Not in Kansas any more...

"Wickedly Liberated" is finished and ready to quilt.  I wanted to have it machine-quilted, but some of the bulky trims/embellishments may remove that option.  Weasley jumped in the picture...he got all excited when he thought we might be "getting" some doggies!  Here's a picture without him...

I'm pleased with the bottom-right corner house, and I ended up free-piecing a witch hat in the top-left corner to balance.  I had an extra one of Mary J's liberated witch blocks...I wish I had put it where the witch hat is now, but I think I have another, SMALLER, project in mind for that.

Thank you to all my liberated lady swap group for contributing to my top: Ola, Mary J, Judy E, Ellen, Kathy, Jean, Judy T, Chris, Mary H, Mary Liz, Margit, Barb N, Marilyn, Cindy, Cheryl, and Beth.  And thanks to Tonya of Lazy Gal Quilting (and Lynne of Patchery Menagerie and Bonnie of Quiltville's Quips & Snips) for all the visual inspiration on making the free-pieced letters.  There are many more of THOSE in my future!

(Weasely, waiting to "get" the doggies...where are they?!?)

(Nessa the witch is having a "bad house day"...)

We are having another blazing hot day in southeast lower Michigan...be careful of the heat (or cold) wherever you are!

In stitches (and in Oz),

Teresa   :o)

Cloudy and a chance of falling houses...

I needed to fill a little space in the wordy border corners of my liberated lady quilt and thought I really needed a house falling on a witch.  (I think I will make a witch hat for the opposite corner.)  I cheated!  I tried and tried to free-piece the legs and slippers but it just didn't work out.  (I justified it by observing that some people in my swap embellished their blocks a little with applique...).

MAJOR ETHICAL NEW FABRIC DILEMMA:

To rip or not to rip?!?

I just dropped in on a quilt store in the center of the state (Michigan) this afternoon while running an errand in that particular small town.  I decided to support the local economy by getting some fabric from the shop on the village square (my patriotic duty, after all...), and to my horror, they ripped it!!  I know, I know...some people think that this is the best way to get fabric, but it seems so violent to me.  We rotary cut at the quilt store where I work part time, unless it is double wide stuff for backings.  AND, I always measure with "fat thumbs," which means you never get exactly 36 inches of fabric when I am cutting you a yard of goods.  Maybe I wouldn't have minded the tearing so much if I had known that I got 37 inches of fabric.  I know what the mark-up is on fabric...does it really hurt to be a tad bit generous??  I mean, really!!  I think I made a face when the owner ripped my selection, because then she proceeded to give me a lecture to justify her violent act (like I had not been quilting since 1982...).  Blah, blah, blah...

I do try and cut most of my long boders perpendicular to the selvage, but I also deal with things cut WOF as well.  I "press rather than scrub" with the iron (thanks Mary J. for that quote and reinforcement...), so I don't have much trouble with "squirrel-li-ness" of piecing, even when I cut things on the bias.

After ripping one particularly bad, screwy bolt, she tried lining up the edges to prove that everything would be fine for cutting across the width of the fabric.  She could not get the huge wrinkle out, no matter how many times she stretched out my poor cut  "rip" of fabric and re-adjusted the fold.  I nearly cried, paid for my purchases, and couldn't wait to get out of there with my wounded pieces of fabric.  I drowned my sorrows in a tall diet coke (wanted a milkshake, but got a hold of myself in the freakin' nick of time...LOL).

So, how do you feel about tearing versus cutting with a rotary cutter or scissors when purchasing fabric??  And, how do you feel when you ask for 1 yard of fabric and you get 36 inches exactly of fabric (instead of a smidge more....)??

Bitching, I mean, in stitches,

Teresa   :o)

I need a bigger design wall...or a bigger family room floor!

Weasley likes it enough to take a whole bath on it while I was staring at it and thinking.  Maybe I should have made the letters shorter...they seem a little big.  Oh well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Not bad for my first attempt at these letters.  Of course, Mr. furry britches is lying right on top of the witch, which probably makes you wonder why I picked that particular phrase...how do cats know these things?!?

I need to purchase a little more champagne colored "Fizz" by P&B to finish out the word border...it's amazing how much background fabric it takes to be liberated.  Then I need to think of a small outer border...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Word games...

The words for my Liberated Lady swap block quilt are done...this is just five of them (for those of you trying to make an intelligent phrase from what you see in the picture...LOL).  The rest are sloppily pinned to my too-small design wall...not pretty.

These letters are in the spirit of Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting.  I intentionally did not read her tutorials...I was trying to be totally liberated!  I probably should have read the tutorials first...especially when I got to the letters S, G, and R.  I've always been bad about reading the directions...

I was battling all day with my perfectionism, which wanted them to be the same height and perfectly spaced.  They look far better in all different sizes and with wonky spacing, which is really easy to accomplish if you loosen up and just let 'er rip!

Because the quilt center is so busy, I decided on one color for the letters and one for the background (I just love the new "Fizz" by P&B!).  Now I want to make more in lots of fun colors and fabrics.

