QUILT BACKING

After lots of measuring and figuring and head-scratching, I made the back for my Chain Reaction quilt.

I barely had enough fabric to make it and had to piece some of the last 6" squares.

DYED HAPPY

I'm really pleased with the results of my dyed fabrics from yesterday.  

I was trying to match some of the colors from the quilt top.  I think I got really close.

This is the ice dyed yard.  Always a surprise.

This is the three colors: teal, light pea green, and a bluish green next to the quilt top and the ice dyed fabric.

A closer look at the ice dyeing.

FIRST HALF

I thought I might dye some fabrics for the back of the Chain Reaction quilt.  I haven't done that in a while!  So I re-read parts of my favorite book, Fabric Dyer's Dictionary by Linda Johansen.  I can't say enough about this book, it has made dyeing fabric so easy for me.  Love it!

So, I got a yard each of fabric into three different dye baths right after breakfast.  Then I got to thinking about ice dyeing.  I decided to go ahead and do another yard that way.  It's always amazing how it turns out.

I prepared a yard with soda ash and salt and put it into tray.

Then over the tray goes an old window screen, then the ice goes on top of the screen.

Then I added some of the leftover liquid dyes from the other dye bags (lots of golden yellow) and some other dry dyes, mainly fuschia, orange and peach.  I dribbled a little bit of the liquid cobalt on there, too.

Several hours later, as ice melts, it looks to me like I didn't have enough dye powders on here, so I added some more.

More dyes added and I poured more liquid cobalt into one end, hoping it would mix with yellows to create greens.   I don't think that is what's going to happen, so later I tilted the tray to keep cobalt away from fabric.

Now, we'll have to wait until morning to see how it all turns out.

And, while all that is percolating, I sewed the second quadrant of the Fancy Forest and sewed the two upper quadrants together.  I'm half way there.

FIRST QUARTER

It's back to work on the Fancy Forest quilt!

I spent the morning cleaning and putting things away in the studio.  It was a mess.  BUT, I ran across a group of fabrics I had purchased while traveling in Connecticut a year or so ago, and I was thinking they would be great as another "Chain Reaction" quilt.  I started selecting backgrounds and thinking about it.  And, then - NO!  I didn't need to start another project, I needed to finish some of the current ones.

So, I got to sewing the blocks together for the first quadrant of the Fancy Forest.  Its going together pretty quickly.

FINISHED!

I got to work on my Kaffe Fassett project early and got another two rows done before our walk.

Then after lunch, I got the last two rows done, and started sewing it together.

Every square needed to be pinned to the previous row so the square points line up.

But I got it done before dinner!  Yea!

This is called "Chain Reaction" from Kaffe's book "Sew Artisan".

WORKING ON PROJECT

I had the project from the Kaffe Fassett Workshop spinning through my head all night.  I couldn't wait to get back to work on it.  I woke up way too early and headed out to the studio (after caffeinating myself).  After I got it up on my work wall I was not happy.

Part of the problem was I was thinking that Kaffe thought my project was okay.  So, I thought I should go with it.  But, there were a few things I was not happy about and I realized that if I put it together like that I'd never be happy about it.  So, I got to work (like I learned in the workshop) and moved things around, changed things, tried different fabrics, different colors until I was pleased with it.

Only then did I start sewing it together.

I got a few rows done.

KAFFE FASSETT WORKSHOP

What a great opportunity!  A local quilt shop, Gossypium in Issaquah, offered some workshops with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably.  I was one of the first to sign up.  

We were working out of his new book "Sew Artisan" on a project called Chain Reaction.

The workshop was mainly about color and color's reactions when placed next to each other.

We were encouraged to try different combinations and stretch beyond our normal combinations.

At the end of the day Kaffe went around the room and talked about each project.  

Kaffe and Brandon

 Here are some of the iterations my project went through...

This was someone else's project that I envied.

There were probably 25 participants.

Kaffe talking about my project.

I'm tired and my mind is whirling.  I can hardly wait to get it up on my workwall at home and get it finished.

FIREFLIES

The last block in the book is made!  Frances Firefly was definitely the most difficult and hard to make block in this Fancy Forest quilt.  I'm glad they are all done and I can move on to putting the quilt together.  I need to start thinking about the back, too.

I took the day off work.  It was great.  Today was a beautiful (perfect) day.  It was cool in the morning, and got to about 76 degrees and sunny.   We enjoyed our dog walk in Lincoln Park.

THE NINTH

Today is 9/9 and I finished my 9th quilt on my longarm.  

I love this quilt.  The colors and the pattern are fabulous.  The back is even special, and I must say, I'm happy with the quilting.

