pq 13.4 and more

Once again, I've been sewing and not blogging.

I've sewn a lot of things.

But we'll start with Project Quilting again, since my title indicates as much.

The prompt for challenge four was "Mining for Diamonds."  I was really hesitant to use a diamond design because that was just too obvious.  And I was struggling with a diamond shape because of all the bias edges.  Really, though, I was struggling with making ANYthing.  I just wasn't motivated and I had given up the first few days of the week to work and other things, so it couldn't be too large of a project.

And then, while cruising through Pinterest in a rather desperate, unmotivated mood, I came across Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Those guys were miners, right?  I mean, we've seen them whistling and heading to work with their pick axes and lanterns and stuff, so maybe they're looking for diamonds?

A little more searching (mostly for a good representation of their clothing colors, if we're being honest), I came across a fairly stylized graphic that finally got the ball rolling.  I could do a very stylized design that would represent them - in a pincushion form.  Not only would it be small and take not too much time, but...oh man...paper piecing again?  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?  Seriously.

Yeah, I just drafted that myself.  No biggie.

But do you see that ruler there?  And notice the cutting mat?  I truly HAVE LOST MY MIND!

Really, it wasn't too awful.  The tiniest pieces gave me the biggest fits, but I got it done.  It only took a few hours of piecing and I wasn't too worried about perfection.  (And if you are, you're at the wrong blog!)

I used some deeper shades of fabric than normal, but every photo I saw did not have them in rainbow bright colors...it's okay...I have a stash of "ugly" colors, too.

(Okay, okay.  They're not ugly, they're just not what I would make as my first choice when buying fabrics.  You can like them all you want.  I'm going to call them dwarf colors for today.)

I quilted them just a little bit -  mostly to make sure this qualified for the PQ rules.

Turned and stuffed and sewn shut and there you have it!

If you click on the link above, you'll go to the site with all the entries for this challenge.  You'll see a lot of actual diamonds and a lot of diamond piece shapes.  But there are a few of us who got creative!

On to the other things!

I finished up the tiny machines and took them to a sew-in for my guild last Monday.  They were well-received, and the two oranges were snatched up right away - the two orange girls were there that day!

In all, I think I've made 24, which I hope will be enough, but I can make a few more if needed.  (Please, don't be needed!)

Then, while I was waiting for PQ inspiration to strike, I decided to make a Sew Together Bag.  Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, I found a sew-along that did a really fantastic job of explaining how to make it.  (For any of you who have seen the printed pattern...well...)

The fabric selection was actually guided by my hasty zipper purchase a few weeks back.  I just grabbed a few fun colors (the stock was fairly depleted to start with) and figured I have a sufficient stash to make this work.

As with face masks and cat hammocks, I tried to choose a darker color for the outside - the far left fabric - so that any dirt it encounters is camouflaged nicely.  Though I couldn't have asked for a better accidental zipper combo because holy cow does it match so well.  (And the stripes at the bottom also...wow!)

Day one of sewing was a fairly long stretch, but this is where I had things when I went to bed.  There may have been some swearing involved (mostly at the multitude of pins I needed and then stabbed myself with when trying to add more...), but I was pretty excited to have something that looked so promising already.

The hardest part was probably getting those little zipper end tabs attached to the bottom of the bag.

Please don't look close.  Again, this blog is not about perfection.

I'm excited this is done since I'm leaving later this week for a quilt retreat - the real motivation for starting this when I did.  This will help keep a lot of my non-fabric stuff nicely organized.

It went fairly well, too, so maybe these will be on the list to make for Christmas?  They do take a fair amount of work, what with interfacing and zippers and such, but it is a nice bag...

Once this was done, I had to figure out a third project for the upcoming retreat.  I've shared with you the fabrics and some cutting for the first two, but I know better than to put too many eggs in one basket.  You just never know what is going to go wrong (or right - sew like the wind!) and you'll need a backup project to be safest.

I decided to try to work with some of the precut bundles my mom keeps giving me for holidays.  She does not always choose what I would choose, but she also shops the sale/clearance racks, so...

This fat quarter bundle has won:

This is called Calico Crow and has some real doozies in there.

This one has won the ugliest fabric of all time award.  Though it is a nice quality, the print reminds me of the flat folds they used to have on a table at Wal-Mart for like $1.00 per yard that the registration was off and were basically printed on cheesecloth.  Maybe you like it.  Good for you.  I do not.  It is in multiple colors in the bundle, but this is probably the worst.

And a runner up is this print.  It reminds me of the 80's when you could get similar prints in polished cotton in lovely mauve and country blue.  Before designers realized that we quilters like more than pin dots and puppy paws.  (To be fair, I think those are crow footprints, but still.)  This one also is in a variety of colors, though this reddish burgundy wins the prize for worst among second place.

There is one cute one.

And since I needed all but one of the fat quarters, this one has been set aside for me.  But before you get all cocky, this one also came in multiple colors, making it stand out as terrible again.  (This is actually a pale grey background, though maybe not reading as such here.)

There were also two focus prints - this is one that isn't bad:

In multiple colorways.

Also there was a multiple colorway print that had recipes and recipe cards all over, highlighting pumpkin recipes, which I suppose explains the color scheme.

So this will make a nice charity quilt.  I can use the fabric (make mom happy) and donate the finished product (make someone else happy) all while making a quilt (make me happy).  I suppose I'm winning too much here, so something has to go wrong.

What shall I make now that I have decided on fabrics?

Another interwebs search led me to this Instagram post which led me to a quilt along where I was able to find the pattern, "Seeing Stars."

But it says I need 5 yards of background fabric.  FIVE?

To the local quilt shop and her sale room!  That had nothing that would work.  Okay, okay, to the not-sale room.  I found a nice brown with little (not pin) dots in an orangey tan color.  I'll get a photo eventually.

Wanna know where stuff went wrong?  When I cut wrong and had to buy another yard (which, to be fair, will be enough for the mistake AND binding).  UGH.

But it is cut and ready to go to retreat.

Whew!

Once ALL of that was done, I am allowed to sew hammocks for the kitties again.  I got ten done yesterday and six the day before.  I hope to get a few more done yet today, but we'll see how the day goes.  I have a few other obligations, but tomorrow my volunteer will be meeting me at work to pick up whatever I have done for hammocks as well as a bunch of cage mats I made using ironing board innards (thick batting) a while back.

No photos there.  Sorry.

Not many kitty photos again this week, but Toby did snuggle me a little while I was sitting next to his poof (that he loves having on the chair in my sewing room...)

He may still be a bitey little turd, but I love him so much.  (I love all of them.)

Happy quilting,

Katie