Swoon cutting

Hi.

I finished off my week by finally getting something accomplished, quilting-wise.

I finished cutting all the background pieces for the Swoon quilt!  Yay!

It was a lot of pieces. I was trying to get over my fear of cutting multiple layers. It was definitely a lot quicker. My wrists are sore, though. 

Part of my fear of multiple layers is the extra pressure that is needed in the ruler--to keep it from slipping, and also pressure on the rotary cutter.

Does it take more toll on your wrists to cut multiple layers at once, or cut single layers over and over again?

I developed tendinitis in both my wrists from working production clothing sewing for a year and a half, 9 years ago. They still bother me often, especially with repetitive motion, extended computer work, heavy cleaning, lifting children. I don't have a strong grip. I still get swollen wrists and numbness often.

Anyway, didn't mean to dump. Just wanted to celebrate a small accomplishment.

Any advice for making quilting tasks easier on the body?

Goodies, Engines, Ladder Trucks

Happy wedding anniversary day!

Yesterday, we went on a hike as a family.

Taking a rest! And a water break! It was hot on the trail, but cool and misty next to the water.

We hiked to Battlecreek Falls in Pleasant Grove Canyon, Utah. Nice hike, but the last part was steep and tough on me with my asthma and tightening clothes. But it was wonderful.

My hubby is so sweet. This morning, we went shopping to Joann Fabric! Since it is our anniversary, and my birthday is in two weeks, my present was a big roll of 100% cotton batting 90"x 25 yds! It was a really great sale going on for the batting. This will last well for a bunch of quilts!

And background fabric for the little guy's quilt! It turned out to be a pretty good match, huh?!

My hubby got a new Star Wars game last week, one for the computer, so he is sitting next to me for a change, while I sew at my machine. I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit.

I trimmed and pieced together the fire engine sections, 

and got a great start on the cab sections of the ladder trucks.

Fire Engines

Happy Friday. And as it's after midnight, it is now my hubby and I's Ninth wedding anniversary!

Linking up with Quiet Play's Friday Paper Piecing Party, are my pieced fire engines. "To The Rescue" from Sept/Oct 2009 Quiltmaker Magazine.

It took me a couple of nights to do these sections, but I'm in no rush.

Here the are, ready to trim and join the sections.

Swoon block #2

After I posted in Friday night, I just couldn't stop. I finished the flying geese units for the Swoon block #2.

Saturday night, I was so close to finishing it. I had nearly all the units completed and ready to put together.

Sunday, I squeezed in, putting the three horizontal rows together.

And today, Monday, I finished the last two seams to put the block together.

This is my little guy with Autism, who the quilt is for. His favorite color is red, hence the red background. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person making a Swoon that has used a darker background, let alone RED!

And little brother wanted to get in on the action, too, so I let them hold the two finished blocks together.

Ambulances, help with pink!

I've got my paper-pieced ambulances done. I just need to add a bumper & background pieced strip underneath, and a background strip above the ambulances. I will add all those after I have ALL the rescue vehicles paper-pieced. There are four vehicles each of ambulance, fire truck, and ladder truck.

Once again, these rescue vehicles are from "To The Rescue" in Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Quiltmaker Magazine. It's still available as a digital download issue at Quilt and Sew Shop.

I like to remove the paper in the seam allowances before piecing the sections together. There is less bulk, and if there's any matching seams to do, sections ease together better without stiff paper in the seam allowances.

Then I leave the rest of the paper on the blocks until I'm ready to sew them into the quilt top.

I also have all the strips cut for the fire truck.

I'm linking up with Quiet Play's Friday Paper-Piecing Party. www.quietplay.blogspot.com

Also, quick design question:

See this gorgeous roll up by Jennifer Paganelli? It's called Girls World Vibe. It's only got 15 strips. I want to use it for a  small girly project that I want to try, and I want to use some stash. What do you think of this pink blender? Should I use it for a background for the strips, or a backing? Or should I use plain white for the background?

One Swoon Backward, One Swoon Forward

Remember this?

What do you see first?

Yup, me too. As it's been laying flat on my cutting table, waiting as I gather backing fabric and background fabric (next week probably)....I've been staring at it every day.

Saturday after work, I stopped by the Cotton Shop because I knew they carried Pieces of Hope. Did they have the orange stripe? Yup, yay! Did they have the blue stripe? Nope, sigh.

Saturday night, I was so tired that I took the above block to the recliner love seat, to pick it apart and take out the blue parts. That way I could still put my feet up, feel productive, and cuddle with my hubby, which I haven't been able to do much of during the last few weeks.

Here are the units all taken apart. They look so forlorn, and I felt so sad to take it all apart--one Swoon--I mean step--backwards!

Sunday night, I cut out four more rectangles of the orange stripe, and had enough red solid + red blender, from the bundle, for the orange stripe flying geese, AND enough red for background for another block. In the picture above, the new cut pieces are in the upper left.

Monday night, my hubby was still on shift, and I cut and maneuvered the rest of the blue stripe fat quarter, to get all the pieces necessary for a whole block. (I had to piece 4 scraps together to get two more squares!). I was so proud I did it!

Then I cut more blue mini-puzzles for the second color of the block.

Wa-la! Another block complete with background, ready to sew!

You can see the stripe/flying geese units already completed on the upper right!

(this baby is going on a growth spurt inside, I swear, because I'm constantly hungry the last few days and headachy and extra exhausted!)

So despite feeling so hammered this afternoon, I managed to slowly put the orange stripe block back together. 

I did it!!!! A step and a half forward again! Sew very much better, right? It was worth it!

Past week

I've had a very good past week. I haven't gotten a lot of quilting in, but it's not too bad.

I entered a Facebook contest at www.celticjewelry.com, which has gorgeous wedding and Claddagh rings and other Celtic -themed jewelry. The contest was to write a product description for a new pendant. And I won!

http://www.celticjewelry.com/custom/devi-pendant.html

When I was a child,  I wanted to be a writer. I never thought I'd be writing like this: a product description, a published research paper on quilting history in America, and now a quilting blog.

 And I also wanted to be an artist. I didn't know that quilting would become my principle art form!

To be able to combine my love of writing and my love of sewing and quilting, is a surprise and a lot of fun for me.

So to sum up my last week:

I sewed snaps into the button plackets of my work shirts (pregnancy does fun stuff to your shape and gaps between buttons are the worst).

I cut out two more blocks for the Swoon quilt. I am really loving my color combinations.

I ordered a received the backing fabric for the Swoon quilt. There should be enough for backing and pillowcases, and hopefully some teacher gifts later.

I also ordered something for me--more of Cuzco by Kate Spain for Moda! I have been patrolling Etsy and my favorite online fabric stores, looking for a Cuzco jelly roll, and finally found one on Southern Fabric's Etsy shop. Yay!

I also found a 10" stacker of So Sophie by Riley Blake. The purples and golds in this line are so sweet!

I think that I would like to make the car seat covers and/or the nursing covers with Cuzco purples or So Sophie. That depends on the baby's gender of course.

And I finished the paper-piecing for the ambulances, for my husband's quilt.