Monkey Around

I finished a commissioned quilt.  With no further ado I present my finished Peek-a-Boo Monkey Quilt. 

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The kids are still taking 'Quilt Display' classes.  Not too bad for kids who are hardly 4 feet tall. 

I just did a basic spine with a leaf or feather bump along and out... I have no idea what this design could be called but it worked awesome. 

I'm working on some designs for a series of baby quilts.  I think I'm going to draw up some patterns in the next coming months.  Everyone likes cartoon baby quilts.  Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network where inspiration happens.

The Studio

I have been trying to quilt this past week but I have had some pressing matters to attend to... like buying a studio.  Last week we bought the house next door (600 square feet).  We are going to be renovating it into my new studio.  Obviously, I'm thrilled.  My plans need to be reined in before I outgrow it LOL.  We got the house for a more than reasonable price.  I was  slightly nervous since we hadn't even made a payment on the other house yet, but in the end everything went through without a hitch.  Like I said I haven't really had a chance to do much quilting this week.  If your interested in reading more I have a blog for our renovation projects http://renovation800.blogspot.ca/.  It's not too technical since I'm the author.  I thought I would link up to The Needle and Thread Network just so I could share my joy, or confess my absolute fear of the amount of work a head of me.

The Studio

Peek-A-Boo Monkey

Background

Well I have been working on the Peek-A-Boo monkey quilt.  Here is my progress.  You may notice the bottom left of the quilt in the background photo, yeah that's a inch or so indiscrepancy on the brown frame.  To fix or not to fix?  Since the quilt is commissioned of course I fixed it.  I remember thinking "Oh crap, I wonder if I should have taken one off one side and another off the other side instead of both from this side, yep should have done that".  Funny, I knew I had done it wrong, but I just kept going.  Then with great exasperation (mostly for my husbands benefit, lol) I pretend to be puzzled, like it's the quilts fault it didn't line up.

Well I fixed it and moved on to applique.  I used a combination of freezer paper, Wonder Under, and the remaining creativity left over from my earlier befuddled performance.

Anyhow it all came together for a rather pleasing result I think.  I put the applique on at a quilting group in my area (yay!).  These women are exactly what you would expect... awesome.

Waiting for final touches.

Most of my week has been spent on pile after pile of scraps.  I've been busting my scraps using a combination of  tea, wine, and swear words.  I see no end to the piles but every once in a while there is a moment of epiphany and I keep going.  I have some extremely exciting news but I have to wait for the paperwork so I don't jinx it.  I don't know how much I'll be getting done in the next week since I have the toothache from hell.  Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network (one of my favorite places). 

The Trade

My parents came to Saskatchewan to visit me for Thanksgiving, I served Indian food, but they didn't complain.  We also had gifts to exchange.  Mom and Dad got their quilt and swapped me a new sewing machine :)

Dad found me a Husqvarna Viking Platinum 750.  Woe, it sews really fast.  I've been playing with tension and things making sure I know some basic settings for how I quilt (almost like I knew what I was doing).  There are some serious buttons on this thing.  My first machine (also a gift from my parents), was digital but once I fell into the quilting curve I wore that machine out in 8 months.  This machine however is made for quilting, or so I'm lead to believe.  It came with a 'quilting kit' which has all the fancy darning feet, a walking foot, and table attachment.  I didn't think I would ever need a machine of this caliber  but I  think I'm ready.  





I saw this quilt online and thought it would make a perfect quilt for one of the baby quilts I've been commissioned to make.  I think the pattern is called "Peek-A-Boo Monkey" (apparently found in a book called 'Quilting for Baby')  I don't have the pattern but I thought I would build off the idea, or make it literally... I'm undecided, but one way or another it's going to be cute.  I'm completely undecided on the the other three I have to make but I'm sure something will come to me.  I love not knowing the sex of a baby, until I look at it from a quilters perspective, and I have to walk past all the awesome gender specific adorable fabric.  Oh well, I'm seeing a lot of gender neutral colours in my future.

I joined the Prairie Crocus Quilt Guild in Kindersley Saskatchewan and our first sewing meeting for this season was last night.  We made these pillows.  I started sewing them at the guild and finished them up at home.  They match a quilt I made earlier this summer, so I will most likely be sending them off to that lucky little girl.  Unless my kids smuggle them into their little cave of a bedroom (nothing is ever recovered, just ask the DVD remote).  This was my first time following a proper pattern, and I must say it was simple and had great results, obviously ;)

Straight & Narrow by Jean and Valori Wells

Keeping Pace

Well, since I started this blog just over 6 months ago, I have moved 3 times... I'm really tired of it.  Anyhow, our move into our new home went as smooth as 60 grit sandpaper.  I could go into that, but since renovation/restoration and quilting are very different subjects, I decided to just start another blog, so along with my husband (who proof reads here for me too) I've started a new blog on our descent into renovation hell, you can find that here.

My new sewing area... in the living room, my husband is so happy. 

Somehow during our whirlwind decisions moving us to and fro, I somehow seem to start and finish projects.  I have finished my huge heron quilt, right in the nick of time too.  My mother and father arrive tomorrow to pick it up.  I was going to post a photo today, but I think I'll wait and get a photo of her and Dad with the quilt.  In the meantime, I have started to quilt a disappearing nine-patch I put together a month or so ago.

I love variegated thread.  Mostly because I didn't even know it existed before I started quilting, and ever since then I have been quilting almost everything with it.  For this project, I chose to use a rainbow variegated thread!  I think the obsession has finally worn off.  Originally, I had planned to quilt this quilt using Leah Day's cucumber vine design, but I couldn't do that much travel stitching with the variegated thread (I just don't like the way it looks). So instead I decided to go with a simple leaf design... but I think it would have been better with the cucumber vine.

Fuzzy super softy minky backin

I started another project since I like to have a couple going at once.  I'm absolutely taken with black/white/lime green.  I know that it's a common colour scheme, but I just can't shake the thought from my brain.  So I decided to go with a modern wonky square block (also inspired by Leah Day).  I hacked the heck out of some fat quarters, slashed some white cotton and went to work. seriously I didn't measure or square anything.  I just went to town.  I chain pieced some white strips onto my fat quarter "squares" then finally broke out a ruler and wonkafied my fabric chunks.

I only had 5 black and white fat quarters.  Notice anything missing from this colour scheme, yep no lime green.  I plan to make this quilt in only black and white then quilt it in the brightest lime green thread I can find.   I have no idea how I'm going to put it all together yet since the blocks are between 5" and 13" squared.  I need to get my design wall up before I can make anymore progress on this project.  Should I find some more black and white fabrics?  Well, I seem to have another baby boom on my hands... I have to make 4 more baby blankets before spring.  Baby blankets and I have a bittersweet relationship.  This next baby boom in my life will end up with funkier blankets I think.  That is all in the quilting curve has for me now.