Almost Over It

I haven't been blogging or quilting (or cleaning or cooking) much in the last six weeks because I've been totally wrapped in the Casey Anthony trial.

On Tuesday, when she was found not guilty (which doesn't mean innocent!), I had a little temper tantrum.  I was pissy all day.  My husband poured me a stiff drink, and I drowned my sorrows with ice cream and Fluffernutter.

Of course, on Wednesday, I wasn't feeling so great.  I realized that I owed a penalty FQ for failing to finish a UFO in the 2nd quarter for the Stashbusters Challenge.  I determined to put it behind me and move on to happier and more positive things.  I spent a lot of time online, randomly following links and threads and tweets, looking for my motivation.

This is where the saying, "Be careful what you wish for!" comes from.  I was catching up on Stashbuster messages and came across a link to the Paper Panache Fairy Quilt Godmother pattern.   Now, I have never been a paper piecing fan, but this is just too stinking cute.  You answer some questions and your Fairy Quilt Godmother appears!

Mine is named Blokjoyelle.  She is almost finished.  I have started on the most complicated section several times and decided I needed a good night's sleep and steadier hands before I give it another shot.  Here's what I have so far:

Yep, those are some tee-niny pieces!  I'll admit they give me pause, especially this last section with they eyes, and bring to mind the words of my Stashbusting sister, Quiltabeast: 

I read patterns the same way I read science fiction. 

I get to the end and think, 'Well, that's not going to happen.'

But I realized that this pattern was just what I needed.  It wasn't mindless strip piecing, or FMQing where it helps to get into the zone.  This pattern required concentration.  It required focus.  It required an entire fabric chart!

In the end it was just what I needed.  I turned off the TV and told twitter to stop texting me.  I put aside my sad, angry, sick thoughts about justice and truth and fairness.  I focused solely on the tiny scraps of fabric and the knowing smile on my Fairy Quilt Godmother's face and once again, let quilting heal me. 



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Step 5 Crushed!

From Step 5 Blocks

The temperature's dive turned out to be a winning situation for everyone in my family: my husband went off to his poker game without a twinge of guilt, the kids wrapped in blankets and watched a movie on the couch by the fire, and I fired up my sewing machine for a marathon of Orange Crush.

Thursday the Wanna Bees helped me choose which greens to use for the center of my album blocks, and Lene even added a perfect piece from her own stash (see the center of the block on the bottom right, the swirly lime green? Thanks Lene!) After getting the Step 5 pieces cut out at bee, I was ready to sew these last blocks.

So I tuned in to my boyfriend, Chris (Meloni...Law & Order: SVU...are you paying attention?). My friend, TiVo, had taped a marathon, so I was good for a few hours. Not only did I get all of Step 5 done, including those &%^$ half and quarter album blocks (I had to go back and rip out 4 of those half split four patches AGAIN!!!), but I also got a nice bit of sewing the blocks together done. I cannot wait to post the pictures of that and show you when I'm done.

It does look a bit...busy. To put it gently. It is starting to calm down now that the blocks are going together, but when I first laid out the whole quilt I almost cried. It was so loud. I really wondered if Gracie would ever be able to sleep under it. Hopefully some solid borders will give the eye a place to rest, because right now it looks like it could be used in a double blind study on epilepsy. Seriously, MarioKart for the Wii poses less danger to people with seizure disorders than this quilt! I am VERY concerned.

I am starting to think of names. I'm not sure I want to just call it Orange Crush, partly because my orange isn't really reading that way. I'd like to incorporate some of the mystery and/or something significant to my daughter in the title. The orange is reading very much like flames and she was actually due on July 4, so I had considered something like "Firecracker". Let me know if you come up with any brilliant ideas.

Please consider spending at least some of your time on Monday working on those charity projects as part of the National Day of Service. I thought this was a great suggestion by Cheri Sullivan. And if you have a blog, help spread the word!

So I'm going to get back to sewing, but I hope you all have a great long weekend and stay warm.

Miles and Miles...

Holy Smokes!

I mentioned that I finally sent my first-ever king sized quilt off to the longarmer (thank you Jan Kramer!). Jan even got it back to me in plenty of time so I could bind and label it in time for my anniversary; but the thought of making that much binding and wrestling the cotton croc through my machine was too overwhelming.

Finally, I decided to cross two things off my "to do" list at once: I made a continuous bias binding for the first time ever (I know, I know) and sewed the binding onto my quilt.

I found some pretty simple directions in a book that look almost exactly like the ones seen here at Quilter's Cache. The only difference is that the directions I had didn't say exactly how much it would make, just that a 36" square made enough "for a large quilt." Well, I have a very large quilt - 105" square - so I decided to use a 40" square of fabric to make my binding.

Can I just say, in my own defense, that geometry was not my best subject? No, the irony is not wasted on me that I took up quilting as a hobby.

The directions worked great. The binding turned out perfectly and quickly, as promised. I am a convert to the method. Sewing it onto the front of my ginormous quilt was not nearly as challenging as I had feared. In fact, I already whipped down 2 of the sides while watching Law & Order reruns that TiVo so kindly recorded for me. The only miscalculation?

This. This is the leftover binding. Yes, the leftover. This is what I have after binding my entire king sized quilt. From a mere 40" square of fabric. How is that even possible? It boggles even the mind of someone less mathematically challenged than I. I haven't measured it yet, but it makes me giggle every time I look at the bundle.

The Quilter's Cache link above has a great formula for calculating the size square you actually need to cut. I needed 420" plus some for my quilt. Let's say 450" for comfort. Multiply that by the width of the binding you are using - in my case 2 1/4". That gives me 1012.5. The square root of that number - 31" - is about the size square I needed. All easy with a basic calculator.

But if you reverse the process and multiply 40" x 40" (the size square I actually used) you get 1600. Divide that by 2 1/4" (width of binding) and you see that I made about 711" of binding. Only about 261" more than I really needed! Luckily it was all out of my stash and I will surely find a use for it.

All in all it was an inexpensive lesson, and one I won't soon forget. I hope you learn something today, too! Drop me a line and share what it was, or link to your blog and tell us all.