The Barter Quilt

In October of 2012, I started another hand-pieced top using  ... oh my gosh ... MORE of the fabrics that had been used to make the Diggin's Quilt and 4-patch and Straight Furrows and Underground Railroad and a small Ohio Star quilt that went to the tornado victims of Moore, OK.   I swear this fabric was multiplying on its own.  I can't conceive that I ever bought that much.

I like having hand work to do when I'm away from home. I call these projects my "Forever Projects" because I really don't have a deadline for them to be finished and I really don't care when then get done.  I've had a number of Forever Projects since the first one in the 1990's.

I called this particular Forever Project "Vertical Diamonds".   Clever and original, huh?  :-) 

Well, I worked steadily on this project.  Every Wednesday, I visit with my Dad and always take along a Forever Project.  A lot of this project was sewn during those Wednesday visits.  By Spring of 2013, it was done.  My notes don't say how big it turned out to be but judging from the picture, I'd guess, off-hand, that maybe it was double?  *maybe* a queen.  I'm not really sure.

In fact, the picture to the left isn't even of the *finished* top!  I know there is another blue border around that outer border of diamonds.

In any case, I eventually got the top finished.  Now I was in a quandry.  For whatever reason, I wanted this top to be hand-quilted.  I had put a lot of time and effort into all the hand-piecing, although it obviously can't be seen.  It seemed to me that hand-quilting would be the "proper" way to finish this quilt.

But not by me.  I don't do hand-quilting.  The limited number of SMALL projects I've done have been more than enough for me.  I appreciate hand-quilting.  I recognize the skill it takes.  But, for me?   it's simply terminally boring.   So, this top was going to remain just that ... a top ... because *I* was not going to hand-quilt it and I'm just waaaaaay too cheap frugal to pay for someone to do it for me.  (Not that they wouldn't be worth it!! Heavens no!  *I* just don't want to pay for it!  Just as other quilters don't want to pay for longarmers to quilt their quilts.)

Enter my quilting buddy, Donna.  Donna hand-quilts.  She pieces tops only under duress and then, only so she has something to hand-quilt.  She'll even buy cheater panel prints, just to hand-quilt them.

In the Spring of 2013, I asked Donna if she would be agreeable to a barter ... would she hand-quilt my top?  In return I would longarm quilt any quilt she has.  She *was* agreeable except that she wanted me to finish piecing a Forever Project of her own ... something that had been languishing in her To Do pile since 2002 or 2003.

I jumped on the opportunity!  Without wanting to sound like a braggadocios, I feel confident in my own sewing ability to be able to sew almost any doggone quilt top you can throw at me.

In March 2013, we exchanged projects.  I handed over my Vertical Diamonds.   We talked about what sort of hand-quilting would be done.  I was of the opinion that ANYTHING she did would be a vast improvement of it laying about in my house.  I was completely comfortable with whatever she felt comfortable doing.  She stressed that she was not an expert hand-quilter; that her stitches weren't the same size top and bottom.  I reminded her that the top wouldn't get quilted *at all* if I held on to it.  She took notes on what we discussed and I gave her permission to change the quilting designs if she felt the urge to do so.

Donna's project came from the book, "Trip to Ireland" by Elizabeth Hamby Carlson which combines Irish Chain blocks with Trip Around the World blocks in various fashions.  Donna's choice was "Irish Trip".

She gave me a GINORMOUS storage bag of yardage, strips, the book and a color key to relate her fabrics to the fabrics used in the pattern.  Because there was no time deadline for her to hand-quilt my Vertical Diamonds, she asked that I not start on Trip to Ireland "too soon" because she didn't want to be under  "pressure" to finish the hand-quilting.  So, I sat on it for a couple of months.  

Donna would sporadically send me photos of her progress-to-date.  After the second one, I realized that even if she took YEARS to do the hand-quilting, if *I* waited until she was almost done, I might very well forget not only where I put her project but that I was supposed to do anything at all!  So, in August 2013, without telling her that I was starting, I did.

I cut hundreds of strips.  I made tens of hundreds of strip sets.  I sub-cut thousands of strips from the strip sets.  I made tens of thousands of Irish Chain blocks (well, 13, if you want to be specific).  I made tens of thousands of Trip Around the World blocks (well, 12, if you want to be specific).

Each block is made up of 10 strips. Each strip has 10 squares, so that each block has 100 squares.  The entire Irish Chain and Trip around the World block portion of the quilt is made up of 25 blocks (5 rows of 5 blocks each) for a grand total of 2500 squares.  Not every intersection meets *exactly* but, by golly, most of them do!  Two borders, one narrow, one wider, surround the pieced center.

By September 2013, the top was completely finished.  The measurements are approximately 88" x 88"; it's a good sized quilt top!

