Yea, Nourish the Tree as it Beginneth to Grow

Alma 32:41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.

Although the prophet Alma is talking about the "Word" and our testimonies, I have always thought this was an excellent metaphor for marriages and families. This project has seen all that and more!

Here it is in all its unbound glory. I will give details after the pics.

 

As I mentioned earlier, it is still unbound and the explanation for that is in its history.....

When I completed the machine quilting I went in search (on my computer) for the pattern thinking I might post the pattern as well in case there were any masochists out there. It was the date on the files that surprised me though. I knew I had started this mosaic before s was born. She is 7 so that puts the date at 7+ right. The earliest file date is November 21, 1999....so yeah, I dare you to dig out a project that has been hidden away that long!


The pattern was completed, the mosaic laid out (the grid it is built on is a PELLON product, fusible), and the seams more or less sewn straight. (You lay out and fuse all the little squares and then sew along the grid lines to actually piece it together.) There were a few problems, little edges that weren't fully incorporated etc so I got a little frustrated....and it got laid aside.

The pattern itself is 39X39 inches (before the seams are sewn) which means there are 1521 1X1 squares in 15 colors.  Somewhere is an exact count of how many squres I had to cut in each color but I can't seem to find it.

In addition to the troubles of a few loose edges, I realized that this was going to have to be machine quilted. With such a density of seam, it would be a nightmare to try to do by hand. At some point, several years after the initial creation, I attempted to quilt it in squares using the clear monofilament thread. After about 1/4 of it, I decided I hated it. Eventually that all got picked out. (I didn't have a mcahine I could put the feed dogs down on, so it was bunchy on the back and....well, boring.)
Fast forward several years, the family goods are being divided in to storage and ship. More than half of my fabric went in to storage because, while I can NOT control my purchasing of fabric I do have a good sense of what I am not going to use in the next little while. hehehe. As I was sorting through things, I came across the tree (wrapped with its back and batting still after all these years) and decided I wasn't willing to lose it if the storage was destroyed, so tossed it in one of the Ship bins. ALL my quilting supplies otherwise went in to the Storage stuff because honestly I hadn't quilted in years, being much too busy with Boxpleat.


Now we come to the part that should give you hope for all your set aside projects....as I hae mentioned earlier in the blog, I got burnt out. Feeling unmotivated to sew for my work (dolls) I decided I ought to sew something else, and what's more, I ought to use my sewing skills to encourage my social life. heheh The Cursed Quilt Group comes on the scene....


Suddenly my energy returns as quilting picks up all the slack imagination that has been sitting around bored and we are off and running. I's quilt (see "Trains" below) is going to have to be machine quilted so I get over my reticence and TRY IT. Come to find out I really like it. Of course having a flash sewing machine that obeys my will is part of that success. (Although I have had this machine for years, so that isn't really any excuse....I got it just before s was born.)

After my little square practice, I needed an interim sized project to help me get the hang of managing the fabric bulk.....ah, the TREE. And here we are. k.


Details of the Machine Quilting: Bark, Air, Leaf, Bush, Grass and Stones (in case you couldn't guess what you were seeing.  Sorry the grass is growing sideways!)

The Secret to Surviving February

February has never been my favorite month, and in the depths of our extra cold winter (which is breaking as I finally get around to posting this.....so slow, I know. I will get the rhythm of this blogging one of these days!) I decided that what I REALLY needed was some color. So here it is! (Complete with a pic of what it actually looked like the day these events occurred.)




This first picture was my favorite. Lilies with the tips edged in a sunny yellow, irises and sweet pea for height. The last time I bought irises at the Flower Market they were really expensive and most didn't even open up when I got them home. I had already purchased the lilies and knew that irises would be just the thing so I bought them anyway with the assumption that I would be disappointed. Not only were they much cheaper (slightly more than half what I paid last time) every single one opened up gloriously....if somewhat after the pic was taken. The sweet pea also opened up all along its length, although the lower ones were browning by the time the top ones opened.

This arrangement sucked the water down like crazy. It is in one of my BIG vases and it went dry (seriously) 4 times. I was pleased at how well this one lasted, looking great right up to the end.

The more FALL flavored arrangement was n's favorite. The lilies were dyed I think (as their leaves had a reddish brown tinge as well that was more noticeable as the arrangement faded.) They were so beautiful I couldn't pass them up even though I already had lilies bundled under my arm when I saw them. They were surprisingly inexpensive....which meant what it usually does, that they were little tired and weren't going to last quite as long. Lilies are actually good survivors and will often recover and last longer than other flowers in an arrangement; epecially if you are vigilant and re-do your arrangement after a few days and trim the stems again. I don't know that that is what the professionals do, but it works for me.

