Progress of the Green #2

Well…  8-1/2 yards of green fabric later, and I’m disappointed to find that I don’t have enough strata.  I should have had 40, but I only had 33.  Granted some of them are wider than they should be, but that would only account for one or two extras–not seven!  I guess I’ll go shopping for more green fabric.  How disappointing.  I was so happy to be finished with sewing that part of this project, and I’m ready to move on!

I spent the whole morning chopping what I do have into 2-1/2″ chunks.  I have 231 (shoulda had 280) sets of chunks, and my fingers and my back are sore!

Next step in the process is to sew together 3 chunks to make a verigated strip.  Then, next, is to sew on the red squares.  I haven’t even cut the red squares yet so maybe I can do that over the next couple of days while hubby is home for New Year’s.

I’d almost talked myself out of the red fabric I bought with the little daisies.  I found a Moda fabric that I really like from the Fat Quarter Shop.  It’s a hosta print in “cinnabar,” and I think it would look just awesome with my red and green quilt.  I ordered 1/2 a yard to see if it’s the right color, and it is.  However…  I’ve already changed my mind once about the red fabric, and now I have 7-1/2 yards of Coventry Cottage I don’t have a clue what I’ll do with.  I definitely don’t need to change my mind AGAIN and have ANOTHER red fabric to try to get rid of.  So…  I’m sticking with the little daisy print fabric, dangit.  I like how the sample block turned out so I don’t know why I’m still looking around for red fabric.

Longarm rental!

I found out yesterday that one of the local quilt stores allows you to rent their longarm machine to do your own quilting.  I forgot to ask how much it costs.  To learn how it works, you have to bring in a 50 x 60-ish sized quilt.  They have templates to follow or you can freehand the designs (I would definitely need a template).  That sounds like alot of fun.  My learn-how quilt will be the one I made in class last January.  The instructors wanted me to hand quilt it, but that’s just not my cup of tea; I don’t have the patience or desire to do so.

While I was at the quilt store, I bought another quilt book (like I need any more quilting books!).  This one is called Modern Art with Fabric by Debbie Maddy.  I LOVE IT!  The designs are very contemporary plus they use 5 fabrics or less, and I really like that.  I already picked out fabric from the Moda Fig Tree Allspice collection that I would use with one of the quilts;  I like the “Pomegranate” color, and it has seven different patterns so I could use the extra designs for  borders.  Plus, there’s a matching 108″ backing fabric for this collection.  I’m debating on going ahead and ordering the fabric from Hancock’s of Paducah.  I saw this collection at both quilt stores, but neither had all of the designs, and one of them didn’t have it in the colors I like.

Last year my fetish was quilting tools and notions.  I can tell that this year it’s going to be fabric, fabric, fabric!

So I bought more red…

I decided I didn’t like the red fabric I bought last week so I went out and bought something else.  Now I have to figure out what to do with 7-1/2 yards of the other red fabric, dangit!  The new fabric has tiny daisies on it, and I think looks more like the quilt in the book.

I made another sample block–this time in the right colors.  I think it looks okay, but it turned out to be about 1/4″ bigger than it’s supposed to be.  I’m not sure how that happened, but I’ll have to work on it before I can sew the marquee blocks to the field blocks or they won’t line up.

I doubt I’ll get much more sewing in today.  The dogs are being very needy and are demanding alot of attention today.  I feel too guilty to lock them up in their crates while I sew.  Lucky, lucky dogs!

Progress of the green

My greens are all laser cut, but they were in nice tidy stacks that made randomness very difficult for me.  Even though I hate to let them get a little wrinkled, I threw them all in a tub and stirred them up.  Now I just sew together whatever comes out, and the layers look very random as they should.

The photo is of my tub of strips, one of the strata, and then of the 2-1/2″ chunks the layers get chopped into. 

Maybe today I can cut up a couple of red squares to see if the red looks okay with the green.  I can only hope it does because if it doesn’t, I’m stuck with 7-1/2 yards of a red I don’t know what to do with!

And, I DID serger the layers together yesterday.  That was fun, and I’m getting better and better at aligning the strips with the foot of the machine to make an almost 1/4″ seam.  Fortunately, the seam allowance isn’t an issue when making the strata–I just have to end up with approximately 12″ of sewn-together-layers. 

I think I have six sets of layers sewn together.  I need around 40–and probably more since I am having to waste about 2″ of fabric each time I cut the 2-1/2″ chunks.  That’s the whole reason I wondered whether or not laser-cutting was a good idea:  I was afraid I would have too much waste.  I won’t REALLY waste it, though, I’ll come up with SOMETHING to use the extras for–like maybe a set of pillow shams or even a small wallhanging, but I’ll figure out something to do with it.

Hubby is out doing some last minute shopping, but when he gets back, I get to sew!  Then we’re watching A Christmas Story.  Not a real exciting day around here, but that’s okay with me.

My green is cut!

I may kick myself later, but I laser-cut all 8-1/2 yards of green fabric.  That means I’m working with 22″ strips rather than 44″ pieces, and I’ll have to make 40 strata rather than 20.  Maybe the results will be straighter, though, and not so wavy. 

I’m still debating, too, about whether or not to serge the strips together?  I’m not sure why I’m having such a hard time making decisions with this quilt.  I’m just worried about serging, and the seams not being strong enough, or that they’ll unravel.  I guess if I’m that worried then I need to nix the idea and just sew the seams together to begin with.  It certainly won’t kill me, and I may feel better about it in the end anyway.

