Winter crafting

 

I like to think of myself as an artist...not a crafter.  No offense to crafters, as my work cannot compare to master craftsmen.  I just feel I travel to a different beat sometimes.  That's one of the reasons this is "renaissance" living.  I perfect nothing, but sample everything.  I also tend not to exactly follow the rules..

My current favorite "craft" is quilting.  There is no way I could make one of those beautiful traditional quilts in a full size.  I just don't have the patience.  I can't see cutting and sewing the exact same thing over and over again.  And matching up points perfectly....the people who can do that are saints.  I have found a few websites and blogs, however, that inspire my creativity and crafting.  I love Block Lotto.     A different block is presented each month.  You can try it and put it in the "lotto".  If you "win" you get blocks sent to you, enough for a quilt. otherwise, your block is mailed to someone else.  I'm currently working on putting together the blocks I won a couple of months ago.  But with each month's block, I'm learning better quilting techniques in new ways without a big commitment.  I also love the Stay At Home Robin.  Each month there are new instructions to add to our quilt.  It's just a small quilt, so again, no big investment.  But the instructions are very open ended so it is truly a design challenge. I'm actually working on two SAHR quilts.  While the instructions were the same, the quilts are vastly different.  Very fun.
Another craft that is popular with me is crochet.  I especially tend to pick it up in the winter.  There's something about curling up on a couch with a quilt on you lap, hot coffee on the table, a dog snuggled into your side, and soft yarn being crocheted in your hands.  If I had a working fireplace it would be a perfect winter picture.

To encourage and inspire my favorite crafts, I traipse around the internet checking in on blogs and websites.  The thing about blogs is that one tends to lead you to another. And I love when I discover someone new to admire.  Her name is Ashley Martineau and her business is Neauveau Fiber Arts. She spins and dyes her own yarn and does freeform crochet and some crazy knitting. She has given me the desire to recycle yarn.  I truly want to go unravel a sweater or two.  Just seeing her work makes me smile.
So how about you?  Does the winter cold keep you inside?  Perfect for crafting then, I'd say.

Round 5

I'm always a little surprised and excited when Kate posts the next round of this Stay-At-Home Robin.  I don't know why.  It comes around very promptly at the first of each month.  I guess it's just that I'm able to tuckk the whole project away once the round is done and completely forget about it.  That's especially true this time of year because I have so many projects in the works for the holidays.

Anyway, round 5 is actually 2 pieces...a 4x6 and a 4x7 that fit across the top of what I have so far.  Interesting that it is in two pieces and not just one long piece.  It really made me think about where I might be going, since I don't really know what other steps will bring.  Anyway.

I decided to do an adaption of the Prairie Queen traditional quilt pattern for my 4x6.  Now, the first problem was adapting a square design into a rectangle.  The second problem is this is really small for me.  I have traditionally used the width of one of the sewing machine feet as my 1/4 inch sewing gauge.  Well, guess what?  It's not exactly a quarter of an inch, but a little bit wider.  That small difference doesn't seem to matter when I'm making a regular size quilt, but on this tiny scale it's huge.  So I've got tape down on my machine and am trying to be very careful with my seems.  Not quite careful enough however as I ended up about 1/4 inch short on my 4x6 so I cheated slightly and my 4x7 is a quarter inch bigger.  That's the beauty of doing your own piece, I guess.  It was especially easy since my 4x7 is just one piece of material.  Whew!

There you have my little wall hanging so far.  It's really pushing my brain, but I love it. I still have my prairie theme going, and I still have ideas for down the road, if the directions take me to them.

Quilting Challenges

October had some design challenges for my quilting.  The first was the variable star for Block Lotto.  It was a lesson in value.  The background was supposed to be light, while the star was made from medium and dark fabrics.  I tried to ignore color and just look at the value of the material.  The first thing I found was that I didn't have many pieces of material in color that would be considered light in value.  That's something I will have to remedy.  The other thing I realized was that even neutrals like beige were not necessarily light in value.  Interesting challenge.  I hope these two blocks came out okay.

The other challenge was a for my Stay at Home Robin.  This is always a challenge in that I have no idea where we are going.  This month we were supposed to add a 3x9 strip to the left side.  I had a great piece of print that I knew I wanted to use, but as I laid it along side the quilt so far I realized I had a couple of problems.  One was that I had used sharp points and also curves already.  So I wanted to find a way to incorporate both shape elements in this piece.  The other thing I wanted to do, was to spread the hint of green a little further.  Here's what I came up with.  Hope it works.

Both were fun and made me think.

First of the Month Fun

The first of the month is an exciting time for my quilting.  The Block Lotto announces the past month's winners and introduces the block for this month and Kate's Stay at Home Robin gives me the next step.  Being on vacation this week, I was able to get to both right away.

First of all, I didn't win the Block Lotto with the wonky roses.  Darn. But maybe this month!  We're doing wonky houses and  I've done two so far.  This one has a little cat in the door, and the other has a cat in the window.  It's fun to fussy cut something into those tiny spaces.  If I make a bunch more, and they all have cats, I'll probably be known as the Cat Lady.  Hmm....maybe I should do something other than cats on the next one.  Anyway, it would be a fun month to win and build a quilt city of these crazy houses.

For the SAHR we had to put a 3x10 inch segment on top of the two previous steps.  I did a liberated wavy cut with some really great fabrics that remind me of my prairie theme.  I've never really done curves before, so that was an added challenge.  I think I like it so far.  It's a mystery where we're going and that is fun too.

I've got some other projects in the works including I Spy quilts for the kids for Christmas.  Plenty to keep me busy for the remainder of my week off.