More Progress!

I know it is a terrible picture but we had to get things picked up and just took a very quick phone shot after dark.  This is all sewn together except for the long strip at the far left.  We still need to piece that in a more interesting fashion. 

This is a group quilt.  I started randomly piecing blocks and then put it away.  Spud one would get it out and ask for more progress.  Finally he got frustrated and started handing me pieces to sew together.  Then he wanted it to be queen size.  Then we didn't have enough fabric.  Then we put it away.  Then he decided it need to have the robot block.  Then we put it away.  Then he pulled it out and we had to argue over just sew it together versus make it look right.  We are somewhere in the middle on that. 

But it actually looks like it might be a quilt some day.

So... Quilt or tie? 

Overnight Tea Party

OK.  Not really.  Just some progress shots of my quilted overnight bag and my tea party quilt. 

This is the tea party quilt.  It is 36 inches square.  Just the right size for having tea with your dolly under the weeping willow tree.  Or inside on the living room floor as the weeping willow tree has about 10 inches of snow under it today.  It is made from orphan blocks.  The green fabric is a beautiful print from the Paris Flea Market line.  The pink is from the French Mill book design for a cause line.  They look great together but not so much with the rest of the quilt they were intended to join.  (That is the one I will be working on next.)

I put this one together as a practice piece.  I wanted to practice my free motion quilting.  No.  Don't get excited.  The teapot was done using my embroidery machine and a quilting motif from Urban Threads.  My humble efforts can just be seen on the left. 

I'll post better picture once the sun comes up and I can get around better.

 Next up is a quilted overnight bag.  I put it together using 4.5 inch squares of quilting cotton.  It was assembled and quilted on muslin.  The lining was made, with pockets!  I have made bags before but never put in pockets.  

 

Here you can see a bit of the elastic topped pockets on the left and a hint of the traditional pocket on the right.  I am not yet happy with the strap.  The hot pink webbing is a place holder until I figure out what I really want to do. 

Cold is as Cold Does GIVEAWAY!

Or some such thing.  So I am from 'up North' where we have 'real' winter.  I've been living 'down south'  (OK, St Louis ain't exactly South but it is more South than where I used to live.)  The winters here have been pretty mild for the past few years.  I think my blood has thinned. 

It was 7, SEVEN, degrees Fahrenheit when I took the spud to school this am.  No throwing a dress over the jammies and stepping into the flip flops today!  Fortunately, since I am from 'up North' and fortunately, since I am a pack rat, I have a stash of wool sweaters to wear.  I had to dig them out from under a pile of loosely knit cotton ones.  You know, the sort that let the breeze pass through.  Better yet, I found a thermal knit t-shirt during the hunt.  I am not toasty.  OK, I am toastier than I was.

To celebrate finding my treasure trove and to help reduce some of the clutter, I am going to give away a t-shirt scarf, similar to the one in the photo.  These are fun scarves to add some color to your outfit and can add some warmth if you choose to wrap them up a bit more. 

 Yours will be grey and yellow or red.  Just tell me which color you prefer.   Unfortunately it won't have a flower on it.  I'd take a picture of it but it is just too cold to get up and do that. All you have to do is leave me a comment below telling me which color you prefer.  I will pick a winner Sunday December 15 after 5 pm. 

Unfortunately, I can't ship this outside the US.  If you are an international reader, feel free to leave a comment anyway and if your number comes up, I will contact you about a treat I can ship overseas. 

Stay warm!

Making Progress

This quilt top was finished ages ago.  I am finally getting around to getting it quilted.  You can see a bit of the butterfly pattern if you look closely at the dark squares in the lower half.  It is pretty dull bt not quite as dull as the picture indicates.  I'll get some outside shots once the sun is shining. 

Button Button Who's got the Button?

<a href="http://waggonswest.etsy.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb155/waggonswest/8e50aeb1-b4d5-40ef-935a-3228c62e1b82.jpg"/></a>


I think that I have managed to make a button for my etsy shop.  

The Cost of Quilting

This article was posted on the Sew Mama Sew Facebook page today.  It is on the Mollie Sparkles Blog.  She meticulously costs out the labor materials, shipping and intellectual value of making a quilt top.  You have to go read the whole thing to get the total. 

