Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.
Psalm 90:17

Monday, January 30, 2012

Project DUFUS 02/2012-- Finished a UFO!
Here is a quilt I started last July for my then  not-here-yet granddaughter. Leia Elise arrived in October; she gets her quilt in February. A new record for NannieMeg!
She did get to take it on a "test run" before the binding was sewn down:



And the finished quilt:


"A Flea in Her Ear" opened to a standing ovation~ yay to the cast & crew and yay me I get to go back to 'me' sewing!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Another goal~

If Project Dufus isn't enough to get me (or you) motivated to finish or just DO stuff, here's Beth from eva paige quilt designs with a February challenge:
http://evapaigequiltdesigns.blogspot.com/

Make a pledge to devote XX amount of time to quilting every day in February. You'll amaze yourself at what you can get done!

TeeHee! With tongue firmly planted in cheek but serious nonetheless, here's my pledge:

    "I, meg with a lower case 'm', pledge to quilt for at least one hour every day for the entire month of February because it will help me with my Project DUFUS and get a load of debris out of my sewing area once and for all. I promise I will blog about it on a fairly regular basis so there will be evidence and my children can't call me a liar."

I almost wrote 'Amen'  but stopped myself because it's not a prayer; it's a pledge. Which is NOT a resolution. Or a goal. Or maybe it could be. Or it could be this:

Anyway  you look at it, it's a good thing to help your life and your personal well being. Make a pledge and accomplish something.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

FNSI results~

I managed two more blocks for the eva paige swap but I am still not happy. I just can't get the size right! Well, I DID want to use up scraps...
 I only did two, though, because the rest of my FNSI went to costuming and watching "Wipeout" with 3/4 of my children. I don't often have them at one time and I love to hear them laugh together.



I'll be showing costumes later this week!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Learning Lessons...a DUFUS Fail

Project DUFUS has found me stumped this week. While I made great progress on Leia's quilt (a UFO), I found this project to use up some scraps; maybe a FQ or two. 

http://evapaigequiltdesigns.blogspot.com/2012/01/scrappy-new-year-new-group-quilt-needs.html

Beth's 12 1/2" block project seemed like a fun way to play and use scraps so I contacted her Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon I had the directions and had pulled a bunch of fabric for my blocks. I made four on Tuesday, convinced I was going to whip right through them and get 'em back to her in record time. Don't they look nice?



 Except---- they're wrong! Once I trimmed the off-edges I was a good 1/2'' short all around! Where did I go wrong? Well, first, I was so eager to get started I didn't take the time to switch my wavy blade to the straight on my rotary cutter. I figure that threw things off. Then, maybe my seam allowance was a little too much. So I double checked. Maybe I was in too much of a hurry and cut the pieces wrong. And so I went back into the lil' cave and dug out more fabric. Beth's blocks call for fabrics in one color family so for these blocks I chose fabrics I wanted to use for myself. I figured I'll just make 'em up to work out the bugs and save the colorways for the swap.


The blocks did come out a little better, I think, but I'm still off 1/4". This is the *sigh* I referred to in my previous post. What am I doing wrong? Careful cutting according to the pattern, 'scant' 1/4" seams, pressing every step---check, check and check. Anyone have any ideas before I make the same mistakes again? BTW-- my blocks look a little 'curvy' here because I photographed them on the back of a sofa. My cutting table~ aka 'our bed'~ was being used for sleeping at 0:darkthirty this morning when I took these.
Tonight is the Friday Night Sew-In-- I'd love to work on more of these blocks but I'll probably have to be costuming since I spent so much costume time on blocks this week! Dress rehearsal on Sunday! WooHoo!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

It's FNSI time!