  So, now ... all of Donna's materials, supplies and the completed top is packed away in a ginormous storage bag.  I *HOPE* I remember where the darned thing is when Donna eventually finishes the hand-quilting on my quilt. :-)

At that point, I will have a fantastic, incredible hand-quilted sandwich.  She will receive a pieced top, made as carefully as I could do.  I think we will both be very happy.  :-)

Update: what's been going on

Sit back because this is a LONG post!

The California Poppies needleturn applique project

I have been working on an applique Forever Project for a while.  It's one oversized block of California Poppies.  I love poppies and so I snapped up this pattern since it also came kitted up.

Well, I'm falling out of love with it. 

I'm pleased with the way the needleturn applique was done on the teeny-tiny leaves and stems.  There were some VERY tiny curves involved and I believe I did a fairly decent job with them.

Look at those tight curves!!  The ends of the leaves aren't supposed to be pointy, although I think that having pointy ends would have been easier to do than the rounded ends.


Then I started the flowers.  These flowers are supposed to look more-or-less realistic and have some depth to them.  The fabrics you use provide this aspect and was one of the compelling reasons I bought the kit in the first place ... the critical orange-y fabric for the poppy flowers was already picked out for me.  Granted, they were NOT the same fabrics as on the photo of the finished block, but they appeared to be close enough.

But as I work on the petals of the flowers, I'm just not feeling the love.  It's discouraging because the sample in the vendor's booth was simply wonderful.

I'll finish the block, just so it doesn't remain a UFO, when in reality it shouldn't take me very long to finish it up ... if only I would focus on it.  As a result, *this* project is coming along Very Slowly.









The Fusion Project

While I was busy being discouraged by my California Poppy block, I decided to indulge myself and start another Forever Project.  The rationale being that if I wasn't terribly interested in working on the California Poppies Forever Project, I would need something else to take its place.

Enter the Fusion Forever Project.  I read about this on a blog and it sounded SO intriguing!   Another blog had more inspirational pictures.

You sew a small-ish reversible block (two charm squares sewn right sides together, all the way around, leaving a small opening for turning) then *crochet* one or two rounds along the perimeter.  That's the fusion part ... sewn fabric blocks and crochet.

Well, I didn't want to do the sewing part because I have on hand  a whole BUNCH of fleece leftovers.  I thought that I could substitute a square of fleece  and crochet around the perimeter of the fleece.  My main reason for this particular Forever Project is because I was given a whole BUNCH of perfectly nice balls of yarn by a neighbor.  I figured I could put that yarn to good use in this project.

But, it kinda backfired on me.  The yarn, while not bulky, isn't fine, either.  The fleece square, being only one layer, is very thin.  The crocheted rounds for the border resulted in a very lopsided block ... it seems to me that the crocheted border rounds were really too heavy for the single layer of fleece.   First I did two rounds, but I think that is *really* non-proportional.  So, I started a block with just one round but I'm not thrilled with that look either.

I even tried different types of borders ... within my limited crochet knowledge, of course ... but I was never quite happy with the unequal weights of the border vs the body of the block.

I suppose I could use two squares of fleece, but then I'd need to align the holes along the edge of the fleece squares in order to crochet the foundation row.

But mostly, I'm unhappy with the weight disparity.  So this is another project that I've put in the  "stalled" category.

-=-=-=-

So, I'm STILL looking for a Forever Project to work on when I'm away from home.  I've been seeing that hexagons are a Big Hit right now, so maybe I'll give that a whirl.  Only ... I'm not going to be making those teeny-tiny hexagons.  I want a project that has a reasonable possibility of being finished within my lifetime.

I had previously purchased some time ago, a hexagon template that incorporated several different sizes.  For no good reason at all and without anything for guidance, I chose to make a fairly large hexagon.  Making a large size will give me more bang for my buck in terms of seeing rapid progress.   I'm not sure what the proper protocol is for stating the dimensions of the hexagons ... some give the length of a side, others give the widest width.  The size I chose was 3-1/2" along the widest width .. or .. 2-1/4" along the length of a side.

This was the Forever Project that I brought along last month during our family vacation.   I brought along the foundation papers and  precut widths of fabric to cut the hexagons from.   All I did was make the individual hexagons and I managed to use up all my precut and prepped fabric. 

Not having any instructions on how the hexagons are sewn with the foundation papers, I first used a washable glue stick to hold the folded over seam allowances to the paper. Continuing to not know what I was  really doing, I also hand-basted the seam allowances.  That was probably over-kill.  :-)


I found out later on, when it was time to remove the papers,

that the glue sticks quite nicely, thankyouverymuch.  Then I realized that the hand-basting would work well all by itself.  But I still would need to remove the hand-basting thread, since it was *through* the papers.  THEN I read how to put a couple of back-stitches just in the corners and drag the thread from corner to corner ... the thread wouldn't even need to be removed!  I'm all for not having mini-projects within a project!

Once back home, I had to decide what to DO with the hexagons.  All I could think of was the traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden, which does NOT float my boat.  In thinking about *why* I don't care for Grandmother's Flower Garden, I have concluded that it's the double circle of hexagons that I don't particularly care for.  

