Building With What We Have

As you know I am actually rather enamored of the idea of the Quilts of Valor Foundation.  This is partially because I have been feeling the need to do more "good works" and quilting is a way to do that and still be doing what I want!  (Perfection is still a long way off, I know...)  I also feel more of a connection to the soldiers in question and have thought a great deal about the healing that all of the deployed soldiers need, not just the physically wounded ones.  N. has many patients who need all the support they can get as they struggle to put their lives back together.

So this is my first design and it is almost ready for presentation! 

The design is a Split Log Cabin, that is, a Long Cabin Block that is cut in half and joined to a different block.  In order to do this and have them be square the center is actually a rectangle....the square plus seam allowances through the center.  I saw a quilt done like this online and really liked the look of it.....especially since I had a jelly roll to do it with.

The quilt is actually a bit more than one jelly roll in size....the lighter colors come from a different roll.  It was so easy to put the blocks together with the pre-cut strips. 

The hardest part to put together was the border on the side of course, but I really wanted to give it a sense of being a work table....and that the process of rebuilding is ongoing.  It has all sorts of crazy bias and making things look "random" is actually very tricky.

N. recommended alternating the direction of the blocks, and I really like the way that turned out.  I even tried to set each split square with one going each way.  Of course, many of the squares aren't actually split....they were made as a half as I got down to smaller and smaller pieces that would go together.  The outer row is actually just slightly longer than the 42 inch strip on a full split block.  If you look close, some of them have slightly different colors on the outside of one corner.  Others have matching centers but not matching outsides.  It all worked out though.

The back is also black and has little stars on it.

After a day of trying to figure out why the picture of the quilting (by the lovely Debbie Younkin of Fort Collins near mom's house) I have given up.  Some day I may have the presence of mind to figure out why everything else works but that pic won't.....sigh!  You are just going to have to trust me that it looks GREAT!  It is a whirlpool style all-over design and it works really well.

And so we don't get too bogged down in things I OUGHT to be doing, here is the last pic of the "Presentation Case" which is simply a coordinating Pillowcase.

All in all, this has been a great experience that I plan to continue.

Now I need to go bind "Not a Wallflower" and if I am really ambitious I will post pics of the pillowcases I made for the 1,000,000 Pillowcase challenge (and you can find info about that HERE!)

In the meantime, make something that makes you smile even if it is a mess (or some order, if that is more your style.....mine is mess in case you were wondering. heh) k.

A Cleaning Day?

As you can probably see, the office is even worse than usual.  The reason?  Well I actually did some things. hehehe

Yesterday I sent out several boxes.  I sent 13 yards of sequin fabric to my dear friend Pam Seeman of Paint Box (She designs doll clothing like I do.)  We met at my first Doll Convention because some customers just can't keep Paint Box and Boxpleat separate. hehehe  She graciously offered to take some of my work with her when she goes to the Final "Official" Gene Convention in June, so I spent the first part of the week sorting, pricing and packing the odds and ends that I had.  I told her I had a few pieces but was surprised to find that I had more than 100.  Not all of it is "never before seen" but there is quite a lot.  The best part about this set up is that I don't have to take pictures!  I will say this: I sent a Large Priority Flat Rate box and it was entirely filled to the brim.  I hope some of my customers will find some things they like and will remember me fondly.  Gene was my first convention.

In the meantime, you can see the state this has left my office in.  I also sent away the large box for hte Humanitarian Aid Center....16 pounds of wall hangings and new clothing for the Orphanage Modules they make.  I figured with the big earthquake disasters we have been having lately, the stocks are probably being depleted.

I am feeling a drive to do more, to use my hands to make and build....but first I need to get organized in my own head, and thus I need to organize my own space.  Here's to a clean office and an orderly mind.  Happy day to you. k.

Always a Quandry...

Ooops, in the throes of my Anti-picture post I forgot to do my office pic.  Maybe I had better just give that up as an affectation.  What do you think?

This is what I have to present for today....and my quandry.  (Sometime I will get back up to speed with all the other adventures I am having, but it is good to start small. :)

This is a little piece I put together with one of my Brand-Spanking New Accuquilt GO!  (I think the exclamation mark is part of the trademark. heheh)  It is a pretty snappy little thing and works well for what it is.  What is that you may ask?  Well it is a die cut system designed for fabric.  Accuquilt Website  You buy a cutter (called a die) for each specific shape you need.  I have the small version (GO!  Be sure to note the exclamation mark.) which will precision cut up to 6 layers at a time.  (The Studio version is a little heavier duty at 10 layers.)

Now those of you who know me well may be perplexed.  This is a great product for people who like to do the same thing over and over again....which as you know I do not. 

I still think that it will be a useful product in my office, but I am going to have to work at it a bit.

Cutting the Apple Cores was actually fun....fun for Senneth.  As the dies are foam with the blades buried inside they are safe to handle; so I prepared the fabric pieces and had S. crank the handle that forces the die between the rollers.  She reported that it was great fun and was disappointed when I announced that we were done for now.  What you see above are some of the pieces we cut.  The curved edges have the notches in the die so the centers of those curves are already marked.  I still had to snip the concave edges when putting them together but the results were fairly easy to achieve.  I didn't take a close up but the corners set in beautifully.

My difficulty is this:  Now that I have this cute little piece, do I wrap it up quick as a wall hanging and put it in the box going to Humanitarian Services (I even have left over red bias tape to bind it with!) or do I find some blue and do the whole primary color thing in an actual quilt.  I have more yellow but not more red....well except for the bias tape.  (Wow that yellow is hard to read.  I see why good web designers don't do colors very often. hehehe)

What do you think?  In the meantime I think I will go back to working on the Circles piece.....

Go Check out the Cursed Quilt Blog.  I posted the pics of the Wall Hangings we have ready to go.  Be sure to comment on the ones you like best.  There are a few more that didn't quite get finished, so there may be more pics later. :)  Have a happy day. k.