brynn's quilt

In my post last week I mentioned I was going to bind and label the Christmas gift quilts.  Guess what?  I did that yesterday.

But it's done and now I can share one of them - the one I'm fairly confident won't be seen before it is gifted today...Brynn's quilt.

It all started out MONTHS ago, in February, when Canuck Quilter announced she would be hosting a mystery quilt along.  (The mystery is no longer available, but you can buy the pattern - knowing what it is - in her shop here.)

I went out shopping for girly colors, planning to give this to the great niece I inherited when my nephew got married last December.  I just needed two colors that contrasted, but Brynn is a girly girl (she's just 2, but still), so I wanted to honor that.

I really like the lighter fabric and would have liked to use purple, but wasn't able to find anything I really liked at the store and wasn't going to drive all over to multiple stores for something I wasn't even sure I'd like!  (I have issues with mystery quilts, but was willing to take a risk for a bloggy friend here.)

The clues seemed to dribble out, but since I'd opted for the smallest size option, I didn't have many units to complete each week.

Unlike some quilters, I wasn't trying to figure out how these went together until the very end.  Perhaps my trimming monster was keeping me occupied elsewhere?

But then the instructions for construction arrived and all was well!

The block construction is done in a manner that allows nesting of seams and that was super nice not to have to go re-iron and flip seams to make things go together better.

Then the top went together quickly, though I had waited to cut my border fabrics until later, so that did set me back a little...

I also remember the borders taking a little more head-scratching than I'm used to, but you'll see they aren't just regular plain borders either.  Once I stepped back, though, I'm pretty sure I got them right here...

Back to the store for a back.  Why I didn't purchase one at the time is beyond me, but whatever.

This doesn't exactly match the pink of the front, but it's okay.  It was honestly the best of my choices and I do like it.

Lots of procrastination and a new job later, I put it on the longarm just a few weeks ago.

Done as the third in a marathon of quilting, it went fairly quickly compared to the other two, larger, quilts done that day.  But it was a relief to finally get this last one off the machine and go sit down for a little while!

I had made the binding when I was working on the top - a trick someone taught me along the way and it is rather nice when I've had a quilt sitting around for a while to not have to go find fabric that may have gotten used up otherwise that I now need - and so I got that sewn on the following day.

It sat a bit...and then I sewed the binding down yesterday.  And made a label and sewed that on too!

And then took advantage of the sunshine to do an outdoor photo shoot - complete with shadows from my naked trees!

(well, that looks fabulously blurry for no apparent reason...it looks fine on my phone...oh well, the one of just the top above looks nearly the same (minus binding) and it's in focus and I just quilted swirls, so nothing to worry over)

Quilt stats:

Pattern: Half and Half

Designer: Canuck Quilter

Size: 36"x48"

Pieced and quilted by me!

Today is Christmas for this side of the family, so she'll get her quilt in just a few short hours.  I'm pretty sure it won't be the highlight of her holiday, but if she snuggles under it tonight, I'll be happy enough.

I'll also be giving away the Ho Ho Ho quilt and I cannot wait.  I expect at least one of the boys (her brothers) to laugh so hard they give themselves hiccups.  It's a family problem.

This week has also been a good one for reading - two finished books to share!

Written by a Turkish author and set in Turkey (originally published in Turkish), this is the story of three people struggling with their lives.  A young girl is raped by  her uncle and, according to their very rural customs, she is sentenced to death for her behavior.  A young man, a soldier just returned home from active duty, who is also her cousin (son of the offending uncle) is tasked with taking her "to Istanbul" to perform an honor killing that will rid her family of their shame.  He does indeed take her to Istanbul and I don't think I'm spoiling much by saying he doesn't kill her, but the story doesn't take that turn in the direction I expected.

The third character is a middle-aged professor who seems to be going through a mid-life crisis, as he abandons his plush life, rents/buys a sailboat and runs away from his life.

As you may have guessed, their paths eventually intersect and, again, things do not go as I might have expected, but it keeps the story interesting.  It's not always (or often) a happy story, but it feels honest and I liked that.

The book ends without that final wrap-up ending some give you, but since that's how life goes, it felt right.

I said last week that it was one I'm not sure how it ended up in my stash, but as with the others, I'm glad it did.  I learned about a culture that I didn't even know existed in Turkey and am maybe a better person for it?

On to book two - a lighter and quicker read:

Don't go getting all bent out of shape - this isn't a naughty book in the least.  I mean, there is the one chapter where he goes to a nudist colony, but by the time you get to that chapter (each chapter is a short story), you realize this guy is out for humor and not so keen on actual facts.