The Orange Gerber Daisies were selected specifically to go with the lilies in question. When I got them home I almost chickened out, but they didn't work with anything else I had so in they went. Gerbers are always wired and have plastic cups on them to protect them in the shop/market as they are pretty fragile as far as I can tell.



Tulips are what I think of for Spring so I couldn't resist, even though I have trouble arranging tulips every time I get them. These ended up really floppy when we got them home. With the stupendously UPRIGHT Sweet Pea, I was fairly disatisfied with the result when we finished all the arranging. I knew s would like them no matter what (PINK) so I just tried to balance the droop all around the outside the best I could. After my friend who shopped with me left, and I retreated to my office, a miracle took place. The tulips, newly trimmed, sucked up the fresh water and stood right back up again.

All in all, an excellent trip to the Flower Market. Color that I desperately needed, a gorgeous hot house smell for almost a week and an excellent adventure. All for about $30. I think I will miss Korea when I have to go.... k.

P.S. The opening picture in each post is actually a "real time" image of what my office looks like when the post is being written....well this time when it was inspired, but you get the idea. My creative space is rarely tidy and in fact quite alarms my beloved much of the time. This is why I always get an office when we move around. hehehehe (It was NOT a pretty sight when s in her role as "the baby" came on the scene and usurped my office space as her bedroom back in the day.)

" Trains"

Once I got the Cursed Quilt Group going, I actually made a quilt top for s. first. It will make an appearance here in the next few entries probably, but not yet.

After the top was completed i. started lobbying for his own quilt, not understanding exactly what that means I suspect. So with the boy in mind, I headed off to the fabric market to fined "IT." I was greatly entertained to find a great train fabric for my central theme. The fabric spread also includes a checkerboard pattern, some double-decker buses, bright red and some lively yellow. After the fact I added a textured gray and some blue. I wanted to add some green but I didn't have any and was too anxious to get started.....of course.

So here it is.  I had originally planned for there to be a strip of the yellow right down the center....then I thought of the red diamonds....and then in the shower one morning I realized that I could make and I for i.....and if you turn it on its side it is an H for good measure. :)  How could I not do it after that.....well, it was almost ill-fated.  You can not see it from the pictures but one end of the I is made up of MANY pieces.  This is because I used every last inch of that yellow piece I bought; literally, I trimmed off the selvedge edge and everything else is as you see it.  (I even unpicked some yellow from the ends where I squared things up!)  That also explains why there isn't any yellow in the back, eh?

When the quilt is put together I  plan to have bias tape "rails" that run over the railroad ties border.  They are apparently not required for i. though as he chugged around the edge every time he found it laying out on the floor for contemplation.  The math involved in this design from my head was staggering.  Calculating proportions so that the border would fit evenly on the center panel....and then having to recalculate it again when I decided to put the strip down the center....and then a third time when it became an I.  Calculating the size of the triangles was actually made easier by a formula I found on http://www.quiltbug.com in their "learn" section.  They have excellent resources on the site for resolving a good many quilting complications.

The fan shaped corners are curved thanks to my Mom who cuts right to the heart of things.  I was complaining that I wasn't sure how you go about attaching the corner piece to a Pieced Grandmother's Fan (I think they are usually applique'd in place.)  She just laughed and asked why I didn't just leave them rounded.  Brilliant...and a LOT less work.  It was still not  easy though....I even have some secrets about those corners that I am not going to confess to.

 

The idea for the back, since I decided I needed to commit to machine quilting something more than just little sample squares, was to crazy quilt with the train pieces that were left.  (It is hard enough to hand quilt through one layer of "pieced" much less two! - in case you didn't follow my logic there. hah.)  I added the panels of "things that go" which turned out to be a somewhat mixed decision.  I like the way they look but the fabric is not the same quality as the others and stretched almost as much cross-grain as the others did on the bias....which I now have a LOT of experience with.  Argh!  When I smooth the back out on the floor it lumps and bumps its way along.  I tried to get a pic of this effect but it didn't show.  I think it took me longer to piece the back than it did to piece the front, although the sheer amount of math I had to do on the front may balance that a bit.

All in all, I really like it so far.  I am not sure how the quilting will go, or how it will look when I am finished with it (since there isn't any "stitch in the ditch" when both sides are pieced) but it ill be exciting.  This is also my first labeled quilt.  The some of the embroidery is hard to see in the pics, but it says "Trains" "2010" and both our names.  (My great grand kids won't have to look on the internet when they have school projects, darn it!  Sorry Great Grandma Isabel....) k.