It is a 72 x 72 inch quilt.  The real cost is staggering. The materials cost is high but certainly what it would be if we truly added it all up without some congressional grade accounting tricks like already in stash is free! 

What we truly under-value as quilters is our time and more importantly our creativity.  If you think about it, what does a consulting firm get for designing a new logo?  What about the cost of designing a webpage.  Creativity is not cheap. 

Quilters likely don't do the sort of statistical market research a logo consultant does.  However, we do survey market trends (read blogs, search on-line patterns, visit fabric stores, consult with the client or carefully consider the recipient).  How many times have you tried to use a piece from your stash only to decide it is out-of-date or doesn't fit the vibe?  How many times have you gone back for a different piece because the color doesn't play nicely or the contrast is too high or low?  It is all time.  Time well spent but seldom counted in the value of making a quilt. 

And like web-page design, making the design look good is just half the battle.  We need to do the back end construction to get all the parts to function properly.  A great design only goes so far.  The seams need to be solid and the project needs to be finished. 

The bottom line is that materials x 2 or even x 3 just doesn't cover it in terms of the real cost involved in making a quilt. 

I bring this up, because as I make more quilts I have more quilts I am ready to send on to a good home... for a price.  I've donated a fair share.  I've gifted plenty.  But I would like to sell some of them.  I want to get a fair price for them.  I tend to price them high.  (No where near where I should based on this calculation) but higher than seems seemly.  I always figure out a price at which I am willing to see them go.  Or as my husband says would you rather have the quilt in your closet or $ in your pocket.  Some of them have a price.  Some don't. 

So what do you think?  Do you sell quilts?  Make them on commission?  Do you only give/donate?  What are your quilts worth? 

Quiler's Blog Hop Give Away Giving Thanks Version

The Give Away is officially closed the Winner is EmilyC.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by during the blog hop!  


Yes.  It is that time again.  Misha is hosting the Quilter's Blog Hop Give Away over at Quilting Gallery.

I am going to be giving away a custom quilt label.  I have several different designs available in my etsy shop but I will work with you to get the colors, wording, size and style perfect for your project. 

Your label will be machine embroidered on quality white quilters cotton.  The thread is colorfast.  It will have a border large enough for you to turn and applique or to piece into your quilt.

All you have to do is answer this question in the comments.  What information do you put on your quilt label.

All the best!  Be sure to check out Quilt Gallery for many other amazing give aways!

The details:  The Give Away is open from November 21 until Sunday December 1 at 5 pm CST.  I will pick a winner using a random number generator and contact the winner by email.  Please be sure to leave an email address if you are a no reply blogger.  

You should seriously check out the patterns available at Quilting Gallery.  The Aiming For Accuracy one is stunning. 

Sad Shirt. Happy Bag.

The Mister's shirt was damaged and unwearable.  But he really liked it.  He also needed a tote bag.  A manly tote bag.  Thus... sad shirt to happy bag.  I love the buttons and pocket!  Should have given it a tie. 

And it has an awesome stone lining/reversible side courtesy of my friend Kelly. 

First Snow!

That means it is winter.  And I haven't updated anything since what seems like summer.  I'm just going to toss in some pictures of things I've been making rather than try to catch up individually. 

Quilt finish!  Only one in months for the Craftster Mini Art Quilt Swap. 

My partners theme was a story called "The Yellow Wallpaper".   It is a pretty dark Victorian tale about a woman who is confined and starts to see a woman in the wallpaper.  She tries to free her.

She tries to free her.  My partner is also an amazing and very  modern quilter.  She loves bright modern colors and wanted bright modern fabrics.  I did what I could to reconcile the two notions.  Probably not getting very far on either one.  But it was fun.  The yellow isn't very modern but it was pretty wallpaper-y.  I liked using the Madrona Road bits because of the implied story.

I couldn't bring myself to actually rip up the quilt.  I know it needed it.  Instead I left it intact and applied the shreds over the top.  My partner could remove them and finish off the binding if she preferred. 

It is hand quilted with teardrop shapes that mimic the face in the center.  The face is an Urban Threads design and is repeated in the top left, although I doubt anyone will ever find it.

This is the stunning quilt she made for me.  I love it!