Searching with Google/Images was enlightening ... there were a lot of projects that simply butted the hexagons up against each other, all willy-nilly .. no regard for color or design.  It was just a scrappy top.  And I didn't care for it.  Not because it wasn't pretty!  Oh my no .. they were gorgeous!  It's just that *my* sense of creating random color arrangement is dismal and I knew that I really wouldn't care for my outcome.

Then I saw some 'modern quilting' samples of using strips of hexagons as a design element on a base fabric.  These were mostly solid colored hexagons. 

Well, as it so happened, I had a number of solid fabric hexagons that I had made.  So, I assembled them into a strip.  Eventually, it will be appliqued onto base fabric that will become (yet another) throw pillow.

Other solid fabric hexagons were assembled into a lozenge-shape that I *think* I will back with felt and make into a table runner for my dining room table.  Unfortunately, because I didn't think ahead or plan colors (because I didn't know I was going to be making a table runner), the colors in the potential table runner have absolutely nothing in common with my dining room.  ::sigh::  But, I may do it anyway.  I may also make some placemats with hexagons in a strip down one side .. mainly to coordinate with the table runner.  Maybe.

But, I still had a whole bunch of non-solid fabric hexagons that I needed to do something with.  For a small amount of time, I even considered giving the entire bunch away simple because I couldn't figure out what to do with them.  And *then* ... I read this blog about a terrific, alternative arrangement!  (She has a series of blogs on this particular quilt.)

Ah!  Here was an arrangement of hexagon flowers that didn't look like Grandmother's Flower Garden and one that appealed to me.  I  liked the staggered arrangement of the flowers rather than all the hexagon flowers being arranged in a tic-tac-toe grid. 

I had a LARGE amount of medium green Fossil Fern yardage that I had purchased for a different project that never panned out.  It was this Fossil Fern that is being used as the background/filler hexagons.

So, this Hexagon Flower Forever Project is the one that I'm currently using as my portable project away from home and also when watching a TV show with Mr. Pirate when I don't want the sound of the sewing machine intruding on the show.  It's rather satisfying to sew together the hexagons into flower units then make the background/filler units and sew them both together. 

As I complete each flower unit, I'm assembling them into columns on my design wall.  One advantage of this large size hexagons is that the top is going to go together quickly. 

I'm not sure, at this point, what size the top is going to be.  Using approximate measurements, I figure a twin will take 6x8 units, a double will take 7x8 units, a queen will take 8x9 units and a king will take 9x9 units.  In the photo on the right, the leftmost column has 4 flower units in it (the 5 green hexagons on top of the flower hexagon is one unit).  The last flower hexagon in the right column doesn't have its green hexagons yet.

It's time to de-clutter: a set of valance pleaters

I have a fairly high tolerance for clutter.  Anyone who just drops in for a visit can attest to that.  I'm not particularly proud that I don't put things immediately away where they belong, but I do acknowledge this is a factual character flaw.  :-)

Well, today the degree of clutter-ness just went over the top.  Nothing in particular tipped the balance but the overall visual chaos simply became too much for my poor eyeballs to tolerate.

As I began to  diminish the size of the piles (that's my typical method of organization:  Organized Piles of Chaos), I also set aside those items that, although they are *just as darling and functional* as when I first obtained them, I now face the fact that I am simply NEVER EVER EVER going to use them.  Or use them again, in the case of craft patterns.

Therefore, over the next several posts, I am going to be presenting a bunch of items that I am offering for sale.  All items are still in useful condition.  If any item (such as a pattern) was used, I will tell you.

This post is for (4) packages of Valance Pleaters #5450 by Kirsch.  Anyone who has done home decoration will recognize the Kirsch name.   The "pleater" isn't a device like a smocking pleating machine but instead is a flat, heavy-duty plastic bar with slots in it that create the "pleats" of the valance when the fabric is slipped into the slots.

Each package contains 2 pleaters, one for each side of a window, so that each package will make a valance for ONE window.    To be real obvious about it, all these packages together will make valances for *4* windows.

None of the packages have been opened.  The plastic bags look a little banged up but are intact.

It *appears* that there is no limit to the width of the window; I assume you simply cut the appropriate length of yardage to go across the window plus the amount of the drop that you want.

I got these pleaters under the delusion that I was actually going to get around to making valances for my living room.  I can't even remember how many years ago that was.  I now admit that I am never going to make them.  :-)

 This is the back of the blue label in the above photo.  It shows the kind of valance you can make.

This is the front of the little pamphlet inside the package.  I don't know exactly what is in the interior, since I've never opened the packages.  At the very least, I assume it's directions on how to use them. 


A PDF that explains how the pleaters are used can be downloaded here; it very well could be the same information that is in the inside of the pamphlet.

Don't those valances look pretty?  Even better, there's no special sewing that needs to be done; the directions say only straight seams are required.

