Purple and Red quilt is done, I am happy and sad.

Shiraz, resident quilt inspector, is on the job (finished at 102" x 92").

The quilt was handed over to my daughter on Easter Sunday. This was inspired by a quick look at a photo in a magazine (2005). The finished piece worked out to be even better than I had hoped given that I simply made random cuts into strips of purple and red fabrics. These were collected over a period of five years. I have referred to this project often in this blog and now happily it is completed, sadly it is now done and gone like a child who has grown into and adult and moved on to live an independent life.

Extra light is very helpful.

Working on machine quilting.

Sewing on the binding.

I am missing the pile of purple and red fabrics that have been on my work table for the last 2 years. I am missing the anticipation of putting the last stitches in the binding. I am missing the conversations that M and I have had about my progress on her quilt. This quilt was so much a part of my quilting world over the last 6 years, so seeing it grow up and move away is bittersweet.

My favorite part of making a quilt, stitching down the binding.

 I did use EQ6 to design the quilt, just so I had an idea of what I might need to do to acheive this random, assymetrical striped appearance. The design image before I started is quite similar to the finished result. I used FQ's to create one strip (the centre), then the outer 2 strips were created using cuts across the WOF. I did 2 sets of these, cut them vertically to match the width of the centre strip. The outer strips were reversed and then all five strips were joined together. The backing fabric is a red, wide quilt back to help minimize the seams. There are some special fabrics included, some from Roisin in remembrance of Halifax (bespoke uprising) and some hand dyes.

Concept in EQ6

Finshed quilt

There is only one solution for this sadness, I need to make another special quilt for my other daughter, C. Over the last five years, we have been collecting vintage embroidery pieces for the quilt that caught her eye.

Basting, Quilting, and appreciation

I have been a "good little quilter". The Purple and Red quilt is all basted. I do it the slow way. I layer the pieces,  carefully checking that any wrinkles are smoothed out and then I hand baste. Most often I start at the center and radiate the rows of basting stitches (about 10 cm long) outwards in each direction, like a compass.

Yes,  it takes longer than pinning or spraying. I know that I have to watch the threads catching on my foot as I machine quilt. This method makes me feel close to my quilt, and my quilt is all soft and snuggly before it is even quilted down. It feels good to own the process of making a quilt. All of it, from choosing the fabrics, to cutting, stitching blocks, assembling the top, basting, quilting and binding. Not everyone feels this need, but I do.

The long basting needles are wonderful to use.  I try to use up any spools of thread that are nearly empty.

This would be on the sewing table and being quilted tonight but I wanted certain colours of thread that I did not have on hand. I ended up ordering online tonight, King Tut #949, Brandywine for the top quilting and Bottom Line #603 Red for the bobbin. I tried to purchase this at any local quilt shop but none are open on Sunday in my area (within 40 minute drive) and none are open after 5 PM (I do not leave work until 5:30 or 6ish ), Saturdays the shops close early and my day is already full. So, I am purchasing online. The mail will arrive before I have an opportunity to visit any LQS.

This past Saturday, a dear friend and I took a workshop on feather quilting. It was a lot of fun. I am encouraged that I will be able to do my Remembrance Poppy Quilt myself. I want it to have a lot of quilting, including feathers.  And yes, I want to do it myself.

Sue Clarke taught the class "Feathers Everywhere" at the Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre which is also the home of my guild, Oxford County Quilters Guild. I feel very lucky to be able to attend such a talented guild. The work that these quilters have done is truly amazing. I am a quiet member but I have been feasting on the eye candy that is on display or presented at "show and share".  Lucky me!!!!

There is a lot of practice and play ahead of me before I can show something that I will be proud of. This class was very encouraging.

OT:
I love my morning drive to work. There are no specatular geographic features, simply farm land and bush lots, but the sun and weather  create such amazing vistas. I often have to stop driving, (pull on to the shoulder) and take pictures. This morning was so sunny, warm and bright, yet in the lowest parts of the fields there was a fog.....

Mid-February Friday night and a Camel

During most winters this would be another weekend buried under snow. We would be lusting after sunshine, envying friends who managed a tropical vacation and dragging tired boots, scarves and mittens everywhere. Ahh, but here in early 2012 the thermometer keeps hugging the 0 C mark. Not quite winter enough for snow shoes or X-country skis but too much winter for sitting out in the sunshine at lunchtime.

