Something Old, Something New

Something Old, Something New

I desperately wanted to share these quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  The big plan was to share something new I hadn't posted before!  But my sewing machine put the kibosh on that idea.  Still - I get to share now.  I'm so excited!

I wanted to make a quilt as a wedding present for my cousin and her husband.  I contacted my aunt for ideas and she offered some sentimental material to incorporate into a quilt.  I expected a scrap or two.  Imagine my surprise when a box arrived with three hand-made kid's dresses and about 1/3 yard of fabric.  The dresses had been my cousin's when she a little kid.  Another aunt had made the dresses (have I mentioned I have a lot of aunts?).  I felt guilty taking the seam ripper to them, although it gave me a good look at the workmanship.  These dresses were beautifully made.

So much material!  I had enough donated material to complete the pair quilts and still had enough left over to create two additional wall hangings.

Fully Fleeced - A Year Later

All fleece, all the time (with extra layers under the hay rack)

I bought the bulk of my fleece about a year ago and switched to a fully fleeced cage.  So far, it's worked out pretty well.  I have to go to the laundromat to wash the fleece because our washing machine can't get it clean.  That's an unexpected expense and a bit of a drag.  On the other hand, the fleece lasted really well between cleanings in cooler weather - even better than shavings.  It required more frequent changing in the summer, about the same as shavings.  Not surprising.  There were some issues with lingering piggy smell in the fleece towards the end of the summer, until I changed my combination of detergent, vinegar and oxiclean.

I love the multi-colored fleece, especially ones that are brown, black or dark blue, because they hide the poo so well.  Keeping the cage dry was a bit of a challenge with a really leaky rodent.  I learned to keep an extra layer of fleece or a cuddle cup under the hay, since that got soaked so quickly.  Some areas of the cage need an extra layer of towels underneath the fleece.

Snowflake

Coolness!  I've been following the Canuck Quilter's Snowalong since it started the end of September.  I had planned to start participating in October, but it wasn't to be.  I promised myself I'd do at least one of snowflake before the Snowalong ended.  So, on the last day of the week of the last released pattern, I finally managed to make a snowflake.  Look!

This is my first paper piecing project.  I bought freezer paper just for the snowflakes (although I've already used it to print labels).  For this project, I printed the pattern right on the freezer paper.  It worked pretty well, until my printer ate the third page.  The paper went in, and never came out.  It took several minutes before I figured out how it was wound around some inner feeds.  I extracted the page in several more minutes, printed my last page, cut the pieces and piled up my fabric.

Grindstones and Millstones

October was a slow month for blog posts.  But it wasn't a slow month for me.  There was lots of sewing in-between bringing my sewing machine back to the shop.  I'll have four quilts to write about in the next few weeks.

I attended a Tea and a quilt show.  Put up more bird feeders.  Let the pigs have their last romps outside before the weather turned cold (and the grass got too brown).  Made more earrings and tried new recipes (piggy pudding and squash-sage-cheddar galette).  I dressed up and went dancing for Halloween.  There were so many wonderful costumes.  I wish I had more photos.  My little camera doesn't do well in low light.

String Pillow - Blogger's Quilt Festival

I am submitting my recently finished Scrappy String Pillow for this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival in the Mini Quilt category.

I have several throw pillows that are old and worn, and that I've intended to replace for a year or two.  I made the first replacement this summer.  I had collected several neat patterns I wanted to try (I know at least one of them came from prior Blogger's Quilt Festival entries).  This pillow was a chance to try two of them.

The first side is a string web pattern.  I had a lot of blue scrap to burn through - so that is the primary color for this quilt.  I recently bought a new freemotion foot for my sewing machine, and have taken the plunge for freemotion quilting.  I just stipple quilted the white, but am so pleased with how it turned out.

Cornucopia

When I was in the basement digging out the pignic equipment, I came across a cornucopia.  I bought it a few years ago for a Fall photo with Willow, Bertie and Pinniped.  I thought it might be nice to dust it off and use it again.

I was amazed that Cannoli fit into the cornucopia as well as she did.  What a loaf.  

Shredded

I was so close to finishing the quilting on my wall hanging, when my sewing machine suddenly locked up.  I manually eased it forward, pulled out the quilt, removed the walking foot and needle, and gently pushed the pedal.  Lots of rattling; occasional sticking.  Everything looked fine from the top, but when I removed the bottom panel, a small pile of black shards fell to the floor.  Closer inspection revealed a stripped gear - the black shards had once been the gear's teeth.  I was surprised the feed dogs had been moving at all.

Just look at that toothless wonder

Well, at least it's no secret what's wrong (to my chagrin and gnashing of my teeth).  The repair guy isn't going to have to search for the problem.  Google tells me the part is inexpensive - so the big unknown is how hard it will be to install.  Fingers crossed!  In the meantime, four quilts are on hold.  I'm dying to show off my latest work and had planned to submit it to the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I was sprinting to the finish and now have no choice but to sit back and be patient.  Humph.

Quietly Quilting

I've started sewing a series of quilts that have been in the planning stages for months.  I can't show much until they're finished and gifted, but I'm sharing what I can.  I am so excited to finally see them come together.

The material is three different weights and it's been a challenge sewing them.  Usually all my fabric is the same weight and weave.  These quilts have some normal quilting cotton, a very light cotton and lastly, a lightweight velvet.  The lightweight cotton doesn't keep it's shape; the velvet's nap is killing me.  It crawls all over, even when using a walking foot.  I hand basted several pieces together in an effort to have my pieces stay put.  Ack!

I considered abandoning the velvet (twice), but it looks so good in the overall design.  So I said bad words and ripped seams nearly as fast as I stitched the pieces together.  It's all together and looks wonderful.  The first two are sandwiched, the third is pieced and the last one is starting to come together.  It's like reading a good book:  I just can't get through it fast enough, there's not enough hours in the day!  I love it when I'm inspired.