two posts in one day?! unheard of!

So, remember the pile of cut, upcycled denim jeans I showed you a few days ago? Well, I decided to start working with them.  I wanted to do a traditional triangle pattern (actually, I just wanted to try out one of the methods I learned to do triangles with), so I started sewing.  And then I quickly stopped.  I forgot how hard it is to work with denim.  It is thick and the resulting seams are really bulky... My little machine is just not geared to handle it (or maybe it just needed to be oiled).  Instead of some thing large and grand, I ended up with something small. I ended up with a pillow because I had extra fiberfil laying around.

The front in the pattern I wanted for the denim quilt.  

I needed a back, so I just sewed 4 pieces of the squares together

Now, I need to reorganize and redesign a project that will use up the rest of the denim squares that won't end up with bulky seams.  Any ideas?

It's Election Day and I'm showing my second quilt!

This is my second completed quilt and I'm participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

First off, lets see the quilt and then I'll tell you the story behind it.

Here is the front

And here is the back

A close up of the front (ignore the the fact that some of the blocks didn't line up right)

From the many imperfections you see on this quilt, I'm sure you can tell I'm a beginner quilter.  I start quilting not too long ago, about 5 months ago to be more exact.  I'm not sure if there is a story behind this particulart quilt.  I needed something to do and I started sketching out something on graph paper and started sewing.  However, I'll tell you why I started quilting.

I've always been a crafter/diyer.  My entire family likes making and fixing things.  My mom is a knitter, my dad loves fixing things around the house and building things, my grandmother makes clothes for my little cousins, and for the longest time, I've been a crocheter.  Then I got addicted to fabric.  I had piles of fabric even before I learned how to use a sewing machine.  I wanted to make something with these pretty fabrics and I've never been a clothes maker, so I turned to quilting.  5 months ago, I was gainfully employed and never had the time to pick up a new hobby. So the fabric pile just sat in the corner, slowly growing. Then I quit my well paid job as an immigration attorney to follow my husband to his new assignment.  Because of a series of events, I didn't end up moving and I didn't go back to my last job.  So now, I had a ton of free time on my hands. Too much time actually.  Aside from doing the normal housewifey things, my hands remained idle.  Idle hands and idle time leads to a lot of unnecessary thinking and stress.  I mean I didn't have the stress of going to a job I didn't like alleviate some of the stress I was feeling before, but not having a job brought on new stress.  Not being able to find a job, worrying about the future of my career, and blaming myself and slightly my husband for it was slowly turning me into a person I didn't want to be.  I *needed* to do something, anything to prevent my mind from going to the worst case scenario.  So I picked up a new hobby: quilting.  I had a simple short arm sewing machine and a pile a fabric, so I turned to the internet for sewing lessons.  It was nice to be concentrating on learning something new.  I like designing a look, picking out the fabric, cutting the fabric, focusing on the right seam allowance, and finally arriving at something new and pretty.  I stopped over stressing and over thinking EVERYTHING.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still worried and stressed over my current state of joblessness, but now it's more manageable.

Things I've learned about quilting while making this quilt:

• seam allowance matters
• pressing the seams open and ironing the seams open are two different things
• thinking synthetic/cotton blend material would be okay and would not affect the overall quilt is wrong; doesn't matter how much synthetic material is in the fabric, it's gonna shrink and mess up the measurements when you put a hot iron to it... 

Things I've learned in general while making this quilt:

• it's okay if things aren't perfect; it's just another opportunity to find a way to correct your mistakes
• don't buy fabric just because it's pretty; it might have synthetic material in it and is completely useless
• don't worry about the small things; everything will work out in the end

Oh man, I made a major boo boo...

When I signed up for Pamknitty's market report, I thought the "Market" also covered the quilt festival that's going to be here after the Market... After checking on my blog traffic the past couple of days, I realized that a lot of people have visited my blog in hopes of seeing postings about the Market.  To clarify... I will be going to festival, and not the Market.  I truly apologize for the mix up.  I hope all of you will come back next week to see my report of the festival!!!

Things I've been doing (and things I plan on doing)

As I've said in my last post, I've decided to make things for charity.

I've made a big stack of pillow cases to be dropped off at my local shelter after I wash them. 