I have been finishing lots of little projects, like pillows and PlayBook, Kindle + Kobo covers. And I made a new pilllow for my Camel.   Why do I have a Camel and why does it need a pillow? Excellent question....

The Camel belonged to my Aunt and Uncle, gifted to me by my special big brother/cousin because he knew how much I loved it.  Uncle brought it home from Gaza while he  was peacekeeping with the Canadian  Armed Forces in the 60's.   If you looked at it closely you would see that it is actually all cleverly hinged together and could fold nearly flat (sort of).

His leather saddle cushion was filled with felt and straw.  It looked very tired and sad.  A washing did not help and fluffing the stuffing resulted in some serious disintegration.  I decided that the most respectful option would be to create a new one.  Decision making: 1- find similar fabric to the original cushion and duplicate it, 2- find fabric that matched my loving room decor, 3- create a pieced quilt block as the cushion top 4- play with the Egyptian theme, 5- do nothing .

I had some interesting Egyptian prints aging in my stash  (Aging must be a requirement for stash do that the fabric becomes as wonderful as fine wine).  Since this has been such a pleasantly mild winter I have been able to tackle these smaller projects as I think of them and still work away on the larger quilt
projects; this should be a great quilty-sewing year.

So here is my Camel with a new cushion. So making pillows, post cards, gifts and covers are not all that winter weekends are for,  I still can baste the Red & Purple quilt and even pull out the fabric purchased last winter to make curtains.  This mild winter is helping me to be very productive, and it is only the middle of February, and a Friday night starting a long weekend.

Fabric Post Cards for Valentine's

Super Bowl Sunday was also a sew-fest day. I was able to make a slew of fabric postcard Valentines for some of my nearest and dearest. (Note to family and friends: don't look too closely since you may or may not be finding one of these in your mailbox someday soon)

MMMM, loving that chocolate....

I like to make larger pieces then cut them apart into separate post cards

Desert Blooms

Gerberas

Lovin' that F1

For a cute little boy

Surf and sand dreams

There was a bit more sewing, lots of food (Buffalo chicken,hummus,chili,Brie, chips)and fun. My dearest friend Penny came to play with me in the studio while the male species smoked cigars, hung about the man-space and did a bit of side-line coaching.

WIP's are coming along

2012 is promising to be a good sewing year! I have completed more projects in the last 4 weeks than I was able to for half the last year. I have added a Kindle case and a table runner to the PlayBook covers that were made as Christmas gifts.

The big deal for me is that I was able to complete 2 tops that have been on my "to do" list for a few years.
The "Rememberance Poppy Quilt" (Pam Bono designs) and Melissa's "Purple &Red Quilt".
Penny, Lyla and I have been working through the hundreds of baggies of little pieces of fabric together. So, to be fair, some of the reason it has taken so long is because we committed to work  on this quilt only when we could work on it together. It is exciting now that the tops are done.

 I will wait to quilt it however until the "Purple & Red Quilt" is completely done.

 I have been collecting these fabrics for quite a few years (since 2006 ?) because Melissa showed a magazine photo that had a quilt in the background that she liked. I saw the image for only a few minutes and this is the inspired result. I will quilt it vertically, perhaps in slightly curvy lines, alternating purple and red quilting thread. Watch this space... maybe in a month or so I will have it finished!!

Blackberry PlayBook cases

Here is a selection of some of the Quilted BlackBerry PlayBook cases that I made for Christmas this year. I have been sewing away over the last month but I have forgotten to take pictures of most of these projects. These were all gifts that have gone to their special people, one case that is not included here was made using my specially saved stash of "Oriental" fabrics. 

How these were made:

• Outer fabric 19" x 10", choose fun or funky fabrics!!
• Inner (lining) fabric 19" x 10", to complement or contrast the outer layer
• Batting 18" x 9"
• Hook & Loop Tape (2) 1" squares or the size that best matches the flap edge
• Glue stick (washable) 

1. Layer the inner and outer pieces, right sides out so that you can orient the top and folded over flap sections. Look at the print for creative finishing inspiration such as an angled flap, stepped out flap, rounded flap). 
2. Lay your PlayBook in the center,  fold up the bottom matching the end (fold under the seam allowance) to the top of the PlayBook. Fold down the top so that the end meets  the bottom (or following the print to create an interesting flap).
3. Glue the hook sections to the outside of the pocket (outer fabric) and the loop to the inside of the top flap (inner lining).
4. Stitch these down securely.

5. Now lay these 2 pieces, right sides together and stitch around the edges (1/4" seam allowance), leaving 3" unstitched so that the piece can be turned right side out. Press the stitching lines to set the seam in place.
6. Before the piece is turned, lay the batting piece to match,  Use the gluestick to  baste the batting to hold it in place. Trim the corners of the seam allowance so that they will point out squarely. 
7. Turn right side out, press the edges neatly, use a point-turner tool to push all corners out. Press again to the piece is well blocked to a square.
8. Quilt the fabric as desired.
9. Fold up the bottom edge to create the pocket (using your PlayBook as a guide), and mark the fold line and top edge.
10. Fold the right side to the inside and stitch the pocket section very close to the edge, restitch a second line parallel to the first line of stitching, back stitching to secure the edge. Press the seam in place.
11. Turn the pocket right side out, slide your PlayBook into the pocket to verify that the hook and loop tape is set correctly and that it fits nicely.
12. Top stitch the flap and around the top edge of the pocket.
13. Press the pocket (again), this will help your case look very neat and professional.
14. Turn the pocket inside out again and fold the corner edges so that you can sew a diagonal line 1/2" from the edge; this creates a crisp. square base for the PlayBook to slide into.
15. Turn right side out again and press a final time, taking care not to melt the hook and loop tape, setting the seams squarely and neatly.

Once I had the pattern figured out I could complete each in an hour (while watching TV). I love my chocolate box print with the chocolates inside.

Some of the other gifts that I made this Christmas included a table runner and some wine bottle carriers. It was so much fun to be able to use up some of the novelty prints that I have been collecting. They are usually so cute but often do not look that great if they are used in a quilt.

More knitting projects: frilly knitted scarves

I saw the fun and very soft "Frill Seeker" and this "how to video" or this one for crochet. This yarn is essentially the same as Bernat "Twist & Twirl" and its video.  I made one for myself, and knitted it closed into a loop so that it would not slip off my neck (or the coat hook at work) and get lost. It is loose enough to be looped twice around my neck to keep it warm.

I have a couple others made for some cuties that I know. These will be gifts so watch and wait.

The trick to using this yarn is to work along the outside edge, placing the needle tip about 1/4" in from the edge, and about an inch apart; ignoring the rest of the "fishnet-like" yarn. When all is done, a bit of fluffing, shaking and ruffling makes it all look pretty.

There are lots of great colour combo's too.

The scarf can be knitted up in 2 evenings of TV watching, or one evening if you are not being very distracted.  It is a fast and fun knitting project, and pretty easy once you get used to working along the edge.

P.S.The shawl is being saved as my vacation project so watch this space  for more photos soon.

Lady of the Lake Knitted Shawl, part 3 (and some good customer service stories)

I had previously wrote about my Shawl project, update 2 a few weeks ago. I was happily knitting away until I hit a snag, literally. At the point of dividing the shawl I decided to switch to the second ball of yarn. It was not a good surprise to see that ball #2 was much finer than ball #1. It was like comparing sports weight to fingering yarn. I had little faith that my knitting project will work out, but I tried. I knitted up about 8" and I was not happy at all. There is no way that this was going to work out.

Yes, I purchased 2 balls of the same yarn, even if they were not the same colour-way that should have worked in the same project. Here I was, nearly $70 into a project that was not going to be beautiful.

After a few days I decided to contact the shop, The Loop in Halifax. I used their webform, twice. I had not heard anything so a few weeks later I called the shop to let them know how disappointed I am.

They actually had read my email, tried to reach me to follow up but there was an error in my email address in one of the contact forms. They were ready to fix it!! Yay for me. Mimi was confident that the issue was a defective ball of yarn since they only sell one weight. They were quite happy to send me a replacement ball, and I to send them a sample of the defective yarn weight ball.

