Penguin Giveaway!

If you're new here WELCOME!!! To give you a bit about myself I live in Northwest Iowa with my amazing husband. I love to knit and quilt and am an aspiring quilt designer. Recently I had one of my patterns published in Fons and Porters' Easy Quilts Winter 2014.

I know that there are a lot of postings to read right now with the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day so I've put instructions for entering the giveaway in bold at the bottom of this post. Please feel free to enter the giveaway and come back next week to learn more about me.

I don't think it's a secret anymore that I love penguins. I was so excited this morning when someone shared on facebook that there was a penguin for sale on ebay. While my first thought should have been asking why someone would sell a live penguin online or maybe that penguins are wild social creatures that need to live in a flock not as a pet. My first thought was CUTE!!!!! When I told my husband I expected him to remind me that our lease doesn't allow pets or maybe that a penguin is an impractical pet, but instead it was to remind me that we don't have room. Imagine our disappointment when it turned out that the penguin for sale is a walking foot for the feather weight. I say disappointment because the foot sold for $700 so I don't foresee this penguin ever coming to live with me. The good news is that if you are also a lover of penguins the little guys on this quilt can come to live with you!

When I was first learning to quilt I took a workshop on the drunkard's path block. Being new to quilting I didn't know that curved seams were supposed to be hard. Ignorance and a wonderful teacher proved to be bliss and I learned that the drunkard's path block is really pretty easy. I wasn't happy with any of the patterns I could find so I created my own. With encouragement from my guild I wrote the pattern for this charming quilt and included the tips that I learned that make curved seams so easy. The quilt finishes 60"x60" and the pattern includes instructions for the angled corners or a square quilt depending on what you want to make. 

Today's give away is for a digital copy of Penguins on Parade and is open to everyone. 

Please leave a comment telling me what name you would give a penguin. Although I don't have any live penguins I do have a stuffed penguin named Matilda. If you want a second chance to win please follow my blog and leave me a comment letting me know how you follow. I'll be announcing the winner next Saturday December 13. 

If that's not enough I've decided to offer my Penguins on Parade pattern half price this week only! (If you buy the pattern and win the giveaway you can choose to give the pattern to a friend or choose one of my other patterns. I have Chrysanthemum in my Craftsy shop and have two more that are almost ready for publication.)

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2014-Original Design

I was so excited to see the Original Design category in this year's Blogger's Quilt Festival. A couple years ago my quilt guild had a workshop on the drunkard's path. I wanted a quilt for my bed that would make me happy whenever I saw it. I've always loved penguins and with a little bit of playing I figured out how to make a penguin with the drunkard's path block. My first drawing felt very busy so I alternated some setting squares and added some fish for variety. The result was a quilt that made me very happy. 

The women in my guild loved my penguins and encouraged me to write the pattern. (The link is available on my sidebar.) I figured most people probably wouldn't want a bed covered in penguins so after finishing the queen sized quilt I made this lap version that finishes 60"x60". Oddly enough I'm still not tired of the drunkard's path and used it for my Bloomin' Onion quilt this year. I know that curved seams aren't for everyone so I'm working at adding instructions to the pattern so that the blocks can be made with applique.

The pebble quilting reminded me of bubbles so I chose to do that around all of the penguins and fish. I love how it really makes the penguins pop.

Focusing on the Finish Line

Last week I was happily working along on the green sweater when I saw another blogger posting about the Ravellenic Games. Immediately I wanted to set greeny aside and cast on a new sweater with the lofty hopes of finishing it in two weeks. My husband knows me very well and knows that at the end of the two weeks I'd have another WIP and would be upset with myself for not meeting the impossible goal. He gently reminded me that I have several projects on the verge of being done and questioned if this really was the best time to start a new sweater. As usual he was right and inspired me to set my own goal. In the next two weeks I will focus on finishing everything that is close to being finished. It won't count towards any competitions, but it's still a good goal.

Writer's Block is still patiently waiting for binding. I also got two tops back from my quilter so now there are three quilts that need binding and labels.

In addition to finishing the green sweater I also need to finish the button band on the brown blob (I ordered more yarn when I ordered buttons for greeny.) I need to finish sewing the ribbon onto the steeked part of the purple monster and add buttons. (I also might need to find a solution to loosening the wrists. The color work on the cuffs have made it so that the sleeves aren't comfortable.) The last thing on the list of things to be finished are my fingerless gloves.

These aren't all of my WIPs. (You'll notice the mystery quilt is no where to be seen.) These are just the projects that are one or two steps away from being finished. Last summer my husband helped me wind up my yarn mountain. The light blue yarn in the mountain is going into the fingerless gloves, the yellow yarn became Omelet (I should probably add a photo shoot of Omelet to my list of things to do in the next two weeks.) The brown yarn became a hat I made for my husband for Christmas, which leave the blue yarn at the base of the mountain. When I finish with this list I get to cast the blue yarn on for Anne's Cardigan.

Penguins on Parade

This post has been a very long time coming. Last winter I took a workshop on piecing the drunkard's path. Not being satisfied with any of the patterns I found I chose to create my own. After a great deal of encouragement and support from the women in my guild and the readers of my blog I have finally published my penguin quilt pattern! 

I can't believe how many penguins decorations I've seen this year. I love that the penguins in this quilt aren't Christmas themed so it's a quilt that can stay out all winter. The blocks for this quilt are 14" making for fast assembly. If you've never made a drunkard's path before don't panic. It's a very easy block and I walk you through how to assemble the sizes for both the penguins and the fish.

I've included a link to my pattern store on my sidebar or you can go here: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/penguins-on-parade/78070?_ct=iuqhsx-kdyluhiqb-huikbj-fqjjuhd&_ctp=78070. 

Penguin Progress

I've been struggling with this post most of the week. I have no idea why it's okay to write 8 posts on a shawl, but I'm feeling guilty about sharing progress on my Penguin Quilt  for the third week in a row. It both astonishes and confounds me how I can have such completely opposite approaches when it comes to knitting and quilting. With knitting I can only have one project at a time that I'm working on. (I've tried many times to have multiple projects going so that I have knitting no matter what mood I'm in, but it just doesn't work.) The closest I've come to writing my own knitting pattern is vanilla socks where I just check stitch counts for the heel. It's easy to show progress from one week to the next so I almost always have something to write about.

With quilting I can't even count how many quilts I have in the works right now. Since I have self-set deadlines and am working through how I'll finish them I'm calling them WIPs and not UFOs. I usually don't use a pattern, and if I do I alter it so much that it has very little resemblance to the quilt that inspired it. Progress however is very hard to show on a large quilt. I don't have a good way to hang a quilt in progress so all I can share is close-ups of the blocks. (When the blocks are 14" though it makes it hard to even get a decent shot of that.)

I've been busy working on quilting Penguins this week. I'm hoping to photograph it early next week so I've been pushing to finish it in time. This is only my second time doing free motion quilting and I wasn't prepared for how much thread it would take. Thankfully the Fat Quarter Shop has really fast shipping and I had a new spool of thread 3 days after ordering.

I have one large grey block, one fish, and two penguins left to quilt, and the binding so I should make my goal of finishing this weekend. I'm loving how the bubble quilting is looking. It really makes this quilt.

Penguins and New Sewing Machine

 This week I've started quilting the penguin quilt. I'm very new at free motion quilting so it's hard to really say how it's going. It's not perfect which is a bit disappointing, but it's good enough to keep. I did in the ditch quilting around the fish and penguins. Since the penguins are so big I also stitched around their bellies and beaks. In the grey blocks I've decided to do bubble quilting. I'm not sure if I'm going to do bubbles on the blue too or if I'll just keep it on the plain blocks.

On Wednesday I mentioned that I bought a new sewing machine cabinet last weekend. Since there were several requests for pictures and more details here's the cabinet as it currently sits. It turns makes an excellent computer desk when it's all folded up.

Check out that large space for quilting! I haven't had a chance to really look at the machine so I'm afraid I can't give you any details yet. I am planning on refinishing this soon. Currently I'm leaning towards painting it some shade of blue and recovering the chair with a soft cream colored fabric. I'll be sure to share pictures as soon as it's finished.

Penguin Quilt

My brilliant plan of sharing Writer's Block on the blog in order to focus on it more has failed miserably. This week I've gotten distracted by efforts to get my Penguin Quilt pattern finished by the end of September. I'm debating whether I should leave the corners angled or if I should make the quilt square all the way around.

I'm also struggling to come up with a name for this pattern. I want something a little more unique than "Penguin Quilt" but the name still needs to attract attention (and hopefully sales.) The finished pattern will include directions for the 60" square throw and a table runner featuring two of the penguins. Currently I plan to publish this pattern with Craftsy, and I'm looking for other sites to publish with.

It's crazy that in the middle of a major heat wave there is still enough wind to keep me from hanging the quilt on the line. This shot doesn't really show off the quilt, but it makes the penguins look like they're flying! Too cute not to share.

Penguin and Fish eyes

I'm not sure why this step gave me so many problems. Okay that's a lie. This step gave me lots of problems because I've never done applique and for my first time doing it I decided to do pieces the size of buttons on the cuffs of dress shirts. I had originally planned to do a satin stitch around the edge of the eyes, but I discovered that of the many stitches my new sewing machine does a plain ordinary satin stitch is not one of them. Then I tried using a blanket stitch, but it didn't work with those stupid tiny pieces with my limited experience. Finally while watching Fons and Porter they did an episode with applique using a darning foot and a simple straight stitch.

After a month trying to figure out how to do the eyes it took about an hour to do the stitching on all of my eyes. I prefer working with smaller pieces so I added the eyes before assembling the blocks. It takes a little more attention when completing the blocks, but only one fish was mutated in the process.

 It is optional to do the eyes before or after assembling the blocks. The penguin beaks however are pieced and need to be added prior to sewing up the penguin blocks. I cut small squares, drew a line down the middle, and  sewed to the shallow side of the line. I struggled to get my beaks to line up when folded so I nudged the edge a bit over the side of the penguin blocks and then trimmed the excess.

I've known all along that my drunkard's path blocks would produce penguins and fish, but there's a certain level of excitement that comes from seeing the finished blocks and knowing that my plan actually worked.

Some of the ladies in my quilt guild are encouraging me to write up this pattern. I think once the quilt is finished I'll work to create a pattern for a baby quilt. It probably won't be ready in time for the May quilt show, but when I have it finished I'll be sure to share it here.

Linking up here:

Drunkard's Path Sewing Guide part 2

Last week I showed how to make the 7.5" drunkard's path blocks for my penguin quilt. This week I'm going to show you how to make the 3.5" block. (Please note that the block I showed you last week uses the same techniques you'll use for the larger blocks, but was for a separate quilt. In the penguin quilt the 7.5" blocks are penguins and the 3.5" blocks are fish.)

The technique for the smaller block is fairly similar to the ones used for the larger block, but there are a few differences. Since the block is so small there's no need to pin at the middle. The horseshoe piece goes on bottom and the pie piece goes on top. Begin by matching up the starting ends and doing a few stitches.

 Just like with the larger block, straighten out the block as you sew so that when the seam passes under the needle it's a straight line. You'll tug the top piece a little to make this happen, but be careful about tugging too much. Because the curve is cut on the bias it has a lot of stretch and your ends won't match if you tug too much.

Because of the size of these blocks getting the two pieces lined up was a challenge at the end. I found a pair of tweezers were great for finishing out the seams. (Some of the ladies at the workshop used tweezers on the bigger blocks too, but I didn't find that to be necessary.)

Alternate the direction you press so that your seams will nest. (I pressed the tail and head towards the white and the back and belly towards the blue.) This block hasn't been stitched but it gives you an idea of how the fish will look.

Since I neglected to share my penguins last week here's one of them. Four fish blocks equal one penguin.

