Creative Expressions 2014: My Crafting Year in Review

2014 has come to an end, and I decided it would be a great opportunity to review all of the craft projects I completed this year. As I perused my blog for the past year, I was pleased by what I was able to accomplish in my hobbies in spite of working full time. 

Way back in January, I finished the Dreamweaver quilt for my daughter:

Dreamweaver Quilt

Following that, I completed Scrappy Shine:

Scrappy Shine

This one hasn't found a home yet, but I have a new great niece or nephew due in February. If it's a niece, this will be hers.

Bearly Hockey was finished in February and just recently I sent it to my great nephew, Leo.

Bearly Hockey

I had actually finished the quilt top in 2013, but didn't get it into the longarm studio right away.

In May I finished Florence Nightingale in time for Nursing Week:

Florence Nightingale Quilt

and used her as the backdrop for the nursing display:

Nursing Week 2014

In August, the Go Wild! quilt was completed:

Go Wild!

In September, I started my acrylic painting class and did this painting on my own:

Painted Trillium

Most of the class paintings are not worth sharing again, but there are a couple that I haven't completed yet that might be worth sharing eventually. 

In October I finished Wild Mustangs of the Painted Desert and gave it to friends who were moving away:

Wild Mustangs of the Painted Desert

I also finished the Law School quilt for the granddaughter of friends:

Law School

a perspective painting that I'm not ashamed to share:

Perspective Painting

and the Lace Enchantment Afghan:

Lace Enchantment Afghan

In November, my machine quilting classes gave me the courage to finish "So You Think You Can Quilt" on my domestic machine:

So You Think You Can Quilt

And a machine quilting sampler I started months before in an online class:

Machine Quilting Sampler

In December I completed Far Above Rubies for the daughter of friends:

Far Above Rubies

and shared my first Tunisian crochet project:

Tunisian Crochet Tote Bag

In the months when I didn't actually complete any projects, I was still busy: working on projects that I haven't finished yet, cooking and reviewing cookbooks, reading and reviewing other books as well, and adding to my stash of fabric and thread, of course. Throughout the year, I have been working on the Bluenose II Pixel quilt for my youngest sister, Cindy. Hopefully I will be able to share the finished project with you soon. I've got numerous other quilting, crocheting and painting projects either in progress or "on the drawing board." Unbroken is ready for the long arm and the Australian Tailor's Quilt just needs another border before it too is ready for quilting. There are at least two more bed size quilts to be produced: a Swoon quilt for my sister Judy and probably a mosaic quilt for my sister Nancy. And there are some new books from Net Galley that will need to be reviewed. It looks like 2015 will be another productive year.
Wishing everyone the best of the New Year.

Laura

Tunisian Crochet Tote Bag

I actually finished this tote bag quite a while ago. I was just waiting to post it until after I got it lined. Alas, I haven't had the time to line it yet, but I wanted to include it in my 2014 posts, so here it is:

This is my very first Tunisian crochet (afghan stitch) project. It turned out bigger than the directions said, probably because I used a different yarn. The instructions don't call for it to be lined, but if I were to throw a set of keys or something similar into this bag, I would be concerned about it poking through the stitches. I have bought the fabric already, but I was waiting until I got my serger back from servicing so that I could serge the seams. By the time that happened, it was time to start getting ready for Christmas and I haven't had the opportunity to sew the lining. I would like to add a zippered pocket in the lining as well, to put car keys and maybe my cell phone in. 
The project came from this book:


I bought a second Tunisian crochet hook during one shopping trip to Michael's, so I can pursue further projects in this book. Eventually, I'd like to get a full set of hooks with the extension cords for doing wider projects.

A Very Vegan Christmas

Here is today's menu:

• Garlic bread
• Old Fashioned Bread and Celery Stuffing
• Jellied Cranberries (from a can)
• Spinach Salad 
• Honey-Mustard Poppy Seed Dressing
• Brussels Sprouts with Melty Cheese
• Mashed Potatoes
• Brown Gravy
• Gluten Nuggets
  
• Special T Loaf
  
• Buttercup Squash Casserole
  
• Carrot Pudding with Sweet Cream Sauce
  

The Spinach Salad and the Special T Loaf are from this cookbook:

I have to admit that I didn't really like the smell when I finished the Special T Loaf. It smelled like leftover meatloaf. That's why I decided to make the Gluten Nuggets as well, in case it tasted like it smelled. Gluten Nuggets are my "old standby" for holiday meals. However, the Special T Loaf did end up being rather tasty (better than it smelled), especially with the brown gravy on top. However, it is a rather expensive entrée: walnuts, pecans and two packages of Mori-Nu tofu go into this recipe. It's a mock-up of the Special K Loaf that used to be well known in Adventist vegetarian circles, though I have to admit that I'm not sure why the Special K Loaf recipe ever saw the light of day. It might have tasted good (it was my ex-husband's one major cooking accomplishment), but with all the eggs and cottage cheese, I certainly wouldn't consider it healthy vegetarian fare. You can see a sample of the original recipe here.
The Honey-Mustard Poppy Seed Dressing was from this cookbook:

