FrankenWhiggish Rosebuds, Michele's Log Cabin Stars Quilt, Laundry Room Makeover, Swedish Pancakes + A 21st Birthday Celebration

Good Morning, Quilty Peeps!  As you can see by my way-too-long blog post title, I have lots of ground to cover today.  First things first, I am happy to report that I've finished prepping ALL of the remaining broderie perse rosebuds for my FrankenWhiggish Rose blocks, they are all glue-basted in position on the blocks, and the hand stitching to secure them is in progress.  That's right; I have a portable hand stitching project again FINALLY!

All FrankenWhiggish Rosebuds Are Prepped and Ready for Stitching!

In case anyone is interested in what's in my portable hand stitching "toolbox" for this project:

• YLI 100 wt silk thread in color 256, matched to the rosebud fabric
• Bohin size 12 Appliqué Needles (these are the only ones I've tried that don't bend or break on me)
• Colonial Needle Company Leather Thimble Pad stickers (I use one on my right pointer finger to help grab the needle and pull it through the fabric, or to protect my fingertip when I need to exert a little pressure on the back end of the needle to force it through a spot where the glue dried stiff)
• Thread Heaven (no longer available) or Thread Magic thread conditioner to help prevent snarling and knotting -- I don't need it when I'm using silk thread, but I have it in my hand stitching kit because it's a big help when I'm hand stitching quilt bindings with cotton thread
• My new 2.75 magnification sewing glasses from Warby Parker, so I can thread the eye of my needle and see how many threads of fabric I'm grabbing with each stitch
• That nail file in my kit is actually for my fingernails, because often I'll discover some little scratchy spot at the edge of a fingernail while stitching when the thread gets hung up on it
• Not pictured, I also have a tube of Neutrogena Hand Cream in my hand sewing kit and another one in the drawer next to my sewing machine.  I like this kind because it's not greasy, has no fragrance or dye, and a tiny drop goes a long way to just barely moisten my fingertips so I can get a better grip on what I'm stitching without gooking it up with lotion
• Either my Apliquick 4" Microserrated Scissors (pictured) or my Gingher Spring Action Thread Nippers (preferred if I'm just clipping thread and not trimming needle turn appliqué shapes while stitching).  If I'm planning to take my hand stitching kit on an airplane, I'll swap out for a cheap thread clipper (in case Airport Security confiscates it and throws it away) with a pack of dental floss that I could use as a backup thread trimmer in a pinch

(Those are affiliate links, by the way).   You probably won't see much of FrankenWhiggish for a couple weeks while I'm stitching the rosebuds to the blocks because, if you've seen one of my blocks get rosebuds, you've seen them all!  My Seven Sisters pattern and templates finally arrived from Australia and I'm planning to start on that project in September.

Instead of sharing FrankenWhiggish, I thought I might share some of the backlog of long arm quilting clients' quilts that I haven't posted about before, like Michele's version of Emily Dennis's Log Cabin Stars quilt.  Here's a teaser to whet your appetite; we'll return to this quilt later in today's blog post:

Michele's Log Cabin Stars Quilt, Pattern Available here

Of Piecing, Binding, Eastering, and College Visiting

It's been a busy week, but I still (barely) managed to squeeze in enough personal sewing time to stay on top of my goals -- in addition to my "extra duties" as Family Event Planner, Easter Chef, and Travel Agent/Tour Guide to Out-of-State College Towns.  My label is appliquéd to my bear paw quilt and I sewed the binding to the front of my quilt today.

Bear Paw Binding Began Today

Goodbye, October 2020! Baby Quilt Update (and Happy Halloween)

 Well, October is officially a wrap.  The trick-or-treaters have gone home and my husband, younger son, and I have set ourselves to the task of finishing off the leftover candy.  I've powered off my long arm machine for the night, even though I'm only 2/5 of the way through quilting the baby quilt that was supposed to be Part Two of my One Monthly Goal for October.  Here's what Charlie's quilt looks like so far:

My Letter Home Monogram Baby Quilt is 2/5 Quilted

I loaded this quilt on my frame upside-down, so I'm actually quilting it from the bottom up.  There are five rows of 8" blocks in this quilt and the first row took me awhile because I only had a fuzzy idea about how I was going to quilt this one.  I wanted to keep the quilting fairly light and open, similar to the density of the pantograph design I quilted on my October OMG Part One quilt (below), but this baby brother quilt is getting SID, light ruler work, and a little bit of free motion rather than E2E pantograph quilting.  

