Craft a day - 22 & 23, Craftastrophe and Redemption

Oh. . . why can't things just work out?

In hindsight, Thursday's craftastrophic events were all my fault, a perfect storm of late night sewing, stupidity, forgetfulness, and cockiness. I was dead set on finishing my little quilt and I was going to do it properly, not in my, as Cindy has dubbed it, punk rock quilting way so I picked up my Quilting: the Complete Guide and went to work!

All started out well. . .

I decided to take it easy and do a simple diagonal design so, using 1/4" tape, I marke the lines that were to be sewed. I layered the front, the batting, and the back and pinned the whole lot together at 4" interval, just like the book suggested. I wrapped the overhang of the backing to protect the edges of the front and pinned those. Things looked good! Just like in the book.

Okay. . . first big mistake. . . when everything you read tells you that to do machine quilting, you should really use a walking foot, they're not just trying to sell expensive machine attachments. You can't get away with a pair of grippy gloves and your regular machine foot, no matter how much fun the grippy gloves are and no matter how much they make you sing "Magic To Do" from Pippin while pretending to be Ben Vereen.

You can almost see the cocky shooting from my be-gloved, jazz-handed fingers. . .

Second big mistake. . . if you remember hearing, several times over, that you should start your quilting at the center of the piece and that you should then work out to the edges. You should really start your quilting at the center. You shouldn't start at the edge just because it's easier. And you REALLY shouldn't then flip it to the other side once things get all bunched up in your machine, basically working from the edges in, because this is what happens:

It's hard to tell, the picture's kinda dark and all the stripes from the pinstripes make it hard to see, but there is a big 2" wide pucker right in the middle of my quilt. A wrinkle I didn't catch until AFTER I'd been sewing for 6 BLEEDING HOURS! GGGGAAAAGGGHHH! 2 in the morning and the only thing I can see is failure and a ruined quilt front.

And so I start ripping. . .

and ripping. . .

and ripping. . .

5 more hours of ripping out the quilting and then once that was finally done I realize that I cut a hole in the boarder fabric so I had to rip THAT off too! Then it was another couple hours cleaning off all the loose threads and steaming out all the little holes left from the mishap. . . by 6 pm Friday I was basically were I was at 6 pm the day before. One whole day lost. . .

And so we begin again. . . tape and pins and grippy gloves and "Magic To Do", but with a new edition! Ladies and gents meet my hero! My new walking foot!

Ain't he sweet!

And this time I started at the center. . .


And by 2:30 am I had a wonderful finished quilt!


It's far from perfect. The stitch sizes are a bit wonky because I've yet to learn how to finesse the combo of walking foot and grippy gloves. Sometimes I helped too much and the stitches were huge, sometimes not enough, and the stitches were itty-bitty. And my straight lines are questionably straight, there are lines that wobble around more than a socialite at a sobriety checkpoint. . . but that's okay because I love it for its imperfections and I'm just soooooo very happy it's done!

One more shot, close up!


Yea!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 20 & 21

Soooo sleepy. . . I got a little too into today's craft too late in the day. I think I finished up my work around 1 am? Still I'm quite happy. . .

But, not to get ahead of myself. . . yesterday's craft:

I've dubbed this bag Clutch my Heart! Get it? Get it? (where'd all these crickets come from?)
I love this clutch shape. It's so easy to adapt and change. I've used it for clutches with ruffles and appliques and vintage fabric and pleats and the ideas keep coming! I love me some versatility!

Now for the craft that knocked me cold. It's technically not finished, I still need to do the quilting, but I finished the front of something I've been wanting to make for a while. A Doctor Who themed quilt. I know. . . I need to get out more. . .

and a bit of detail:

Yea!

Now, must sleep.

Hearts and puppies,
erika

The one in which Erika does the right thing. . .

So. . . a few months back I made this:



And I grew quite attached to it. Even though I had started to make it for someone else I really really really wanted to keep it for myself. The closer I got to finishing it, the more I wanted to keep it forever. But then it sat there in my room for a bit. . . in a corner. . . and every time I looked at it I felt guilty because it was never meant for me. . . it was meant for Alex. So this Christmas I did the right thing and sent the lovely stuffed Tardis to it's proper home. Here's the reaction it got:



Pretty great reaction, huh? Yeah. . . he was happy. . . I did the right thing. . . and that's what Christmas is all about! Now I'm off to make one of my very own.

hearts and puppies,
erika

Hey Erika! What have you been up to?

I'd love to tell you that I've been working hard on product for all of the shows I have lined up. . .

I'd love to tell you that I've printed up fabric and stitched my fingers raw on all this product. . .

I'd love to tell you that. . . but I'd so be lying. . .

Oh, don't get me wrong. . . I've been working hard and stitching hard but on something so silly and so not having to do with what I should be doing.

A little back story. . . so here in Bakersfield I don't really have friends. Don't feel sorry for me. . . it's intentional in a way, it means that I don't have too many distractions from the work, at least that's the idea. I do have friends, they're just all out of town. I lived here for a while after I graduated from the Conservatory (oh. . . I went to a performing arts conservatory. . . the Boston Conservatory to be exact. . . but I'm sure most of you reading know this because most of you know me. . . sorry. . . i digress. . .) and was very active in the local theater community with tons of friends and friendly acquaintances. I moved to New York in 2002 to act, and I did but I was only able to get so far before playing the game became an important part of my success, and I royally suck at the game. So I started this thing and moved back. . . but the temptation to perform is still there and I fear that hanging out with my old friends will get me back into my old scene and then what's the point of the last 6 years of my life if I fall back like it's 2001 all over again? So the point of all this rambling, Erika? I don't really have friends here so I watch a lot of TV and many DVDs while I work and I've been watching a LOT of the new Doctor Who.

When I got back from my last trip to New York and Washington DC I became obsessed with the idea of making a stuffed TARDIS. I started it Wednesday and finished it Sunday. Here it is. . .



and close up. . .



Sometimes I get a little obsessed with an idea and I just have to make it happen to clear my mind. Now I can start working again. . . not quite sure where I'm gonna put this thing, it's kinda huge (about 2 feet tall and about a square foot around), but, so far, it's been awful nice to cuddle while watching Torchwood. . .

Okay. . . next post will be about work. . . no more goofing around.

hearts and puppies (and doctors and tardises),
erika