Assembling "My Tweets"

I've been working on the satin stitching of "My Tweets" so I could get blocks done and work on the last couple of blocks.  Erin put up the finishing directions and I realized I'm going to have to make some big changes.

1.  My center panel isn't 30 inches.  It's 26.  I think the original pattern had it at 24 but I can't find it to make sure.  I wish she had said something.

2.  She has the blocks at 15 inches and while mine are larger so I could cut them down, I'm not sure how to make it work with a 26 inch inch block.

3.  If I understand the borders right, they are cut at 10.5x90 inches with them mitered.


I did play in EQ7 but couldn't find the right setup and if you did a custom design, it wasn't working very well.

So, do I:

Cut out the borders (they are appliquéd and I really don't want to resize) and make the rest of the blocks fit with sashing?  I just can't figure out the math for some reason.  From the 90 inches, I'd take out 20 inches (10 on each side) leaving me with 70 inches square to work with?

However; when I take the four blocks that she has cut out at 15 inches (14.5 inches finished?) and the 5 inches of sashing I come up with 63 inches, not 70.

I put a post up in her Yahoo! group.

I haven't taped up the border blocks yet to check the distance to see what it really is.  I guess I should.

Getting There

I started going through stuff.  I'm one of those crazy people that organize fabric via specific color.  It's not just "red" or "blue" or "yellow"  It's gold-yellow, yellow, red, red-orange, orange and so on.  I pin the color on the fabric and then put in bins according to the color wheel.  Then you run into the problem of re-arranging fabrics when you add new fabrics in.

I do this because some fabric colors aren't what they seem.  When you see "red" and it's really more "orange", it doesn't work with it's opposite, a green.  Oranges and blues are opposite and once you put that fabric in with the blues, it works perfectly.  Your quilts become more colorful, vibrant and blend better when you know it's true color.

It's still a mess with sorting fabric.  Then I thought about what my DH would say if I asked him what to do.  His advice would be, "You know, no one is going to see your stash or care how meticulously you organize it.  It's just going to get messed up every time you raid it.  If you want to match a color, wait for your project, take out your book and do it then."  Translated in man language that would mean, "Stuff it all in bins and don't worry about it".

You know what color each fabric is.  Don't obsess over it.  So I just stuffed everything in bins and figure when I go looking for fabric for a new project, I'll still be good.  I dumped out some fabric and feel better.  Plus, it's an excuse to go buy more fabric that's not 10 years old.

If you are wondering why I'm doing this on Christmas Eve instead of doing some celebration, it's because there isn't anything to celebrate.  I have no family close by.  I'm a hermit with anxiety problems.  Having anyone over would give me a massive heart attack.  It's just been a nice quiet day.

After organizing DH and I started watching a 1978 Japanese series called "Monkey" that was broadcast in England when he was a kid.  I despise dubbing and Japanese/Chinese movies are the worst.  Once I got over the terrible dubbing, it's a pretty good series.  If you lived in England during that time period it was a very popular show.

Now he's watching "633 Squadron" that I found for 5 bucks on Amazon.UK.  It was on the Military Channel about a week or so ago and screamed "widescreen" the entire movie to enjoy the planes.  US version was overpriced and crappy copies.  It came today and with his region free DVD player he's enthralled.  If you or your loved one loves WWII movies, this is a great one.  They haven't put classic WWII movies on Blu-ray yet so I'm glad I could find this DVD for him.

I have a problem.  It's bad.  I had no idea how bad things were until my daughter asked for some drawers to stash her crafting supplies.  It's been ten years in the making of this problem and it's not going to get better.  I need intervention like that one show about hoarders so I can fall apart while someone else goes through my stuff.  

I admit it.  I'm a fabric hoarder.  I'm a book hoarder.  I hoard thread.  I buy patterns knowing I'll never use them but can't resist.  I've got quilt stencils I've only used once.  Homemade stencils of patterns I've designed but will never get around to making.

I fell for the knitting fad and have stuff in the hopes of making a pair of socks.  Anyone want to make me socks?  I have really, really, really nice yarn.  Even knitting needles and the books to make them.  I just don't have the ability to count.