I'm asking $7/package .. that's $28 total *plus* postage. 

My zip code is 94597.  The weight of all 4 packages is 1 lb, 14 oz .. but you gotta include the weight of the box, so figure on 2 lbs.

According to the US Post Office, standard post would be $9.79; a medium flat rate box would be $12.35.  If you come up with a less expensive mailing option, I'm all ears.

This is good only for the US ... shipping abroad is just way too expensive.

Interested in sprucing up your windows?  I'm sure you'll have better success than I did!  :-)   Contact me at pirate AT value DOT net to discuss your purchase.

OInk-a-Doodle-Moo quilt is done and delivered!

But not without considerable DRAMA during the construction process.  And it was all because *arithmetic* doesn't work correctly.  I'm sure that was the cause.

In any case, the quilt was finished and even gift-wrapped BEFORE the baby shower .... usually I'm doing some last minute sewing of the binding in the car en route.

The expectant Mom seemed to be pleased with the home-made quilt.  She even mentioned the baby quilt that  I had made for *her*, 20 years ago.  I was extraordinarily pleased that her quilt had been saved all these years.  In fact, when I was looking at her quilt, I could see that it had been *used* during her growing up years because there was definite wear showing ... like some seams had come undone.  Honestly, I wanted to fix them right there at the baby shower!

But, back to the new baby quilt ... I've written about the trials and tribulations and shenanigans that occurred whilst I was making this quilt.  It seems only right that I disclose all the dirty laundry (so to speak) so that y'all don't have the impression that all quilts come together magically.

That picture is just a teaser! For all the gory details, links and more pictures, please visit my web page for the Oink-a-Doodle-Moo quilt.

Oink-a-Doodle-Moo quilting done! (now to finish the quilt)

I did decided to put a border on it.  I found an interesting one at the Moda Bake shop for the Oink-a-Doodle-Moo line.  I'm changing the colors around and it looks like this:

Now, of course, I can't use Moda's measurements because my quilt has different dimensions than their sample.  But, look at how simple it is!  My math isn't all that bad and I've been known to figure out some pretty complicated layouts.

Sadly, this was not one of those times.

I carefully measured the blocks of my center medallion (the printed block prints and the 4-patch pinwheels).  I figured on a narrow inner border surrounding it.  I totalled up the bottom line figure (in inches) of the white background fabric.  I then measured my actual fabric.    All the arithmetic seemed to be in order, so I started cutting the fabric.

Remember that I have LIMITED amount of the white fabric.  It's a large-ish piece leftover from some other project; it's not even yardage.  

I made the border blocks (as shown above) for the top border.  In order to be more efficient, I also cut the white fabric for the bottom border (since it's the same as the top).  Imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered that the blocks for the top border came out TOO SHORT for the center medallion.

?!?!??!?!   Holy moley, how the heck did that happen??   And even worse, I've replicated the problem for the bottom border because I've already cut out those pieces.  I can't just toss those pre-cut pieces because .... I have a LIMITED amount of the white fabric.  Ay carumba.

Well, I came up with a Frankenstein solution and it mostly looks OK.

On to the side borders.  And dagnabit ... one of them came out "not exactly correct" either.  This is very annoying.  Remember .. I have a limited amount of the white fabric.

But, pressing onwards, because I really do want to get this top completed tonight so I can start quilting tomorrow.

I re-calculated the side border pices and cut them out.  Uh oh.  Something is seriously wrong.  Remember that I had a LIMITED amount of the white fabric?  Well, that "limited amount" has now become ... none.

As in, I've run out of the white fabric.  I still have 2 border blocks to make and 2 corner stones.   See that bloody mark on the wall??  That's where I've been hitting my head.

Well, my Mama didn't raise no quitter, so I Frankensteined another solution for the 2 border blocks but there was NO magic solution for the 2 corner stones.  What I eventually ended up doing was using a plain white fabric for those 2 cornerstones.  Luckily, if you squint just right and have less than adequate lighting conditions, I don't think you'll notice that 2 of the cornerstones are a completely different white fabric than the rest of the quilt.  ::sigh::  It was the best I could do, seeing as this quilt needs to be completely finished and gift-wrapped in 4 days.

On to the quilting .. which THANK GOODNESS .. was completed without any complications at all!!

All the seamlines were stitched in the ditch.

 The border got a scroll:

The pinwheel blocks got a free-form flower and leaves:

and the panel (pre-printed) blocks were outline stitched:

The next step to be done is to square up the quilt, make the label, bind the quilt and the final step ... launder it.

What's going on these days

I've started on the piecing for the Trip to Ireland barter quilt (I'm piecing a top for a quilting buddy; she's hand-quilting a quilt for me).  This project is a combination of an Irish Chain block and a Trip Around the World block.

This is the Irish Chain block.  I need to make a messload of them.  All of the strip sets have been sewn and I'm in the process of sub-cutting slices to make the Irish Chain blocks. 

