Update on Current Projects

Today is just going to be a brief update on my projects.  Sometimes progress is slow, but at least something is moving along.  Each of the three current projects has something to report.

The denim rug project has the most work on it.  Readers have been following the project for a while.  I have over 350 feet of denim sewn into strips.  This is the amount of strips I need for the length of the rug.  Strips were sewn into eight foot lengths (2.44 meters).  (Scroll back through a few posts for details on how the strips were sewn for this project.) To keep the strips from becoming tangled and for ease of storage, I rolled each eight foot strip into a coil.  Pretty soon the coils were stacking up all over the place.  I found that the coils fit nicely into a large Quaker Oatmeal container.  The rest I stacked into a shoe box.   

I have started cutting 2 inch wide (5.08 cm.) for the cross pieces for the denim rug.  I am not exactly sure just how long they need to be.  The rug is only going to be slightly over two feet wide (0.61 meter).  However, the strip will need to be longer as it as woven over and under the lengthwise strands.  Once I have a number of strips cut I will weave a couple of strips to get a feel for just how long they need to be.  I estimate that I will need at least 144 cross strips to complete the project.

The Oak Leaf Quilt is coming along nicely.  The applique is complete on the first row of rectangles.  Applique is half way complete on the second row of the A block.  The applique for the B block has been pieced and all the B blocks have been marked for hand piecing.  Perhaps that does not mean a lot to non-quilters, but the project really is moving along.  I am waiting for the quilt top to be completed before I post a picture. 

The life size doll is becoming the bane of my existence.  I cannot find a dress for this doll.  I have pretty much abandoned the idea of making this doll into a dancer.  It is just too expensive.  I have started to turn my thoughts into how to change this into a Halloween doll.  Tea dyed fabric and cheesecloth are not nearly as expensive to work with as satin and laces.    

Rain Delay Project on Hold

We had a rainy week.  On top of that we ran into a problem with the van and it needed to go in for some service twice.  First we took it to the local repair shop.  They said they could put in the part, module, or whatever it was, but we would still have to take it to the dealership in order for it to be programmed.  They gave us an estimate of about $850.00.  We decided to have all the work done at the dealership.  All of this took a lot of time.  We were trying to work the trips up and back to the repair places around our schedules and around the rain.  It made hash out of my plans for the week.

I did not even make the trip out to buy the exterior sealer I needed for the doll project.  I also avoided going out in the rain to the thrift stores looking for a dress for the doll as well.  My work on the project pretty much stalled out this week.   It looks like I will have to pick it up next week.  The weather is supposed to be mild.  I hope to finish sealing the doll now that I can open the windows for some ventilation.

Other than that, I did some work on the quilt I blogged about a couple of posts back.  I will be posting a picture of it once the quilt top is finished. 

Check back next Sundat for (hopefully) progress on the life size doll.

The Life Size Doll UFO (Unfinished Object)

I am working on some fairly long term projects.  In order to keep from burning out from working on just one project for a long period of time, I am trying to work on two or three projects at the same time.  This week I have started back on an unfinished project, a life sized doll that I started last year.  Readers interested in learning how I made the doll can scroll through my blog posts from January through October of 2018.

When I started the project, I had hoped to have it ready to put in a contest at the State Fair.  My intention was to make this doll into a flamenco dancer, wearing a red dress and holding a black lace fan.  However, I was not able to finish the project in time.  Since it was my first (and most likely only) life size doll I really did not have an idea of how much time the project would take.  I also underestimated how much time we would be traveling last year.  My available time to work on the doll was much less than I had thought it would be. 

I kept working on the doll thinking I would finish it for Halloween.  I worked up until the day of Halloween, and finally got it to a stopping point of a sort.  I painted the doll to be wearing a black ballet leotard and tights.  I started sealing the paint with an exterior grade of sealer.  I was able to get one full coat on the doll before I ran out of varnish.  That is where I stopped.  I did not even put the doll outside for Halloween because it needed several coats of sealer before I would consider it waterproof enough to be outside in damp weather or dew. 

Since I did not have the doll ready for the doll contest or for Halloween, I lost interest in the project and entered into a creative burnout.  I was not really motivated to work on anything.  I plugged away at another project I wanted to finish, but the doll languished.  Now that Spring is around the corner, I can open the windows for ventilation and start adding more sealer to the doll.  I'm ready to get back to work on this project. 

What the doll needs at this point is clothing.  I want the doll to be dressed before I permanently attach her wig.  A decision needs to be made on whether to continue with the original plan of a flamenco dancer or just a Halloween prop of some kind.  I have made a couple of forays into thrift shops and even some consignment shops looking for an acceptable dress that can be altered to fit the doll.  (At this point I am not so enthused about the project that I want to make a dress from scratch.)  So far I have not found anything that worked for me.  The nicer looking dresses (of which few were red) were too expensive.  What I have been seeing at thrift shops were dresses of such poor quality fabric that I would not even consider putting them on a doll.  I guess that was why they were in a thrift shop in the first place.  I plan to make another couple of trips looking for a dress before giving up the quest. 

It looks more and more like I will be making this into the Halloween project.  My concept for Halloween will be easier and will take much less time.  That way I will have time to work on another UFO (unfinished object) before Halloween.  Check back next Sunday to see the latest of what is happening with this project.

