Year Apart Quilt - Creating a Mini Stash

As many of you know we moved from Texas to North Carolina this summer. Paul got a much better job, with a much longer contract and the prospect of permanence in several years. We have been really wanting to be somewhat more settled for a while now so this is fantastic on all levels, plus Houston has really awful weather and a lot of concrete. Though I really like the rest of Texas.

x and + quilt laid out in full.

However, as you may have gleaned from allusions to bs, from my absence here and elsewhere, and the title of this post, this hasn't and won't be the straight road we expected. My visa is going to take longer to apply for and get than Paul's (thankfully, he's already working - woo!). A lot longer. We can ask to speed it up, but likely be rejected. What all this means is that I'm going back to Ireland on Sunday, where I'll stay for at least the next 7 months, more likely the next 11 months.

Things could be worse. Paul has a flexible-ish job now and will be able to work from Ireland for a little bit early next year, hopefully. I can look for a job and work while I'm back home - yay! Also, scary, because it's been a while. Mostly I'm looking for things I can distract myself with for when I'm lonely or ragey (because parents, again, at 33). So I've made probably a way too ambitious list, for my suitcase, let alone my time, of projects to bring home and make.

USA Embroidery Map

In July I was following Adrianne from On The Windy Side's instagram feed and her #year30quilt, and I thought, well why don't I make a block a day for the time we're apart. So I started a little notebook of daily block ideas over the last month to see if I could even come up with some inspiration each day and it's been fun! I thought I'd forget completely before the first week was out, and I do forget every week or two for like a day, but then I pick right back up. So I think I'm going to go for it, a #yearapartquilt.

I'm going to cheat on the concept slightly, and use the notebook, so my blocks will be from inspiration that happened a month previous, but it will mean I can plan what I need for a whole week on a Sunday night. Hopefully, if I actually am that kind of organized, and don't just think it at the beginning. Let's find out!

How have I never used this print?

In deciding this I realized I don't own any fabric in Ireland anymore. Buy more, you say! Just moved state, I say! So I decided to cut a 6" strip off every piece of fabric I own (ok, I skipped a few of the more ugly ones). I still filled two of those plastic shoe boxes. I didn't even cut all the solids, I figured I'd defo buy them locally. This is just a starter pack? Have I gone too far?  Sometimes it's hard to tell where too far is.

I also have a pile of large print/multicolor fabric equal to the one on the left,
and a pile of solids equal to the one on the right not pictured.

I've also started a very pinterest-cliche USA embroidery project. By started I mean, gathered all the materials, transferred the map outline, and packed it back up again. I plan to color in the states that I've been to, as I visit them. So far I'm good for 13 states and D.C.

Trimmings not looking that much smaller...

I've reached the point where I'm beginning to worry about suitcase limits, even though I'll be buying a 2nd one (have to bring home the winter coats, because I will freeze - I'm coming from Houston, people!). Even so, I'm still pondering whether I should bring my x and + blocks and finish that off, along with a quilt for my parents, and an AMH footwarmer for us. (not going to mention the quilt I already have in Ireland, or the smaller clothing projects I also plan, nope, they don't count)

Bit more like it, that's yellows and oranges.

I think the packing will provide a natural culling point. And Paul gets a 2nd bag for free, so he can always bring me more stuff at Christmas, right!??? I think that's how marriage is supposed to work, fill your suitcase with fabric for me, that's defo a vow...

All the neutral and warm fabrics in one shoe box.

This is approaching rambling territory, it's getting late, and I'm getting hungry. So it's time I let you go. I guess I just wanted to update you on why after one move, I'm making another one so soon. Why it's only me this time, and why not to be surprised when another one hopefully happens next Spring/Summer. Wish me luck, even if only with the packing!!

A :)

I'll start at the start

I went to Ireland for 6 days in late February for the wedding of a longtime friend, the wedding was beautiful even if the weather was not. But the trip itself turned out to be pretty doomed for me, and my constant refrain was 'it's all uphill from here' - it is not always uphill from there it turns out. One of the hill bottoms was scalding my right thigh quite badly with a cup of freshly made herbal tea about 5 hours before my flight back to Texas. My dad was thinking and suggested the shower, I later found out that running water on the burn (not necessarily cold because over a large area you can induce hypothermia, so tepid is fine) but running it for 20 minutes can reduce scars and skin grafts (I didn't need them, still waiting to see on the scar side). It would have been good to know that before, so now you know just in case!? I really hope it never happens to you, it's truly awful. It took about 3 weeks for the wound to heal over and because Paul was travelling a lot for work in the US we delayed my flight back another couple of weeks and I got back at the start of April. That was a whole other debacle, that uphill bit again, and it's good I stayed in Ireland that long because my burn did not like having to sit around all that time in the airports and planes. But I'm here now!

