Tagged

I've been struggling for the last few months as to how to label Jack. I was thinking about using the iron on photo transfer paper, but as this is for family and hopefully will be around for a long time, I think it's not the best test piece. Luckily I have friends with fancy toys... so Dallas and I played around with her super hi-tech sewing machine's (especially vs. my super low tech machine) test feature and voila...

I made it up into a little log cabin label which I appliqued on to the back. A little trick I used--In order to keep the 1/4 inch tucked under, I used a thin strip of Wunder-Under, worked like a charm)!

Now I just have to give it a wash and dry and Jack is ready for his trip to Canada for Christmas.

I've also been busy on my quilting bee blocks... of the three to do, two were for wonky log cabins, so I whipped those up yesterday.

For Brioni at Eurovision quilters

For Twiddletails at SC3

Super H

I'll let you in on a little secret, I love my guy H, he's pretty amazing.


How many guys do you know would patiently trail behind you around your neighbourhood toting a Union Jack flag quilt for a quilt-y photoshoot... a few maybe.



How about pledge to protect you from some random drunk/high/crazy homeless guy who comes over to you during said photoshoot. Several I would guess hope.


Perform gymnastic feats for a photo...


Even less I think...


And how many grown men (without kids) do you know that would test drive a quilt for the future generation...



Yup, he's Super H!!!

And that's the last pictures you'll see of Jack for a long while, I promise :)

Stella Sarah got her groove back!

I have a serious crush on Jack... isn't he gorgeous?!

Hahah, I'm a bit like a new mother- thinking my baby is the cutest EVER!..., but seriously, so fab.

As you've probably figured out, I rocked out the quilting this weekend (and my shoulders are paying the price- gotta work on my quilting posture!), I even got the binding started. I think the zip of red that the binding gives to the back is totally awesome if I do say so myself! Now I have a few nights of hand sewing ahead of me- luckily I just downloaded a full season of Flipping Out!

The mermaid fabric on the back turned out awesome. I was really worried about lining up the lines on the front and back of the quilt because I did straight line quilting, but luckily I had only minor un-picking to do (thank goodness!).

As he was made for a single bed he's too small for our bed..... but I am seriously tempted to keep it make a second one for myself. Well, at least I'll be able to visit him regularly.

Disaster strikes

So, I finally sit down to start quilting Jack (after procrastinating for a few months), and what should happen 1/4 of the way through.... technical problems.

The back of my quilt is now looking like a spaghetti dinner-- Now as much as I love a good spaghetti, this is not good.

Any ideas on how to fix it?? I've tweaked the bobbin thread, checked the feed dogs, made sure the threads are all to the back of the foot, checked stitch length and width, and then I ran outta ideas :( Can any of you help?

I think that my little baby is going to be visiting the sewing machine hospital, which means I am on a Sewing fast for the next few weeks. Luckily I am all up to date with my quilt bees!

The other man in my Life

Poor Jack has been basted for about 2 weeks but I havn't had the energy have been to lazy to commit to such a big project.

As a brief re-cap, we had a Union Jack bedspread that was stolen when our cabin had a break in about 15 years ago ( it was the only thing they took, not the water skis, wetsuits etc, the bedspread- yeah, weird I know!).

My brother and I last summer at the Cabin- often a Union Jack is flying on the flag pole!

H and my Dad on the catamaran last summer

Our cabin is on Indian Arm, a finger of the Pacific that runs inland, about 30 min from my parent's house, it's an amazing place hidden from the busy city life (no TV- only solar power, no cars- boat access only). I wanted to make something for my parents, as well as the whole family to enjoy, so I naturally thought, a quilt. After seeing this amazing quilt, I had my inspiration.

So, while my family lazes around "up the Arm" back home (and love rubbing it in my face), I've bitten the bullet and starting on the quilting- sigh... I'd much rather be reading a magazine on the dock with a beer though...

Baby's got Back

Mmmm gotta love a bit o' Sir Mix-a-lot on a friday night!

So remember this guy.... (yeah I do still sew, I know it's been a while!)