Don't be deceived by the title  - there's no honey in this salad dressing.
The Melty Cheese recipe is found in this cookbook:


The Brown Gravy is from this cookbook:

I found the carrot pudding recipe here, though I modified it somewhat, and will continue to do so as I wasn't entirely satisfied with the end product. I added the seasonings found in this recipe, but I think I'll switch the cloves to nutmeg next time and cut back on all three spices as it was too strong. Instead of the margarine, I used apple sauce. I replaced the 1 cup of brown sugar with 3/4 cup of Sucanat and used whole wheat flour in place of white flour. Next time, I think I'll try whole wheat pastry flour or maybe spelt flour as it was a little too heavy. Maybe steaming it for 3 hours is not necessary either as a couple of the other recipes I looked at only called for 2 hours. I also forgot the dates. The cream sauce that I used to top the carrot pudding was a conglomeration of some leftover Silk Creamer I had in the fridge, some raw cashews, a little honey (yes, I do use some honey occasionally, though I could just as easily have used brown rice syrup or agave nectar), water, vanilla and cornstarch whizzed in the blender and then heated on the stove till thickened. I've got to look for a proper recipe for this for next year.
The Gluten Nuggets are from Recipes of Friendship by Katie van Petten. I wasn't able to find this one on Amazon, nor was I able to find the Atco Blue Flame 2011 Holiday Collection, from which the Buttercup Squash Casserole was taken. But I don't know if that one was worth repeating. The apple cider vinegar made it just too tangy and this recipe just can't compare to the deliciousness of the Sweet Potato and Caramelized Apple dish that I've made previously from this same cookbook.
So that was Christmas dinner 2014. There were only 6 of us for dinner and unfortunately, there was probably enough food to feed three times that many. I should have sent food home with my guests. I guess I won't be cooking for the next week or so. :-)

Thread

I finally received my order from Tristan Italian Threads:

14 spools of Aurifil's Aurilux 36 weight polyester thread. I'm not even sure if Aurifil makes this stuff any more as it's not on their website, but I have found a couple of vendors that sell it. I think it will be great for long arm machine quilting. I don't honestly have a specific plan for each of these threads, but I had to order enough to make the shipping charges worthwhile, didn't I? 

These two are for the Bluenose II Pixel quilt. The pictures don't do this thread justice. I tried numerous different shots, employing different settings on the camera, but I couldn't get the shots I wanted. Especially not with the plastic wrap still on the spools. It reflects too much light. And I don't want to take the plastic wrap off until I'm ready to use the thread. I only took it off this spool because (hopefully) it will be used soon. No, I'm not done the pixel quilt yet, but I'm hoping once the Christmas rush is over, I"ll be able to get back to it. 
The pink thread third from the right on the bottom row is destined for the Unbroken quilt. It's the only solid colour in the bunch. Second from the right is a red and green that will work for a Christmas quilt. That's a brown and gold spool next to it, and I realized that's probably the ideal colour for a Western Michigan University quilt. I've been researching as I have a great nephew who has already been accepted at WMU for next school year and I think he should get a quilt for his high school graduation. Brown and gold are WMU's school colours. 
And speaking of great nephews, I did a little research on consanguinity (isn't that a fancy word - it means blood relationships) and apparently it's also acceptable to call great nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews (or uncles and aunts, for that matter). There seems to be an indication that "great" is preferable to the British and Canadians, and "grand" to Americans. Now back to thread...
Third from the left on the bottom row is a red and white thread that will work well for a Canada Day quilt, Remembrance Day quilt or a QOV.
I'm sure I'll find uses for all of them eventually. Meanwhile, they are just pretty to look at. 

Far Above Rubies

Amy is the daughter of friends. She is graduating from university this December and has already got a job to start in January, but it's in a community 134 km (about 83 miles) from her parents' home. So she will also be moving into her first apartment. To celebrate these milestones, I'm having a graduation/apartment-warming party for her. This quilt will be my gift to her.

When I started pondering what quilt to make for Amy, I came across this pattern. The title "Far Above Rubies" comes from a phrase in Proverbs 31:

10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. 13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. 14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. 15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. 17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. 18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. 19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. 20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. 22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. 24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. 25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. 26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. 27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Amy is a Christian young woman and it is my wish for her to be a "Proverbs 31 woman." It's also my wish that, when the time comes, she will choose for her life companion a man who will recognize that her value is "far above rubies" and treat her accordingly. So I felt that this was the right quilt for Amy. The name of each block is actually derived from a story in the Old Testament. 