OK.  That is enough for today.  Hope you all are doing well.  I'll be back with more as soon as I can.  

Ouch

I have done something bad to my knee.  It is definitely slowing me down.

Problem Solving. Or Avoiding What I am Supposed to be Doing

 I am supposed to be making things for a couple shows.  I am supposed to be cleaning my house.  I am supposed to be packing up some things.  Most of all I am supposed to be making a mini art quilt for the estimable Mare Mare of craftster.org.

Instead, I found it absolutely essential that I make a carrier bag for the hangers I drag around to shows.  I have a couple cardboard hanger boxes that I borrowed stole from my mom.  She used to get them from the local dry cleaner.  I can't find any dry cleaner that has them.  They are perfect for keeping the hangers organized and ready to grab. 

The boxes are old.  I was completely stressed out about them when I sent one with Spud 1 and his buddy, Mr T,  to the last show they did.  I just knew that it would rip or that some one would throw it out as trash.  I am quite sure that Mr T was convinced I am a lunatic for worrying about a dumb old box.  But then given Mr T's status as a complete lunatic (incredibly practical, efficient and organized but entirely goofy) I am not sure I will give his opinion all that much credibility. 

Looking ahead, I realized that the next show I am doing, I will be on my own.  No Spuds to Sherpa the goods.  The most awkward thing I have is the hanger box.  clearly the box needed to have shoulder straps and a supporting bag to keep it intact and recognizable as a valuable tool. 

So... I made the hanger box bag!  I drew around the bottom of the box.  Stitched on a strip for the sides.  It has a muslin lining.  I stitched the lining and outer together at the top and turned it through the hanger opening sides.  Those I folded under and topstitched around the whole thing.  I added the straps, one inch twill tape over the surface going all the way around the bag and under the bottom for some extra support.  The little ties on the front are some more twill tape to keep things all together. 

Fits over my shoulder.  Is comfortable to carry. Looks better than the beat up cardboard.  Winning all the way around.  Now, if only I could make some decisions about Mare's quilt.  She loves modern and bright.  Any suggestions for making it artsy? 

Pumpkins

Pumpkins. 

That is all. 

Rocket Girl

Boy blacksmith wanted me to make galaxy/nebula/space shirts.  I've been trying.

I'm getting mixed results.  I'm not too sure they look much like galaxies at a distance but there is some interesting depth in the close up view. 

Spud 3 says this one is just plain gross.  That is OK,  It is ripped and I was using it to experiment with overpainting. So I started adding some machine embroidery.  This one is a design from Embroidery Library. 

Rocket girl was one of my many reminders about why I don't typically use red/pink/orange paint as the dominant color.  The red pigment just doesn't move and so the prints are indistinct.  This one was leaves that barely showed.  I over painted with black and used lots of stars.  It is a cool print, but another one that may not translate well at a distance.

I found the rocket girl design over at Urban Threads and decided it would be perfect on this shirt.  Stitched out beautifully.  But that is what you expect from Urban Threads.  More importantly, it stitched out on the t-shirt material without a hitch.  Wonderful.  Thanks UT!

Since that worked, I have also tried embroidering over some of the other shirts that haven't printed well.

 This is a kokopeli print I tried to do in red and yellow.  Again, not such a good print. 

I added an embroidered Kokopeli.  Next one will be in turquoise.  You can see a bit of the printing just below the stitching.  This is also an EmbroideryLibrary design. 

Boots on the?

... Wherever you want with this little badge. 

Pardon me while I share my total cuteness overload.  I know that most of you would think that the kitties, bunnies and flowers are the cutest thing ever, but I just love this tiny little boot print.  I love it so much, I couldn't even wait for it to finish stitching to take a picture.

The other cool thing about this particular design is that I drew it electronically using paint.net.  Typically, I draw on paper, take a picture and then retouch using some sort of graphics program.  This one was a first.  It was digitized using stitch Era, which is sadly now unsupported.  I use a Babylock Ellegante 2 for my sewing and all my badges are made using upcycled denim. 

This particular badge is part of a group for a boys club.  The design will appear in the shop as soon as I finish up some other projects. 

Welcome Fall?

It is the first of October and I am enjoying a lovely Caprese Salad, thanks to my friends named Mike who garden and share.