No New Clue :(

my internet is down at home and I dont' have a way to post pictures when I'm posting from the library...

Hold on and I'll update the Mystery as soon as our internet provider takes care of our problem...

Scrapbusting Mystery Clue 3

I know, it is a long time between clues! Next one will be here in two weeks, I promise!

Clue 3

Shout4Joy©2012

 CUT 34 - 6” Assorted light/neutral squares

          set aside 4 for Clue #4

Using a pencil, draw a diagonal line from point to point on the back of the 30 assorted light/neutral squares. Now draw a line 1/4” away from the center line on each side.

Setting the light/neutral square on top, with right sides facing each other, match the direction of the diagonal on the string block, and sew on the 1/4” lines.

 

Cut on center line and iron your HSTs open. Square up to 5” if needed.
CORRECTION: this should read 5 1/2"

Taking your Four Patch units and your HST units, lay them out and choose a border fabric from your stash. You will need approximately 1 ¼ yards.

Keep all units together for next clue...

Scrapbusting Mystery Clue Two

Shout4Joy©2012

Cut lots of strings from med to dark fabrics in widths from 3/4” up to 2 1/2” width. I do not know how many, I just keep cutting until my bag is full and then I start sewing! If I run out, I cut more...

Cut 30 – 6” foundations. You can use thin fabric (old sheets, weird fabrics or poor quality), scrap paper, phone books, tissue paper, newspapers, specialty foundation paper, or wash away stabilizer.

Make 30 - 6” square diagonal string blocks using a short stitch length 1.5 or so – especially if using paper. NOTE: you may want to use one of your wider strips for the center of each block.

Iron the piece to keep it flat. I do this after every strip...

Look at your messy piece and wonder why you even started the project (I did).

 Trim the messy edges off the piece, making it 6” square. Now it looks MUCH better, doesn’t it?

Starch your blocks while the foundation is still attached. You have bias edges on the outside of the block and want to stabilize them before the next step!

 If you used paper or other removable foundation, now is the time to remove it from your blocks (unless it is wash away, then you can let the laundry take care of it). Set these aside in a safe place as you wait for the next clue :)

Expect the next clue on March 8...we have three weeks between guild meetings this time around!
 

Challenge Three Project Quilting - Tool Time

The third challenge for Project Quilting is Tool Time. We are to give homage to FOUR tools...and what better way to do that than with a Quilter's Chatelaine? Or at least that is the direction that my brain took me when puzzling out the challenge.

I started out with one of the Army Guy's ties for shape and size. I put it around my neck to determine how long to make the chatelaine and went on designing from there.

I used the gold decal on my Featherweight to give me a design element that gave a touch of elegance to my chatelaine as well as inspiration for my main fabric.

I chose my fabrics and went to town...the black is the main fabric, the red is an accent and the novelty print is on the back.

I drew out the design detail from the featherweight decal onto water soluble stabilizer, sewed over it with a sample of gold glitter thread that I had waiting for the perfect project. This seemed to be it :)

I used the same technique to put pins on a pincushion and scissors, needle and thread on pockets (I only have one shown here).

Next I sewed up my pincushion, inserted some plastic inside (I don't want to poke them through to my chest!) and then stuffed it with polyfill.

 

 I quilted the chatelaine with straight line stitching so that it emphasized the gold detail and then basted the pockets and other elements on before sewing on the binding.

I love those new binding clips...I found them in my Christmas stocking this past Christmas...what a sweetie my Army Guy is!

I tossed the whole project into the wash to get rid of the wash away stabilizer and now I have a great way to keep my tools handy while I work (I seem to always be running back and forth because I leave things at the wrong workstation).

and a closer shot of the pockets with various items tucked inside.

Happy Quilting!

Scrapbusting Mystery Clue One

Clue One

Shout4Joy©2012

 

*From assorted light fabrics cut 64 - 3” squares

-put these squares into a bag.

*From assorted medium to dark fabrics cut 64 – 3” squares

-put these squares into a bag.

*Taking one random piece from each bag, sew together in pairs of 
one light and one m/d 3” square.

NOTE: random means whatever the next piece is
...try not to overthink this
...it is supposed to be SCRAPPY!

*Sew the pairs together to make 32 four patches 
measuring 5 1/2” each.

*Set these four patches in a safe place and wait patiently for clue #2!

NOTE: if you have other piecing to do, you can use these 
for leaders and enders...

thanks to Bonnie K Hunter at Quiltville 
for the great info on leaders and enders!

Shout4Joy©2012

Finishing up my Project Quilting Entry

This is the wrap up to my Project Quilting Making Music Challenge piece...if you are not familiar with Project Quilting, check it out at Kim's Crafty Apple blog.

After getting the elements fused and sewn to the field of the quilt, I chose this outer border...This is actually the reverse side of the fabric, the front side has LOTS of gold on it and I found it way too distracting for my quilt.

Then it was on to layering the quilt top, the batt and the backing together and start quilting! I chose to outline the heart and hands and do a radiating design from the heart to the red border. I put a freehand swirl in the outer border.

 This is the back of the quilt to give you an idea of the quilting design...Yes, it has some coffee stains on it!

To get my lines to be straight and somewhat evenly spaced, I used a piece of thread pinned to the center of the heart. I measured specific spots on the red border and lined the thread up to give me a guideline of where to quilt.

After quilting, blocking and trimming the quilt, it was time for binding. I chose to do a binding of the same color as the last border, but with a flange of red to tie it to the center of the quilt (plus the batik just looked boring when used as the binding up against the border). This requires cutting two narrow binding strips, the flange strip being 1/4" wider than the binding color. Sew them together and stitch them to the back of the quilt with the flange color UP (as shown above). Attach binding, flip to the front and stitch in the ditch between the binding and flange and you are done!

And a detail shot of the hands, with a hint of the binding  at the bottom:)

My second challenge has been met! I have named the quilt "Melody of Love"

Now back to work on the house...

Project Quilting Music Quilt part 3

For the next element of the quilt, I needed hands. I took pictures of hands and gathered my supplies. You see, I remembered that long ago I read about using colored pencil on fusible interfacing...so I though this would work out just right! I imagined a bit of text being seen through the translucent arms/hands...

 I dug out my itty bitty light table and started tracing the hands onto the fusible interfacing.

So far, so good! (ignore my hands, I've been working on prepping walls and painting and they are rough and a bit swollen). The tracing went well and the hands look wonderful!

So, I colored them in, working to get the shading right (double checking the photos frequently!). They looked so good!

And then I put them on the quilt *sigh*

They did NOT look good with the words of the text coming through. They faded to nothingness and all the hard work of hand coloring the hands was for naught.

I put a piece of white fabric under them, which helped, but they needed yet another layer, a layer of shadow to make them stand out from the background. It was the right touch, but by now those hands were stiff as boards and I found out a disadvantage of the fusible interfacing...it fuzzes. The more you work with it, the more it fuzzes. I am not happy with that! Maybe by writing it down, I'll remember to try some other method next time!

One the bright side, the dark shadowed outline really was the right choice :) I'm pleased with that! 

I wish the hands wouldn't fade out so much in the pictures *sigh* They have more color in person!

Next post I'll finish up my quilt!