Amy's favourite colour used to be blue, but I double checked with her mother before choosing fabric for this quilt. "Teal" is now her favourite. Do you know how hard it is to find "teal" fabric, especially when you're shopping online? And to make sure that the fabrics you select will actually look good together when they arrive in the mail, and not just looking good on the computer screen? I ended up going with more aqua/turquoise than teal. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the fabrics I selected was sold out by the time I made my purchase and I ended up making an alternate selection of a polka dot fabric. I just wasn't happy with it when it arrived, so bought a different fabric at my LQS. That's the light aqua fabric and I'm very happy with it. 

If you want to make this quilt, you'll want to print the templates out, even if you, like me, don't like using templates. Some of the blocks, like Job's Tears, have funky shapes, and some of them, like Garden of Eden, have really odd measurements. The weird thing about the templates is that the dotted lines for cutting did not show up when I printed them. I don't know if it's my printer, my computer or the templates that are the problem. Most of the blocks also have rotary cutting instructions, but they are not the easiest to follow. And some of these blocks are very challenging and definitely not ones I would want to do a whole quilt of.. Lots of bias seams and quite a few Y seams as well. 
When I did the Solomon's Puzzle block, I used my
Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Template, Drunkard's Path, Package of Four. I've had it for a year and a half or longer and this is the first time I've used it. Believe it or not, I only had one pucker that I had to rip out. Beginner's luck? I actually found this block easier than some of the others. But again, I'm not sure if I'd want to do a whole quilt of it. 
If you compare my quilt closely with the sample picture, you'll notice that I substituted the David & Goliath block for the Children of Israel block. I intend to use the Children of Israel block in another quilt, so left it out of this one. 
Here are pictures of all of the blocks, with their names:

Jacob's Ladder  -  Job's Tears

Dove at the Window  -  Garden of Eden

Joseph's Coat  -  Walls of Jericho

Wings of Eagles

David & Goliath  -  Solomon's Puzzle

The pantograph pattern I chose to use on this quilt is called Lily of the Valley, which is not only a lovely little flower, but is also referred to in the Old Testament. Unfortunately, it's got a lot of corners and angles, which require more time than curves on the long arm. It took me 5 hours to complete the quilting. At $30/hour, that was $150! Ouch! If I'd used a really simple pantograph like Bumpity, it would have only taken me about half that time, but I really don't want to have to limit my creative expression because of cost. So I decided to see what I could do differently. Checking online, I found a woman who rents her long arm machine for $75 a day. She lives out in the country, over an hour's drive from here, but I drive that distance to get to Edmonton anyway when I rent at the long arm studio. I will probably be exploring that option with my next quilt. I'll have to provide my own thread and pantographs, but I'll be saving so much on the actual rental that it will be worth it. 

I hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but I think this is one of the prettiest quilts I've made. But, to keep me humble, I got some major puckers in the quilt when I did the quilting. I ripped out a couple, but didn't even notice the others until I got it home and was applying the binding. <sigh> However, at $30 an hour, I probably wouldn't have taken the time to rip them all out anyway!

Jacob's Ladder & Job's Tears

Remember that fabric I got in the mail a couple of weeks ago and I blogged about here. I didn't like the polka dot fabric, so bought an alternate fabric at my LQS - the light aqua in the pictures below. You'll see the polka dot fabric in a future project, but meanwhile I've started on Amy's quilt. Here are the first two blocks:

 

That's Jacob's Ladder on the left and Job's Tears on the right. The quilt is the Far Above Rubies quilt, and you can find the directions here. These two blocks were quite easy and worked up quickly. There are downloadable templates for all of the blocks in this quilt, but I'm not a big template fan, and only use them if I really need to, like the pink sections in the Job's tears block. For the light aqua sections in this block, I used the Recs tool from the Tri Recs ruler set. I did print out the templates just to measure and be sure I got the sizes right for the rest of the pieces. The template sheets also include a layout drawing and I used that to mark which fabric I was using in which spot. 
I'm really happy with how these fabrics look together. I can hardly wait to see what the whole quilt will look like. I just finished the quilt top for the Unbroken quilt and felt that it lacked that "wow factor" that I think these blocks have. It's still going to be a pretty quilt, but it just seems to lack that je ne sais quoi that gives it impact. It's a more scrappy quilt, so I don't know if it's the lack of cohesiveness or just the fabric choice that detracts from its eye appeal. I'm going into Sparrow Studioz to quilt it on Friday, so will probably share it next week and you can see what you think.Of course, I felt similarly about the Wild Mustangs quilt and I got a lot of compliments on that one. I believe it was more popular than the Law School quilt and I had thought it would be the opposite. The Law School quilt was so vibrant and colourful that I think I favoured that one more. I guess it's different strokes for different folks. 