Someone posted a serged quilt on Craftster.  I asked her what stitch she uses to serger her quilts since no one has answered that question for me before.

Today I think it’s orange!

Oh, no!  Today I think my red fabric has an orange overcast to it.  Dammit!  Well…  I guess the good news is that orange and green are complimentary colors (is that the right word?  complimentary?). 

I have another set of green fabric in the washer right now.  I should have enough (yes, 8-1/2 yards, though, I think that’s way too much) to make this quilt.  Now I’ll have something to work on while hubby is home for the next five days for Christmas! 

I can’t wait to put together a couple of blocks to see what this quilt is going to look like!  I just hope it looks like a cool quilt, but not too Christmas-y because I’m opting for red and green.  I went with lime-y greens and a couple of darker greens to have some contrast.  I just hope it all looks good with my red/orange-y/pinkish fabric.

I’m laser-cutting this quilt, too–except for the strips, and I’m still debating on those.  The advantage to laser cutting is that #1 the shapes are perfect and #2 the edges don’t unravel as they do with rotary cutting.  The disadvantage is that I will be forced to sew short strips because the bed of the laser can only accommodate a 24″-wide length of fabric.  This may be an advantage, too, because I have a tendency not to sew very straight, and it’s quite obvious on longer/full-width strips. 

To laser cut, I have to set up the files in Corel Draw.  Rectangles and squares are very easy to design–you just have to punch in the dimensions, and the shape is perfect.  Triangles pose a bigger problem for me, but this quilt doesn’t use any triangles so that’s a useless point in this case. 

My special order blue fabric also came in, and I picked it up this morning.  In addition to the marquee quilt, I’ll be able to work on the backing for hubby’s quilt, too.  I hope to have that finished and to the quilter’s in early January.  I measured his quilt this morning.  It’s 82 x 92.  I have to figure out how to make 8 yards of fabric fit those dimensions.  I’m not so hot at figuring stuff like that out!

Got my red fabric!

The quilt store didn’t have ANY of the reds I’d picked out online, but I found one that I kinda of like.  I went ahead and bought it.  It’s called Coventry Cottage, and is a P&B Textiles fabric.  It’s nice, I’m just a little worried that it’s got too much of a pinkish cast to it. 

I also bought some greens while I was there.  I already have several greens from my existing stash plus I have two other quilt stores I can hit for more and then Joann’s as a last resort. 

 At least I have a pretty good start with green fabric so I can start cutting and figuring out strip arrangements.  I saw one lady’s marquee progress, and she hung her strips on a clothes hanger until she could sew them together.  That’s pretty smart. 

Today I’m fabric shopping

So today I’m fabric shopping in pursuit of RED fabric.  Oddly, red is my favorite color, yet I have nary a scrap of red anywhere in my stash of fabric.  I have pinks and burgundys, but no red.  I wonder why that is so? 

I tried fabric shopping online yesterday.  I’ve come up with several reds that are possibilities, but without actually seeing them, I hesitate buying 7 yards and then being disappointed when it arrives.  Fabric.com has a Barnartex red fabric that I really like.  And, Hancock’s of Paduach has several–my favorite being a hosta print, but the description says something really odd about this print being a cheater appliqué fabric.  I know of cheater quilting fabrics, but how do you cheat at appliqué?   

Oh, wait a minute.  I just searched for Terry Thompson fabrics and found one of the cheater appliqué blocks.  Now I see…  so the fabric I like ISN’T a cheater fabric, but just part of the collection.  Now I wonder if the quilt store has this particular fabric?!  I sure hope so.  I also like the ecru version of it.  I have my heart set on a red and green quilt, but I could change my mind to cream, khaki and brown if I had to.

Now, too, let’s just hope I don’t  have a problem picking out greens.  I think I need greens with more of a yellow undertone rather than a blue undertone–however, SAYING that is much easiser than actually picking them out.

Serged Sample Block

I finished my serged sample block, and it turned out nicely.  I’m definitely going to use the serger for my strips in my next quilt.  This isn’t the “slow” way of quilting, but I don’t care.  That doesn’t make quilting any less enjoyable to me, and it certainly won’t make the quilt any less likeable when it’s finished.  As a matter of fact, I’m tickled to death that I figured out how to thread the serger in the first place!  The poor thing has just been gathering dust because I didn’t know what to do with it.  I’m not making clothing with it so I may as well use it to my advantage in quilting instead.  Nothing wrong with that.

I just read a blog on slow cloth

I just read a blog on slow cloth or slow craft.  I have to laugh because I am ALWAYS looking for a quicker/faster way of making things.  I have a laser to do my cutting for me, a sewing machine to sew for me, and yesterday I wrote about serging because it’s even faster than a sewing machine! 

Do I think any of this is somehow “cheating”?  Nope.  No way.  Not in the least.  I think using technology to aid a creative process is smart (not to mention more efficient).  I don’t mind admitting I have an overwhelming need for instant gratification!  Besides, what’s the difference between using a pair of scissors versus using a rotary cutter versus using a laser to cut fabric for a quilt?  They’re all technological advances that have improved the process–ya can’t gripe about a laser if you’re using a pair of scissors, even.

Now…  there is definitely a problem when the need for speed makes a crappy end product.  Obviously, my goal is to make a beautiful quilt in the end.  I would never sacrifice quality for speed, and I admit there are just certain things that have to be done the painfully slow, tedious way.  But, hey, if that’s what has to be done, then I’ll do it that way.  Otherwise, you’ll find me seeking the fastest way I can get way with!  Ha!