Catching Up or Having Fun?

So, being a diligent sort of person, I made a list of things I have been doing lately that would be good fodder for this sort of internal dialog....and then realized that instead of a diligent person, I am really more of a lazy person.  I want to show all the fun things that have started this new round of "Interesting" but backlog is never a good way to start, now is it?

SO here are the things I have been doing TODAY, and maybe once I get the back to blogging jitters out of my system I will be able to give more of the big picture.  (Of course when I say it THAT way it sounds as if I did Oh So Much blogging back in the what, 2 or 3 months I did this for Project Dollway. heh.)

And for a 3rd paragraph that starts with "So," Here is what I did today, not necessarily in this order, and by today I do mean the 24 hour period rather than the calendar sort, as my Machined Whole Cloth piece to the left was actually done last night in the dark of night while I waited for n. to appear on the scene.

This is my first real adventure with Machine Quilting and I am actually surprised at how even the stitching turned out.  Of course it took me about an hour and a half because I was going so slow and being so careful.  It is from a stencil I got at Golden Threads I stitched it out in a variegated thread which was also interesting....and a little weird.  I am sure it is something you get used to, but the unpredictable color change (which is hard to see in  my pics, of course) seems a bit distracting or something.  Of course I am also the sort of gal who likes her "Whole Cloth" on "Plain Cloth" with matchy thread, so who am I to judge?

The Octopus of Doom is my hand quilted sample.  (n. pointed out is really is more of s Squid....sorry, all you taxonomists out there.) In case you were wondering what's up with all the whole cloth, we are having our second official lesson for The Cursed Quilting Group on "quilting."  Sounds redundant I know, but the skills necessary to piece a quilt together are simply not the same as the skills required to actually finish said quilt so it is usable.   A little prep work on the actual quilting is thus in order.....although it may scare everyone off entirely.  We shall see.  (Ladies, if you are reading this, it really is easy....very soothing.  No swearing at all, I promise.)

I didn't spray the markings off because I want to show the process a bit when we have our class...and I suspect you wouldn't be able to see the design at all if I had sprayed it anyway.  I did this as a 12 X 12 block in my lap.  Most of my hand quilting has historically been on frames so it was easier than I remember it. hehehehe  Of course I should point out that the LAST quilt I did was actually finished by my mother and is on the bed as I type.  So my recommendation to all of you aspiring quilters out there....get a Mom who will help you out. :)

Oh, but before I forget, the cool design is from a book called "More than Celtic" I got the same time I bought the stencil..it was on Clearance and the designs are much better than I expected for the price I paid.

The last sample is my first taste of machine quilting as it is observed in the wild. I was surprisingly hesitant to try it, and I am sure there is some deep psychological reason why, but I can't quite come up with it yet....must be suppressed, or repressed...oppressed?

In any case, after reading the free "ebook" from Quilting Arts I was emboldened to try. If you do download the book (well really it is more like a pamphlet but completely worth the "free" price tag!) you will recognize several of the motifs I tried. It will probably be a LONG time before I am ready to fill a whole quilt this way but it was really quite fun. You should try it....yeah, you really should. Right now. Go try it.

Boxpleat and Not Boxpleat

After all this time, I find that maybe I am ready to blog again.  The interesting thing is that "boxpleat" is up to other things.

About 3 months ago I went through a bit of a "bad patch."  Nothing dramatic, just didn't feel well, couldn't get motivated.  I have a mountain of work to be photographed for the Doll Side of my self but it just sits there.  Around the beginning of the year, I decided that I should take THAT message to heart and find some other outlet at least for a while.  The current new outlet for now is quilting (which I had given up earlier when I started expending all my sewing/designing energies on the 12-16" set.) 

Over the Summer when I was in the States with my Mother, I learned some new quilting techniques and that interest has busied my brain a great deal of late if not my hands so much.  I decided to start a quilting group to encourage some of my local lady-friends to sew more, and to feel as if I was DOING something.  After a few false starts care of national holidays and vomiting (yeah, it was a great couple of weeks!) I changed the name to "The Cursed Quilt Group" and we are ready to have some fun.

So here on this blog, starting today and probably on a highly irregular basis,  I am going to try to document a bit of what I am actually up to.  For those of you hoping to see doll stuff, there will be some again sometime soon, but not yet.  For those of you who are interested in the quilting, well, since that is the current thing there will be a good bit of that, at least for a while.  For those of you who just want to join my little cult of personality, welcome. k.