Sunday 22 June 2008

Such a sad, sad loss.

Jane McGrath died today. Melissa over at The Things I'd Tell You... (a fantastic blog by the way) expressed it better than I ever could.

My thoughts go out to her children, James and Holly and her husband Glenn.

Frog quilt top finished!!

After a lot of stretching and ironing and adding another row, I have finally finished the frog quilt top!
I'm not thrilled with it. It looks OK, but I know how much better it could have been. If nothing else it was a lesson in the importance of careful measuring and cutting.Luke insisted on having his photo taken with it as well. He likes it and that is the most important thing.

For the back I plan to alternating blocks of the frogs and the blue fabric. Most probably about 9 inch blocks. The frog squares on the front are 5 inches, with the whole block theoretically being 8 inches. Maybe the back blocks should be 8 inches? Hmmmmmmmm...

BTW, Leigh did the 1930's husband test. The result?

112

As a 1930s husband, I am
Very Superior

Oh dear...

23

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

Tuesday 17 June 2008

10 things I now know about foundation piecing

I made my first ever foundation piecing block and really, learnt a lot. So here are the 10 things I now know about foundation piecing.

1. Even though your printer manual says is will print onto tracing paper, it is nigh on impossible! You are way better off printing it onto paper and then transferring it yourself. You will save a heap of time this way.

2. It's really easy to underestimate the size of fabric you need. Even when you think you've got it right - chances are it's wrong!

3. You seem waste a lot of fabric paper piecing - or at least I do! This may be related to point number 2!

4. Sew along the whole line!! (yeah, I know, kinda obvious!)

5. You can iron tracing paper - I never knew that!

6. Once you work out what you are doing - a foundation pieced block comes together pretty quickly!

7. Unpicking a foundation pieced block is scary - what happens if you rip the paper!

8. It is worth checking the instructions every time you start a new piece - this will lead to less of number 7.

9. Removing the paper from the completed block whilst scary, is nowhere near as difficult as it sounds.

10. While doing one block using foundation piecing was ok, I think it will be a long time before I even imagine doing a whole quilt!

And now the result:

I can't tell you what it's for, it's a secret. I did get the pattern off this site called Quilt Blocks Galore. The block is called Hide N Go Seek. Heaps of inspiration on this site, lots to try.

I've also been working on Luke's frog quilt. As I explained here, I was having a few problems getting things to line up. Well, I persevered and finally got the top finished!

Problem was when I laid it on Luke's bed, it wasn't quite long enough! So I hopped onto Bug Fabric and ordered another 5 frogs to make another row. They were washed and ironed yesterday so hopefully I'll get to this soon.

Finally, I stole an idea from AJ who borrowed it from Helen who borrowed it from Sheridan which is where I will stop! Anyway, I liked it, so thought I would have a go too!

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.