I could be extremely efficient and sub-cut ALL the strips and bundle them together so that all I would have do to is sew-sew-sew.  However, I've chosen to take cautious approach .. seeing as this is not my fabric, what I have is what I have and additional fabric is not available ... and I am sub-cutting the slices as I need them.

You know what is really, *really*, REALLY annoying?   Running out of bobbin thread when matching up intersections on the 10 segment Irish Chain. Harumph.  If you must know, I was at the second segment but didn't realize it until the very end of the strip.


Since there is no hard deadline for the Trip to Ireland quilt AND I have a high-priority baby quilt to make, construction of the Trip to Ireland blocks has been temporarily suspended until the end of the week.

One of Mr. Pirate's nieces is expecting and a baby shower is this coming weekend.  I had a baby quilt pattern all picked out.  I was about to pull the fabrics for it when I came across the cutest name in one of the quilting blogs I read.  Yep .. the name of the fabric line caught my fancy so I tracked it down.

The line is "Oink-a-Doodle-Moo".  Now honestly, how could you possibly resist such a name?  Even better than having a complete fabric line to choose from, there is also a panel print of 6 barnyard blocks.   Now, as much as I disdain "cheater" quilts, this one is too cute to pass up!  Using the quilt shown in Lovin' Life at the End of the Dirt Road blog post as an inspiration on use of the panel print, I am alternating 4-patch of pinwheels and the panel blocks.

I'm undecided on whether or not to use her border.  It's really, really cute but might be a tad more involved than I have time for.  After all, not only do I need to construct the top but get it quilted and bound by *this weekend* ... 6 days away.  I'll be thinking about what kind of border to put on it whilst I make all those pinwheel blocks.

As you can see from this in-progress picture, I still have a few pinwheels to make.  The black isn't part of the quilt; that's a sheet I'm using as a design wall.

A family of finishes

I can now finally do a proper show-n-tell on the 2 sibling quilts I've been working on and had mentioned in my previous post.

Small about of background: I had made a baby quilt for one of Mr. Pirate's cousins.  The new baby has 2 older siblings and I've finished lap quilts for the siblings.

The boy's quilt was made from the Skinny Strips pattern.  You can read all about the trials and tribulations of making this quilt, see lots of pictures and follow the links in Jacob's quilt webpage.

And the girl's quilt was made from an inspirational picture from a quilting blog I read.  That blogger doesn't even know who designed the pattern because I asked.  You can read all this quilt's adventures, see more pictures and follow the appropriate links in Jolene's quilt webapge.


Now that those quilts have been delivered, the next thing for me to do is to take stock of where I am and just what project needs to worked on next.

I know I need to work on a barter top (I'm piecing the top for her; she's *hand quilting* for me.  I'm definitely getting the better end of this deal, but don't tell her I said so!).  I have a computer-inspired quilt to make for my nephew.  I have a fuzzy Minkee-like quilt to make for my favorite youngest daughter. 

I actually need to so some sort of re-org on my sewing room to rediscover exactly what I have stashed away, so that I don't forget something.  I have this niggling feeling that I'm forgetting something Really Important but that could just be the paranoia showing up.  :-)

Status Report: what's been going on

I've been working on a bunch of projects lately.


Donation Quilts to Moore, OK
1. The Pinwheel top I finished this past May finally got quilted by mid-June (previously blogged about here).  Since this was from scrap and donated fabric, I had ear-marked it for a donation quilt.  As a matter of fact, I had been stockpiling a LOT of quilts that had more-or-less recently been quilted for the local charity I like to support.  The Pinwheel quilt was going to join that bunch.

Then the tornado hit Moore, OK.  The devastation left behind was simply unimaginable.  A quilt guild local to that area of Oklahoma put out a call for finished quilts .. not blocks, not UFOs, not anything that need to be assembled or finished.  Well, that big, ol' box of finished quilts that was sitting in the corner of my dining room certainly fit that bill.  The quilts going to my local crisis center aren't specifically "necessary".  Every child who leaves the crisis nursery is allowed to take a blanket or quilt or afghan with him/her and that is where my quilts fit in.

But *Moore, OK* .. well, THEY had a real need.  I bundled up all 12 quilts that I had stockpiled and mailed them off to Moore, OK.  I hope they are able to provide some comfort.




California Poppies needleturn throw pillow

2. I'm continuing to work on my California Poppies needleturn applique project.  I've now (finally!) completed all the background stems and leaves.  The next step is to trace all the various petal pieces onto their appropriate color fabrics and start stitching them.  (I've drawn two in so you can see where they fit in).  I really want to get this particular project done .. or at least the applique part .. because I already have my next Forever Project [alt-0153] lined up.  I'm eager to start it but I *know* that if I begin it now, without the California Poppies being done, I'll probably never finish the Poppies.  Sooooo .. nose to the grindstone and get the needleturn Poppies stitched!