I can't bear to part with any of it.  It's the "I Might Need That Someday" syndrome.  I have A.D. projects.  You know, the "After I'm Dead" project my kids will never finish.  If you don't believe me:

That's only ONE drawer of scraps in trying to do Bonnie's way of organizing.  I'm not about to spend hours cutting all sizes of strips and squares.  I don't even think my Go! Cutter would make that easier.

Surprisingly I only have a small stash of magazines.

Stencils:

So, some questions:

1.  If you really aren't going to use the little scraps are you allowed to toss them?

2.  If I put some of this stuff up for sell via my blog or (gasp) Ebetray would they sell?

3.  How do you know what toss or keep?  Some of this stuff is 10 years old.

4.  Will it really be emotionally okay to give it away, sell it, or toss it?

Back to the basement to help my daughter.

 

 



 

Boxes

Still working on my "Red Christmas".  It's looking better and a little easier as I've done more of it.  It's going to take awhile since it's slow going.  

I got out my Cougar cutter as I wanted to do this project:

Things got busy and I realized I may not have enough paper to do it.  It's actually about 9-10 inches tall.

So I tried a free download with my Cougar and got this:

Yeah.  It's pretty bad.  How did my Cougar totally screw that up?  (It's actually been a pain all week)  I put the box together anyway just to see how it looked.  LOL.

I got out my Cricut to see if it would work better and it ate another box project from the same file.  Uggh.  The paper was destroyed.   I got out a different kind of paper and tried again.  Wow! Talk about pretty!  DD and I put M&Ms in them and will take them to some friends.

I really need to work on "My Tweets" blocks.  I just haven't felt like it.

WINE And Applique

I'm not sure I'm liking this appliqué pattern.  It's a pain trying to do the the slender points and I suspected it would be rather boring doing the same pieces over and over.  It's not looking very pretty either given my ugly stitches.  It's not terrible, just looks very amateurish.  The fabric frays badly.  So..keep it up or give up?  

I've been playing with computer programs as well.  I installed Lion for my computer in hopes I could use WINE (not the drinking kind) to work with Windows via the Mac side of my computer.  The WINE software works but not with most of the programs I have.  It doesn't recognize USB ports so I can't use my cutters or my embroidery machine with my windows software.  If I was a computer programmer I can see tons of opportunities with the program.  It just took most of the weekend to install and play with the program to find all of this out.  The joys of being to lazy to boot over to the Windows side of my Mac computer.  LOL.

However; MTC (Make The Cut) software is coming out with a Mac version soon so I'm very excited.

I should be working on my "My Tweets" blocks but haven't felt like it.

Freezer Paper Issues?

First off, are there ads when you come to my blog because I didn't put them there.  If so, how do I get them off.  I don't have "monetize" on nor have I ever enabled it.  Has Google started doing this w/o our permission?  Not happy about this.

On to the blog post.....

Did the people who make freezer paper change their formula?  When I iron the paper onto the fabric it doesn't stick and if you spray starch the whole piece practically falls apart.  It's driving me nuts.  I used to be able to press the freezer paper with ease and use the same piece over and over despite using starch.

The brilliant plan was to cut out all the applique shapes on freezer paper with my Cougar cutter for the "Red December" quilt.  Then use my iron/starch to press the fabric over.  Instead it's just making a gooey mess.

The other plan is to cut out the pieces on plastic templates, but if I starch the piece, all it does is make the template slippery and ruins the design.

Of course, the original plan of just doing it by hand works, it's just slower.

"Red December" Quilt

I've been working on my "Red December" quilt.  Just like glue, those dang points are killing me.  The fabric is similar to Kona Cotton.  It frays and it's bulky when you get to the points.  The color is so beautiful though.  It didn't even run when I washed it.  A red that doesn't bleed!

I may have to call it quits on the back basting and use templates to get those points nice and sharp with some starch.  It is really pretty despite my bulky points.  Even DH likes the pattern.

Hmm..going to JoAnn's is more and more appealing.  I can drive since I'm not taking the pain med anymore.