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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Celestial Star

Alright, it's been awhile! I was on vacation, and then school started (for me, anyway, everyone else seems to be starting next week).

But, while I was on vacation, I finished up the Celestial Star (paper piecing pattern by Diane Bohn of from blank pages) I was working on.


It's the 12 inch block (and I attribute the wonkiness to me entirely - I accidentally reversed a few of the arms). The pattern comes with templates for a 12", 18", and 24" block. And it's a great pattern, the block certainly looks complex, but the pattern makes it easy! And I really appreciate a choice in sizes.

Some people commented on this picture on instagram, saying how unique it looked, but I just sketched it based on other blocks I liked in the #celestialstarqal hashtag, so... who can say what is unique? The pattern is amazingly versatile! You should browse that hashtag, my friends, some amazing blocks in there.

I made this star for a Round Robin quilt (through the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild so here's a picture of that quilt laid out on the floor of my guest room in the middle of the night: 


Now it's in someone else's hands for the month.

Friday, August 15, 2014

And... then... maybe not...

I started this Farmer's Daughter project so that I'd have definite weekly content, but I've been under the weather for four days, and even though I'm feeling better, I've got four days of things to catch up on, so I'm not going to turn one out this weekend.

It will return! It better, because I precut a ton of 2.5" squares and half square triangles!

So, in honor of being sick for most of the week, here is a project that I've been working on on my couch (Though, to be frank, I spent a lot of time reading, or listlessly watching tv, and not much time sewing...):

The spherical pincushion, a la the ridealong tutorial from St Louis Folk Victorian:


It's being assembled inside out, and I screwed up the scale - these are 1" sides, so the object is going to be grapefruit sized. The side lengths should be 5/8" to make a 3" sphere (and if you're interested in this, email me - blotchandthrum (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll send you the 5/8" template pdf I whipped up).

And just cause it's fun looking, here's the outside/inside, too.


I've cut out the templates for the right size as well, and cut up scraps, so I can start on a pincushion once this monster is done.

And I didn't think of this till today, but it would have been a good couch project: 






I'm going to weave a rug from these Cotton + Steel scraps left over from bundle making at Pink Castle Fabrics. The loom is a CraftSanity coaster loom. I made a rug before using it, and other scraps from PCF, but the cat did something unspeakable to it recently, and now I need a new one... Well, it was looking a bit tired anyway, frankly, but it's a bit daunting to be all, I'm going to make a rug now!


Hopefully by next week I'll have more to say for myself...

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Farmer's Daughter Block 6!

So, I started this block along thinking it would get me to blog twice a week rather than once, but that has not happened, because I had to do some traveling, and I've made some life altering decisions.

Which mostly affect the amount of time I have to sew and or blog. Which most people would not consider life altering in anyway I guess. Most people who don't have a blog to feed with sewing projects.

Basically, I'm doing a half hour of drawing a day, because it's the important thing. And since I didn't usually start sewing until 9:15 at night, and leave off at 11-11:30, I'm now starting at 9:45 and losing about a third of my free time.

But, to balance it out, I've also given up blogging for Pink Castle Fabrics, which I have apparently been doing for almost a year (my first post was September 6, 2013!), it was a fun gig, but I need to concentrate on my own interests right now.

One of which is still sewing, of course!


Here's this week's block, still warm from the iron. I went with an inside out star. (Inverse star?) I think maybe darker fabrics would have been better, now that I'm staring at it. I got a few scraps of that Lisa Frank-esque dolphin fabric from Pam at one of the quilt guild retreats.

Farmer's Daughter blocks retrospective:

number one! number two! number three! number four! number five!

Or you can select the label (tag).

Feel free to join up - on Instagram the hashtag is #farmersdaughterblockalong

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Farmer's Daughter Block 5!

Another weekend, another block. Tossing around the idea of doing an all solid one for next week, as it will coincide with Sew Solid Sunday...


Still enamored of aqua; I'm sure I will always be. I've also incorporated my first bit of cotton + steel on the right hand side. I was went with a different look here, with the strong diagonal losenges and the plus that has not much tonal difference from the background.

Farmer's Daughter blocks retrospective:

number one! number two! number three! number four!

Or you can select the label (tag).

Feel free to join up - on Instagram the hashtag is #farmersdaughterblockalong