Churn up the volume!

 Ok, I'm going to apologize for that terrible pun, but I really couldn't help myself! I've been working on a churn dash baby quilt, and as I was picking out fabrics, I knew one of them might be too low volume (meaning too much white for contrast with the rest of the block elements). Can you pick out the offending block?

One of these blocks is not like the other...

The fabric was pretty cute before it was cut - strawberries, birds, flowers.  Alas, there was too much white. If I had chosen a bright pink solid for the contrasting fabric of the churn dash, this probably would have worked.  For this particular quilt, it was important to me to have the white dashes standing out as negative space among the prints.  Here she is up close:

I didn't even get to sewing all the elements together before realizing that it wouldn't work!

 It's interesting how the quilters came up with block patterns in the olden days.  One of the chores back in the day was to churn butter using something that looked like the churn dash below.  You can see how these quilters took elements from their every day life and made some beauty out of them.  Pretty inspiring!

 In this quilt, I'm working from 8 inch churn dash blocks all the way down to wee 3 inch blocks.  This is part of the precise piecing section of the Penny Sampler class. I've done one 8 inch block, shown below and the rest are 6 inches.  Once I get the teeny weenys done, I'll let you know how it goes! This is definitely a work in progress!

8 inch block

6 inches

I replaced the low volume pink blocks with two of these - I think it works better. And how can you not love hedgies and foxes?

I'm dreaming of spring...

 It's pretty cold here in New England, and we've come to that point in the mid-winter where our thoughts turn to flowers, birds and little shoots of baby plants peeking through the snow.  Seed companies know this, and we've been getting loads of catalogs.  By the end of the winter, I'll have planned a small organic farm which may or may not fit in our 4x8 plot in our postage-stamp backyard!  For now, my fantasy farm will live on my design wall.  These blocks are part of the Penny Sampler E-Book from Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color.  Her classes are so clear, incredibly thorough and fun, I totally can recommend them! She's starting a Color Intensive Class soon, and it looks like another winner!

Anyone fancy a hike in the woods - without snowshoes or cross country skis?

 Here are some closeups of the blocks - I used freezer paper applique for everything except the flowers - those were sew-and-turn. I may pick the flowers out and do them again, since the circles are not perfect.  They are charming in their imperfection, but I can't decide if they are distracting or not.

Blue Flower

Pink Flower

 For the birds, I got to break out my embroidery hoop and hand-embellish the feathers on the tail and the eyes. 

Dilly Bird

Little Bird

Vines

Roundup: Audio to Sew by

I always like to have something playing in my sewing room while I sew, depending on the project it may be just some background music, or if I'm doing something that doesn't require too much concentration, I may listen to a podcast, or audio book.  Here are some of my favorites:

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!: NPR's news quiz show.  Very funny and any place where you can find PJ O'Rourke, Mo Rocca and Paula Poundstone joking around about the news, is a place I like to be! Also, the host, Peter Sagal is a quick wit, and also a seasoned runner (running is another hobby of mine).  If you read Runner's World, he writes a not-to-miss column!

Craft Lit: An audio book with benefits!  Heather Ordover holds your hands through the classics. She was a high school English teacher, and really knows her stuff.  She starts her podcast with a bit of crafty talk (usually knitting, zentangling, and other fun stuff) and then moves on to introducing the chapter.  She has amazing readers perform the books (I'm currently on Age of Innocence as read by Brenda Dayne, and it's really engaging).

Audible: This is a place for audiobooks. Anything read by Brenda Dayne, David Hyde Pierce or Ehren Ziegler is worth a listen as they are very talented voice performers.  

Audio books from your local library: Most libraries will have audio books you can check out on mp3 players or CD's.  I am lucky to be part of the Minuteman Library Network, so I can request books/DVDs/CDs and they will deliver them to my local branch library.  The Phantom Tollbooth read by David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane from Frasier) is a family favorite! (I could do a whole post on children's audio books and graphic novels, but that's for another time!)

Pandora: When you don't want to think about your music too much. It's an internet radio that lets you add in your favorite musician, and they'll play music like that artist.  You can tweak it by giving certain songs thumbs up or down. 


What do you listen to while you sew?

Please note that I'm not affiliated with any of these companies (although I did meet Heather Ordover of Craft Lit at the Maryland Wool and Sheep Festival a few years back, and she was truly lovely!) In the interest of transparency, the only affiliate link is the amazon link to the Phantom Tollbooth CD.

Neighborhood Development Project

So. many. wee. pieces.  I had to arrange them on post-its to keep them organized, luckily the assembly instructions were pretty clear!

Once they are assembled, they look a little something like this:

I had to keep my wits about me during construction, as one false move produced a green building with the windows the wrong way round!

And then comes the background in Kona Eggshell and Snow:

Add the roofs (sew and turn applique) and the little village is complete!

This Penny Sampler block will join its friends on the design wall.

When Peanut Butter Attacks

Living with two boys under the age of seven means that there's a lot of peanut butter floating around the house. One glob too much, it turns out! I set down my newly appliqued quilt block for the Penny Sampler on my innocent looking coffee table...and gasp! Peanut butter blob! You can see from the picture below that there was some staining. 

 I knew it was going to have to go for a dip in the washer, so I zig-zag stitched around the edges of the block to reduce fraying.  After consulting with my laundry expert (my husband, Aaron who does all the laundry - aren't I lucky?) We used Mostenbacker's Lift-Off for greasy stains (they have them for all kinds of stains, ask me how I know with two messy boys), cold water cycle, and flat dry. Voila!

 No more peanut butter! Phew! I was worried about shrinkage because I don't prewash, but the background fabric is Kona Eggshell and is pretty darn good quality.  I only lost a scant 1/16th of an inch on a 12.5 inch block, which I can hide in the seam allowance when the time comes to piece the quilt together. Crisis averted this time! Here are some of the other applique blocks for this project I've been working on which luckily avoided the peanut butter treatment:

Heart

Mitten

Clover