Big Sister's Quilt, Aiming for Similar Quilting Density in Baby Brother's Quilt

I don't normally quilt such a large scale meander freehand, though, so keeping the size of that pattern big and somewhat uniform is challenging, and I'm also reminding myself that LARGE quilt blocks with LONG ruler lines to quilt are a lot harder than quilting the exact same designs on smaller blocks.  So my "quick and easy" quilting plan has evolved to require a bit of marking, which is helping to keep lines straighter and more evenly spaced.

Doubting Design Choices After the First Row

One thing that slowed me down was that, since we took the machine head off the frame to install the interchangeable hopping foot upgrade, my horizontal channel lock hadn't been holding as securely as it had previously.  I use my horizontal and vertical channel locks to keep my seams straight and square as I'm quilting, and this was bugging me, so there was an interruption of troubleshooting that yesterday with Bernie and the folks at APQS Tech Support (One little washer was all it took to snug that wheel back up to the carriage and correct the problem).  But, while I had Bernie and Anders available, I had them lower my frame about 3 1/2" so I could quilt from the front of the machine more comfortably.  I'd been wearing high heel platform sandals the day before, since we'd raised my frame a few inches for quilting pantographs from the back side of the machine.  We also moved my laser light from the back of the machine to the front, where it will be more useful to me once my IntelliQuilter gets installed.  But I digress.  Back to the quilt at hand:

40 wt Fantastico in #5007 Wales (Lime, Bright Green, Turquoise, Green Variegated)

I selected a cone of Superior Thread's Fantastico variegated 40 weight trilobal polyester thread in shades of Lime, Bright Green, Turquoise and Green, which I auditioned against the Kona Bone background as well as on the Indigo and the green fabrics.  I wanted to use one thread color throughout to "keep it simple," but knew that a white or off-white background thread might look really harsh against the dark blue.  I was excited about the variegated thread until I started quilting with it, and then I second-guessed myself midway through the first row.  

Superior's Fantastico Thread in #5007 Wales

I was tempted to start ripping out all the quilting I'd done so far, because I felt like the quilting was just screaming at me instead of playing a supportive role to the piecing design...  But the next day, when I came back to it, I reminded myself of my self-imposed deadline and how I wanted most of all to have this finished, so I soldiered on.  And, you know what?  I'm glad I kept going rather than reaching for my seam ripper, because the more I got quilted, the more the thread began to grow on me.

By the End of the Second Row, My Thread Felt Like the Right Choice

This is a good reminder to TAKE A STEP BACK before making rash decisions involving seam rippers!  With my face 8" away from the quilt surface, the green pastel threads seemed like they were too loud and fighting with the quilt, but from a distance it's much more subtle.  If I'd ripped out all the variegated thread and switched to yellow, green, navy and white, not only would I have slowed myself down considerably, but the quilting designs would have disappeared into the fabrics more -- and I might have been disappointed that I couldn't see my quilting designs well enough!  Knowing how the quilt will soften and smoosh and crinkle once it's finished and washed for the first time, I think this thread will be just fine.

So now my only question is whether those giant green 8" HSTs have enough quilting in them.  I mean, I know they have enough quilting to meet the requirements of the batting.  I kind of like the way they look right now, but maybe I'll come back and add something when everything else is finished.

Speaking of finished, I did finish the big sister's quilt, which you can read about here.  Here's a glimpse of how that one turned out, freshly washed and ready for gifting:

October OMG Part One Was Finished On Time!