Drunkard's Path Sewing Guide part 1

The technique for sewing the 7.5" blocks and 3.5" blocks are slightly different. At the workshop our teacher began with the larger block so I'm going to start with that one. There is a little bit of a learning curve with sewing curves, but just go slow and the method will click pretty quickly. Unfortunately I was too caught up in figuring out what I was doing to remember to take pictures. Luckily one of the guys I work for celebrated his 60th birthday over the weekend and he just happens to love fish. I decided to make him a wall hanging featuring the drunkard's path fish. 

The first step is to fold the pie piece and horse shoe piece in half and finger press a small crease at the top.

Match up the two creases and pin.

Our quilt teacher taught us that we only need the one pin in the middle that moves to the end half way through sewing. I found it easier to have both pins in place right from the start. (I've seen tutorials online that use a lot more pins than this, but it's really not necessary.)

One of the major secrets of sewing the drunkard's path block is having the horseshoe side down. (I think of it as iron horseshoes weigh more than a piece of pie so they sink to the bottom. Please note that from this point on the horse shoe is in the red fabric and the pie is blue.)

When sewing this block, pull the seam so that it's straight when it's fed through the needle. You will pull the top piece a little to make sure that they match up in the middle. Make sure that the fabric going under the needle is flat and smooth. Puckers will keep your seam from laying flat and won't look good in the finished quilt. (It's a good idea to cut a few extra pieces. This is a more challenging block and you're going to mess up the seam allowance and sew puckers. A seam ripper is good for the first mistake, but the third time ripping out the seam it's easier to just start over.) 

I found that these blocks come out much more wrinkled than when I sew squares or triangles, but ironing will fix everything.

Ironing rules are the basic quilting ones. Alternate pressing seams towards the pie or towards the horseshoe, going towards the dark when possible. Ordinarily when I iron I don't use anything special, but for this block I found best press makes a huge difference in how these blocks look.

I added half square triangles to make this wall hanging size (it finishes 20"x20".) My machine has a cool stitch that looks like waves and was perfect for quilting. On the penguin quilt I did applique eyes, but since there's only one fish and this isn't going on a bed I used a button for the eye. 

I've named this quilt "The Big One."

Drunkard's Path Cutting Guide

Cutting out the Drunkard's Path block is really pretty simple. There are two tools that will save you much frustration. I strongly encourage investing in a rotating cutting mat and a 28mm rotary cutter. (I used a 45mm cutter to do the 7.5" blocks, but it was impossible to do the horseshoe bits on the 3.5" blocks. I almost kissed one of the ladies when she lent me her cutter.) My rotary cutting skills are not always accurate so I cut my strips of fabric half an inch wider than my templates and then trimmed them to size. Due to the layout of this quilt I didn't need horseshoe and pie pieces that were the same color. This layout does waste a bit of fabric, but with some careful cutting the waste is very minimal.

To cut the horseshoe shapes I folded my fabric to fit two horseshoes nestled together. (Ended up being 12" strips for the 7.5" horseshoe piece.) There's a little bit of extra space so don't worry too much about cutting an inch or so past the edges of the templates.

With a sharp blade I found that I could easily do four layers of fabric at a time. It worked best to cut the flat sides first and then anchor the template by holding a finger on each side of the square. (It's not as complicated as it sounds, but since I'm not an octopus I wasn't able to get a picture of me doing this.) The picture below shows how the two pieces nestle together once the extra fabric is removed.

To cut my pie shaped pieces I cut squares half an inch larger than my pie piece. (For the 7.5" templates the edge of the pie is 6" and my square was 6.5") When I did my 3.5" pie pieces I cut straight from the strips. The curve makes it impossible to nest these pieces the way I did for the horseshoe so I just kept the straight edge facing the same direction across the strip. 

Your horseshoes and pie pieces won't line up perfectly. It's okay. The magic of sewing curved seams will fix this in the next step.

Sock it to Me Week 5

My sock needles are looking very sad right now.

That's right. They're empty. This week I've been distracted by lots. I showed you the penguin quilt this weekend, but that is just one of the things distracting me. I've started clearing out the yarn stash by making baby hats. 

Judging from how slowly the hat is going (more so how little attention I'm giving it) this may not be the best plan for downsizing the stash. Most of my knitting time is going into the purple monster.

Have I mentioned lately that this sweater has 13.5 inches of knit stitches one after another after another? I just hit 11 inches and the prospect of finishing in 2.5 inches is very motivating. I'm trying to decide if I want to do 1.5 inches of that as ribbing for the bottom or do a turned hemmed which will require me to knit an extra 2 inches in a contrasting color and then turn the hem and bind the live stitches to the back side. (Yes, that sounds complicated to me too so I'll probably do the ribbing option.) You may have noticed that this sweater has no sleeves, but it has been decided that when my needles are free this sweater is going to have some time out in the stash while I move on to my green sweater that's full of lots of fun cables. Eventually the joy of cables will wear off and the idea of straight stockinette sleeves will feel like a break rather than a chore. When that happens I'll spend a week or two making sleeves and then will get the joy of a quick finish.

The last distraction has been quilting related.

Before Christmas I was spending more time on the pinwheel quilt than Christmas presents so it got banished to the closet so I could focus better on the stuff on a timeline. My quilt guild's show is 15 weeks away. Sounds like plenty of time, doesn't it? Then I realized that before the show I want to finish hand quilting the pinwheel quilt, machine quilt Coffee Lover, finish and quilt Hobbit, finish Penguins (although since that quilt is a workshop quilt I am allowed to display the top unquilted) and possibly do the Challenge quilt (a modern 5'x7' quilt in solids that is machine quilted by the quilter.) Suddenly 15 weeks does not seem like much time at all.

Penguin Quilt

This year my quilt guild's winter workshop featured the Drunkard's Path block. I think the reason it's called the Drunkard's Path is because who ever came up with this block was very familiar with that particular path, if you catch my meaning. (I think it also helps the quilter if she's a little familiar with that path, or at least the bottle at the start of that path.) Once I figured out what I was doing it did start to get fun. I'm getting ahead of myself though, so lets back up and start at the beginning.

Here are my fabric choices for the quilt. As the name suggests the black and white fabrics will become penguins on the dark blue. The orange will be used as beaks and binding. The dark blue will also be used to make fish which will be on the white. All of these blocks will be on point alternating with solid, light blue squares.

 I forgot to take a picture of the black before I cut into it which is why it looks like there's so much less of it. You might be wondering why there's so much black fabric left if I've already cut all of my blocks. In December my husband gave me EQ7 (computer software for designing quilts.) I had several mock-ups of my penguin quilt before deciding on the final layout. One of the nice aspects of the software is that it gives you a yardage estimate for the quilt. I've never made a queen size quilt and I know that the Drunkard's Path block wastes a bit of fabric so I decided to trust the software when it told me to buy 18 yards of fabric. (Yes, I thought this may be a bit much but I frequently regret it when I don't trust the pattern so I did.) After cutting out all of my blocks I realized that I'd only used half of my fabric. Turns out that if you have two quilt tops in your project file EQ7 assumes you want to make both quilt tops. I think I'm going to figure out a way to use the extra fabric for the backing of this quilt.

I think rather than calling this quilt Penguin quilt (which is a working title, when it's finished it will be named Feeding Time) I should call it Comedy of Errors. So far I've had at least one problem in every step. At the workshop was the worst. My machine started growling at me at about 10 am and when I got back to lunch it began clunking and then stopping. I frequently have conversations with Jenny (my sewing machine) about proper behavior. I give her regular brushings and make sure all of her parts are in order, but lately she's been complaining more and more. Because of where I live, my work hours, and the hours of the shops around here it will mean sacrificing two entire Saturdays to take Jenny to the repair man and get her back. I am making plans for this trip, but my husband and I have been contemplating getting a second machine for several months now. Yesterday I decided it was time for Jenny to meet her new little Brother, Samuel, Sammy for short. 

Sammy comes equipped with multiple feet for quilting, an extension table for quilting, and over 100 different stitches, including a basic alphabet that I suspect will come in useful when I make quilt labels. I plan on playing sewing with this machine a lot in the next few weeks as I work on the penguin quilt. When I finish the  quilt top I'll do a proper review of Sammy.