Pricked Pinkies

Upgrading My Erlbacher Knitting Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 01:25:00 +0000

When I bought my circular knitting machine I insisted on buying and having the table shipped to me. The machine was second hand, but I wanted the whole deal. Unfortunately, I was never happy with the table--it wobbled no matter how much I tried to stabilize the foolish thing. On top of that, it didn't really have much room to move around or to stack up devices or cones of yarn.

Everyone on the social medias raved about these laptop carts for a new stand, and I was tempted for a while but didn't make the plunge. I couldn't find any instructions on how to modify them for the machine, and frankly I had too many other things going on to pursue it.

The laptop cart used.

Well, I finally bit the bullet and tackled the project this week. Turns out it was a cinch!

Supplies

You will need the following for this upgrade.

2-4 tee nuts, 1/4 in-20 x 5/16 in (depends on how many options you want to leave yourself for attachment points)
2 screws, 1/4 in-20 x 1 in (replaces the screws your machine might have come with for a smoother look)
A hammer
A drill with a 5/16 in drill bit
The laptop cart linked here

Instructions

Assemble the cart according to the directions. This includes attaching the top to the stand, though you may want to hold off on installing the handle in the back.
With help, place your machine where you would like it to be once attached. Clamps to hold it into place are helpful. IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure before proceeding that you can achieve full range of motion in the crank handle, and that it's not too tippy for you!
Mark with a permanent marker or your marking device of choice where the attachment points lie in this position. Initially, I used the original table to make a template with a piece of cardboard, but eventually decided to switch to physically placing the machine and marking the holes so that it'd be more firmly attached to and resting on the table top.
My cardboard template. This wound up being less than ideal because the machine was very close to the front and made the cart more tippy than I liked.
Drill your marked holes with the drill bit all the way through. Take your time to avoid shredding the laminate on top of the MDF.
Remove the table top from the cart, and place on a firm surface upside down with a thin layer of padding between the table top and the surface to prevent damage to either surface. I used the side of a raised bed.
Place a tee nut in each hole, with the prongs facing down.
Hammer the nuts into place until flush with the table surface.
A view of the underside, with two tee nuts in place for two different placements of the machine.
Reattach the top to the cart.
Slide the machine onto the cart, and screw into the nuts using the 1 inch screws.
Attach the back handle of the cart if you didn't in step 1.

And you're done! I'm looking forward to being able to better manage all my stuff for the CSM in the cart, and to have the flexibility to move it around. I may upgrade the wheels to use nice rubberized wheels, but these will do nicely for now.

The finished result!

Can't believe it's been 9 years.

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 17:33:00 +0000

I came back to the blog the other day to add some information about some bags I'd made and hope to sell. The first thing that struck me was that it had been over four years since I'd last posted. The second thing was that I've had this blog running on and off for nearly ten years. That's crazy to me.

What's even more crazy is how my life is these days. I changed jobs back in the spring, hoping to be able to take things a little easier, and wound up in the most challenging and fun job I've ever had. Glenn and I welcomed Liliana, our beautiful, wonderful daughter, and have spent the last nearly two years learning just what a ridiculous, intelligent, and hillarious creature we've been blessed with raising.

TC and Baron are still here, both older and a little worse for the wear (TC has kidney disease, and Baron has hypothyroidism), but are both incredibly patient with our hectic schedules and Lily.

I've fleshed out the crafting room to be a full blown studio now, and I'll post a picture of the setup sometime this week.

I'm thankful for all these changes in my life, and the myriad twists and turns it's taken. One of those is going to be surrounding what this blog is all about.

In the years since I started it, I've picked up knitting, crocheting, beer making, and even 3d printing. I'd like to make this blog the repository for all the neat things I do to fill my time, and to be able to share with all of you.

So there won't just be quilting on here, though lord knows I have enough of that in the backlog to keep me busy until retirement. You can expect DIY work, prints, painting of said prints, and really anything I make with my hands or brain to show up here.

I hope you all enjoy! And please forgive any weirdness to my writing, it's been ages since I sat down to write anything other than an email to a coworker or client.

A wild Marisa appears!

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 02:31:00 +0000

Is it a little sad that I had to check the blog history to see if I'd used this title before?

Ah well. Time makes fools of us all. As does the house buying process! Yes, I am happy to report I am now a proud home owner, local quilt guild member, and holy mother of god I swear I'm still a kid I swear.

That's right, I've joined a guild! The Valley Forge Homestead Quilters, to be exact. I attended my first meeting last night and had an absolute blast. Everyone was so kind and happy to see me, and I got to listen to a great talk from Lisa Calle about her quilting journey and see some lovely quilts. I'm so excited for next month's meeting, and for the Oaks Quilt Show after.

That last post I teased never got written, so I'm going to do a huge photo dump here, then this weekend post about the block of the month I'm doing with the guild. Even though I'm totally a bajillion months behind. >.> <.< I will say though I'm fond of the colors I chose for it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photo dump, and I will see you again this weekend!

StoryPatch Winner, And Other Exciting News!

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 02:24:00 +0000

First off, congratulations to Lisa, our winner for the StoryPatch from stkr.it! As you can see it was a very small field, but the random number generator does not lie. I'll be reaching out to her shortly to ship out her small but mighty winnings. Thank you to everyone who entered! I'm thinking about doing these more regularly as an out of pocket thing, but we'll see if/how that pans out.

In other news, I was presented with a tempting offer I just couldn't resist. As of today, you can now reach the blog via www.prickedpinkies.com! How cool is that? Now you won't have to muck about with the silly blogger tag in the url, which will hopefully make it easier for you guys to tell everyone about the blog, wink wink nudge nudge.

I have the pictures for my progress this week (and man, was there ever progress!) but it's a little late in the evening for me. I'll write up a post tomorrow, and should have it winging to your inboxes and reader applications tomorrow night. In the meantime, sleep tight, and if you have ideas for small giveaways you'd be interested in entering for, please let me know!

StoryPatches Review and Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:37:00 +0000

One of the best parts of being a blogger is the fact that I get contacted on occasion to review products and then share them with my readers. Yes, even a small-time blogger (who really needs to be more regular about this) gets to do these things!

Mike from Stkr.it reached out to me a few weeks ago, and I would first like to thank him for being so patient with me. It's been a crazy few weeks at the Pricked Pinkies castle, but I finally had some time to sit down and play with this interesting new device.
http://stkr.it/SYCYHNJSXC
StoryPatches seem to be a way for crafty types (not just bloggers) to bring together both digital and physical messages in our creations. As a quilter I see a lot of potential in this kind of product--more than once I've written out a message on a quilt label, only to find I don't have enough room for the message I want to share, or can't quite find the words when I have the perfect picture to communicate my thoughts.

Enter the StoryPatch.

The directions are easy enough--to attach the patch, you simply position it on the fabric you want to attach it to, lay a piece of cotton on top, iron for a few seconds, and it's attached!

The patch itself is very small, only about the size of a dime. When it attaches it's a very firm bond, one that I couldn't pick apart despite giving it a very good try. I suspect that it will prove to be just as firm an attachment as any of my fused creations, though I do wish I felt more comfortable sewing it on for additional security.

On that topic, the patch itself is very smooth, and feels almost like plastic. It's very flexible though, so no worries about it tearing away from the quilt label or backing. It's probably closer to a laminated piece of paper in terms of stiffness.

