Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hello Tuesday

Well, it's Tuesday...and while lots of people use Monday as their day to greet the week, my Monday's are always crazy. Full of errands and half-to's, and hello posts are about want to's and dreams and aspirations for the week...a place to wish and dream and plan and scheme. So what are you hoping and dreaming for this week....???

I am dreaming of a clean garage, and I am determined to get there. This week is the week. It's garage week. I really want to make it usable space, that complements the house by providing adequate space. and storage But that means that I need to be vicious. Time to get rid of the things that don't meet one of the following three criterias :

1. It is useful.

2. It is beautiful.

3. I love it.

Which means, I'll be making lots of trips to the Goodwill store this week....

Also on tap for this week is a full weekend of teaching. It is a full house this week and we will be working on the second bag for Mariner's Compass. Super excited. On Sunday, we will be working on various projects....a little bit of Mariner's Compass, a few Celebration Tree Skirts, a Snowflake Star Tree Skirt, a Captain's Wheel, and a Sea Urchins -- and invariably there is a surprise or two that I didn't know about!!! Looking so forward to seeing these girls again, the last time we were together was in January, and that is simply too long.

Also on tap this week is continuing my work on the Celtic Wave and Osprey's Nest projects.....so excited to see these coming together.

Other than that, it's just the normal stuff around here.....as most of the friends are off in Puyallup, WA for the big quilt show at WSU (that's Washington State University pronounced WAZU).....they are stopping at Lantern Moon on the way and EE Schenck on the way bag, so there will be tons of new stuff to show and share when they return....

And that is all that I have planned for the week....let's see what actually happens!!!


What are you planning and scheming for the week???


Catherine

Monday, February 24, 2014

Celtic Wave Quilt Along - Weekly Update 1


Well, It's update day....the first week of the QAL is done, and hopefully, you have gotten a few things done. I had a light week this week, so I got a lot of work done on mine.

So, today is just a status update, nothing is actually due today. We are working on Last week's major deliverable : February 17 - final pre-flight checks, Bag 1 start

We have 1 week left to :

  • Pick fabrics (I am doing a red/white/blue/gold color scheme). Complete
  • prep papers and bags (6 bags) complete
  • cut fabrics -- (yes this is the boring part). I kept fabrics 12 and 13 the same for mine, so it will not have as much variation as the original. complete
  • Work on bag 1 units. These are the spike units. They are really simple and a great way to get back in the groove. There a lot of them, so pace yourself. Also, make sure that you pay attention to the instructions, as you need to push some strips forward into bag 3 to make the border units, and depending upon how scrappy/controlled you want these you need to make sure you push the right ones forward....so take your time and make sure you get it right. If you have any questions, just drop me a note in the comments or on Facebook. complete
  • If you want to stay up to the minute on progress, make sure that you follow me on Instagram as queenie quilts. I post almost daily various items going on in the studio......
  • If you don't have the pattern yet, email me at catherine@queeniequilts.com, and I will honor the sale from a few weeks ago!!!


We'll check back in weekly, but our next "due date" is on March 3rd, when we will do checkpoint 2 and start on bag #2.

Here's the rest of the schedule for the next couple of months....

Checkpoint 2 : March 3 - Bag 2 start - started, there are 16 light accents, and 24 darks accents in this bag. I have completed the 24, not started the 16 yet.
Checkpoint 3 : March 17 - Bag 3 start
Checkpoint 4 : March 31 - Bag 4 start
Checkpoint 5 : April 14 - Curved Piecing
Checkpoint 6 : April 28 - Border Units (if you are doing the Queen)
Checkpoint 7 : May 12 - Start Assembly
Checkpoint 8 : May 26 - All DONE!!!!

Someone asked me how many total units were in this quilt, so I am off to count.....because those are the kind of challenges that I love!!! I love math. Yes, I know that is weird.


Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

Friday, February 21, 2014

Celtic Wave - Fabric Selection

A couple of people have messaged me asking for additional information on the layout for Celtic Wave, since I changed some elements....

Here's the working picture --I hang them on the wall above my cutting table for reference -- It has 3 color families ..... black, teal and green. I used 4 : navy, red, gold and cream. A tribute of sorts......


And the fabrics I chose for mine.....





Lets start with Bag #1 - the spikes

In the original they are black, various prints, but all black. Mine are Reds...it calls for 4 prints, but I added some additionals, since I worked from stash, and you needed 7" strips, I just added until I had enough to make the master number of segments.

Here is an up cose of the reds....they aren"t quite as pink as they appear on screen, they are true Christmas reds....all but one have some texture: pebbles, dots, clouds, flowers, etc.


The rest of the blacks in the original made up the geese units....I chose 4 navy fabrics for my geese. Again, all dark, but with texture, some stars, some swirls and a damask print. I will also use these for the dark background around the center.


