natalie-gee

[natalie-gee]

This x1000. After some huge personal failures and having to move back in with my parents to make things work, I have tried very hard to make this my motto.

Cut yourself some slack, everyone.

we all need to collectively unlearn the idea that certain achievements (i.e. graduating college, getting a job, moving out, etc) only count if they’re achieved by a certain age or within a “normal” time frame.

going through life at your own pace does NOT equate laziness or failure.

accomplishments don’t have an expiration date.

[natalie-gee]

Truly too amazing not to reblog. I'd love to have these on my wall.

[natalie-gee]

An update, at last! This year has just been so full of crazy stuff, you guys. I'm ready for it to be over with. 

[natalie-gee]

Welp, I've been a little slack on updates lately. Sorry guys--life is life. I can't say much right now, but there's a lot of change happening in my future (the good kind!).

If you haven't noticed, I like to mark progress when I have a complete shape, so as the quilt is getting bigger, this takes just a little bit longer. The quilt still only covers my lap, so no significant progress there, but here is my take on the super awesome Clover Wonderclips! These things are great--so much better than paperclips for paper piecing. They stay in really well and won't suddenly pop off while you're sewing some corners. (And they won't snag the fabric either.)

I think the best thing I've discovered about the Wonderclips so far is that they have seam markers on the bottom! My DSLR is broken and won't show you the details, but take my word for it--you've got 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 inch markers.

You can get them for about $20 off Amazon for the big box of 50, but I purchased them locally from a quilt store for about $40 and they were still worth every penny. Support your local crafting businesses and they'll support you back!

That's all for now, and I'll try not to wait two months for my next update.  

[natalie-gee]

Thank-you, followers/viewers for the kind things you have posted about my quilt recently. It has made me feel so good to know that others can appreciate my hand-piecing, and it definitely has pushed me to start posting updates again.

Now, here is where I currently stand at week.. um.. let's just say 12, okay? ;) 

As you can see I'm back to green again! Once my second set of greens hits the bottom of the quilt I will finally (gasp) change color directions and have 1/4 of the whole quilt top complete. I will now adapt the mantra of 'just keep sewing' and 'mind your fingers'.

And in the spirit of Easter (and my birthday!) I have acquired some fun sewing gifts from friends and family that I will try my hand at reviewing starting next week.

[natalie-gee]

I will never not boost a post to help protect Endangered Species. If you can't sign it, please at least make yourself aware or reblog.

GUYS

THEY ARE TRYING TO TAKE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT DOWN

AND REPLACE IT WITH THE BULLSHIT ENDANGERED SPECIES MANAGEMENT SELF-DETERMINATION ACT

THAT ALLOWS STATES TO DECIDE  IF THEY EVEN WANT TO ABIDE BY LAWS PROTECTING SPECIES AT ALL

AND DELISTS SPECIES AFTER ONLY FIVE YEARS

DOES ANYONE ELSE EVEN CARE

[natalie-gee]

I think it's Week 11? I've lost track, but I'm still working away! 

The really nice thing about this project is that there is no deadline. Going straight from college to a full-time job has never really afforded me that luxury, but I really recommend doing this. I don't necessarily mean making a quilt by hand, that's just what I chose to do, but I encourage everyone to take their time to do something meaningful at their own pace.

Because I know I'm gonna be super damn proud when this is done. 121 squares down, only 1,035 to go!

[natalie-gee]

Not gonna lie, spent another weekend at my parents' and my weekly update completely slipped my mind. But honestly I'm thinking of spacing them out a little bit so that the progress on my quilt can seem more significant.

[natalie-gee]

I did it! I have used at least one square of every color in my palette. On my next column and row I'll start all over with that pretty red-orange in the lower left hand corner.

I have recently found out through my grandmother that the women in my family have long been making handicrafts, and she showed me some beautiful tatting and quilt tops. I'm thinking when I'm done with this quilt I might take some of those old quilt tops and finish them as a gift. 

But of course I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I could be doing this quilt for the next year, possibly. As long as I have enough tv to watch while I'm doing it.

[natalie-gee]

Sorry for the late update!

Since I was home this weekend I also managed to get my hands on some awesome Mettler thread with a silk finish for my hand quilting. Yes, I'm getting just a little ahead of myself considering how much I have left to do, but look at those pretty colors! 

It was extremely hard not to take one of every color from the rack at the quilting store. I'm just a little bit of a hoarder when it comes to pretty thread, and the three boxes of organized embroidery thread I have in my possession will back that up.

[natalie-gee]

Craftalong and Couch Quilt

Hello few followers of mine, my weekly update is going to be a little late. I got some unexpected time off from work and decided to spend it at home with my family but I didn't have the foresight to bring my camera--dur. But fear not, I did work on my couch quilt and purchased some pretty new thread. I'll update tomorrow for sure. (: Thanks for your patience.

[natalie-gee]

 That is so sweet of you to say, thank-you. (: I'm sort of an obsessive perfectionist--just a little. 