So while the physical product is rather unassuming and seems to do its job admirably, what about the digital side of things?

The website was easy enough to navigate; I was greeted by a cheerful welcome and invitation to create an account. After doing so, I was presented with two options: Play or Create. When I clicked on the create button, a little box showed up asking for the code on the sticker. A few key-presses later, and I was given full reign to create.

As you can see, you have a huge variety of options here! I think this would be a fantastic product for crafters--you could easily include a nigh-indestructible, small, and discreet way to direct people to your website if they're admiring a friend's handbag or scarf or what have you. Or if you're at a craft fair and want to give away a pattern, you could attach it to an example of the item and allow people to download the pattern right from the finished product.

As for me, I decided to create a slideshow. I do have a final plan for my sample, but alas that won't be ready for some time yet. Instead of the end product, I decided to share a few pictures from the Lancaster Quilt Show yesterday with you guys.

Uploading the photos was easy-peasie. My one gripe about the process was that I had to upload pictures one at a time; I really wanted to share all the raw pictures, but seeing as how I took pictures of 30+ quilts overall, it got very tedious and annoying. A bulk-upload feature would make this much better, but I did get a few of my favorites up for viewing.

http://www.stkr.it/SYCYHNJSXC <-- Click here to see my StoryPatch!

I also had the option to attach an audio and text component; not having any music on hand, I settled for a simple caption explaining where the pictures were from.

After saving, I was given the option to share my creation in a number of different ways, including the ability to print it out. This is probably the best decision the creators could have made--with this I only have to create the message once, but I then have complete freedom on how to share it. I can print out multiple copies of the QR code, as many as I choose, or share it on Facebook or Twitter. This is great, if only because it wouldn't have surprised me that they might have charged me to print it out.

I have a few suggestions for improving the product--I'd love the ability to order the iron on patches in bulk to attach wholesale to all of my crafting creations, which I would set up to link back to the blog. As far as I can tell there isn't a way to order them, but I'd highly recommend it in the future. A bulk upload is a must for the photo feature, though I understand hosting the images might be a pain or problematic. Perhaps something can be worked out to allow me to host the images externally, but have them appear in the slideshow?

I'm also not 100% clear on ownership. To 'claim' my sticker I just had to enter the very visible code from the sticker itself; I am curious about whether someone would be able to claim my sticker if they entered that code again. I suspect not, but as a product owner I would appreciate more feedback or an explicit "This patch has now been linked to your account" to make it perfectly clear.

In any case, I was very impressed with the product, especially given that I hadn't heard about them before. The product is of very high quality, and I don't doubt that it will hold up to many washes and general wear and tear.

So now that the review is out of the way, let's get on to the giveaway!

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As always, I will never share or sell your information. Winners will be chosen next week on March 22nd, and announced in a blog post at that time. This contest is open to everyone, including international readers, so please enter and share this with your crafty friends!

Again, I'd like to thank Mike from Stkr.It for sharing his product with me, and I hope you will consider this for your next quilt label!

Why your first machine should be the best machine you can afford (regardless of where it comes from).

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 20:07:00 +0000

My new precious, straight from her bath and test sew.

Whenever I go into Jo-Ann fabrics or Michaels, one of the first things I see are the stacks and stacks of Singers and Brother machines, sitting out in the aisles and stacked up to the rafters just waiting for someone to jump on a deal and walk out with their first, or second, or third sewing machine.

Now, there's nothing wrong with these machines. Well, ok, that's a lie, because if I didn't think there was something wrong with these machines I wouldn't be writing this post. This might turn into a bit of a rant or it might become something more but we'll just have to see where my mind takes things.

So, let's begin.

First, let's consider Mary Sew. Mary Sew wants to get into sewing. "Fantastic!" I say, and so it is. Anyone looking to getting into sewing should be welcomed with open arms. Mary has a friend named Paula Cushion. Paula, seeing that her friend Mary is getting into sewing, decides that she too would like to get into this new and exciting world! "Marvelous!" I say!

Both Mary and Paula go to their local sewing mega store. They're dazzled by all the bright and colorful fabrics, and are just absolutely blown away by the chenille, the cotton, the knit and the woven, the absolute cacophony of light and texture they find there.

After spending some time playing with the bolts and debating whether or not they want to get a serger or a regular machine, they both decide that they want to get a basic sewing machine for general sewing purposes, nothing special, given that they're both new and wouldn't know what to do with the fancier options on display.

Mary decides that she can't possibly wait one minute longer to pursue her dreams of becoming a seamstress, and with visions of sugar plums and baby blankets in her head she decides to just get the cheapest, most basic machine there is. "Since I'm new to this, I don't want to dump a whole lot of money into it right away. If I start small, I can always upgrade later," she reasons, and buys the cheapest machine at the store, a Banana 456.

Now, some backstory on the Banana brand. They used to be good, as in 'held a monopoly for nearly a century in the sewing market' good. Their name used to be synonymous with quality, but now that they're relying heavily on overseas manufacturers and they've let their quality control slip, their machines are cheaper but more prone to breakage and general issues. But given that they still have a huge market share, they're able to get a brand new sewing machine to market for Mary to purchase on sale for a mere $99 + tax.

Paula on the other hand is a little wary. She also wants to start sewing right away, but she's a little wary of the machines in the store because she's heard from other friends that those machines tend to fail after a year. Being a good friend she tries to tell Mary this, but Mary is too dazzled by the needles flashing before her eyes. Paula decides to hold off for a little bit, and goes home to do some research.

At home, Paula discovers that there are a absolute metric poop-ton* of machines on Craigslist. She finds a machine made by Banana, but it's an older machine and looks a little dated for $50. The seller (an older lady, very charming) has been using it continuously since the 1980's when she first purchased it, and proudly shows Paula all the service receipts from when she would take it in to be serviced. She spends an hour with Paula to show her how to thread it, how to oil it and swap out needles, and they have a wonderful time. The original listing was just for the machine and pedal, but the seller remembers at the end of the visit that she has a ton of machine specific accessories, and throws them in for Paula for free.

Paula takes them of course, and also writes down the number of the repair shop where the previous owner took the machine. The repair shop turns out to also be a fabric shop, independently owned, and Paula meets some of the local quilting guild members while she's scheduling her machine's maintenance for $20. Paula joins the guild, and attends some classes to learn how to sew and use her machine to the fullest.

A few months down the road, Mary's machine starts jamming and stuttering. Based on Paula's recommendation, she takes her machine to the same shop for repairs, only to find that it's going to cost her $40 to repair it because the machine is so jammed up with threads and lint that she didn't know she had to remove (due to not getting any lessons on the machine when she bought it). Frustrated, she pays for the repair, but stops using it because "It's just going to jam up again, why bother?" And who can blame her? For Mary, her $100+ investment has suddenly jumped 40% because of things she never realized were core necessities for this new hobby.

Paula on the other hand has made half a dozen new friends at the sewing guild, and is making plans to attend the local big sewing and quilting show in a month's time. She invites Mary hoping to rekindle her friend's interest, but gets turned down because Mary doesn't want to "waste money on that silly hobby".

So what in the end was the cost?

	Mary's Costs	Paula's Costs
Machine	$99	$50
Needles	$5	$0
Bobbins	$7	$0
Maintenance	$40	$20
TOTAL:	$151	$70

If we take this just in terms of straight entertainment value, Mary paid more than twice as much for a tenth of the fun. Because her machine broke down and needed post-mortem maintenance, she spent much more per hour than Paula. On the other hand, Paula had to spend a few more hours total (driving to pick up the machine, getting the lesson, spending time at the repair shop chatting about her new hobby), but spent half as much, and in the end is far more likely to continue in the hobby.

