Random: in the sewing room

 

 

It has been a productive day in the sewing room. Made new placemats for the dinner table and learning new quilting pattern. The placemats have been in { to-do} list for long time and it is always fun to patch fabric together and bring new atmosphere to the dinning table.  When I made the first set of placemats, I washed them almost after every dinner meal, but later on food stain became part of the colors in the fabric. I had to be cool about it!  

S established a new clutter space in the living room.  From the view of the sewing room door I knew she is having good time building the { turkey family}. The house keeping job failed as the she has all her tools out.. ..

A new project that started last night. Each little squares finished at 1"x1".  Lots small hand stitches are happening and the {flying geese} is ready to show and tell after finishing binding. 

more to come 

xxC

Weekending

 { morning pleasure}

 { gifts from S}

 {fancy free, new DS collection for joann's.. oh you gotta love these..}

 { my new friend, Scott }

 { never ending: clutter}

 { Turkey family}

 { thinking about summer??!} 

 { w.i.p.}

 { more dumplings for a craft fair that I got invited}

 { the new pattern}

 { the goofy S}

{ tea time}

 

The white ground and sound of furnace running was the first slight and sound this morning. Our long weekend started with some homemade pancakes by S.  It was delicious and each pancake had a small slice of banana in it.  There is a jar of honey for the syrup and of course lots butter! There's no rules on the dinner table regarding how much butter to spread on the pancakes. S mixed her milk with some chocolate milk and loved it! I second that idea and so far she is still active;  not getting sick from the mixed drink.  Maybe that was delicious as she tried to persuaded me have a sip.

 

Scott, the pup is my new friend. He is made by S and happily join Chippy this morning. Since he is little, S asked me to take great care of Scott. ... Hope more new friends would come join us later this winter season.

 

Unfortunately, the paper piecing pattern won't be able to publish right away. After I printed out the first finished digital pattern and then accidentally overwritten it with other file , which I replaced the original file.... {take a deep breath}.  The redo is started and I saved it in three different files name, in case mistake happened again { finger crossed for this time}.

 

 It has been a fabulous weekending here at {1/4" mark} home. How's your weekend?

xxC

Random: Quiet

{Thank You} for all your congratulating words! They are sweet and touched my heart! There were times thinking to give up and questioning the new life steps that we step in each day, but all it takes is commitment on my side.  Today is quiet here, just me, and some jazzy music! Pulled out the {flying geese mini quilt} top and working on the backing. The best part of this project is I will be able to take it with me when S in music lessons. Hand quilting is perfect for the minis!

While I was busy with the review, S set up a little writing center on her side of table. She has been writing stories and looking up words in dictionary as she found it is a better research resources. As you can picture..our home is looking pretty similar like her spot, clutter.

{Log cabin quilt} is almost done...  The hoop is out since it limited the quilting area as I was working.  I got the huge {wire basket} from IKEA and need more. They are perfect for storing 

ongoing projects.  I do feel relaxing at this moment.. 

Heading to S' lunchroom soon. The best celebration is spending time with the very kind and sweet S and have lunch with her friends. 

xxC

Random: we are celebrating here..

 {Fabric}

 {The finger blister is from making the flan} 

{Mexican Flan}

 

 {Kitchen sink quilt}

 {New paper piecing pattern}

We are celebrating here! Our minds are full of excitements and physicals are exhausted.  Few gray
hair was added to myself  this week, but we are celebrating here! The little cheerleader clapped all the way from her school back home, just for mama! Screaming and cheering...... lots exciting moments.....

My MFA second review was conducted this Wed. Not much sleep for me and was a tough week to start with;  more a stressful week. The review is done! Within the 2 hours review, I had lots pauses moments { more likely- blank out} and tried my best effort to defensed my works. Conceptual content needs lots improvement still! Thank goodness! { I PASS }! Suddenly the butterflies flew away and the rocks on my shoulders dropped a few. We celebrated with homemade Mexican flan, roast chicken, baby broccoli, and bread. Of course, sparkling water is the must for the drink {Fuji apple is our fav}. 