These are Hovering Birds, Jackknife, and Mother's Dream!

While I was home I had three farmer's wife blocks to distract me, and I downloaded the netflix app to my phone - it didn't care if I fell asleep randomly. I got those blocks finished - woop!

The centre of the Handstitched Medallion by Stitched in Color!

Once my leg was up to having some pressure put on it again I could get out my mother's sewing machine and I pulled out a really old project, I didn't get much done in the end but I did bring it back with me to finish off - I'm quite close. The blanket stitching took a long time around these blossoms, maybe because I got a bit strange and pernickety about spacing. Too little to do, idle hands and all that.

I really like the fabrics I chose for this quilt. This was the first pattern I'd ever shopped for and it took a really long time, involved Paul, and I second guessed the whole way through. But since then I've gotten in the habit of working within designers or within lines, I'm scared of mixing things. I tried last year again and it went disastrously - I'll show you sometime, I kept all the HSTs I made in case I figure out a way to fix it. But I want to break out of that, that's a new long term goal for me.

The neon threads are unrelated, but I found them in the LQS at home!

I'm going to leave it here for now, I'll be back with the tiny bits I've been up to since I came home in a few days :)

I've missed you, sorry to have been gone so long!

Around the World Blog Hop

Nominated by Audrey from hot pink quilts - Audrey's great, she makes such a range of things and she uses fabric in such a different way to me. I love seeing what she comes up with, always gorgeous, always left of my field, and always inspiring. Go check her out if you don't know her already!

What am I working on?

Right now, I'm finishing a bag for my niece that I started earlier this summer. I took a pattern I have and made it a bit smaller and planned to add a flap, that has made this much harder for me than I ever anticipated. Using denim for the first time hasn't helped either. This is how it stands right now - I'm tempted to call it a day and have a funky new clutch for my own!? Too cruel though, too cruel - it'll be my next finish, but it's not going to be the greatest one ever.

It would make a great clutch though!

Then next up is a shirt for Paul, my first foray in to menswear. I'm using the Negroni pattern from Colette and hoping that the myriad of sew-along material online will help me through this - I'm scared of the buttons. It's his first anniversary present, already a day late - but I've had an awful flu-esque cold this last week and it's really knocked me sideways.

Between now and Christmas I'm trying to be realistic, and take into account all the regular life stuff I want to achieve too. So, I want to finish this Retro Flowers AMH quilt for my sister, it needs squaring up and sewing together before I even get it to a top.

Then I have a possible very large, the biggest I've ever made quilt, in the works. I have all the material bought, the block chosen, the vague layout planned on my computer. The fancy material (shot cottons - eeeeee!) washed but only half ironed. I'm stalling. I don't know if I can do it all before Christmas. I want it to be really good. I'll think about it during the shirt, I think I need to just bite the bullet and start. No pics of this yet...

Always the quilts for me on the longest finger!

Then I've made a little drawer of smallish projects that I can work on when I get bored or need a change of gear or hit a wall on one of the big important projects. These don't have a deadline and are all selfish, so I can take them out and pop them away at whim. Oh, and let's not forget finishing my Texas quilt, I haven't forgotten and I still love it.

These leftovers will become a large cushion!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

All I hear is Scooby-Doo shrugging 'I don't know, Shaggy' to this.

I think I'm too young a quilter. I don't know my own style yet. I'm learning things I don't like, I hate following a pattern - that's why Retro Flowers has taken so long (over a year now). However, this doesn't follow to clothing and bags - I love those patterns, I've learned so much about construction from them. So maybe I need to try out a couple more quilt patterns and see?

My 2nd quilt, made two years ago.

What I am trying to do more and more is just follow my own instincts. I'm much more likely to see a quilt through if it's something I really want to see when it's finished. I think I also need to make something for a clear reason - not that it has to be for a specific person, or a specific bed, or wall (something I never thought I'd say, I used to be 100% anti-wall-hangings), but just I'm making this quilt to test out x technique, or to see what happens if I mix this and that. I have a plan to make a mini applique quilt and then wash and tumble dry it every day for a month just to see how it wears. But yeah, I think I need everything I do to have a defined purpose.

Could I render a photo in fabric? Draft my own paper piecing? Do
interpretive quilting?

I've definitely rambled here.

Why do I write/create what I do?