Is this story contrived? Horrifically so. I mean, come on, I told you I had an agenda right from the get go. But I've seen it happen too many times to people getting into the hobby. It's why when one of my friends mentioned she wanted to learn how to quilt I brought her one of my spare machines that I had learned to repair and clean, and spent an hour or two showing her how to use it and how to sew and maintain it.

I don't fault people who dive into the hobby without knowing what they're getting into. But by taking the time to get a quality machine and learning how to use it, you're going to have a machine that will be there for you when you need to quickly repair a strap, or decide to pick up sewing again, or a child wants to be a dragon for Halloween and you can't find a costume anywhere.

The thing that inspired me to write this post was my experience recently buying the serger I posted at the top of this post. See, I want to make costumes for me and Glenn for PAX East this year, but I'm tired of trying to sew clothing seams with a zig zag. And after taking the serger for a test run, I'm glad I picked it up!

I found the seller on Craigslist, selling this lovely Juki for $150. For perspective, the CHEAPEST serger I could find at Joann's was going for $199, available only online. The machine, when brand new, is $300ish, but was originally north of $700. The serger has all its parts, and the seller told me she's only selling because she upgraded recently.

After half an hour with my dust buster of doom and q-tips and $24 worth of thread, I now have a fully functioning serger made by one of the best manufacturers around. The machine itself looks like it's brand new--no scratches, and all the metal is clean and rust free.

Want to know how you can find amazing deals like this on your own? My number one rule is...

If the seller puts a reasonable amount of effort into the listing, it's worth checking out.

Basically, if they take the time to post a few pictures, and write something unique about the machine (instead of copy pasting from the manufacturer's website), it means they spent time using the machine and know whether it's good or bad, or what it needs to work properly for some time.

Whew. Ok. This is a pretty damn long post, but to be fair, I've been gone for a while too. :) I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next post!

Color guess!

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 02:21:00 +0000

Unfortunately I wasn't nearly as productive as I hoped I'd be this weekend... However, I did get a whole slew of HST's knocked out, and got to have some fun with my rusty Photoshop skills. I'll be back next week with more detail I hope!

Lazy Labor Day

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 01:28:00 +0000

See this lump? That's pretty much how I felt this weekend.

All cut up, and no where to go.

So Saturday was my long run AND brew day (a hopefully delicious hefeweizen!), so I was pretty pooped after that.

I messed around with some filters in an attempt to get rid of the horrible yellow
cast my desk lamp casts on things... Might ask for a natural light for Christmas!

And Sunday, well, Sunday was cleaning and laundry day so that when Glenn got home the house wasn't a complete mess.

Had some fun fussy cutting this--the blue is actually the border from a panel
fabric Grammy gave me for the project.

As for today?

FABRIC!!! And yes, the zebra print is
going in the pony quilt! All of these are from
Burkholders.

I emailed Ann earlier last week suggesting we take advantage of the lovely Labor Day sale at Burkholder Fabrics in Lancaster. After much arm twisting and convincing, Ann brought me and Beppy to the store for some good old fashioned girl-time bonding. And let me tell you, it was incredibly hard to convince her to come buy fabric with me. ;-)

Fabric galore. This is from Sauder's.

After that we stopped in at Sauder's Fabric Shop for some more shopping. I think my favorite part of the pony quilt has got to be how many different fabrics I get to buy and use, and how little fabric I actually need for a given block. Fat quarters are way too much, and most of my scraps are even too much, even for the most complicated blocks! Everything in the first haul picture is just a quarter yard, nothing more, and cost a grand total of $18 (which is a steal for quilting fabric, let me tell you!).

It also means I get to invade the bargain bins and find the weirdest fabric to use. Most of the fabrics I find would never work in a bigger piece, but I get to feature them one at a time in the scrap blocks and let them shine. Or fail, when what little color sense I have fails me.

It's the damndnest thing. I can appreciate beautiful fabrics when someone else picks them out but for some reason I can't identify pretty fabrics on my own. I just tend to flail, for better or for worse, which I guess makes something as random and thrown together as this quilt is turning out to be perfect.

But one of my reasons for going on the trip with Beppy and Ann was a little bit sneaky. Because since I can't pick out colors to save my life, you'd better believe I'm going to rely on them to help me pick out fabric for a dear friend's baby quilt!

Made you look!

Of course I'm not going to show you the colors silly. But rest assured dear reader, I had my choices approved by ladies who aren't color-coordinate blind, and it is going to be just darling once I'm done with it. I still need to pick out a backing fabric and three accent fabrics, but I'm going to wait until the top comes together to go out shopping for that. I might even try to work in some of the lovely felted wool squares I know my local-local shop (The Round Bobbin) has--I'm sure the little one this quilt is for will love the different textures.

I'll be spacing out my pony quilt blocks to make sure there's something each week as I work on this, but for the next few weeks I'm going to be working full time on the baby quilt. I'll post pictures as I go of the shapes, but I'm not going to show anything really identifiable until after it goes to its new home (which will hopefully be at the baby shower, if it all works out).

I can't wait to get started on it; the fabrics are just so darling, and I can't wait to share them with you in all their glory.

Quilting with purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 01:02:00 +0000

On my third week of constant quilting, and I have to be honest, it feels wonderful.

My process has been to poke at my fabrics and pair them up during the week, and maybe go as far as to cut out the pieces and have them all trimmed. Then, usually by Saturday or Sunday, I'll sit down and go through the blocks I have picked out for that weekend. It's a system that seems to be A: working, and B: one that I can keep up with.

I got all arty with this one!

It's also a soothing process, because in the midst of stress from work I can retreat to my office at night and go through all the fabric I've been hoarding for so long and find what looks like it will be fun to pair up with, and what really ought to be left out or hoarded until I get another fat quarter or two to play with.

I just love how this one unfolded throughout the process.

Today's quilting had to wait until Sunday morning because I ran 14 miles for my marathon training Saturday morning, and I'm getting to the point where my long runs are literally the furthest I've run in my entire life. And while this past run went much better than the week prior, I'm still pretty pooped out by the time I get home!

Little butterfly wings.

If you look closely at the block above, you'll see where I accidentally pieced it together wrong. That's probably my biggest struggle--I fall into the rhythm of sewing pieces together, and start sewing together parts that really shouldn't be connected ever or quite yet!

All fixed.

And finished!

I was a little worried with this block because of how heavy the batik felt to me--I haven't been washing my fabrics before I cut them lately, so this one I'll have to keep an eye on for bleeding. I've been really lucky to date with bleeding and my fabrics, but given how many batiks are going into this project it will be an interesting proposition.

The two I finished this weekend.

But wait! I hear you say. Marisa, where did that wheel come from? Well, I'd be happy to show you in our first tutorial video!

If you click on the video above, you'll get to hear my dulcet tones as I explain how I do curved seams! And if you listen closely early on you'll hear TC chirp a bit in protest that she's not the center of attention.

Hope you enjoyed this post--next week I'll hopefully be both brewing and sewing, so expect at least three blocks to get finished by Monday!

When life gives you lemons...

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 21:58:00 +0000

MAKE QUILTS!