One of my joys last year was finding the Friday Night Sew-Ins; sponsored by Bobbi and Heidi. I wasn't able to participate in each one but I sure enjoyed the ones I did. And even if I couldn't play I loved visiting the Flickr pool to see what everyone else had done. This Friday it starts all over again for 2012. Want to play? Sign up over at:
http://craftyvegasmom.blogspot.com/2012/01/friday-night-sew-in-signups-are-here.html
Get ready, get comfy and sew! I've been serious about cleaning out, so this week I worked on a UFO and joined in a block swap to take care of a few scraps. More on that later, when I get a few pics. Let's just say... *sigh*. At some point I have to put down this stuff I want to do and actually, you know, work!. "A Flea in her Ear" opens January 29. Must costume some very wonderful actors. One of my tag lines to my actors is "Don't worry, I've never sent anyone out onstage naked!" Well, this show is the closest I'll ever come to actually doing that... and it's on purpose. This show is new ground for me and I'm enjoying doing something new. I'll have to show you what's new after the show opens. ;) Having DH around while he looks for a new job has been a mixed blessing. The money is tight but he has virtually taken over school and house and I sew so much more just because I can. Thanks, B!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Project DUFUS 01/2012

When I first mentioned my goal to de-stash (oh, so long ago~ was it yesterday?) I think I mentioned my first project was going to be something from the bin of pre-cuts. I found this jelly roll at AC Moore. It was out of it's original packaging although it was still rolled 'jelly' style. All it had on it was a discount sticker with a reduced price for damage, I guess. If you recognize this line of fabric, please let me know what it is! Here's the loosened pile of 2 1/2 X 44 strips. I think there were two strips each of ten prints in blues and greens.
I paired them up, one light/one dark and sewed the strips together; opened and pressed. Then I cut them into 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 squares.
I played with the arrangement until I had a zig-zag pattern I liked and sewed the squares into strips; then strips into rows. When done the top measured about 33 X 37 and looked like this:
I headed back to the stash and found a blue polka dot I had originally bought for a costume. The blue exactly matched one of the blues in the pieced top so I had my backing. I had a leftover piece of batting that just about fit, too~ I just had to piece a strip about 2" wide on one side. I sandwiched, pinned and machine quilted the top in about two hours. I left a 1" border of backing around the edge to bind the quilt; first by folding in 1/2" and then again over the top and topstitching down. I didn't pin it. I just folded and sewed all around in one move. It's a little messy but it'll work.
Project DUFUS 01/2012 is done! Summary: Project 01/2012- Baby or lap quilt Used from Stash- One jelly roll and yardage; piece of batting Bought for this project- Nothing! What's it for?- For now it will go into the future gifts pile

Project DUFUS!

So my not-really-a-resolution-it's-a-goal project has been dubbed "Project DUFUS". Yup. De-stash, Un-clutter, Finish, Use, Share. De-stash by only using what I already have; un-clutter by keeping projects organized; finish UFOs already begun and not leaving new projects until they are done; use patterns, buttons, zippers and trims I already have, and share stuff I won't use with people who will. This will include selling on Etsy or Ebay, giveaways and Goodwill. Let the merriment begin and by 2013 I will be a full-fledged 'DUFUS'! Oy. I'ma start here, I think...

Thursday, January 12, 2012

It's NOT a resolution, okay?

I don't make New Year's resolutions but I have decided to set a goal for myself this year. I casually mentioned to #1 that I hoped to give everyone a quilt for Christmas in 2012. It made me think about all the quilts I had set aside fabrics for, bought fabrics for and all the magazines and patterns I've collected to do it. Then I looked at the fabric that was bought for a specific garment that was never made and all the plans I had to sell on Etsy and Ebay. It has gotten out of hand. I haven't done a quarter of what I hoped to. So, this year I will not buy fabric unless I need it to finish a project. I will not buy patterns unless I really need it for a show. I will continue to buy Fons & Porter's magazine because it is my crack. So far, the only fabric I bought this month was for a show and it was killing me because I kept seeing so many cute things... anyway, I hope to chronicle my year of clean-out sewing here. If you read me at all you know how good I am at keeping my blog promises. That is; I'm not. But I'll try. Here's some of what I'm dealing with:
And:
And that's only part of it. I've already started some. After a quick clean up of all the felt from Kal-El's felt food Christmas present I reached into the bin of pre-cuts I've been hoarding--- I mean collecting--- and pulled out a jelly roll. First project begun. I'll report back later. Happy New Year, y'all~