Ambition!

When I first moved to Boston several years ago, my family played musical sewing machines. My mother had gotten a new one and my sister liked the one my mother had been using previously. So my mother's machine went from DC to Philly. When my sister came down to DC to retrieve that machine, she brought the one she had been using, and that one came with me to Boston. It was a little Pfaff Hobby 1016. It's simple, it does straight and zig zag stiches, and that's about it. 

As I've gotten more into quilting, I've decided that I want to be able to do more. So after lots of research about different machines, and the different features, I settled on a Pfaff Ambition 1.0 - one of the really nice features of the high end Pfaff's is the IDT, as they call it, or built in walking foot as I call it. It also has an alphabet so I can embroider letters, 136 different stiches, and light! There are 3 LEDs lighting up the sewing area. The rest of the particulars can be found here: Pfaff Comparison Sheet. 

And now, you can see a small bit of where I sew. I have a tiny apartment - 284sq ft for a kitchen, bathroom, and bed/living room. Over the summer I lofted my queen bed to have a lot more space. And it has made all the difference. 

To add sashing or not?

All 16 blocks of the disappearing four patch are done. For the most part I made them in the pairs from when I cut them. It never seemed like much to do two at a time. I like that and may continue that for future blocks where there are many to be made so it doesn't seem overwhelming.

Now my question becomes do I add sashing. It's very busy as is, and I kind of like it, but I'm not entirely sure. I'll also lay it out with sashing strips before making my decision, but I haven't done that yet and only have a picture of it laid out. Without the possible sashing and without and border it's 32"x32", these will be 8" finished blocks.

What, when you go on a trip, you don't go to the local fabric store?

I went to Cornell this past weekend for homecoming (did the tailgate part then went on a wine tour, didn't actually go to the football game because it's Ivy League football, but hey Cornell beat Yale 45-6, so yay!). While I was there, I stopped in at Quilter's Corner which is a HUGE quilt shop that is similar to Intown Quilter's in Atlanta for the amount and variety of fabric they carry. I didn't go nuts though, but I did pick up what will make a fantastic border/binding:

Then I saw this and thought it could be a bag/wallet or something in that vein. The blues are a little darker and more vibrant than the picture shows, but I like that this picture was able to catch the sparkle of the gold in the print. 

 And then this was waiting in my mailbox when I got home. I already know what I'm going to do with it, but I have other projects that need to get finished before I can start on it. Have I mentioned that polka dots are awesome? Because they are. 

Kona Solids - Woodlands Inspired Bundle

Just like I'm now utilizing white to accent patterned fabric, I'm jumping into solids. I've always been a batik or small, repetitive pattern person. Enter Kona Solids by Robert Kaufman. I've discovered that there are many, many fabric boutiques on Etsy. I found the bundle pictured below on Sew Fresh Fabrics. 

Think very thin little stripes as concentric squares. And this is what you get (but now with a brown ring added, too - I had been back and forth on if I wanted the brown, and I decided that I did, but after I took the picture): 

It took one full Gilmore Girls episode to make this block (42 minutes). There won't be any more until I finish the red and white disappearing four patch. That gets top action, and this will be stewing. Not sure what kind of layout I'll do - it will certainly be paired with solid blocks, but I'm not sure if it'll be Kona White or mixing in more from these colors or both white and color squares; only time will tell.  

This weekend, there won't be much (read no sewing) happening in these parts. I'm heading back to my Alma Mater for Homecoming - Let's Go Red! I'm leaving Boston Thursday evening and won't be back until Sunday afternoon.

Another Chevron and Some Scrappy Play

I had my first day of clinical internship yesterday - 8 hours down, 160 to go. This means until the fall rowing season ends and I'm done coaching and practicing for my own team my quilting time is limited. Monday night, I decided to use some long, thin scraps to make a block - not sure if it's a one off, or if it'll actually go into a bigger project, but it's something. I might make more on a much smaller scale. One thought if I do more in this vein is paper piecing to make it far more accurate. 

And we have another paper pieced chevron block which brings the total to three (yeah, this set of blocks will take a while to become enough for a full quilt). 

Wonky Squares Disappearing Four Patch

Who loves short cuts in quilting?! Me! I've learned that many of the most striking quilts are actually of simple design, but with both color choices or lay outs. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm using white to accent other color choices. The fabric that I'm using here is a strong pattern, and I don't want to compete with it.

 We see the essential elements of quilting in this picture. The Roku remote so that I can have something on the tv in the backround. Cutting mat, ruler, and a couple works in progress next to the iron along with many, many scraps. There are 16 four patch squares that are fully ironed and ready to be cut. The red has shimmery gold on it that looks like little cascading fireworks. 

And here we have two of the cut ones. The method: stack two four patches with the red stacked on the white. Make two cuts in each direction. Then rearrange like a little puzzle. There are now six of the sixteen squares fully sewn, and another two cut and arranged waiting for their turn to be sewn. 

I won, I won!

Thanks to Diary of a Quilter, I've won a fat quarter bundle of all the Madrona Road fabrics from Mad About Patchwork. By telling her my favorite fabrics on the Mad About Patchwork site, I was the lucky winner. I've only entered three giveaways like this before, so I think I'm doing pretty well with that ratio of entries to wins.

Today I'm doing more work on the tumbling blocks quilt. So many triangles. Triangles everywhere. I still have close to 75 to finish out all the long strips I've made, then it will be actual assembly time. But since I'm starting my final clinical internship (precepting in the nursing world) next week, my quilting time will be cut down once I'm spending 16-24 hours a week at the hospital.