So this weekend I discovered that getting married means the tax collector gets a direct line on you and everything you do... And also that Pennsylvania townships have their own taxes that they don't tell you about until you owe them back taxes and penalties. So my epic plans to brew beer, build fermentor stands and shelves, and do a little quilting was quickly transformed into 'do all of the quilting' because well, lord knows I have enough fabric!

All laid out.

I had a little fun with these blocks, this one in particular. I've had this chicken fabric hanging around forever, and I couldn't think of a reason really to use it for the quilt. But then this block that had lovely 'feature' sections came up, and I just had to use the chickens.

I was so sad to find there are only four chickens in the repeat; I was hoping to use a different one in each of the panels. But on the other hand, CHICKENS!

I kinda herped the derp on this block... When I cut the littler pieces I tend to be lazy and just whack a huge stack. Unfortunately that means these little triangles are all over the bias and go every which way. Which of course makes it an absolute pain to piece accurately. So everyone who was admiring my accuracy last week, just keep this in mind--the bias matters!

This block features two prints from that same set with the ponies from last week. Isn't it just the most darling thing you've ever seen? Also, note how badly I mucked up the y-seam above... I was doing so well with the first y-seams in this quilt, I don't know where my mad skills disappeared off to.

All laid out!

So yes, I've been making pretty steady progress on this! I finished the first 'section' or rather subdivision in the PDF layouts and templates last week, and I'm hoping to keep up at least a block or two a week. There's a total of 90 or so blocks, so I've got quite a ways to go before I get to think about binding. But I am considering following what the author did--she used dark fabric with light cornerstones to offset the colors. In preparation for that I've been trying to avoid using black in the background fabric of any of the blocks. That was part of the reason I held off using the chicken fabric for so long!

Looking at them all laid out like this is a great help for figuring out colors and values to use. I always think I'm going too heavy on the greens, but now I'm seeing that maybe I need to bring some more of them in to balance out the pinks and browns. I also want to try and use some more blues, and some more orange backgrounds.

If you have any thoughts on colors I should represent more in this quilt, let me know in the comments!

A quilter's lazy Sunday...

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 01:43:00 +0000

... often involves fabric cutting instead of housework, and at least one or two first degree burns from an iron.

I've actually had these fabrics sitting out ready to be cut up since the last post. I just haven't had time to sit down and do it! This is a silly mix of beautiful expensive batik that I got for $3 a yard when a quilt store went out of business and some lovely fabrics I've had sitting around forever that I got from Joann's when I first started quilting. At the very least this project means I get to go digging through my stash!

Very proud of how the points came out on this.

Plus the colors are just so fun and bright. I realized I'd been going a
little dark and moody in the quilt and given that I want to do black borders between the
blocks I didn't want it to fade away!

Nice pretty seams. I really prefer to press my seams open.
It just makes it so much easier to put thick pieces together.

But even in a scrappy quilt, sometimes you find a fabric you just HAVE to have. I was on /r/quilting the other day and saw this adorable horse fabric someone was using for a quilt. Thankfully they were responsive and told me the fabric (by Michael Miller, of course!), and that was all the excuse I needed for an order to fabric.com. But when it results in such adorableness, how can you resist?

PONEHS!

Seriously, the ponies are so cute. I ordered a full yard of this, and I might have to go back for more just for when they inevitably go out of print. The art style is just too precious and has such whimsy to it, I can't get over it!

Closeup of the ponies. The cowboy fabric was a gift from Grammy,
and I knew it would be perfect for this block.

I also ordered another print from the series that will find its way into another block, along with some other random horse fabrics. Then there's the bunch I picked up at Keepsake Quilting a week or two ago... After avoiding most horse fabrics for this quilt I'm suddenly drowning in ponies that have to find their way into quilts!

More seams. This one didn't go as well--the cowboy fabric was a little thicker
than I thought it would be, which led to some issues with getting the cuts and
seams to line up. But in the end it all settled down and turned out wonderfully.

That's all I have for today, but given how satisfying it was to do this today you can definitely expect another block to be finished this week, maybe even two! Then I'll need to turn my attentions full time to a quilt for my dear friends Phil and Rebecca who is expecting their first child this December, a beautiful boy! I can't wait to meet him, and I can't wait to show off the adorable design Rebecca and I came up with.

Until next time!

Just a quickie...

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 02:14:00 +0000

Because I always feel guilty going to a quilt show and claiming to be a quilter when I haven't done any real sewing in... Too long. I think I've finally hit hobby saturation, but given that I am signed up for the Philly Marathon in the fall at least one of them has to take precedence. I will try to get some quilting done this summer if it kills me though!

As a secret bonus, here's some beer crates I made. And some beer!

Back in the sewing seat.

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 14:01:00 +0000

WHUT?

I know! I know. I know it's been a while since I posted, but I really had a good reason this time. And just because I didn't post doesn't mean I wasn't quilting, no siree!

For example, there were bridesmaid presents to be made.

In progress--can't believe I didn't take more pictures!

Ring pillows to sew in the course of an evening, less than 48 hours before the wedding!

When you and your betrothed come from the same college,
you have to include it somehow!

Our rings. I had to show the best man how to tie and
untie them!

The pillow with our cake toppers. The pillow will stay with us
forever.

And a baby quilt to sew, for a lovely bridesmaid and friend.

Somewhere I've got in progress pictures of the major blocks, but
I'll be dipped if I can find them right now.

All together now!

The backing.

Layering it up!

Some doodling to get into the swing of things.

Adding the binding is always better with beer!

Faith-Ann is just a monster when it comes to sewing.
Four layers of fabric and a layer of batting?
LET ME AT EM.

Completing the circuit.

A little bit of sewing...

A little bit of folding...

TADAH! The magic of binding.

The best way to spend a chilly winter evening--hand stitching the
binding to the back of the quilt.

It's a very warm quilt!

What you don't see here are the cats I was constantly fending off!

The label.

And we're done!

Kaylee's umbrella.

Mal's coat.

Inara's tea.

River's axe.

Simon's medical bag (ragh, forgot to rotate this one!)

Jayne's hat.

Book's... book.

Wash and Zoe. D'aww.

Two by two...

hands of blue.

Flames. Because what baby quilt doesn't need some kickass flame quilting?

More flames!

Little stars.

So yes, I have been quilting, and I haven't given up on this hobby yet, not by a long shot. I just feel like I've spent the last few months scrambling to get my feet back on the ground, and only now have I had the time to breathe and focus on something other than working out the particulars of my new life with my wonderful and loving husband. Thank you for your patience with this photo dump, the next post will have a bit more substance to it, I promise!

Review of Daily Craft TV and the winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 01:38:00 +0000

All revved up and ready to go!

So I figured, I should probably do a review of the tutorial website first before I announce the winner, so the winner will be even more pumped about their prize, right?

Sadly, my computer decided to just about keel over last week. It turns out my graphics card is on its way out. Which I kind of need in order to edit the pictures from the quilting session! Luckily, one of Glenn's coworkers very kindly lent me his card until I have enough for a new one, so I'm back in business!

Before the card died last week though I had a chance to watch the video I'd chosen, Master Inset Seams and Miters for Perfect 8-Pointed Stars. I thought it was the perfect choice because as you know, the one block that's been holding me up on the JT2 quilt has been the darn Lemoyne Star block. Rather than shell out $30 for a ruler, I thought I'd use this lovely opportunity from Fons and Porter to try and nail the block once and for all.