That's it for me for tonight.  I'm going to eat too many Twix bars with my husband and son while we watch Saturday Night Live.  I just realized that this is probably the last Halloween that I'll have a kid at home with us, since Anders is a high school senior this year.  They don't come home from college for Halloween, so this will be an Empty Nester Holiday for us from now on.  So strange to think about that!  Okay, I lied.  I'm leaving you with one more picture, from my favorite Halloween in 2006 when the boys were 3 and 5 years old:

Halloween 2006: Anders is Batman, Bernie is Aquaman, and Lars is Spiderman

Anders is in the Batman costume on the left, Lars is Spiderman on the right, and my wonderful, amazing husband is wearing what is supposed to be an Aquaman costume.  I did not have an Aquaman pattern, so I made this costume from a Jalie men's figure skating costume pattern, out of green stretch velvet for the figure skating pants (more revealing in real life than they appear on TV during the Olympics) and an orange sequined lycra figure skating top, because the sequins were the closest thing I could come up with at JoAnn fabrics that looked like scales.  Bless his heart; he got more than a few catcalls from the neighbor ladies as he was out trick-or-treating with the kids, but my sons were SO HAPPY to be their own little Justice League with Daddy!

Happy Halloween, everyone!  I'm linking today's post with:

SATURDAY

·       UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland

One Monthly Goal at  Elm Street Quilts

SUNDAY

·       Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

·       Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

·       Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

MONDAY

·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

One Less Bell to Answer, One Less Egg to Fry, One Less Dog to Pick Up After... Saying Goodbye to Otto

I've been putting this post off for awhile now, but I might as well get it over with.  This post has nothing to do with sewing or quilting and everything to do with why I haven't been sewing or quilting lately.  

The canine love of our lives was a joyful, ball-chasing, howling-and-singing companion full of energy.  He followed along behind Bernie every time he mowed the lawn, as if the two of them were patrolling the yard together.  He slept at the foot of my bed, and I swear his gentle snore was the best sleep machine noise ever.  Whenever I started singing anything, especially anything in a minor key or anything with "Alleluia" in it, he'd sit up, wag his tail, and howl along with me like a canine Andrea Bocelli belting out his favorite aria.   

Our Sweet Otto, Jan. 5 2011 - Dec. 20 2019

At nearly 9 years old, Otto was the absolute picture of health at the beginning of December, except for a troubling limp that was getting worse instead of getting better, despite restricting his activity and giving him anti-inflammatory meds.  We took him to the vet on the Tuesday before Christmas for X-rays and were totally blindsided by a diagnosis of advanced osteosarcoma, an aggressive and very painful bone cancer with close to 100% mortality because it tends to metastasize before it's even diagnosed.  Our choices were to either amputate his affected leg and put him through chemotherapy, which would eliminate the tumor pain but only give him another 4-5 months, or manage his pain with medication for as long as possible, likely 1-3 months.  

Otto and Lulu Snuggling With My Son, Lars (Otto in Foreground)

Even with that awful news, we expected to have a few months to pamper and love on him.  I was researching his bone cancer online, ordering him special orthopedic beds from Orvis so he'd be more comfortable and getting recommendations for veterinary oncologists.  But I didn't even get a chance to take him to a specialist -- his initial diagnosis was on Tuesday, and by Thursday afternoon he was absolutely leveled with pain that was beyond control, with vomiting and bloody diarrhea and so extremely ill that there was nothing we could do for him but let him go on Friday.  My sweet, loving dog who wanted nothing more than to be glued to our sides, constantly supervising us and snuggling with us, was at the point that he was hiding beneath the deck steps at 3 AM in 20 degree weather, unable to pick up his head.  He wouldn't come in the house, he wouldn't/couldn't come when called.  And when we brought him back to the vet on Friday he was so severely dehydrated, low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, gums were pale and did not pink up when pressed, still having bright red bloody diarrhea, suffering so badly...  All of this happened only three days after receiving the bone cancer diagnosis, with a dog who had been full of playful puppy energy and joy up until that point.

Happy Boy Just a Few Months Ago, Visiting Lars at College

To say that it has been a sad couple of weeks for our family is such an understatement.  Even Otto's sister Lulu, our other Rottie, is grieving.  At first she seemed agitated after we took Otto away and didn't bring him home, and she would run to the door whenever someone came home like she was hoping they'd brought Otto with them.  Now she seems more depressed and anxious, even though we've been trying to give her lots of positive attention and distractions.  She won't play, she doesn't want to go outside except to go potty, and she's been licking at her forelegs a lot.  I got her some tasty chew bones for redirection and that's helping, but she's definitely affected as much as we are -- she and Otto were together since birth, she's never been an only dog before, and her personality is totally different now.