Oak Leaf Quilt Blocks

Last week I blogged about starting on the Oak Leaf Quilt.  I mentioned the discrepancies in the directions and that I would have to experiment with the block size to see what worked for me.  I tried a couple of block sizes and finally decided that the block size would be 13.5 inches by 6 inches.  (34.9 cm by 15.24 cm).   This gave me a long narrow block that worked well with the oak leaf shapes.

The first photo shows the block background with the leaf silhouette shape on it.  The silhouette has to be appliqued to the background before the block is sewn together.  This is the A block.  The B block will be a different hue of green and neutral.  At this point, I am working on the A block and have not cut out the B block.  It might be a while before I start working on the other block.  The needle turn applique takes a while.

The second photo shows the leaf cutouts that remain once the silhouette is cut.  They will be sewn together to make a leaf shape.  One leaf shape seems slightly larger than the other.  This is due to pattern discrepancies and cutting issues.  That can be addressed by placing one half on top of the other and cutting down the larger piece to fit with the smaller leaf part.  These leaves will be appliqued to the top of the quilt at various points. 

I really haven't decided on the final size of the quilt.  If I like the look of it as the blocks are joined, it might be a full size quilt.  If I think that the A block and the B block don't look as well together as I thought, I may split it into two or three lap quilts as Christmas gifts.  Time will tell.

This is going to be another long term project.  I will be blogging about another project next week.  Check back on Sunday for an update on the life size doll project.

Oak Leaf Quilt - New Project

Dotted lines are the change to a needle turn pattern.

Today I am blogging about my newest project; an Oak Leaf quilt.  Regular readers know that I am also working on a denim rug project.  In order to keep from burning out on the project, I have started on a second project in order to have something else to work on at the same time so I won't become bored with the denim project.  A quilting project works well because I can work on it in the evenings and it will not interfere with the denim project which I work on during the day.

Needle turn pattern.

I am a terrible pack rat.  There are a lot of project that I would like to do, but don't have the time.  I save articles, books, and magazines because "one day I am going to get around to it."  Unfortunately, I have many more projects saved than I could possibly complete in this lifetime. This Oak Leaf Quilt has been in the stack for a long time.  It was in a magazine from 2005.  But, I am finally get around to it.

The quilt in the magazine was beautiful.  It was made from very nice green and gold batik fabrics.  When I went to the fabric store for fabrics, batik fabric was in short supply.  There were a few colors, but they were muddy and not in the colors I wanted.  I purchased cotton prints.  It will be different.  I guess time will tell how those choices will change the look of the quilt.

Once the outline is cut away, a half leaf shape remains.\

The quilt will have leaves that are two different colors.  One side will be green and the other a neutral.  The quilt will also have the outlines of leaves with the background showing through the center.  The photos will show what I mean by the outlines.  When you cut out the outlines, a small half leaf shape will be left over.  When the leaf shapes are sewn together they will becomes whole leaves which will be sewn on top of the quilt.  

Of course, I am making a few modifications.  First off, the quilt was a small quilt, either a baby blanket or a table topper.  I want to make a full size quilt.  The quilt instructions were for raw edge applique.  I want to make this needle turn applique, so the pattern needed to be modified.  I traced the original pattern on a piece of freezer paper.  Then I added an eighth of an inch in the appropriate spots.  I was using a ruler for the measurement, so I made a small dot at each measurement point.  Once I had it all outlined with dots, I filled in the dotted line with magic marker.  Once I cut the pattern out on the edge of the dotted line, the width for needle turning will be closer to one sixteenth of an inch.

I traced the new pattern onto another piece of freezer paper to make a needle turn pattern.  This pattern will be saved as the master copy.  I can iron the freezer paper (shiny side down on the fabric) to a fabric and stack two or three pieces of fabric underneath and cut out multiple pieces all at once.  The paper peels off the fabric easily.  The freezer paper can be used several times before it stops sticking to the fabric when ironed. 

Once I had my new pattern finished, I turned my attention to the rest of the cutting instructions.  That is where I ran into a bit of a problem.  In one place in the article it said that the finished block size was 9 by ll inches (22.86 cm by 27.94 cm).  In the cutting instructions it said to cut the blocks 6 by 11.5 inches (15.24 cm by 29.21 cm).  In a third place in the instructions it stated that when the blocks were all put together it would be a certain size by a certain size.  The stated size did not match up to either of the measurements that corresponded to the block sizes.  I spent half a morning with a calculator trying to make block sizes add up to the measurements.

In case it was just that I was too dense to figure it out, I took it to my quilter's guild and asked other guild members what was wrong.  As much more experienced quilters I though they might have some insight to the problem.  Their conclusion was the same as mine, the directions were incorrect.  They came up with two suggestions.  The article contained an email address for the quilt designer and that it might be worthwhile to write and ask her which information was correct.  The other was to make the blocks in different sizes and see which one I liked best.  I chose the latter option.  It did not seem productive to write to ask someone about something they had completed fourteen years ago.

That is about as far as I have gone with this project.  I hope by next week I will have a couple of blocks made so that I can decide how to proceed with the quilt.  Check back next Sunday for more on this project.