And finally, the golds. I replaced the teals with golds, one just darker than the background (for the light teal replacement) and one significantly darker (for the dark teal replacement). As I mentiooned last week I wasn't 100% on these golds, so I made some sample blocks to make sure that I liked them, and so far I do.


That leaves just the background, NC-28 from Island Batiks, a warm cream with tiny little dots in a circular pattern. A nice subtle cream. I must admit this is one of my favorite backgrounds, I buy it by the bolt because it's just the perfect cream. Not too pink, and not to yellow, and not grey/blue. Just the perfect cream. 

In the original, there are two background (it's hard to see, but believe me, there are). One is used for the background of the center blocks and the corner blocks, the other for the rest. Since I wanted the red, white and blue to really show up, I used only 1 for all of the backgrounds. And I think I am going to like it in the end, even if it is a little boring during piecing.....

And not back to regularly scheduled sewing....Bag #1 is calling my name.
 


Monday, February 17, 2014

Celtic Wave Quilt-A-Long


Well, It's that day -- the start of the Celtic Wave Quilt Along......it seemed so far away when I wrote the original post and yet, here it is......

So, let's get started....first, have you picked you fabrics and prepped your papers? If not, you will want to start there.....We're not focusing on that in this series, we're just jumping right in, but you have 2 weeks, and that is more than enough time to catch up with us!!!

So, today is Checkpoint 1 : February 17 - final pre-flight checks, Bag 1 start

We have 2 weeks to :

  • Pick fabrics (I am doing a red/white/blue/gold color scheme). Complete
  • prep papers and bags (6 bags) complete
  • cut fabrics -- (yes this is the boring part). I kept fabrics 12 and 13 the same for mine, so it will not have as much variation as the original. complete
  • Work on bag 1 units. These are the spike units. They are really simple and a great way to get back in the groove. There a lot of them, so pace yourself. Also, make sure that you pay attention to the instructions, as you need to push some strips forward into bag 3 to make the border units, and depending upon how scrappy/controlled you want these you need to make sure you push the right ones forward....so take your time and make sure you get it right. If you have any questions, just drop me a note in the comments or on Facebook.
  • If you want to stay up to the minute on progress, make sure that you follow me on Instagram as queenie quilts. I post almost daily various items going on in the studio......
  • If you don't have the pattern yet, email me at catherine@queeniequilts.com, and I will honor the sale from a few weeks ago!!!


We'll check back in weekly, but our next "due date" is on March 3rd, when we will do checkpoint 2 and start on bag #2.

Here's the rest of the schedule for the next couple of months....

Checkpoint 2 : March 3 - Bag 2 start
Checkpoint 3 : March 17 - Bag 3 start
Checkpoint 4 : March 31 - Bag 4 start
Checkpoint 5 : April 14 - Curved Piecing
Checkpoint 6 : April 28 - Border Units (if you are doing the Queen)
Checkpoint 7 : May 12 - Start Assembly
Checkpoint 8 : May 26 - All DONE!!!!

I did some pre-work on Bag 2, just to check my colors and make sure that I was loving them.....I was originally worried about the gold and whether it was dark enough, but I need not have worried, it looks great!!!


So, I'm about half way done with group 1 of bag 2, or about 10% complete in that bag.....so just a little ahead, not much!!!!

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

Thursday, February 13, 2014

BOM 2014 - Block 1

Warning : Photo heavy post.


So, I finally finished all of the items for the 2014 BOM -- it has been quite an adventure. This BOM is designed as a learning quilt. You will learn a series of techniques throughout the process...including the following techniques : HSTs (Half square triangles), Flying Geese, on-point placements, and pieced borders. I hope you will join us every month as we release a new block, or technique. This BOM is 12 blocks, but we are going to run it for only 10 months, so you will have some months with multiple blocks! All in the name of finishing by December 2014.

So, without further ado, here she is.....


And here is how to make her.....one block at a time.....


 Cut the following :

1 - 6 1/2" square (center)
4 - 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 rectangles of background
4 - 3 1/2" squares background
8 - 3 1/2" squares accent



Now, draw a diagonal line on the back of the 8 - 3 1/2" squares of accent.





Now place the 3 1/2" accents on the left side of the 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" backgrounds.

And then sew on the drawn line. Do this for all 4 background pieces.


Now, you will trim off the extra, 1/4" from the sewn line. 





Now, press towards the newly added accent piece.













And repeat the process for the opposite side of the flying goose.







Your piece should now look like the one below. You should have 4 of these units.



Now, lay out the remaining pieces until they look like this.


Now sew into rows, and press away from the geese. Pin the rows (with seams nesting). 



And sew!!!!



And now, your block should look like this!!!


Monday, February 10, 2014

Hello Monday

well, it is Monday once again, and there are a million things to do, a million plans, and pretty exciting stuff....

