Thursday 20 October 2016

Chillingsworth. Back to his roots.

Right now I am under a duvet, under a quilt, with a cat, a dog, a tablet and a laptop. The days of the long nights have settled in with Fall. The lands in the Maritimes are awash with color during the day. (if you have never been to Nova Scotia in October...come!) But, it is now dark two hours after coming home from work, dark the next morning when I leave again. Sigh. But there is always you, my dear readers, here at my slightly-less-neglected quilty diary.

And there is the sewing:) It's getting a bit frantic with plans for some major Christmas prezzie sewing (more on that later...think zippers), filling Flag Pillow orders for others Christmas Prezzies and some other equally important "makey" things. And I am loving every friggin minute of it!

So, why did I stop everything and do something completely frivolous last week? Because I could. This is all supposed to be for fun people.

I finished Mr. Chillingsworth. I was on a mission to finish him for the MMQG meeting. Challenge accepted! I free motioned his whole skeletal panel (don't lose faith in me, but that was the biggest piece I have ever FMQd! slow learner.). I did a special X stitch from a setting on my Janome in the black border, and then I caved, threw on my walking foot and random wavy lined around the HSTs.
 
I really treated this project like a bit of practice. It's a fun, theme quilt that I was ok with making mistakes on. It's just hanging around in my hallway after all, looking spooky. One thing I learned is that a lot of dense FMQ (even if is a hot mess in places) crinkles up so MUCH in the washer/dryer that you cannot even see the hot mess! What sweet quilty goodness is that!

I learned that even though you want to finally use up that spool of thread that just never-seems-to-end, you should color match your thread to your backing fabric when you are learning to FMW. Wow, way to highlight the hot mess!


It also happened that once I showed off Mr. Finished at MMQG, my friend @Purple Boots & Pigtails and I headed to the Annapolis Valley for some much needed Fall fresh air...and fabric shopping therapy! On the way we found a small old graveyard where Mr. felt quite at home. So we stopped for a photo shoot.
We might have even stopped (after cheese buns at the Bakery) again on the way back, safety pins in hand from our LQS to take more pics!
I think the setting and the gorgeous leaves were the perfect backdrop. And I hope the gentleman in cute house across from the churchyard doesn't think we were being disrespectful. We were conscious or your caring eye ;) Oh the life of a picture-a-hol-ic-quilter can get you into trouble sometimes.
Funny story. I literally sat for hours, as a passenger, in a vehicle in the most glorious setting with a camera in my lap and did not take any other pictures. Weird. I guess I was focused on the scenery and company. I consider that a successful day!

So that was so worth stopping everything! Now, back to my regular frantic program. Here I Come!

Have you stopped everything this year and finished that Halloween project that has been sitting in your closet or your Pinterest board? Tell me all about it, and if you have recently finished, why not link up with TGIFF! I am :)

Tuesday 4 October 2016

Mr. Chillingsworth says Hello!

Back on Sunday it rained. Evil grin. No painting for me! Not only did I sew, I threw everything I was supposed to be working on aside and pulled out this wicked panel that has been lounging in the stash for far too long. At the last MMQG Sew In, my friend Purple Boots & Pigtails reminded me about this guy.  Just look at him, a spring in his step!

So as you can see it put him up on the design wall thinking about what to do with him? As I am backing away I look down into my WiP pile and I see the stack of Denyse Schmidt scraps left from Charlie's Quilt.



Perfect! I left out the teals and the floral print, leaving blacks, grays, mustards, creams. I added a couple more prints like this great stripe, a solid pumpkin punch and another orange print to round it out. I also added those cute spooky Alexander Henry Ravens to the mix.


Based on the size of my scraps I could not do anything too large scale and I wanted this to be a "finish in a day" project. I felt the need for some instant gratification.

So after some math, that I am sure I made far more complicated than it need be, I had a plan for my fall back favorite, the HST.

I put a solid black border on the Mr. before I added a frame of HSTs. Purple Boots would be proud that I did not plan out the HST placement, threw them in a pile and chain pieced with wild abandon!

So, this is where I ended up Sunday Evening. I also pieced a backing and now have a need for some Franken-batting. I am going to practice Free Motion on this project since I have no special plans for it and I think I can get away with some imperfections (ha!) on a Halloween quilt. I want to practice a basic skill and get good at it, move on to the next etc. What would you suggest as an easy first free motion design...swirls, loop de loops, stars....??


In other news I have been steadily working on this quilt each week. Its the Kriss Kross Quilt by Suzy Quilts. I am stealing the color combo from the pattern quilt! But I had that perfect stripe! remember? And then I went and added my my current addiction - Kona Punch for the perfect wow! Can't wait to start seeing more blocks together!


This quilt is not instant gratification. BUT it will be friggin margarita gratification when it gets done and is awesome!

Happy Tuesday People!