This particular episode is hosted by Diane Tomlinson and Jodie Davis, two very lovely and enthusiastic ladies who clearly have a love of quilting! The quilt they're demoing techniques for is called Tranquil Stars, and it is absolutely stunning with a gradient star pattern with diamonds. It's definitely a great inspiration for the beginning quilter, and something I wouldn't mind taking a stab at making sometime in the future.

The technique they describe is easy enough to do--essentially, rather than rely on guesstimating where one should stop sewing, you use the quarter inch line on your ruler to mark exactly where to start and stop stitching. The video very clearly demonstrates how to do this, and then goes on to show how one joins them together including the all important back stitching.

Diane and Jodie keep everything light and comfortable while acknowledging that this can be intimidating for quilters. However, they not only make this look easy, the technique they demonstrate is actually 100% easy. Heck, I'm measurement impaired, and I still managed to do it!

When I chose this video I originally was only interested in the inset seams bit; while I've done them before I've never been completely satisfied with my work, so I welcomed the chance to branch out a little bit. But as an added bonus, you also get instructions on how to do mitered seams for lovely pointed borders. This is actually going to be incredibly helpful for me as I embark on several major sewing projects this fall that will all benefit from these techniques.

The mitered border is a logical expansion on the technique taught in the first half of the video, and it really adds to the value of the video because it doesn't just give you one technique, it gives you an evolution of that technique so that you can continue to grow, and gives you new ideas for how to improve your quilting and other directions you can take it.

The one complaint I have about the video (and I'm sure this is a problem with the other videos) is a lack of closed captioning. It might just be my work coming through in my personal life, but I really think more video content like this should be closed captioned. It would certainly help the older ladies who don't have the same hearing that I have (though according to a recent test I have the hearing of a 40 year old, go figure!). PS: Fons and Porter, my captioning rates are very reasonable! ;-)

So, with the official review bit out of the way, how did I do?

All marked up and ready to go.

I printed out probably my 15th copy of the darn block, and traced the pieces onto the freezer paper templates. I got everything all cut out in no time, and had everything all drawn up and ready to go. I used a regular mechanical pencil for this, because I know it will wash out and it's darn cheap too!

Stitching together.

And with those little hash marks, it made it super easy to put the diamonds together accurately. I pressed the seams open because that's what I usually do, and that's what was recommended in the video.

The diamond.

One thing that I will say is that right away I noticed a difference in how the star came together--it was much more accurate than it has ever been before, and all the seams lay beautifully flat. So I was super optimistic that I would finally get this block to be the 6.5 inches it needed to be to fit into the quilt proper.

The back. Look at how accurate it is!

Gulp. The first white bit. How did it go?

KACHING!

I swear, I've never been so happy to see a seam come out so lovely. I had a few issues with the later seams, though that was entirely my fault. In the end, I came out with a lovely Lemoyne Star. :)

Look at how lovely it is! Okay, that bottom right seam isn't the greatest, but it must be 6.5 inches, right?

FUUUUUUUU--

And this is where I threw my hands up in surrender. I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. I've checked my templates, they're all 100% accurate to the paper I printed out, the paper I printed out is at the right scale... I don't know what I'm doing wrong here! There's just no way that I can consistently come out a quarter inch short every time. The picture with the ruler above is after trimming perhaps 1/16 of an inch off the sides to catch the dog ears.

So I threw my hands up and fudged the 6.5 by adding a tiny little border to the block. It's a little messy, but it meant that at the end of the day I could finally take this picture.

Take that Lemoyne Star!

I won't be able to work on it again for a little while, but I'm proud to say that I finally got this far and put it all together. I really can't wait to see it finished, but I've got several of those mystery projects to finish up before the wedding, not to mention the wedding itself (which is only a month and a half away aaaaaaahhhh).

So now that you've read through all of my babbling, I'm sure you want to know who won the contest!

And the winner is...!

Mandy, who I believe came over here from reddit.com/r/quilting! I will be emailing her shortly to let her know, but I wanted to thank everyone who entered, and I hope you will continue to visit from time to time to check out what I've been up to.

I'd also like to thank Fons and Porter for giving me this opportunity, and I urge you all to check out Daily Craft TV. The videos are very reasonably priced, and are wonderful demonstration videos with great techniques and great production values.

A contest just for you!

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 01:56:00 +0000

I've been given a very special opportunity by the wonderful folks at Fons and Porter's that I'd like to share with you!

I never had a chance to post about it, but a few months back I was contacted by Fons and Porter and asked to review one of their free eBooks. I was happy to do so, and wrote a review about their book Build Your Best Log Cabin. It was a neat little book, with a ton of lovely and interesting ways to use the Log Cabin block.

Well, they've upped the ante--this time, they've asked me to review their new tutorial website! I'm going to get access to a video on Daily Craft TV sometime this week for review purposes (I'm hoping to do the angled seams one so that I can finally beat that Lemoyne Star into submission!).

But here is where you come in, dear reader. I've been given the opportunity to give away a free pass to any of the videos on Daily Craft TV to anyone who would like to win!

One winner will be chosen at random from all submissions. If the winner is not from the United States, we may have to come up with a substitution prize. All personal information will be destroyed at the close of the contest.

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I am so excited to be able to share this with you! This contest will run from August 17th, 2013 until August 25th, 2013.

Please feel free to spread the word, and thank you for checking us out!

A new project

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 01:34:00 +0000

Lovely morning view from New Hampshire!

It's been a whirlwind of a summer, but I'm finally getting back into the sewing swing of things.

I'm sorry I haven't posted at all this summer, but with the wedding and everything it's just been a little crazy. But when Ann and I went to the quilt show in New Hampshire and picked up some AMAZING scraps from Keepsake Quilting, well, I just had to break out my copy of The Farmer's Wife Pony Club and take a stab at some of the beautiful blocks in there!

Some of the pieces laid out.

It's actually a lot of fun, and a nice mix of challenging and simple. Most of it uses templates, though there are a few blocks that include paper piecing instructions. I was never one for templates, mostly because I think it just takes forever, but with how pretty the blocks are turning out I think I'm going to have to bite my tongue!

Laid out on the wall. (A Beauty)

I'm trying to stick to the original color scheme from the book. I don't want it to be too flashy because I'd like to use it on my bed, but I also love how the original quilt used such unique fabrics that fit so well with the theme of each block.

All sewed together!

I'm also super happy with how I managed to get some of the pieces to come together. It's probably a bad thing to say, but I've never been one for fussy cutting. I just don't feel like I have the eye to put anything together that's that unique. But when I picked that zodiac fabric for this block I saw cut after cut I could make to make it turn out so neat. And I think it did!

The second block came together nicely too! (A Dandy)

I also really enjoy reading the letters. It's just such a change from today's writing to see these letters, and the little pictures the children included of them with their ponies. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge horse woman, and seeing these children with their ponies just absolutely brightens my day.

All the beautimous batiks! (Alabama)

Not to mention, I'm so pumped that I got all this fabric for so cheap. It was an amazing deal--fill up a plastic bag about the size of a paperback for $5. As much fabric as you could stuff. Dang, I'm wishing I went back for more now, they had so much fabric!

That's about it for the quilting side of things, but I'm about to put up a super exciting contest for all of you!

Attack of the Procastinators

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 01:31:00 +0000

Heeeelp!

With such lovely, cuddly, snuggly kitties, it's a wonder I got anything done today!