*I am happy to say that the BOM for 2014 is all finished.....I even finished the years worth of bump outs . (scary right?). So I will be putting the first of those online on Thursday, February 13th (because the 13th is my lucky day, and my birthdayversary....so that starts this Thursday.)

*I got a lot of projects sent off and finished off -- borders on, backing made, etc. My longarmer will be very busy over the next few weeks. I've even got some pics to share with you.....

*I finished up some long neglected bindings (3 of them to be exact), so I will be sharing those projects.

*I finished up a knitting project that I have been working on for a couple of months....and I will be sharing that.

*I have a destash and depattern coming up later this week.

*I also have several projects to start, work on and finish up this week, so stay tuned for more on those.

*I will also be picking my color pallette for my Celtic Wave QAL which starts next week on the 17th, so stay tuned for more information on that one....

February sure is busy!!! Stay tuned for updates, and have a great week!!!


Catherine

Friday, February 7, 2014

Friday Fun

Well, it's Friday, can you believe it?? The weeks are flying by.

I've been busy this week...working on various sewing and design projects, working through the great destash (more updates on that soon), sewing the final components of Captain's Wheel, getting ready for Celtic Wave QAL (which starts in 10 days or so), and doing the dreaded taxes and paperwork wrapup from 2013. I am happy to say that I am almost finished with all of the yuck work, and ready to move on to some fun stuff.

I had planned on doing a bunch of photos this week, but the weather has been very uncooperative, wet and rainy (which is rare for us), and just generally not good photography weather. Even my indoor shots were grainy and dark, since there is literally no natural light....so no pics for this week, but hopefully we'll get back to that next week.

Due to the weird weather and my weird mood, I spent some quality time just going through all the junk....the drawers, closets, boxes, and even the garage. I made multiple trips to goodwill, and generally got rid of a bunch of "stuff"...stuff that was cluttering the house and my brain. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be....after I got going. If I don't love it or use it, I tossed it. It was really freeing, and I must admit a bit scary to realize how much stuff I have just squirreled away for some other day. I don't think of myself as a hoarder (other than of fabric), but apparently, I am a bit of one......especially when it comes to receipts??? WTH?? I found the receipts for the TV that I had three TVs ago, and I don't replace my TVs every few years, it was from COLLEGE!!!! Crazy!! Even crazier that the household binder it was in (in perfect organized order I must add), is 20+ years old. My mom and I made it when I left for college, it was part of her gift to me to help me get my "new home" in order.....

So, I spent the week working through and getting every thing in good working order, and I'll share some pics as soon as we have a decent camera day!!!

do you ever find weird things that you have kept and have no idea why???

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Things they are a changin'

Isn't that how it is, you make all these plans and then everything changes.....

It's been a rough week around here, with a major change at work that I must admit has thrown me for me for a loop....but I think I am over it now. Or at least over it enough to move on and make the best of it.....

So, you'll be seeing more of me around here until life calms down (funny how I blog more the busier I am, what is that???). Not every day (because, I am really not that interesting), and not on a schedule, because that is too hard to manage right now.

But for now, I'll have time to do more photography, sewing, purging, organizing and blogging.

Somehow, I have a feeling I'll lose readers as I bore you to death with the activities of the day......

Until tomorrow, have a great sewing day!!!!


Catherine 

Monday, February 3, 2014

Hello, Monday!

It's the first Monday of February!!! What??? Where did January go??? Seriously, it flew by. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were  planning out the goals for the year, and here we are 1/12th of the way through the year. Can't believe it!!!

I'm starting this Hello Monday series, to remind me myself to be thankful and grateful even as we move through the weeks and months at break-neck speed.

Thankful for an entertaining job that provides for my family.

Thankful for my family and friends who keep me grounded and accountable.

Thankful for a hobby that challenges and excites me (and even occasionally makes a little extra cash)!

The goals for the week are pretty simple --

1. survive a crazy week at work -- I have three days of late meetings scheduled, and a million things to do.

2. get over this cold -- it seems to just be lingering on and on....hacky cough and coughing episodes, followed by hours of no issues. I'm tired of being sick!!! And the medicine makes me feel like a zombie. I just want to be well!!!!

3. Prepare for Celtic Wave -- the QAL starts on the 17th (in two weeks), and I have quite a few things to do to get ready for it.

4. get to planning for Q3, can't believe I am talking about the plans for July - September. They will be here before you know it!!

5. Taxes -- yuck. But necessary yuck.

What are you going to work on this week???

Catherine 

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Captain's Wheel -All Done

I finished my Captain's Wheel on Saturday afternoon! So nice to get it finished!

I didn't get a chance to get outside and get any pics today, but I promise to get some this week.

Overall, I am happy with this one.....I wish the border units were just a bit bigger to frame it better, but other than that, I couldn't be happier!

Now, what to work on next?? Perhaps, I should clean the sewing room?