Before?

It's snowing outside. It's about time! I am a big fan of winter. Unfortunately, it being 10:00 pm right now there is not much chance of getting a good picture to post. Maybe tomorrow.

Rather, I am posting a few photos of my dungeon in the basement. Inspired by Kay and others who were posting photos of their sewing/craft spaces I thought I would photograph mine. I did not clean it up before taking the photos. Oh, I wish I could actually call it a studio and be inspired by pretty colours, seeing all my stash at once and lots of space that doesn't have to be cleaned when my mother-in-law comes to visit. Alas, it takes up a large spot in our "New York Open Concept Loft Style" basement. A.K.A an unfinished basement. It was finished at one point but we had a flood during some major rains two years ago and we haven't been able to afford to rebuild.

All that being said, I have carved out a functional, if cold, space to work. We bought a large carpet remnant for the floor so my feets aren't so cold. A second carpet allows the Monster a soft space to play when I'm folding laundry or jsut trying to get one more strip pieced. The guest bed serves as a design "wall". Our storage shelves hold books, magazines, and notions. All my stash is stored in rubber bins (remember, we flooded...) by colour and fabric type. And I use three desks to work on. Two together allows for basting baby quilts and holding up large quilts when piecing and quilting. The other one is good for layout and cutting.

It ain't pretty but it works. Now, when we do finish the basement there is a studio space planned just for me. Should we take bets on just how long it will be before I get it?

Check Out That Heiny

I am a firm believer in the backs of quilts. It is a rare quilt for me that has a single fabric as the backing material. Sure, when I started this is what I did. And the odd baby quilt will still have only one fabric (it is easy when one width of fabric covers the whole back). My theory is that the back of the quilt is still part of the quilt. It's not like it will never be seen - unless you keep it flat on the guest bed that never gets used. And don't get me start on labels...

There are the schools of thought that piece leftover fabric from the front. I've done this, but not been happy with the seemingly haphazard look - if you just use chunks of fabric. Rather, I like to actually have a design on the back. Often it is dictated by the fabric, as you can see in the first example below. Sometimes I am replicating a design used for the front. And sometimes it is just a simple design that showcases a couple of fabrics. I encourage you to step out of the neutral, solid backing and add some design to your heiny.

This weekend I lived up to my name and with the help of a quilting buddy I got the backs to two tops finished and ready for the long-arm. Here are the fronts and backs.

Circles and Stripes - Front, then Back


Black and White Retreat Quilt - Front, then Back

Now, I can't wait to get these quilted and put the labels on. I am making progress on the albatross of projects I have.

On My Creative Toes

Every day when I head down the stairs to my unfinished basement (a.k.a the New York Open Concept Loft Style Basement) and the area carved out as my sewing space I am confronted by many unfinished projects. I am completely incapable of working on one thing at a time, start to finish. I always seem to have 3 projects actively on the go, and more hanging out. I think I get bored easily and have trouble seeing the project all the way through, no matter how exciting it is. It might be the technique, the colours, or the scream for attention (deadline) from another project. Whatever it is, it keeps me on my creative toes.

Here is an inventory of my current works in progress. At least, these are the active ones. It doesn't include the class I took but ended up not liking the pattern, or my second quilt ever that still needs a sleeve in order to be returned to my mom, or the binding repair I need to do on our wedding quilt. Maybe I'll get around to those, once some of these are out of the way...

This is one that I am about three quarters done the quilting. I must admit, I started it almost 5 years ago. I had it planned for a few more years than that. Just as I started quilting there was an article on Denyse Schmidt in Martha. I instantly fell in love. Then I found these fabrics and the quilt was born. Now that I know more about design, trademarks, and having respect for a designer I feel a bit bad. It really is close to her designs. I will always give it credit as inspired by Denyse Schmidt. And as time as passed and my quilting designs have developed, I must give a lot of credit to her - a true inspiration for me. I am desperate to try and finish this in the next three weeks so I can give it to my hubby for his birthday. He's been asking me for years, "When are you going to finish the quilt I like?" It already has a name: Here It Is.

I am so excited to have finished the top to this quilt. I designed it a few years ago and started it probably in 2005. Like most of my quilts it was designed during some downtime in my desk job. The back of my work notebook is filled with sketches of quilts, blocks, and furniture arrangements. The colours were chosent to actually match our living room, which is essentially cyan blue and orange, with taupe/brown as a base. I just have the back to piece, using this great Robert Kauffman and some leftovers from the front. This quilt started my circle fixation.

This quilt continues the circle fixation. I won the centre portion at a retreat for my Red Hat group, Garnet Gals. Four of us pieced it and then raffled it off among us. The centre portion is from a book by Maaike Bakker called, "Strip Pieced Quilts". It really makes you googly-eyed to look at it too long. I added the borders using the scraps from piecing. And because the one colored fabric we chose in the blocks had some coloured polka dots in it I had to add some to the border! The back needs to be pieced. Both of these quilts will then be sent out for quilting. I have pretty particular designs planned and they are both beyond both my skills and the ability of my machine.

Okay, one more circle quilt on the go. I'm building this one as a potential class sample. In making all these quilts I experimented with a number of ways on how to make the perfect circle and how to attach it. And I keep finding other ways. In my efforts to build a quilting career I am going to try and teach. This quilt will be my first effort and hopefully those who read this can help me out when it comes to testing instructions... hint, hint. I have the blocks of the background pieced and the circle fabrics narrowed down to these blues and greens.

So when I get tired of doing all these circles I pull out some traditional piecing. This is also the project I go to when I need a colour break. As you can see, most of what I'm working on is pretty bright and vivid. This is a soft quilt. I'm in love with it. It started off as No Darker Than Sand, but that was a little too soft for me. Then I found Heather Bailey's Freshcut line. That did it. A few Amy Butler pieces thrown in and I had a colour scheme. The pattern is a block of the month from Planet Patchwork. Right now I am planning some curved, paper pieced borders, but we'll see. I'm not sure how big I want it to get.

At the same retreat where I won the black and white quilt top we set ourselves up with a challenge. We sewed together some strips, threw in a few other fabrics, and departed. Each of us has the same set of fabric and strips. Here is what we started with. Since then I have started by cutting my strips for some half square triangles. I do have the quilt designed, but nothing more. I think I need to get a few other projects out of the way first.

Hmm, I know I have one other too. No pictures, alas. It was another challenge quilt that I did with a friend. It is a wall hanging that just needs to be quilted and bound. Find me a free weekend and I could get it done. I'll post it then.

Happy Tuesday.

Welcome... to no one

How many people have started their blogs with these cliches?

"If you build, it they will come"

"Bueller? Bueller?"

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Not I. Well, okay, I guess I just did. It was all in clear sarcasm.

I am the naptime quilter. With a 14 month old daughter and a part-time job I do things when I can - at naptime. Lately this has been a lot of quilting and a little bit of gardening. You should see what I've actually finished lately and how overgrown my tomatoes are!

And speaking of naptime, it appears that it is now over...