I started because I wanted to give something tangible to family who were really far away and going through major life stuff we couldn't be there for. I discovered that quilting drew together the geometric designs I'd been scribbling in the backs of science copies since I was a teenager and the pieces of fabrics I'd been buying just as long but doing nothing with. I'd always hated clothes making when I came across it because of the bloody tissue paper the patterns come on, though Swedish tracing paper and pdf patterns are changing that for me now. But quilting, quilting had it all.

Rainbow Skittles - the first quilt I designed.

Plus it was a creative outlet that I'd never had. I'd played music as a kid but never been interested in writing any. I always thought I was terrible at drawing because I have no innate talent, and it never occurred to me (so stupid) that practice might improve things. But sewing is creative and practical, and I love it for that. I really really like making things that can serve a practical purpose when you need them too, but are also just gorgeous or clever or surprising.

How does my writing/creating process work?

I generally don't think about this too hard in case I frighten it. I think at different times it just prefers to come out in different ways. Some days it's all about the actual making, some days it's the pulling colours and fabrics and putting them together. Other times I'll sit down with pencil and graph paper, or Adobe Illustrator, and design pattern after pattern. The latter only happens a few times a year, and other times I could sit there for days and nothing would come. If it was my job, I'd probably have to work on making each happen a little each week and rotating them, but I can just enjoy them as they burst forth. It's nice.

Another one of my own designs.

I am easily distracted, if I have to get up and walk to the iron too many times I'll easily get lost on the way so it's important that I have the radio on or a podcast. Something to keep my mind from wandering. The writing portion is easier, way easier than any of the academic writing I did before this. I actually write straight to the computer for the blog, for work I always had to jot a plan by hand first - sometimes I can be very analog.

Kate's Quilt, this summer, my quilting's come on a lot!

It's always hardest to make quilts for others, for me anyway. The added pressure of figuring out their aesthetic and incorporating that into how you do things. It's a good challenge, but it can be stressful - generally in proportion to how much you like the person I find. I've also learned this year that I really do put a lot of myself into the quilts I make, and when I'm feeling down or in need of recharging it's really hard to continue to make things for other people. So I'm definitely going to be taking that into account in the future, and making sure that I have a greater balance of projects for me, that further my growth in sewing, as well as sewing gifts here and there for the people I love!

________


Now, the idea behind this is that I nominate two people to post their contributions to the Around the World Blog Hop next Monday. Honestly, I'm having a hard time remembering who in my feed hasn't done this already and so I thought I'd leave this open to any of you reading this who haven't taken the opportunity to post yet and want to! Next Monday is your day, I nominate you - just let me know when you post or if you plan to and I'll come and have a read, I really do love seeing how differently we all approach the exact same thing. It's fantastic :)

A Slow Week

It's been a slow one, sewing wise, life wise. Met my new neurologist on Monday, have a change in medication, the navigation of the American health care system began, it's been confusing and surprising (in good ways, so far). The bad parts are all in the withdrawal and new side effects, sleep is being stolen from me among others, but hopefully this is the low point.

I was prepared Monday, left out some easy to piece blocks from an oft put down project, continued on them on Tuesday.

Laid out my progress, over a year so far, 14 blocks left, seeing it all out is encouraging, such lovely colours - all courtesy of Justine at Simply Solids and her Sew Solids Crew stash club last year.

Since Wednesday I've tried to push myself to get to what I really should be doing - but like any time that word, should, is involved it isn't happening. My brain is not up for altering patterns as I go, and my machine has decided that skipping stitches is so in vogue right now. I've walked away. Though I'm eyeing up a potential couple of hours of alone time on Sunday morning for a thorough machine clean and re-thread! I'm actually enthusiastic about that, another surprise.

Yesterday I gave up on the shoulds completely, and started cutting out the fabrics for my next set of Farmer's Wife blocks. It's slow, requires little brain power (apart from the ones that involve mirrored blocks - why, why!?!), and is filled with colour. I'm loving it.

Very much looking forward to this long weekend (magical words), hoping that I will enter next week more refreshed and more human-feeling. Hoping you all enjoy your weekends, wherever you happen to be!

December's techno/sewing effort

At the start of December I started a new block for the Farmer's Wife Quilt. I was still in Ireland and had found a handy tray to tote my hand-sewing paraphenalia around the house. Because it wasn't constantly getting scooped up and moved off the sofa (other people always want to sit where my sewing is - so annoying, damn those people), I suddenly thought I could take a picture every day and be able to see my progress.

Then I wanted to make the photos into a flickbook type video and I took to google to learn how. After struggling through various tutorials for Photoshop (all of which written from Macs for some reason, and I'm a PC girl), my wonderful husband decided to help and did it in 10 minutes in Microsoft Paint - who knew!??