Yup, that's Jack. Now that my Ziggy is all done (ahead of schedule even, go me!), I dug Jack out of the cupboard, and sewed up his back- wait that sounds wrong.... I made the backing for my Union Jack quilt! You might remember I found this fab mermaid fabric for the backing, as the peeps at the Fabric Shack didn't have enough left for a full back of the mermaids (it's now discontinued), I managed to find a few coordinating fabrics, and made a pieced back.

Since I'm pretty anal, I'm a bit nervous freaked out about the lines on the back and how it will all line up once it's quilted. As I have yet to master free motion quilting, I am going to stick with straight line quilting, and I'm afraid that the quilting will only make it more obvious ... I think I'll be picking out a lot of quilting before I get it right!

My plan is to add a bit of zing to the all blue back with a nice red binding- like the sailor knots

?!

Mermaids: Shimmer of the Sea by R. Kaufman, Blue: Kona Pacific, Bubbles; Paddington Bear by Timeless Treasures, Knots: VIP by Cranston

Oops, maybe I should have ironed it before taking pics...

This weekend we are off to visit H's family and the re-enactment of the battle of Waterloo, so the basting and quilting will have to wait until next week.

Make it Work

After discussions with the lovely peeps at Fabric Shack who let me know that the mermaid fabric I've been coveting for the back of jack.. (hahah that quilt is becoming more of a person everyday- you can start calling me Gepeto soon!)is almost sold out and has been discontinued, I have decided to work with what I can- hope it's as nice IRL as it is online after all the drama it's caused. I have revised the plan I had for the back to work around the 2 pieces issues (they only have one 2m piece and one 0.5m piece).

So, while i wait for my (slightly delayed) order to arrive, I got cracking on the baby quilt, also known as Ziggy Baby (said in an Austin Power's voice!).

Things were running smoothly until I went through the greens in my stash only to discover I didn't have enough coordinating fabrics to work with, and being short one blue block - yeah I have other blues but I'm too anal to "go with the flow"- so a second package from "the Shack" is on it's way.

BTW, tonight after finishing as far as I could go on Ziggy (2 zigs down, 2 zags to go), I settled down to watch Twilight (thanks bro for the "sourcing" advice!)- and I have to say, I was a bit skeptical... I hadn't heard anything about it here in Belgium, not sure if it never arrived here, or if I just missed it, but I thought it was fab!! So thanks Dallas for the pro Twilight vote.

Are the Quilting Gods against me??

Arrrrg,

So I put in an order for my Mermaid fabric..... only to find out they don't have what I need in 1 piece- grrrrrrrrr! So now I have to either:
1. Revise my plan for the back of the quilt (again)
2. See if I can find a big enough piece from another shop

Man that sucks!!

Jack is back

So, The Secret Quilt, aka "Jack" as he's become known at chez Craftywaffles is done. Ok, just the top is done, so I guess I should say half done. I hung it up to take some picture and love it.... could you make a patchwork curtain?? Maybe a bit too country for me? Hmmmmm...

He's going to be shelved for a while as I have a baby quilt to get started on for a friend- deadline July... yeah it's a while away but I'm not the speediest quilter. I still havn't decided if I'm gonna risk machine quilting it on my little Frister and Rossman!

My productivity hasn't just been on Jack, I have also finished up my April block for SC3. Amy sent over some super cute fabrics for her picnic quilt. As soon as I saw the ant fabric I had a eureka moment and knew I wanted to have the ants marching around the block in a little ant trail. Because of all the seams, it used a lot more fabric then I expected so I had to scrimp a bit to get it done as well as walk away vs keep fussing with it- but that's part of the fun of this quilting bee, working with "un-me" fabrics and working with what you've got on hand- it seems to be helping my OCD tendancies!

A Little Help from my Friends

Hello Bloggyland,

I am hoping one of you can help me... for my parents' cabin I have been working on my Secret Quilt and the time has come to pick backing fabrics. I have been looking at the Shimmer of the Sea fabric by R. Kaufman in the blue and white colourway.
I have never seen it IRL and I was hoping one of you might have. I am a bit hesitant to buy about 3 meters of the stuff blind especially as it is going to be a family heirloom-- a.k.a I'll see it all the time so if I'm not happy with it it will drive me nuts! Any thoughts??