Deeeep plum. At last I’ve found deeeeep plum. Been searching for deeeep plum, for all of my liiiiiife. (Brownie points if you can guess the song before you click.)

Finally got my hands on some of those beautiful purples and I’m pretty excited about it. You can see that my ‘quilt baby’ is growing quite nicely, so big that I had to actually clean my crafting table off to turn my cutting mat to the side. And by ‘clean’ I mean ‘shove everything to one side’.

Also another progress pic over my pattern, and I still have a long way to go, obviously, but I don’t think I’m doing too badly for a month or so of hand piecing. I managed to squeeze in one good night of sewing this week between working, so I’m hoping to start sewing a little quicker once this big project I’m doing at work is finished. Only two more days!

On a bonus note, I will add that I found that cereal boxes will do great in a pinch if you can’t find stencil plastic—which I can’t, because Walmart is silly.  

[natalie-gee]

Deeeep plum. At last I've found deeeeep plum. Been searching for deeeep plum, for all of my liiiiiife. (Brownie points if you can guess the song before you click.)

Finally got my hands on some of those beautiful purples and I'm pretty excited about it. You can see that my 'quilt baby' is growing quite nicely, so big that I had to actually clean my crafting table off to turn my cutting mat to the side. And by 'clean' I mean 'shove everything to one side'.

Also another progress pic over my pattern, and I still have a long way to go, obviously, but I don't think I'm doing too badly for a month or so of hand piecing. I managed to squeeze in one good night of sewing this week between working, so I'm hoping to start sewing a little quicker once this big project I'm doing at work is finished. Only two more days!

On a bonus note, I will add that I found that cereal boxes will do great in a pinch if you can't find stencil plastic--which I can't, because Walmart is silly.   

[natalie-gee]

Very short update this week, as tensions are mounting at work upon the completion of a giant project we've been working on for many months; it's been a rough week, but soon it will all be over, and then more time for sewing!

But I feel like a proud mom watching this little quiltlet grows into a full-fledged blankie. I do have my moments when I ask myself why I'm doing this, but then I start sewing and my mind just goes peacefully blank and then it all comes back to me.

And soon. Purple. Purple is coming on the next column I add. Prepare yourself for the beautiful almighty power of plum next Sunday!

[natalie-gee]

Well as you can see I made quite a bit of progress over the weekend! Just look at those beautiful greens. To give you some perspective on the current size, my hand fits perfectly inside three columns and four rows, so this is getting bigger very quickly. I'll be dipping into those purples by the end of this month I think. Very exciting.

I also decided in this update to share what tools I use. Pretty standard stuff: some scissors, a leather thimble, thread (in coordinating colors, of course), needles, a paper clip, and though you can't really see there's one of my plastic templates. I really would prefer to get some higher quality thread (Aurifil, plz) but there's none of that to be had around here, so I'll settle for some good old Coats Cotton.

In between work and doing this, I've also been reading Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon. So far I have learned that apparently even the Amish use sewing machines because making a quilt by hand takes sooo long. That's okay, I'm not in any rush, this quilt is 100% just for me and my fiancé to have for couch snuggles.

[natalie-gee]

It's Week 4 of the craft along! I feel like I've done so little, but I've learned a lot in the process, so that's what counts right?

Anyway this is what I have to show for this week (4 times as many squares!) and I'm pretty excited about progressing into some of the other beautiful colors.

You can see in the bottom left corner--where it gets wrinkly--where I started to remove some of the plastic templates from one spot and use them for another. In hindsight, I probably should have made more, but I did only have one sheet of stencil plastic. 

I uploaded my pattern again, this time to show my current progress highlighted in white. Aaand after seeing it.. holy crap do I have a long way to go.

Next week, more orange and more green! And maybe I'll take more than one picture this time. 

EDIT: Can you tell I got my camera back from work finally? I'll try not to do phone pictures again, pinky swear!

[natalie-gee]

Okay I know it's a late update, but it's 11:30 pm so it's Sunday and therefore still counts!

I fired up my Silhouette cutting machine for the first time and cut myself some little plastic templates from some stencil material I had lying around, and used a hole punch to put some holes in my square stencils. (Yes I could have done that with the machine.. I just didn't think about it at the time.)

And yes, that little square is all I managed this week. What you don't see is the two other mangled squares that I attempted with English Paper Piecing. I mean, really, attempting a technique you have never done before, Natalie, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

I could baste the fabric around my square stencil just fine, but I quickly found that the whip stitch that most people use to bind shapes together just wasn't working for me. The stitches were too visible and it drove me bananas. Tried a ladder stitch. That didn't work either. 

So after wasting perfectly good fabric and thread I just said let's try a running stitch and.. it worked! The trick is to pull taut with every stitch and when you fold that baby back up, tada, no visible stitches. I don't know if this would work for paper piecing with actual paper templates, but it has worked beautifully for me so far.

Except those corners.