The next step is to decide how to place the word phrases around the quilt center.  I am enjoying the "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" design style.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

And the winners are...

A pot of tea and a drawing.  The winner of the neutral bundle is Barb.  The winner of the smaller blue and green bundles is Moramargaritaster.  Congratulations!  Please send me an email with your postal address and I will get this cotton moving!

Thank you to everyone who participated...I wish I had a prize for everyone as you were all so sweet and generous with your comments!

I managed to finish assembling the center of the liberated ladies top.  Now it is on to the borders, including free-pieced phrases.  I stripped out all the ladies with my stash of small to medium florals and bugs/butterflies.  I tried my hand at some trees to fill a few holes.

There were some cool embellishments and "bling" on some of the swapped ladies, which I removed temporarily during construction and quilting.  I will put them back in place when the quilting is finished.

Don't you love the chick in the bikini???

As I was chain-piecing all these strips, ladies, trees and doggies, I was sewing through my "leaders and enders" (thanks, Bonnie!) to make these kinds of blocks.  Here are 4 little blocks that I have done...2 light chain, and 2 dark chain.  It is a great way to get rid of 2 inch scraps!  If you don't know about leaders and enders, check out Bonnie's blog.  Having scrappy blocks ready to piece as I piece another project, sitting in a basket next to my machine, gives me basically two quilt tops for the effort of one.  And I do love scrappy!

And last but certainly not least (should have been first!)...Susi was kind enough to offer templates to make the fabulous scrappy Aunt Clara quilt that she is making here.  I experimented with a small handful of scraps, and now I am totally hooked!!  I need to spend some time cutting out some scraps to keep going on this fun little hand-pieced project.  Here is my embarrassingly feeble start...I have chosen to use scrappy neutrals for the squares then anything goes for the elongated hexagons!

Thank you susi!  This will be another one of my enjoyable little projects on the go in a magic box (along with my spools and little appliqued baskets).

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Oh Geez, it's my BIRTHDAY!

My blog is one year old!!  It really sneaked up on me!  I'm going on a give-away hunt today to find something fun for YOU to celebrate!  Be sure to check out my next post for a chance to win!

I can't believe it has been a whole year.  I still feel as dumb about blogging "how to's" - I'd rather sew than try and figure out more ideas for making my site look nice.  Thank you for visiting me anyway!

I've been working with no rules for a few days...not easy for me.  I'm trying to put a top together from my fabulous "liberated lady" swap blocks, my liberated doggie and tree blocks, and a tub of small to medium scale floral fabrics.  My friend Jonesy made most of us witches, and that is the focus for my quilt.  My daughter loves "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked," so I thought I would finish it along that theme.  Here's the mess that is currently hanging on my design wall (mess in a GOOD way)...   :o)

I'm still in the process of adding strips, making liberated tree spacers where needed, and moving ladies around. 

After the center is together, I am going to free-piece words (a la Tonya of Lazy Gal Quilting) that will say "I'll get you my pretties...and your little dogs, too!"

Things can get pretty nutty going from the wall to the sewing machine, so I thought I would share my SECRET LABELING WEAPON with you.  I take leftover scraps of FREEZER PAPER, cut them into squares, and label them with row and block number (or other info), then press them to the block or chunk of pieced mess.  (I temporarily press them to something else, then peel them off when I am really to use them.)

I like this better than pins, clips, or other bulky row markers that are available commercially.  I don't have to move them before pressing or sewing, they add no weight, and when I am finished, I just peel them off and throw them away.  It's the best way I have found to reduce piecing errors.

I also use this method to label swap blocks with my name or other info.

Or better YET, I use this to label pieces of blocks or kits in case I set a project aside and FORGET what fabric goes WHERE!  (which happens to me a lot...)  I used to use painters masking tape or trust my old brain (big mistake these days...) and freezer paper leaves no residue and keeps me from banging my head against my sewing machine as I try and remember things (or use a seam ripper, God forbid!).

So have fun sewing, and try my method using freezer paper...I sure am glad some butcher somewhere came up with this fabulous stuff!!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Liberated doggies...

These are my first 3 attempts at some liberated pooches to go with my liberated ladies.  This is my hot dog.  I also tried a tan dog with pointy ears, from behind.   DH thinks it looks like a giant version of Weaseley, our wonder cat.  Whatever.

DH and daughter were more supportive of my Toto dog...

Since one of my liberated ladies was a witch (thank you, Jonesy!!) and my daughter loves "The Wizard of Oz" and the musical "Wicked," I've come up with a plan. 

I have ended up with extra liberated ladies, so I need several more doggie companions for my plan to work.   After more dogs, I will finish some Tonya words/phrase for the border.  Here is my original portion of swapped ladies.  I now have over twice this many (oh, the generous nature of quilting friends!).

Stay tuned!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Finally, too small to keep...

Finally, these little snippets are ready for the garbage.  My friends laugh at me because I save every teensie-tiny, microscopic scrap of fabric...often picking strips and bits of other peoples' discarded fabric out of the garbage at sewing retreats and gleefully accepting others' baggies of scraps (thanks Jonesy - I LOVE 'em!!).