The only thing I regret is there is no label.  This is probably the first quilt I've made that doesn't have a name and doesn't have a label.

One half of the back

The other half of the pieced back.

The pantograph, Rosie, quilted.

The quilt with no name.

The afternoon ended with a nice sense of accomplishment.

The morning started out pretty bad.

I went up to the studio with the intent to finish the Fireflies.  I started sewing the next parts on, cutting off the extra corners as instructed on the top part of the wings.  As I started to begin the bottom part of the wings, I realized I had left out one piece on the upper wings. One piece that should have been added before I put the corner pieces on. I was devastated.  I thought I had ruined the wings and would have to remake them completely.  I quickly figured out that they could be salvaged.  And since there is no point to hand-wringing, I started picking out the mistakes to re-do.  I did have to re-cut some new parts, since the parts I had messed up wouldn't work.

Wrong.

Cutting out new parts.

Reverse sewing - there's only 16 that need to be redone.

I stopped when I got back to the point were I had started in the morning, but with the left out part added on, so I couldn't re-do my error tomorrow morning!

MISCALCULATION?

As I added row after row of the pantograph, and advanced the quilt, I got to a point where I started to have doubts about whether I had measured the quilt and batting correctly.  

All I can do at this point is keep going until the end.

I'm having doubts that there is enough batting to reach the end of the quilt.

I advanced the quilt again...

Getting more worried.

 I advanced the quilt as I quilted each row until I got to the end...

Wow!  I made it with less than an inch to spare!

Just like I knew what I was doing all along.

ON TO THE FIREFLIES

I sub-cut the parts for the Fireflies yesterday and did a few rows on the pantograph.

Today I started putting the Fireflies together in the morning.

We went to lunch in Burien to a restaurant we've been meaning to try - Marlaina's Mediterranean Kitchen.  It was excellent.  The food was very well made and extremely tasty, and the host was charming.  The decor was very nice with Persian carpets hanging on the walls.  The one at our table was intriguing.  I love all these different animals.  It gives me ideas.

I did a couple of more rows on the pantograph in the afternoon.  I can probably finish it off tomorrow.  

THISTLES TODAY

Too hot and smokey to go out today.  There was ash all over everything from the fires in the Cascades.  The sky was overcast with yellow haze making the light very eerie.

I spent most of the day upstairs in my overheated studio working on another Fancy Forest block.  Today was the Thistle block.  I got them done right after lunch and didn't want to start another block.  

I found this beast snoozing in my leftover batting box.  Jax is such a stinker. 

 Yesterday he had his Invisible Fence collar on all day because Darrell had the shop door open to the driveway to try and keep the shop cooler.  Both of the dogs steer clear of that open door, knowing they'll get zapped if they try to go out of it.  So, this morning I didn't bother putting their collars on since they are so leery of that open door.  Jax apparently knows when he has the collar on and when he doesn't... and when he doesn't that open door is an invitation to freedom.  When he saw that door open this morning he made a beeline out and up the driveway.  Luckily, Darrell was at the end of the driveway and stopped him from escaping.  I took him back into the house and put his collar on - he steered clear of the open door after that.  He's too smart for his britches.

I figured it was time to load up the machine with another quilt.  I brought out a quilt top that was probably pieced about 15 years ago.  It was a BOM from our quilt shop Pieces.  I think my sister Sue might have originally started this.  I know I finished it and made the back for it years ago.  Its all been in a bag just waiting to be quilted.  

Beautiful fabrics in blue and browns.  I'm just going to do a pantograph since the quilting will be hard to see with all that pattern going on.

I got it all loaded and ready to start on first thing tomorrow.

TOO CUTE HEDGEHOGS

I over-caffeinated myself yesterday at work yesterday.  Consequently, I was unable to go to sleep and was up later than is normal for me.  The good part was that I got a lot reading in on my current book.  The bad part is I did not get enough sleep and have been feeling sick all day.

But I went up to the studio and did some sewing.  I worked on the Fancy Forest quilt and got the Hedgehog blocks completely done.  Yea!

Cutting the pre-cut strips into squares and rectangles.

To add to my misery, it was very hot today - getting up to about 86 degrees.  It's hot upstairs in my studio - especially with the iron going all day.  But, I persevered and got them done.  I'm happy, and they look happy, too.

FRIDAY LITE

Took the day off work and did a little sewing, among other things.

I got the Owls for Fancy Forest finished.  And, yes, again I had to do a little reverse sewing to get the directional fabrics correct.

Afterwards, I got Molly squared up, binding made and attached.  It's ready to hand sew the binding down on the back.  LA008 almost finished up.