Sewing Update

I've been doing lots of sewing lately, but haven't been great about documenting my progress with my camera!

I finished the Aviatrix Medallion quilt top. As predicted, the little log cabin blocks came together easily, but the last border was a doozy. These were little butterflies that were complex and involved lots of sewing weird angles with precision. I had 80 of them to sew, and I got the hang of them after the first 20 or so. Then, a final linen border was attached, and viola - done!

I leave for my annual pilgrimage to the cabin in Stone Lake, WI, tomorrow, and this time I'll definitely be bringing my sewing machine. My goal is to get this one and the Hedge Maze quilt quilted while I'm there.

From the Archives: Lattice Quilt

I loved the Missouri Star Quilt Company youtube tutorials when I first started quilting. Jenny Doan makes things so wonderfully easy and doable! This quilt uses charm packs (pre-cut 5 inch fabric squares), and I had a few of those from a Tina Givens fabric collection.

The pink strips were from an old sheet, and the backing and binding are an old cotton Shabby Chic shower curtain - I'm all about making do and using what I have!

I think the thing I love most about this quilt is the free-motion quilting. I really enjoyed making that loopy design around the border, and my stippling in the main part of the quilt was very even and precise.

My Aunt Alice grabbed this one, and I get to revisit it every time I go see her!

Aviatrix Medallion: Border 5

The 5th border on the Aviatrix Medallion quilt are little log cabin blocks. I'm glad I did all my prep work with the cutting and having everything in baggies ahead of time. I typically don't work that way, but for these blocks with lots of different sized pieces, it's been really nice to have everything all organized and ready to go. I might have to keep on doing this organization thing!

These are fun and easy to sew - just strips of fabric sewn around a center square. This pattern calls for two different blocks - 20 with the white border on the outside like the picture above, and 20 with a colored border on the outside.

After this one, I just have one more border to go!

Friday Finish: Dancing Quill

Well, this one was awhile in the making! I started this quilt in 2014 and there was lots of frustration over the pattern and technique. I pushed through though, and I'm glad I did, because I think this quilt is beautifully unique despite all the trouble.

Part of it is that I'm totally in love with the free motion design I did - I think the texture it gives makes the negative white space really stand out and look interesting.

The backing is a 1930's reproduction from Connecting Threads, and the binding is from the same Valori Well's collection as the rest of the quilt top material.

Recipe Time: Beef Lo Mein and Mini Egg Rolls

Every now and then I get on a chinese food jag, where I crave it intensely for days on end...lo mein, chow mein, egg foo young, fried rice, chop suey...basically anything that's classic cantonese. I grew up in a part of Minneapolis that had plenty of these places and I took them for granted until I moved to a suburb that is not known for it's fine ethnic cuisine. Bowling alleys and burger places we have aplenty, but a little hole in the wall ready to supply me with cheap delecious comfort food? Those are in short supply.

After viewing a Sara Moulton's "Weeknight Meals" episode on PBS last weekend, I decided I'd make my own take-out thank you very much, so I did. And it was delecious.

 I used Sarah's recipe for little mini egg rolls, and these were easy and delecious. I always shy away from deep frying anything because it's a pain in the neck, seems vaguely wasteful (all that oil!) and stinks up the house. These little babies fry up in about three tablespoons of oil, and were pain-free in every way. The only thing I did differently was to finely dice all the veggies instead of julienning them - I think it's easier to fill the wrappers when everything is all nicely chopped up, plus it's just a weird texture thing for me.

After researching Lo Mein, I discovered that all recipes are pretty much the same. You saute meat and veggies, add noodles, and top with a sauce, which seems to always be made out of the same 4-5 ingredients. The main thing you need to know about Lo Mein is that it's really easy. And fast. I used A Pinch of Yum's recipe and made a few small changes:

• My noodles came in an 8 oz package, so I used all of them and doubled the sauce recipe. 
• I added sauteed sliced pork for extra protein
• I'd up the amount of veggies - by the time you saute everything, it all wilts down. I added almost a whole head of napa cabbage, 4 carrots, 2 red peppers, 8 oz of mushrooms, and an onion. With all that cabbage, it was probably more like 6 cups of veggies, but I think it was just right.
• Make sure you have all your ingrediants prepped and ready to go. Things happen fast when you start sauteing!
• Key ingredient in asian cooking is the toasted sesame oil. You must have it, no other substitute will do.

Aviatrix Medallion: Border 3 and 4

I finished up the x and plus blocks over the weekend, and also did border #4, which is just little squares of gray.

I've been utilizing glue basting with this quilt a lot - I was struggling with getting the plus blocks to match up, and I decided to hit them with a little glue - problem solved! It's also been great for attaching the long narrow borders. The material for that is a linen blend, and tends to warp and wave a little. The glue really helps to get them nicely straight and flat.

Aviatrix Medallion: Border 3

Border three on the Aviatrix Medallion is a little more involved than the first one. It's made up of these plus sign/x blocks, and they are fiddly. I'm not a fan of "Snowballing" corners - this is when you draw a diagonal line through a square of fabric, sew on the line, trim, and then flip it up. It involves lots of marking and this takes time.

 I do love this handy pen I got in my last mini quilt kit though - the ink disappears about an hour after you draw with it! Yes, for reals! It works too. I marked a bunch of squares, and then got distracted by something. When I got back, all my lines were gone and I had to redo them. So there's a downside to the disappearing ink.

I have to make 20 of these, and I've only done three of them, so I have a ways to go.

Quilting the Dancing Quill

 

After basting the infamous Valori Well's Craftsy mystery quilt, I finally started quilting it two nights ago. I thought about the design for a while, and finally decided to try a sort of tear drop feathered paisley design. I thought this would echo the fabrics, and it seems to evoke bird plumage to me, which fits in with the name.

I'm very happy with how it's turning out. As usual with new designs, it took me a little bit to find my groove and commit the design to muscle memory, but I have the hang of it now, and I'm loving how it looks.

This is a little more time consuming than my other free motion designs, and more thread intensive. I've used 16 bobbins worth of thread so far, and I'm guessing I have about three or four more to go. One bobbin lasts me about 30 minutes, so that means i've been sewing this for 8 hours so far with a couple more to go!