I made these little snippets today while going through some strippy scraps cutting strips and pieces for several future scrappy projects, all at one time.  Raw, strippy scraps go into containers like this...

 

...and I then trim them down to 1.25 in strips, 1.5 in strips, strings, and other little bits of on-going projects...

I cut out some more spool pieces...

...and some background squares for my little basket project, from Blackbird Design's "When the Cold Wind Blows" (I'm finally jumping on the little scrappy basket band wagon - better late than never).

And these little cuties are my portion from our Friday morning group's "Liberated Lady" swap.  I've been cooking up a plan for them involving scrappy strips, "The Wizard of Oz," and some of Tonya's (Lazy Gal Quilting) free-pieced letters and words...stay tuned for THIS one!

You are probably thinking, "man...she's out of control!"  And you would be RIGHT!  I am going through a major funk now that my Civil War Bride is finished.  I was so focused on that project for seven months, and now I am like a rock skipping on the water.  There are so many things I want to be doing.  I've always worked on multiple projects, until the bride.  It has always been useful doing a few things in tandem...especially cutting out scrappy stuff.

Sooo, after getting caught up on scrap maintenance, I am going to piece like crazy!!!  My spools will be my "baggie, on the go" project, the "Liberated Ladies" will be my crazy/creative project, and the baskets will be a little applique project until I pick the next BIG applique project.

In stitches,

Teresa   :o)

Liberated lady par-tay!! (and have you signed up for my give-away?!?)

I finished my 17 liberated lady blocks for our group exchange (with one to spare...I won't take the one where I had to piece the background after I finished the block due to a fabric defect...).  These were really fun and I anticipate making some more for me when I get my blocks from everyone else.  I am going to finally brave making some of Tonya's free-pieced (un-ruly??) word blocks to sprinkle in with the ladies ("girls, girls, girls").

But that project is going to have to wait until "the bride" is quilted...sigh. 

It's not too late to get in on the betting pool for the day and hour I will finish quilting and binding "the bride."  When I am at The Quilting Season tomorrow I will spy something wonderful for a give-away.  Whoever is closer to the time that I finish (and shout for joy and relief!!) will be the winner!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Three liberated ladies down, 14 to go...AND a give-away!

Yeah!!  Three done!  I'm getting in a groove with them now.  Somehow I forgot shoes on the first one.  We'll see how many more I get done tonight.  Even though our deadline is no longer this Friday but the Friday after, since I'm leaving town this Thursday mine need to be finished in 4 days!  Makes me glad I only need to finish 17 in total.  (and also glad that I did not wait until Wednesday night)

Quilting on "the bride" is progressing OK...I have finished outline quilting all blocks, done what I'm doing to the sashing, and have finished 5.5 of the 20 blocks (and it's not even April yet!).

Michele suggested I should host some sort of "pool" to guess the correct day and hour that I finish hand-quilting "the bride."  I've never done a give-away, but maybe this would be a good way to start.  For those who don't know, I am trying to finish the Civil War Bride Quilt by April 25 (yes...(sigh)...THIS year...) so that I can drive it down to northwest Ohio and enter it into the Annual Sauder Village quilt show.

Before you comment and submit your guess, I should tell you that I work for a church and have to work that morning, so don't waste your guess on any time on April 25...I will have no time between church and starting the 90-minute drive to do any last-minute stitching.

I will find some sort of delightful quilty goodie with which to award the winner and post it soon to entice you! 

So, write a comment with the date and hour of the finish!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

On the liberated lady journey (and a comment on Olympics),,,

OK all you local ladies doing our liberated lady swap (and you know who you are!)...here are a couple of Mary Jones' ladies, just to motivate and excite you.  Don't you just love the witch??

Don't panic...there is still plenty of time before our April Fool's deadline to finish your ladies.

Ellen Taylor, our most excellent swap master, suggests that we don't get much taller than 11 1/2 - 12 inches.

I've seen some of Ola Rosselot's ladies...I hope to get a picture soon...they are cute as well.

Here are a few of Ellen's (for further motivation).

And one from Kathy French (isn't she cute??):

OK...now for a rant.  Have you been watching the men's figure skating from the Olympics??  (If you are from Russia, I'm sorry if my comments are harsh.)  I was so proud of Lysacek last night, the American man who won the gold medal.  Both of his programs were amazing.  Plushenko (spelling?) was also amazing, but not as balanced and polished in all aspects of his programs.  Yes, he did the "quad," but last night, especially, he had little technical problems on landings and his other elements did not equal Lysacek's.  He was so cocky coming into the Olympics, and now he is making all this noise about how he should have won because he did the "quad."  Russia's Putin is now getting into the mix.  Whatever happened to losing gracefully?  I've been very proud of how Lysacek has been handling all the puff and blow-off since the event. 

Yippee for all the athletes from around the world that are great performers both on and off the events!

I've been proud of all of our athletes this year...it's been very exciting to watch, although the late nights are catching up with me!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)