chance someone, for whatever reason, might say, "Thanks. But no thanks"? Maybe to a magazine, or a juried show, maybe even the county fair where the judges will critique your work.

It's hard to put yourself out on a limb. At least it is for me, so I don't do it very often. But over the years, I have entered my quilts in various places, and sent pictures of quilts to various publications, with varied success.

The first quilt (and my first original design) I submitted was for a magazine design contest (circa 2004), called "Trip Around the Backyard."

I loved the picket fence blocks around the outside and the cloud fabric. It was rejected. I tore up the rejection letter. Now I wish I had kept it. It ended up in this nursery and is still one of my favorite baby quilts.

Besides our local fair, where any quilt submitted will be displayed, I have entered the juried show at Pacific International Quilt Festival, in Santa Clara, CA. The first time was in 2004, when this quilt was accepted:

(I have loved the Amish look for a long time....)

Aaron and Christa were living in Portland at the time, and Mark flew them in for the weekend as a surprise.That was icing on the cake.

The next year I entered again. Side note: back then you filled out a paper application and submitted two or three slides (slides!). That is less than ten years ago and I bet a lot of younger readers don't even know what slides are!

I don't think either of this quilts would pass the jurying process in 2012.The things the jury panel seem to be looking for currently are lots of bling and teensy quilting and metallic thread.

C&T Publishing put out a call for Amish or Amish-inspired quilts to be included in a book they are publishing. They are celebrating their 30 years in publishing and also the first book they published, which was a book about Amish quilts by Roberta Horton. This book is in my library and I'm really looking forward to the new one.

 So I decided to submit "My Granny is Amish."

Here is the letter I was hoping for:

Dear Cindy:
We are so excited to tell you that your quilt will be included in our new book. We were absolutely stunned by your use of color, your precision piecing and the beautiful quilting which exquisitely set off each and every block. In addition, we are happy to inform you that your quilt has been chosen to be on the cover.
Sincerely,

A girl can dream, right?

Here is the actual letter I received:

Dear Quilters,

I'm sorry to inform you that your quilt (or quilts) was not selected for our Amish book. 

We had an amazing group of quilts submitted. The selection committee had a tough time making the choices. Criteria included selecting the right mix for the book, not just beauty or craftsmanship, and many fabulous quilts had to be set aside. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to enter. 

C&T Publishing

So...a mass rejection letter. And the email addresses of all the "losers" were included!

Of course I'm disappointed. Still, I'm glad I entered. The way I look at it, the worst that can happen is someone will say "no." On the other hand, you might get a "yes."

Besides, I really enjoy spending time with my Granny, so I'm glad she isn't taking an extended trip any time soon.

How about you? Have you submitted anything you have created, to a magazine, to a show? I would love to hear about it!

Have a fun and creative weekend.

WIP Wednesday

And it's Wednesday again. The calendar says so. But October! Really? I'm having a hard time believing that one because here in the central valley of California, it was 102 degrees yesterday. Breaking records. Ugh...

So I went to Target, got a pumpkin candle, turned on the AC, and tried to psych myself into believing it.

I've had a fun time in my sewing room in the past week, though. It always seems like I have been doing a lot until I take pictures. Then it doesn't seem like so much.

But nevertheless. I completed "My Granny is Amish," complete with machine quilting using no. 8 perle cotton!

 I'm not happy with the back. Hmmm...that would explain why I haven't taken a photo of the back yet. It took me awhile to figure out how to start and stop stitching when using perle cotton. I pulled all the threads to the back and tried burying them. Some successfully, some not. Or "knot" as the case may be. But I am thrilled with the front.

I'm a fairly new member in the Stash Trad bee, taking the place of someone who had to drop out. I LOVE this bee. For the month of October, I was the one who got to choose the block. I'm not tired of my Granny yet. So..."Granny Says Boo!" I made a sample block.

On Monday, I received my first block, from Amy. Isn't that always exciting? Opening the mail to see the fabrics your partner has chosen.

 Amy took a class from Lizzy House last week, and she had her sign some of the fabric in my block? Eeek! I mean "Boo!"

Some of the other blocks are popping up in the Flickr photostream. Super cute. I can already tell this is going to be one amazing quilt. How I love my quilting friends!

I'm just a couple of days behind in completing my block for Corey, whose month was September. It will go in the  mail tomorrow. I had a good time making a complete mess of my sewing machine, finding fabric, cutting strings to make this eight-pointed star. I'll post a picture next week of the completed block.

I'm linking up to Lee, who keeps us accountable every week.