Free Motion Quilt Challenge - February

I'm skidding in under the wire on this one.  Nothing like procrastinating until the last hours of the final day of the month, but I was determined not to miss the linkup at SewCalGal (like I did last month).

I did practice drawing the free-motion feathers earlier, both last Tuesday and this Tuesday afternoon.  That is a day I typically spend a lot of time on the phone (on hold) with insurance companies.  Doodling ensues.

Except I had only skimmed the instructional post so I basically practiced them all wrong last week (no wonder it wasn't really working).  Before going to work this Tuesday, I actually read the post word for word, and man, what a difference that made!  Go figure, huh?

So this evening, I slapped a quilt sandwich together, but unfortunately chose a couple of fabrics that don't really help to show the quilting.  I think you can still get the gist from the pictures though.  I armed myself with a cup of decaf, a "Beethoven for Relaxation" CD, my "bi-fogeys," and quilting (aka football receiver) gloves.  I used the Sulky thread that was already on my machine, with a cotton thread in the bobbin. 

What I had trouble with most was the echo quilting.  Not sure why.  It helped to remember to look at the area I was heading to and not directly at what was under the needle.  It reminded me of the day I got behind the wheel of a car for the first time and Mom directed me to get on the highway, where she noticed I was looking at the road right in front of the car.  "You have to look down the road at where you're going."  Really?  Oh, okay, I get it.

Sure, my stitch length is all over the map and my lines are wobbly, but really, for a first crack ever at feathers, I didn't think it went all that bad.  I was expecting more of a train wreck, really.  

I'm a little disappointed that didn't happen (kidding).  It must be Beethoven's fault.

Leap Day Giveaway!

Happy Leap Day!  Elizabeth at Such a Sew and Sew is hosting a Leap Day Giveaway blog hop in celebration, and I am linking up!


I'm also celebrating two years of blogging!  It was in February of 2010 that I dove into the blogosphere, and I've been having a great time ever since!

So what does all this mean?  Well, I am having a little giveaway today, as are many others who have linked up with the Leap Day Giveaway.  This is what I'm giving away here.

A little square mug rug/mini-quilt, along with three fat quarters of fabric featuring birds, and a mug to go with it!

I love spring, especially when the songbirds migrate back through this area from their wintering grounds.  That's a few weeks away yet for us in the Upper Midwest, but these little bird print fabrics put me in the mood.

From left to right, the fabrics are Legacy Studios Fresh Fusion Blue Birds, Lantern Bloom Hanging Cages by Laura Gunn for Michael Miller, and Woodcut Garden by Paula Prass for Michael Miller.  All have been prewashed and pressed, because that's how I roll.

(Back of mug rug/mini shown)

The mug rug/mini was made by me last fall.  The groovy flower mug is thrifted, naturally.  I dithered about including the mug, so I will give you the option to decline it, if you're the winner and so choose.  I like it and think it works, but if groovy thrifted flower mugs aren't your thing, that's cool too.

This giveaway is open today, February 29, only and will end at midnight Central Time.  I will select a winner at random on Thursday, March 1.

To enter, simply leave a comment.  Maybe tell me what you like (or don't) about spring!  

This is important:  Make sure you include an email address to contact you.  If you are a no-reply commenter, I won't be able to reply and let you know you've won. You can be a no-reply and not even know it, so please check that and fix your settings before you comment, or leave your email address within the text of your comment.  This giveaway is open to U.S. and international entries.

Thanks for stopping by today, and to those who read this blog from time to time or regularly, whether from the beginning two years ago or more recently, I sincerely appreciate it!  Good luck to all on the giveaway!

A Patch of Sun

I had guests yesterday, my dad and my daughter and her boyfriend, who came over for dinner.  We had good food and conversation, as always, and laughed a lot.  After the turkey kicked in and some became sleepy, my daughter and I moved to the living room where I still had the leftover kaleidoscope quilt pieces stacked in piles by color on the floor.

So we played and talked, and played some more, like when we used to put puzzles together except more randomly.  M. has a good eye and is very creative, and in no time flat, she had put the yellow and gold and white half square triangle pieces together into this configuration.  She said it reminded her of sunshine, like the patch of sun coming in the window of her apartment in which she and her cat had curled up and napped recently.