The quilt front is going to be a Union Jack (my parents are originally British), but I wanted a fun but somewhat "mature" sea/water themed fabric on the back to tie in with the seaside cabin location- but still work with the red white and blue front. Do you guys have any other suggestions??

Making Royal Progress

Hiya,

So ,as I mentioned the other day although you haven't seen it, I have been busy... Now that I have all the necessary fabrics for the Secret Quilt, I have been busy piecing it together. Tonight was a big moment when I had to see if all of my calculations were correct... and so far so good. I almost chickened out of splitting the blue square 'cuz it was going to be a ahem.. pain to repair if I messed it up, but I soldiered on...
I am soooooo excited about this... it's looking even better than I had hoped. I hope it wasn't just beginners lick that made it work so perfectly, but that'll have to wait for another day as my back is dead so I have to stop for tonight.

Another thing I made was a new pin cushion... I have a very bad habit of poking pins/needles in the sofa while quilting and watching TV. H hates it (and I can't really blame him as it is pretty dangerous and I end up loosing or forgetting them half the time). So, here is Karl...

Finally, I met up with Dallas from my quilting bee and her friend Ali and we had a great day exploring Creativa. Knowing Dallas her pictures will be much more inspiring so head over there to check them out.

We all couldn't resist a bit of shopping (and lots of drooling), over the fab stuff they had. The expo hall was full of quilt shops, scrapbooking, flower arranging, etc. considering there is no Michael's in Belgium, it was the most crafty stuff by far I have seen since moving here... Fun!

Looks like it might be the beginning of a beautiful crafty relationship :)

Blue Squared

It's been a bit quite here recently as I was waiting for a overseas order to arrive, which it finally did last night!!

After tearing it open and attacking the contents, I set to work getting started on the Secret Project. From my order I was short some blue... yeah 140 4" squares are a lot... I'm not so happy about the front three fabrics which I scrounged outta my stash, they don't quite work for me so I'm going to order some more from Fabric Shack -- great people, super fast and friendly, and they pack the most fabric into one priority envelope of any US online retailer I've found!

I even found some fun kitchen related fabrics for H. Not sure what I'll use them for yet, I was thinking about customizing some tea towels for the kitchen.... any other ideas??

After loosing the address of my swap partner for Darci's "Wishing it was Spring" fat quater swap, I finally sent out my package, with some extra Belgian treats as compensation for the delay-- sorry it's a bit late, but I hope you like them Elaine :)

Getting Dolled Up

well, I figured it was about time I tried machine quilting on my new (old) machine. I thought a doll quilt for a colleague's daughter was perfect. so far I've pieced the top together -- I deffinately have to work on my speed... even something this small took me the majority of a post-work evening!!



I must admit I never understood the attraction that many quilters have for doll quilts, but now I've made on I have to admit the speed they come together is very satisfying.




And tonight I'm ordering the reds and blues for the Secret Quilt.... yay!!

Lucky Girl

I'm pretty lucky, as my parents are originally from the UK, they come to Europe quite often to visit their parents etc. so I get the chance to see them usually a minimum of twice a year. 2008 was especially crazy for our family as I saw them: December/January (a family Christmas in Hong Kong), June in Vancouver, September in the UK for my niece's christening, and Dec for a family Chistmas in Vancouver. Yeah, we rack up a lotta airmiles in my family :) My parents started 2009 off with a trip to me and the UK, so H and I were lucky enough to get to see them for the last week and a half. We had a great time with them and it gave me an excuse to see some new areas of Belgium (as a Belgian, H is not always as excited as I am over the pretty buildings and cute towns!).

As a thank you to my amazingly supportive parents, I have been planning a little quilty surprise for them. Here's a sneek peak...

After sitting down with paper and pencil I calculated that I need 110 red squares and 140 blue squares!!!! Guess I'll need to hit the fabric shop.....