After finished {Farmer's wife QAL} blocks, the machine is being turn off! The sewing space is still the same space that you seen last. The only new project is the new paper piecing pattern and is on its way! There was a between time on Wednesday before the review and I was able to sit down to outline the drawing. The pattern is getting finalized and will soon transfer into digital file, so please stay turn!

The {kitchen sink} quilt is slowly put together! The scrappy blocks will combine with the orphan blocks that left from the previous projects. It would be a record of fabric and sewing project all together! Do you have a {kitchen sink quilt}?

The mini getaway school plan is sorting through the fabrics and enjoy the long weekend that is coming..... and continue our celebration here.......

The air is wet and cool! Another snow storm is coming to our way. Nothing better when snow in during long holiday break!


xxC

Farmer's Wife QAL

Excuse me if you see threads everywhere in the next {many} photos. This is my first attempted to use rotatory cutter to cut the template pieces. It went FAST and saved many hours on drawing the lines on the back of the fabric pieces. Each piece was mostly cut individually; only the squares that I overlapped and cut together. I work a little messy. All the blocks' pieces were cut before assembling.S was a great helper to organized them for me.

Can you see the mistake layout? Although I had book open I still make mistakes on layouts. When work with each block, typically I have the block layout next to the book and check if they all are in place. Many time I would sew pieces together then later realized that they were either upside down or wrong sides.

As you know after each project{ the corner} of the sewing room is always clutter. However, this time they are placed in the basket instead and ready to be sort back.  I need more of these file baskets.

It is really fun to revisit {w.i.p.} projects. It gives me a review of where I started and how would I like to ended. As this project is closer to the finish { 46 blocks more}.  It is good time think about sashing ,backing, and binding fabric. Also it is getting exciting to see this quilt come together. I have 17 blocks finished and that added up to 65 blocks in total.

 #77 Seasons

 #84 Spool

 # 81 Snowball

 # 109 Windows

 #111 Wrench

 # 108 Windmill

 # 47 Homemaker

 # 66 Periwinkle

 # 73 Rainbow Flowers

 # 69 Practical Orchard

 # 92 Streak of Lighting

 # 61 Northern Lights

 #96 Tulip

 # 74 Ribbons

 # 60 Noon & Light

 # 103 Whirlwind

 # 71 Puss in the Corner

Are you still farming along? I am really slow! If I am a real farmer's wife;  crops would not survived. It takes long time to decided prints for each block and put the action together.  Glad to have these completed as one of weekending goal! 

xxC

Tutorial: Wonky Star

Wonky star is another great project for scraps and easy to make. It doesn't require to use perfect angle  and you will be able to finish one wonky star in 10 minutes or less.

Each {Wonky star} needs 9 pieces of squares. Within this tutorial the squares are cut in 2"x2". You may vary your star size by cutting your squares in larger measurements for larger stars.  {Use 1/4" seam-allowance throughout the project}
-Cut 9 , 2"x2" fabric per a wonky star.

- Lay the triangle piece right side together on the 2"x2" square. Angles can be vary. The higher angles would have sharper points.

   -Sew on the edge of the triangle.

 -Trim the excess square piece off {show above}

 -Open the back seam 

-Take the second triangle piece

 - Overlap the second piece of triangle on the first triangle and square. 

 - Sew on the edge of the second triangle 

- Trim off excess fabric { show above}

 - Your block would look like this after your first two joins.

 - Press the seams open

- The piecing piece is larger than 2"x2" now. Trim it down to 2"x2". The starting point is from edge of the square then measure 2"down.

 - Trim the three sides of the first block. 

- Repeat the other three blocks for one wonky star. Added 4 pieces of 2"x2" squares and arrange the layout {show above}.

 - Join 3 pieces of 2"x2" blocks in row. 

 - There are three rows of joined pieces. 

 - Flip the seam;  the oppose from each other. 

 - Join three rows together. 

 - Press the seams open in the back of block.

-  Press from the front. 

- Trim around the four sides to perfect the square The block is measured 5"x5".  

Please let me know if there is any part that's not clear. If you made anything base on this tutorial, please share your projects at {made with 1/4" mark} flickr group. Can't wait to see what you make with this wonky star..

xxC