I needed to clear the floor today, but I snapped a photo so I could remember this arrangement.  Then I figured I may as well just sew it together.

My sewing room is in the basement, which is usually devoid of natural light, but at this particular time of year, the sun has moved a bit and peaks in through a small, southern facing window for a few minutes in the afternoon.  It happened to catch the squares as I had them laid out on my table.

A patch of sun, indeed.  That will be the name of this mini.  And it will remind me of the light my daughter brings whenever I see her.

Later, after everyone had gone home, my husband and I ran to Goodwill for a quick poke around.  There were a few small Pyrex pieces looking for a new home.  The smaller bowl was the perfect size for some berries at lunch today.

 Talk about sunshine, that orange piece does the trick, doesn't it?

Friday Flimsy

I managed to get the Hubcap Diamond Star Halo flimsy sewn together this week.  If you're scratching your head about the name of this little kaleidoscope quilt, it's based on a song lyric from "Bang A Gong."  I explained how it came about in the previous post (and also made a video of the trial-and-error design process).

We got a little snow yesterday, and it was still flurrying this morning when I set this 36-inch square jobber just outside the patio door and snapped some pictures.  

Snow (as in the cold and fluffy stuff this is laying on) isn't really bright white in color, is it?  Hunh.  I guess Kaufman did its research when they invented the fabric color Kona Snow.  I used Kona White in the quilt here.

It was really fun putting these colorful blocks together.  Individually, they reminded me of the tops of bright umbrellas.

And before you know it, I was mulling over how I could use the leftovers for my next quilt, based on a Led Zeppelin song lyric, entitled With a Purple Umbrella and a 50-cent Hat (from "Living Loving Maid").  Oh, go ahead and listen.  You want to know what in blazes I'm talking about, right?

Just kidding...maybe. (Could that be a "raspberry beret," that pink one? The kind you buy {for 50 cents} in a second-hand store?  Too much of a stretch?)

Not kidding about the leftovers, though.  I could make a whole 'nother quilt with the pieces I have left.  Maybe with a black background to make those brights really pop?  *Sigh*  So many quilts, so little time.

I hope you do have time to visit the Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? linky at Confessions of a Fabric Addict—P.S., she's having a giveaway—and thanks for stopping by here!

The Frustration of Creation

I spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday and the morning today crawling around on the floor, trying to get the look I wanted for kaleidoscope quilt v.2.0.  Then I'd ask my husband's opinion, and he had some.  But by the end of it, his opinion was that he just didn't care anymore. 

It was exasperating and it gave me a headache.  But I think I finally have a plan, and if I change my mind again, I deserve to be hit over said aching head.

This is a quilt I started last summer, shortly after my first kaleidoscope quilt was done.  That one turned out beautifully, but it wasn't quite what I had envisioned, so I started a second one.  This one might not be exactly it either, but it seems closer.

See, it all started as my husband and I were driving one day when the '70s classic T. Rex song, "Bang a Gong" came on the radio.  There are some strange lyrics in that song.  I wondered what the "teeth of the Hydra" or a "cloak full of eagles" had to do with anything, but more importantly, what a "hubcap diamond star halo" would look like.  My imagination went into overdrive.

"I want to make a quilt and call it Hubcap Diamond Star Halo," I told Norm while the song played on.  Talk about working backwards.  The name came first.

I knew it would have to have elements of '70s psycha-funka-delic style, and I probably just made that word up.  I was envisioning those bold, bright colors like Peter Max and H.R. Pufnstuf cartoons, and glam rocker and T. Rex front man himself, the late Marc Bolan.

Soon enough, I found the fabric for it (different than what I'd used in the first kaleidoscope quilt).  I cut out last August but just got back around to playing with the layout the other day.  This is going to be a wall hanging size quilt, I've determined.  A medallion type thing will get the point across just as well and for a lot less investment in Extra-Strength Tylenol.

Speaking of frustrating...my first ever video documenting the process.  Oy, what a time suck that was, but I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered.  I am grateful to my brother Russ for helping me out at the end when Picasa decided to muck up the audio.  You're my hero, bro.

View it in full screen so you can read the text panes between (in the future, I'll use a more legible font).  Here we go.  Bang a Gong!