Lulu Snuggling with Lars's Feet on Christmas Morning

I just wanted to share some of my favorite Otto pictures and memories as a final goodbye to the best little choir dog and quilting supervisor ever:

My Sweet Baboo, Otto, Supervising Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt Construction

I loved it when Otto would hang out in my sewing room with me.  Such a cutie pie.

More Hanging Out With Mommy in the Studio

In the Studio With Me For the Last Time, The Day Before We Lost Him

Otto had three favorite humans on this planet: Me, my husband Bernie, and our oldest son Lars.  My younger son Anders and my mother were also in his "inner circle" of humans from whom love and kisses were tolerated.

Another Puppy Pic, Back When Bernie Could Still Scoop Him Up in His Arms

Snuggling With My Husband Bernie, In My Office.  Lulu on Left, Otto on Right

As ferociously as he could bark at would-be intruders and door-to-door salesmen, Otto was incredibly gentle and loving with family members.  He was such a snuggler!

Lars and Otto Had Such a Special Bond.

More Snuggling With Lars

On his last morning, once Bernie got Otto out from under the deck steps, he was able to get him into the garage where it was a little bit warmer, but he wouldn't come in the house and he was unwilling or unable to pick up his head, even when I started the car right next to him.    

When Otto Wouldn't Come In the House, Lars Came Out to the Garage

It's so strange not having Otto in my house anymore.  No howling when I sing.  No snoring in my bedroom.  No supervision in the quilting studio.  No furry friend appears in my kitchen, looking up at me with hopeful longing the instant I take out butter, chicken, or peanuts.  No one scratches the side of my desk chair impatiently to tell me "Enough computer -- time to throw my tennis ball!"  The worst is when I glance down at his favorite places where he used to lay and no one is there.

I Smell Butter.  Or Chicken.  Or Peanut Butter.

Raising this dog has been a wonderful experience that I would do again in a heartbeat, despite all of the challenges and inconveniences that come with owning a strong, powerful dog who is distrustful of strangers.  I wrote about my dogs the day we brought them home as 9-week-old puppies, I have shared their antics and adventures here over the years, and it seemed only fitting to give Otto a eulogy here on my blog.  

Selfie With Puppies On the Car Ride Home From the Breeder.  Otto on Left, Lulu on Right

Nine years was not nearly enough.  

No More Puppy Kisses For Me

Goodbye, my sweet Baboo!  We will never forget you.  

Labor Day Adventures In Quilting, Dorm Stink, and Pet Reunions

Good morning, and Happy Wednesday!  I hope all of you in the States enjoyed a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  Mine was weird, but wonderful -- I'll get to that in a minute.  First, I have to show you the giant block I finished last night for Anders' Beware the Ishmaelites quilt (my modified version of the 2014 Moda Modern Building Blocks sampler, pattern available here).  

25 x 25, Block Three for Beware the Ishmaelites Sampler Quilt

This 25" block that I completed last night is not found in the original pattern; I am swapping it out for the large green and orange star block with white background that you see in the upper right corner of the original Moda quilt:

Original Moda Modern Building Blocks Quilt, 84 x 96

Here's what my version of this quilt will look like:

Beware the Ishmaelites, 94 x 104

Just to recap, these are the changes I've made to the original pattern:

