WIP Wednesday, 1/11/12

This will be short and sweet. Before Christmas and after Christmas I have been working on the same project, my Colorbox quilt (formerly known as Crazy Traditions). The quilt top is finished and it is on its way to Washington State for excellent machine quilting. So since it is not technically finished...here it is. From a couple of different angles. It is 107 by 107 inches. I don't have clear space that large anywhere in my house to take better photographs.

I've been knitting. Halfway done. With the log cabin blocks, that is. Then there will be a lot of sashing, which apparently requires lots of circular needles. All in the same size. These haven't been blocked yet and the extra tail hasn't been woven in...And that extra large block on the bottom? It was my first one. Before I bought a counter to keep track of my rows. Oops. I'm sure once it is blocked and knitted into the rest of the afghan, it will be just fine...

When you are finished with a large project, do you just jump right into the next one? I always have to decompress a little bit. This usually involves cleaning/organizing. I have found some treasures (some Basic Grey, some "Posh" by Chez Moi) and I'm almost ready to destash, so you might want to stay tuned .And cleaning a sewing room counts as a Work in Progress, right? Of course it does.

 

It feels really good to get back into the quilting groove after the holidays. Thanks, Lee, for hosting this each week. It's such a good way to stay accountable.

P.S. Have you ever watched The Quilt Show  with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson? Have you ever wanted to give it a try? I have a gift certificate for half a season that I will give away to the first person who wants it. Given to Marls.

The Name Game: Love Affair With My Brother

Welcome to the first edition of the Name Game for 2012.

When I first envisioned a series like this, it was because I noticed that I would often click on the profile name of someone who had left a comment on a blog I was reading, not only because they might have left an interesting comment, but also because their profile name was so interesting. It made me curious about the writer. 

I'm thrilled that Sunni from Love Affair With My Brother is here for the first spotlight of the new year. You've gotta be curious about how she decided to name her blog. If you are a regular reader of Sunni's blog, you already know she is very creative and does beautiful work. I can almost guarantee that the first time your read "Love affair with my brother...." your first thought was "Um.....what???"

How did you choose the name for your blog?

I came to love Brothers because of my Grandma. She taught me to sew when I was only 6 or 7, and instilled in me a certain degree of product loyalty. She always told me "You only ever sew on a Brother or a Bernina." 

That advice stuck with me and the first machine I ever purchased for myself was a Brother HE-120.

 (want the tutorial for this awesome quilt? It's right here)

 

And I'm always saying "I'm in love..." or "I'm having a love affair with...." usually referring to wine or chocolate or a new fabric line.  One evening, I had a moment of cleverness and posted on Facebook "If I ever start a blog, I'll call it Love Affair with my Brother." Most everyone thought I was off my rocker because I have 2 older brothers! Friends and family that sew are the only ones that got it.

It was only meant as a joke, but it stuck in my head and lit a fire in me to actually start a blog.

To negate the need for an explanation, my tagline is ...and my Janome, and my Bernina, and my Singer. I have received more than a few comments and e-mails from readers who came to my blog because of the concerning title and then laughed when they figured out what I truly meant!

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

The only other name I considered was Love Affair for the blog title and ...with my Brother as the tagline. Really just an alternate of the same name. I have a dark sense of humor and I felt compelled to put down the whole thing.

Now that you are recognized by Love Affair With My Brother, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I am completely happy with it! It's a little shocking, a little funny and very memorable. Which describes me, too!

I hope you will head over to Sunni's blog and look around.I'm pretty sure if you aren't already a regular reader, you will become one now.

When a quilt top talks....and your husband understands what it is saying...

I'm glad my husband is a visual person. He designs kitchens and his design expertise comes in handy when it comes to quilts as well.

I've been working on this quilt that will be auctioned off a a charity quilt auction in April. Sixteen large blocks. The blocks were completed on Friday night and it was time for the sashing. Done. (Please excuse the table--this thing is huge and I have no place for proper photography...). I love the "breathing room" that the Kona snow gives the blocks but it needed something to frame in all that snow around the outside of the blocks. And something that wouldn't take a lot of time.

I make one of these donation quilts every other year, and reach a point about this time that a couple of things happen.

Elation: "I can't believe I have made all these gorgeous blocks. I love this quilt!"

Impatience: "I'm so ready to be done and move on to another project."

Complacency: "It's a charitable donation. It's already 'good enough.'"

Self-admonishment: "This is for a cause near and dear to my heart. This needs to be my very best effort."

So Mark and I discussed border options. My first thought was to make a border using strips of the colors in the 12 outside blocks, making the strips a little longer than the block and just butting them up against each other. Mark's idea was to continue the Kona snow sashing in the border as well.

I'm so glad he made that suggestion. And that I listened to him.

 Funny guy. He took this picture of me while I was trying to take pictures of the quilt.

All these little threads were trimmed from the back of the quilt, so they won't show through on the front. I could have kept trimming. I finally stopped... Today it goes in the mail to Mark's cousin, Ione, who will work magic with her machine quilting.

My sewing room looks like this.

 

But it's time to say I'm done.

And amen!

The Name Game: Charm About You

I love Lucy. Really. She is charming. Her blog is charming. She is from Manchester, United Kingdom. I'm a complete sucker for all my good friends in the Unified Kingdom. So of course I was thrilled when Lucy agreed to play the Name Game.

So here is the very charming Lucy.

How did you choose the name for your blog, Charm About You?

I wanted to pick a name that meant something to me and had a positive association. Although the reason is a bit cheesy, I chose Charm About You because every night since my son was born I have sung 'Cheek to Cheek' (sung by Fred Astaire) to him at bedtime. Sometimes now he even sings it to me! 'The charm about you' is one of the lyrics, I love the song and it always makes me smile. It also helped that it had a link with quilting because of those little charm squares, which also make me smile!

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

Originally I had set up a blog called 'Living Off Pasta and Love' but I never wrote anything!! I knew I wanted to share my quilting/sewing and wanted to blog but I felt so nervous. One day when money was tight I told my husband that for the rest of the month we'd have to live off pasta, to which he replied 'We'll be living off pasta and love'. He's such a romantic!! That sparked the name. I really liked it and it made me smile because I know as long as we're together we can get through anything. It didn't stick though because I realised it would be a better name for a food blog, which mine definitely isn't (really, pasta for a month? no one wants my cooking advice)! Also who wants to be reminded about being broke!

 If I'm honest I spent ages thinking about a name, I asked my friends, sister, husband, anyone that would listen! I came up with lots of options but Charm About You won out in the end. 

 

Now that you are recognized by Charm About You, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I love it! I'm happy that it makes me think about my family and the hobby I love. I'd also like to think that people smile when they read it, all the bloggers I've 'met' have plenty of charm (well, most of them!) and I'm charmed to have become part of such a wonderful bloggy community :)

Please stop by Charm About You, say hi to Lucy, and spend some time looking around.

If you want to enter this giveaway, I'd still like to hear about your favorite holiday treat. 

WIP Wednesday: 12/7/11

The good news: sewing progress was made this week.

The bad news: none of it involved Christmas sewing.

The good news: this was my view:

The bad news: we weren't there nearly long enough!

Now for the sewing pictures. I'm cranking away at my Crazy Traditions donation quilt because I want to get it off to Mark's cousin for machine quilting by the beginning of January. Twelve blocks completed. Only four more to go!

Shimmering Star:

Hole in the Wheel:

My friend, Carla, sent me a lovely little gift for my birthday, and it arrived at the exact time I started on this block. It was the perfect color and you can see it right in the center of this triangle. Thanks, Carla!

Celtic Boxes:

Big Bang:

When I got to this luscious orange block, I thought it would be my favorite. But instead I wish I had changed some things around. And I still might. The center kinda bugs me.

Garden Maze:

When I started on this drab olive green block, I was anxious to be done with it. Turns out it is one of my favorites of the whole group!

And Gabriel turns two months today. Man, I hope I don't scar my grandchildren with the poetry rhyming lines on these fabric postcards.

See what I mean?