Another Flimsy Alert!

I'm so excited to finally - finally! - be able to post for TGIFF and Whoop Whoop!

The dust has settled, our Florida home is entering a contract today, and we're happily ensconced in a really pretty apartment complex while we finish one last homes-viewing round before starting our own purchase procedure for a Colorado home, hopefully putting an offer in this evening (exciting!).

I'm in love with the way Colorado Springs nestles against the mountains
with Pike's Peak in the background. That snowcap is gone right now,
having been first muddied and then melted during the nasty fires.

Last Friday I finished my Glacier Star quilt top, but couldn't post for TGIFF because we didn't get photos until Saturday. What a fantastic shot we got, though! Garden of the Gods is a spectacular place to go, and was a very popular place to shoot a quilt. (I wrote about that two posts ago.)  This is a Judy Niemeyer pattern, and I used a fabric kit from Quilting by the Bay in Panama City, FL.

If that isn't fun enough, this morning I got the corners mitered and put in the last stitch on my Coral Encounter. I'm in love.  :)

Didn't we luck out with our Google-based apartment search?
That's a square quilt - wind just wouldn't cooperate!

This quilt is made with the Judy Niemeyer Drunkard's Path paper piecing pattern, but I put the colors together myself to reflect the impression it gave me of a patch of brain coral underwater. It turned out gorgeous, and I plan to have a lot of fun with the quilting once we're into a house and I have real sewing space again.  (not to mention my batting, which is all in a box deeeeeep inside storage)

WIP'n it up - Heading for another top finish this week!

Last week I finished my "Glacier Star" top, and it looks like I'll get my "Coral Encounter" fully assembled this week.  Woohoo!  :D

Laying out the center and border pieces to figure out where to place the rest of the arcs. . .

Setting them all in. . .

And taking off the papers. . .

That'll be 96 of these suckers all together!

Thank you to Lee at Freshly Pieced for hosting WIP Wednesdays.

Happy 4th of July!! (and a long-overdue WIP Wed)

Happy 4th of July

to all my U.S.
blog friends!!





No fireworks here this year, and the base activities were all canceled - mountains are closed for picnicking, since they're still fighting the remnants of the fire. But we'll be whooping it up together and trying out some bison burgers. The apartment allows gas grills on the balconies, so Scott'll enjoy a little manly shopping time.

I *love* this shot - Marissa and I got to see this spectacular atmospheric effect when we were visiting NYC on her 2011 spring break. Isn't it amazing? The cross at her feet was added by the camera. so cool. couldn't have done that on purpose if I tried.

Woohoo!  This is the first time in months that I've accomplished quilt work on anything outside of my Baby Janes and had something for WIP Wednesday!  :D   I'm quite limited on project choices while in this interrim apartment, as most of my fabric and quilt projects are in storage until we can buy a house. But this week I finished all 96 of these suckers for my Coral Encounter quilt. 96!

So far two of the square blocks are put together. It's a fairly intricate process. 7 more to go, then the 10 border pieces can have their arcs inset and be added to the center. I'm excited.  :)

Thanks so much to Lee at Freshly Pieced for hosting WIP Wednesdays. It's a really terrific motivator and meeting place! :D

February's NewFO WIP'n along - and a tip for sewing arcs

OK, I cheated a little bit this month. Rule is: Gotta have at least one UFO finished to be allowed to play with Barbara's NewFO party. But I need demos for the binding mini-lesson I'm doing this Friday at our guild's retreat, so I had to save the last step on these two beauties:

And here's my February NewFO: Judy Niemeyer's "Drunkard's Wave," which I'm renaming "Coral Encounter" 

Got one entire block finished at class. I'm thrilled with the effect, which looks so much cooler in real life. Perfect for memories of brain coral underwater, which is what I saw in my mind's eye when my glance fell on this pattern:

Had all my pieces cut out the week before. They look so innocent here!

But I have to make 96 of those arc suckers!! Since this can't have top billing on the attention list, they've pushed my Baby Janes out of the after-dinner show-with-Scott slot, and I prep away on the next seam needed while we gawk at CSI or Body of Evidence or chuckle at old Bonanazas. They are slowly, but surely, emerging. 

As of this morning - 8 more soooo close, 80 ready for the 3rd sew line

Everybody else at the class was doing a different quilt, so Judy naturally used mine to show how my pattern's block layout works. :D

She's a nicely laid-back gal - no stress with her.  :)

~*~*~TIP TIME ~*~*~

Want to know how to make it easy to sew a perfect 1/4" seam on those arcs?  (Because if you just try to eyeball it or use your normal guides - such as quarter-inch foot edges or piecing fences - it won't work unless you go SLOWER THAN MOLASSES. And you'll get a headache pretty darn quick from all that super-close squinting.)  

I made sure to ask if she minded me sharing this super cool tip, and she didn't:  

Make a super-cheap guide!

 •   Take the thread out of your needle.

 •   Lay a piece of painter's tape on the front of your sewing area. Slant it a bit in the direction of the curve, and make sure you don't cover your feed dogs.

 •   Sew carefully along the 1/4" mark on the pattern until you get about 1/3 of the way around. Leave the needle and presser foot down to keep the piece perfectly in place.

 •   Carefully, so the pattern doesn't shift, trace the arc line onto the tape.

 •   And there you have the perfect guide for that size arc! And it didn't even cost you anything.

 •   Put your thread back in, and as you sew, just line the edge of the piece up against the line on your tape. It's MUCH easier to watch that line than to squint right at the needle.

I just love picking up helpful little tidbits!   Have a great week - gotta get cracking at my history books again. Do some sewing for me because now what I really want to do is work some more on this quilt!  ;D


~~~


Thank you very much to Lee for hosting the inspirational WIP Wednesdays and to Esther for WOW. These linkies have helped me stay focused on always progressing forward, and have led me to discover many fine fellow quilters!


2012 Progress Stats
  
UFOs Down: 1 of 30
Finished NewFOs: 1 of 6
Lurkers: You mean those unopened kits and sets? Pleading the 5th.

WIP Wed - 15 Feb - prepping for class

Shhh - -  Sneaking some prep time into the WIP queue - got a class with Judy Niemeyer next Tuesday! Can't wait!!

I just *love* this border fabric! This shot's a better tell of its colors. And all I have left to do before class is to cut the border sections. Can't wait!!

Don't you just love the seahorses?  Can't wait!!

2012 Progress Stats
  
UFOs Down: 1 of 30
Finished NewFOs: 1 of 3
Lurkers: You mean those unopened kits and sets? Pleading the 5th.




Now back to Marissa's Moment and Amaretto Cottage until Tuesday.  ;D     Can't wait!!!