Seriously. First Baron trapped me, then TC came out of nowhere to snuggle. Hilariously TC didn't want to encroach on Baron's turf, so it took her some time to work up the courage to cuddle up against my side, a respectful half-foot away from the slumbering beast that was putting my arm to sleep.

My new profile picture!

But in the end, after cleaning the house in preparation for the landlords (who are thrilled with us, even with my fabric everywhere XD), running out to Target so Glenn could get a 3DS (which I have been making grabby hands at all afternoon), getting cuddled to death (see above), plus a spot of food, I managed to make some headway into the next section of JT2.

And beer! This explains some herp derp in a few minutes.

Now, I couldn't finish the assembly of the first quarter, because that darn Lemoyne Star was just beyond me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I swear I'm following everything correctly and that I cut everything correctly, but it's just not coming together. Luckily, when Shelley and I went out to lunch on Friday we discovered that we each have the ruler the other needs! So tomorrow I'm hopefully going to lend her my Deb Tucker Wing Clipper in exchange for her Lemoyne Star ruler. If that doesn't work out, I asked the lovely ladies at The Round Bobbin to keep an eye out for one or two. It's a bit of money, but worth it since I'll be able to use it again and again.

Instead, I decided to take a stab at the Cathedral Windows from the next section. Unfortunately, I had a series of herp derps that meant I didn't get to finish the block before I had to sit down to write the post, but hopefully I will have my brain together tomorrow. Observe, proof positive that I do indeed show my work, even when I mess it up horrifically!

Oh look! An awesome flying geese block! I know, I'll use my wing clipper ruler, and this will be a cinch!

Aw muffin, it's a weird size. Man, I really should pick up the Wing Clipper 2, if the JT2 quilt is going to keep doing odd things like this. It's so annoying! Sigh. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get a chance to use it again.

Cut cut cut. I'm so spoiled, I don't like to do paper piecing any more, it just never turns out as... Wait a second.

Note the inclusion of the seam allowance this time. :S

SON OF A--

As you can see though, it all worked out in the end! I'm not going to get to assemble this beast tonight, as there's ooone more block, and a lot of big cuts of fabric I need to make, but I will try to get it done tomorrow and post about it next week. My next paycheck is probably going to involve an order to Fabric.com for more red and white.

Sigh. I wish I didn't waste so much fabric on this quilt, but I know it's going to be stunning once it's all finished. I just need to take my time a little bit more. Easier said than done when you're juggling a full-time job, but I'll be dipped if I let this quilt win!

I hope everyone is enjoying the slow but steady transition into spring; I planted two astilbe and a random plant in our front flower beds, and I'm hoping to be lucky enough to see them bloom in a few weeks time. Only time will tell, but if they do (and likely even if they don't) they'll feature in a blog post sometime soon. Until then, enjoy the nice weather!

A Day Off

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 00:59:00 +0000

A spring morning.

So, after discovering that today was predicted to be 70 degrees, sunny, and beautiful as the blazes, I decided to take today off from work. I have a few personal days saved up that need using, and I figured it was better to get the spring madness out of my system rather than ants it out at work.

A start.

At the quilt show in Lancaster I finally decided to bite the bullet and pick up a Wing Clipper ruler. Now, I actually have one of Deb Tucker's magical little rulers, but I'm ashamed to say I've never used it. And since the JT2 quilt calls for so. Many. Damn. Geese, I figured it was a worthwhile purchase.

How worthwhile?

All lined up and nowhere to go.

Ain't it beautiful?

Now, being the dork that I am, that finished block above was of course in the wrong color pattern. But that ruler is a godsend, it saved me so much time, fabric, and effort, and the blocks turned out absolutely picture perfect.

You can see one of them between the two blocks on top.

So now I have to assemble the rest of the beast. Except that my Lemoyne Star, pitiful to begin with, is a good 1/4'' too short in all directions to assemble into the quilt. I'm pretty good at fudging seams if I need to, but this is way out of my league. So I'm going to have to try and find someone with the Lemoyne Deb Tucker ruler so I can knock this one out and be done with the first quarter. Though truth be told, I may just make it out of HST's just so I can be rid of this project.

A funny thing happened at the Lancaster Show--I was wandering around one of the secondary rooms when Ann tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Marisa, you work at Drexel, right?"

It turns out that one of my compatriots at the school, who I'd never met, had lost their card! A few hurried email exchanges back and forth, and I managed to meet up with the owner of the card. It turns out she is a quilter as well, and just as pleased as I was to discover a fellow sewing fanatic. As if that weren't enough, she told me about a lovely little quilt guild in the area, that meets not more than 5 minutes away from where I catch the train every day. So I'm planning on attending their April meeting, and will hopefully be able to finish my application if all goes well to become a member. Yipee!

Last but certainly not least, Glenn's grandmother Grammie surprised me at the last family gathering this past Saturday. It turns out one of her machines that she'd donated to the craft room at the community where she lives wasn't being used, so she decided to rescue it and send it to someone who would use it constantly--namely, me!

It's a solid Singer Merritt 4530, and I really can't wait to start sewing with it. I haven't had time yet to sit down and give it a good cleaning, but I'm looking forward to making it my new 'modern' machine, especially since it came with a clear applique foot! This way I'll have the Janome to lend out to my friends should they need a machine. Though to be honest, I'm almost certain they would just rather send me whatever they have that needs mending!

That's all from me for now; I have to get ready for work tomorrow, but this weekend I will be home without obligations or video games that need beating. You know what that means--more quilting!

Wait, where did the months go?

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:49:00 +0000

Seriously, what?

It's still January, right? I totally didn't just turn 24, right?

Bother. I guess I did.

I really am sorry for disappearing; the most that I have to say in my defense is that well, sometimes I don't get to quilt. I don't have time, or rather didn't make the time, or just plain don't feel like quilting. It happens to the best of us, and for the past few months I've been in a bit of a funk quilting wise.

The good news is that despite losing an hour to work today thanks to DST, I sat my butt down and got to sewing! Faith-Ann was very happy to get a good dose of oil and lubricant, and purred away as I worked on the Just Takes 2 Quilt.

The center of the ominous applique.

This block has been a stumbling block (hah, I'm so clever) in my progress for months now. But after being told many times by Ann and Beppy to just use some fusible (NOT Steam-A-Seam!), I finally decided to give it my best shot.

Slow and steady.

It was very very easy--I might try my hand at this pattern my Neenie bought for me a while ago for a kitty wallhanging now that I have this under my belt!

Tah dah!

How neat is that? Barely any fuss or oopsies, the worst that happened was when the paper backing wouldn't come off as cleanly as I'd like, and that the flower bits are a teensy bit unaligned. Not too worried though, I'm going to stitch it all down tonight or later this week and wash my hands of it.

But wait, what's that mysterious brown background that keeps showing up?

A design wall!

That's right! A little bit of felt (okay, 2.5 yards of it), $5 worth of PVC pipes from Home Depot, and some hot glue from Ann's glue gun, and I have a lovely design wall! Taking photographs has never been easier, since I can actually light things properly. I just have to get Photoshop back on my computer so they don't look like absolute crap, but I couldn't wait to show this off.

So where does this leave me with the JT2 quilt?

Right about here.

Some of my flying geese have gone walkabout, I'll have to track them down later this week, but overall I am almost done with Section A! I also need to add in the little leafy thingies on the square within a square. It was a pretty huge ego boost to be able to see everything on the wall and to know that I'd made every single little stitch. Not to mention, I'm about a quarter of the way done!