1. Resized all of the blocks to increments of 5" instead of the original 6" grid, so a 36" block is now a 30" block, a 30" block is now a 25" block, etc.  This allowed me to get the exact size I wanted for my bed, but at the cost of ruler-friendly numbers for rotary cutting.  So the majority of these blocks will be either foundation paper pieced or cut out with old school cardstock templates.
2. I added the borders, for two reasons.  First, this quilt is going to go on my younger son's bed, and I am envisioning (and liking) how these boldly striped borders are going to look hanging down on the sides of his black platform bed.  Second, this is going on a bed, and the bottom of the quilt is going to be tucked in where no one can see it...  And did you notice that row of tiny blocks on the bottom of the Moda version?  By shrinking all of my blocks and adding borders, I've moved those little blocks up onto the top of the mattress so we can SEE them once this quilt is on the bed.
3. I've swapped out some of the original blocks in the quilt for others, such as the block I finished last night, the block in the lower left corner of the quilt, and a few of the smaller ones as well.  I replaced blocks if I thought the original was too similar to another block in the quilt, or if I thought it was boring, or if I found a more interesting block in the EQ8 Block Library or in Blockbase before I located the block that Moda used in their original quilt...
4. Finally, I recolored the entire quilt to suit my own tastes and to coordinate with my son's bedroom, using all Kona Solids rather than Moda fabrics.  That's because I have a Kona Solids color chart that I was able to use to match the exact shades that I needed and I have all of the Kona Solids colors available to use in my EQ8 software.  So when I'm designing a quilt in EQ8 using Kona Solids and then I piece the actual quilt using Kona Solids, what I see on my computer screen looks exactly like what I see in real life in my finished quilt.  

My Design Wall, Late Last Night

So, there you see the three completed blocks up on my design wall.  Also featured are the languishing Modern Baby Clam Shells on the left (need to cut out the background clam shells and circles and start piecing it), intended as a baby gift for a child who is now nearly 9 months old, my machine appliqué sampler from Karen Kay Buckley's workshop (needs some kind of borders attached before it goes into the Waiting To Be Quilted Que (also known as Quilt Purgatory)...  The appliqué block at the top right corner of the design wall is from a machine applique class that I took with Harriet Hargrave about 7 years ago(?!).  I'm thinking of adding corner triangles and borders to that one to bring it up to 16" square, the size that I need for a Blocks On the Move mini quilt (a fabulous idea that I borrowed for our guild from the wonderful Country Crossroads Quilters of Modesto, California).  The barely-begin block just below that one is my class sample from the hand appliqué workshop I took with Karen Kay Buckley in July. I don't think I'm going to finish that one by hand, because I'm not interested in recreating the entire Fiesta Mexico quilt that it came from and I can practice the workshop techniques that Karen taught us on other hand applique projects that are already in progress.  But I threw the block up on the wall anyway because I might decide to finish that one by machine, add some hand stitched embellishments with some of the cool threads I picked up from the Wonderfil booth at Spring Quilt Week in Paducah, and turn THAT block into a 16" finished piece for Blocks On the Move.  

However, all of this has to come DOWN now, because I've taken on an exploratory quilt commission for a client.  I have to take everything off the design wall, brush away any stray dark threads or dog fur, vacuum the carpet and clean the iron, so I can get started on a vintage UFO Double Wedding Ring with a white background.  I need to be able to lay those blocks out on the wall.  We're thinking of finishing this as either one or two Queen size bed runners so that I can pick and choose the best-pieced, flattest blocks, and turn this into a finished quilt that the client can use in her home at a more affordable price point than an entire bed quilt.  

Oh, I almost forgot -- I promised to tell you about my Labor Day Weekend at the beginning of this post!  Well, the weird part of it was that my house was so quiet, with Lars away at college and Anders away on a high school youth church retreat.  But on Saturday, we headed up to Boone, North Carolina for a quick, spur-of-the-moment visit to see Lars-of-Ours and bring him some more items for his dorm.  And, when I asked Lars what else he needed besides air freshener for the stinky dorm, a bigger fish tank for his Betta fish, and trash bags, without hesitation he answered "BRING OTTO!"  So we went on a 4-hour round trip in the car to make Bring Your Doggy to College Day happen for Lars -- and it was totally worth it:

Lars-of-Ours, Reunited with Otto After a Three Week Separation

I love how the dog's head is bigger than Lars's.  