That took a lot less time than I anticipated so I started organizing materials for another project.  Not too long ago, I made a doggie bed for Mags using old blue jeans.  I didn't have enough at home, so I bought a bunch from a local thrift shop.  Apparently, I bought too many and I ended up with a big pile of XXXXXXL jeans. Now I'm thinking of making an area rug or a heavy blanket with the leftovers.  I cut them up into a bunch of 6x6 squares.  I have no idea what design I'm going with though.

It's a big pile of squares. 

Look at the colored jeans! Greatest contributions of the 80's!

Through other projects, I ended up with a big box of random scraps that are too big to toss, but too small to put into a full quilt. (actually, I'm sure that if I gather enough, I can put together a scrappy quilt with it. BUT!!! I'm too impatient) Therefore, I just took out all the scraps and just started sewing. Not sure what I'm working towards, but the scraps are ending up in something...

On another note, I'm planning on quilting together the top and backing from last week's posts together to participate in Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Although I haven't been quilting too long, I kind of want to get in with the online quilting community.  (I think I've been preparing the jeans and sewing the scraps together in an effort to avoid quilting everything together.  I've had a bad experience working on my first quilt and I'm kind of scared to quilt it together...)

Speaking of quilt festivals, the big International Quilt Festival is coming to Houston.  I've always seen the billboards every fall for the festival but never really paid that much attention to it.  Ever since I started quilting, I've been stalking several popular quilting blogs such as alamode fabric and jaybirdquilts and fabric blogs such as fabricworm.  Then I realized what a big deal the quilt festival is!!! So, since this year, I'm jobless thus free during the weekdays, I decided that I'd take a field trip out to George R Brown Convention Center to see what the big deal is. I'm excited! I'll be blogging during all the festivities and participating in KPKM Market Report and showcasing all the pretties I'll be seeing! So stay tuned!

Last little bit of finishing week

Over the weekend, I finished the quilt backing to the square quilt top I posted last week. It's a very simple pieced squares with a white boarder. 

The boarder pieces are arranged in a pattern with additional fabric mainly because I ran out of scraps...

I'm putting off quilting this puppy together for a while.  The other day I saw this piece on my local news about how charitable donations have significantly decreased since the economy tanked. There are *tons* of stuff I'd like for my birthday and/or xmas, but there are people out there without even the basic necessities of life.  So, in addition to our yearly donation to the local food bank, I decided to make some stuff for the local shelter. The easiest thing to make are pillow cases.  I've contacted my local shelter, and they welcome any sorts of material donations.  For the next week or so, I'll be making a batch of pillow cases from my scraps along with some simple blankets. I urge everyone out there to give what they can.

Finishing week

So this week is a week to finish my WIPs. I've has several in the process, and I figured it was time to finish projects that I've started in the past month. And it's show and tell time!

First up, the scarf from the last post.

It's a nice bulky, spirally scarf. Just as I intended. However, there are certain *unintended* consequences. It doesn't look right on me. The ruffles just looks like an odd Victorian collar, but the ends are pretty. Not sure whether I'm going to wear it this winter or not. Think I'll make another scarf...

And then I finished a quilt top.

Originally, I was just going to have the center squares, without the scrap border. However, after i finished the center, it seemed a bit too small. So I added a border with the scraps I had left over. 

And some scraps that weren't in the original center square :)

 The quilt backing will be a bunch of scraps, just like this border. Hopefully it'll turn out well.

crafting misadventures

While I was posting my last entry, I was in the process of felting the sweaters in the washing machine. Most of the interweb crafting sites agree to wash the sweaters in hot water with detergent and rinse in cold water.  The temp change in the cycle plus the mechanisms of the washing machine will agitate the fibers causing the sweaters to felt and shrink.  So I hear the end of the washing machine cycle and went to check on the sweaters to see if they need another round in the machine to get the texture of what I want.  I opened the lid, took out the sweaters and found this:

The washing machine bottom was covered in little felt pellets. Apparently, one of the sweaters decided to fall apart during the wash.  Then I examined the three sweaters outside, and this is what they look like...

I think the culprit is that green one because out of the three sweaters, it was the only one that was not 100% wool. Also the colors seems to match with the pellets. I shook as much of the pellets out as possible in the yard, and now my back yard looks like an army of rabbits invaded and decided to poop every where. I guess my bunny minions can't be good, all the time. :)