Some disclaimers, this is my first gif, the compression of the pictures has caused some weird artefacts in places, and also Ireland in December means all sorts of funky lighting.

So here it is, if I can figure out how to make this upload and also run - fingers crossed! The block is  #43 Garden Path, has 44 pieces and finishes at 6".

1500 CT Ok, this isn't working right now, but I'll try and troubleshoot it over the next couple of hours as I can :)

1513 CT That didn't take long - woop!!

When I do this little experiment again I will definitely make sure I take the picture at the same time of day each day for constant light, and I'll also get a tripod for the camera so the distance from the block is the same. Still though I'm glad I did it, I love the block and it was fun to experiment with new things (to me).

Now I'll have to learn how to add some music.

We are now in Houston. We're largely unpacked though there are still piles of things in corners and the odd box hanging about. I got my sewing machine out at the start of this week and have begun a little bit of making. In fact, I'm seeing if I can last minute make my mini-quilt for the MQG Riley Blake Basics Challenge.

I might be mad (239 sqaures plus a paper pieced bottom not pictured), but it's nice to not be wrestling cardboard and packing tape each day!

Fingers crossed the mini is made by Sunday night - I'll pop it up here as soon as I finish :)

Have a Happy Valentine's Day - I hope there's some figure skating on tomorrow, so much glitter!!

Oh, and thank you for all the little bits of distraction and pretty I've gotten from your blogs over the last two months - totally sanity saving! x

Change is inevitable.

I've finished two quilts since we last spoke. They are quilt twins, made for a lady I know who wanted one for her grandchild and one for the first grandchild of her next door neighbour. I've talked a little about them before, using Ann Kelle Urban Zoologie teamed with various Sketch colours and white.

Max's Quilt - lovely and crinkly all over from the wash!

The tops went together relatively easily, the quilting on Max's made me tear out my hair and almost swear off machine sewing. Thankfully, Kyle's quilting went like a dream and I was slightly mollified.

Pucks and Tuckers - the worst I've ever had on a quilt, including ones
I quilted before I learned about the magic walking foot, which didn't save
me here. I've put it down to bad piecing on my part and also to vengeful
quilt gods. Thank god for crinkling up in the wash!

The binding is a diagonal red and white stripe - I love it. I should have bought more, I want to use it on everything!

I embroidered labels for each little boy, and even put my very first printed labels on too.

These quilts were delivered the day before I left Ireland - nothing like last minute stress! I'm back in DC, but not for long - just for Christmas. In the time I've been away Paul has gotten a new job in Houston. It starts on the 7th of January and so once Christmas Day is over us (our first), we'll be putting everything into boxes, heading to Houston to find a new apartment, our first car, the new grocery stores, new library, new everything.

Rare Winter sun in Ireland made this a bit washed out...

I'm daunted. The last few months have been constant go, though thankfully all the associated worry is over and my family are all well again. But the idea of going into another state of flux, a new place to settle into, new routines to find, new people to meet - it's a little overwhelming. So I'm taking it one day and week at a time.

I'm grateful to have my sewing machine right now, I'm pottering, doing what takes my fancy. Once we start moving, hand-sewing will be my outlet. I have no idea how often I'll manage to pop in here, or when we'll have internet. I'll do my best. It's more likely that Instagram will provide the quick connections over the next while!

Kyle's Quilt

Having just written it all out, I feel lighter. I am looking forward to the adventure of it, and getting to choose a place to live together (another first)!

I think I'll try popping in and out with picture updates when possible, love to all and

Happy Winter Holidays!

....the reason for a very happy few days!

A little over a week ago Hilary from lemon loves... left a comment on one of my blogs to let me know she wanted to pass the Liebster Award from her blog to mine. Colour me very shocked AND very smiley :)

The Liebster award is passed on from new or small blogs to ones they've found inspirational. Here's the information I've found on it by going to visit Hilary's website and then Gina's website who nominated Hilary!

"The Liebster Blog Award is an award given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers, most of whom have less than 200 followers (or have been blogging for less than 6 months). It is to show newer bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. It was created to promote appreciation and recognition among the blog world. Liebster translates to “dearest” (or favorite/best) in German. It is also known as the Love Blog Award."   

I'm still stunned that Hilary knew my blog! And then that she liked it enough to nominate me - there are so many crafty bloggers out there, this is such an amazing thing to pass on, and to have in existence at all.

So there are rules of sorts :) Hilary has given me, and the other blogs she nominated, 11 questions to answer about ourselves. And we also share 11 random pieces of information about ourselves! Here are my questions and then some random trivia:

1. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

I only realised this today, since Christmas I have been finding it really hard to get out of bed in the morning. But today I was back to my regular early(ish) rising, hopping out of bed to see the dog and let her out and feed her. What changed? I booked flights a couple of days ago to go and see Paul in DC. So, it turns out that he gets me out of bed in the morning...