Otto the Snuggle-Pup, Hanging Out in Boone, NC

Otto is the sweetest, gentlest soul of a dog you could ever imagine -- but only to me, my husband, my mother, and my sons.  His view of the world is that everyone is probably an enemy unless proven otherwise, which is unfortunate because he is so darned CUTE that everyone wants to come and visit him and pet him, but as soon as a stranger approaches him he starts barking so viciously that you think he's going to eat you.  :-(. My female Rottweiler is the exact opposite -- she is super friendly to everyone, and assumes all strangers exist to rub her belly and scratch her ears.  But Lulu is not Lars's dog; she's Bernie's dog.  Lulu stayed home.  Taking Otto out into the world to continue to socialize him is important, and he does just fine as long as he's on his leash attached to my husband, who runs interference with strangers who are drawn to Otto like a magnet.  "Chick bait" is what Bernie calls this dog!

Otto and Bernie Hanging Out in the Parking Lot of Zaxby's

It was tricky enough working out the logistics with just the one dog, as it turned out, because we did not realize that Saturday was Appalachian State's first home football game of the season and everything was mobbed.  We couldn't even park in the parking lot outside Lars's dorm because it's right across the street from the stadium and it was reserved for tailgating. And, although there are several dog-friendly restaurants near Lars's school, we circled around the block for a good half hour and there were zero parking spots to be found.  We ended up driving a little further out to a Zaxby's restaurant and ordering food to go that we ate picnic-style in the grass next to the parking lot.

Lars's other pet, who is living with him at college full-time, is a Betta fish named Winston that one of his high school friends bought for him about a year ago.  This fish has been in a tiny little tank all this time, with no gravel, no rock or plant or anything to hide in, for a YEAR.  Lars has done a fantastic job of keeping the fish alive, remembering to feed it, change the water regularly, etc.  So I sent him a care package with some fake plants, a hiding rock, and gravel after we moved him in.  Lars's brother Anders picked out the little Hula dancer.  But I wasn't remembering exactly how tiny Lars's tank was when we picked out all of these accessories -- nothing fit except the Hula dancer, with her head sticking out of the water!

Lars's Betta Fish Winston, Original Tank, Next to Grande Starbucks Cup

After we left to drive home, Lars went to the football game with some other students.  He sent me this picture of the new 3.5 gallon tank all set up for Winston:

Same Fish, Same Hula Dancer, MUCH Bigger Tank

SO much better, don't you think?!  And off to the right of the tank in this picture, you can see the Nest Diffuser that I set up for him to combat the stink that happens when two teenaged boys are crammed into a small dorm room in a building that does not have air conditioning.  They are not allowed to have any kind of candles in the dorm, not allowed to burn incense, and not allowed to use any of the plug-in room fresheners.  The Damp Rid and other air fresheners the boys had been using at first were not doing the trick, so I decided to try an oil diffuser with a strong, masculine scent that isn't overpowering or nauseating (NOT like those little Christmas tree air fresheners that people used to hang from their rear view mirrors!).  I wanted to select the scent in person so I bought this for Lars from a local Blue Mercury shop, but you can get the same one (Nest Morroccan Amber) on Amazon here.  Depending on how often the boys flip the reeds, this should last them anywhere from 3 months to the entire school year, and there are oil refills (only available on the Nest website here) that are nearly half the cost of the initial kit that comes with the vase.

And last, but not least -- I discovered a fabulous quilt shop and Bernina dealer in Boone, right down the street from the hotel where we stayed when we moved Lars into his dorm!

Sew Original in Boone, NC, My New LQS-Away-From-Home

My husband the comedian, who remained outside in the car with Otto, said "don't stay in there all day and don't spend any money."  AS IF!

I met the loveliest salesperson Susan, who recognized me from my blog and from the Bernina 7 Series Yahoo group(!!) and came out with a package of pretty jacquard ribbons and an Accuquilt GO! cutter starter package, since it was the last day of the manufacturer's holiday rebate and I'd had my eye on the larger size cutter for awhile.

Okay, that's it for now because I have to scoot out the door to get my mom to a medical appointment on time.  Have a wonderful day, everyone!

I'm linking up with:

WEDNESDAY

·      Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

·      “WOW” WIPs on Wednesday at Esther's Blog

THURSDAY

·      Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

FRIDAY

·      Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

·      Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty

·      Finished Or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

-->

·      TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: http://tgiffriday.blogspot.ca/p/hosting-tgiff.html