Each story is based on his life, though he takes to embellishing them so much that you aren't sure where the real stops and the imagination begins.  Since some ideas are repeated in future stories, you do get a sense that some of these things (like he has a sister) are real, but you also instinctively know that some are not.

It was entertaining and I even giggled out loud a few times at things.  A quick read and I enjoyed it.

Time to go get mentally prepared for the holiday crazy happening later today!  (Thank goodness I wrapped all the presents yesterday - no sense doing it early as the Goblin will unwrap them all in no time...)

Happy quilting!

Katie

the plan for today

This past week has not been a good one for any kind of sewing.  Except a little secret sewing.  Which of course, I cannot prove here.

(It wasn't much anyways.)

This week has seen the near completion of Christmas shopping, which is good.

I still have to bind the littlest quilt and put labels on them both.  That is on the agenda for today.

Unless the hubby takes a nap, then I might read.  At least while he is sleeping.

I did finish two books in the last week, though!

I need to learn to expect less from books with stickers on them proclaiming them to have won awards.  It seems more often than not, they are wordy and pretentious and not all that fun to read.  (I have no idea what the criteria for any of these awards are, but I want to be entertained.)

So this book centers a lot around a brain malfunction called Capgras Syndrome, where a person cannot recognize loved ones.  Or maybe just one or two of them.  Here it's induced by a horrific car crash and the sister and dog are the ones not recognized.

Slow paced, to the point where I wondered if I could just skip whole pages, it takes a long time to develop characters (some of which I wonder why they were there at the end of the book), watch them stumble around for a LONG time and eventually resolve the malady, or at least truly treat it.  (yep, a little spoiler there)

The "echo makers" are sandhill cranes and I believe it was a Native American story that gave them that name, though I can't remember and I'm not going back to look for it.  Their presence and the environmental changes impacting their lives was part of the book, but it was like a whole different story going on.

Can you tell I didn't care much for the book?

I kept reading because I'm stubborn and because I thought maybe the story might redeem itself.  I learned a little, so I guess there's that.

They can't all be winners in my book, even if they have gold stickers on their covers proclaiming them to be just such.

Second up was a quick read, though a lot of pages!

Though I didn't realize it until I pulled it out to read, this one is geared towards "middle grade" kids.  (Just like A Wrinkle in Time.)  But I'll give it a chance - the blurb on the back sounds good...

It was good!

As with the other book geared towards kids, though, I sometimes felt like the author was talking down to me.  It wasn't often and maybe that's just how kids books are written? (I don't remember this as a kid, but my perception was different then!)

It's a story of four children who are selected through a questionable set of exams to save the world from an evil genius.  The kids are all exceptionally smart and have skills that come in handy throughout the novel in their quest.  

I enjoyed the book and it was a quick read, though I was bothered at the end by the fact that all the "good" people were smart and patient and kind and all the "bad" people were mean and dumb (except the evil genius, of course, but he also had some blind spots).  While that made for a good narrative, it's not at all how the real world works.  I guess if you're trying to escape the real world by reading (yep, that's me!), that's okay but I also feel like if you're writing for kids, you might have a little obligation to teach that not all nice people are good and not all mean people are bad.  (But if that's my biggest complaint, we're okay!)

I've started the next book already and it's another that I'm not sure how it ended up in my stash.  But so far it's interesting and a whole other world from what I know, so a good one to expand my knowledge.  I expect to have it read by the time I'm back here next week - hopefully with finished quilts to talk about, though maybe not quite yet share?

Happy quilting!

Katie

(an old photo, but seasonably appropriate!)

jenna's second baby quilt

The baby quilt has been given, her due date was yesterday, so it's safe to share!  (Not that you haven't been here all along, but a wrap-up is in order.)

A few months back, I was told that my hubby's cousin's daughter was expecting her second child.  She got this quilt for the first baby - a boy.  We didn't really expect her to be pregnant again so soon, but everyone has their own agenda for these things.  (And sometimes mother nature has alternate plans.)

I went through a few ideas before settling on the Baby Chick Quilt (scroll waaaay down for her version) for the new little girl-to-be.  I raided my stash of pinks (there was more there than I thought - hooray!) and only had to purchase some to complete the border and, of course, the back.

I got busy sewing right away - new projects are always awesome!

This was before I started the new job where I have a lot more hours and am much more tired when I get home because the shifts are also longer.

I got a lot done, but eventually the little chicks needed legs and I stalled out there for a bit...

Lily convinced me to sit down and get them done one day - still before the new job - and they went pretty fast.  She was even a good girl and only tried to chew the embroidery floss a few times.

The layout came next...

The layout looks more done here than it actually is.  The block corners all get "snowballed" and that took a bit of effort to get pinks placed so that I didn't have the same fabrics touching each other when the sashing pieces were considered.

Eventually I got it done and got the border on as well.

The original had a wider, scrappier border, but I didn't want to buy multiple pieces of pinks just to get that done and I think this looks just fine.  Maybe better.

Getting it onto the longarm took another bout of procrastination, but by now I was at the new job and one day quilted all three quilts that I'll be giving away this month in a fury of quilting.

I usually load rectangular quilts sideways, as it makes for fewer passes, albeit longer.  Longer is easier than more to me.  I thought this quilt was square.  I'm not sure why.  It's not.  So I did more passes instead.  Not a big deal.  This quilt isn't that large, so it didn't take very long.  And I quilted swirls, which though they take a lot of thread, go quite quickly.

Then it was time to bind.

Since the weather has turned cold (it IS winter), I was curled up under a quilt while binding the baby quilt.  Salem came to help.  And with that adorable face, who can tell you she isn't perfect?  (She didn't even try to chew thread once!)

I put in some earbuds and turned on a favorite podcast and listened to a few episodes (catching up after all this extra hours at the new job thing, you know) and had it done in no time.

Make and attach a label and it's done!

It looks a little more orange here maybe?  It was later at night and getting colors right indoors in the poor lighting isn't easy.

The hubby took it to her mom (his cousin) the following day and she was at the house, so she got it directly.  (Mom/cousin said she would get it to her for me, but this was better.)

She loved it!  (Of course she did.  Who wouldn't?!)

I've been working on getting the other two quilts bound.  Ho Ho Ho came first...

Oh, wait.  That's Lily helping.  She was also a goodest girl, snuggling in the warm, not-being-bound-but-keeping-me-warm quilt and not trying to eat the thread.  This time.

Another round of podcasts and kitty snuggles and this quilt is bound.  It still needs a label, but I've got a little time yet and some other projects needed to be done first.  Some more secret projects.

The third quilt, by far the smallest, is still waiting for its day of binding, but I'll get there.  It won't take long.  (Famous last words...)

No new book finishes this week.  The current one is quite slow paced, though interesting.  But I'm at a point where I'm like COME ON!!!  Just tell us what happens!  I hope to maybe finish it today, but we have an extended family Christmas celebration this afternoon, so we'll see how much time I end up with.

Happy quilting!

Katie

binding

The extra half day off work didn't make me much more productive.  It did allow time to make a cheesecake without being frantic, so there's that.

Friday I wanted to take it easy, but the hubby wanted his crew to have tacos for lunch, so guess what I did Friday?

Finally Saturday I had some time to myself and I got busy with quilty stuff!  I sewed bindings on all three of the quilts I quilted last week and then sat down...

...and bound the baby quilt.

(You can see I had some help...Salem is so perfect...)

It was a curl up under a quilt and bind another quilt kind of day (Mother Nature let us have it with snow this weekend...okay, okay, it was only a couple of inches, but still the first we've had all season), so you see two quilts in the photo above.  The pink roses is the back of the baby quilt.  All else is my Easy Addition quilt.

I still have to make and attach a label -  I think that will be the first project today, once I get done with all the chores (almost there, but it's taking forever), so I can send it on its way soon.  The baby is due soon, so I'd better get it done fast!

In other news, I mentioned a shark pet bed last week when showing you Toby's new octopus bed.  It turned up at the store this week and is nowhere near as cute as the octopus, so it didn't come home with me.  (Just as well, my groceries-and-more bill is getting big lately with adding in a few Christmas gifts each week!)

I also finished two books!

The author was born in Russia, but lives in the US now (or at least did last I could figure out).  It is a book of short stories, all of them a little oddball, and a mix of American culture and Russian folklore.  I have a hard time separating the stories from the writing here, so I can't say I really liked the book, but I did enjoy that the author grew up in another culture and brought that into her writing and stories.

Second up:

This author was born in Czechoslovakia and the two novellas in this book are set there.  One of them is the the book title and centers around the instrument.  The second is maybe a love story?  Both are a little different, but the writing (even translated from Czech) was good and I enjoyed the book.  It was a quick read and I again saw a little bit of life from a non-American perspective.

(Side note: I have no recollection of picking up this book - I still wonder if my  hubby was stuffing books in my "full" bags at one of the sales he went to with me since this is the second one of this nature.  Guess I can't complain because I've enjoyed both of the mystery books!)

It's amusing to me that though these were selected entirely randomly from my bookshelf (remember my numbered books and random number draw system for choosing the next book to read?) and are both short story collections and from countries outside the US, but so close to one another otherwise.

The next book is set in the US, written by an American author, which is what the majority of my bookshelf looks like.  But I am trying to branch out, so these last two helped!

Time to go make that quilt label...

Happy quilting!

Katie