I HEART My Crafty Friends

I have the best crafty friends! Remember that some time ago I wrote about retreat plans at Fountainbleu State Park? I was very excited and counting down the days. 


Until the days got close. That's when I had to face reality. I do not heart reality. We were in the middle of testing season and I was testing middle schoolers. And I was swamped. 

the group tee shirt (designed by Kelly) and Erica's
sweet card expressing sorrow that I could't come

I could not (though I tried very, very hard) wrap up testing. Oh, I had great plans to do just that. But even great plans can go awry. Middle schoolers do not help things run smoothly. Best laid plans. Blah, blah, blah. 

a closeup of the tee design

I finally gave in. Reality won. And I lost. Big. 


In the end I had to admit defeat and tell my crafty retreaters that I could not retreat with them. I wanted to run away (Fountainbleu sounded like a nice run-away-to place) but no. I stayed. And worked. And cried (just a little, but there were tears). 

a shopping bag, which I will use to pack
sewing supplies for our upcoming vacation

Well, retreaters to the rescue! They had each brought along a little something. 

And they made lots of little somethings. 

And they gathered them up and.... MAILED the somethings to me! I just got them. In a pretty box. And inside the box...somethings for me! Sorry no pictures of the box. I came home from work today (my last day) and found the box sitting pretty on the bench outside my door with mail piled on top. 



Really, I thought it was for Richard, but I brought it all in anyway. And my name was on top of the box. As soon as I saw Erica's name I knew what a lovely, thoughtful crafty friend I have. I do <3 crafty="" don="" font="" friends="" my="" t="" them="" too="" you="">

all the goodies posing in one pretty picture

I immediately opened said box! Do you see all the pretties? I <3 admit="" crafty="" do="" friends.="" it="" my="" span="" too="" you="">

darling scrap booking items and some wooden button love

a personal dry erase board and pen - which will
sit right beside the machine for sewing notes

a personalized mug and mug rug

 
Aren't they the best? And don't you <3 do="" font="" know="" them="" too="" you="">

What surprise box have you gotten recently? 

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: RAINBOW

When Richard and I saw a bright rainbow a few days ago, I realized that I've not considered rainbows as inspiration yet. We can't have something so beautiful left out, now can we? Here we go...a bevy of rainbows for inspiration!

And a dozen inspiring rainbow quilts...

You can find these rainbows, and a few more, on my "rainbow, colors" Pinterest board. If you'd like to help find even more rainbows to add to the board, I'll gladly add you to the (soon-to-be) group. Let me know by leaving a comment or email me at mary.marcotte@gmail.com! 

Keeping the Blocks in Order

Last week I was working on a small quilt that has a particular design to it. Keeping the blocks in the right place became increasingly difficult even though the quilt is small. To help me see the whole quilt, I often snap a photo, which gives me a different perspective and, in the case of this little quilt, I needed it! 

Do you see the red circle in the lower left corner? That block that's upside down? I didn't see that until I'd looked at the quilt through the view-finder of the camera. Since every little twist or change caused this sort of thing to happen, I was convinced that I needed help. I was just about to search out the stickers that I use to number the blocks when an idea hit me--use numbered pins! 

I have some nice arrow pins from Fons and Porter that a friend gave me as a Christmas gift several years ago. I rarely use them because, well, I just don't.  But it occurred to me that the arrows could help out. It was sort of nice that I didn't lose any pins while working. I've had stickers come off in the past, which never ended well.

So I searched out the pins instead and used a Sharpie to write numbers on two sets: white ones that point to the left and red ones that point up. 

The arrows would tell me which direction to turn the block or strip and the numbers would help me to keep the blocks or strips in order.  It seems a little confusing at first, but think about it: the numbers always go in order 1-10, so if 6 is before 5 (as in the pic above) the blocks are out of order.  I had to rip these.

The arrows, also tell me something. An arrow pointing left tells me to turn the block to the left. That means pick up the block on the right and flip it on top of the one on the left. Only one block turns or flips...in the case above #2 flipped onto #1. Once I sewed the blocks I can check my work by opening them and seeing that the numbers are still in correct order. 

 Once I had all the rows made up, I did the same thing with the arrows to sew the rows together. My red arrows tell me to flip the row up. Now don't let this picture confuse you. I got to a point that I used both sets of pins to chain piece rows and snapped this pic before correcting the pins.

 But, of course, I couldn't leave you with only half of an explanation--I had to build a visual. First you'd create rows, using the white arrow pins and flipping the higher number to the left, make your seam, and move to the next number. After the rows are all made, use the red arrows to keep them in order and flip each row up (following the arrow) to sew the rows together. I put the red pins all the way to the left to remind myself to start sewing on that side.

And here you have it! All the blocks are in the right place and in the right order and turned in the right direction.  All I did was use arrows and numbers to help me keep them that way. 

I must say, I quickly got used to the system. I was able to chain piece rows and even sew rows together starting at alternating ends so that the top didn't become warped. It wasn't confusing at all, which is not how things generally go for me.  If you have these arrow pins, give it a try. I think the flower pins would work for the number part of the system, since they are flat and you could easily write on them. You'd have to remember where to start the seam but that's doable if you've been quilting a while. 

A Quilty 365 Project ~~ complete!

I'm sorry. I couldn't wait. I tend to choose instant gratification quite often. It's amazing that I am able to complete large quilts. Well, I'm amazed anyway. 

So I came up with an idea for the many Quilty circle blocks that I've been making. I'm really enjoying them. Really. 

But there's the problem of waiting ONE WHOLE YEAR to use the circles. And there's the other problem of what to do. A project, ya know? And there's that adult ADD.  Who knows how I focus on a project for any amount of time. 

As I was pondering these questions and thinking of the circles and an idea came along. A cool idea, in fact. Windows and doors with the circle blocks serving as the "glass."  

I decided to give it a go and play with my idea--just to see how it would work. Turns out that I like it very much, but there is a problem. I chose to quilt it "wooden frame" of the window but not the glass panes. You can probably guess the outcome--those panes are loose and squishy. The wooden frame sections are stiff. 

I do like the wood-grain that I quilted into the frame. 

This one is going to our middle son and daughter-in-law. Adam owns a home improvement business that replaces windows and doors, so it would be nice to hang in his office. 

Linking up this week with

Sew Fresh Quilts  (Let's Bee Social)

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Off the Wall Fridays at Creations Quilts Art Whatever

Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday at Quilt Matters

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

   Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation