Man in the Wilderness Quilt Part 2

I know it's been a while since I promised you detailed images of the embroidery/applique blocks from my "Man in the Wilderness" quilt. Life got in the way...and as it says on the tin, we're Mighty Distractible over here.

The embroidery/applique panels on this quilt are what really made it a long-haul project. Sure, I could have programmed the letters into my sewing machine and embroidered them that way, or used a machine decorative stitch to attach the applique pieces. But that's not me. I wanted the viewer to be able to see the hand in this quilt. All of those hours stitching under a lamp gave my quilt the rustic look I wanted to achieve. One more step on my way to being Ma Ingalls (but I refuse to give up my Bernina and rotary cutter!).

It's been a while now since this project was finished, and I've moved on to design other quilts. So funny, these pictures already seem like snaphots of an old friend.

–Cassandra

A Quilt in Process

If there's one thing I can say about myself, I'm not a quitter. I can take on a long-haul project and not lose sight of the end...even at the most sluggish parts of the process. And the end is coming near (near, not here) for a big project have been working on. Remember "The Year of the Quilt"?

I've actually shared with you a lot about the quilt I'm making...and you didn't even know it. My tutorials over this past year for the scrappy log cabin blocks, propeller blocks, pinwheel blocks, staggered strips blocks, and applique blocks were all born from my quilt design process. Instead of sewing a quilt that is a repeat of one type of block, my crazy idea was to create a design that used groupings of a variety of blocks appropriate for a beginner. It promised to be a slower process, but I wanted to learn a lot along the way.

It's an explosion of earth tones.

And boy oh boy, did I learn...

: When it says 1/4 in. seam, take it seriously.
: Using my cutting mat on the floor makes things go crooked.
: Don't get cocky with the razor-sharp rotary cutter.
: Blocks really need to be the right size and properly square if you don't want a nightmare later.
: My sewing room is too small.
: I'm not as slick with a sewing machine as I thought I was.
: Blocks look way more appealing once they are sewn together.
: As always...measure twice, cut once.

Throughout this process I have been both impressed by my new skills and humbled by the amount of times I've had to rip things out and start again. But, I love it. It's fair to say that I am hooked on quilting.

Embroidery in process.

Right now my assorted quilt blocks are all finished and in neat piles, systematically being sewn together to create the larger quilt. What's slowing me down is the hand embroidery I'm adding to the applique blocks. 2 out of the 6 are completed. Once the final 4 are done it should be smooth sailing to create a border and simple quilt back. This is when I hire my friend Stitchlilly to baste my quilt together with her long arm machine so I can (hopefully) quilt it without too much grief. (I will be sure to share any grief with you all here.)

I have had no hard deadline for myself on this quilt. But, I will admit to getting excited to finish now that the end is in sight. Because of course, the next design is already brewing in my head :)

–Cassandra

Creative Update

Tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day, and as a rule, I try to fill my children's pots and pans (see a previous blog post on that) with fruit, a small amount of chocolate and something handmade. My plan was to make them some adorable knitted animal finger-puppets and a zippered pouch to store them. Yeah well, that was before I decided to knit my boys new holiday sweaters. Total knitting time-suck. This mama only has so many hours in the day she can devote to her pointy sticks. (More on these sweaters when they're finished!)

Sweaters in process.

Being the project-oriented gal that I am, I soon hatched a plan B. A simple sewing project. My boys are always trying to wear my "big people" aprons in the kitchen so I decided it was time they had some of their own. For a couple years now I have been eyeing the free child's apron pattern from Sew Liberated so I went with that design. Total smart move. Easy and turned out super-cute.

Aprons are the perfect opportunity for novelty fabric.

The two best features of this pattern is the elastic at the neck strap and the velcro at the hip for fastening the waist strap. Both of these features ensure that a child can put this on without assistance. I love that. All-in-all I think it took me about 3 hours to make both aprons. I will try to update this post with a picture of them modeled by little boys after they are gifted tomorrow.

I feel really, really at home doing applique. Who knew?

And of course, the quilt sewing goes on. I am on block 3 of the 6 applique blocks required to complete what I need to do in order to assemble the neverending quilt. Lucky for this project, it doesn't get too neglected during the holidays because it's not "sneaky sewing" (see above aprons that had to be sewn in the wee hours when little people were fast asleep). My sewing area is next to the playroom so I can sew while keeping an eye on the shenanigans that go on in that den of crazy.

When the holidays are over, my main thing is going to be getting this quilt finished. Because I have two other ones to start! Hopefully I've learned enough during this process to make the next two go faster. :)

–Cassandra

UPDATE: Some quick snapshots of the aprons this morning....pictures are a little blurry because the kids were so jumpy!