This Little Light O' Mine...

This new, portable, light table is one of the most exciting and versatile tools to enter the sewing room in a long time. It is cordless, rechargeable, and super-lightweight. It is called the Cutterpillar Glow. I have had mine for a few months and have already used it a LOT!
For applique placement it is amazing! I used it over and over again to re-position the leaves on the border sections of my current applique project. Actually, I placed one border upside down over the light mat and placed it's opposing border strip on top of it to perfectly align the second border with the first. Score! The more that I use it the more uses I find for it! It has three light settings: low, medium and high.

Not only is its illumination valuable for applique but also for tracing embroidery designs onto linen.

But, maybe the most exciting feature of the Cutterpillar is the translucent cutting mat! Score!! If you have ever done any paper foundation piecing you know how crucial it is that you have a large enough piece underneath your foundation in the area that you're covering. Most of the time it's a guess before the piece is flipped over and you stitch (blindly) on the next line, hoping for the best; now you can see straight through, and cut right on the see-through surface! This tool eliminates that guesswork and allows you to align each piece, sized and placed properly, every time! I don't dread foundation piecing now-- I have always enjoyed the versatility of the method but shied away from its relative fussiness. No more. 

You might want to add a Cutterpillar to your Christmas list. You will love all its uses. Take a minute to watch the video in the hyperlink above. I am not associated with the company, nor do I receive any compensation for this endorsement, I am simply a fan of the product and believe that you will be too. 

This little light o' mine, I'm gonna let it shine... 

Oh, yeah!

Life is Good!

 

Twenty Percent

Here are the first forty blocks completed in the "Bible Study" workshops that Quiltkeemosabe and I are conducting (for each other) on a monthly basis. We're working concurrently on constructing, and writing up instructions for, the 200+ blocks in Rosemary Young's Quilt Block Bible. (The book is inspiring, it offers beautiful photos of each block and includes a CD for printing block diagrams but doesn't offer any instructions.) With my latest "homework assgnment" just finished today, I've now worked out about twenty percent of the book! We'll meet again on Wednesday for our next session. These blocks measure 6" (finished) and each presents its own set of challenges.  I've been able to use specialty rulers on some of the blocks, with excellent success; I'm particularly pleased with Deb Tucker's Studio 180 tools, the "Wing Clipper" and "Tucker Trimmer" have already proved themselves indispendsable. A few blocks have been straight-forward rotary cutting, some have required templates and others foundation piecing as the best construction method. So far I've found myself falling back on every construction technique I've ever learned; except applique, that is yet to come!

After displaying all the blocks on the neutral toned design wall I decided to audition them on a mocked-up dark background, simulating a 1" sashing, to see if I would like this better; I think I do.

This block, Aunt Nancy's Favorite Star, was paper pieced. Deb Karasik's Perfect! Piecing Paper was recommended to me and I can't say enough good things about it.  After drafting this block and exploding the diagram into sections for foundation piecing, I copied those sections onto Perfect! Piecing Paper which I had loaded into the printer; the results were crisp and clear; it was effortless to stitch through and easy to tear away! I'm sold on this product, and will keep a package on hand from now on. Our objective as we make each block is to write up clear instructions that produce accurate results. So far, so good; I may only be twenty percent done but I'm one hundred percent happy!

Life is Good!

Jazzed

As if I wasn't jazzed enough over my Frosty Fingers quilt-to-be I decided to jazz up some of the plainer pairs with machine embroidery touches! Aren't these great? This is, honestly, way too much fun; the problem here is that I can think things up much faster than I can stitch! (I need to dial my creative brain down a notch or two, or consume more caffeine...) Oh, the possibilities!

Life is Good!

Mitten Match-Up

I was inspired by a photo of a pieced mitten block shown in a blog post by Cheryl over at Polka Dots & Rick Rack earlier this week. I had participated in an appliqué mitten swap a few years ago and really wanted to find a pieced version. EQ to the rescue! I created this foundation pattern, similar to the one from Ashby's Attic that Cheryl had shown. The most wonderful thing about creating in EQ7 for paper piecing is that the program will number your pieces for you; and, allow you to print foundations in mirror images! I'm super excited about the latter, as I can easily stitch mitten PAIRS as opposed to random singletons (which only ever end up in a lost and found box). Once I began I couldn't stop, this is my latest obsession. Can't you just imagine the fun a child (of any age) would have searching out and matching up mitten pairs scattered across this quilt's surface? Now I'm also thinking about how EQ can help me create a sock block pattern for another version of this Match-Up idea. Too many ideas, not enough days in the week; my creative brain is working overtime! It's my way of celebrating Scrap Soup officially becoming a flimsy and coming off the design wall to await it's place in the "to be quilted" queue. How do you celebrate a quilt-making milestone; by beginning another project, or is it just me?

Scrap Soup 80" X 96"
Life is Good!

Subtle Shifts

Slowly, purposefully, I move one block here and one block there. It's going to take time, maybe days or weeks, before it's just right. Here, on the wall, it will stay until my mind and heart are happy with the layout. Then, and only then, will it make it's way to the machine for assembly. I've already decided that the super dark (there are three) nine-patches on the outside edges are being replaced with higher contrast blocks. This might just be my favorite part of the process; the deliberation that results in subtle shifts of color and value, this part can't be rushed.

Life is Good!

Be Happy Tip # 6:
Get creative - Creativity is a great way to find happiness. Think of creative things people do for a living or as hobby and notice how much happiness it gives them. Paint, quilt, dance, sculpt, do some craft, invent a gadget, cook something new, write poetry or tend the garden. Tap into your creative abilities and find your "happy spot".

A Firm Foundation

There's a LOT of paper in here! You may remember my String-X quilt top from a few posts back. It's foundation pieced, and it went together quickly and well. I pieced all of those strings onto a stable, firm foundation; clean newsprint. Actually it's "packing paper" left over from a household move! At the time I was cutting all the papers to size for this project, and stacking them up, I remember some blog chatter re: old sheets vs. muslin for foundations. I didn't pay one bit of attention. I'm listening now! It takes a LOT of time (directly proportional to the amount of paper!) to remove this from the back. It tears away just fine, but I'm sure now that I'd rather not be revisiting every single seam contained in this top! It's a mindless job and I will persevere while talking on the phone or listening to the news for the next few days. Since these quilts will definitely be machine quilted, I will use muslin foundations in the future, the extra fabric layer won't hurt a thing and something that doesn't require removal will save lots of valuable time.

Live and learn!

Life is Good!