What's this?

I also received a thank you card from the folks at Desert Bus this week! I honestly wasn't expecting anything, but the lovely folks at Loading Ready Run sent one anyways!

I'm going to have to sit down and sew that patch onto my backpack to establish myself at nerdy gatherings! Maybe I'll do it tonight when I mend some of Glenn's pants.

I'm happy to be back in the quilting state of mind--I hope to see you next week, after I scamper through the Lancaster Quilt Show!

New Year Tidings and Quiltings

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 03:19:00 +0000

Let's not look at these...

Yes, look away from the red and white. Yes, they're lovely, but so. Darn. Frustrating! For some reason I can't get the spiky one in the back to come out right, so I'm just messing around with other things at the moment.

Like cases for my video games!

I received a PS Vita for Christmas (YAY!!!!), and before I felt comfortable enough to actually, you know, play with the foolish thing I had to sit down and make a case for it. It came out a lot better than the PSP one did, and I'm going to have to make a matching game case for it before all is said and done. I might even make up a pattern!

On top of that exciting news, I was asked to review a book for Fons and Porter! I'm working my way through one of the patterns (the chevron one on the right on the cover picture) now, so here's some pictures of that process.

The modern quilter's workstation: pattern on an eBook on the
iPad, Featherweight oiled and ready to go, and gaming system
buried under fabric. Aww yeah.

Part of a block. Yay macro!

It's funny--with my Janome, I can use bad needles for ever without any consequences. If I go one stitch further than the needle can handle, Faith-Ann will start freaking out and dropping her top tension like crazy. Wish I knew the mechanics of how/why that was the case, but the minute I change out the needle she's happy as a lark.

And then, tragedy struck.

Yup. Managed to bugger it up. I also buggered up the other version of the block. HOORAY! Going to have to rip out 40 lines of stitches to fix this up. Ah well. I also discovered an error in the pattern, so I think I'm going to call this one a draw. I mess up, the pattern messes up, it's all good. :)

My stash. :D

Ann and Beppie kidnapped me today for a trip to Burkholder's in the snow and sleet and salt for the Customer Appreciation sale. While there I picked up some random fabrics to stash build, some fabric (guess which ones!) for an apron, some ADORABLE kitty fabric for a new case set for my PSP and Vita, and The Farmer's Wife Pony Club quilt book.

I've wanted it for some time, and it's been lurking in my Amazon wishlist forever. The story behind the quilt is that it's a sampler quilt based on letters written by children who won Shetland ponies through a magazine subscription drive. Being as I am completely horse mad (seriously, ask anyone), it seemed like a perfect fit. You can look forward to seeing blocks from it in the coming months!

Hope everyone is safe, warm, happy and healthy in the New Year!

Desert Bus and Crafting :)

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 01:15:00 +0000

So this happened.

That's right--the quilt sold for $310! Can't even begin to describe how thunderstruck I was when I saw the final total. I just hope the new owner enjoys the lovely bus quilt; it was a labor of love and sacrifice, but by golly I finished it on time!
Continuing from my endeavors in case making from my last blog post, I decided to make the PSP case Mark 2.0. My wonderful, darling mother got me a PS Vita for Christmas, and so I want to make sure I have a neat little case for it when I get to unwrap it on Christmas Day. However, since it is currently languishing in a closet while we wait for the 25th (rassafrassa :P), I turned my attentions to a better PSP case.

The outside of the case.

While rummaging around in my closet I discovered I had about half a yard left of the Pellon fusible fleece I use to make the bow-tuck purses. Perfect for this application, it turns out!

The inside fabric, fused to the fleece but before trimming.

I actually used a number of techniques from those purses to make the case. The fleece was fused to the inside fabric, and I used the same method for sewing the halves together to make everything look neat un tidy.

The assembly begins!

I also used the same basic techniques from the first case. With flannel you have a lot more wiggle room to make mistakes in your measurements and while assembling the pieces; when you're working with bulky fusible fleece and cotton that's been starched, it becomes a lot more difficult!

An inside look at the case.

I sewed the halves of the inside to the middle strip starting at the bottom; this gave me a bit more flexibility in positioning it on Faith-Ann's table, and also meant it would be a bit more accurate than if I'd started the seam on either 'end'.

Finished and turned inside out so you can see how pretty it is.

With the inside all sewn, it was time to move on to the outside covering. If I make another one of these I will probably take the time to attach fleece to the outside. While it would be more bulky, it would mean more padding for my precious electronics!

KITTIES!

One half done!

The outside went together just like the inside, only it was a lot easier and more flexible.

Together at last!

I was a little lazy here; I used white thread to attach the two halves together when I really should have just gotten out my black thread. Oh well. Thankfully the kitties are outlined in white on the case anyways, so it's not that bad looking. I left a small, inch wide gap at the top of the case to turn everything inside out.

So how did it come out?

Tadah!

The PSP in said case.

Just the case.

All in all, I'm proud of it! Still needs a little work, and I need to remember to cut the outside covering a bit wider than the inside (to make room for those bulky seams), but I'm very pleased with it. It's neat, it's pretty, and holds my PSP snug as a bug. A little too snugly, perhaps, but at the very least there's more padding than there was before!

I'm going to try to do some quilting this weekend (taking a break from the general crafting), so keep an eye out for those red and white blocks you've been missing!

Welcome Desert Bussers!

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 22:20:00 +0000

To those of you stumbling across my blog for the first time, welcome! I'd like to give you a quick rundown on who I am, what I do, and how much I appreciate your stopping by (because I really do appreciate it!).

I wanted to make a quilt for DB 5, but unfortunately missed the submission period.
I plan on making another quilt for DB 7!
I am interested in commissions! Leave me a comment below if you're interested in commissioning a quilt from me. Or something else entirely! I'm up for anything, really.
I post here weekly, or at least I try to. Now that the weather is getting colder I will be quilting a lot more.
If you'd like to see the posts about the Desert Bus quilt, just click on the "Desert Bus" tag on this post. It will take you to all the other posts about the quilt!

I haven't done much quilting the past two weeks; Glenn and I are still trying to get everything settled at the new house, nevermind keeping up with our lives. But I did take some time to knock out a case for my PSP as a little stress buster one morning.

Drawing the pattern.

I woke up bored last week, and since Glenn and I weren't doing anything and I had this adorable flannel print lying around, I decided to take a whack at making a new case.

Measuring out the width of the PSP.

I traced around the PSP on a piece of paper, then added a quarter inch and cut it out. I then measured the width, added that lovely little seam allowance, and cut a strip of fabric to length.

The rough pieces.

Once they were ready, I cut a small curve into the bottom of both pieces. This picture is actually a little inaccurate; right after I took it I realized I needed to recut the back piece so that it would have a flap to hold the PSP in. D'oh!

The end result!

A little velcro and top-stiching later, and I had a slim, adorable case to protect the PSP! This is just a proof-of-concept case; now that I know I can make it, I'm going to go back and make a new version that's padded with some batting for added protection. I might use some of my lovely patterned fabric for the outside, and keep the flannel to the inside to protect the screen. I'm already eyeing my stash, trying to work out what to put in the pattern!

Also, I did a little more work on the Just Takes 2 blocks... I'm so far behind, but I need to get into the sewing groove before I'll be ready to tackle some of these blocks.

