Finished and photographed: Caroline's Objects

The weather was lovely today so I interrupted work for a moment to snap photos.


I am a bit ambivalent about this quilt, probably because I worry how it will be received. This is one of my main "faults": I invest a lot of time and thought and love into a piece and find it hard to (1) let it go and (2) present it believing that the recipient will like it.

At the end, mercifully, they at least all act like they do!

Hubby says this is his favourite, is the recipient worthy? Well, if she does not like it, I can always ask for it back and give it to him, can't I? After all, they both share a shoe fetish!

For more photos, go here: Caroline's Objects on Flickr.

Another Finish

Last night but still before Midnight:

I will post better pictures of both my recent finishes as soon as the sun comes out (at this rate, that'll be never! The weather has been dreadful here.)

Finally - progress being made!

My girl is back from the shop, the needle bar was out of whack, apparently. Now I'm attempting to make up for lost time, especially seeing how this is the first week in my career as a mother that I have had off with everybody else being at work, in school or at kindergarten.

OK, so I broke two needles while finishing off the stippling but it is done. The binding is on and I only have to tie up loose ends.

Endlessly frustrated!

After almost a fortnight of involuntary abstinence, I returned to my sewing machine last night to continue stippling Caroline's Objects. With Shevvy's advice (stitch length = zero!), I checked the bobbin, the tension, I changed needles (the old one being as blunt as a cross stitch needle, oooops!) and went to work. And failed. Miserably. At times it appears the top thread is not catching the bottom thread. And at other times, the top thread simply rips. "At times" meaning about every inch or so.

So I decided to pack it all in and take my girl to the shop for a check-up. Because her performance got worse and worse over the past few weeks, a good clean and oil should do the trick, I hope.

Meanwhile I have two hand projects, finishing up "In the Pink" and the second granny square blanket. This should keep me busy!

Have I mentioned ...

... that I hate stippling? I'm still struggling with what is just a lapsize quilt. I'm not sure it's my lack of patience or a technical problem or what but the thread keeps ripping and the tension keeps go off on me. What a spectacular waste of time. But must be completed! Regardless!!!

The worst thing is that when it's going well I am really enjoying it.

Aaaargh, not for the faint-hearted or not-so-determined!

This stippling business is proving to be a Nightmare! It took me ages to sort out the tension and I'm guessing that different thickness of thread is not helping nor is my lack of patience. But I will keep at it and next time will use similar thread on both sides.

Top all ironed and ready for basting

I am quite excited and a wee bit apprehensive about stippling this quilt. Or shall I just do straight lines along the diamond shaped design?

I have until tomorrow to decide!

Slow going these days

But at least the top is finished. I am now struggling to finish the backing because there is so little fabric left over and yardage of this range is hard to come by.

We will be binding and backing

There is worryingly little fabric left and I think this will be a scrappy backing!

Spot the error!

While I was on the phone with hubby last night, I noticed an error I made in the assembly. My first impulse was to scream but I was too shocked and only stared. Which is a good thing because I noticed what actually went wrong. Rows 1 and 2 from the top are meant to be rows 3 and 4 and vice versa. Easily fixed, day saved!

Very excited to resume the Objects

Now that the Emergency Quilt is finished and ready to be shipped off, I can focus all my quilting energy on Caroline's Objects. Currently, I have no idea of what the backing will be like ... and I'm already worrying about stippling the whole thing.

Now if I didn't have to write 30+ Christmas cards and wrap a gazillion of pressies ...

And we will be the rest of the Quilt

I'm having a hard time leaving this one alone, which is good I suppose, because that way I will get done!

New Love: chain piecing

I'm having such fun with Caroline's Objects, probably as much fun as my friend Caroline with her Objects of Desire: shoes

And I discovered a new love: chain-piecing. Fast, fun, efficient!

Stacks of Objects

This is a stack of squares from my Objects of Desire jelly roll and charm pack. I am making very good progress on my value quilt. Pinning the whole thing to my design wall has been a great help. Now off to sew more squares into long strips ....

Those will be small triangles

You can tell when I am focussed on cutting and sewing that the quality of photography goes far south ... too busy to bother, really.

Because I am currently spending my evenings sewing together jelly roll strips (on both long sides) and charm pack squares (on all sides) to cut into triangles.

Then I will have to do some maths and finally decide on a lay-out ... all the while avoiding work on:

- Theo's Planes
- Scrappy Quilt in a Day
- Charity Quilt

who are all clamouring for attention to their binding.

Changed my mind ...

Caroline's Objects with be a Values Zig Zag Quilt ... to make use of the jelly roll.

Quilt-a-long: Value Quilt

Original work by Jarobichaux

Because I don't have much to show right now ... I'm in that dreadful phase with no terribly looming deadlines and between projects ... I am wasting my time surfing the web and came across this wonderful quilt-a-long on Metrosupial Designs aka Katie's Willy Nilly blog that also has a full tutorial as well. Posted is a photo from the Flickr Group.

Eventually, I might do this too ... (yeah, right!)