Saturday, March 31, 2012

Publishing Comments

Why don't the little "publish comment" buttons all work the same?!!!  I suppose it has to do with the system you blog with.  I've no clue really because I've no clue about this techy stuff.  I'm just guessing.  Does any one really know why this is?

The orange "Publish Your Comment" buttons work the first time, every time for me.

The white "Publish" buttons that turn blue when you click on them hardly ever work for me.  Once I tried off and on for two hours to publish a comment on one of these before finally giving up.  I've sent many bloggers a private message just so they would know I was there, and I liked what they did. 

It's so incredibly frustrating and I know you want me to come back later and try again, but that's getting even more time consuming.  Please know that I'm watching you work.  I will continue to write a comment, but if it won't take after a few minutes of trying, I need to move along in life.

Remember...I'm watching you work!  Why wouldn't I?  You're very inspiring!  I just don't always get to tell you so.

Annie

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Wonky Quilt

Literally!

I don't know how the "Monk" in me allowed me to make this quilt.  I'll explain how it came about, but I first must post this

WARNING:
What follows may horrify quilters everywhere.
As you read, please keep in mind that I never pay attention to quilting "rules"...never.  Sometimes they make sense, but, mostly not.  I think most "rules" were created prior to the creation of the walking foot.

First of all I needed to make one more "whole cloth" quilt.  And I fell in love with these fabrics. 

I love the colors, the wonky flower blocks and the plaid stripe.  It will be horrifying to some to learn that I found these fabrics at JoAnn's.  They aren't a bad quality but they are printed wonky.  This I didn't see until I set out to cut the top to size.  This was so disappointing.  

Eventually I wondered if I cut the design straight if it would show that the quilt would not be "squared".  Horrifying that I would even consider cutting a quilt out of square, isn't it?!  It's an optical illusion.  The eye is fooled.  Well,  my eye is fooled.


These fabrics are on the narrow side, so my next decision was to not cut off the selvages...more horrification!  They are actually nice and flat.  They don't pull inward on the edges.  And being wacky as I am,  I hoped they would add some curiosity to the quilt.

But now the back.  I hoped with the stripe going up and down that the eye would continue to be fooled.  Nope!  With it being a plaid stripe with lines going vertical and horizontal, it was obvious that I cut the ends at an angle to match the top piece.  Even more disappointment!


And then my boundless determination set in.  I wondered if I could save this quilt by creating an optical illusion on the back to once again fool the eye.  Now I find myself working on the quilt from hell.  And wondering about myself, why do I have to be this way?!!!

The quilt back was about 1/2 an inch narrower than the top.  Why not!  Why should coordinating fabrics be the same width?!  So, a strip of wonky flower blocks was added to extend the width. 


 Now the tricky part.  I stitched flower blocks at various levels along the top and bottom so the eye can't easily follow the stripe/plaid lines, therefore not easily noticing the wonky angle.

I think it worked.  So I sandwiched it and started quilting it.  I'm sure it's horrifying but I started at a bottom corner and worked my way across and up the quilt.  And horror of horrors, I also did not leave much for extra batting or backing behind the front for quilting.  I have found that nothing really moves that much during quilting, so I've stopped wasting so much batting and backing fabric for the quilting stage.


I bound it with the plaid stripe backing fabric.


This is only quilt #5 for me.  Probably because of all the challenges presented by this fabric that I feel I conquered, this is actually my favorite quilt so far.  It's a small lap quilt measuring 42" X 64" but just right for lying around watching TV.  And I am horrifyingly thrilled with it's conniving bit of wonkyness.


I had some wonky flower blocks left over and a chunk of the plaid stripe, so I made this small quiltie.  Now here's the real shocker for me...


...if I made that lap quilt for you, do you think your little doggie would like the quiltie?  Yep, I made her little doggie a matching little quiltie.  I cannot believe I did that!  Really, I cannot believe a made a quilt for a dog!

Well, there you have it...proof that miracles never cease to happen!

Annie

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Into the unknown I go. 

Michele of Quilts From My Crayon Box blog is hosting a Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin.  I've always felt drawn to try a round robin but the quilts were always bed sized.  That's a size that doesn't interest me.  So when I saw Michele had thunk up a small scale wall quilt, I jumped in.

I only have until the 18th to come up with my center block.  I'm not a fast thinker upper so I had to get started immediately.  Good thing cause I made rejects!

First reject block is this one...
  I like the block, but I decided it was too busy for this project.  It most likely will soon be a fun potholder.

My next reject block is this one...
These are four 3" log cabin blocks.  (They aren't actually sewn together yet)  I liked them and thought I'd make some more with mixed colors.  That plan didn't go so well so I moved onward.

This is the next block I tried...

This one could be fun to play with.  It could have more colors added or it could even go in a Fall or even a Halloween direction.  But I'm still not quite happy with the simplicity of it to be my focal point.

This post published without me due to constant Internet connection interruptions this entire week.  Because of that I concentrated on sewing instead and then this post published this morning without me...so, to finish.....

This is the block I've decided on...

A bit dull and boring looking here all by itself, but I actually have a plan for it when it comes back to me in December.  Well, of course depending on what my border partners add to it.  Possibly their border decisions will change my plan in the end.  I'll just have to wait and see.

I do love a good mystery.....
Annie

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Look!
is hosting a modern mini mystery round robin.

It really sounds fun and since it is small scale it actually is doable for me.  I'm joining in...how about you?  Oh, come on...be brave!

I gotta go decide on my center block now....

Round and Round we go,
Annie

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Twister Tool Twist
(This is blogger's orange?!!)



When I first got my Little Twister Tool I really "needed" to give it a try.  I did not want to sew squares together, I wanted to try it on something I already had.  I'm a very patient sort wouldn't you say? The only thing I already had was some strips sewn together, so I lined it up on one seam and cut.  And then sewed those blocks together.  I also cut the opposite "waste" blocks for another one.  I then framed them in a green, bordered them with an orange  stripe, quilted and bound them, and now I have a couple of new Fall potholders!


I'm always "what ifing" and on the lookout for how a tool can be used for other than it's intended purpose...'cause I like different.  And I so like what came from this "what if".  Especially since this little bugger cost me $10 I'm real happy to have an alternative design for it.  I've even found some inspiration while putting together this post.....ooo what if...................

Happy Twisting
Annie