So You Think You Can Quilt

I have a tendency to compose blog posts in my mind while I'm driving. Some of them never actually get posted, but some of my best thoughts come while I'm between here and the city. I was in the city a week or so ago and mentally working on this post on the way home. Remember the sampler quilt top I made when I reviewed that quilting book? Well, I was trying to remember the name of the book and what came to my mind was, "So You Think You Can Quilt." No, I knew that was not the book's title, but I decided that would be a good name for this quilt anyway. (You can find the original post here). It's a sampler quilt, constructed by following the directions in a "how to" quilt book. And when it came to the actual quilting part, I was putting to use the skills I learned in my machine quilting class. So I figured that was an appropriate name for this quilt. 
Here it is:

I confess I really didn't like that border on it. I intended for it to pick up the blues in one of the black fabrics, but it just didn't work like I wanted it to. 
I still need lots of practice quilting, but it's coming. I bought a couple of new stencils when I was in the city and decided to try using my Pounce for the first time. Not happy. The white chalk dust barely showed up on the black print fabric and not at all on the pink fabric. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I need to try the blue or the pink pounce (though the pink wouldn't show up on the pink fabric either.  I tried to use my blue quilt marker, but it didn't show up on the black print either. So I resorted to tracing paper, which is not my favourite machine quilting method, but it worked. I did use a stencil and marking pen for quilting the border, however. 
Here's a closeup of some of the quilting:

Sorry, the camera flash washed it out quite a bit. I need to refine my camera skills. 
I chose to use a variegated pink 40 weight Signature thread. (I used that brand because it was what was available at my LQS). I really love variegated thread (and variegated yarn, for that matter). I'm not sure what the appeal is for me, but I choose to use it whenever I can. However, the blocks and fabrics in this quilt are too "busy" for the variegations to make a significant impact. It makes more sense to use a variegated thread in a quilt with more plain or solid fabrics, like the Law School quilt. Lesson learned. I will keep that in mind for next time. Though I suppose it also depends on the look I want to achieve. If I don't want the quilting to stand out and a variegated would blend in better, then I'd go with that. For this particular quilt, even against the black, the variegated pink doesn't show up that well. If I had wanted my stitching to really stand out, a solid bright pink probably would have worked better. But as I am still learning, I'm not so sure that I want my stitching to really stand out yet. 
I used a different quilting motif for each block and a border stencil for the border. I had to modify it slightly as it was a little wide for the border. On the sashing, I just made a zig-zag pattern using my walking foot. 
Here's the back:

I love this fabric. I wish I had more of it. This quilt is 30" square, so either a table topper or a cat quilt. I could use it as a wallhanging, but didn't put a hanging sleeve on.
And here's the fabric I bought at Fabricland:

I used to love the Pink Panther and with a purple background, I can't lose, especially since it was in the clearance section at $2.50 a metre. This is a flannel fabric and will become the backing on a flannel quilt. I bought what was left on the bolt.

I couldn't resist this one, especially since it was also $2.50 a metre. Unfortunately, what was left on the bolt was in two separate pieces - 1.4 metres and 1.6 metres, but I'm hoping I can make it work for a backing as well.  I also stopped in Michael's and looked at art supplies. I could have kicked myself as I forgot both my art supply list for my Craftsy course and my 20% off Michael's coupon. But I got back there a couple of days ago and remembered my coupon and list, plus I had another coupon for 40% off one item and an Airmiles coupon for 5x the Airmiles, so the second trip was worthwhile. They also sell one of those plastic tag gun thingies for quilt basting. Cheaper than the one at Fabricland. Have any of you ever used one of those? I figure it's got to be easier than pin basting. 
Since I had taken the live Machine Quilting Class, I decided to use my dubious quilting skills to finish this sampler from my online machine quilting class.

I have to admit that this looks kind of like a map - the purple is water and the orange is land. Here's a close up of what was supposed to be swirls:

It just wasn't coming together for me. And here's my stipling:

I don't know if free motion is ever going to work well for me. I was never really a doodler, even with pen and paper, so doodling with my sewing machine is even more of a challenge. Here's the back:

This one is only 24" square, so definitely a cat quilt. Actually, the cats have already been using it before I finished it. I had it folded up on a corner of the sewing table and that's where one of them would sleep when he/she wanted to keep me company, although they haven't been doing that since I moved the sewing stuff to the basement.
My buddy Phil, who is also a cat lover, once asked me if I'd made the cats any quilts yet. Now I can say yes. Actually, all of my samplers from the machine quilting class will be cat quilts as well. I just need to get my serger back from servicing so I can serge the edges. And hopefully, they will help keep the cat hair off the furniture. 
As it's Remembrance Day today, I watched the ceremonies in Ottawa today on TV. Here's one of my favourite videos to help keep our veterans in mind: