Showing posts with label not so crappity crap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not so crappity crap. Show all posts

Monday, July 30, 2012

Chevron? Where?

Oops I didn't mean to disappear for quite so long. Nothing much has changed on the home front, still hoping to sell the house soon, and occasionally I've found the time to do a little bit of sewing, sometimes I have the time but it's the last thing I feel like doing. Anyway, I have a finish, and I'm just going to come out with it. This is not my finest quilting hour. In the interest of keeping it very real on this blog and despite the fact that I would like everyone to think I'm perfect, bwah ha ha haaaaaaa, it's not all plain sailing here.

Many months ago I saw a wonderful quilt that was designed and made by Kirsty from You Had Me At Bonjour (don't you just love that blog name, it's perfect). I love Kirsty's quilt too, Modern Chevron, and thought it would be nice to try and make it in masculine colours.

I chose my fabric, remember these?  Hope Valley, Hometown and various grey solids.
Hometown/Hope Valley

I started cutting and cutting, and cutting some more and laid it out on the "design bed" and thought hmmmmmmmm.  I realised that the value contrast between the greys and the green/blues was not quite at all strong enough.  I soldiered on. Mainly because my stash is already taking over my house and I didn't want to buy any more fabric. Ah, who am I kidding, I love buying more fabric, but I wanted to finish it and didn't want to go in search of more greys, and really, my stash is getting out of control.
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It looked ok when I first started sewing the rows,
but by the time it was all sewn together arrgh, where's the pattern?
















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I hoped the quilting would help differentiate between the grey and the green/blues. It might have if I had chosen to quilt it differently.
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When starting the quilting I didn't think about the difference in width at the diagonal sections, that would have been helpful if I'd thought about that. I could have unpicked the quilting. I didn't. The quilting is pretty bad,  especially in the diagonal sections, but it could be worse.
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In this section below, the right hand diagonal is not too bad but the left hand side has puckered quite a bit.

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Here's the back, a Hometown print and a pieced strip of scraps.
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The binding is Pure by Sweetwater.Untitled

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I'm chalking this up to experience........in what not to do.  I haven't done Kirsty's pattern justice, but I do think it does make a very good masculine quilt. It's a pity the chevron pattern doesn't show up so well, but I do love the pattern and I suppose, to put a positive spin on it, it is interesting that the pattern is not obvious at first, but it kind of sneaks up on you, so I'm going to call it The Disappearing Chevron.


I recommend Kirsty's great design, she does a great tute, but remember to use high value contrast if you want it to look as fabulous as Kirsty's.





Wednesday, November 2, 2011

WIP Wednesday

Subtitle :  The week I turned a shower cap into a quilt block.


It's been a while since I joined in on WIP Wednesday. Lots of things have been happening at Chez Sunshine, not much involved sewing.
However this week I'm back into hand sewing, not without dramas. I think we all know by now that just about everything that involves sewing on this blog is usually accompanied by a drama!
In my last post I was less then impressed with my attempt at sewing a block for the Material Obsession BOM.  You can read about it here. Go ahead and read it, I'll wait.
You might need the background for this to make sense, then again, not much I say makes sense.
Fo those of you who already read my last post here's the photo to jog your memory, this was what I finished up with something very closely resembling a shower cap.

Despite wanting to throw it in the corner and forgetting about it, I was given a few helpful hints like running over it with the car to flatten it, using a huge amount of spray starch and ironing it to death or sleeping on it, literally, to flatten it. I had already tried starch and the iron, and I wasn't quite ready to take to it with the car, although I must admit I was very tempted.  Instead I grabbed my trusty seam ripper and worked on the seam between the inner and outer circle as individually they lay flat before I sewed them together. I then took a look at the seams between the aqua and blue triangles. I realised I had used a scant 1/4 inch for the seams rather than a full 1/4 inch, so I sewed over every seam again. I wasn't about to seam rip all of them!!!!!
After doing that I sewed it back together, which also involved more seam rippping as I managed to catch the centre circle in the seam - twice, grrrrrr. Naturally I hadn't managed that amazing feat the first time I sewed it together.
Here's the final result.
Better, not great, but it is better!
This was after lots more spray starch and pressing the crap out of it.
Centre circle

Now it doesn't have a hole in the middle in case I need it as a shower cap.



Slow progression
Growing slowly
More hand sewing.

A few weeks ago I joined in on the Scrappy Swap run by Kat. For my scrappy item I made a scissors case. This was completed a few weeks ago but I couldn't post about it until I knew my partner received it. I drafted my own pattern with the help of a friend and made the first one in pink to see whether it would work and then made the second one in yellow and grey as my partner loves that colour combination. 
Scissors Case
Front
Scissors Case
Inside
Scrappy Swap, scissors case front
Front
Scrappy Swap scissors case, inside
Inside
Scrappy Swap scissors case, back
Back
I'm really happy with both of them, especially the fussy cut bird on the front of the grey/yellow, using Joel Dewberry fabric. 
I forgot to take photos after I had sewed the magnetic catch to them!

Worked On This Week
Starflowers
Material Obsession BOM

If I Ever Work On These It Will Be A Miracle
Mystery Quilt
Floral Bouquet quilt
HST project - finish backing
McFLurry - start making the backing - (I think I should aim for a finish for Xmas 2012)
Circle Game BOM
Hexagon Cushion
Monochromatic Challenge

Weeks Statistics
Worked On - 2
Ignored - 7

Thank you Lee for hosting WIP Wednesday. Pop on over to Lee's blog to see lots of creativity this week.
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced