January flew by...

... and it seems ages since I last was in blogland - actually, it's been a bit over a month, but life continues and despite not being able to make it here, there has not been a dull moment in the Hill.

Surgeries, emergency trips and hospital stays have brought their challenges, but thank God, there is nothing that will come to us that we cannot deal with. And in the midst of all the ups and downs, beautiful creations have come along and made it to some gifts. Ongoing projects are still ongoing, just at a snail pace. 

With all the adventures coming at once without warning, I found a new appreciation for a sketch pad. Doodling helped pass time, whether it is practicing FMQ designs, sketching patters that I hope to make into a quilt one day, or even paying homage to under-appreciated salads. I also learned about the connection between sketches and smiles. I delighted in finding something in common with a lovely, talented niece.

And in one of those life downs, I just have to mention our experience with hospital food, particularly when it involved my father-in-law, who had a particularly hard time digesting the never-ending parade of carrot, broccoli and cauliflower side. I decided to leave a little reminder of his favorite food items, so that he didn't miss them when the tray was not at hand's reach. He always says that carrots are good, as long as they come in a cake... Seeing him smile when he saw the drawing was priceless; he even brought it back home! Something tells me, however, that he won't have it on display on his desk... 

Some time during January, I was able to cut fabric for the 2015 Craftsy BOM sashing.  Well, it all started back in October, when it seemed that I was actually going to be able to keep up with Jinny Beyer, but the border print has been cut and patiently waiting for over two months now to get its frame. Today, this is where I'm at:

It's definitely not a huge step ahead, but at least I'm a bit ahead. At some point, I shall find time to share the other beautiful paper-pieced flowers that will live in this gorgeous quilt.

Some weeks ago, I shared about a runner on the making. This is a very special quilt project for me, because Mr. Fuzz was involved in it and stayed close whenever I was working on it. I would like to think of it as a joint project. I decided on the pattern, based on a new book I got. He chose the main fabric and I got some solids to work around it.

Well, today, that project is almost complete. I cut fabric for the binding and decided to use a scrap strip that was leftover from the blocks. I thought it would give a nice pop of color. I think it only took me about 30 minutes to cut, fold, iron and sew it. It's now draped over the ironing board. The final touch is missing; I'm debating on finishing the binding by hand or by machine.... One will let me go and work on other projects, while the other method will allow me to enjoy the process longer - such difficult decisions in a quilter's life! 

I miss blogging and sharing; I miss creating constantly. Sometimes I miss curling on the couch with a good book. Interestingly enough, I feel that I am still enjoying life.  I thank God for his blessings and the opportunity to live a new day.

I hope you have a fantastic 2016, full of blessings!

Yiya

MIssy's Drawstring bag

Well, I believe drawstring bags are growing on me!  It turns out that they are practically THE perfect gift wrapping that is so cute and functional that it won't be throw away! 

(Yes, I seriously and silently feel sad each time I see all that beautiful wrapping paper that ends up in the trash. My recycling bone awakens each time it happens, and some of it has even ended making up greeting cards and all sort of things of beauty and love - but that's the stuff for another blog post.)

Time came for another gift, and yours truly had everything ready BUT a gift box/bag... I still sort of refuse really taking a good look at those, unless I will remake them into something else.

So... Missy... A sweet, sweet lady that loves purple and bright colors... I took a peek at my fabric, chose the three below and went back to Crafty's Bag-Making Basics: Drawstring Bag & Bucket Bag, with Kristin Link.

I really liked the way it came together!

And here is a close-up look at my cutting mat, with Kristin Link's instructions handy, to make sure I got things right.  

Here is Missy's bag finished, right on that spot on the carpet, now more like a "spot of fame," hehe...

Well, yes... It's a tad too big for nail polish, but she can use the bag for so many more things.

(Mental note: Take time and write down the math to make smaller baggies and use in the future.)

I really like how bright that lining fabric looks next to the purple...

And when you pull the drawstrings, it almost turns into a pretty flower!

If you like making things, this baggie is also easy to make and Kristin's class in Craftsy is free and she shows each step - it couldn't get easier!

And you? Do you personalize gifts?  I would love to hear how you do it!

Have a blessed day!

Yiya.

BOM 2015 - Irises and Y seams... Check!

We only have a week left in September, and I'm still trying to catch up with blogging about my 2015 Craftsy BOM blocks! 

I'm not really sure whether to start with saying that this block is actually the July block or with sharing that all of the blocks are finished now, and I actually completed the frames today!! YAY!! I can't wait to take lots and lots of pictures!!  It's really exciting that my first traditional quilt, which is also my first BOM, is almost finished!

