Wordless Wednesday

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Cold Shivers, the Sequel

Cold Shivers Snowflake was designed in my head as I pedaled up Colorado National Monument in 2012 following three months off the bike due to a disc-crushing bike accident. Cold Shivers is the name of the rest stop at the top of a huge climb. Your sweat and the desert breeze give you cold shivers as you take in the magnificent red rock scenery.


I didn't know if I'd be able to climb again because my back hurt so much. As I reached the pullout, Sammy Hagar and Van Halen were crooning, "Baby, dry your eyes; save all the tears you've cried. That's what dreams are made of!"

The beads on the snowflake represent a tiny portion of the tears I cried... tears of joy at Cold Shivers because I made it!!!


This spring I thought I'd have to have surgery when we learned I have two more collapsed discs in my neck. Physical therapy has been working, and last week I got permission to get back on my bike. I'm riding only 15 miles at a time now, trying to work back up slowly and make sure the nerves in my arm aren't going to be obstructed anymore.

Thursday morning I rode 15 miles to the park and ride, third time back on the bike. Ten hours later, I got back on the bike and rode home from the park and ride for the first time in so long, I have to look it up because I don't remember! (I looked it up, and on March 28, 2015, we did a weekend recon tour to see if the flood-damaged sections of the bike path were repaired, and it would still be several months. That was the most recent time my bicycle tires had traveled south on the path near the park and ride.)

The ride home is filled with some pretty big hills, not as big as Cold Shivers, but significant given I haven't done any climbing at all since March. I wasn't sure I could make it up the biggest climb and then the rest of the way home, too.

As I topped that hill, Cheryl Crow was singing, "I'm still the king of me!" Black storm clouds were pushing east, and I started singing right along with her:

"I'm gonna soak up the sun
I'm gonna tell everyone!!!"

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Snowflake Monday

Welcome to Week 3 of Snowcatcher's Snowflake Quiltalong!

I opted not to sash my snowflake charm squares but promised to share how I sash blocks just in case you'd like to use sashing in your project. I will be making nine boy quilts by Christmas (I hope), and I'm putting together a quick boy quilt top today to share how I sash blocks all the same size with the same color sashing throughout.

I haven't looked to see if anyone else has done a tutorial on my method, but there's no such thing as too many tutorials, right? Also, some of my regular (crochet) readers have expressed they have little to no experience with quilting, and they are hoping this QAL will be beginner-friendly.

This method of sashing really speeds up the process, I think, and it's simple to boot. The quilt top I'm making for this QAL installment also is fast and easy, the perfect quilt for a last-minute gift.

For today's project I started with 12 desert-colored batik layer cake squares (10-inch by 10-inch). I've previously made this same pattern multiple times with 12-inch blocks I cut myself from scraps and leftovers. I can finish this type of quilt in three or four nights, from fabric choosing and block cutting to quilting and binding. I've made three so far with nothing but scraps and leftovers, so this is a fantastic way to use up existing stash.

EVERYTHING in today's project is from my stash leftovers, so it cost me zero dollars and cents. $0.00!!! That kind of price tag is always a boon, right?


As I was playing with the block layout, I decided these desert rock colors also reminded me of volcanoes and lava. My own kids were fascinated by volcanology while they were younger, and almost all the little boys I've met in the last decade or two are obsessed with dinosaurs. So I have a theme for this young boy's quilt, which I'm now calling Lava Beds.

I pulled out my existing batik stash to determine which colors would harmonize best with the blocks I'd chosen. I picked an amber tone because it reminded me of the amber in "Jurassic Park" that started the fictitious amusement park. I sliced up 12 2.5-inch strips from the 44-inch width of the fabric. I ended up using only 10 of them for the sashing, and the two remaining strips go into the jelly roll section of my scrap collection for the next time I'm assembling a scrap quilt with mixed sashing.




If you prefer, you may cut your strips into 12 10-inch and 12 12-inch pieces (for 10-inch layer cake blocks) or 12 12-inch and 12 14-inch pieces (for 12-inch blocks). I don't cut my jelly roll strips first. I just start sewing and cut as I go. I do one block at a time, and I do two sides only on each bock. Typically, I will try to make the sashing seam line the same on each block. I was rushing during this project and forgot to pay attention to that tiny detail, so some blocks were sashed on the side first, and some were sashed on the bottom first. My final quilt top looks fine with the inconsistencies. It probably helps knowing it's not going to be entered into competition, where a move like that would have resulted in scorched earth.




Because I cut as I went, I had to piece sashing as I went. My goal is to get up from the sewing machine many times during a project; it prevents my back from getting as stiff. I also like that I used up every inch of my home-cut sashing possible. If I had cut the pieces to length before sashing, it probably would have taken up all 12 strips instead of just 10, and I would have a bunch of small leftover pieces instead of two nearly full-length strips.


