TGIFF! - Heart Strings

This quilt is two years in the making. I first shared the my design process for this top in September 2015. I wanted to do a vertical version of October Sky, but in reds.

Just as I was starting the hand stitching, my mom got very sick. She spent almost two weeks in the hospital and I brought this project along to help pass the time and manage the fear and sadness.

After her stay and all the emotion from that time, I just couldn't work on this project for a while. She's had multiple hospital visits since and each time, I've brought this project along. It's been quite therapeutic.

I finally finished this in the fall. I'm so glad this one is done. It feels like closure on that time.

With all the emotions stitched into this project, the design and the colours, Heart Strings seemed an appropriate name. To me, this is not a happy quilt and I've been reluctant to share it. Given the events of the last few days in the States and in Quebec City last night, I feel like my heart is breaking again so I thought it's time to share the quilt.

Some photos of the details.

I really love the texture of the hand stitch and machine quilting combination. I used 6 shades of red DMC floss and Aurifil thread for the red section and 2 shades of grey DMC and Aurifil thread for the grey background. 

Final size: 30" by 19"

I'll be linking up with TGIFF! later this week.

Hopeful things will get better. Take care! XO

TGIFF! - Ego Check

Welcome to TGIFF! Yes, I'm hosting again this week. Yay! So you know how I shared my best work to date last week? My We The North Since 1867 received amazing feedback. Thank you all! I'm still replying to comments from last week.

Well, this week is a little bit of a reality check for me. The universe always has timely lessons for me to "not get too big for my britches," as the saying goes.

So here's the story.

It's back-to-school time in our house, right? Our oldest son is starting grade 7 at a new school and needs a new pencil case. Clearly on some delusional high from last week's successful finish, I offered to make him one. Not an easy flat or box style one, but a tube one with an f'ing zipper! 3D projects are not my strong suit.

We picked out some great fabrics.

And I even had the zipper on hand, which is weird because I don't buy those zipper things. Must have come from my grandmother's sewing kit.

I found a great tutorial online. Now, I'll be very clear here. I, M-R Charbonneau, of sound mind and body, in no way, shape or form, hold the lovely writer of this tutorial responsible for my 'modifications' and resulting product.

I redid the zipper three times and the tube ends twice. There were many curse words and much questioning of my sewing ability. In the end, it got done. And done is better than perfect.

Oldest child is still quite happy with it so that is what matters. And really, within a week, it's going to be dingy from hanging out at the bottom of his bag and falling on the floor repeatedly (he is remarkably similar to his mother in his clumsiness).

An InLinkz Link-up

TGIFF! - Badges, Badges Everywhere...

Welcome to TGIFF! You know the phrase about the cobbler’s children having no shoes? Well, my kids’ feel that way when it comes to sewing Beaver/Cub/Scout badges on their uniforms or camp blankets. I am also a Beaver leader so you would think that I’d be all over sewing them on in a timely manner. Alas, they usually have to bug me to sew them on. Now, I think it’s about time my oldest starts sewing his own badges on, so we’ll be working on that.

In the meantime, all three kids have collected a surprising number of badges and crests from their Scouting and sport activities. I have a camp wrap that I sewed my crests and badges on 5 years ago. I’ve had camp blankets purchased for the boys for a few years, but have the badges made it on to the blankets? No. Quilter/leader’s children. Sigh.

Except this week, there was progress! This is Daniel’s new camp blanket.

The other day, he laid out his badges with a few guiding tips from me and I sewed them on. 

I used a zipper foot and moved my needle all the way to the right so that I could sew just along the edge of the badges. The key to not going crazy on matching thread to the different badges? Monofilament thread on the top and a matching thread to the blanket underneath. :)

He’s pretty happy with it and there’s lots of room left for more badges and crests. I’m freaking thrilled that his blanket is off my to-do list! Now just two camp blankets to go and to add on the new badges to my own wrap.

P.S. This week is my 5 year anniversary for the blog! Woo hoo! Stay tuned for a giveaway announcement this weekend...

An InLinkz Link-up

TGIFF! - Colour Pop!

Woo hoo! Colour Pop is done! Happy dance! This quilt started in an Elizabeth Olwen quilt design class with the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild last April.

It was time to break into my black and white fabric collection and try something new for me. Okay, the rainbow isn't new, but it's all prints!

Here are the elements I wanted to play with in this quilt:

• Asymmetrical design
• Progression of the values of black and white prints outward from the rainbow
• Progression of the size of the coloured triangles
• Ruler quilting
• Getting more comfortable with prints

I am very, very happy with the design. :)

It fits perfectly!

I talked a little more about my experience with ruler quilting in this post. I will say this -- while I love the look of ruler quilting, it was very hard on my hands and arms and I probably won't try this again on a quilt this large.

When it came to the quilting, I did a concentric triangle in all of the black and white prints using a ruler and my favourite white Aurifil 2021 on both the front and the back. For the large coloured triangles, I did a different straight-line motif in each one in a matching thread colour.

I love this spirograph.

Here is the back - stuck with the black and white theme. It was the first time that I was successful at getting the pieced back to line up straight with the front. It's the little things, I tell you.

Final size: 53" by 71"

Some lessons learned:

• All black and whites are not the same. While all of the prints looked to have the same white in my studio, when I took the top outside, I found that they were not. Since this quilt's natural habitat will not be outdoors, I didn't bother fixing it. 
• I wanted to make sure that the strong backing did not show through to the front so I doubled the batting. Added bonus -- the quilting shows up more.
• Because the triangles have bias edges, they can stretch more easily and I found there was some stretch along the edges of the quilt as I was quilting each triangle. To prevent or minimize this next time, I would quilt along the perimeter to stabilize the edges after I've done the grid quilting foundation and before I quilt in each triangle. Blocking the quilt also helped remove some of the waves along the edge. 

And the most important lesson with this quilt? EaseOut is awesome at getting rid of crayon or marker marks on black and white quilts. To be fair to my kids, it does look like a colour book. ;)

As this was finished during Q1 Finish-A-Long, you can bet I'm linking up there.

I'm a little early, but I'm also linking up with my TGIFF peeps over with Cynthia this week.

TGIFF! - Art Theory Pencil Case

Welcome to TGIFF -- Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday! My first finish of 2016 - woo hoo! When I'm playing around with colour schemes on a block or quilt design, I pull out the pencil crayons. I used one of my kids's old pencil cases, but rooting around for the right colour was annoying and I wanted a case that would show them all laid out and be easy to pick up and go (you know, when that hockey practice is done).

While out shopping with my sister over the holidays, I explained to her what I was looking for. She looked at me a little oddly and said, "Can't you make that yourself?" DUH! Of course I can! Okay, well not 'of course', but more ' yeah, I think I can figure it out.'

As soon as the house cleared of holiday guests, I got to work. And I knew the perfect fabric for it too. ExLibris by Alison Glass. I rarely get all "I must have that fabric or I will die" about fabrics or fabric lines, but this one was the exception. I didn't buy a lot, but I bought some. :D I knew it would be perfect for this project too.

So here it is, my two row, foldable or rollable pencil case holder.

I used the Art Theory panel in charcoal for the cover and Geometry in Sunset, with a bit of Kona Charcoal, for the interior. Love.

I was too impatient to do a prototype so there are a few things I'd do a little differently next time:

• Not add any batting -- makes it too bulky
• I'm still debating whether it would have been better to make one long roll or the two rows. The two rows keep it compact when it's laid out, but bulky to roll up. One row would make it really long for laying out, but maybe a little less bulky. The reality is it will be bulky regardless when there are that many pencil crayons. 
• Also debating whether I should have done ties rather than a button. 

And now I get to use them with my Quilter's Planner and my adult colouring book. :)

I suspect that whenever I take this out, my kidlets will be commandeering it. Hmm, maybe some new rollups are in order...

An InLinkz Link-up

TGIFF! - Folded Star Ornaments

Wow, that break was a little unexpected! Life is a little whoa right now. Like Whoa-slow-the-hell-down kind of whoa. But TGFTGIFF -- Thank Goodness for TGIFF! to help get me back in the saddle. There hasn't been a lot of sewing going on, but there are ornaments. Okay, there are two ornaments right now, but there will be more.

These folded star ornaments were made using this great tutorial. They are time consuming, but so cleverly constructed.

I love this one:

But I adore this one:

Look at that deer! XO

Cute, eh? Only 14 more to go. ;)

An InLinkz Link-up

TGIFF! - Carsick!

Welcome to TGIFF! I'm freaking thrilled to say that Carsick is finally done! Woo hoo!

This scrappy trip quilt started in 2012 when it was all the craze. My lovely Carmine group bee mates from the Simply Solids bee made 11 of the blocks here, with me supplying them with a grey and a purple.

I was hoping that using the constant of a grey and a purple in each block would pull the scrappiness together, but it didn't quite work out as hoped.

I think the problem is that each block has a colourway that works well with the grey and the purple in it's block, but is often very different from the blocks surrounding it. In hindsight, I think it also would have worked better if all the blocks were completely scrappy.

Also, if the blocks had a consistent value progression, I think it would have been a more successful composition. Live and learn!

That said, I learned a lot about colour palettes in making this quilt. I adore many of the blocks in this quilt, just not so much together. From the blocks that my Carmine bee mates made me, I saw some fabulous colour combos that I wouldn't have thought to try.

If I couldn't love the front, I figured that I would try to love the back. Purples and greys, and a mix of solids and prints.

Yep, happy with the back, especially with the quilting!

I tried out some different quilting options, but the thought of quilting one all over design on this quilt just didn't appeal to me. So I decided to break it up. Did some orange peels, twists, and clamshells using some charcoal Aurifil thread on the top and some purple Aurifil on the back.

I find doing different motifs breaks it up and adds some interest. It definitely made quilting it more interesting.

This quilt is 73" by 97".  It's finally off my WIP list. Happy dance!

An InLinkz Link-up

TGIFF! - Bubbles for Malcolm

Welcome to TGIFF! Boy, is this ever a TGIFF for me! Quilting time is at a premium these days with Fall activities in full swing. I was determined to finish this quilt for my turn to host TGIFF! though.

It took a few late nights, some early mornings and a lunch break here and there to finish this quilt, but it. Is. DONE! And I love it. This one is going to be a hard one to give away, but I'm so excited (dare I say 'bubbling' with excitement) to give it to Malcolm.

Hugely inspired by Janet Workman's gorgeous quilt, this baby quilt for my friend's son started out well, but had a few challenges along the way. It is a trickier quilt than it looks.

The last time I shared this, we talked quilting options. It's always so helpful to get other people's opinions so thank you for sharing your ideas! For the quilting, I used matching threads with the fabrics and did different motifs in the bubbles.

Love this one - asymmetrical swirl. :)

 I loved it so much, I did another.

In the light grey background, I broke up with negative space with some cloud sections. Each section has a different quilting motif (or two).

And definitely some large spirals and pebbles!

The backing is the IKEA numbers fabric I bought before it was discontinued.

Bubbles for Malcolm by a bubbling fountain. :) 

Ahh...so relaxing.

Finished size: 39.5 by 60"

An InLinkz Link-up