But now, I need to go back to July and share about the beautiful irises - it's amazing what can be turned into a quilt!  So exciting!

Beginning with some mise en place... Everything ready to go, with seams marked in chalk, pieces stacked together, the middle stem already pieced... Everything just waiting to get sewn in the right place to live happily in the Iris block!

It took me a while to mark all the seams... Hehe... you can even see some chalk on the right side of the fabric!  (I had them all stacked on top of each other, but you cannot tell in the final block, phew!)

The moment of truth came... Y seams... From corner to corner, or dot to dot or seam to seam... Stopping at the intersections... You know, intersections make the piecing!  :) 

And yes, I made a tiny design decision and changed the color of the petals.  I wanted to show the range of color in the fabulous palette. I was liking every bit of it!

So, I started making my way along the Y seams; however, I was not very sure it was supposed to look like this,...  

... but things looked better after pressing!  Yay!!  My first Y seam flower down!

I also made my mind and decided to give hand piecing a try.  Not too bad, but I didn't like the way it looked after pressing; I ended up redoing that little triangle, but left my hand stitches there, just for mere romantic reasons... hehe!

I actually enjoyed doing the Y-seams. I have heard about them, and I have seen people in blogs talking about how to avoid them and sew the Y in different ways, just to avoid it all together. 

I wouldn't mind doing some more of them; I thought the flowers ended up looking quite nicely! There are also some other Y seams in some of the other blocks, and welcoming this new skill was refreshing... A little challenge doesn't hurt much, huh?

Throughout this quilt, I have put the pieces on the mat, just to take a peek at the finished block. This one was no exception - I got more and more excited each time I got to see things coming together.

Sadly, I got so excited, that something didn't look quite right when I saw this:

I couldn't believe that I made such a silly mistake - placing the squares in the wrong order! 

I was about to undo the seams, when I thought of the easy way out, but what would also become a sort of Easter egg in the final quilt... something to look for and talk about when the quilt is done!

And here is the official picture on the carpet, with the evening light coming through... 

I had that minute of excitement, knowing that I had learned something new and that it actually worked!  :)  

Have a blessed week!

Yiya

BOM: Getting started with appliqué

Well, technically, I think there is this kind of understood agreement that posts have to be chronological - at least for those efforts that build up to a project, like my 2015 BOM.

However, in my previous post, there was a little about my advance on the appliqued flowers. And this post is about that moment in June when I first started tracing the flowers, the one in July when I started cutting the shapes, some heres and theres, up to today, when I'm blanket stitching around them.

But, before I go on with more details, let's go back to the beginning.

So, I started with the tracing on freezer paper.

Then, I thought I'd better mark each piece with its letter and fabric number.

and... I didn't like it... lol

I tried using the freezer paper, but in between the turning, preparing and... well, lack of experience with applique, I ended up going back with something that I've done before: fusible web.
  

Of course, I had to retrace everything again, but I knew I was heading in the right direction.  After all, this is the technique that I used for Terminal Bee and it ended up looking quite well. 

After one or two TV episodes, this is all I had:

... it eventually made it into baggies, just to make sure all the pieces stayed in their place.

I liked when they were all like in the next picture; the beautiful fabric looks pretty also from the back.

I took them with me everywhere I went, so that I could work on them whenever possible. What I didn't like is the scissors... They are good scissors, but things go WAY slower with the smallies... Oh well! They work and they make really precise cuts.

Finding a bit of time here and there, I was able to -eventually- get all the pieces done.  

As I post this, all of the pieces have made it to a block and I'm working on stitching around them. Now, whenever I need a break at home, I take five or ten minutes (yeah, right... about one hour!) and blanket stitch around a petal or two... or three... or four...

This part of making the 2015 Craftsy's BOM is probably what got me more frustrated.  I even voiced my five-minute breakdown, thinking that I had taken a really complicated challenge this time - one which does not allow me to bend rules and makes me stick to it.  

Then, I had the five-minute picker-upper, thinking of all the lessons I've learned so far, and how my piecing has improved. I actually took a time to see all the blocks that I've finished so far. They are... well, different. It's obvious that the first one has a bunch of mistakes; I'll probably re-do it at the end, once I've finished all the blocks and know I have enough fabric to get a second one out of it. 

Go figure! From too much to "one more."

Learning experiences are always there, waiting for us to take advantage of them. 

So far, I'm getting there bit by bit, and it's really exciting to be able to share it with all of you.

