Monthly Archives: July 2013

The Pond is Almost Done!

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I’m almost finished with the Pondscape quilt top. I finally finished sewing the diamonds together, and I put on the border. On two sides, the border is a mind green, and on the other two, we have a faux-indigo shell patterned fabric. I did this to show the difference between the pond water, and the grassy shore. I still have some applique to do to tie the pond together. I’m going to do a few lily pads, and some flowered diamonds to just make everything pop out a little bit more! I’m really excited to quilt this, but that might not be for a week or so. I just have about 3 other projects that are pressing, but we’ll see. The winds of favor might blow over the pond water and motivate me! Who knows!

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Working On My Pond

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Everyone remembers my Pondscape Project, right? After taking a monster nap today I decided to get back to work on sewing! I broke out this beast. I have had it part way done for almost 6 months now. I started it, and I got overwhelmed by it. I don;t know about the rest of you, but every now and then I start to second guess my work about halfway through. I thought I cut the diamonds a little too large, and I felt like they would have blended better had I gone with a smaller diamond. Now that I am almost done with the top – I think I did okay. Could the diamonds be a little bit smaller…. maybe, but I really like it the way it is now. Like I said before I’m making this for someone special who I recently reconnected with. One of my fondest memories of her is when she hemmed and ironed my communion pants for me. Now I get to give her this soon. One sewing project for another. I really hope she likes it!

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Time To Get Back To Work!

I’ve taken the past few days off from being productive to nurse this cold I currently have. Well, the worst is over, so now I’m just a little bit achy and I can deal with that. Today, I’m working on The Pondscape.  I’m not sure if I’ll finish it today, but we’ll see how far I get on it. Just wanted to give everyone an update!

And share this picture!

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I Feel Like I Know So Much More Now…

I have been hit by the onset of this cold. I think it is at it’s worse. I hope! So, that means no sewing! Which is very sad. Very SAD! But, what can I do about it, I’m sick. So, instead of being active, I have been actively thinking. I was talking to someone on the phone who called me an inspiration, and I thought, “the only inspiring thing is that I’ve learned”. When I first started sewing it was a little bit of a hot mess. I didn’t know about pressing seams, or about when sewing blocks to have the seams be opposite of each-other for a smooth stitch. I knew none of that! I expected to cut all of the fabric for my first quilt with scissors. I didn’t even thinking of using a rotary cutter. Now, I can’t live without my rotary cutter!

I remember seeing a bargello quilt, and I thought making one would be impossible. Not, I can whip one up in a day with time to spare! It just makes me smile and giggle. I never could have imagined myself doing this, but you know what, I’m really enjoying it! I remember when I met my friend, Ceci. She told me she was a quilter, and I thought, “Cool beans. I wish I could do something cool like that!” Now, I have a sewing and quilting blog, have an Etsy shop, and a basement full of quilts! I feel like I have come a long way! In fact I know I’ve come a long way, because I found the first quilt top I had ever made. The corners may not be all on point, and the seams may be off by 1/32nd of an inch, but gosh darn it! I think it is beautiful! It will always remind me of when I started!

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Click below for more photos of my first quilt top.

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Calling All Sewing, Craft, and Fabric Enthusiasts!

Calling All Sewing, Craft, and Fabric Enthusiasts!

I’m working on making an interviews series for this blog. Once to twice a week I would like to interview people who have insight in the sewing, fabric, and craft worlds. It is going to start off as text interviews, but eventually I would like to do video interviews, or audio interviews. I already have 2 lined up, but I would like to get a few more confirmations before I start the series. I was hoping to launch it later this month, and at the latest next month. They would mainly consist of me asking about how you got started, what you specialize in, just general questions, and then of course to spice it up, a few off topic fun questions. All the interviews would be bout 10 to 20 questions and I think it would be fun to interview people.

If you are, or know anyone who is interested, feel free to email me at ericthequilter@gmail.com, or private message me on my Facebook Page!

Wanted To Share The Giggles!

Found this online, and thought everyone might enjoy it!

This is how I feel when I gt a fabric store and the pattern I like was stopped! I actually ran into this problem for a border, I had just less than enough and went to Joann to get more, and they no longer had it! Sad Day! Oh well, I improvised and got some other orange fabric that I liked just as much!

 

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Sewing Tip For Everyone!

Sewing tip! I know a lot of people know this, but I have come across quite a few people who do not!

When pressing open a seam with an iron, make sure to press the seam close first. It really helps lock everything in place, and it helps give you a nice smooth look to your piecing! I didn’t know this when I first started quilting about a year ago, and all my seams were fine, but never perfect! It was a little annoying, but not the end of the world. My friend who taught me how to quilt told me to do it after she saw my first quilt top, and I have been doing it ever since! It truly is an amazing tip, even if most people already know it! I just wanted to share!

Finished TJ’s Zelda Quilt Top

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Even though I am sick, I have managed to finished sewing this top! I couldn’t stand looking at it anymore in the state of a half finished top in pieces on my floor. My allergies are acting up, and my eyes keep watering, so watching the sewing machine was a little much for me, so I had to finish it in parts, and only sew one or two seams at a time. It was kind of nice though to be able to catch up on some of my Netflix dvds that came in the mail this week. ‘The Man With The Iron Fists’ was pretty darn good! I’m not usually one for action movies, but it was pretty entertaining.

I’m sure people are more interested in how I sewed this beautiful creation, and less interested in what movies I like to watch. So, I sewed the diagonal strips together with the squares. Then I ironed all of the strips with the seams in opposite directions from each strip. So every other one had the seams facing down, and the other ones had the seams facing up. I think just started sewing them on my machine and a couple dozen seams later. Here it is in almost all of it’s glory. I still have to quilt it. Haha.

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Look What I Unearthed!

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Look what I found today! This was actually the second quilt top I made, and I need to quilt it soon! It’s been put together for almost a year now. The reason I made this actually was because I has started a quilt for my Cousin and I was cutting the fabric while watching new episodes of Dr. Who on Netflix, had I had mis-cut about 5 fat quarters of fabric, and I was pretty upset. I didn’t even want to look at her quilt fabric anymore. I decided I needed a break from her quilt and I made this one! It only took me 2 days to make, because I was so worked up over cutting all of her fabric wrong. I channeled all of the rage into making this quilt.

When I made it I had no idea who I was going to give it to. I was just making it to take my mind off of the other quilt. After I made it, I decided to just hold on to it. I finally figured out who I am going to give it to. It is going to a dear friend of mine. I’ve been friends with her daughter since freshman year of college. She also quilts, but she does everything by hand. I do not know if I have the dexterity or the patience for that. Anyways, I just wanted to share this with everyone!

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