Quilts for siblings:  

for the older brother. This past May, I made a baby Rubber Ducky quilt for a new member of the extended Pirate family.  The family has 2 older children.  I was thinking that they might get their noses out of joint because the new baby is getting ALL the stuff and they're getting a big goose egg.

So, with the permission of the Mom, the two kids told me their favorite colors and interests.   I finished the older boy's quilt just last week .. but haven't made the web page for it yet.  He told me his favorite color was pink and that he liked the San Francisco 49er's and San Francisco Giants.  I was deliriously happy when I found fabrics that coordinated AND fit his requirements!  

You'll have to be satisfied with this single picture for now. 

for the older sister
4. Having finished the boy's quilt, I then started on the  girl's quilt.  I had an inspiration picture as a basis and am rapidly approaching the completion of the top.

As I now see the vine up on the design wall, I think I should have curved the leftside vine with the bright turquoise flower upwards more.  ::sigh::   It's not getting moved because it's already been stitched down by machine ... very small stitches.  Ah, well .. such is life.

I figure I'll get the top finished tomorrow, load it onto Lizzie and start the quilting.  As of right now, I haven't a clue what the quilting is going to be and that is of some concern.  I know that, for me, I need to have a quilting plan in place before I ever load up a quilt.  So maybe the quilting won't get started just yet.  :-)


Even though these two quilts are for family members, I feel safe in talking about them here because I know neither the kids nor the parents read my blog.  :-)

A Pinwheel Quilt

Yes, I actually HAVE done some quilting lately!  :-)

I was recently shown a new-to-me technique for making pinwheel blocks, which makes (4) half-square triangle blocks simultaneously from two large rectangles, instead of the normal way I make them, which is two at a time from two squares.  A small difference but it's nice to learn a new method.

I made enough pinwheel blocks to make a small quilt and eventually got the top quilted.  I don't know why I dither so much about the actual quilting process; I'm always so pleased when it's done!  :-)

The webpage for this quilt contains lots more pictures, quite a BIT more verbage :-)  and a link to a video (not by me) that shows the technique.

That picture is just a teaser! For all the gory details, links and more pictures, please visit my web page for the Pinwheel quilt.

(NQR) Genealogy - clarification of a surname

I've long been interested in my family history.  When I became married to Mr. Pirate, I became interested in HIS family history also.

I recently joined a local genealogical  society and one lecture I attended was given by the director of the big LDS Library, which is in a nearby city.  The talk was on how to effectively use the new, updated LDS website for searching.  He mentioned his own researching escapades and, almost as a throw-away line, he mentioned that because one of his lines was Portuguese, he has become an expert on Portuguese research, especially in the Azores.

Oh my .. did my ears perk up at that!  When the meeting was over, I introduced myself to him and asked if I could make an appointment to meet with him to learn how he did his Portuguese research.  He was exceedingly gracious and an appointment was set up.

I had (3) lines to research: two on Mr Pirate's paternal side and my own paternal line.  We actually struck out on all three lines because I don't have a whole lot of information to go on.  The one line for Mr. Pirate that I had the most information (birth year, town and island) resulted in a cruel and bitter defeat:  although the island & town DID have records online, their earliest started in 1844.  My guy's birth year was 1841.   ::cue sounds of disappointment::

When we were poking around on the other line for Mr. Pirate, I mentioned that we shouldn't be looking for the Rodgers surname because in 1915, my guy changed his name.  I brought a copy of the affidavit attesting to that and showed it to the director.

The affidavit said, ".... on November 17, 1915, Manuel Pereirada Rozas also written and known as Manuel P Rodgers ... "

My mentor took one look at that and immediately said that "Pereirada" is NOT, most emphatically NOT, a name.    (Parenthetically, I've asked one of my Portuguese friends about "Pereirada" and she said that she wasn't aware of a name like that.)

I kinda looked at him and said, well .. this is what I have  (thinking .. what, are you dumb or something?  That's his name *right there*.  It says so!).  But I didn't say that out loud; it would have been rude, ya know.

He continued on, saying, it looked to *him* that the spacing was wrong ... that the person writing down the information wasn't hearing it correctly and so typed it incorrectly.   He was sure the name was really .... Manuel Pereira  da Rozas.    !!!!!!!  Oh. My. Gosh.  That makes SO MUCH SENSE.

Pretend you're Manuel.  You have a Portuguese accent.  You might be fluent in English because you've been in this country for decades, but you still have that accent.  Now, say your name.  Manuel Pereira da Rozas.  Slur the Pereira and da together .. what does it sound like?  Pereirada.  Bingo.

So, the family name, way back when, wasn't simply Rozas .. but  da Rozas.    Not that it makes any huge difference to my research, but we now know the family's true surname.   That alone was worth the trip to the LDS libary.   I tell ya, I was one happy camper!


I've also been doing some very cursory research into the pronunciation of Portuguese names.   It sure isn't like Spanish, I tell ya.  For example .. Manuel.   In Spanish, it's "man-well".  Not so in Portuguese.  Portuguese words break out EVERY vowel into its own syllable.  In fact, "Manuel" in Portugese is actually "Manoel" and is pronounced "man-oo-el", close to Spanish but not the same.  It's extremely difficult for me to avoid a Spanish interpretation of the names.  :-)


I've been so jazzed about this small insight that I felt compelled to let the Entire World know.  :-)

I'll get back to quilting in a bit.  :-)

have you watched the Great British Sewing Bee?

I just finished watching all (4) 1-hour episodes.  It was *wonderful* ... precisely everything that I had originally hoped that "Project Runway" would be.

Let me back up just a bit.  When Project Runway first aired, I was eager with anticipatory excitement!  Here we would be able to see how designers actually designed!  How they came created their outfits; what obstacles they came up against and how they overcame them; what small but important items make a creation special instead of off the rack.

How I was disappointed.  Instead of a high-brow how-to show, what I saw was a bunch of drama queens, contention, arguing, back-biting and silly, silly challenges.  Stupid stuff.  Obviously, I am in the minority, as Project Runway is in its 11th season.  Enough people are watching it to encourage the advertisers to continue their support.  But then, it seems a lot of people like those atrocious reality shows too.

So, when I first saw that PBS was putting on a Great British Sewing Bee .. a national competition for the Best Amateur Sew in Great Britain, I was very skeptical.  Since my PBS station didn't carry it, the only way I could watch it was on YouTube.


Well, I really do NOT like to watch lengthy videos on my computer.  It's just one of my quirks;  I didn't save any of the URLs and I promptly forgot about it.

Until one of my quilting friends blogged about it.  Now, I truly respect her opinion when it comes to quilting matters, so I was willing to risk watching at least PART of the first video.  After all, no one was forcing me to watch the entire thing. :-)

Much to my utter surprise and immense delight, this show is EXACTLY what I was hoping that Project Runway was going to be.  The Great British Sewing Bee starts at the point where we have 8 semi-finalists.  We don't go through all the auditions.  Each episode has 2-3 challenges, which are all exceedingly spot-on when you want to see how well a sewer can *SEW*. 

One challenge is usually how well can they follow a printed pattern.  The patterns aren't anything unusual, despite what the hostess voice over says.  :-)   One pattern was to make a man's shirt (simplified because it didn't have cuffs and plackets). One pattern was to make a man's trousers. One pattern was to make a little girl's sundress.  These are items that any sewer might make as a matter of course.  (That being said, I've never made men's trousers, but I have no doubt that I could follow the directions, if they were half-way decent.)

Another challenge was to design and make something of their own choosing.  They could use a commercial pattern or draft something themselves.  These challenges usually involved fitting the garment onto a live model so that the sewers needed to know how to *alter* the pattern to fit body issues (something that I've never really mastered).

All the challenges have a time limit.  Since I normally don't sew under extreme time limits, I'm not sure if I could have finished any of these challenges myself.  But to embellish a blank purse with handwork only in any way you wanted in only 1 hour AND be the best??  I dunno.  It might take me that long just to THINK  of what to do!

There are 2 judges: a gentleman from a Savile Row tailor and a lady who has spent a lifetime teaching couture sewing.  They were both very down to earth people.  The hostess was an enthusiastic (in a subdued British sort of way!) lady who was the cheerleader for the group.  :-)

The program focuses on each of the contestants in turn, asking questions.  Everyone is very focused on what *they* are doing,   No one was bad-mouthing anyone else.  It was so, so refreshing.

As for the judging .. oh my!  THIS is what Project Runway should have been about.  Both of the judges talked specifically about each sewer's project, what they were looking for, the good points about the projects while being very diplomatic about the deficiencies.  And yes, many of the projects had quite a few major flaws.  (If I was trying to make a formal gown in 8 hours, I might have some major flaws too.)  It was *wonderful* to hear exactly what specific things made a project standout from the others, as well as what flaws made it classically "home made" in the worst sense.

Each episode eliminated 1 or 2 contestants until there were 3 finalists left.

After I watched the first hour-long episode, I promptly watch the other 3, one right after the other.  They were all Very Very Good.  And honestly .... how can you NOT enjoy those wonderful English (and one Scots) accents??  :-)

So, without any more blathering on my part, here are the YouTube URLs for you to watch each full length episode.  I promise .. if you enjoy sewing garments, you will thoroughly enjoy these 4 shows.

#1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8te1WAO20I

#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5trYhyBMuI 

#3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8MRlT9mAuE

#4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5KcpvBLELo

Hawaiin Applique: top *now* finished; new project started

The handwork for one applique project is done; another one is started.

I like to always have a handwork project in-progress.  It's my Grab-n-Go project, continually ready to be snatched as I head for the car.  If I know I'm going to have substantial downtime someplace, I like to be able to productively occupy my time.

It was only this past January that I started the needleturn applique for Nancy Lee Chong's "You are in our hearts" Hawaiian applique.  The project, as determined by the pattern, is about 40" square.  I finished *that* part of it last February.  In terms of Forever Projects ™, that's a pretty pathetic one.

I also don't particularly care for small square quilts; they aren't useful for me.  So, instead of leaving this pattern as-is, I decided to put a top & bottom border on it.  Fortunately, I had extra background fabric and extra applique fabric.  Using the Hawaiian applique design as the base, I made my own linear border.  The picture to the left is the top only, hence the wrinkles.

*NOW*, I'm pleased with the final, overall dimensions.  At 42" x 63", it's a more useful size.  It'll decrease slightly once it's quilted and bound, but it will be nominal.  The quilting part will need to wait it's turn behind all the other previous projects.

Because I knew that the Hawaiian Applique was coming on an end, I started the prep work for my next handwork project.  This one is called "California Poppies", which are one of my very favorite wild flowers.  I purchased the pattern and fabric at a local quilt show recently.  The pattern is designed by Bobbie Y Jarrett of Shingle Springs, CA and it was she, who was manning the vendor booth at the show.  When I realized this was *her* design, I asked her autograph the pattern for me; she graciously signed her name.  I'm such a fan girl. :-)

This project was originally designed as the center medallion of the 2012 Opportunity quilt made by the Gold Bug Quilters of El Dorado county.  Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a picture of that Opportunity quilt. 

But I do love this center medallion!  At a finished 18" square, it will make a wonderful throw pillow.  I'm thinking I might do "something" in the border area; I'm not sure at this point.  I'll need to wait until the applique is done to see what it says to me.

I did have one nitpick about the kitted fabric: the green batik for the background was perfect; the step-value oranges for the poppies were perfect.  But for the stems and leaves, the fabric was a bright BLUE.   Yes, that's right: blue.  It was incredibly jarring.  Apparently, this coordinated with the other blocks in the Opportunity quilt.  It may have looked fine in that setting, but as a stand-alone?  No way.  I substituted my own gray-green fabrics from my stash.

You can see that I have front-basted the stems and leaves onto the batik background.  Since the orange poppy petals will overlap the green parts, the stems and leaves need to be done FIRST.

As far as my (infamous) List of 17, I don't have anything loaded on Lizzie right now.  Later this week, I'm having an internet quilting list member come to my house where I will share with her how I do things on my Lizzie.  She has the same machine and was asking on the list if there was anyone "nearby" who could show her some hands-on things.  I'm always happy to share (and, as Mr. Pirate will tell you, talk.  And talk. And talk.  :-)  )  so I invited her up.  She wants to know about everything from the ground-up: loading a quilt, pantograph, ruler work.    I've told her that I can show her how *I* do these things but that's not necessarily the ONLY way to do it.  Even if she ultimately decides that the way I do things isn't working for her, the time isn't wasted: she learned something new, decided against it and would then be able to look for a different method.  But, I hope that what I show her is actually helpful.

If I load a quilt onto Lizzie for me to work on, I'm not sure I would get it finished before my internet list buddy arrives.  It's better to simply defer my quilt until after the visit.  It's not like I have nothing else to work on. :-)

Happy Star Wars Day!

"What's that?", you say? "There's no 'happy Star Wars day'."

Poppycock, I tell you.  *OF COURSE* there is.  It's today,  5/4.

Drum roll, please ....


May the 4th be with you!    LOL!  :-)

"Peace": another project finished!

The Reader's Digest version is that in July 2012, I completed the hand work on a needleturn applique wall-hanging.  The top was put on the Pile of Tops to be Quilted and there it sat.  And sat. And sat.

Eventually, it became an item on my (infamous) List of 17 (tops to be quilted).  And still it sat there.  Very patiently waiting its turn.

Which I can NOW happily say has come!  I have finished the quilting and the binding and the labeling AND the hanging sleeve!  Woo hoo!!  This puppy is done!   :-)

I'm pleased with the stitch in the ditch around the appliques; this is no mean feat with a longarm!  I *much* prefer SITD on my home sewing machine; the control is much greater.  

I'm not entirely certain I chose the absolutely, 100% "correct" quilting for the background around the applique.  It works; I think it looks fine but wonder if I couldn't have found something better if I had only looked for about a gazillion hours longer. :-)  I tend to get impatient after only a bazillion hours.

I'm *very* pleased with the binding.  There is a long, vertical, high-contrast division between the background fabric and the applique fabric.  I didn't want the binding to be a distraction so I used the applique fabric on the applique and the background fabric on the background.  Normally, when I join the ends of my binding, I do a diagonal seam.  This distributes the bulk of the seam allowance over a greater distance and makes for a flatter binding.

But if I did that on this project, the diagonal seam would be horridly obvious.  Instead, I made a straight, vertical seamline in the binding to match up with the division on the wall-hanging.

Those pictures are just teasers! For all the gory details, links and more pictures, please visit my web page for the Peace wall-hanging.