Today is Wednesday... let's see if these beauties can be finished by Sunday! In the meantime, be blessed!

Yiya

What did you do on the weekend?

Weather is starting to change, and I feel I'm finally making some progress in my quilting. I about decided to dedicate some time to it at least three times a week, so that things get going. And yes, this post will have to count as one of those three times this week.

I feel like there were two major things accomplished that feel like a huge advance in my quilting projects.

I think I don't actually realize that things wear and get old... After attempting to cut fabric twice unsuccessfully, I finally took a long, good look at my poor cutting mat... No wonder why things were not working!  

I ended up turning the mat and using an indelible marker to mark 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... inches where I had 24, 23, 22... Hey, I'm good for ingenuity that keeps me going without so much effort! It felt like I was cutting butter after doing this - I just can't believe I waited so long to get it done. I can just begin to imagine how far ahead it will let me go with fast and accurate cutting.

Another major step are these little guys. 

The fusible web had been on the fabric for a while; Kathy came and visited about two weeks ago, and I finished cutting all the pieces. They are now anxiously waiting to get to their final destination in the gorgeous baskets... I hope!

So, not a long post, but excited about going forward.

How did you go forward this weekend?

Stay blessed,

Yiya

BOM: Baskets!

Well, who said things had to stay the same all the time?

When I first started my quilting adventures, I never thought I would be working on a year-long project with bunches of baskets! 

The 2015 Craftsy BOM has brought challenging opportunities to overcome and fall for this wonderful craft over and over again!  

I look back at these five blocks, and smile as I remember the challenges of understanding a very basic skill - pattern reading. I think it was the beautiful fabric that got me involved, and it has been fantastic.  I keep working bit by bit and some of these will get appliqued flowers very soon.  I couldn't resist but snapping a quick pic to remember how they all look like together. Pieced handles, bias-cut handles, matching points... A smile comes out and I feel grateful for the opportunity of enjoying the creative process.

I once said that I'd never quilt baskets - ha! Better watch out for next time I say I'll never quilt something - I may end up making a whole quilt of them...

Until next time... Have a blessed week!

Yiya.

Happy Weekend!

Hello!

Well, I know it's Monday and Monday is generally not the weekend... However, I think it's about time to post something that is up to date.  So, even though this post will be a short one, I'm happy to share what my work table looked like two days ago:

Yep, that's right... That's one of the 2015 Craftsy BOM blocks and some of the applique is finished. I decided to use some of my embroidery thread, which I rarely use, good for embroidery (obviously), that I almost never make, in order to blanket stitch around the applique. I used some blue Isacord that I've used before for FMQ (click here or here to see the FMQ samples), and the embroidery thread will be for the leaves and stems. 

I was not looking for a color that stood out, but for something discrete, that would not take away from the piecing or the gorgeous fabric. I've found that the best way to audition a thread is just take a bit of it and put it on top of the fabric to get a fairly good idea of how it would look once finished. So, the darker thread made the cut!  It's interesting how the olive green threads look blue-ish, gray-ish in the picture - maybe that's why I didn't like them for this project, in the first place... Interesting...

Anyway, you may also spot some colorful squares... Well, that is a side project I started working on. I'll post on it, and will blog about it, eventually...

In the meantime, applique flowers get done little by little and I'll still keep trying to sneak in a post here and there.

I hope you have a blessed week!  

Yiya

BOM 2015: Paper-piecing in August!!!

OK... wait a minute... August blocks in August? Really? Well, yes!!  

I spent a good time yesterday working on these beauties, and it was just fantastic!

After a challenging week and some really needed time to relax, I must confess I kind of forgot there was laundry waiting to be done, or dishes to be washed... I just took my quilt ruler and rotary cutter, and did not stop!

OK, I did take breaks, and made sure that things around the house were taken care of. However, Mr. Fuzz did most of the work; he said that he knew I needed quality time with my fabric - isn't he the most amazing fuzzband!! 

And, although I'm behind in posting other things I've been working on, I thought about jumping into August and share the beautiful paper-pieced flowers for the Craftsy 2015 BOM, with Jinny Beyer.

By the way, remember that this is a free class, so you may want to visit the site and see what all the fuzz is about.

It all starts with a piece of paper...

... and cut fabric...

... and it just keeps going, and going!

I love the perfect points and the complexity - elegant and clean.  I can't wait for September blocks, which will also be paper-pieced - let's see if I'm caught up with my blogging by then.

Thanks for reading, and stay blessed,

Yiya