After finishing the first row of blocks to be sashed, I could envision what the final project would look like.


Once all the rows of blocks were sashed on two sides, I sewed the blocks together in rows.

After all the rows were put together, it was time to sew the rows together. I have to be really careful every single time I put rows together because I'm famous for sewing at least one row on upside down. Every. Single. Time. Unraveling has never gone out of style at my house. My seam ripper will never experience rejection issues.


Once the rows were sewn together, I prepared strips for the two unsashed sides. The quilt top at this point was roughly 33 inches by 44 inches, and one 2.5-inch strip was not quite long enough to sash the long side of the flimsy. I pieced together 2 2.5-inch strips, then finished sashing the flimsy quilt top.


What do you think? Does it bring to mind "Dante's Peak"? (My kids' absolute favorite movie when they were young.)


This quilt top didn't seem big enough to me for a growing boy, so I cut and added two border rows of lava-toned 2.5-inch strips from my existing batik stash. All of the home-cut jelly roll strips for this project, by the way, are leftovers from Leaf Me Alone. Lava Beds now measures 43x56 inches, which I think will be plenty big enough.

I plan to back it with a lava-hued Wilmington Prints Essentials Cosmos because the nebula-like design looks to me a bit like hot, bubbly lava. I'm planning some fun motifs for the quilting of each block, recycling and renewing a plan I had two years ago for a different quilt but didn't have the courage to attempt because I was still such a beginner free-motion quilter. That design, however, will not involve snowflakes. So I'll save it for another blog post on another day.


Meanwhile, I've been piecing together my rows for the Snowflake Quiltalong, and thankfully, these rows didn't matter too much when I sewed a few together upside-down. (I still had to take them apart and put them back together so the triangle edges would line up properly.)


We were treated to a visit by my mother-in-law while I still had this project taking up most of the dining room floor space, and she commented how perfect my seams were matched. (!!!!!) Thankfully, she didn't look at each individual intersection with a magnifying glass because they are not 100% perfect. But from a distance, they do look pretty good.

I do not nest my seams. When you get deep into quilting, you will hear, see and learn about "less bulk" by nesting seams, which means pressing all the seams to one side so that when the blocks match up, stacked fabric on one side lines up perfectly with stacked fabric on the opposite side. I've been sewing most of my own clothing since I was a teenager, and I've always pressed all my seams flat, except in tailored collars. If you really think about the math, which I try not to do because my brain is allergic to math, pressing the seams to one side or the other is no different than pressing them open because you have the same number of fabric layers either way. You didn't add or subtract layers.

Some people may obtain better-matched seams by nesting, and that's fine. I pin my seams, and if I sew over the pins, I do so VERY slowly, turning the wheel by hand, to make sure I don't break a pin or a needle. I'm still haunted by the nightmares my ninth grade home economics teacher drilled into our collective heads by telling us we'd puncture our eyes if we ever sewed over a pin. You really shouldn't ever sew over pins, even if you go slow. Period.


Pinning my pressed-flat seams takes a bit longer but results in better-looking intersections.


Did you catch that?!? I finished TWO quilt tops in one week! Doesn't happen often in my neck of the plains-meet-foothills!


Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts.

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Friday Funny

Dig that Orange Crush T-shirt!!!

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Warmbow

Eighteen months ago, I started working with my rainbow batik strips, only to decide I liked the greens, blues and purples without the reds, yellow and oranges. The Cool Edge of the Rainbow was born.


I've toyed with ideas for the warm 'bow strips ever since, and during a recent unexpected day off, I pulled together some jelly roll blocks that might work out perfect as a boy quilt this Christmas.


I played with jelly roll strips that didn't make the final main quilt body cut as possible borders to make the project big enough for a kid, and left the final idea on the floor while we traveled to New Mexico for my niece's wedding.

While we were gone, I kept imagining different colors around the blocks, including some of the green, blue and purple still waiting to become another Turtle Sherbet.

When we got home, I quickly cut some new strips from two different colors previously never considered, kept one of the rejects from the original plan and crafted what I think is a red hot little top. I don't think a boy will mind these bright colors. I hope...


Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Along came a spider(wort) and sat down beside her...

I feel like the spiderwort queen this year!

I can't believe how beautiful these blossoms are and how long the plants have been blooming. The first one began producing flowers the week before we left for Ride the Rockies in June, and I'm still getting many flowers on each plant every day.








I've heard spiderwort can be invasive.

I DON'T CARE!!! Let this thing grow and grow and grow! I absolutely love my spiderwort!






I caught a bee cross-pollinating the white and pink flowers last week. I can't wait to see what the seeds will produce, and it will take a couple of years to find out.


In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the heck out of my newest garden favorite. I didn't think my blue delphiniums could ever be knocked down to second place!

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