2. Who do you admire?

I'm finding this the hardest to answer. I admire people who are very open about their emotions and problems, shortcomings, etc... I strive to be more accepting of those things in myself and more open about them too.

3. If I gave you £100 /$100 what would you spend it on?

Fabric - total no-brainer. Possibly Happy-Go-Lucky by Bonnie & Camille... Or a complete bundle of Sketch! Oh, but just had another thought - I could do a course in either digital photography and/or web design! Always looking to improve my blogging skills now ;)

4. Sausages or prawns?

Sausages, with mash and gravy!

5. What is the last thing you read?

Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Though Ender's Shadow (Orson Scott Card), Cujo (Stephen King), and Migraine (Oliver Sacks) are all currently on the go!

6. What is the last thing you made?

I finished a table runner for Rachel @ Stitched in Color's Curves Class - it shall comprise part of my blog post for tomorrow!

Sneak peak!

7. What is your favourite childhood memory?

Long summer days spent running about the woods and the fields around our estate, with frequent tree climbing.

8. What makes you laugh out loud?

Stand-up comedy - particularly Irish comics, Dara O'Briain, Des Bishop, and Tommy Tiernan are just the tip of the iceberg!

9. If you had to choose a word to describe today – what would it be?

Recovery (first day proper sewing since before Christmas, getting over yesterday's migraine, and no appointments today - woop!).

10. Mountain top or beach?

Mountain top, no hesitation.

11. Why do you blog?

I was doing a pretty isolating job, leaving no time to get to quilting guilds, and learning all of my sewing and quilting skills from online blogs until the end of last summer. I then moved back to Ireland, and realised that I was giving away everything I was making as presents. I had no record and nothing to show if I ever did join a real-life guild! So I decided to record my journey and projects with a blog! It's also made me become more engaged with the online community, so instead of being a spectator I feel part of something wider.

Random Aoife Trivia:

- My name is Irish, and causes strife everywhere I go. I'm frequently mistaken for a man on online hotel bookings. It's pronounced Eefa, and no one gets it right first try - except for one security official in Boston's Logan Airport. That was seriously impressive. Her name was Ifeoma (Eefoma) and so she got it in one!

- I always tend towards being verbose. Gotta cut that down!

- I use way too many exclamation marks!

- I have a PhD in geology.

- It has not improved my knowledge of when to use commas. I throw them in everywhere!

- I have been learning to drive for 4 months.

- I believe honesty and manners are the two most important things in a person.

- When stressed I get efficient, Paul calls it rude, others might say I get even more blunt.

- As a teenager all I wanted as an adult was a fridge of my own.

- I have bought fabric since I was a teenager, but only very recently acquired the patience to sew it together.

- I'm considering stopping watching tv... but willing to be persuaded.

Now I have to nominate another 11 blogs and ask them 11 questions to help us get to know them better! I will provide links to their blogs, and hopefully, eventually their specific Liebster posts.

The blogs I nominate are:

hot pink quilts

The Quilting Mill

The Pink Button Tree

The Lazy Quilter

The Crafty Roach

Second Hand Dinosaur

Stitch By Stitch

Pretty Bobbins

Mrs Dragon's Den

Learning to Quilt with a Chicken on my Knee

form*work

They are all great blogs, which I really enjoy visiting regularly! Many of them I've chatted with on email and in comments sections, they are all helpful and considerate and pretty awesome... Go check them out :)

Here are my 11 questions:

1) If you could try out any craft other than stitch-y things, what would you do?

2) What's the reasoning behind your blog's title?

3) What was the first music album you bought?

4) What would be your dream job and how is that different to when you were a kid?

5) If you had time and money, where in the world would you choose to go visit?

6) Do you have a new sewing  technique you want to try out and learn this year?

7) What is your all time favourite movie?

8) If you could get rid of one chore from your life, what would it be?

9) What is the greatest source of creativity for you?

10) What are you most proud of in your life?

11) What thread-related project are you working on right now!?

Wow, those questions were harder to come up with than I expected. But also great, things I don't think about very often. And it's really really awesome to let the blogs I love know I love them!

I <3 Liebster!

PS Here are those rules, written out nice and concise:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

2.  Answer the 11 questions given by the nominator.

3.  Create 11 new questions for those you nominate.

4.  Choose 11 new blogs (less than 200 followers or blogging for less than 6 months) and link to them in your post. (Will those I nominate please leave a comment on this post with a link to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you? Thank you!!)