Bleh. Going to need to redo this one I think.

So that's what I've been up to quilting wise. I'll have another post tomorrow summarizing the result of the auction. I'll be watching it almost all day!

The new room

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:33:00 +0000

Eee!

So, on top of getting engaged, and flying to Canada, Glenn and I moved to a lovely townhome not too far away from our old apartment. The bonus? I got my own quilting room/office!

The desk.

My desk survived the trip intact, though it was very tempting to leave it behind given how bulky and awkward it is! I also stole Glenn's printer, which makes it ever so much easier to print out my pattern instructions. Now I don't have to bother him every time I want to print out coupons or directions to a new quilting store!

The shelf of doom!

I picked up an uber cheap shelf from IKEA that now serves as my fabric shelf. I don't think I ever showed off the shelf I picked up from the thrift store, but having everything in plain sight is lovely.

The desk numero dos!

We also got a lovely little desk from IKEA to be my main quilting desk. Eventually we'll cut out an insert for Gideon to lay in so he's flat on the table, but we have to wait until after Christmas. Thankfully I don't think I'll be working on any full-blown quilts before then! The little bit on the left is on wheels, so I can extend it or hide it as I need to.

The whole shebang.

It's a great setup for me. I might eventually snag a chair to just use for quilting, but for now I just move my desk chair over by a few feet to quilt. The biggest boon though is that I don't have to clean up after each quilting session. I have never been so happy to make a mess and leave it there! Glenn doesn't have to deal with it at all, and so far only a few bits of thread have made it beyond the doorway. :)

Closet side #1.

Closet side #2.

It's a little dark in the photos, but I also have a closet! It's mostly non-quilting stuff, but on the right hand side you can see the machines and ironing board. The ironing board has actually been moved to slide neatly between the wall and fabric shelf, which makes it much easier to pull out for ironing.

My lovely little Martha Washington cabinet,
with Papa's camera beneath.

And this is the crown jewel of the entire set up. I was talking to Neenie on the phone a few months ago, and mentioned how much I had loved her MW cabinet. It's gone to live with my aunt in California, but Neenie promised to look for one when she went to NH this fall. Sure enough, she found not one, but two! One for me and one for Christina. I love it so much; I haven't had a chance to move my quilting stuff into it from the storage containers, but it's going to be so much easier to find my stuff! I've already started using the left hand side to store all my scraps, and the right hand side for yarn.

The surprise!

And as a fun bonus, right before I left for Canada, I received an email from The Quilt Show that I'd won the TQS Snapware Giveaway! I actually thought it was a spam email at first, but how many quilting spammers are there? When I got back, I found a lovely little package from The Quilt Show with my new storage containers. Considering that they usually cost about $10 a piece from Jo-Ann's, it was a great deal!

I think that's about everything; I did get a little quilting in this past weekend and during the hurricane, and I'm hoping to do some more this weekend. We finally got the last of our stuff out of the old place this weekend, and we have declared this coming weekend to be a weekend of unpacking and rest.

Love you all!

Funny that it took a hurricane to get me to post...

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:09:00 +0000

A rainy day's breakfast.

But if it means I get two days off from work, AND I still have power? Post away!

The endless chains... I do not miss them.

So where was I? Ah yes, I was busily assembling the bear paw blocks for the DB quilt. Let me tell you, by the end of this quilt I was a past master at chain piecing and clipping and all of that assorted goodness.

Waiting to be assembled.

There were a few hiccups and curses here and there (surprise surprise, working with a white on white block makes it almost impossible to tell if you've got the HST's going the right way!), but together Faith-Ann and I persevered. Which reminds me, I owe her a serious oiling now that I'm in the new place, but that will have to wait until next post.

Planning the final assembly.

After doing so many flying geese blocks for the JT2 quilt, I knew exactly what to put in the gaps you see above. :D I now love flying geese blocks; they saved my butt in this case! It really blended well with the rest of the quilt without being too taxing.

Ta dah!

See? Except there was another gap--between the paws and the LRR border. D'oh!

Ta dah!

A scrappy little border will do. One thing I will say about this quilt is that it has really made me work at my accuracy. Since I did a lot of this in a "oh bugger, last minute fix" sort of way, I had to measure and measure and measure again to make sure everything fit just right.

Wheels!

I fused the wheels onto the quilt top first, and then used my Janome (shh, don't tell Gideon or Faith-Ann!) to secure it with a zig zag stitch. I think it works just fine.

A window and batting!

There was just enough space on the apartment floor to stretch this out and pin the sandwich together. The kitties had to step on the quilt to get by as they moved about, but luckily it didn't take me too long to finish.

Some practice stitching.

I took this picture because it's really hard to see on the quilt itself through a picture; I did the cute little cactus pattern on the white and blue borders (two separate rows of cacti) and the loop de loop on the bus part. I left the wheels and the window un-quilted because it wouldn't bunch up at all when washed due to the fusible I used.

Ah yes.

This is where I almost threw the whole project in the trash. I'd tried to sew an interlocking loopy thing around the circles of the LRR logo, but it looked awful. As in, it completely destroyed all of the hard work I'd put into the quilt before. So with less than a week to go until Canada, I sat down to watch the debate and tear each and every stitch of the godawful quilting out. It took the entire debate.

Rassafrassa.

It was a chilly night anyways, so having a nice warm quilt on my lap wasn't the end of the world. :D

Into the wash!

Finally, it came to an end. After a few emergency trips to The Round Bobbin ("I NEED TAN THREAD!... I NEED BLUE FOR THE BINDING!!"), the quilt went into the washers at the apartment. It was one of the last loads I'd pay for in quarters!

My first honest to goodness quilt label.

I'm going to have to come up with a better system for quilt labels; I would love to get an embroidery machine to do it for me! Of course then I'd get into a whole nother world of trouble for getting yet another machine. Oh well!

The masterpiece is complete.

Finally, on the morning of the day my plane was scheduled to fly out, I finished the quilt. All the threads were snipped, the binding was checked, the label was applied, and it was ready to begin its international trip to the Moonbase.

The backing.

Am I completely satisfied with it? No. I think it's a lovely quilt, and I learned a lot while making it, but there were many things that were left by the wayside in order to make sure I finished it in time. I am however extremely proud of myself for the execution of the idea with the limitations I had as a quilter and time wise. In the course of making this quilt, I:

Mastered the art of sewing on a binding by hand and machine.
Kicked butt while sewing curves.
Adapted a pattern as needed to fill all the space.
Expanded my comfort zone in quilting patterns.
Sewed my first mini-border.

So I've made a number of huge steps forward as a quilter thanks to this quilt. Yes, there were many things I would do differently if given the chance, but all in all I am proud of my accomplishment, and hope that it will raise a lot of money for DB.

Yes, I am a proud Desert Bus crafter. :D Will I do it again next year? Almost certainly. Maybe I'll even finish it before the deadline!

Whew. So that's what I've been up to quilting wise. Next post (which I am going to write today and post tomorrow) will be about my new quilting space in the townhome. Hint: it's amazing.

Love you all! Stay dry, and please don't be mad if the next post doesn't go up when I said it will--I might have lost power in the middle!

I was going to post today.

noreply@blogger.com (Marisa) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:35:00 +0000

But then Glenn proposed.

On top of that, we are moving to the new townhome this weekend. I will have a post for you all on Monday, but for now I need to make sure everything is ready to go.

Thank you all for your patience!