Here we are, Nov 8 and the new ball is here, I am ready to start into it, but I have this much of the shawl completed:

That was good customer service story #1; I have 2 more good experiences to share. It is probably because the whole financial world is stretched so thin that it really matters that companies provide real value for the money that is spent on their goods. I appreciate that the store is standing up and meeting the expectations I have for the money that was spent there.  We have only so much money and when it is spent we deserve true value for it.

Good customer service story #2 (maybe, the jury is still out on this one): my TomTom 630 go GPS. I bought it last year with my bonus. I spent time choosing this model, after purchasing and returning a Magellen and a Garmin. I thought that I made a good choice. After 14 months it went crazy, the screens kept switching rapidly, I was unable to see any routing information. I could not enter any info either because it was locked into "P".  The TomTom only wanted to go the closest Police station, Puerto Rico or Pittsburgh. This was not really useful at all and a big waste of nearly $200.

I contacted TomTom Support, followed the online tips, joined the forum, followed the tips. called the customer support line, followed all the tips. No matter what we tried the GPS was insane. I was not a happy camper. I could see that there was a large group of owners of these units (630 and 730) that were all having the same issues. There was speculations that is was overheating, too much pressure from the screws, dirt under the bezel, software issues etc. Hundreds of owners with exactly the same problem should tell the company that their device is defective, whether it is just past warranty time or not.

So, finally the customer service technician relented, provided the coveted RMA# and agreed to send a replacement. Happily I posted to the forum that I was getting a new device. Quickly there were posts that I would have the same problem with the new device --- and yes. The new device that I received in the beginning of October was stuck on the "P" and still  only wanted to go the closest Police station, Puerto Rico or Pittsburgh. So eventually, another call to TomTom customer service, and another RMA#. Mercedes promised that they would send a device that worked. I hope so. Really, TomTom should be sending me a different model, one that really works. This model is a "lemon". We'll see.

Good customer service story #3: The saga of the diamond bracelet. In 2010 DH wanted to buy me a beautiful bracelet for my birthday. We looked at all the jewellery stores in all the malls in town, every weekend for a month. Finally I found a beautiful twisty, feminine, beautiful and reasonably priced diamond bracelet. It was so pretty. At the time, the sales agent also sold us a "lifetime warranty". I wondered why in the world I would need such a thing but.....

It was a very good thing to have purchased, the warranty that is. After a few weeks of wearing the bracelet I noticed that a stone had fallen out, no worries, there is a lifetime warranty, the stone was replaced. Six weeks later I pick it up from the store. I wear it for a while and... a stone falls out. I take it back again and the stone will be replaced. Another 6 weeks in the shop. I pick it up; I wear it for a few weeks and... another stone falls out. Back again it goes for a repair. Now it has spent more time in the repair shop than on my wrist.

The store replaces it with another from the counter. .... I am wearing it and ... yes, another stone falls out again. I take it into another location, hoping that a different jewelry repair person works on it. I pick it up after a couple of months. By this time I am whining a bit to the sales agent who tells me that I am lucky that we bought the "lifetime warranty" as they will keep repairing it. THIS IS NOT THE POINT. If I have a beautiful bracelet that someone bought as a gift to make me happy, I should be able to wear it, not have it spend most of its time in repair.

I put the bracelet on at the store and drove home. Guess what, by the time I arrived home another stone has fallen out. REALLY. This must be a design flaw. All I have done is drive home and that should not have caused any stones to fall out. Sadly, I place it in my jewelry box and just look at it for a few months, wishing that I could wear it.

People's Jewelers sends out marketing emails, just like many other businesses. One day when I was being particularly sad about not wanting to wear this "lemon"of a bracelet, I responded to their sales flash with an email noting that I wished our last purchase made us happy. A few emails back and forth, and a few weeks later, I receive a call from Shayna at the People's store where this was originally purchased. She offered to exchange my bracelet, in view of the many times it had been returned, repaired and then disappointing me. I met with her at the store. I saw a very similar style bracelet, nearly the same design but slightly altered.  Shayna was so helpful, positive and sincere.

We both hoped that the design change really fixed the problem because it is such a pretty bracelet. She sent me off with the bracelet that hopefully would make me happy, no fussing, no "red tape", just a smile and good wishes.

I am very impressed, THANK YOU People's Jewelers .  We will be back, the next time though should be for another pretty piece of bling, I think that you mean it when you want to make your customer happy.